Chapter 48: Seven Times Half-Human

While waiting at home he started mumbling to himself. Through the window he watched Emily run off, then looked up at the sky, the clouds and finally the elves coming back from the fields and heading into their houses.

A few minutes had passed before he realized that lyrics were coming out of his mouth. He was singing a foreign song he didn’t even know he had memorized.

He pulled himself out of the memories and buried all the bad things deep down.

“My voice changed too and I’m noticing it hours later.”

He walked into the bathroom and washed his face with warm water. Even now, he couldn’t get over how absurdly convenient things existed in such a primitive village.

There was magic, skills and a level system similar to games. Yet somehow a flower attached to a bathroom pipe that heated the water felt like the truly unbelievable thing.

In the middle of all these thoughts, he truly noticed his wet body and insanely jacked physique for the first time. Then his evenly distributed stats – the kind a normal Evon resident would need to be past level 100 to have. Eren had been naive in many ways. But he believed in one thing his family had always repeated to him in his childhood. He wasn’t stupid and he had to act smart.

So what if I don’t know how to throw a punch? It’s not like everyone is born knowing it. I’ll learn.

Letting go of all his shyness for the first time, he clenched his fists. With a very amateurish motion that looked nothing like someone who’d been hunting with a knife and bow for weeks, he tried to throw a punch.

A minute later he was doing something resembling shadow boxing, taking deep breaths and hyping himself up. Besides, deep down he knew that no matter how badly he moved with this body, he’d still look good doing it.

Eventually he realized he needed actual combat lessons from Emily and for now surrendered to his imaginary opponent…

I will take my revenge!

Just as he was about to leave the bathroom, a sudden urge made him clench his right fist and throw a full-power punch into the air.

SSSSS

CRACK!

The sound split the bathroom air. It wasn’t a whoosh or a thump. A literal crack, like a whip, as his fist broke an air barrier at close range. The displaced air shook some of the bath towels almost three meters away.

Eren stared at his hand then looked at the towels across the room and bursted out laughing.

“Oh my God…”

A few minutes later, strange whip-like sounds and some weird cracking noises were coming from Emily’s house. But the neighbors, after having endured far more disturbing sounds earlier, were actually relieved instead of annoyed.

The couple still had very childish ideas about how much noise they were making.

The door swung open and Emily tossed thick, ugly pieces of fabric at him.

“Make do with these for now, we’ll get something better made. Redell said she wants to take your body measurements herself.” Emily was out of breath and had another bag with her but she went to the bedroom without showing its contents and grabbed her katana.

Eren didn’t question where these massive things Emily found as clothing came from or who made them. The elves in the village lived in the moment and it was normal for someone with a sewing-related class to do Emily a free favor. Besides, it was obvious the three long-sleeved same-colored shirts had been stitched in a hurry.

When they left the house around noon to get breakfast, the surroundings were calm and quiet. The elves who worked in the fields or orchards before sunrise usually rested for hours during midday and enjoyed themselves. Most of them had made a habit of sleeping through the afternoon. Only those with busy work or important duties could be seen around at noon.

But seeing the unusually large crowd at the village center, Eren realized the dragon’s impact on the village was bigger than he thought. The villagers weren’t showing it much but they were on edge.

Emily shot Eren a look that said he shouldn’t be around people today and nudged him toward a side path leading outside the village. She showed him the bag containing a few fruits and a small sandwich as a combined breakfast and lunch. She hadn’t been idle while out finding clothes.

“Are you afraid someone will kidnap and claim your handsome human, Mrs. Jealous?”

“Hmph!” Emily fake-pouted.

“Jealousy looks really good on you.” Eren was struggling not to laugh.

“If you mention jealousy again I’ll bite you!” Since Emily didn’t look threatening at all, Eren kept laughing. But when he noticed the angry woman’s gaze had drifted considerably lower, he immediately stopped laughing and broke into a cold sweat while taking a bite of his sandwich.

Even knowing he was now stronger than this woman, the cliché about wives holding all the strings in a marriage seemed to be true. Besides, as they shared secrets, cultural differences and certain private things, they’d grown closer.

Eren had told her about his life on Earth, what kind of person he was, the good and bad sides. Emily had told him her entire life too including her mother and her family’s fu*ked up situation. Despite being the same age and this being a magical universe, Eren had ended up having more stories to tell.

While pinching each other and messing around like new lovers, they finished their breakfast in no time. Since they’d spent hours burning energy, Eren was far from full. He felt genuine gratitude for being with such a thoughtful woman as Emily pulled the second sandwich from the bag.

…

They left the main road and took a side path. Eren used the warm weather as an excuse to hug Emily from behind – she was still in thin clothes – and kissed her neck.

Something inside him kept wanting to hug, kiss and do more. The smallest movement, sound or smell was enough to set him off and apparently eating had kicked his hormones right back into gear.

After a few more rounds of flirting and some things beyond flirting, Eren couldn’t hold back anymore. With an urge that almost made him roar, he carried Emily into a spot between the trees that was technically still within village borders. Their lips didn’t separate even as he carried her like a princess.

After the couple did something they would never confess to anyone right within village limits, they left the village at exactly noon and reached the forest border.

“Given that stats have this much effect on hormones, I can’t really blame your mother too much. Her physical stats were probably higher than mine and her reproductive drive must have been several times stronger…” Eren muttered.

But he got no reply. Because the girl’s attention had shifted to a group of four waiting outside the village.

The siblings Nimbo and Mel, Thadric. But the most surprising one was Rabbu-i, wearing an outfit made of just a few pieces of fabric and leaves that looked like something similar to the nightgown Emily wore to bed.

If this woman wanted to learn hunting, Eren couldn’t understand why she’d come practically naked. He approached the group of four while wondering whether Emily was right to be jealous.

He could actually guess what this group had formed for. And he wasn’t entirely against it. Unlike Emily, he believed more in village defense being everyone’s shared responsibility. If he’d been in her place, he probably would have rebelled years ago and brought the whole village to its knees demanding a better system.

Eren’s eyes drifted to the parts of Rabbu-i that were barely hidden behind leaves. Among the women he’d run into around the village, Rabbu-i had just won the title of most revealing dresser. And the message from the elf staring at his entire body with gleaming eyes was anything but innocent.

Is this how women feel when men stare at their bodies? Thinking we’re being subtle is so childish. I can feel her eyes all over me even when she’s not looking.

The green-haired elf with bright green eyes smiled and waved at Eren, almost completely ignoring Emily.

“HEY!” Thadric kept turning his head to the side as if he was guilty of something.

Mel, one of the twins, smiled and ran to Emily’s side, hooking her arm. She didn’t look like a 12 year old at all. Both she and her twin brother genuinely looked around 18 or 19. Though the girl was a normal height and weight while her brother looked underfed and scrawny.

Just as Eren was about to open his mouth, an excited and slightly guilty voice spoke up.

“Before you ask, let me answer. Our village hunter may object but winter is coming and you two are expecting a child. We’re the only ones left in the village with classes that can actually be used for fighting.” The louder and more confidently Thadric spoke, the more his own belief in his words seemed to grow.

“Who is going to protect you? If you die, who’s going to answer to your families?” Emily’s words made a lot of sense but Eren found them lacking. “What are 12 year old children doing here without their parents’ permission?” Everyone including Emily looked at him strangely after that last question.

“Who’s 12 years old?” While all three were staring at him, Rabbu-i almost pointed at herself with great hope. But she giggled and backed off under Emily’s angry glare.

“Didn’t you say the twins were twelve, Emily?” This time he was the one surprised.

Because he had just discovered how naive and dense he was.

“I was joking…”

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