Chapter 38: Celebration with Wine

They walked the rest of the way in excited whispers.

When they reached the village center, Emily stepped up to the Heart of the Village and placed her palm against the bark.

A soft glow spread from the contact point and washed over her entire body.

She stood there for maybe one minute with her eyes closed. And when she pulled her hand away, her face had a smile.

“Two new skills.” She was laughing.

“Wind Barrier and Wind Arrow. Both active skills.”

“That’s incredible…right? I don’t know the norm in first class upgrades.” Eren muttered.

“Neither do I, silly. Only my mother and her father-my elf grandfather achieved this in recent times. But active attacking skills are important to me. I use all my stats on Strength, Agility and Endurance but they are still around 20’s.”

She was using her only attack skill “Wind Slash” for too long. It was a Second League already and almost max level. She would upgrade that skill in a few days if the dungeon remained as it is.

“I guess, this is everything I hoped for.” She looked at him and for a second, he saw tears at the corners of her eyes.

Eren pulled her into a hug before she could say anything else. She overcame an important milestone for her family.

They started walking toward the restaurant.

News of Emily hitting level 50 probably hadn’t spread yet, but it would be soon. There were a lot of people in this area watching it. And the village only had about two hundred people. Gossip traveled faster than dragon’s poop-smell.

The restaurant was half full when they walked in, which was normal for ten pm in the evening. Selena was behind the counter, wiping down cups with a strange flower leave.

“You are coming back now?” She glanced at Emily, then did a double take. “Wait. Did you…?”

Emily grinned and didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

Selena’s eyes went wide. “You hit fifty. Oh, honey, that’s amazing!” She came around the counter and pulled Emily into a hug that looked incredible for the men in the area

“Your mother would be so proud.”

The mention of Emily’s mother made her smile falter for just a second, but she recovered fast. “Thanks, Selena. We’re here to celebrate.”

Selena turned to Eren and everyone coming to the place after hearing the news.

“Hey! Who is hungry??” She shouted.

Some elves raised their hands. “We’ll take whatever you’ve got.”

Eren also did the same and dropped into a chair near the window and stretched his legs. His mana pool was still empty, but the ache in his muscles felt good. Like he’d earned it.

Emily sat across from him and Selena disappeared into the kitchen.

She came back a few minutes later with bread, roasted vegetables and two large bowls of some kind of stew that smelled incredible. She also brought two bottles of wine and many wooden cups.

“On the house.” She winked at Emily. “Level fifty deserves a proper celebration.”

Emily picked up the bottle and poured for only him. Though she made a show of filling hers but Eren tickled her belly and stopped her. “She isn’t drinking tonight, please remember my baby ladies…”

“Right. The baby.” Selena’s face lit up. “I almost forgot. How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Tired but fine.” Her face was so cute. Selena hugged her after remembering the baby.

Two incredible news in two days.

“Gods must have blessed us. For sending someone like him here.” She said the last part quietly but Emily heard her. Even she had some suspicious ideas about her mate now. She had to be careful!

Eren took a long drink of the wine while two girls talk.

The sweetness hit him first after the first cup finished.

Honey and fermented fruit mixing in a way that was starting to grow on him. He’d had Zen Wine a few times since arriving in the village but tonight felt different. This was for celebration and he planned to get properly drunk for the first time in weeks.

Selena noticed his expression and raised an eyebrow. “Planning to finish the whole bottle?”

“Maybe.” He grinned and took another drink. “It’s a celebration, right?”

“Just don’t overdo it.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Selena laughed behind the table and punched his in the shoulder. “That batch is low on alcohol. Enough to get you drunk if you’re not careful but you need more than this one bottle.” Her eyes scanned his still fat body even after losing a lot of weight.

He was the only chubby-ish person in the whole elven village but even that unique look made him popular.

Emily didn’t like Selana’s look all over his body or her fist on his shoulder. She relaxed after she went to take care others.

Eren took another drink and decided being careful wasn’t on tonight’s agenda. The warmth spread through his chest and made the lingering mana fatigue feel less miserable with every sip.

They ate and drank in comfortable silence for a while and Eren watched the other villagers most of the time.

Many elves had blonde or green hair and they all looked more relaxed than happy. Any place had some problems and this village had a monster invasion chance. So they had a good inner system but couldn’t help but worry about death.

Worrying about death in a Elven Village, a race that could live for hundreds of years was a bad irony. Elven classes were mostly nature or crafting based. And this huge restriction was the sole reason of the population decline.

A middle-aged elf with green hair walked over to their table as holding his own cup of wine. He had the kind of face that looked like it smiled a lot, with deep lines around his eyes.

“Eren, right? I’m Toris. I work with Oldir in the lumber operation.” He gestured to the empty chair next to Emily. “Mind if I sit?”

“Go ahead.”

Toris dropped into the chair and took a long drink. “Heard you cleared the dungeon again today. Congratulations to both of you.”

“Thanks.” Emily wasn’t sure what else to say. Small talk with strangers wasn’t her strong suit. But Eren covered her with his easygoing smile.

“How’s the village treating you? Settled in alright?”

“Yeah, it’s been good. Quiet, peaceful and friendly neighborhood. What can I expect better, right.”

“Quiet’s the best we can hope for out here.” Toris leaned back in his chair.

“Crime rate’s almost zero. Some fights about personal feelings but I don’t know if anything else happened. Last time someone stole something was, what, three years ago?

And that was just that kid Nimbo took freshly baked bread because he was hungry. Technically a misunderstanding.”

Emily nodded. “We don’t even lock our doors most nights.”

“Must be nice.” Eren thought about his old house back on Earth. Three deadbolts and a chain lock and he still didn’t feel safe half the time. If the house didn’t have metal bars around first floor windows, it would be too wild. All their neighbors experienced some theft.

Toris laughed. “Nice until you run out of salt. Or water. Then it’s just annoying.”

“Water shortage?” Eren glanced at Emily. “I thought the eastern marsh had plenty of streams.”

“It does but it’s not always clean or safe. We have got a filtration system set up near the river but it breaks down every few weeks. And salt…” Toris waved his hand vaguely. “Let’s just say going to the mining tunnels for that leads to new funerals.”

“Closest mining entrance is two weeks away by foot.”

Eren learned some of the story of how the village lost huge chunks of lands. Losing the mining areas and some fresh water sources were the main problem.

Operations for mining minerals had stopped around twenty years. North side became dangerous to travel or bring anything back.

“Can’t you just evaporate seawater or something?”

“Evaporate seawater?” Toris blinked with surprise.

He knew about salty waters and massive water named -sea. But getting salt that way was new.

“Yeah. Heat it up until evaporation and you’re left with salt.”

Toris stared at him for a long moment, then turned to Emily. “Purification magic doesn’t work on salty water but have anyone tried boiling in a primitive way? I can see like no one tried because it looks so stupid.”

“I agree. Also Eren is from a different world. They do things differently there, maybe doing it magicless is the answer. ”

Toris took another drink and shook his head. “I’ll mention it to the old generation. But if we could go to the mines, this wouldn’t be necessary. The amount of salt in the village’s cellar has dropped to dangerous levels.”

Selena came closer to the table and jokingly punched Eren in the shoulder again.

“Maybe you can kill all the monsters around the village and mining travel would be possible.” She gently grasped Eren’s shoulder for a few seconds, then smiled and walked away towards a different table.

The whole village learned she was pregnant after just two weeks. And Emily realized once more that Eren had pursuers.

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