“Hello there, hope you’ve all enjoyed the food,” He said brightly as he made his way to the group of five, taking a seat on the ground with them before they could answer, with one speaking up after he’d joined them.

“It was delicious, thank you. I didn’t think adventurers would eat so well.”

“Only when they’re with me, it’s the benefit of bringing along a guy who can cook,” He laughed, trying to create a good atmosphere to get them to open up a bit and largely failing, with each person he was with mostly wanting to keep to themself and leading him to switch his approach to something a bit more direct. “Now, as you’re all aware, I’ve been asked to evaluate you guys so I hope you don’t mind me asking you all a couple questions. I just want to get a sense for how you feel about things.”

“Go ahead,” The same one answered as the others nodded, all willing to give him some time since they’d been instructed to be cooperative, making things a bit easier for him on that one front.

“Cool, in that case, let’s start with the obvious. Do you regret agreeing to let Vividus alter you?”

“No.”

“I don’t.”

“No.”

“No.”

“Uh-uh”

“Okay, would you reverse the process if you could?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

“…I don’t think so.”

“No.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Have any of you suffered any psychological effects that you think might stem from having your body changed?”

“I haven’t.”

“Nor I.”

“I don’t think so.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“No.”

He continued asking more questions, trying to probe them deeper for what answers they would give and on the surface, they kept insisting that things were fine, that they’d wanted the results they’d gotten and that anything would be worth it if it meant they’d be able to kill whatever demons they found, but that was only on the surface. Their minds told a different story, a subconscious reaction they thought was safe in their heads if not for the mind reader secretly at their sides.

From that perspective, each question gave different answers. Discomfort from seeing how they’d been changed and a general feel in their bodies they couldn’t escape, with the alterations not unpleasant but alien in a way that required far more time to adapt to than they had gotten before being sent out.

As for the questions of if they regretted it or if they’d undo it, what that brought was waves of complicated emotions as they struggled to manage what they’d thought they’d wanted with what they’d received and whether it was worth it in the end. The deeper he looked the more he was sure the answer was a firm no but in the surface levels of their thoughts they were doing their best to justify it, convincing themselves that they’d made the correct choice instead of alienating them from the very images they had of who they were, with those themes being consistent as he went from group to group.

Sure, there were a few who were strangely fine with it no matter how he’d probed, even one that reveled in it, but by and large he would describe what he was seeing as a negative in the majority of their lives that too many were trying to convince themselves was actually fine now that it was done. They’d made their choice and for whatever positives and negatives it held, they’d have to live with it.

Okay, my main takeaway is that if Vividus wants to do this on a bigger scale in the future then she needs to do a mass psychological evaluation on all of her potential subjects. I think I’ll recommend she get Funa’s assistance for that. I don’t know if Vividus would listen but it would let her get someone who is actually somewhat more specialized in dealing with mind issues and who also has enough basic morality that she’d stop her from doing anything too unethical.

Once he was done he found Thera and took a seat beside her, laying down on the ground to try and organize his thoughts. He didn’t like what he’d seen in any of the ones he’d spoken to and they’d clearly been taken advantage of when they were vulnerable but who was to say it hadn’t been worth it in the long run? No matter what they were going through as a result of it, Vividus had objectively improved their survival odds. Each chimera was immediately more equipped to withstand whatever would be thrown at them, couldn’t that justify it in the end?

“God, I don’t know,” He muttered as he covered his eyes, taking what small time to relax he had until it was time to deal with the next group of demons, with Thera feeling largely the same.

“Yeah, this is a bit less exciting than I thought it would be.”

“Ha, the wonders of a first-ranked quest. You ready to retire? We could enjoy our next few months of life without needing to worry about being dragged by someone else’s whims.”

“Pass. One day they’ll call us for something a bit more exciting and a bit less… Well, whatever this is. I just know it.”

“Ha, then I guess we’ll see.”

Not like I actually get to just sit back and do nothing for months, adventurer or not.

Too much to do, trying to fit what most would consider a lifetime of work in the months they had left, all to reach his various goals. He could quit the guild then and there but that wouldn’t reduce his workload by a drop in the end, all it would do was change how he used some of his time.

