“Ben, you really can be such a sweet boy sometimes, you know that?” Myriad sighed. “It’s a shame you use so much of the rest of your time to be a bastard.”

“Excuse you, bastardry doesn’t even take up an hour of my time a day. I have brief bursts of it every few months or weeks at most.”

“Sure, but when you do I’m left remembering them for weeks after.”

“Sounds like a you problem, I basically forget the second I’m done.”

“That really was a nice thing you did for Verbum,” Helori agreed, not adding her own opinion on the topic of the rest of Ben’s attitude. “It might be worthwhile to get you to do that for the rest of the summoned if you can. It would be good for morale.”

“With what time? I had to skip sleeping last night to make that happen, doing that for two hundred people would break me.”

“As if you aren’t already breaking,” She shot back before walking over to him to plunge her arms into her chest. “You’re still getting headaches, I take it?”

“Off and on. They really aren’t that bad.”

“Except the strain to your mind is beginning to extend to your soul, which on the one hand shouldn’t be that surprising since that’s what you’re actually thinking with, but on the other is still troubling.”

“Um, okay, consider me troubled. How worried should I be?”

“...Probably not at all,” She admitted. “A little strain isn’t going to hurt you, at least not in a case like this, even if it’s bizarre to see. I don’t even know how you’re managing this right now. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Okay, I’m going to take that as it’s fine. The headaches are infrequent anyway so it’s probably not a big deal and Yuzu would have said something the last time I saw her if it looked worrying. Speaking of, is she okay?”

“She's fine,” Myriad reassured him. “Giving a blessing just creates a different type of strain compared to casting a normal spell. She’ll need a few days to recover from it but her teacher will be able to help speed things up on that front too.”

“Okay, cool then.”

With nothing else on his mind, he was prepared to give them an easy night while he focused on whatever books they could make him, but he felt Helori fidgeting, the sensation made all of the worse thanks to her arms still being inside of him.

“Something on your mind Helori? And if you’re done, can you pull those out.”

“...I have a favour to ask,” She admitted after a second’s hesitation, leaving his side to go back to sitting atop Myriad.

“Okay, what is it then?”

He felt a little on guard, the fact that she was hesitating to just say it couldn’t help but make him suspicious, but the actual request seemed harmless enough.

“With the next wave coming, I was interested in having my main church renovated to help ease the minds of any of my people who’re going there to seek comfort. Obviously, you’re the first name that came to mind.”

“Wait, is that all? That’s fine. Jeez, with the way you were hesitating, I was worried you might have a secret grandchild too.”

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“Absolutely not.”

“Cool, so what’s the issue then?”

“...With the war efforts in full swing and given I’m a smaller goddess, I don’t actually have much I can pay you for your services.”

It felt shameful for her to admit that, especially when what she was asking for was an entire renovation, but if she wanted it done by the best option she had available then she didn’t have much choice. All she could do was hope that he’d be a bit flexible on prices if he’d be willing to do it and waited while she watched him think, getting an answer that surprised her.

“Okay, you don’t need to pay me, I’ll do it.”

“Wait, really?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“A little.”

Unlike some other gods, she didn’t particularly hold any of Ben’s greed against him, but that didn’t mean she expected to be spared from it. Since she didn’t have much money, she’d thought he’d try and get her to spend some of her faith to raise one of his attributes. The fact that he was going to do it without trying to negotiate was a bit of a shock.

“Why? You’re my pal, I don’t mind helping you out when I can if it’s nothing crazy. Of course, there is one thing I wouldn’t mind.”

She waited as he paused, feeling like things had gone back on track. Of course Ben would want something, this was surely where he’d ask to have an attribute raised, but instead he surprised her again.

“Just tell me what a good student I’ve been.”

“What?”

“Whenever I ask you to teach me something I do my best to learn it, but to this day you still deny it every time I talk about how great a student I am. It cuts me deep, Helori, I just want to feel appreciated.”

He looked at her with earnest eyes, leaving her feeling almost guilty. Any time he’d say something like that she’d always brush him off, but would it really be so bad to just give him some approval? With all the work he did, how could it be?

Trying her best to show her own sincerity, she once again jumped off Myriad, walking over to Ben to pat his head.

“You’ve been an excellent student in the couple years I’ve been teaching you now, I’m very proud of you.”

It would have felt like an incredibly sweet moment too, if the notification that rang out didn’t immediately ruin it.

Looking at him through narrowed eyes, seeing him try to keep the thrill of the title from his face, only one thought came to her mind.

“You planned this.”

“A little,” He admitted. “I thought I might get one if you ever properly acknowledged me as your student, but it really did kind of hurt that you never did you know.”

“You are actually the worst.”

“But I’m going to be renovating your church free of charge with the only thing I got being a title. This worked out okay for everyone so while I’m up here show me some floor plans and I’ll figure out what I’m doing.”

And hopefully get some good benefits for it too.

He didn’t really know what effects he could expect from it but he’d take what he could get. If it helped him level his magic or mind skills then that would be great, but even if it only did something like raise his mana or intelligence, he would happily take it. Neither was the true point in holding such a title.

He’d wanted those potential benefits all the way back when he’d first got Helori to teach him, before he had a single awakened skill to his name, but now he had a different desire for it. Name recognition. Enough parts of his status got him in trouble from people randomly finding out what he had, not just every part that was related to his sacrilege in some way, but both his enemy titles along with others that placed him as some sort of adversary to the gods, with only his apostle title to really improve his image.

Now though he had another defense, no matter how small it might have been, that would hopefully make anyone who managed to get a peek at what he was to pause before acting too rashly. He was officially no longer just the apostle of the god Myriad, but also the student of the goddess Helori. Add in all of his blessings and the few other positive titles he possessed too and hopefully if he was ever in a bad situation again, it would be enough for anyone to give him a chance to explain himself before things came to blows.

And in a pinch, this might help me if I ever need a favour from anyone in her church too. I already get on well enough with her and her apostle so it’s not like that was a major worry, but it never hurts to have the benefit around if need be. You’ve given me something worth way more than money here Helori so just you wait, I’m going to make your church a masterpiece.