“No. Nope. Absolutely not.”

The second Ben walked through the gate and got a look at the city beyond, he was already turning around to go back, thinking of how he’d apologize to Nare for not being able to meet his request but placing his life above any promise. The only thing that kept him from his escape was Thera’s grasp on his arm.

“Come on, it’s a bit hot but it’s not that bad.”

“A bit hot? Thera, look at that! Some idiot built a city beside an active volcano! I see smoke and fire, I’m pretty sure everyone should be evacuating!”

“Nobody’s evacuating because it’s perfectly safe. What has you so scared?”

“My intense urge to not die?”

“Then everything’s fine. I’ve heard about this place, a lot of fire and earth elementals and fairies live here and they keep the volcano in check so the climate is better for certain races. Why don’t you know this?”

“I haven’t read any geography books and apparently neither god thought it was important enough to bring up,” He spoke accusingly to the heavens, not getting any reply. If he ignored the volcano there was nothing wrong with the city. It was hot like Thera said, but his heavily enchanted jacket made that a bit easier to deal with and everything was constructed in a way to help with airflow, meaning the buildings themselves wouldn’t be ovens, but that was just it. He couldn’t make himself ignore the presence of the giant volcano looming overhead with wisps of smoke making it to the skies and the glow of lava lighting up cracks and crevices. He was sure it was the sort of thing that would look beautiful at night, but in the moment it only looked like impending doom.

God, if I die from an eruption I’m going to be pissed. That would suck so much.

Still, Thera seemed thrilled by the location with how different it was from anywhere else they’d been and it really was late to be cancelling, even if he did feel like he was led there without being fully informed of what that meant, so he tried to suppress his desire to flee as they continued down the streets, taking in the various other sights that didn’t speak of a future fiery death.

It seemed that Nare’s people were at least a group he recognized, the ignisia, who fit into the common hominid body type, with the biggest distinctions to set them apart from his own kind being their sold black eyes and bony exoskeleton along their hands and forearms, with that pale outer shell able to retract and extend across their hands depending on if they needed to protect their more delicate inner flesh from whatever they might face or something that would require a finer sense of touch.

Seeing it did leave Ben questioning if that was a trait that already existed in them before they were uplifted by their god or if it was a feature Nare had granted them during that uplifting process but left it as something to ask later as they first tried to find the succubus embassy to secure their accommodations.

“I think you’re going to need to make one of your air conditioners when you get the chance,” Thera told him, beginning to feel the heat even through her excitement. “It’s not so bad right now but a couple days of this and I’m going to melt.”

“I won’t make you wait, I think I’m going to need a little extra too.”

The jacket was helping with its cooling enchantment, but there was a problem attached to that as well. Ben’s resistances kept him from feeling it to the extent anyone else would since the magic had a weaker effect on him. While it would also cool the air within his jacket which would help cool him, the close volcano and what he could only assume was a location near the equator were just slightly beating any effect he felt, making him need some help if he really wanted to be comfortable.

To accomplish that he connected to Thera, stealing the mana from her he needed to create a few wood-like bands with small bits of mythril and white mana crystal within, making them wrap around each of their arms and necks before creating a new, stronger cooling enchantment upon them.

Huh, I used so little mythril and mana crystal I don’t think I actually needed to steal any mana for making these. Man, I’m so good at what I do.

He would need to steal some later if he was going to be making a proper air conditioner, but that was fine. Both of them were already feeling the effects of the bands he’d made, giving them each the relief they needed to enjoy the rest of their walk.

After finding the embassy and pre-preparing a proper air conditioner so the room would be nice and cool by the time they got back, it was finally time to go off and meet his temporary students as they slowly wandered the streets, making their way there while they took in the atmosphere.

If he was to judge, Ben would have described the feeling of the area as good. Not great, but better than other places he’d seen that were feeling the fear that came with the war, especially when the city had an invasion point within sight. They weren’t right on it the way some others were, but the fact that it stood out so clearly in the distance meant there’d probably been a few demon sightings in the past few weeks, maybe even attacks as survivors of the first wave made their way out.

But if fairies and elementals make their home here then they can probably handle a lot of it, that probably helps give a nice little general feeling of safety.

It was something he could see in Anailia too, a confidence in the people that at least for the time being, they would be safe thanks to the powerful force that made his home there. Even if that could only last for so long, it provided the people who had it just a little bit of peace.

Wish there was just a little more of that to go around. Okay, no. No being negative, I’ve gotta have my best attitude out, first impressions and all of that.

It wasn’t hard to find Nare’s granddaughter’s residence, it was as huge as one would expect for anyone with god-blood running through their veins, and the craftsmen and architects who’d built it had made sure to put their full efforts on display to avoid giving any shame to the one they worshiped.

Filled with columns and swooping arches, statues and decals of all sorts, it couldn’t help but be visually stunning, a testament to the shared will of the people who put it together.

I wonder if Falk helped with any part of it, he worships Nare so it would make sense.

…Wait, does he worship Nare? I know Nare’s the one who told Myriad to send me his way but it might just be something he learned about since it seems like the crafting gods talk. Maybe something to ask later.

He didn’t have a set time to get there that day but didn’t want to be too late, so he put off admiring the structure for another time and instead the two of them made their way to the front gate, introducing himself as the apostle of Myriad and proving it by showing his card before the two of them were led inside, passing gardens at the front and going through great halls to end up at what could best be described as a workshop, or maybe a hobby room with all it contained.

It was neater than the shop, that much was certain, with different areas looking like they were divided up to let the one it was built for focus on the different aspects of her crafting skill, with tools of all sorts lining the walls and storage areas for different materials.

Seeing it brought a single word to Ben’s mind, fun, but he told himself he’d admire it more later, instead giving the three who had been working in the room before he showed up his most winning smile before lightly bowing and speaking up.

“Hi there, I’m Ben, the apostle of the god Myriad, and this is Thera. We’ll be here for a couple of weeks so I hope we can get along.”

He didn’t think he did anything wrong with his introduction at least, but his greeting was met with looks of disgust by the summoned individual of Yuzu’s race and the ignisia woman who had to be Nare’s granddaughter, while the last person who he couldn’t guess the identity of gave a low mutter.

“It really is the mad apostle.”

Okay, this seems like it might be slightly less fun than I was expecting.