Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Eventually, Falk kicked him out for the day and Ben went back home to prep dinner for everyone, as well as work on his personal project. He was almost done with it and knew he’d be up all night if it meant having it finished even a bit faster, but he needed something to eat first.

He pulled out some ingredients and started preparing them when Thera got home and looked over his shoulder.

“Smells good, what’s for dinner?”

“Just a simple stew. Since we had leftover roast from yesterday it shouldn’t be too long to cook,” Even with the benefits of his crafting to speed up the cooking process, he didn’t want to spend too much time to get the meat tender so taking advantage of some leftovers made for a good shortcut to having it done in an hour or so. “What’s up with you, do anything fun during the day?”

“Eh, not really. Spent most of the day working on my earth magic and telekinesis. Speaking of, I’ll need a new staff.”

“Way ahead of you. Come to the shop tomorrow, I’ve got thirty.”

“You’re the best.”

“Yeah yeah, just make sure you keep a record of what you’re doing with each one so I can see what works and what doesn’t.”

She made a face at the reminder but agreed. “I know, I will, but is it really that helpful?”

“I can only watch how you manage with them when we’re out hunting. If I can’t understand how they turn out they’ll never get any better.”

“Weren’t you going to try making a staff with my hair at some point?” She asked, running her fingers through the golden strands that had made their way past her shoulders. It had been months since he first thought of the idea in Anailia, and he’d even increased his crafting by a few levels since then, but he still shook his head.

“Yeah yeah, enough patronizing. I’m testing it out so don’t watch me while I bathe.”

He’d been looking forward to this for a while and dreams were about to come true. He’d even gone so far as to incorporate a very small rainbow mana crystal into its design so there’d be no chance of it running out of power if it was left on too long. He couldn’t leave it running forever, but a few hours of constant use wouldn’t be a problem.

He turned it on, getting the heat to match his preferences before getting in and fiddling with the pressure, letting the time flow by once everything was perfect.

Oh yeah, I’m in heaven. It would be easy to dismiss this as an over-exaggeration, but when a person was used to bathing a certain way every day for years and suddenly has that taken from them, it could be hard to feel properly clean. For Ben, it felt like over a year's worth of grime had drained away all at once, and the familiar sensation of warm water pouring over him was divine.

The time melted away, and he was happy to stay in there for as long as he could, just enjoying the feeling, but all too soon a knock came on the door, interrupting him from his peace.

He heaved a sigh, knowing he needed to get out soon anyway and wrapped a towel around his waist as he went to check what the knocking was about.

He opened the door for Thera who stood silent for a moment. Her eyes being solid gold spheres, no pupils to show where her focus lingered it would be hard for most to tell where she was looking, but Ben had gotten used to the subtle movements of her eyelids, and combined with a small golden flush across her face, he could tell she was a bit more aware of his lack of dress than he’d thought about.

“Ahem, maybe you should actually put something on before you open the door.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know if it was anything important so I figured the towel was fine, what’s up?”

“We’ve just been hearing the sounds of water since the early morning but nothing from you so aunty asked me to check that you’re alright. Seeing as you’re fine I’ll leave you to get dressed.”

She cast one more look at him before walking off, leaving him with a lingering feeling of embarrassment as she did.Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.