It was as he was thinking that some others approached the two of them, with the four girls within the one full party coming over.

“Hello, thank you again for the food earlier,” The half-elf Galda said with a small bow. “We don’t usually get to eat so well but it was delicious.”

“Ah, no problem, glad to know you guys enjoyed it. If things end up stretching long enough that we stop for a second meal then I can cook again if everyone wants me to.”

With ‘if’ being the main question. Even if there had been a hiccup in the last fight, the chimera group had still gone above and beyond expectations, ending things fast enough that what should have been a multi-day expedition could very well end sometime into the evening if the rest went smooth enough, even if those four still seemed to appreciate the offer.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“If we get the chance we’d enjoy that,” She smiled. “But we were actually hoping we might get the chance to take your partner for a bit to chat. If you’d be willing of course, Miss Thera, given the sheer number of magics you hold, Twee and Azeezol were hoping to get some advice and myself and Buwth both have an interest in the topic as well if you don’t mind letting us pick your brain.”

“Hmm? I don’t mind but you’re honestly going to want to be asking Ben for advice more than me. He gained access to the full magic library and I can say with certainty he would know more about both water magic and corpse song than I do no matter what levels I have.”

That seemed to stump the group as they looked amongst each other, not sure where to go from there and Ben gave them an out.

“Even if they would like some advice, they’re also trying to make an opening where Pato could talk to me,” He told her, ignoring the looks he got when from their perspective it seemed he’d seen right through their intentions, not aware he’d been reading their minds. Still, since he was working with them he could both take the time to chat about whatever the man wanted as well as be helpful to the rest of the party so he materialized books on what he knew of both water magic and corpse song to hand to the two mages without a word as he focused in on Thera. “No reason not to give him some time since we’re working together and it would be good to get the chance to talk, otherworlder to otherworlder. Seems like they really do want to learn a bit though so why not take the chance to see how you do at playing teacher?”

“Kind of feel like he could have just come over to ask to borrow you.”

“Seems like he’s trying to show more tact than I am. Don’t worry, it will be fine.”

“Mmh, alright, just try not to have any repeats with the way things went after the last space mage you’d met.”

“If it seems like there’s any chance of that I’ll just immediately scream so have fun.”

With reassurances given, Thera let herself be pulled off, even as he received a few parting looks from how he’d brought up both of their statuses as otherworlders and left a window where he could be joined, with Pato soon making his way over, none the wiser to what had been said beforehand.

“Sorry, it looks like my party left you to yourself, mind if I join you for a bit?”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind the company,” Ben said with a smile, not seeing anything nefarious in the other’s mind to make him look for help as the other summoned took a seat on the ground beside him, offering a hand that Ben shook before going quiet for just a moment, trying to put his thoughts in order.

“Sorry, I know we just met but I’ve got a bit of a question for you if you don’t mind,” He finally said, with Ben answering before he could ask.

“Yep, I’m one of the summoned, same as you.”

“Ha, well that makes things easy, doesn’t it? I take it since you could recognize me, you’ve met some of my people before?”

“Yuzu and Xilly mostly, although I’ve seen others. And you’ve seen some humans?”

“Ah, I was put on a quest with a couple of them before but I don’t actually remember their names,” He admitted sheepishly. “But they were sent to work with me and some other adventurers through the nations they work for. From the looks of things here, I’m assuming that wasn’t the case for you? You independent too?”

“Er, I am,” Ben admitted, already getting an uncomfortable sense of where things were going.

“Great, great,” Pato said, his eyes lighting up with the news. “I heard there were a couple others from different groups but you’re the first I met who struck out on your own like me! I gotta ask, what made you do it and how do you feel about it? You regret it at all?”

There it was, the ever so uncomfortable question that left Ben to ask himself if he should just lie for the sake of smoothness but ultimately decided against it, giving an honest explanation.

“My situation was a bit more complicated than that,” He admitted before materializing a small ball and lightly tossing it in the air. “This? Couldn’t do it when I arrived. I couldn’t do much of anything. I guess what strengthened everyone else didn’t really work on me because of the nature of my soul so I didn’t show up with awakened skills and my attributes were a whole lot lower too. When it came time for churches and countries to put in offers, I was ignored.”

