Last night going to the sauna felt so great after having been dirty from the battle for so many days. This time the sauna will get quite the work out as after the party a few people will come back here so we can celebrate the last day of the year here.

We have never had sauna two days in a row, but I don’t think it will have any problems with it and should work just fine. I was trying to look my best so I decided to clean my armour up the best I could. It’s surprisingly common in this world to wear armour to gatherings and parties but usually, people have a particular armour set that looks better and is lighter.

In the future, I might do something like that, but the weight doesn’t bother me so much and I made my armour extremely flexible. I am growing quite fast so making new armour sets is a must. On the clothes side of things making new ones or making the current one fit is no longer a problem. Emma has that side handled. If I was still alone, I like to do everything myself, but I can’t argue with how much faster it is to have other people.

But I need to be wary of doing things fast. It might not be the best option and sometimes it's even a detriment. Even back on earth, this was a problem that I often came across in a different form. When I got older it was hard to understand that I couldn't do some things as fast as I used to and that often lead to frustration. This time the problem is similar but from another direction.

The coming celebrations reminded me of New Year’s, but it wasn’t the same. There wasn’t an emphasis on midnight when the next day came just a party that started quite early in the day and continued into the next day.

After the few days that I’ve had, I kind of needed to relax so a party sounded quite nice. Arthur was already waiting in the common room as I got out of my own room. “Are they still getting ready?” I asked Arthur. “Yes, George will be ready in a moment, but I have no idea about Emma,” answered Arthur.

I really wanted to know in what time frame we were going to go. “Hey Emma, how long will it take you to get ready?” I yelled so she could hear through the walls. But the answer I got was her dropping something on the floor and cursing softly.

The only reason I was able to hear the cursing was because of my senses. After a bit, she yelled back the answer. “About half an hour more.” And after a short pause, she continued. “And if you keep bothering me it will take even longer.”

Both Arthur and I looked at each other, smiled and shrugged our shoulders. It wasn’t a long time to wait but it wasn’t short either, so I joined Arthur at the table, and we just spoke about nothing in particular. In a short while, George joined us. Everyone was in a good mood and the house was filled with laughter quite quickly.

We barely noticed the time passing but suddenly Emma was standing next to us at the table. It didn't take long for us to be on the road and make our way quickly towards the village. With our movement ability, the trip there was quite quick. I couldn’t thank my luck enough that I was able to get this kind of ability that makes travel in some cases faster than travelling with a car.

While travelling was quick it still takes some time during which I listen to my apprentice's conversation and appreciated the silence of nature around us. In the winter everything was quieter. I suspect because of that true nature connection trait I was able to better understand or sense the background noise that life makes but currently it was the most silent I have heard, and it was quite calming in a way.

The village itself was quite loud and seemed boisterous. It was radiating a joyous mood that quickly seeped into us. Everyone was loud and there were different games set up everywhere. Mostly young children were playing these games that reminded me of carnivals.

A lot of people seem quite drunk, and I quickly figured out why. They were serving hot wine that has different kinds of spices in it. I have had it before on earth and it seemed quite similar, and it is truly wonderful on a winter day like this.

I still decided to skip any alcohol as I didn’t want my growing body exposed to it. But I could also feel an undercurrent of shame. That was mostly coming from older people. I think I know why as we were all having a happy time most other places were not having such a good New Year’s celebration. I didn’t let that bother me as it’s something that I cannot fix so why fret over it?

After trying one of the games, I understood quickly why only the children were playing as having a high enough level makes the games quite trivial. Still watching the children have fun was quite pleasing and their successes and failures brought laughter and joy to all that looked.

The best part of this celebration for me was the pastries. I didn’t know their exact names but a lot of them reminded me of what I had back on earth. So, during the first half of the celebrations, I mainly stayed close to the bakery and spent a lot of coins there.

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I also spent a lot of time talking with the pastry chef as he was working. At first, he was a bit annoyed at me when I started to give him ideas on how to make new kinds of pastries but that annoyance quickly disappeared and was replaced with gratitude.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay there all the time, so I went and did what many others were doing and started to move around and talk to other groups that had formed. The music was quite pleasant. It sounded like folk music and Christmas music mixed together and it wasn't half bad.

Would I have liked them to have some drums, yes, but they were still quite good. Not a lot of singing also which was disappointing but I guess those songs were really meant for a performance. They were mostly just melodies that wouldn't be too taxing to play for long hours and acted more like background mood setters.

