After he piled up the corpses in his bag they quickly walked out of the forest to a clearing near the town, where Ben stopped to dismantle them. He separated the bones to dry out later and the skin to tan, leaving him with a pile of organs and meat that he unfortunately had nothing to do with. From what he understood they weren’t great to eat but throwing it away also seemed like a waste. He decided to bury it for this time at least and try to find something to do with any extra meat later in the future, rather than continue to let it go to waste like that.
Once that was done they quickly walked over to the adventurers guild to report their kills. Onk seemed to have the day off so it was reported to another employee, with the grand result being Thera getting ninety percent of the kill leaving Ben with ten, though since they were acting as a team they got to decide how to split the rewards themselves.
“Why did he only get ten percent of the kill?” She questioned the employee. “He made the plan that got us all of them?”
“I mean even when I get right down to it aside from what was really a simple strategy all I did was dig a little, you ended up doing most of the work.” It wasn’t like he even cared about raising his rank at all, it sounded like while it could provide some more opportunity it would also add some responsibility, which he wasn’t really into the idea of.
“Well we’ll still split the reward in half.” She instructed the guild worker.
“You sure? I really didn’t do too much.”
“It’s fine, you need money more than me anyway, and I wouldn’t want people saying I’m greedy on top of everything else anyway.”
“Well I’m not going to fight you on that then.” With their work done they left the guild Ben asked her for a bit of help before parting ways for the day. “Hey by any chance do you know if there's a place I can buy plants around here?”
“I think the general store near the clinic sells some, I guess it’s not out of my way so I can show you. Why though?”
He went on to explain the little discovery that he made while they were in the forest and figured that buying a plant for his home would give him a convenient way to practice.
“So you can pick up emotions from plants? That seems a little odd. Do you think your god would approve of you training your skill like this though? It sounds like it should be used on living things.”
“Plants are alive even if they don’t do much, and it may have been given to me but it’s my skill now, if he doesn’t like it he can deal.”
The attitude surprised her a little, most people who would be lucky enough to get a gift skill would care a little more on their god's opinion, but it wasn’t her place to say. Besides, there were plenty of gods who liked the strong-willed as well. So they chatted a bit until they got to the store and parted ways.
<For what it’s worth I don’t really care how you use the skill. Actually, I’m rather excited to see how this progresses.>
Oh really? I was a little curious if you would say I was using it wrong like this.
<No it’s your skill now, I actually hadn’t imagined you would use it on plants or as a bug killer so you’re already exceeding my expectations.>
Good then, hopefully I can find some more I can use it for. In the meantime any thoughts on what sort of plant I should buy? The shop he was at did have a small garden section, with seeds and a few nicer potted plants that were a little more exotic than what grew normally in the area.
<Hmm, well why not grow from seed, that one over there grows a nice purple and white root.>
Pass. I want something I can practice with immediately so it has to be something already mature, preferably that will live a while too.
<Okay, then what about that little tree there? It’s a pretty popular house plant that grows some tasty small berries every few months.>
The one Myriad was talking about was a potted tree about three feet tall with lovely purple leaves and looking like the berries were about to develop. It looked nice enough and he had a window in the place he was renting so it seemed like it would be as good of a choice as any.
With his decision made he paid the shopkeeper, grabbed the plant, and went on his way.
<Ben don’t say anything and don’t panic.> Myriad suddenly said as they were chatting while he walked back to his home. <It looks like you’re being followed.>
He suppressed his first instinct to look around him and continued on his way, though changing course so he wouldn’t end up at his home. What do you mean I’m being followed? Am I about to be mugged? He wasn’t on the main street but he was close by, and it seemed like it would be a pretty bold thing to do in the middle of the day.
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<I’m not sure, as soon as you left the shop a cloaked figure started to tail you.>
Are we sure this isn’t just Thera? He still had no clue what she looked like without it.
<Fairly sure, it’s a different cloak and they’re taller too. I mean I guess she could have changed and put on some heels. Of course if it is her she must be pissed at you right now.>
Why?
<Whoever it is is definitely holding a knife.>
Jesus Myriad could you lead with that next time? The urge to look around or just run became even greater, but he was still trying to appear casual. What should I do then?
<Just keep walking for now. They're keeping a steady distance from you but if they start trying to catch up I’ll let you know to run, just get to the main street.>
Great. The day had started off so good and now he had to avoid getting stabbed. He walked a bit down the street before taking a turn that would get him towards the main road where there would be more foot traffic, hopefully enough to deter his pursuer, when Myriad spoke up again.
<Run.>
He could hear the sound of footsteps slapping against the road behind him but he didn’t waste the second it would take to turn around, he immediately followed his god's orders and ran like his life depended on it. His agility attribute was low but he pushed it for all it was worth, and felt his heart hammering in his chest, the pounding in his ears making it so he couldn’t hear any noise around him. He was entirely dependent on any warning Myriad could give him.
It was only a few minutes of effort, but his sprint got him to the main street.
<It looks like he stopped following you. You must have looked like an easy target.>
Why? He thought as he panted for air, drawing looks from the people around him. I’m literally just carrying a plant and some staves.
He was still carrying the ones he made for Thera, since she always had the one Falk made in case of emergency there was no point in lugging around a bunch of inferior products after all.
<Maybe that's all it was? Staves aren’t cheap you know and as long as they’re in good shape the resale value isn’t bad. Anyone seeing the ones you’ve made would have no way to know they make earth magic all but unusable.>
Alright, don’t carry a bunch of valuables. Noted. With that bit of excitement out of the way he found the nearest town guard and gave them a statement, including the description he got from Myriad. They were frank that there wasn’t much they could do but they would keep their eyes out for any similar cases and then offered to escort him to wherever he needed to be, so he got them to walk him back to Falk’s shop.
Once he got there he explained what just happened to his teacher.
“Well it's good you're alright boy, but maybe you should learn some offensive skills. It isn’t great that you could be attacked in the middle of the day and have no way to protect yourself, especially if you’re going to be doing some hunting anyway.” He told his student with some worry.
“It was just some bad luck, I guess I look like an easy mark. Besides, you know I’m not suited to combat skills.”
“Mmm, true enough. Well just make sure the shop’s locked while you're practicing at night, would hate to find your corpse when I open in the morning.”
“And I’d hate to be a corpse. Don’t worry Falk I always lock up, besides what are the chances of this happening again?”