Thera did her best to suppress a headache as she let herself be dragged around the competition grounds by Steph. It was only the first day of it and somebody had already attacked Ben, and an extremely powerful person at that. As much as she liked to tease him about his poor luck, that really was too much.

Still, uncle and Will are going to be with him for the rest of the day, it’s fine. He doesn’t need me to babysit him, no matter how much I want to.

As things had calmed down and the plans to meet up with the others later had been made, Steph had insisted on going around to look at everything with her again, something Ben seemed to approve of as well since he didn’t do anything to help as soon as the other girl got her hands on her.

I guess all humans really are very touchy.

The way that both she and Ben insisted on grabbing onto her as they went around seemed to make it clear enough, not to mention the fact that they immediately greeted the other two with a hug as soon as they saw them. She supposed her own race was similar, though on a lesser scale, but she didn’t particularly mind. Having gone her whole life not being able to touch any but a handful of people had left her used to a certain level of distance, but it wasn’t like she wanted it to exist and was more likely than not the reason she didn’t resist the touch of those she knew would be unaffected.

“So anything else you want to see Thera?” Steph asked, pulling her from her thoughts. “I think most of the stalls are going to more or less start closing soon, maybe we could grab a quick bite?”

“Um, are we going to eat with the other two? I’m not really sure what’s happening there.”

“Ah, good question, I guess we’ll have to decide when we meet up but it doesn’t hurt to put it off a bit and ask them when we see them. In that case, did you want to meet up with Ben and Will for a bit?”

Even as she put the offer out, Thera was able to pick up on the fact that Steph was far less excited about that option and Thera didn’t dislike the girl so much to take it. She was with Ben all of the time, and Steph was presumably almost always with Will. Combined with the fact that she’d straight up said she hadn’t been able to make friends since coming to the world because of the difference in her status to those around her, she decided to keep things going just a little longer. After all, despite how uncomfortable their first meeting had been, since then Steph had been nothing but friendly and had even helped her train to get her life magic in the forest, a fact that probably contributed to her being able to keep Ben alive. Beyond all that though, it wasn’t like she was against the thought of developing their friendship, it was just that she wasn’t good at it, but with the hope of being able to go without her cloak in the next few years, she wouldn’t mind working a bit more on her people skills with someone who seemed like she’d be patient with her as she did.

“Well, if you don’t mind, there is one more place I would like to see first,” she said, taking the lead this time as she dragged Steph to one of the tables she and Ben had already been to, much to the other girl’s delight. As much as Steph was enjoying their time together, without Thera taking any initiative it felt like she was just forcing her companionship on her. By taking an active role in the decision making it felt more like they were truly hanging out.

After a while of weaving through the slowly dying crowds, they made it to exactly where she wanted to be. The last table they went to last time, staffed by various races with similar octopod body types, where the person running the table met her with a wave of a tentacle.

“Haha, I thought you’d be back,” He said cheerfully. “Curiosity got the better of you?”

“Um, yeah you could say that, but I thought my friend here would also be interested,” Thera explained, ignoring the way Steph lit up as she called her a friend. “So any chance you still have that one? Or would you just tell me what it is if you remember? Honestly, I’m just super curious.”

“Ha, not only did I save it, but I used it as a little test for the enchantment your friend showed us. You’re free to find out what it is, but only if you use it first and let me know if you feel anything from it.”

“Sure, I guess that’s fine,” She said, not really understanding the point. “Just don’t blame me if you made the enchantment wrong and the entire thing breaks. I really can’t stress how bad my mana control is.”

“These are the risks we take to entertain ourselves,” He said, shrugging his many tentacles before he put the crystal ball on the table for her to touch, explaining just what they were to Steph as she did.

As she took it in her hands and carefully ran her mana through it, she was pleased to see the entire thing didn’t immediately break, but less so for the effect. She barely felt anything from it.

“Uh, I’m not really getting anything, just a small pleasant feeling,” She admitted, curious as to what it could be that both she and Ben might have to deal with often enough that it wouldn't have an effect, let alone something Ben felt the need to hide. “Can you check if I destroyed the enchantment, just to be sure?”

“Looks like it’s fine,” He said after a hesitant glance. “But you did destroy three-quarters of the sacrificial enchantments after just a few moments. And here I was thinking the amount I put was overkill. Anyway though, why don’t you flip it over and see what you got.”

The salesman seemed unusually entertained by the result as he told her to look at what it was, and with some hesitation she did, feeling Steph looking over her shoulder the entire time as the words ‘young love’ were revealed on the bottom.

