Chapter 379: Thera's Perspective

Chapter 379: Thera's Perspective

I think I understand all of the stress Drari is under a bit better now, this really is too much. Thera thought to herself as she was flying back to Stonewall, moving the cart just slightly slower than she usually would out of a need to decompress from the day.

It wasn’t that it was a hard amount of work, with all the mana at her disposal, anything that could qualify as such could only be a disaster, but it was mentally taxing. There were plenty of towns and villages in the surrounding area, and after going to ten to help treat anyone she could for that bit of extra skill and job experience, she was seeing more and more of what she’d been seeing at Stonewall. People who hadn’t done anything to try and get stronger since the world first got notice from the gods of the invasion, who were now trying to rush to gain any levels to combat and magic skills they could in an effort to keep themselves just a little bit safer, with far too many of them getting hurt for it.

It’s not like I don’t understand, but I’m seeing a few too many people who’d be on death's door if I wasn’t here. Gods above, even if combat needs some hands-on experience, magic can be trained plenty safely!

Perhaps she wasn’t the best to pass such judgments on others as someone who only a couple years prior had been acting as an adventurer when she could only cast a couple simple spells a day, and who had just done a tower trial for whatever extra strength it would bring, but the difference was that she knew how strong she was. As tough as the earth tower had been, it had been manageable for her compared to what any normal mage would have to deal with, and even back when she was adventuring alone, if her staff ever broke and something got too close she could raise a cloud of dirt around herself to scare it off or run since her agility had always been reasonably high thanks to her years of dancing. For people who had normal, smaller mana pools or lacked experience with weapons, trying to hunt whatever could be found in the depths of the woods could be a death trap, especially as the ecosystem slowly shifted with more and more dangerous beasts making their way to the area.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Alright, enough thinking about that. I’m almost home, I can have a nice relaxing rest of the day. Hmm, it’s a bit late to see if Aso wants to do anything, but Sachel’s back, I could always bother her... mmh, no, she still seemed pretty exhausted after helping the demidemons and I can’t exactly blame her for that. Maybe I’ll start working on dinner for aunty and Ben for a change. Yeah, that sounds pretty nice. And after I think I just might get him to help me practice more of my life magic. Since I put up with him using me to finish his job that seems fair. She thought with a playful smile spread across her face.

She wasn’t as annoyed about it as she had been the day before, it was important to her that he get stronger as well to match her desire that he stop getting in situations where his life was on the line, and he’d done plenty to make it up to her immediately after too.

But it does feel nice to see him try so hard for me... She couldn’t help but think, the feeling trailing off as a far more uncomfortable one took its place. Oh gods, I don’t like being spoiled, do I?

As soon as the notion crossed her mind she couldn’t exactly deny it, so she did the next best thing and ignored it, not in the mood for any level of self-discovery at the moment.

“Alright, thanks for the meal Thera, It was lovely,” Her aunt told her, giving a wide smile. “But now it’s time for me to be off. I promised Ceselee I’d grab drinks with her and Falk so I’ll be home late, just in case you two want to do anything that might need a couple hours of privacy.”

“Whatever you’re thinking isn’t happening!” She called back, feeling the blood rush to her face as she did. Her aunt wasn’t shy about teasing the idea of... something happening between her and Ben, and she never knew how she was supposed to react whenever she did.

“Later Sonya,” He said, significantly less bothered about it than she was as he focused on her. “So, using me as a practice dummy for your life magic then?”

“It’s nothing I won’t be able to fix if anything goes wrong, don’t worry so much.”

“I think if you’re a healer you need to learn to be slightly more reassuring than that.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you... no actually, it’s not important.”

As if I could just ask!

Her own kind weren’t exactly shy about that sort of thing on either side of her heritage. Hell, when she was giving her mana to the spirits, she was helping them recover from their racial side effects attached to the act, and Anailia wasn’t just a goddess of love, but of seduction too. The only reason she was feeling weird about it was because she’d so thoroughly denied the idea of ever falling in love for so many years she hadn’t even considered just what that might mean for the future.

The two of them had been dating for nearly a year by that point, by succubus standards it would be surprising that nothing at all happened, but then she wasn’t a normal succubus, and in the end of it, just as important as what he might or might not want was what she herself desired.

But do I want that? She asked herself, feeling her eyes looking him up and down as she did.

“Uh, you know what, I’m actually feeling pretty tired so I think I’ll end here,” She told him abruptly, leaning in to give him a kiss and feeling extra aware of his lips against hers. “Have a good night Ben, try and get some proper rest, okay?”

“Will do, sleep well Thera.”

She tried to be casual about it as she walked back to her room but she was sure her thoughts must have been as clear on her face as they ever were. She could feel the blood in her cheeks as she changed and slipped into bed, tightly hugging her pillow as she did.

I mean, we could both be dead in a couple months anyway. She told herself as she laid there. And I do love him, and I do want to be close to him, and I’m enjoying being in a relationship more than I ever really expected and this is just part of a relationship, right?

Ugh, why did aunty even need to put the idea in my head?

...I might maybe want to. Mmh, I just need to think about it a little more.

With the idea firmly lodged in her thoughts, Thera didn’t manage to get any sleep that night till the morning sun rose.