Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube-CH1015

“What exactly is all of this?” Ben asked as he arrived at the edge of the demi’s area of town, the church of Myriad in hand after making the detour to grab it and finding a far larger crowd than expected had formed.

The dryads and sirens were there of course, Hentath having convinced her people to stay there despite a few misgivings, with all of the demis there as well to fulfill the task Ben had left them with as they mingled, trying to make the dryad’s feel comfortable and safe despite what happened, but that wasn’t everyone.

No, on top of that, there were adventurers, guards, and just normal townsfolk there to watch as well, some looking unhappy but most of them just looking curious as Ceselee answered, keeping quiet for him to hear alone.

“You said you wanted to make sure there were no arguments about this, right? I think most people here know not to mess with you by now, but this can be a good reminder for anyone with a shorter memory, so just make sure the display you’ve got here looks good, alright?”

“Mmh, I get it. Don’t worry, I’ve already committed to going all out for this.”

Despite the fact that he’d been trying to reduce his reliance on the church of Myriad and all of the power he’d made it hold, when it came to helping those he cared about he wasn’t going to be so picky and a proper display of power wasn’t just to keep others in line, it could also help the dryads believe they’d made the right choice so, overfilling his soul and feeling it burn from the volume of mana he forced into it, Ben spent that power before everyone's eyes.

The town’s wall moved, separating from itself as both ends slithered farther out while the land itself was warped, the ground flattened and rebuilt as dirt changed to roads and houses grew from the soil, materialization applied where it was needed to make up for whatever he couldn’t get from the environment but was otherwise simple. His mind could easily model a village by that point, and he had the power to take the mana he’d need to bring it to reality. By the time the new wall was built, the extension was done, leaving the crowd in shock and awe while he addressed the ones who would be moving in.

“It will be a little bit longer till everything is completely finished. I’ll need to go to each house to fill with some essentials, but that shouldn’t take too long. What matters is that they’re arranged in roughly the same orientation as they would have been in your village, so you should have no issue finding where to stay. For now, just relax for a bit, and in an hour, I’ll have you all ready to move in.”

With that all said, he got to work, going from house to house and materializing what he needed to to make sure they were comfortable, not wanting them to feel like they’d made the wrong choice in moving there. Already the houses he’d built were superior to what they had in their village, each structure that had been there old enough that, even with the bit of upkeep he’d done for them in the past and the work it seemed Delair had been doing for them since then, a fresh start was automatically going to be superior.

Beds and bedding, plates and cutlery, chairs, tables, and everything else they might need, Ben materialized it all, using his expertise to put an emphasis on ensuring the comfort of the ones who would be using it all before he was finished, letting them all begin to move, seeing that after all they’d been through, many of them just wanted to rest.

With the show over, by the time he’d finished, most of the town who’d come to watch had slipped off, leaving a few of the demidemons to help out with what dryads weren’t immediately hiding away as they tried to build a connection between them like Ben had wanted, with only a handful still there.

Thera and Mora were keeping Fontesh and Delair occupied at the side, but Ben could see from there the effect it had on all of them. Fontesh, having gone through the panic of coming out through the gate and finding her daughter wasn’t where she’d been left, was keeping her as close as she could without stressing the child out. Something Mora had no concerns about. Whether it came from seeing what happened to Ben and imagining the same thing happening to Delair or if it was just from knowing that more people he’d cared about had been in such danger, he was holding onto Delair’s arm tight in his own and showed no sign of letting go, the girl more than willing to take it. Delair, at least, he’d seen the thoughts of and knew that as bad as things had been, what had really set her off was seeing Ben lose his head, and Mora being there was a comfort and a distraction.

Thera wasn’t spared the aftereffects of seeing what had happened to him either, but at least in her case, she’d gotten a bit of security back from saving him. It didn’t change what had happened, but it was making it more manageable for her.

Yeah, there really is a lot to deal with, so I need to finish up here and get to it.

He turned his attention to the few with him to get that done; Ceselee, Hentath, and Sachel all waiting for him as he sorted out the last few things they’d need to do.

“Okay, with that done we’re mostly good, only a few things to sort out. First, Sachel, I know you have seeds of all sorts at home and I know the dryads are used to being pretty self-sustaining about food so gather whatever they can grow to eat since they’ve lost their fields and give them to your grandmother. Hentath, I’m assuming you don’t mind being put to a bit of work while your village is resting?”

“You don’t get to be in charge if you’re going to rest at a time like this.”