In a flash she flipped it over, the same as Ben had, but too slow for the girl beside her not to see exactly what it said as Thera watched Steph’s happy smile grow wide as she put the crystal down.

“I’m not in love with Ben.”

“Nobody said you are,” She told Thera cheerfully, not believing her for a second.

“My dark resistance is 42, it just didn’t seem to have much effect because of that.”

“I don’t believe that gave you any issue earlier, and it’s still more empathy based than dark,” The octopus chimed in, seeming just as entertained by the results.

This is dumb, sure being with Ben makes me happy but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with him. It’s just a stupid broken crystal, I’ve already decided that I’m not going to worry about that sort of thing in life, it’s not like I changed my mind, I would never choose to be in love and this is so dumb why is it stressing me out so much?

Steph thanked the seller as they walked away, Thera ignoring any question she was asked as they went to finally meet up with the other two girls as a question popped into her mind.

Wait, if Ben didn’t feel anything from it then who’s he in love with?

After meeting up with both Amy and Yuzu, the decision was made for all of them to go back to Thera’s room at the embassy after grabbing some food from the stalls set up around the city to take advantage of the festival.

Even though the other two girls had a very nice residence in the city, they couldn’t use it due to the unfortunate fact that they had too many servants working for them. While Ben had made sure to give each girl an amulet to be on the safe side, there was a chance that someone working there would fall under Thera’s charm, a far less significant risk in the embassy so long as she wore her brace.

The room she had was plenty large at least, meant for housing diplomates or any people of note while they visited the city, meaning that on top of having a bed and a small kitchen, there were also plenty of places to sit and relax as they did, taking a load off as they picked away at their food and chatted.

“I’m so so sorry,” Yuzu said again over the meal, showing just how much more talkative she was when she was only amongst women. “I just meant to warn Uliel, but honestly his soul looks a little scary on top of that and I guess that came across and so on top of what skills I saw he had… Well, I didn’t mean for things to turn out that way!”

“Really, it’s fine,” Thera said, brushing her off again, but finding a question as she did. “But what makes his soul scary? I mean, I get a few of his skills honestly, but his soul?”

“Um, I was told pretty strongly not to talk about his skills…” She said apologetically, but Thera didn’t back down. Now that she knew that a soul mage thought something was wrong with Ben’s soul she couldn’t.

“In that case, I will. Is either sacrilege or his partial demonic body interacting with his soul in a dangerous way?” With the way Ben shared the details of his status so easily she didn’t think he would care, but she would apologize later to him about revealing it if he did. She was sure he would be far more interested in whatever Yuzu had to say than keeping it a secret anyway.

The others looked shocked, even Steph who hadn’t known he’d gained a skill from the organ transplant until she’d heard Ben say it to the archmage, but Yuzu quickly got over it and shook her head.

“No, it’s not those ones.”

“Then what? His crafting or enchanting? He definitely levels those up unusually fast so I could see there being something weird going on there. Or is it one of his mind skills? I know he has some weird ones. If I had to guess it would be focus, complex mind, or parallel thought given what those ones seem to do to the inside of his head.”

“Do you just know all of his skills?” Steph asked as Thera shrugged back.

“He tells me every time he levels one up so even if I don’t remember the levels I at least have an idea of what skills he has.”

“Um, well you’re right about the mind skills,” Yuzu admitted. “And it’s nothing bad, it just seems like as they level up they interact with his soul on a deeper level than most skills. Sorry, it’s a bit hard to explain if you can’t see a soul. Other than that though, it’s just how dull his looks.”

“Yuzu, that sounds pretty harsh,” Amy pointed out in a far kinder way than she had been to Jake earlier.

“Sorry, it’s just, usually a soul is bright with mana. Not to say Ben’s isn’t but it barely twinkles with any affinitied mana, only the pure stuff, it makes it look dull and muted in comparison to a normal person. It’s not a problem now that I understand why; he doesn’t have any good affinities, right? And some unusually good resistances too?”

“Nothing above five I think,” She confirmed.

“That makes sense, no wonder it looks like that. Of course, yours looks plenty unusual as well Thera, it’s honestly beautiful,” Yuzu beamed and leaned in, leaving Thera feeling like she was being stared into. “I’ve never seen a soul shine so bright with its magic, it makes me wonder how it doesn’t tear you apart.”

Nobody knew how to respond to such a grim statement combined with such a bright smile, but Thera did her best. “Um, thanks?”

“Well enough about Ben!” Steph yelled. “This is girl’s night and there’s only one thing I really want to know. How are you both seeing Jake!”

Admittedly, Thera found herself curious too. She didn’t think humans were typically polygamous based on things Ben had said, but then she never asked too deeply about the way his people courted each other and joined their lives.

