CH1023

“You know, I would have preferred if you’d mentioned something like this ahead of time,” Ceselee called out to Ben the next morning as he worked just outside of new dryad region of town, even with a crowd gathered to watch as he quickly constructed two giant arches, with materializers on standby to constantly produce all of the materials he needed for them while at the same time what was created flew through the air under the force of his magic, being shaped and enchanted on. “I don’t need anyone banging on my door in the early hours of the morning to ask me to reel you in.”

“There’s nothing to reel, I’m not causing problems here,” he told her as he worked. “In fact, I’m almost done too. I finish this up and then I can do what I need to and I’ll get rid of these after.”

“Okay, see, the fact that what you’re saying implies that these things have some sort of purpose and aren’t just a random artful whim of yours is actually the problem,” she told him, the towering arches visible from all parts of town thanks to the scale of them. “These aren’t weapons, are they?”

“No.”

“They’re not going to go wrong somehow and make all of our plants crazy again?”

“Nope.”

“They aren’t going to do anything that’s going to increase my workload?”

“...”

“Say no, Ben!”

“It won’t be by much,” he yelled back. “If it’s that bad for you, then tell our mayor to start dealing with me instead of dumping his work on you.”

“Unfortunately, interacting with you means having a certain will to deal with a maniac; it’s not to everyone’s taste. Can any of you tell me what he’s doing then?” She turned to ask, not bothering with the larger crowd that had come to watch the strange construction taking place but instead those he was close to, with Thera, Mora, Delair, along with Sachel, all there at his request, with the rest of the dryads nearby too.

“I was just told I’d come in handy when he grabbed me,” Sachel shrugged, still prepared to assist if needed, with Mora looking unsure as well while Delair didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the guild leader, her focus entirely on her teacher’s work, using her own knowledge he’d instilled in her to both interpret and learn from the colossal structures.

Finally, her focus on Thera, she got a bit of an answer, even if it was less than she’d hoped. 

“I don’t think you’ll believe it until you see it. Just… well, it’s not going to hurt anybody so it should be fine, and it will make the dryads far more comfortable here too.”

“...”

Ceselee wanted something more; she was willing to believe a fair bit if she had to, but before she could try to push it, two things happened at once. Ben finished his work, and a new being appeared.

“Perfect!” Ben cheered, looking at the giant gates he’d created while the rest of the town watched on in shock. With that, the fact that he could make such things was completely out to them, but considering that plenty of the adventurers in Stonewall had used the mini-gate he’d made when they were helping to save the dryads, word was always going to spread eventually. No need to hide a secret that was known by people the world over by that point anyway, and with the two bridging the gap between only a few feet of space between each other, Ben turned to address the new arrival who’d come to help him truly benefit from the nature of his newest construction. “Ogilt, you’re just in time.”

“What do you need?” the great space spirit asked, looking at the new gates and how they warped his domain of power with interest, before his attention fell to Ben and the different ripples in reality spreading through him.

“There’s a place I need you to take one of these. I’ll show you the way.”

Connecting to the great space spirit to transmit the information more efficiently than words ever could, Ben gave his directions, watching as Ogilt nodded before disappearing with one end, the remaining one revealing where its companion had ended up.

Through the portal for all to see was what remained of the dryad village, with the dryads themselves having negative reactions to the ruins of the old home that Ben turned to address.

“If any of you want to look for any old possessions that hold sentimental value, this is the time to do it. With Ogilt here, none of you will have to worry about searching around, but while you do that, Sachel and Hentath, I’m going to need the two of you to come with me and Thera.”

With that he picked the three up, trusting the kids to help the other dryads too while he flew his group out in their woods, stopping when they reached their destination.

“Warn a person before you do something like that,” Hentath swore at him, the quick flight through trees and the giant gate he’d made distracting her for a moment before she realized where they’d been brought: the dryad grove before them.

The moment they’d arrived, Ben had connected to those woods, talking to the trees there as he did. No matter how dim, he’d learned early on in his skill that even plants could have a bit of consciousness, despite how alien it might have been, and when it came to all of the ones that he’d exchanged thoughts with, the ones of the dryad homeworld stood at the top, and it wasn’t even close. While not to the extent that they could be called people, he placed their intelligence closer to what one would expect of something just below a pet; they were able to think at speeds equivalent to an average person. Not shockingly bright, but active to the point that communication was possible for the plant mages who could interpret their wills through their magics, and even more so for Ben who could directly touch their minds.