“Good, in that case, as an awakened plant mage, I’m going to trust you to start working on small fruit and vegetable gardens in each person's home. They can work on them themselves after, but having an awakened plant mage to start them off will make things nice and quick. From there, Sachel, give me your card.”

“Hmm? Okay,” she agreed, holding it out as he tapped his own against it instead of taking it, briefly getting to see her eyes bulge before she reeled her reaction back.

“When you’re done helping your grandmother out, take one of my gates in the shop and go to the magic towers to buy extra food and ingredients from the city and distribute them all when you come back. I’ll lend you the keys so just drop them off to me later, I want to have the dryads all stocked up but if we suddenly try to supply an extra few hundred people with what’s being sold in Stonewall alone, then we might face some shortages in supplies in the short term and I don’t want something like that creating any poor feelings in town so soon after everyone’s moved in. Other than that, if you see anything else you think they’re going to need then feel free to buy it and split whatever money is left equally between the adults after.”

“Now, hold on,” Hentath tried to stop him. “You’ve already done a lot for us today, we can’t just be taking your money on top of everything else.”

“You can and you will because one, I’m rich beyond all of your wildest dreams, and two, you’re living in a town now. Before, as a small community, you didn’t exactly have much need for money, right? You could get by on trade and favours, at most occasionally selling to one of your passing travelling merchants. Stonewall’s too big for that though. Eventually, you’ll all be able to make money pretty comfortably since you’ll have no trouble selling crops here or in any surrounding communities, but that’s going to take time and I can’t leave you all destitute until then. Just tell everyone it’s from Sachel if it will make them more comfortable about it.”

“Ben, I can’t take credit for this!”

“Sure you can. You’re a rank two adventurer, it’s completely reasonable for anyone to assume you have the money for this sort of thing and they’re your family. If it makes the handoff smoother then what do I care?”

“Out of curiosity, do you ever feel like you have a warped relationship with money?” Ceselee asked him.

“You literally can’t be as rich as me and still have a normal relationship with money, and since I have so much of it, I might as well use it to help out people I care about. Having said that, none of you spread that around. I don’t want to deal with word getting out through town about just how rich I am. With that said, Ceselee, give me your card ‘cause I’m also going to be giving you some cash to distribute among the adventurers, healers, and town guards who helped. Tell them it’s a bonus from the church of Jagal, who appreciates the work they put towards saving their goddess’s believers.”

“You sure?”

“Consider it to be a carrot and stick thing. I’ve already been the stick to the town with my cute little threats and displays of power; the carrot can be having the town believe that the church of the people they’ve taken in properly appreciates it. Actually, speaking of-”

He took in more power from his coat as he said it, materializing two new churches in the distance, with one for Jagal and the other for the sirens closer to where their homes were set up, filling each with the appropriate bits of art and idols to be enjoyed, even if the holy texts those buildings might desire would have to be acquired elsewhere. He’d left plenty of extra space in the new wall for a different task he’d need to work on so adding two extra structures didn’t affect much beyond making sure there’d be some comfort for their new residents, leaving him to nod in satisfaction as he did.

“Alright, and now everyone has a place to pray. Maybe one day I should set up a proper communal church in town too. We’re getting pretty big, we could probably use it, right?”

“That doesn’t seem like an immediate concern,” Ceselee told him.

“Right you are. With all of that done though, I think we’ve got everything we need to work on for the day planned out, so I’m going to leave the rest to you all. If you end up needing anything else from me, Sachel and Ceselee know where to find me and… hmm, okay, one more task for Sachel. Grab Toltho and ask him to stick with your grandmother. Once she’s done starting everyone’s garden, he can give her a proper tour of both the town itself and all of the gates we have in the guild and then together, they can plan out how to get the other demis to help the dryads and sirens tomorrow. Hentath, if you need anything, then Toltho can lead you to me and I can help out as well.”

With nothing else immediately though and plans made, Ben was finally able to go exactly where he wanted to be, joining the other four and doing his best to look positive and confident as he went to scoop up the kids in his arms before addressing them all.

“Okay, I think we’re about as organized as we can be so Fontesh, why don’t you let us show you around town for now and then you and Delair can come back to our place to relax for a bit after. Maybe play some games and enjoy a meal. You guys are our neighbours now, let us show you some proper hospitality.”

It also meant that they wouldn’t need to separate Mora and Delair yet either while also giving some distraction to the two and seeing that, Fontesh was quick to agree, finding that she could still use some distracting herself and let themselves be taken around, making the day and all the changes that had come with it just a bit easier to bear.