“Alright,” Ben told him. “Let’s start with the basic questions. Who do you think is going to try and murder you and why did you think it was a good idea to wait till now to tell me? I wasn’t going to say no, man, and this has definitely put a huge crunch on possible solutions.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I’m just full of wedding and parenting stress. Both for the first time, I might add. I didn’t know how to bring it up and I thought you’d take longer making my things and I panicked and left before I could mention it but on the plus side, those other assassination attempts I’ve dealt with recently probably just have me paranoid and on edge, I’m sure it will be fine.”
“Okay, so you’re overthinking it, and there’s probably nothing to worry about, you just want me to double-check. I can do that.”
“Er, well, I probably wouldn’t go that far either.”
“Greed.”
“Uugh, Legs, I’ve told you I’m tryna be a better man and make up for some of my past, but my past keeps coming to bite me in the ass,” Greed cried. “If it’s not my kids wanting me dead then it’s there mothers but I’ve been reaching out to try and make things right and Gennet thought to show that I was serious about the attempt that it would be a good idea to invite them to the wedding, give us a little chance to mingle but some of them brought their mothers and at least one of those bastards is gonna try and murder me, I just know it.”
“Okay, and you said this was Gennet’s idea? Are you seriously, genuinely sure she hasn’t started wanting you dead since I last read her mind and gathering all of your kids here wasn’t just her method of arranging it while keeping her hands clean?”
“No! I mean, probably not at least, I have absolute faith in her but now that you’ve put the stupid idea in my head, if you give her a teeny tiny look and if that was her plan then you can do me a favour and call off the wedding.”
“Okay, but otherwise, you just want me looking in people’s heads and if I see anyone plotting anything I’ll stop them?”
“Discreetly,” Greed clarified. “Ignore what I just said and stop putting that evil in my head because I know Gennet isn’t trying to kill me and this is an important day for her. Well, for both of us, obviously, but it’s my baggage and I don’t want it affecting her, so if you could just try and stop anyone you find as discreetly as you can, it would mean the world to me.”
Ben pinched his brow, taking a breath before trying to put a confident look on his face. “Alright, all I need to do is keep you alive without disturbing the wedding, how hard could it be? You were definitely right at the beginning, you’re just overstressed. Nobody is going to try to murder you, so there’s going to be nothing for me to do. It will be fine.”
“Right, it will be completely fine,” Greed laughed, neither of them completely believing it. “Alright, it looks like Jeeves is coming back and he’ll hand me off to the master of ceremonies so you just have a quick wander and then no matter what you find, do your best to convince me everything is fine and that I was just over-reacting; at least until the wedding is over. Then you can break the cold, hard truth to me if you feel like ruining my day.”
“It will be fine,” Ben said again, as much for his own sake as for the other’s as he handed the crab off and watched as he was brought over to a well dressed dark elf, leaving him to his new task at hand.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
After all, how bad could it be? he asked himself as he stretched out his connect as far as it could go and, without moving a single step, instantly got three hits who had come with ill intent.
… This suddenly feels like it’s going to be a very long day.
With those only being the ones in his range, there was a vast field full of people to check still to the best of his abilities and with every moment he wasn’t moving a chance for someone’s nefarious plans to succeed, Ben got started, walking around to see what schemes were afoot.
I wanna be sick.
He hadn’t even checked everyone. He’d only walked from one end of the field to the other without doing any real weaving to get anyone who stood outside of his range, nor had he had the chance to check anyone still coming in, yet he’d found forty-seven people so far who had their eyes on Greed’s life, and worse, it wasn’t even just his exes and children. A couple individuals in the world’s music scene had come who held umbrage with him for one reason or another, either a dangerous lover Greed had stolen in the past that the crab had no memory of or others who didn’t like the intense level of competition that the holder of an awakened music skill brought but the worst of all was that it didn’t even end with Greed’s invites. There were more than a few on Gennet’s side who didn’t want to see such a sweet girl marry someone with such a poor reputation, even if it meant getting a bit of blood on their hands and left him crouching down, rubbing at his temples as he did.
“This is fine,” he muttered. “This is manageable. I just have to stop at least forty-seven people and… who am I kidding? The real number’s going to be at least ten more by the time I’m actually done. Round it up to sixty then, I just have to stop that many from killing Greed on his wedding day. Okay, there’s a chance that with that many trying then more than a few are going to get in the way of each other but seeing as it would be insane to depend on that, looks like I’m starting now and hoping nobody has any immediately dangerous plans in the meantime while I’m dealing with this, it will all be fine.”
With one subtle solution already appearing in his head at least, subtle enough as far as he was concerned as he walked back the way he came, connecting to the various would-be murderers directly into their minds to scare them all into behaving.
Hello there! he thought at them loudly and getting to see more than a few in the crowd jump. This is the apostle of Myriad, the very same apostle of Myriad who went and modified your souls recently, so lovely to see you again. Now, you may be wondering, what am I doing here inside of your head, and to that, the answer is simple. I’m here to tell you to stop, lest I be forced to stop you. I do not care about your relationship with Greed, when the wedding is done you are free to yell at him, swear at him, call him a piece of shit or a son of a bitch if you really want to but you will do no more than that. This is your option. Now, will you listen, or will you argue with the representative of a god?
Of the ones in his range, all of them bent. None could stand firm in their murderous conviction when it was no longer a private matter, let alone when the gods of that world had been invoked, and feeling them all fold so easily left him to breathe just a little easier, even if he didn’t stop there.
Already in their minds, he applied just enough of his deep calming to keep them from looking on edge during the ceremony while at the same time used his magic to destroy what hidden weapons they held. He could do nothing about the magics they possessed but blades were both rusted and dulled to nothing, hidden bows snapped, and poisons examined and neutralized, just in case any of them found their fire again when he wasn’t around, letting him make his way through the crowd, one by one giving his message to keep them under control and allowing himself to think that, just maybe, things would be easier than he thought. He was shocked by the sheer number he’d found with murder on their minds but no would-be killer was prepared to be revealed so completely, he spooked every one he’d spoken to and it gave a sense of confidence about the rest, right until a new person stepped into his range. One who had already put their murderous plan into motion.