While he was doing that though, having his little, private conversations that both Hentath and Sachel couldn’t completely understand from the one side of it they could hear, both nodded with a different understanding.

“I guess we were always going to need to collect seeds to start regrowing,” Sachel nodded, with Stonewall lacking any of the dryadic plants her village had been so used to tending to since its founding. “Collecting them and starting a nearby grove should help everyone get back to a bit of a routine.”

“Close, but not quite,” Ben answered before Hentath could say anything to the thought, while his mental conversation went on. “The village has made huge progress growing this since I helped awaken some of you. You spent, what? A couple centuries working to grow it and after a few years of having awakened plant mages to help, it must be three times its original size.”

“Your help has been appreciated,” Hentath told him, thinking he was fishing for compliments. “In that case, if you didn’t bring us here to collect seeds, what exactly did you have in mind?”

“Bringing the forest itself. At least, a good chunk of it.”

“What?”

“It just doesn’t make sense to bring it all,” Ben explained, thinking that was the problem. “I get there’s other dryad groves out there, you won’t exactly be doomed if something comes along and completely destroys it, but there’s still no need to keep all of your eggs in one basket like that, especially considering that, given the state of things, none of you should really be planning on using it to have children until the third wave ends. Bringing, well, I was thinking a quarter of this to Stonewall will give you all something to work on, along with a familiar task. If you all choose to stay in Stonewall if the world ever stops falling apart, then great, you’ll have this, but if any of you ever want to go back to try and rebuild your old village, then that will be an option too. Plus, while I don’t think anything significant will happen to either population of forest, it doesn’t hurt to have it kicking around, just to be on the safe side. Also, while of course your opinions matter on the subject, I have already gotten your trees to agree.”

“How the hell did you do that so fast?” Hentath asked him, too swept away in his pace to do anything else while he just grinned.

“I have a lot of practice talking with a slightly less intelligent plant than these ones,” he explained, Frederick still developing in their intelligence despite all of the growth they’d still had, with the fact that what had originally just been a berry bush had grown enough under Ben’s love to even be close to some of the most intelligent plants on the world enough to be a point of pride in that dear companion. “Add in that I’m also the world’s foremost, and possibly only, expert on language and it was easy, which now brings you two. You don’t want your forests harmed in any way, I get it, so now comes what is sure to be the long process of using your magics to untangle the tree roots from one another so nothing breaks and tears during the move. I’ll guide you so just do your best, the aim is to finish up in the next couple hours.”

---

Their minds sped up and mana poured into them when they needed it, the two awakened mages finished Ben’s task in his timeframe, letting Thera play her part next. Connecting with him, he outlined where to spend her power and her magic was cast, separating a section of forest from the rest and raised it in the sky above, carrying it with them back and getting eyes as they did.

Only Ogilt remained on that side of the gate as they returned, the rest of the dryads having taken whatever they wanted from the remains, but once they passed through, anyone looking their way in Stonewall saw what was happening, the very reason Ben had made those gates so large specifically to account for the treetops that would need to pass through it.

While Ceselee was long gone by then, having enough work that she couldn’t just wait for whatever chaos he was going to bring, he had no doubt that she’d be coming back with some words for him soon enough, but that was a future concern. As they stood at the edge of the dryad’s new home, Thera ripped a hole in the ground that matched what she’d been carrying with her, setting down that small forest to fill it while at the same time used the dirt she’d had to displace for it to build a wall around it, connecting it to Stonewall’s own but still made it separate enough that people wouldn’t be able to just wander in carelessly. Those trees were important to the dryads after all; they couldn’t just be dropped there without some measure to control who could be around them, at least not until an explanation about them could be properly given.

But that’s something I can sort out over the rest of the day, Ben told himself. Make the town aware that the dryads love the trees and not to vandalize them, lest the guy that can make gates and the girl that can carry a forest over her head gets mad. Other than that, I just need to get Ogilt to bring both sides of the gates to the outskirts of Anailia to let Pelenia decide what to do with them since I don’t need them anymore and then I can worry about other things.

Of course, other things were going to likely mean an earful from their local guildmaster as they went around, explaining the new forest on the edge of town, but that didn’t matter.

With that, the dryads would be just a little more comfortable about their move, and Ben could focus on what he needed to without worrying about them. As everyone around him moved on from what happened, he could plot his next grasp at power.