I smiled deviously as we walked into Dawnleaf. The others were still left stunned by my show of fairly common Earth information. The tree in the middle of the village caught my attention almost immediately. Nothing seemed to be odd about it, save for the magical density that had grown even larger, but it forced me to look at it.

I was still wondering what was going on with it and this supposed festival, when I realized that the various market stands had been arranged to form a line along the outer edge of the settlement’s center. Then, in the center of the half-square made by the guild and most of the shops, there was an unlit bonfire. Preparations seemed to have been made, but it wasn’t quite time to celebrate just yet.

“Neat, we’re still in time,” Velariah commented on our way to the guild.

“Seems to me tomorrow’s the day,” Seralyn answered.

I had no idea what was going on with the timing of the festival and how the elves seemed to somehow feel when it would be. I turned my head to Draco who shrugged.

“It’s an elven thing. I don’t have the affinity they do for the tree.”

“The tree tells them?” I asked, frowning.

“Yes,” Velariah said excitedly. “We can sense the built-up magic in the tree better than anyone. Tomorrow will be a great day.”

“You still won’t tell me?”

“Nope!” Velariah said with an evil smile. Seralyn soon joined her in that.

Nira hopped off of my back when we reached the guild hall before entering the building to find it completely deserted, except for the female barkeep and the lore keeper who I now knew as Kantasia.

“Place is usually pretty empty as people prepare for tomorrow,” Velariah explained when I tossed a glance at her. “I doubt you’ll see any elves here today.”

“Interesting…” I let out. This festival thingy was getting more complicated by the minute.

“Do you guys want to have lunch here or should we ask Elly to make some later?”

“I’m fine with either,” I said. Draco, Nira, and Seralyn nodded after my statement.

“Let’s have some later then. We’ll finish business here and be on our way.”

After Velariah said that, Draco took off his backpack, placed it on the desk, and informed the lore keeper of the successful extermination. Kantasia pulled out a sheet of leather from under the desk and placed it on the wood. Draco then laid out all the ears we’d collected, which honestly, were quite a few. The lore keeper looked at them in awe, but scribbled down exactly how many there were at the same time. At the end of it all, she started counting out money from a large pouch.

“And that’s thirty-six gold total,” The lore keeper finished counting the coins and left them on the wood, where Draco took out twelve coins and handed them to Seralyn who quickly put them away in her pouch. He then handed twelve to Nira as well before putting the last in his own coin purse.

“You guys wanna visit Dworag first, or go straight to the mansion?” Seralyn asked.

“Let’s get home first,” Velariah suggested. “I’m going to guess my father is home. Let’s see if we can get an update on how things stand here, shall we?”

“Sounds like a wonderful idea,” Draco commented.

With that, we left the guild hall behind and made our way to the mansion just as a small group of three human adventurers arrived at the guild. They had obviously not seen me before as their reaction to my weapons and body had them jump back a fair distance. I smiled in amusement and ignored them for the most part. They were still trying to recover from the shock as they left my vision.

We reached Velariah’s mansion a few minutes later where Elly opened the door and informed us that Valtheril was upstairs in his office.

“Does he have time to see us?” Velariah asked, leaving her armor on as we would be heading out again later.

I took all four gauntlets off and placed them in the corner, joined by my polearm. They would be quite unwieldy indoors.

“I’ll inform him of your return right away,” Elly said before opening the next set of doors and making her way upstairs. In the meantime, we simply waited at the table.

When Elly returned, she informed us that Valtheril would be down in a couple of minutes.

Velariah nodded. “Would you mind preparing lunch in the meantime?”

“Certainly not.”

The elf disappeared into the kitchen and left the five of us waiting in anticipation of what the general would have to say. While waiting, Velariah removed the tenting materials from my saddlebags and brought them to the hallway. She put the chained daggers on the table and then pulled out one of the balls of silk from the other bag, which made me wonder where Gray was and what he was up to.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wonder for long as I heard heavy footsteps descend down the stairs, followed by lighter, more rapid footsteps. When Valtheril opened the door, Gray ran out ahead of him and immediately jumped at one of my legs, his tail wagging wildly.

“Well, someone is happy to see you,” Velariah grinned.

“Welcome home,” Valtheril greeted us warmly and took Velariah in for a short hug before taking his place at the head of the table. He wasn’t wearing any armor. I could only imagine how boring his day must have been so far if he hadn’t left the house and was left to do nothing but paperwork.

“So,” He started, his hands resting under his chin. “I’m going to assume you want to know how things stand here.”

A few nods from our groups made the general continue. “Unfortunately, the reason behind certain things remains a mystery to me. Especially the part where a hidden dungeon is involved in all this. Goblin extermination is proceeding smoothly. The human kingdom to the east has actually been of great help. I’m hoping this will strengthen our relationship further. Our lumber is of great importance to them. Likewise, their bricks and glasswork are invaluable to us.”

