Chapter 333

Chapter 333

Once Falk put a stop to Ben’s wanton acts of deforestation, they both began heading back to town. The shop would be opening later than usual, but given how often it was closed as its owner left to deal with different clients, that wasn’t a big problem.

No, the big problem was the unusually large crowd trying to make it into Stonewall since they’d been in the woods, a long line of carts trying to get in as the few guards on watch were busy alerting their supervisors of everything so that they could prepare for the unexpected influx of people.

“Huh, wonder what’s happening?” Ben muttered as his teacher gave him a funny look.

“Suppose you’ll see in a bit. Well, whenever we get back in.”The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Usually it was much easier to get in and out, but the road was congested and they had no choice but to wait as traffic moved along, until they finally made it back into the walls to get back to the shop, finding the streets still packed for the entire way.

It was bothersome but Ben was able to ignore it easily enough, devoting himself to his thoughts on the way back, his language and magic studies, reflecting on the summoning spell that was consuming his life by that point, and also simultaneously making and breaking enchantments across his three mythril bracelets for the skill and job experience.

The only thing that stopped all skills and thoughts in their tracks was getting back to the shop and finding that it had been the final destination of not only them, but the town's unusual level of tourists as well.

“Ugh, about what I expected,” Falk muttered when he saw what was going on. “I guess I should consider ourselves lucky they waited even this long.”

“You expecting guests or something?”

“They’re for you. Don’t forget which of us was outed as being an awakened craftsman. We’re just lucky they waited for us to finish up our main work. Or maybe lucky isn’t the right word for it since with this many showing up at once it seems more like they were told when it would be okay to arrive.”

“Uh, what?”

“They’re all yours so decide how you want to handle this, just keep my name out of it.”

An entirely unsatisfying explanation given, Ben followed as his teacher pushed their way through the crowd, chasing away any angry looks from them with the yeti’s glare as he processed what he was told until they were eventually stopped by a drawn weapon.

“Stop pushing through,” A regal man in heavy armour told them. “It’s first come first serve. Blame yourself for not rushing here sooner.”

Oh joy, I can already tell today is going to be fun. He thought sarcastically as he watched his teacher grab the blade of the sword pointed at him.

“Is it?” The yeti asked. “Well then consider pointing your blade at the shop’s owner a one-way ticket to the back of the line.”

The words weren’t loud, but the sentiment carried as everyone close enough to hear focused in on the two of them. Word of Falk hadn’t been spread as much, but many of those who’d come had at least gotten a description of Ben, finding him to be a match in an instant as shouts sprung up around them.

“You, we can offer-”

“I’ll worry about that later.”

“Alright, in that case, don’t actually start bringing them in at ten minutes, we probably need to contact the guards and Ceselee to make sure things run smoothly so it might be an hour. Keep the shop locked up and I’ll be back in a bit after talking to them.”

“Sounds good, thanks.”

As his teacher left, Ben slumped over on a desk, still dealing with his simmering emotions and the disbelief he’d have to put up with with something like this.

Did I handle that okay for you?

Ha, well let’s just see what the future holds.

“I demand a crown. Something fit for my liege, it has to at least be ultra-rare in quality to be worthy of them.”

Ben felt his eyes flared from the sheer gall of the man. After kicking out the first six groups that had come in for breaking the rules he’d set, it seemed that the rest had understood he as being serious, and with both Falk and Ceselee around to get rid of anyone that wanted to argue, the next ten had actually managed to talk long enough for most of them to put in orders, with the majority being similar requests to what he’d made Amy, only for two or three different items instead of the nine that she got. The current potential client though may not have broken any of his rules, but he was immediately getting on his nerves.

“You’ll demand nothing. If you have an item you want I’ll do my best to make it if you pay the price, but I’m not going to make something over and over again until it reaches the arbitrary rank you want it to have. Especially not for a shiny hat. If you can deal with the fact that I can guarantee you something within rare and will be making it to the best of my abilities like I do anything, then we can start discussing prices.”

“Price?” He scoffed. “You’re receiving the honour of making this for Zula the eighth, do you know how many would kill to be in your position?”

“Then go to one of them,” He said dryly. “It seems like negotiations have broken down so get out already, I’m not making something for someone who doesn’t even have the intention of paying.”

“Now you wait here-” He started, but before he could finish both Falk and Ceselee had the man by the arms and tossed him out, closing the door behind them.

“I can see you two are going to be having fun for a while,” The guildmaster told them, looking as annoyed as Ben felt. “I think I’ll have to report some of what I’m seeing to the guards later. Want to make sure our more unruly guests are actually leaving town.”

“Please do.”

He was trying to be polite for Myriad, but some of them seemed like they were trying to make it especially hard on him in the end.

Still, the sooner this is done the sooner I’m free.

Heaving a breath, he went to the door and invited the next group of five in, not caring anything about them but making sure to get a handshake from each, just like each other group he’d met.

Well, at least one of them has a new skill for me to copy. Not sure what a seventh level of mapping will do but time to get it on a ring.

If there was only a single thing truly good about what he was dealing with, it was the sheer amount of bodies he could enchant skills from guilt-free. Even if he still had yet to awaken connect, every bit of experience counted and he was going to make sure he’d get all he could from putting up with this.