At that, both Yuzu and Amy looked to each other, neither sure where to start and both having their own complicated feelings on it.

It was Amy who broke the silence, explaining how it happened from her point of view. “It’s kind of my own fault. We’d known each other for years, and I think a lot of people thought we were dating in school anyway, but he never made a move and I just sort of thought that when we stuck together even after coming to this world something would happen, but he never did and then…”

“I met him and it was love at first sight,” Yuzu carried on as Amy trailed off. “Since I’m a soul mage there was no question that I would be training under the current soul mage, and since Jake is training under him as well and is viewed as the main priority among the summoned to try and awaken into a third tier skill user it was decided early on that I’d be paired with him and Amy to try and help them level their skills more easily. It was when I saw his soul though, shining bright like a rainbow that I knew and immediately proposed. Since it was as soon as I met him I didn't know about Amy’s feelings but he said yes and, well…”

“His teachers beat the shit out of him,” Amy said with a laugh as she remembered. “They couldn’t believe he would agree to marry some random girl while I was standing right beside him. Unlike that idiot, they could clearly tell I was interested and once it got through his thick head the three of us had a long talk and this is how it worked out.”

“But I love you too now Amy,” Yuzu said with a smile as she leaned her head against the other girl, letting Amy ruffle her hair.

“Yeah yeah, I know.”

Steph seemed enthralled by their story, drinking it in with excitement, but Thera had a different take.

That sounds like a complete nightmare.

Maybe it was because of her own experience having an awful adventurer trying to make her a part of his harem, or maybe it was the thought of wanting to marry someone who would agree to marry a person they literally just met, but not one bit of the story seemed sweet or appealing to her.

Still, if they’re happy then it’s none of my business.

She was growing to like them both as they chatted after all, and if that sort of arrangement worked for them that was all that mattered. Thera just didn’t think she could share any partner she had like that.

Not that it matters because I’m not going to have any partners. She told herself, pushing away the memory of the crystal ball she’d touched earlier, as well as Ben’s face.

“Anyway, what about you and Will?” Amy asked, feeling curious herself. “Looks like things are going well there.”

“Ah, well I made sure to make things clear to him in the first couple weeks we were on the planet. It worked out easily enough honestly,” She admitted sheepishly after hearing what they went through. “Other than the occasional bit of stress because of, well everything, it seems like we’ll keep doing well too. Nothing too exciting I’m afraid.”

“That’s still sweet though,” Yuzu told her before switching her eyes over to Thera. “And what about you and Ben, how long have you-”

“We aren’t,” She said sharply, cutting her off. “He’s just a friend.”

“A friend you’re engaged to,” Steph chimed with, looking mischievous. “And who kept your crystal from reacting before, unless you had someone else in mind that’s been making you feel that.”

She could already see the excitement forming in Yuzu’s eyes and she was quick to squash it. “Our engagement is a sham. My mother forced me and him to do the trial of our land, and when we completed it she got him to hand me the flower we brought from it in front of a huge crowd to propose. He didn’t know that was what he was doing and I didn’t feel like I could decline because enough allied nations were there that if I rejected him it could have made his life as a craftsman extremely difficult if he wanted to sell to any of them.”

Not that it really would have done much looking back on it. Even though he’s my fiancé they all still got people to try and seduce him the last time he came by, they’d happily scoop him up even if he couldn’t work in Anailia.

“Then what’s this about a crystal?” Amy asked, feeling curious and wanting to hear after having revealed her own complicated relationship status.

Thera tried to quickly think on how to sidestep that question and failed as Steph answered for her, explaining the crystal stand among the contestants and how they worked, as well as the one both she and Ben had picked up.

“So your feelings are mutual!” Yuzu said in excitement. “You should go tell him now! Off with you before you’re scared out of it!”

“There are no feelings,” Thera said, feeling herself blush and hating it. “I’ve already decided I’m not going to have any sort of romantic relationship in life, and the difference in lifespan between me and Ben is honestly just too big for it to be a good idea. I don’t know for sure how much longer I’ll live than him, but it would be shocking if it was any less than ten times whatever he has.”

“So if you didn’t have a difference in lifespan would you go for him?” Amy asked innocently, feeling genuinely curious while at the same time stunning Thera silent. It was a question she never considered, because why would she? Her lifespan would never shrink like that, and Ben’s could never grow to the point that he’d match hers, but just for a second she couldn’t help but picture it. A normal, mortal lifespan. Growing old, having a family, Ben beside her-

She shook her head as her face was twinkling in the light, doing her best to keep the thought from her mind. She wouldn’t have that lifespan so she couldn’t have that life, it was as simple as that. The sudden feeling of yearning had nothing to do with Ben. She would enjoy his company while he was around until the day he died and then carry on living for hundreds, maybe even thousands of more years.

Just thinking about it made her breath catch in her throat as she turned her head away. “Anyway, I thought we weren’t talking about Ben. Besides, there’s no guarantee he feels that way about me,” She said in the end, not thinking and accidentally prolonging the conversation as she did.

“Talking about love doesn’t count,” Steph said firmly. “Besides, who else would he be thinking of? Whenever me or Will get letters from him, half of it’s about you.”

She tried to keep from smiling as she heard that, instead of seriously asking herself what other options there were around for him. There was Sachel and Ralia, but Thera knew they were together and doubted Ben would try anything. He sure didn’t seem interested during their time in the dryad village. What other women did Ben know to any extent and interact with?

“Um, there’s my aunt and stonewall guild master,” She said weakly, not believing either option as she did while the other women at the table looked at her like she was in denial.

“Thera, if I find out Ben is interested in your aunt instead of you I’m personally killing him,” Steph said in no uncertain terms.

I mean, it has to be someone, who else does he know well enough in Stonewall? Onk maybe? I’m not actually sure if they're female. A customer? I feel like they’d be an adventurer in that case so I’d know them. It’s not Stonewall but there’s my mom… Okay I’d kill him if that’s the case too. It must just be because of his resistances that the crystal didn’t work, but then again the clerk said that thing about empathy magic and he didn’t seem to have any issue with the other one…

She didn’t want to think that Ben might be in love with her. Just considering it had her heart fluttering in a way she didn’t know how to deal with, and then there was how she would handle it if he did. She’d never given it any thought because she didn’t think she needed to, but as no other women came to mind she wasn’t able to so easily avoid the implications of it, especially since he specifically tried to hide the crystal from her.

If Ben is in love with me, and I’m not saying he is, what would I even do?

For just a minute she let herself imagine hearing him say those words and couldn’t stop a small smile from breaking across her face; her skin only flushed more and more gold for the other three to see, each of them enjoying just how plainly Thera displayed her thoughts and feelings.

“Well, what do you like about him?” Amy asked, wanting to see more and finding herself enjoying the night far more than she expected. It looked like Thera was going to say something to that, but before she could Amy raised her hands in her defense. “Not like, in a romantic way. You’re friends, right? Surely there’s things you like about him.”

“Um, well if that’s all then I guess,” She said, letting herself be drawn in and finding that she did want to talk about it, at least a little. “I mean, there’s plenty to like about him, isn’t there? You’ve both known him longer than I have. I mean, he’s smart and hard-working and he’s nice. He's been working super hard to help me ever since he learned about some of the problems I deal with. Plus he’s brave. Maybe too brave though, as cool as it can be I’m just worried he’s going to get himself killed doing something. Also, he worries about me and tries to make me happy…”

She trailed off as she realised what she was saying and focused in on the others, suddenly extremely embarrassed. If Ben was any indication, being extremely open about one’s feelings was normal to humans, but it wasn’t to her.

Surprisingly though, while Yuzu looked excited to hear her talk about Ben, Steph and Amy seemed mostly confused.

“Hey, you know him better than I do, but is Ben particularly smart and hard-working?” Amy asked. “I feel like I remember him ignoring plenty of classes to draw.”

“Kind of? I mean, whenever he was interested in things he would absolutely put his all into it, so I know that he can learn whatever interests him instead of anything that he might have been forced to in school,” Steph told her. “But is he super brave? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s a coward, we’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for him, but it’s not so much that he rushes into things as it is he just works hard to deal with the situations he’s stuck in, right? Although I guess that is plenty brave, but I wouldn’t call that too brave?”

“He’s way too brave,” Thera said, rushing to his defense while at the same time complaining. “When we were sent out to fight some leviathans for a guild quest he hung from the neck of one for ages to bring it under his control, and when I was being harassed by a demigod and had my cloak torn he got so mad he dueled him! Don’t get me wrong it was super sweet but he could have gotten hurt! Infinite hells, the apostle tried to murder him after he won! He can be so brave he’s stupid.”

“Wait, hold on a minute, he won?” Amy asked in disbelief as Yuzu was swooning over how exciting that all sounded while Steph gritted her teeth.

“That idiot hadn’t told me or Will anything about that! Oh my god is he going to be hearing some things from me later.”

It was only as Thera saw Steph’s angry reaction that she realised she might have said too much, and made a mental note to apologize to Ben as the night went on.