That was a welcome bit of news. Strengthening political ties through trade was one of the oldest tricks in the book. It was good to know that my former race could be reasoned with even if my experiences with them so far hadn’t been the best. Then again, the assassination attempt on me which was ordered by an elf, so I wasn’t sure I was justified in feeling especially wary towards humans.

“As for the people behind your assassination attempt,” Valtheril continued, his voice stern, yet calm. “The person directly tied to attempting to kill you has been executed. Because of the upcoming festival, I decided to do it in a private setting. Luke has been stripped of his adventurer’s license and the wealth he acquired from all this. After his initial stubbornness, he has proved to be cooperative, thus he lives, but he’ll sit behind bars for a while. Master Lorin, well… gone without a trace, with no leads.”

“That blows,” Velariah let out, clearly frustrated.

“There’s not much I can do about it, either. How did your quest go?”

“Hardly had anything to do,” Seralyn said. “Elania crushed goblin and troll alike with that new weapon of hers.”

“It went well is what she means to say,” Velariah said with a smile. “And we’re home in time for the festival too.”

“Great. I’m looking forward to the updates from the guild regarding the goblin situation.” Valtheril shook his head, but didn’t seem annoyed or even angry when he did so. “I can’t believe I’m looking forward to reading more reports.”

I chuckled at his comment. I couldn’t believe it either.

“Just don’t overwork yourself,” A concerned Velariah said.

“I won’t,” Valtheril replied. “I’m going to check their report and then I’m done for the day. Tomorrow is a day off, so I doubt I’ll overwork myself. Have you guys noticed anything strange on your journey perhaps?”

I had lowered myself to give Gray the attention he was demanding. Velariah tossed the ball of silk in her hands to me and I nimbly caught it with three hands before holding it up to Gray’s face. The wolf puppy was more than a bit interested, especially when I started shaking the ball.

“I guess the biggest takeaway from our quest is that the goblins appear to have grouped up with trolls, but you already knew that. Whether that’s some kind of alliance, we don’t know, but that’s what we observed,” Velariah explained.

I threw the ball and Gray jolted off to catch it before bringing it back to me. Somehow he understood exactly what I was trying to do. I was impressed by it. I didn’t know that a wild wolf puppy would be this knowledgeable.

“The guild is already aware of this as well, but in all honesty, I doubt it will change anything about the situation,” Velariah said.

“Very little,” Valtheril responded to his daughter. “Although it may mean that we’ll have to increase the quest difficulty towards gold rank, at a minimum, just to prevent casualties on our side. It’s likely that we’ll also set a minimum number of party members required. Trolls are tough.”

I retrieved the ball of silk from Gray and tossed it to Nira, who barely managed to catch it. I’d taken her by surprise. The puppy was quick to turn his attention to the harpy while I turned mine back to the conversation.

“They are, but we seem to do well against them, at least now we do,” I added. “We’ll continue to assist until this forest is safe.”

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I looked at my companions who nodded in agreement. This had been our plan for a while, after all.

“That’s good to hear. After tomorrow, Vymar will lead the battalion stationed in Dawnleaf into the forest to start setting up perimeters with the rangers of areas that have been completely cleared. Later in the week, the reinforcements stationed at Duskleaf will arrive and we’ll do a clean sweep towards the east where we meet up with the humans to then proceed north. Hopefully, we’ll have this all done and over with within the coming week.”

He sounded optimistic, way more than last time he talked about this operation.

“Good to hear,” Draco finally spoke. “The forest has been problematic for too long.”

The general nodded and turned to me. “By the way, you should check the fields. I’m sure you’d love to see how it’s going there.”

“You mean…?”

Valtheril nodded. He was speaking about the coffee plants. I would certainly make a stop there to see how things were going. I couldn’t believe it had only taken such a short amount of time to grow proper coffee plants on a large scale.

I smiled at Valtheril as he shoved his chair back and stood up just as Elly walked in with a loaf of bread and several toppings for it on a large plate. “I’ll be off to the guild. I’ll see if I catch you later tonight. Otherwise, I’ll be at the festival tomorrow… just like everyone else.”

“Take care,” Velariah said as the general walked off into the hallway and closed the doors behind him.

I stood up and started making my way to the bathroom. “I’ll be back in a bit,” I said as I opened the doors.

I could see Draco nod from one of my side eyes, whereas Velariah stood up and followed me, slight confusion on her face, before it changed into a sly smile as I realized she knew what I was getting to.

I stepped over the hammock while the white-haired elf closed the door behind me.

“You couldn’t wait to see her, could you?”

“I want to know if she’s okay,” I said softly.

