Chapter 165: Showing Off(?)

Showing Off(?)

Immediately Xander and Ben stepped through the doorway, everyone stopped talking and looked towards them. Or more specifically, Ben.

There was a moment of silence, and Xander watched Ben’s intent get filled with apprehension.

"... I thought you said you were going to talk with the Princess." Curtis was the first one to speak.

"Indeed." Xander nodded.

"That isn’t the princess." Aubrey pointed out.

"Indeed." Xander nodded.

They looked at each other.

Falael sighed.

"You... ugh. First a Succubus, now this kid. Wasn’t this ball meant to be about us making our debut? Why are you collecting people like prized possessions?" She rubbed the bridge of her nose, and Xander sadly could not dispute that statement.

"... Anyway, everyone, this is Ben." He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

"Ben, that’s Aubrey, Curtis, Falael, Mary, Mia, and Keir." He pointed them at each other, and Ben looked around with wide eyes before looking up at him.

"... Is that a dragon?" He whispered to Xander, but everyone still heard it.

"Yup."

"Wow." He blinked, then rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

"H-Hi." Curtis tilted his head, ears twitching.

"Hm. He’s kinda cute, not gonna lie." Xander nodded.

"Right?" He walked Ben over to his bed. "Still, he’s not great around new people, so you’ll need to bear with him." Ben sat down, still looking around curiously. He then turned to Mia who was looking at his suitcase with something close to interest.

He looked back at Xander.

"You... have a lot of friends." He finally spoke a full sentence, and Xander paused, looked around the room, the scratched his head.

’Huh. I guess I do.’ Just then, Falael stood, walked over to Ben, and squatted in front of him, her eyes curious.

"Ben, right?" Ben looked down and nodded slightly.

’He seems very shy.’ Aubrey noted again, and Xander nodded while thinking to himself.

’It’s not surprising. This is his fist time outside in a while and he’s meeting a bunch of new people. None of them normal. It must be a bit overwhelming.’ Then he said aloud.

"Ben isn’t great with new people. But trust, if you can get him talking about something he likes, he’ll be pretty talkative." Xander sounded pretty confident in that, and Falael tilted her head before offering a faint smile.

"In that case, Ben. What do you like to do?" She asked easily, completely unlike her usually proud demeanor. It seemed like she had a soft spot for kids.

Ben glanced up then looked down again.

"Um... Runes and... Rituals." He spoke like he expected an odd reaction, and... an odd reaction he got.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, but Xander had clearly expected this as he took over smoothly.

"Ben is special. He’s able to perform Ritual Magic without any of the typical downsides or backlash. So it’s actually a sustainable form of magic for him." Aubrey glanced at him and sent him a telepathic message.

’Is this why he’s here? Ritual Magic is immensely dangerous, but when done properly, is among some of the most effective forms of Magic. If he can use it without repercussions, then that makes him extremely valuable.’ Xander nodded slightly.

’That’s part of it.’ Aubrey raised a brow.

’Only part?’ Xander glanced at her briefly.

’It’s related to that secret I told you guys about. I’ll tell you everything together.’ Aubrey was silent for a few seconds, then she nodded.

"... artifacts huh? Can you show us some of the ones you’ve made?" Falael had already gotten the conversation back on track as she sat next to Ben. Curtis had also gone over, looking curious but not saying much.

"Well..." Ben hesitated before putting his suitcase on his lap and opening it.

Xander had expected the standard interior for a suitcase. What he didn’t expect was just a black void when the boy opened it.

’That’s... is that spatial compression?’ He wasn’t sure. It sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

Ben reached into the darkness, his arm literally getting swallowed as after a moment of searching, he pulled something out.

It was a blue and gold top half mask with plumes of feathers by the side. It looked elegant, like something one would wear to a masquerade, but also normal. At least, no one could feel anything from it except Aubrey who suddenly stood straighter.

"That’s..." She trailed off as Ben put the mask on, then he grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at Xander.

Xander raised a hand at caught it, a bit perplexed as to where this was going. However, an instant later, he suddenly felt a sense of deja vu as he raised his hand to catch the pillow...

’Huh? Did I not just...’ He blinked, looked at the pillow, then looked at Ben. Then he looked at everyone else who seemed equally confused.

"Did time just... lag?" Curtis looked genuinely perplexed, and Aubrey narrowed her eyes.

"No... that’s not it. That was more like... Hm, how do i describe it?" She muttered, and Ben took off the mask.

"I named that particular ability ’Re-enactment’, basically I caused an event that had occurred to occur again. So I really did throw that pillow. And Xander really did catch it. It just happened... again. Because I re-enacted the scenario." He looked at the mask with some pride.

"I named the mask Reminiscence. It derives its abilities from something with authority over Remembrance. It’s one of the cooler things I’ve made." He explained, his anxiety seeming to take a backseat as he spoke about something he enjoyed.

There was a moment of silence, the Falael asked carefully.

"And... what are the downsides?" She had to ask that question, because something like that... Even if that’s all the mask did, that was still a very potent ability. Sure, no one was really on guard. But imagine that in a combat situation.

Imagine enduring a terrifying attack and barely surviving... only for the scenario to be re-enacted, and you have to endure that same attack again. That’s terrifying.

Power like that had to come at a cost, and yet... Ben just scratched his head.

"Well, after I use the mask, I feel nostalgic for a while." Once again, everyone stared at him.

"Nostalgic? Not... forced to relive bad memories? Or being trapped in a false memory and thinking it’s real?" Aubrey frowned, and Ben just shrugged.

"No? Not really." Once more, silence, then they looked at Xander who just looked... smug.

"See? Told you he was special." Curtis blinked, then he looked at Ben.

"Huh... How old are you?" Ben looked him with his big eyes.

"13."

HISS

All of them were startled.

This wasn’t like Mia who looked like a child but was 19 in reality. Ben... truly looked his age. Yet he was capable of creating artifacts like that...

"Wait, hold on. Time out." Falael made a time out motion with her hands and stared at Xander.

"I’m sorry... but how exactly does that work? I thought that with Ritual Magic, the more powerful the item bestowed to the ritualist, the higher the corresponding cost. And I’ve heard stories of some practitioners needing to sacrifice several lives just for a decent increase in their Mana pool." She looked back at Ben, frowning. "No offense, but what did you trade in order to get that mask?" Ben blinked, then his brows knitted slightly, and Xander watched his intent become indignant.

"... Nothing. I just offered the Mask and it got blessed to become like this. There were no obscene sacrifices." Falael still looked doubtful, but Xander spoke.

"There’s no catch, Falael. At least, none that I can see." He said, looking at the intent connected to Remembrance. None of which was hostile.

Ben had a look on his face that said ’See?’.

Falael was silent for a moment, then she exhaled.

"Okay. Fine, that’s... very impressive." Curtis, Xander, and Aubrey shared a look. Falael’s reaction seemed a tad out of place.

Xander didn’t doubt that the worry was real. But usually she trusted him well enough that if he showed no concern for something, then she’d treat it as safe too.

Yet the fact she pressed the issue...

’Especially with Mia here, who could probably detect any instances of foul play the instant it showed up. That reaction didn’t seem entirely normal.’ Xander hesitated, then he decided to look at Falael’s intent lines and...

’Huh?’ Thick lines of wariness stretched from her to Ben and the mask. This made Xander frown slightly.

’Definitely abnormal.’ At this point, Ben had returned Reminiscence into the suitcase, and the group wondered just how many different artifacts were inside the storage, and what they could all do. All in the hands of a 13 year old...

"Okay, well, since Ben is officially a part of our group, I guess we’ll need to adjust our plan to include him... or not. If he doesn’t want to participate." Aubrey stated, and Ben perked up.

"Plan? What plan?" There was a brief silence, then Xander spoke.

"There’s a pretty high chance some people are gonna try to assassinate us when we leave the Palace.

Ben’s face went blank.

"... Huh?"