Chapter 104: Tree Planting with System Approval

Selena stood up immediately and moved to the kitchen to give them space. Rosa slowly sat down and locked her gaze entirely on Eren before reaching across the table to grab a piece of bread from Lyra got here yesterday before Eren came home. She was just looking at them without a single word.

A heavy silence hung over the room for a minute until Emily finally broke it.

“There’s an old tradition after a bonding ceremony,” Emily’s voice softened as she wrapped both hands around her warm cup. “The couple plants a sapling together near the totem.”

Eren looked at her. “We’re planting a tree?”

“It’s not just a tree, silly.” She looked out the window. “It grows with the bond. If the bond is strong the tree grows fast. If the bond breaks the tree dies. My parents’ tree for example, is the shortest one in the garden row in this area. It shows the love between partners and my folks didn’t have any apparently.”

Eren knew there were others in the room but he had to ask. “Where is your father, his name is Henner right?”

“I don’t know. The last months before you came was too calm and I didn’t have time to go see him in his outer forest house. Then when I go check him after the first trolls showed up… it was empty.”

Eren asked about the man that time but Emily said he would come to help them if he was at his house. But she never said that she actually went there and looked for her father..

“Did you-”

“No. Actually I don’t know. His house was normal. I lived there from time to time in my childhood so I know the area and everything inside. There was nothing wrong.”

Rosa could understand her words now with her hald cooked elven and she looked like she was about to say something rude. But if Eren said it instead, things would be different.

“He vanished and at the same moment monsters started to come to the village. First possibility is he was doing more hunting and protection than you realized or…” He didn’t finish it but they all knew that the “Master” that female Kobold Griks said a couple of days ago.

“Is Griks still with Thadric?” Lyra asked.

And both Emily, Rosa and Emily nodded at the same time. It was kind of disgusting for the girls but that kobold was kind of humanic and cute even in elven standards and even Eren felt something as a man for her.

So Thadric flirting with her and giving a room in his house was kind of normal. At least Eren tried to normalize the situation for the fellow man and his fetishes.

Huh…I need coffee but there is none. I swear to buy tons of it next time I go to Earth.

Nobody said anything for a moment because Emily included, none of them knew the real identity of the enemy. This douchebag Master was using animal and beast population and some Kobold Clans to attack the village. That was everything they learned.

Selena set Rosa’s plate down quietly and returned to her seat while everyone tried to mess with Rosa’s broken and cute elvish. She was suppose to feel outcasted actually but her talking and small gestures was too cute.

..

Emily had brought three saplings from the village garden the day before the ceremony. They were sitting in a clay pot by the front door wrapped in wet cloth. Eren hadn’t noticed them until now because he’d been way too busy being naked with three women for the past twelve hours.

The saplings were thin and dark with a few pale leaves already sprouting near the top. They looked completely durable but Emily handled them like they were made of glass. Maybe she was afraid of hurting them or as he suspected, nervous…

“Relax my dear wife.. I planted saplings before in college.”

“Not the same. This is an old marriage and bond tradition.” Emily set the pot down on the front garden soil and knelt beside it. She was wearing a loose white shirt and her golden hair was still damp from the bathroom. “After the bonding night the couple plants a tree together in front of their home. It’s supposed to grow with the marriage.”

“And if the marriage is bad?”

“The tree dies,” she said casually, though her hands were incredibly careful with the soil. “My father told me that the tree my parents planted grew white flowers that nobody in the village had ever seen before.”

Selena and Lyra came out to the front garden holding a wooden watering jug and a small hand shovel Lyra had found somewhere. Neither of them had been asked to help but they showed up anyway.

This is just the four of us. No guests, no ceremony leader, no wolves. Just a pregnant elf wife, two women who can barely walk straight, and me in yesterday’s pants.

Emily dug a hole about a foot deep with her bare hands. The soil in Eryndell was soft, dark and rich in a way that the concrete-choked dirt back on Earth never was. She picked up the first sapling and looked at Eren.

“Together.” She held it out.

He knelt beside her and they lowered the sapling into the hole together. Emily’s calloused fingers guided the delicate roots while Eren packed the soil around the base. Their hands were covered in dirt and Emily’s face had that intense focused look she always got during combat training.

“Gently!” She pushed his hand back when he packed it too hard. “It’s a baby tree not a fence post.”

Is the saplings called as baby trees here or is she really nervous and making up things?

“And that’s why I’m supervising.” She smoothed the soil one more time and sat back on her heels.

Selena watered it. She poured the liquid slowly from the jug and the water darkened the soil around the thin stem. Lyra used the little shovel to build a small dirt ridge around the base so the water wouldn’t run off.

Nobody told them to do any of this. They just instinctively did it or learned it in their childhood. Right..they are “elves”.

Emily planted the second sapling herself because she said the tradition called for one from each partner. Eren planted the third one with Lyra and Selena. They looked shy and afraid of Emily’s feelings of irritation but he didn’t care!

After it was done Emily smiled at them but yelled at Eren to stop sitting there like a useless log and make the garden look symmetrical.

She is gonna be like this, I guess. Cute-sexy-bossy and Elf Wify. Just the way I imagined.

Three saplings stood in a neat row in front of their house, their dark stems and pale leaves catching the afternoon light.

Emily stood up, wiped her hands on her shirt and stared at the saplings for a long time without saying anything. Her jaw was tight and her eyes were extremely wet but she wasn’t crying yet.

Then the notification came.

[System Notice: Bonding Ceremony – Approved]

[Marital Status Updated]

[Eren – Marital Status: Married (Emily)]

[Concubines: Selena – Lyra – Rosa]

It was a good message. But the last part ruined his relaxed smile.

Rosa?

He didn’t say it out loud with a sudden panic and stared at the blue text floating in the air for more information.

He had killed monsters, gained magical skills and evolved his bloodline, but somehow this specific notification hit different than all of them.

I’m married. Like actually married. The system just made it official.

Emily was reading her own notification. Her hands were still covered in dirt, her white shirt had brown streaks across the stomach, her hair was a mess and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in two universes.

Come with me everyone. He got them to the Totem Tree. Heart of the Village..

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