Chapter 41: Volunteer for the Village Defense

The dragon had come and gone in under ten minutes.

The village had spent the rest of the day pretending everything was fine, which Eren respected. You could either spend the afternoon screaming about a twenty-meter predator or you could move on. These elves had been moving on from bad news for centuries. They were very good at it.

Eren walked inside the village with a whole morning and afternoon hunting job’s fatigue..

By the time the sun started pulling itself toward the tree line, the square smelled like dinner smoke and Pao tea, and the group of elves near the well were laughing about something loud enough that Eren could hear it from two streets over.

“They are quick in changing their moods. Nice for them, I guess.”

He walked through the village slowly on his way back, taking the scene of evening elven vibes in.

The same wooden houses, the same root-covered paths between them, the same faces glancing up and nodding when they saw him. Nothing had changed. A dragon had flown over this morning and nothing had changed.

He’d called that one right. Give it a few hours and a dragon flyover became a funny story.

“You’re staring at the sky again,” Emily said from beside him, her voice carrying the mild patience of someone who’d had this exact conversation before.

“Just checking.”

“It’s not coming back tonight.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know dragons.” She pulled her braid over one shoulder and kept walking like the subject was closed. “That one had somewhere to be. It wasn’t hunting.”

Eren decided to believe her because the alternative was anxiety, and he’d already used his daily quota of that on the dungeon run this morning.

They were heading to Selena’s for dinner. It was the kind of decision that didn’t need discussion anymore. The restaurant, the usual table near the window, whatever Selena decided they were eating. That was just what evenings were now, and Eren had stopped noticing when it became a routine.

He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Lyra was standing outside the restaurant door.

Not waiting for anyone, it seemed. She had a cloth-wrapped bundle in both hands and she was looking at the door like she was trying to decide something. The flour dusting on her apron was fresh. She’d come straight from the bakery.

She saw Eren first.

The expression on her face went through several changes in about one second, most of which she failed to hide. She settled on something close to determination and stepped forward.

“Mr. Eren.” Her voice was quiet and too careful in the way you get when you’ve rehearsed something and you’re hoping the real version goes as well as the practiced one. And she didn’t say “human” like the rest of the village so maybe he was a bit biased.

“I made extra today. I thought…” She held out the bundle and then immediately looked at the space just beside his ear instead of his face. “It’d be wasted anyway.”

It was wrapped neatly. The kind of wrap that took care.

“Thank you,” Eren said, and took it. “That’s really kind of you.”

Lyra’s shoulders dropped half an inch, in a specific way woman do when something goes better than expected. She opened her mouth and just about to say something but something interrupted her.

“EREN!” Thadric’s voice carried like a man who spent most of his life outdoors and had never learned to adjust his volume for smaller spaces. He was coming down the side street with Toris right behind him, both of them already raising hands.

Lyra closed her mouth.

Eren turned to give the two of them a wave, and by the time he looked back, Lyra had already taken two steps toward the bakery. She glanced at him once over her shoulder – a quick, unreadable look – and then she was gone around the corner.

He stood there for a moment with the bread.

Emily hadn’t said anything. When he looked at her, her expression was perfectly neutral.

That was never a good sign.

“Nice of her,” he said carefully.

“Very nice,” Emily agreed, in a tone that could’ve meant anything.

…

Inside, Selena had their table ready. She glanced at the bundle in Eren’s hands, glanced at Emily, and very deliberately said nothing, which meant she knew exactly what it was and had already filed it away for later gossip.

The food came without being ordered. It always did now.

Emily unwrapped the bread at the table. It was a round loaf, dense and golden, with a small herb pressed into the top – some plant Eren didn’t know the name of, shaped like a six-petaled star.

“What’s the herb?”

Emily looked at it for a moment longer than the question required. “Silverleaf.”

“Is that… good?”

“It grows near houses.” She broke off a piece and handed it to him, not quite meeting his eyes. “Elves plant it when they want to protect something. Or someone.”

