Chapter 66: Village Meeting

Eren’s eyes opened and his mind was fully awake at the exact moment.

There was grogginess, fog of confusion or any slow adjustment to his eye sight. Just instant awareness like someone had flipped a switch.

His eyes slid to the right and found Selena standing near the bed, pressing her index fingers together with the most embarrassed expression he’d ever seen on her face. Emily was lying or sleeping next to him, he wasn’t sure about it.

“Good morning.” He tried to get a reaction or even better, an explanation from her.

The woman who normally acted like a cool older sister and a playful friend at the restaurant was now fidgeting like a kid caught stealing candy. Her voice was so un-Selena that Eren just blinked at her for a second.

But then the system messages and the fact that his passive charisma skill had hit Level 9 came back to him.

He focused inward and immediately felt it. The passive was running at full power. Every single point of charisma was active and broadcasting. Then it occurred to him that he was sitting on a bed with Emily and he got curious about what the stat actually looked like at maximum output.

[Charisma: 262]

:Base Stat 43 / Bed Bonus +40 / Love Love Love Passive +179

What the hell is this number?

He checked the actual level of his passive skill and saw it on the top of his skills page now.

Love Love Love! (Passive) – Level 9 – First Evolution League

-Charisma +179

Is this real!

Emily and every other normal or rare class holder could maybe get around 50 stat points from their passives even at Evolution League 2 peak levels. And even the craziest passives tied their boosts to specific conditions that were hard to trigger.

But Selena was standing there beet-red, staring at him like she was under a charm spell. That told him everything he needed to know. Charisma as a unique stat was evolving in a very interesting direction.

Magician of Love had a disgusting name but it was clearly more useful and more powerful than it looked at first glance.

He suppressed about 90% of his stat’s and passive’s effects in that moment and watched as Selena’s face changed like someone had broken a spell. She dropped to her knees, hands pressing her skirt down and hiding something around her lower body.

Eren felt like not saying anything was the right move so he kept his mouth shut.

“The whole village wants to hold a meeting. Everyone’s working on the eastern barricades until you’re ready. You can come in a couple hours… there’s, um, no rush.” She’d mostly gotten her composure back but her eyes kept drifting across Eren’s body and she couldn’t seem to stop.

At one point she even threw a bold glance at Emily’s naked body before snapping her head down.

“I should go..” Selena fled the room still clutching her skirt. But before she left the house they heard the bathroom water running for a few minutes.

After she was finally gone Eren pulled Emily’s warm body from his left arm onto his chest and wrapped both arms around her.

“You’re terrible at pretending to be asleep.”

“Hmmmh! You could’ve reacted and kicked that woman out of our bedroom too. She has zero shame.

She showed up at least half an hour before you wake up and just stood there watching you sleep. Then when you moved she froze because she got caught mid-stare. Serves her right!” Emily’s accusation was brutal but Eren was pretty sure everything she said was accurate.

Selena really did look like someone caught in the act. That kind of frozen panic wasn’t something the charisma stat alone could cause. He wasn’t using any charm effect skill after all.

When their lips met Eren noticed for the first time that neither of them had morning breath.

“Before I became a half-elf my mouth used to smell terrible and you probably never said a word about it.” There was genuine gratitude in his voice.

“It actually didn’t smell bad to me. But yeah, some mornings were rough. Who cares..” Emily was still acting half-asleep, wrapping her slender arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest to smell his skin.

“Your sweat and body smell used to be heavier. I kinda miss it sometimes. It was your own specific scent. Now you smell cleaner, like me…”

Eren took that as a compliment and said nothing. He’d spent years dealing with constant sweating, bad smells and deodorants that couldn’t keep up. The memory of walking around feeling disgusting wasn’t something he missed.

“What are we eating? I’m sure Selena’s restaurant and everywhere else is closed right now.” Between the purring and lazy squirming of the elf woman on his chest, Eren finally couldn’t take it anymore. He scooped up the naked woman in his arms and stood up on the bed.

Kruck!

The back two legs of the bed he’d temporarily fixed before snapped again. Eren shook his head. “Sometimes I forget how heavy we’ve gotten.”

Emily bit his arm and glared at him with fake anger. “We? I’m not heavy, silly! It’s all you.”

“Sure sure….your physical stats causing increased muscle and bone density has nothing to do with-”

They argued about biology and Emily’s denied weight gain while putting on the last clean clothes they had in the house. Eren had zero shirts left so he walked out bare-chested.

Emily protested but there was nothing either of them could do about it.

They set up the barbecue corner Eren had built in the garden last week and pulled out chicken, some spices and oil. Eren lit a small fire and cleaned the four custom metal skewers he’d had Oldir make for him.

Whether the neighbors were home or bothered by the smoke and meat smell they didn’t know but both of them were starving.

“It’s genuinely concerning that I’m the one between us who knows more about cooking.” Eren said with a mocking smile. He bumped her shoulder and whispered into her ear while fixing the crude grill setup. “I will do a lot of extraordinary things. Just you and me and our baby.”

Emily’s elven ears were very sensitive and they were clearly red from excitement.

She was an easy-to-please girl.

..

When the meeting and defense preparations finally kicked off Eren learned that the village had more elderly elves than he’d expected.

