Ben turned around and locked eyes with the young man who walked into the shop as he charged at Ben before he could say anything, knocking him to the ground.
Before either of them could move though Falk had ripped the man off of him and had a knife that had been hanging on the wall only moments before pressed against his tackler's throat.
“Now I ain’t sure what issue you have with my apprentice,” His teacher growled. “But you better think long and hard before you try anything in my shop.”
“Wait Falk!” Ben yelled. “He’s a friend, it’s all good.”
At that his teacher let go of someone he hadn’t expected to see so soon, his old friend and former classmate Will, who for his part seemed to be doing his best to hide just how frightened he’d been about almost being killed.
Before he could speak though someone else called out to him, and he saw his other friend Steph who ran up and hugged him, thankfully in a far gentler manner than Will had.
“It’s so good to see you!”
“It’s good to see you both too,” He said as he hugged her back. “But what’s going on? I wasn’t expecting to see you guys here?” Surprised would be putting it mildly. He wished he could have gotten some sort of heads up about their arrival, he would have tried to actually plan something for them.
“How could we not see you after what we heard, right Will?” She asked, turning to him for the first time since she walked in and having missed his encounter with Falk. “Wait, is everything alright?”
“Oh yeah,” He told her, trying to laugh it off. “Just regretting running ahead I think.”
“I’d rather you both stay in the range of my senses,” A third voice said, and when Ben looked to see who it was found another of the world's stranger inhabitants. Trailing behind the other two at a far more leisurely pace, a giant floating worm entered the shop.
It was about two meters in length and as thick as a fist, but Ben kept the presence of mind not to stare after his first meeting with Glob, instead just giving a friendly hello.
The worm-like person didn’t say anything in response but gave what Ben interpreted as a polite nod before fixing its full attention on Falk.
Since they didn’t go to the trouble of introducing themself, Steph did it for them. “Ben, this is my space and time magic teacher Wedrow. You could say he’s the chaperone of our visit.”
“Mmh, perhaps you both dragging us on this detour wasn’t so bad after all,” Wedrow said before turning to address Falk in particular. “Would you happen to be-”
“I am, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go spreading that around so willy-nilly.”
“Understood. We mostly came to verify your apprentice's sanity, but after, if you’d be willing I’d like to commission some items for these two if you’d have time?”
Falk gave a nod of agreement. If these were not only friends of his apprentice but also summoned heroes brought to help protect the world then he could make the time.
Ben though had something different in mind. “What do you mean you guys came to check my sanity? Don’t get me wrong, it’s great getting to see you both, but I’m perfectly sane, isn’t that right guys?” He asked, expecting backup from Falk and Thera but getting nothing but betrayal.
“Boy, didn’t you somehow grow a whole other mind only a few weeks ago?”
“And I’ve watched you try and sacrifice your life twice now in only a few months, not to mention every other way you’ve thrown yourself headfirst into danger.”
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“Alright, I can see I don’t have any allies here,” He said defeated. “So why was my sanity such a concern that you guys came all the way out here?”
“Ben,” Steph tried to say gently. “We heard you’re getting married to the daughter of the current succubus queen.”
“Yeah, and she’s supposed to have some crazy mind enslaving magic compared to regular succubi. It sounds nuts-”
“Guys,” Ben immediately cut in to stop them before they could say anything that would make things any more awkward than they’d just become. He moved beside Thera and put a comforting arm around her shoulders even as he felt her wanting to shrink away. “This would be Thera, my fiancée and also the niece of my teacher, why don’t sit down and talk a bit since I get the impression you didn’t receive my letter.”
Will noticed Falk giving him a death glare and moved closer to Steph was blushing in embarrassment from accidentally badmouthing someone to their face like that. Thera still seemed like she’d take the first opportunity to walk out she could and all in all this wasn’t how he imagined the touching reunion with his friends would go.
He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, everyone relax for a bit. Since it sounds like you haven’t heard, here's what’s gone down the last few months.”
He explained what had happened while he was in Anailia, only leaving out a few details such as his creation of the resistance braces and the exact details of the trial, which he couldn’t explain if he wanted to, and mostly focused on how Pelenia tricked his into publicly proposing in a way that Thera felt compelled to accept.
“-and I know I didn’t outright ever say the species of the friend I made but I definitely mentioned my resistance to charm, really feel like you should have put two and two together.”
“We weren't sure if we could believe that or not after we heard who specifically you were marrying,” Steph said awkwardly before she turned to Thera. “I’m so so sorry about this, we should have tried talking to Ben without making any assumptions.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Thera told her awkwardly, still seeming like she wanted to leave but trying to be polite for Ben's sake, as well as having more than a little curiosity about them herself.
“So how did you find out I was engaged if you didn’t get my mail yet anyway?”
“Ben, even with a ridiculous amount of races and nations in the world that sort of news is still going to travel,” Will told him. “It wasn’t outright confirmed you were a human, but the rumor was going around and your name was attached to it. I’d bet most of our old classmates are aware.”
“Ha, do you think I should expect any more guests any time soon?”
“Not unless you told anyone but us where to find you. If anyone else was curious enough to check they’d probably head to Anailia.”
He breathed a small sigh of relief. He wouldn’t particularly mind seeing his old classmates if they came to visit, but he sure didn’t want to have to repeat this awkward exchange again if he had to.
“Alright, well with that cleared up, how long are you guys going to be here? It’s not a huge town but let me show you some sights or something.”
“Unfortunately we just stopped in for the night to check on you, though we did want to ask you if you’d be interested in joining us for a small trip. It would only take about a week if you’d be able to miss that much of your training here?” Steph asked, directing the question at Falk who seemed to give his consent for her to continue.
“I mean, I only just got back a few weeks ago, I’m not sure I should just be running out again so quickly. What were you going to be doing for a week anyway?”
This time Will answered, a large grin plastered on his face. “We’re going demon hunting.”