“Well, hi there young fellow my name is Rich I’m just walking around and getting to know everyone. What might your name be?” I asked in the same tone as I have been asking everyone else in a mix of joviality and familiarity. Unlike others, the youth didn't answer immediately but it seemed that peer pressure did its job as other people around here waited for his answer.

“It’s Chris with a K.” He finally said in a quiet tone and seemed to be quite uncomfortable. “Pleasure to meet you Chris with a K. I believe you are one of the villagers that came with the convoy. Tell me what are your future plans, if you don't mind that is and if you even have any. Don’t take that as an insult people so young as yourself don’t need plans but you should already start thinking in that direction. Just a simple recommendation.”

His face went through multiple expressions before it settled on anger. “Well, my plan was to take over my father’s farm, but that fucking bastard of a noble killed my parents for not being able to pay the insane tax that he was asking. My plan after that like everyone else’s was to find a way to kill that bastard.” At the end of his rant, the anger disappeared replaced with gratitude as he said. “Thank you for that.”

Everyone else in this group returned the sentiment to me and I got lots of thanks and handshakes from everyone. The young man's face was now filled with sadness and I grabbed his shoulder and made him look me in the eyes. “There is always a way forward no matter what everyone else thinks. There is always a use for no matter what kind of an ability that can benefit others in a good way. Don't forget that.”

I released his shoulder and looked at everyone else and continued. “And to you all. Think about the future you want to have and if you can't think of anything you can always find me and perhaps, we can talk things through. You are all young and the world is more open to you than it has ever been before. So, grab hold of any opportunity you think might benefit you. But I think a card table is waiting for me so if you would excuse me, I must leave you now.”

Walking away and finishing my pastry I hope that Khris got what I meant. I truly feel like someone that can control the undead doesn't need to be an evil person it all depends on what he decides to do with that power. But he wasn’t the only one I gave this talk to I did it to a lot of the caravan villagers that looked lost.

Getting to the inn it seemed like I was the last one to arrive. Around the table were people from the caravan that were no longer just acquaintances but started to tip towards the friend part of the scales.

On the table was the most popular card game called the hidden one. The cards were the same as back on earth. This game also reminded me of poker, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some kind of a variant of poker.

Greetings were just head nods as I sat down, and the hand started to be dealt immediately. Everyone got five cards then a hidden face-down card was placed in the centre of the table and one face-up card.

Those were the communal cards that everyone could use to make up the best combination. The combinations were also the same as poker on earth. Contemplating how the games were similar would be quite a pointless exercise as there was no way to find the answer.

I had three of a kind which was quite a good hand for the first round. I was quite surprised when in the first betting stage everyone added that to the pot. Everyone put down one card and got a replacement.

In this betting stage, one didn’t join and laid down her cards. In the last replacement card stage, I and only one other put down a card and got replacements. I was unlucky and didn’t get a pair so I didn't get a full house.

Everyone joined in on the last betting stage and the pot was quite big now which was quite unusual for the first round. Everyone started to show their cards. I didn’t even have the third-best cards as there was a flush and two full houses.

It was finally time for the face-down card to be revealed. When the dealer turned the card over, and it was a glorious 10 giving me four of a kind I couldn’t stop myself and laughed out loud. “It seems like luck is on my side today boys.” I was answered with friendly groans and curses.

We continued playing and I slowly started to lose the lead that I had gained but after a few hours of playing I still ended up with more money than I started with. People came and went from the table, and I even changed the table one time as multiple games were going on.

The person who won the most money was able to get a trophy. I wasn’t the one getting it I wasn’t even in the top 10. One of the wall guards won as he seemed to be on a hot streak of luck as the hidden card won him most of his money.

We didn’t play for gold or even silver, just coppers. It was more for fun than anyone wanting to make a lot of money. But some unlucky people had to buy in multiple times as they kept losing everything they had. But that was their problem.

It was finally time to start heading back to the farm, with us were a few other people that hadn't visited the farm before. They were mostly the Knights that came with the caravan. The trip there was quite a lot longer but it was also a lot more fun with everyone joking along the way.

At first most of them were sceptical about the sauna but as the night went on and crossed into the next day their minds were changed and I was able to convert a few more people to the truth of saunas.