Most of them walked with canes or giant staffs that looked like wizard staves. But aside from the walking aids they were all surprisingly fit and mobile. Being an elf clearly had its perks even in old age because none of them needed help from others to get around.

Racial differences really aren’t fair at all.

“If everyone’s ready, let’s begin. Anyone who wants to speak can raise their hand and say what they need to say.” Thadric stepped up and took some responsibility to quiet the crowd, probably because he’d earned enough standing by now.

Even as elves some of these villagers were grieving the people they’d lost and many had come specifically to say something about it. A few were outright furious and while they didn’t direct their anger at Eren, Emily was catching plenty of hostile looks.

Huh.

It was the first time Eren had seen elves with angry, hateful or accusing expressions. Somehow that was more unsettling than he would’ve guessed.

Thadric struggled but eventually got everyone to shut up and shouted again. “Who wants to start?”

Emily saw most eyes turning toward her and stood up immediately. She addressed the hundreds of elves gathered in the square that had originally been set up for the festival. “Times have changed and we can’t keep operating the way we used to. We’re past the era where picking one hunter or relying on a few people to protect everyone was enough.”

“If you were half the hunter your mother was we wouldn’t be having this conversation!”

“Shut up, the girl’s doing her best!”

“No, Idil’s right! Instead of focusing on her job as village hunter she’s off getting herself fu-”

Eren experienced genuine culture shock hearing curses he’d never encountered even on Earth come out of the mouths of these beautiful elves. At certain points Emily looked at him with embarrassment and shook her head.

At least she didn’t seem offended or upset.

She’d warned him before they came not to take any of it personally. Elves still lived by customs from the old days when they had real cities and civilizations. Struggling to accept dangerous times or blaming someone for it was normal behavior for them.

He was glad Emily was mature about the whole thing. If he’d been in her position.. “Also that human is eating our food and screws our girls…” The rest was bleeped out by Eren’s brain. “He should take more responsibility!!!”

Eren’s comfortable spectator mode ended very abruptly. He sighed and was about to stand up when he heard a slur about his slightly smaller elf ears compared to normal elves and his eye color’s resemblance to bunny poop. He immediately sat back down.

I don’t wanna get up and fight people I barely know.Even if they are elves, everyone gets terrifying when they’re angry… I wanna go home and sleep with Emily in my arms.

After roughly half an hour of shouting and arguing even the angriest voices had agreed on a few key points.

The first priority was village defense. Forming any kind of fighting force beyond that – which plenty of people had protested – would be a decision for later if it was deemed necessary.

It was like watching a government assembly where some decisions get made and others get “tabled.” Eren was surprised to see that even the most furious elves seemed satisfied with the outcome. They’d blown up fast, raged hard and calmed down just as quickly.

Emily and one of the elder elves hammered out an arrangement after several rounds of colorful language. Elves whose classes could contribute to defense and combat support would be required to help the village during set hours every day.

When at least ten people voiced their displeasure and started yelling at the elderly elf who’d been backing Emily, the old woman couldn’t take it anymore. She spun around and waved her staff-like cane at the shouters.

“I’ll skull-f*ck you until you cry a f*cking river if you don’t shut up!”

“…”

The entire village fell silent for a few seconds. It was one of the most beautiful sights Eren had ever seen.

The profanity was so unexpected and magnificent that Eren mentally filed it away to teach his kids someday. Between the awkward laughter and a few more important decisions got made, everyone dispersed to eat at their homes or areas similar to Selena’s place.

Eren didn’t know where things were headed but he glanced at the small and harmless-looking sapling in the center of the village. Sometimes he felt like that totem was more than what it appeared to be. He couldn’t explain why.

He sighed, kissed Emily on the cheek while she clung to his arm and looked up at the sky.

We’ll be fine. Probably.

…

That night the village was louder than it had been in weeks. Families ate together. Arguments from the meeting had already spread and new gossip about elvish human became more popular after they saw his naked upper body and incredible face from close.

Somewhere near the eastern barricade Thadric, Toris and at least twenty other similar elves were sharing bottles of wine while hammering nails into fresh timber.

Nobody noticed the small things that changed beyond the village.

Far to the south beneath the Verdant Hollow Forest the faint tremors that had been pulsing through the area for days stopped. The dungeon floors went completely still as if whatever lived below them had paused mid-step to listen to something only it could hear.

To the north a column of dragon fire that had been scorching the mountain peaks every evening like clockwork didn’t come. The massive shape on the ridgeline shifted its weight, turned its head slowly toward the forest and stayed that way for a long time. It didn’t move again until dawn.

Somewhere to the east a small group of armored and massive kobolds on their lizard mounts pulled to a halt. The lead rider raised a clawed hand and stopped all mumbling. After a few seconds the second rider turned his mount around and headed back the way they’d come at full speed. Whatever report he was carrying would reach their stronghold before nightfall.

And far to the west in a cave that existed on no map, a lone figure sat cross-legged among other sleeping creatures. Thin threads of pale light ran from his fingertips to each beast like puppet strings. He stopped his hands and turned his head to the way of the village one time. But then went back to whatever he was doing after that strange moment.

But something made everyone and everything felt something.

None of these things were connected to each other. None of them had anything to do with the elven village or cared it actually.

But this was about to change.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep