“Please don’t go,” Delair asked, clinging to his leg as he was saying goodbye to her and Fontesh before he and Thera went to catch a ride with the merchant to get back to the gate.

Oh man, my heart’s going to break.

That would mean all the work I did on the statue would be for nothing so pass.

Sachel snuck behind the young girl and scooped her up in her arms. “Come on now, you’ll still have me for a little longer at least so give him a friendly goodbye, alright?”

“But you’re not as fun! And you can’t cook!”

Thera let out a small giggle as Fontesh told the child off for being rude. Ben couldn’t help but let out a chuckle himself as he went up and patted her head. “I’ll write you some letters and if I ever get the chance to stop by again I will, so be good for your mom okay?”

“Mmh, okay,” She said, still seeming down.

“Tell you what, I’ll send out some better toys than what I was already able to make here, so look forward to it.”

“Really!” She asked eyes lighting up.

“Really really, so be good, alright?”

“Alright!”

“Haa, thanks for looking after her so much,” Fontesh told him as he and Thera boarded the wagon. “If you do ever make some time to visit again I’ll be sure to have a room for you.”

“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that if I can. If Delair has any interest in being a craftsman when she grows up you can send her my way, she made an excellent helper, I’m sure she has it in her.”

“Ha, sure I’ll keep the offer in mind.”

They said goodbye to the rest of the village and finally were on their way back home. It had been longer than either of them had expected, but they’d both gained plenty from the trip.

“I don’t care if you’re succeeding, you shouldn’t be able to meditate three times at once just because you have more minds, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Makes sense or not, it’s working so it doesn’t matter. Now throw some math at me Myriad, I want another level to calculate before I’m back.”

“There must be another mind skill we can practice, just asking you math questions for hours is so freaking boring.”

“You think I’m enjoying it? I don’t even need calculate beyond the zeroth level, this is all to get through the job as fast as I can. If I play my cards right I might be able to change to a new one in a day or two after getting back to Stonewall, then I’m never touching the skill again. Or at least not until I take another mind job, but that seriously isn’t the priority after this one.”

“It better not be with how much time I’m putting towards helping you train this one but fine. What’s-” His god stopped for a moment, seeming to think before gleefully having a reason to change the topic. “Sachel officially finished her quest and she’s asleep so I’m bringing her up. Your hours of math are going to have to wait.”

“Fine, I guess this is more important.”

He watched and waited as Myriad brought her there, Sachel appearing in a cloud of twinkling lights and he couldn’t help but wonder if he always showed up in the same fashion. After a moment her eyes opened, seeing both Ben and Myriad standing before her.

While Ben couldn’t read her mind without connecting to her like Myriad could, the worried look in her eyes told him she was remembering the last time he’d met her with their god, and Myriad was quick to soothe her.

“You have nothing to worry about Sachel, just relax. We’re here to congratulate you on completing your first quest.”

As he said that a colourful light show went up in the background, something the god had arranged ahead of time to properly celebrate her first victory and the job experience that came with it. She hadn’t gotten the official confirmation about having completed the quest until after she’d already changed her job, but there was nothing to be done for that. It was hard to plan things out so the job levels would go to the harder ones to acquire, but she seemed thrilled enough with the result.

“Thank you so much!” She told them proudly, bowing down before them. “You’ve both done so much for me, if there’s ever anything I can do to help the faith as a whole, I’ll devote myself to it wholeheartedly.”

She couldn’t have been more pleased with having the opportunity to be of use to the god she’d chosen to follow after everything that happened. Not just the blessing and skill, nor getting a quest and assistance for it along the way, her longest dream of being able to use plant magic was now a reality. Even if it still wouldn’t be as good as someone who properly had the skill, she’d just have to continue to work hard to awaken it as she went and do her best to repay the debt she owed to Myriad for it the entire time.

Myriad sensed all of that and couldn’t have been happier, feeling confident in his choice. “I fully believe you will. It’s actually with that in mind that I brought you here to give you an offer. Sachel, become my oracle.”

Watching her, Ben was worried she was about to pass out from the shock. She seemed to be at a complete loss for words as she processed just what she was being offered.

“I- I can’t,” She said, shocking them both before giving an explanation. “This is too big of an honor for me, especially since I’ve only just started worshiping you. Wouldn’t the role be better for one of your older believers?” She asked, not knowing that aside from Ben, she was the oldest believer on the planet.

Myriad did his best to talk around that issue as he tried to ease her mind on the matter. “It doesn’t matter how long someone has worshiped me, I do my best to watch all of my believers, and I trust in your sincerity. Still, this isn’t something I intend to push on you, if you don’t want the role then that is acceptable as well, but I made the offer because I believe you’d be an excellent fit.”

Hearing all of that, how could she resist? “I’ll do it!” She told them, voice filled with determination and cheer with small tears of happiness at the corners of her eyes. “It would be the greatest honor I could receive, I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I have the utmost faith in you.”

And I’m free next time something like this happens!

“Just remember you aren’t alone, should you ever need any help and for whatever reason I can’t act immediately, you can always rely on my apostle for assistance as well.”

Myriad, what the actual hell? Don’t just ignore me, I know you can hear this!

Sachel, being none the wiser to Ben cursing the god they both gave their faith so deeply in his mind bowed down again. “I look forward to doing everything I can to help serve you.”