Pato’s laughter was as powerful as it was expected with the news, but how Ben interpreted it changed as the man at his side lightly slapped his back as he spoke up.

“And now look at you,” He continued to laugh. “You got three awakened skills to your name all by yourself? Man, I bet every asshole on this world is pulling their hair out for not snagging you when it would have been cheap. That’s awesome guy, I mean, it must have sucked at first but now? I’d be hella proud. There’s a lot more to brag about when you’ve earned your skill instead of just having it handed over after all.”

“Um, thanks.”

A little stunned by the reaction, Ben was at a small loss for words. He was used to getting a range of reactions when people found out about his circumstances, from sympathy to discomfort with at least one case of someone laughing at his situation in a far more negative way, as well as shock for the few who put together how fast he’d been raising his skills, but that had been by far the most positive reaction overall. Not looking down on him in any way and not disbelieving that he’d risen so far, only a pure and positive reaction to what he’d achieved.

It made him feel a bit embarrassed, especially when he felt the same emotions in those words coming from the other’s mind too, so he redirected the same question, wanting to hear of Pato’s life as well.

“And what about you then? What made you want to strike out on your own instead of taking the comfy path of having a country hand you over fistfuls of cash?”

“Ah, a lot to be honest. Not sure how much you know about my people but even back home I felt my culture was a bit restrictive, I didn’t want to immediately be tossed into another one with new rules to follow when there’s this entire world here to see. And other than that… Well, you said you’ve met Yuzu?”

“I know her, she’s married to a human.”

“Is she? Huh, good for her. Either way though, in the church we were all put in, you should have seen the reaction when her status was revealed. It was like the rest of us stopped existing and it felt pretty obvious at the time that from then on, that was how it was going to be. No matter where I went, I’d be seen as the one who wasn’t her,” He shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any ill will here. She’s a nice girl and I wish her the best but I don’t want to feel like a two-bit player in another person’s life. Striking out on my own felt like the best way to make that happen.”

“And do you regret it?”

“Me? Ha, not in the slightest. The whole end of the world thing is a bit of a downer but I’ve been enjoying the life I’ve gotten for all of its ups and downs. Plus, well… Look, I feel a bit weird sometimes about my skill level because like I said, I didn’t exactly earn it the way the people who got there naturally did but having the power admittedly comes with some pretty nice perks.”

His eyes drifted to the rest of his party as they spoke with Thera off to the side as small spells were cast and it left Ben to laugh.

“Like making a small harem?”

“Eh, to be honest, yeah,” He admitted. “It’s mutually beneficial and there aren’t any real issues though. They know what I was looking for and they get the prestige that comes with working with a first rank. Hell, being in a party with a first rank speeds up other rank evaluations too so half of them made it to third by having me around and it looks like the other two just need a couple more levels in some of their skills to get there too now. But we get along too, I’d like to think there’s some actual friendship there beyond just sex and status.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much on that front, I’ve got some empathy aspects to some of my skills, I can tell you’re well-liked with them,” He lied to conceal his casual mind reading. Their talk had been going well enough that he didn’t want to out himself for such an unexpected breach of privacy and Pato brightened up from the statement.

“Am I? Hell, that’s always nice to hear. But what about you then? You said partner, are you and her…?”

“Yeah, we’re together and I wouldn’t want to add any more. Not really my thing.”

“Hey, I get it, I may not be looking for love but if that did end up on the table I don’t know if things would stay as nice and light as I’m currently enjoying. ‘Course, I’ve heard a few other summoned are keeping multiple romantic partners so if I ever meet any from more monogamous societies I’ll have to ask how that’s working out.”

“Hmm, from the one I know I’d say it’s okay, although at some point I think it changed from a harem to something a bit more polyamorous.”

With that one just so happening to involve a member of your race.

“Yeah? Good for them then. Life’s too short to let things get so complicated, I doubt anyone on this planet could know that as much as people like us.”

“Ha, dying once does give a certain perspective to everything else, doesn’t it? Here’s to hoping to push off the second time for as long as possible.”

They continued to chat through the small break, enjoying the chance to talk together as they compared their time living on the world.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep