Chapter 81: The Other Side of the Portal -3-

The village was loud with activity.

Elves hauled planks across the center road for barricade repairs or newly constructed side walls. Someone was hammering near the west-southers wall. Thadric waved from his new hunting duties Eren left behind.

As they passed Thadric moved extra dramatic and did a visible double-take when he saw Rosa.

Rosa’s were on everything while this was happening.

She was trying to look at everything at once: the wooden houses with their overgrown flower gardens, the massive totem tree in the village center, the elves in their leaf and leather clothing, the sky that was somehow a different shade of blue than Earth’s.

She was holding Eren’s arm so tight her knuckles were white. Her phone was in her other hand, taking photos of everything.

“The buildings look handmade. Every single one is different.” She was talking quietly, almost to herself. “No concrete. No metal. Just wood and stone and whatever those plants are growing on the walls. It’s like someone took a medieval village and put a bunch of elves in it without thinking too much.”

It was a strange thought but made sense. Elves were suppose to belong tree houses, not this cheap wooden-rock houses.

They reached Selena’s restaurant without hurrying.

Emily was already inside and had commandeered the large corner table. Within minutes the place filled up. Thadric dropped into a chair. Mel and Nimbo showed up with practice bruises from whatever training exercise they’d been doing.

Lyra appeared at the kitchen door with flour on her hands with many bread and pastry in her tray. She immediately turned red when she saw Eren which Rosa noticed with keen eyes.

Selena brought out plates without being asked. She didn’t need orders because she cooked whatever she had and people ate whatever she brought. It was one of the things Eren genuinely loved about this place.

She set a plate in front of Rosa with a warm smile and a few words in Elvish.

Rosa looked at Eren.

“She told you to eat.”

“Oh.” Rosa picked up a fork, then realized there were no forks. Just wooden utensils shaped like something between a spoon and a paddle. She looked at it, sighed and started eating. “Tell her I appreciate it. And this place is lovely..”

Eren conveyed the words and that made Selena smile like a sneaky fox. She was having too much fun with possibilities while looking at Rosa and what she represented.

Maybe now, her chances of tasting this half elf and having a baby was higher..who knows. But unlike others, she was glad Rosa was Rosa and she was here to cause changes to Emily’s relation with her half-human mate.

Rosa tasted what the gorgeous waitress bring and it was some kind of stew. Yaksha meat with root vegetables and herbs that didn’t exist on Earth according to stupid Eren.

Rosa took one bite and her eyes went wide.

This is incredible.

“This is… actually really good. What is this meat?”

Eren smiled. “You don’t want to know.”

“I definitely want to know.” She insisted with a determined gaze. She wasn’t a child and wanted to have her opinions on everything around the magical world.

“It’s from a farm animal looks like a fluffy overgrown bunny that Thadric raises in his ranch like cows.”

She picked her spoon up again and took another bite. “It’s good. I hate that it’s good when I guessed they wouldn’t have tasty food here.”

Elven side wasn’t losing with their food for today but it wasn’t a real win either. Rosa didn’t see enough to make a realistic comparison of two different worlds.

Suddenly Oldir arrived next with Toric, the foul-mouthed lumberjack who looked at Rosa, then at Eren, then at Emily and produced a grin that suggested he understood the entire situation without a single word of explanation.

When Eren was drunk, he would talk to these guys about his real life and these sneaky bastards didn’t forget his words.

Eren wanted to curse after seeing Toric’s weird smile but held himself.

Rabbu-i came last. She walked into the restaurant wearing what could generously be described as clothing in the same way a few strategically placed leaves could be described as a dress!

Wow!

Even for Eren’s point of view and one month of tutorial time, this was too much.

She was beautiful in the aggressive, shameless way that made Emily’s left eye twitch while Rosa was shocked to her very core with blushes all over her face and neck.

Rosa leaned over to Eren. “Is she counted as wearing cloths right? And this is not weird?”

Eren shamelessly explained the situation. “That’s considered normal here. Elves would be much happier if they walked naked, let me tell you….” Actually he was telling the truth but he wasn’t that used to see almost-naked elf women as much as he showed.

“Normal.” Rosa looked at Rabbu-i, then at Emily’s outfit, then at the other elf women in the restaurant. “This whole village has a clothing budget of zero probably. No fashion or beauty products or anything. Must be nice to be an elf…”

Eren didn’t comment about her words. He was a half-elf now and he knew she didn’t understand how elves felt as a different race. She wouldn’t understand even if he explained.

He unpacked the supply bags onto the empty end of the table. The first thing he pulled out was the lighters. Twenty of them, cheap plastic ones from the gas station.

He held one up and clicked it and as expected, a small flame appeared.

Mel physically jumped off her chair. She jumped straight up like a startled cat with both hands in the air.

“WHAT IS THAT?!” She pointed at the lighter from two meters away. “You just made fire from your hand!”

Thats when Eren realized she didn’t see the small lighter from that side and reacted extreme.

He showed the tool to everyone. “It’s a tool from the my world. Not magic. Just engineering with simple mechanics.” Eren clicked it again and taught them how to use it.

The brave one in the group was the Rancher Man.

Thadric reached for it with the same expression he got around new animals. Careful, fascinated and slightly afraid. He clicked it once and flame appeared. He clicked it again. And again. And didn’t stop.

“Thadric you’re going to break it.”

“But it makes fire!!” He was clicking it with the same dedication a child gives to a light switch they’ve just discovered. Toric tried to take it from him and Thadric actually pulled away and kept clicking and playing with fire, literally.

Nimbo was already testing the flashlight with he found out how to use the switch by himself.

Smart boy.

He turned it on and the beam hit the far wall of the restaurant and every elf in the place went quiet for a second.

“What kind of light magic is this?” Selena grabbed the flashlight from Nimbo and turned it on her own face from below, casting creepy shadows. “This gadgets are what Earth has? Portable suns?”

Emily had been watching all of this with quiet amusement but her attention was on the smaller bag that Eren hadn’t opened yet. She could smell it.

“What’s in that one?”

Eren pulled out the chocolate bar. Nothing fancy, just a biggest Milk* chocolate bar from the grocery store. He unwrapped it, broke off a piece and held it out to Emily.

She took it after sniffing it, then put it between her plump lips to lick it.

Her eyes went wide and suddenly bited and swallowed the piece with one gulp.

She didn’t say anything for about three seconds because her brain was processing something it had never encountered before.

“This…” She swallowed the left over taste. “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. What is this?”

“Chocolate. The thing I told you about, remember?”

“You said it was the best thing on Earth. You lied.” She grabbed the rest of the bar. “It’s the best thing in any universe. How much did you bring?”

“Just the one bar you are holding for now-”

“Just this?!” Her face had a clear sadness.

She was about to put the entire remaining piece in her mouth when a grey blur came from absolutely nowhere. Rury appeared at full wolf sprint, snatched the chocolate from Emily’s hand in one clean bite without even slowing down and disappeared behind the restaurant before anyone could react.

From the back of the building they heard what could only be described as a wolf howling with her mouth full. It was a sound of pure ecstasy.

“RURY!” Emily was already moving.

She knocked her chair over, pulled her katana from the scabbard on her back and ran after Rury with the kind of murderous energy normally reserved for actual Rotwood Trolls.

Her dignity, her calm pregnant wife image, everything went out the window the moment that wolf touched her chocolate.

Rosa watched the entire thing happen. An elf woman with a sword chasing a giant wolf that had just stolen chocolate while everyone in the restaurant laughed.

“What is happening.” It wasn’t a question actually, she could see the funny scene.

“Welcome to Evon.” Eren was genuinely smiling as Emily was screaming something in Elvish that he decided not to translate.

Fury appeared at the door of the restaurant. He was bigger than the last time Eren had seen him and there was something in his posture that wasn’t relaxed.

[We were at the old dungeon area.] He sat near Eren’s feet but his ears were angled backward.

[Rury smelled something from the deep chambers. Something I haven’t smelled and have no idea how she did it from that distance…. She said it was sweet and started running here]

She was a real glutton!

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