The notification went off in her head as she played the small flute Ben had made her while listening to her various students follow along. At a couple weeks after arriving, she’d long taught them all what she viewed as being most relevant for them to learn, meaning that aside from the few projects Ben got her to help with, she didn’t have much else that needed doing.

Originally, that had left her plenty of free time that she put towards both training her magic and offering pointers to anyone who had access to the same branches as her, leading to her casually talking with them all and coming to fully accept something that she had struggled with in the beginning. The fact that everyone there was really just people. Knowing their relationship with the demons as a whole had left her feeling conflicted, but that had passed as she taught them various lessons, with her discomfort slowly being replaced with the knowledge that they had been wronged.

It wasn’t just that they had been created to be no more than an easy and disposable source of faith for their old gods, it was also due to the lives they’d had to live because of them. She was well aware that some gods in the world had rules that they personally advised their followers to try and stick to, but what the forbidden gods had enforced just to keep from being discovered was too much. They hadn’t been allowed to create anything that could be left being and found, hadn’t been allowed to explore the woods that made their home beyond what they needed to for foraging and hunting, and most horrifying to her, hadn’t been allowed to make music for fear of the sound carrying and drawing in curious ears.

Knowing that she’d set out to rectify it, having Ben make woodwind, string, and percussion instruments for them to play with as she demonstrated what she could and led them in lessons. At this point it was mostly just the children, though a few adults stepped in now and then to learn and it wasn’t unusual to hear the sounds of people practicing late into the night.

With her level up though came the end of practice for the day as she smiled at them, trying to do better at handling the children than she usually managed.

“That was great work everyone, I’m sure you’ll all be making your own songs before you know it. For now go have some fun before dinnertime, okay?”

Getting a round of yeses and wide smiles, they ran off to do whatever caught their attention as she let herself relax. Any day now, Sachel and the others would be arriving, and as much as she wanted to go home after so much time away, there was one other thing she’d need to do first, as much as she wished she could avoid it.

Unfortunately, Ben just had to keep getting into situations like this. She thought as she shook her head. As if managing to get partially possessed and stabbing himself wasn’t bad enough, he’d also leveled up that skill twice. It hadn’t resulted in any visible changes the way his eye colour had, but the name alone told her there were things going on she couldn’t see. Integrated demonic body, it was clear enough something was happening to him at a deeper level, and she wanted some idea of what the endpoint would be.

I’ll just need to deal with it. She told herself as she walked through the village to find him.

In the time they’d spent there, it had grown considerably. No longer just the houses she’d made the walls for, all of them were now equipped with doors, windows, and roofs, with the construction team having set up a well nearby. Beyond that though was the large wall she’d had to put up around the village as a whole. It wasn’t a huge defense, any of the adults would be able to see over it without a problem, but they were in the middle of the untamed lands. Monsters and beasts of all sorts lived there and even that minor bit of extra protection would help them in the long run, at least for as long as they stayed out there.

It was as she got to the other end of the village that she found Ben, where he was supposedly working on his last big project for them but instead being distracted by all of the children she’d sent off to play earlier, carrying them on his shoulders and running across a bed of stone in an empty pit in the ground that had previously been an empty field, with all of the dirt in it moved to the side to be put back later.

She watched him silently for a moment, finding the scene charming, even as her old worries came to mind. What if whatever changes were happening could hurt him? What if someone else saw his skills and he was attacked for them? What if-

Stop thinking about it.

She had already decided that she wouldn’t worry about the future, she just wanted to enjoy the time she had with him now, but that didn’t just make her concerns vanish, and Ben certainly didn’t make such a task easy on her. It seemed like every few weeks he just had to do something that would be a problem down the line, not to mention the constant issue that was his lifespan.

It was obvious loving him was going to set her up to be hurt in the end, but as he turned and saw her, his face breaking into the happiest of smiles, she couldn’t help but smile back. She didn’t know if she’d really made the right choice, but this was the one she wanted.

He put the kids down and climbed out of the pit, picking her up and spinning her around in his arms after rushing to her, joy pouring from him as he did.

“Good news I take it?” She asked as she looked down at him, still in his grasp.

“Completed my quest and my job with it! You’re now looking at a master enchanter! Oh man, I can’t wait to start putting this to use too! So much to learn, so much to do!”

“Ahem, are we maybe interrupting something?” A familiar voice asked from the side, making it clear that the people they’d been waiting for had finally arrived.

Will gave them a wave as Steph ran over to them, wrapping them in a hug, with Sachel and her party standing behind them.

Ben put her down and she did her best not to be mortified that people she knew had just seen them like that as the rest made their way over too while Ben spoke to her.

“Alright, since it looks like we can leave, I'll just need to finish up here. Sorry Thera, can you put the dirt back into the pit? Just try not to knock down any of the polls at the sides please.”

All around where Ben had been working, a few stone pillars were jutting out of the ground and she did her best to avoid them while filling it in, as he explained just what the point of that all was for Sachel.

“Alright, so I have a plant magic enchantment down under there so I was hoping to use this area as a field. Did you get all the seeds?”

“Yep, so I just need to grow a few outside of there to see what will work best in these woods first right?”

“Right. After just take them through the finer bits of agriculture. You can always reach out to me if you need anything but they’ve already been taught how to activate it and they know who among them has the role. Anything you need to know otherwise?”

“I wouldn’t mind knowing why we had to come do this,” Skoe asked, getting a blank look from Ben.

“Because you guys owed me a favour and I said so. Also, too many people currently think I’m dead so I don’t want to waste more time not correcting them of that. Before I run off, where did you put everything?”

“Nowhere,” Steph told him. “It’s all in my storage, where should we leave it?”

“I’ll show you where in town, we have a building set up for everything, come on.”

As they went to drop things off, they asked the villagers to gather for them and spread the word to the others, and they all met in the center with the crowd quickly formed to hear what he had to say and find out about the new strangers in their lands.

Ben was quick to tell them about Sachel and her party, how they’d be staying with them for a while to help however they could and teach some things she and Ben couldn’t and at the end brought Toltho up front.

“Now, I know this might seem a little freaky at first but it’s not a big deal and it will make it easier for you to keep track of things for your status. Just prick your finger and place it on the card, there’s enough for everyone.”

The former priest nodded and did as he was asked as both Thera and Ben leaned in to look at what it would say, filled with curiosity about what it would show that couldn’t be found out when connecting to them.

In all, it was a fairly standard status. Resistances below ten and decent affinities all things considered, putting him in the high teens and low twenties for almost everything. It was just one thing that was obviously problematic, making the two of them silently look to each other, neither sure what the consequences would be if the village they’d come to know ever had to join the wider world and word got out that as far as the system was concerned, their species was listed as demidemons.

After saying their goodbyes on a more individual level, Will and Steph took them back to the closest gate over the course of a few hours, using the time to fill them in on all that had happened in the few weeks since they left Allfaith.

By the end of it, Steph was shaking Ben in exasperation, unable to believe how he kept walking into different problems, but eventually they parted ways, going through their home gate and leaving the two of them alone.

“Alright, where to now?” Ben asked, not forgetting that she said there was something they needed to do. “Back to Anailia first? Pick up the cart and be on our way?”

“We’ll leave the cart, hopefully this will only be a few hours,” She said as she grabbed his hand, pulling him along to a gate she never wanted to bother going through. It was one of the few that had guards stationed on the outside, both to keep anyone from going in accidentally, as well as keep anything dangerous from getting out. As much as she hated it, they would be entering the life valley to see the great life spirit, her aunt Vividus.