Eren ate the bread. It was excellent bread.

Emily ate her piece without another word on the subject.

Eren understood, roughly, that he was missing something. He also understood that pressing the point would be like poking a calm lake and expecting it not to ripple. So he ate his dinner and let it go.

He couldn’t help it, though. One thought slipped through before he could stop it.

She brought bread to my door. And when I left Earth, I couldn’t even get my fiancée to bring me a glass of water from the kitchen.

He wasn’t sure if that was funny or just sad. Probably both.

Thadric dropped into the chair across from them without asking. Toris pulled one up from a neighboring table with the ease of someone who’d done it enough times that it wasn’t rude anymore, just normal.

Selena brought two more cups without being asked.

“So,” Thadric said. He set both forearms on the table and looked at Eren with the particular expression of a man who’d decided something and wasn’t going to be talked out of it. “The dungeon.”

Eren looked up from his plate.

“I want to go.” He said it straight, no setup, the way he said most things. “I’ve been thinking about it since this morning. Since before this morning, actually. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks.” He spread his hands flat on the table, a gesture that said he wasn’t going to dress this up. “I’m Level 18. I’ve been Level 18 for four years.”

The table was quiet for a second.

“Four years?” Eren said.

“Ranching doesn’t give a lot of experience points. I’m not out here killing things, I’m keeping things alive.” Thadric’s jaw tightened. “That’s always been fine. Until today, when a dragon flew over my head and I stood there with my mouth open and couldn’t do one single thing.”

He wasn’t embarrassed about saying it. That was the thing about Thadric – he was blunt in the way that only people who’ve already accepted an uncomfortable truth can be.

“There’s a party limit,” Emily said, keeping her voice even. She wasn’t unkind about it. “Four people. The dungeon won’t let more in.”

Thadric looked at him with his stoic but also funny face. He deliberately narrowed his eyes, even creating a comical image on purpose. He was easy to mess with and it was so fun. He now realized why everyone in the village trusted him so much.

“She’s right,” Eren said. “Us, the two wolves. That’s the four. I’m sorry.”

Thadric nodded but didn’t change his funny eyes a bit more.

He’d probably expected this answer, but expecting something doesn’t make it easier to hear. He reached for his cup and drank.

Toris put a hand on his counter side shoulder for a second and then immediately pretended he hadn’t. Eren was just realizing that it was kind of a tradition to mess with him.

Grown up elven rancher by day but secretly is the stress relieving clown in the night…

Eren drank his tea and thought about it. He thought about Thadric watching them walk toward the dungeon from the village gate every evening. He imagined about how four years being at the same level would make someone feel, what that did to a person who was already carrying the weight of keeping animals alive while everyone around him got stronger.

“I go out in the mornings,” Eren said finally. “Before the wolves are awake. Slimes, ravens and whatever’s close to the village. Not the dungeon – just the forest edge.” He paused. “You could come.”

Thadric looked up from his cup.

“It won’t be fast,” Eren said. “And it’s not glamorous. We’re talking about things you could step on. But you’d be killing things and picking up experience, and you’d be learning to fight a little. One step at a time.”

Thadric stared at him for a long moment. “You’d want me there?”

“You know this forest better than I do. Would be useful, actually.” Eren realised how fast tables have turned in his life. Almost three weeks ago he was the one Emily took to the forest and a total rookie, now it was this elven man.

Toris was smiling into his cup at an angle that suggested he was trying to be subtle about it and failing completely.

Thadric fist-bumped him across the table. Hard enough that Eren’s hand hurt a bit, which Thadric absolutely did on purpose, and he knew it because Thadric didn’t look even slightly apologetic. But Eren also knew what did this rancher used all his stat points. All into the strength probably.

“Tomorrow morning,” Thadric said.

“Tomorrow morning,” Eren agreed, and flexed his hand quietly under the table.

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