I walked to the crate when a certain spider peeked over the edge at the top. I had to do a double-take but confirmed it was Minia. The reason I had to look twice was because she’d grown, and not by the amount I had been expecting.

“Is that normal?” I asked the elf.

“Uhhh,” Velariah mumbled as she walked closer to take a better look as well.

The jumping spider had grown almost fifty percent in size and would now take up most of my palm. I knew that molting was how spiders grew, but it wouldn’t result in growth of these proportions at all.

“I don’t think that it is,” The elf said.

I could feel a stream of emotions coming from the spider, but the predominant one was confusion. I lowered myself and brought a finger down to carefully pet the spider to let her know I was okay.

It sent out a wave of happiness as I did so. With Minia’s molting, I could feel the connection between us was stronger. Her emotions were clearer for me to make out… more direct in a way.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say it has something to do with my inherity. Do you think it’s part of the arachnid communication part?”

“This is considered communication? Making spiders grow larger?” Velariah said in confusion.

“You have any better ideas?” I asked.

The elf shook her head. “I don’t.”

Minia did something I wasn’t expecting. She rapidly tapped her pedipalps on the wood of the crate as I stroked her back. It made a sound that had something akin to a purring of a cat. It made me chuckle.

“What the hell is she doing?” Velariah asked.

“She’s just happy we’re back. I think she’s like… purring?”

“Unbelievable.”

“I’m happy she is okay, though. Let’s see if Elly still has any grasshoppers around.”

I bent my torso over the crate to find the glass jar hidden behind it. There were still some grasshoppers inside. When I pulled out the jar, Minia’s attention was instantly fixed on the insects inside.

Velariah chuckled. “I think she’s hungry.”

“I know she’s hungry. I can feel it.”

“Well, you better feed her then. I know how grumpy spiders can get when they’re hungry.”

“Very funny, Vel,” I said with a grin as I put my hand in the jar to take out one of the grasshoppers. I then placed the insect on the ground and it promptly jumped away.

Minia, however, wasn’t impressed at all. She skittered down the crate, onto the floor and sneaked after the insect, staying a fair distance away until the insect sat still. It was then the spider jumped on it from afar and pinned it down as she injected venom.

“Holy crap, she’s so fast,” Velariah said. “It never ceases to amaze me.”

“I know, right?” I said as I crossed all four of my arms, watching the spider in action.

I turned around and sat down on the floor with Velariah sitting down in front of me, practically begging me to hug her from behind. I did just that and imagined she regretted not taking off her armor now.

I removed my helmet and placed it on the ground next to me. Velariah did the same and we watched Minia, who was dancing around happily with her prey between her fangs.

“I can’t believe I used to be afraid of her,” I let out. “She’s so funny. I mean, look at that.”

“Yeah,” Velariah said with a chuckle. “She’s like, my second favorite spider.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I had to, El. It was too easy to not make that joke,” The elf said slyly.

“True, I guess,” I conceded.

Velariah took my head with her hands and brought it down onto her shoulder to then turn her head and kiss me. From my side eye, I could see Minia staring, which caused me to chuckle mid-kiss.

“She’s watching,” I said, explaining my behavior. “I’m sorry, it was just too funny.”

“She knows exactly what is interesting to look at,” Velariah said, amused. “But come,” She continued as she stood up. “We still have to have lunch and then visit Dworag after that. I wonder how Draco’s armor is coming along.”

“I doubt he managed to finish that in just those few days. I mean, he’s fast, but that seems a bit excessive.”

“True, although any piece that’s finished will help.”

“You also forgot to mention the coffee fields,” I said as soon as the thought entered my mind. “I’d love to see how that’s doing, for the money if nothing else.”

“Suuuuure,” Velariah said with a far too big smile. “For the money. It’s not like you have the weirdest coffee fetish or anything.”

“One day,” I said. “One day, we’ll have decaffeinated coffee that I can drink. I swear it can’t be that hard to figure out.”

“One day for sure,” Velariah confirmed as she walked to the door, stepping over the hammock. “You hungry?”

I shook my head. “Not at all, no. A cup of tea, or rather, half a cup would be lovely though.”

“Well, let’s not keep the others waiting.”

We entered the dining area where the others were waiting for us. Seralyn was smiling and I knew it could be nothing good.

“So, was she happy to see you?”

She asked it in a half-serious way, but I couldn’t detect sarcasm in her voice.

“She’s alright. She actually grew quite a bit, which makes us wonder if my inherity has an effect on her.”

“That’s… interesting,” Draco commented.

Nira was looking at me with interest on her face. Gray sat on her lap with one of the silk balls in his mouth. It seemed I’d been right in assuming it would make a great toy for him.

I took my place at the table and poured myself some tea.

“Yeah. Her emotions are far clearer to me now as well. Makes me wonder just how far this inherity of mine goes.”

“We’ll see,” Draco said. “In due time.”