Which is a step too far. Anyone else could at least tell themselves they wouldn’t go through with it, but she already has. Which also means she’s trying to poison the very innocent of wronging her, Gennet. Whatever feeling she has about Greed, pulling others into it is too much. And worst of all, I can’t fix the dish. She doesn’t even know what stupid fucking poison she used, so I can’t extract it or break it down, ugh. Okay, one thing at a time. It doesn’t seem like it needs to be eaten until the end of everything, so technically, I have a bit to figure something else out, leaving only the attempted murderer to deal with, hmm.
Technically, he could trap her in a spatial item if he really wanted to in order to get her out of his hair and not have to worry about her causing any other harm but there was a hitch in that, she’d come with her son who, while having no good feelings towards his father, hadn’t arrived with any murderous intent and was enjoying the chance to try and mingle with the various siblings he knew had to have existed but had never met. If his mom went missing in the middle of his disappointing father’s wedding though, there was a good chance he’d raise some sort of fuss, meaning Ben’s best option was to leave her be, right until it was a convenient enough time to trap them both and hand the woman over to the proper authorities.
And considering the fact that I’m about to do so many things that are going to raise so many issues, Myriad, Myriad, Myriad! I need you!
Long story short, I’m trying to deal with the many, many people aiming to kill Greed during his marriage. To avoid any, you know, murders, I’m probably going to be committing some smaller crimes throughout the ceremony so I don’t give it away. Through some small, implied threats I’ve already dealt with a bunch but I’ve just seen that anyone who’s already put their plan into motion is going to have to be dealt with a different way so at some point I’m also going to start kidnapping people and shoving them into my rings. The time effect on it is so great I doubt any of them will even notice by the point I take them out again, but anyway, I just wanted to let you know so you could help however you can. Explain what I’m doing to any gods who are going to want to see my actions in the worst light, explain to the local authorities in the nearest city on my behalf that they’re about to get at least a couple people coming in on my word alone, et cetera, et cetera. Feel free to do whatever other bits you think might help too because, from the look of things, I’m going to have my hands full down here.
Har har, very funny. Just give me a hand while I do my best to sort this out because as we’ve been speaking, I’ve already found another person whose plans I’m apparently on a tight time limit to stop because it looks like one of Gennet’s stupid uncles managed to hire a fucking assassin.
One which Ben currently didn’t have the power to find. The holder of a space magic, apparently there was an opportune moment he was waiting for to show up and make Greed disappear, coming all too close as Ben rushed to where the crab should be, hidden behind one of the many walls, away from anyone’s view and finding him there alone with Jeeves.
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“Huh?” Greed said when he showed up. “Legs, what’s going on? You’re not supposed to be back here.”
“Yeah? Well, consider this to be a minor and ignorable disturbance while I count down because we’re looking at five, four, three, two, one.”
As soon as he hit one he materialized a bat in his hand and swung, aiming where he felt just enough from his mana sense to guess that was where the teleporter was going to arrive and caught the man in the stomach and completely off guard, having him hunched over and too shocked and in pain to react to put a new spell together to escape, letting Ben reach out and force him into his ring while the other two watched on.
“Alright, nevermind then,” Greed said. “As far as I’m concerned, you have the authority to go wherever you want. Just out of curiosity, is that guy dead?”
“He’ll live, I’ve already made arrangements for capturing people to have them sent off to jail later,” Ben told him, turning the bat into dust and rubbing it off his hands. “Just ignore it. As much as I’d like to tell you that was going to be the only thing I’ve dealt with, my hands are actually insanely full right now, so I need to go and find anyone else I might have missed.”
“Oh hell, Legs, don’t tell me that. You’re gonna make me panic.”
“I can offer to impart a small calming effect on you before I leave, but I really need to get back to it.”
“Fuck it then, make it a big one ‘cause I’m going to need it.”
“Coming up.”
Using deep calming on the groom, Ben ran off once more, trying not to let himself look as hurried as he was as he raced around, entering the different minds he saw to scare them off of their plots or to look for any more urgent plans and not needing to go far, finding another with only a few more steps.
So it looks like one of his sons has… poisoned part of the ceremony. Wait, He managed to sneak a pressure trap into this place during setup? I’m actually kind of impressed.
Ben still hadn’t gotten enough from any one mind about the ceremony itself, he hadn’t been treating it as relevant compared to the many murders he was trying to thwart, but he could see when it was stepped on it would release a small cloud of poisonous gas to kill the groom, a method that was at the very least unlikely to take any other bystanders out, even if it would still need to be dealt with. Still, it would be easy. Nothing compared to what he’d found next, with one more assassin hiding in the woods.
AUGH! GREED! Why couldn’t someone have neutered you years ago!
Ben wasn’t able to see anything on how that particular assassination was going to be carried out, two of Greed’s daughters had hired the man without asking for details which meant it was entirely possible the guy had simply taken the money and run but Ben wasn’t willing to buy that so readily. All he’d gotten was that the guy was going to be hiding in the woods, waiting for the perfect time to strike, leaving no clue as to what the form of it would take.
No, they saw him, so it’s not no clue. Ben told himself as he examined their memories. Found him in a seedy adventurer bar, no staff on hand so he might not have been a mage, although he could have just left it while he was drinking, it’s not like he brought a different weapon either. Fit looking though, that’s another point that if he’s less likely to be a mage, at least not a pure one. If he’s working out then he’s not focusing on spells. One arm a bit bigger than the other, particularly in the shoulder region? Okay, that points to an archer. There’s a decent distance from the woods, though. Holding an augmentation then, maybe? If it is then it would have to be air, meaning he’s extra-specialized for long-range attacks. Damn it, it’s not nothing to go off of but that puts me up to three I can’t immediately solve with a few more people to go, and the ceremony hasn’t even started yet. UGH!
Already able to see more faces that he hadn’t yet managed to squeeze into his range, it was already feeling like a very long day.