Night had arrived and a glimpse of stars peeked out from beyond the tight foliage of the trees. The silver light of the moon illuminated the magical forest with a beautiful, mystical glow.
To celebrate the rare occasion, Chief Brennus decided to host a feast to honor their guests.
Some villagers had arrived with meat and vegetables, which the chief gave them orders to prepare. Simple drinks were served on a long table and, before long, the villagers celebrated together with the guests.
A huge bonfire could be seen in the middle of the place, the scent radiating from the cooked food was heavenly, but overall, he could feel that the celebration was not as merry as expected. Some laughter and chatting could be heard, but it was clear to Emery that everyone was holding back, in favor of glancing at the knights with wary eyes. Only a few dozen fey decided to open themselves up and partake in the feast and dances, while the others watched from afar.
In other circumstances, the Akavi Warriors would be rowdy with excitement, but this time they were watching in vigilance. Their body language looked tense and their expressions serious, as if expecting something to happen any time soon.
It appeared it would take more time for both sides to start feeling more comfortable toward each other. But this was still a good start.
At least the fey sisters seemed able to light up the situation. Glita, Lilith and Lelith filled in with dancing, while Tyra showed her talent in signing. Their beauty and performances were able to lighten up the mood and save the feast.
Emery saw Morgana leaning against a tree by herself, merely watching, but not participating in the party. He approached her and said.
"What about you? Can you sing?"
"No!" As usual, she gave him a short, direct answer.
"What about dancing, then?"
"No." Morgana hurriedly answered, her face tinged red. It seemed dancing was a bit of a sore topic for her.
"Any particular talent to share tonight?" Emery kept on insisting.
Morgana furrowed her brows and thought hard and suddenly her hand started to glow, a sign of her casting fire magic.
"I can maybe do some fire performance," Morgana said with a serious look on her face.
"No! No! Definitely No!" Emery shook his head and hurriedly said."You can just sit and enjoy the show,"
A performance involving magic used for battle in this already awkward party would just result in the opposite effect. It would be a disaster if the flames accidentally hit the trees, or even worse, the people.
Afterward, while everyone was busy talking and eating, Emery approached the prince and asked him about the vision Gaia imparted.
The prince seemed to believe he would be able to pull the sword when he became worthy of the title. He planned to return and try to understand the people's plight to ensure he could create the peace he desired. With his planned coronation coming in a year's time, he couldn't afford to dawdle.
Emery was speechless upon hearing such words. For him, pulling the sword was merely a matter of having enough spirit force and battle power.
Unfortunately, even though he knew this answer, he had no way to increase the prince's spirit force. They didn't have access to the origin stones like in the academy.
Actually before even thinking of increasing his stats, Emery had to first find a way to measure someone else's stats. Unlike him and the acolytes from the Academy, Arthur and the others had no magic symbol on their hands.
Therefore, he needed to find a way to measure the spirit force of others around him.
There must be some item he could purchase from the academy, but for now, he believed his current solution to this could be found within the path of apothecary.
Now that Morgana has been returned to the village, Arthur has found his purpose and the problem with Gwen was more or less settled. It was finally time to focus on his training and experiments.
Right as he finished talking to Arthur, the feast was beginning to die down. People had started to leave and the villagers were busy tidying and cleaning up the place. The chief provided the group with a moderately sized hut filled with beds to rest.
The next day, the sun had just started to peek out from the edge of the foliage, it was a cue for them to ended their visit to the village.
After they gathered, most of the knights and the prince looked refreshed. On the other hand, Gaious had dark circles under his eyes. His conversation with Arthur revealed he didn't sleep at all last night, for he had been busy collecting multiple plants for his research.
Emery merely smiled and shook his head. Somehow, what Gaious did reminded him of his own behavior last year.
He decided to make a mental note to visit and see Gaious' laboratory for himself sometime soon.
Last but not least, there was Luna, who had been trying her best to get acquainted with Chief Brennus.
The last meeting between Luna and the chief was during the night they were hunting for the silver rabbit, which led to the deaths of many from both sides. This time she needed to make sure all grudges ened in favor of Briton's peace with the fey race.
… or at least, that was what she claimed.
Emery could smell business prospects and profit from one mile away knowing her intent, but as long as both sides could benefit, there should be no harm.
First, she mentioned trading. There was potential for the village to trade their rare resources with the material they couldn't find within the forest. The most obvious was the current use of wood and stone for their tools. Therefore iron would be very much helpful for their…. Pots and pans.
Second, she discusseed about manpower. Luna was always in need of strong warriors to help her trading business.
She showed the chief how Morgana managed to understand the outside world, she also promised to teach them of the Briton's language and customs. This somehow convinced the chief to get onboard with the idea.
They were there for only one night, but the Quintins had managed to improve their relationship - from killing each other to trading partners. Emery had to admit Luna's superb talent in this matter. He chuckled at the thought that Luna could be a better choice for an advocate of peace compared to Arthur.
Now that their business here was done, they could finally prepare to leave. It was then, Emery realized he needed to settle one final problem.
Right as he turned around, he noticed that Morgana was about to follow him again.
This gave him another headache.
Emery really hoped she would be willing to stay in the village now. The last time she followed him, it ended up being such a bad experience and, if he were being honest, he was scared to bring her along ever again.
When Emery asked her to stay, the girl merely gave an innocent smile.
"Didn't you promise to teach me magic and so many other things?" Morgana said, mimicking what Emery told her a few days before. Emery knew she was at least partially insulting him, but he decided to let it slide for now.
"Yes, I will. I will come to visit often and teach you then. Meanwhile, I will just stay in the Quintins' estate most of the time, you can come and visit of course"
"No!" Said Morgana. She left no room to negotiate at all.
"I will follow you anywhere you stay. You promised."
This actually became a little problematic for Emery as he would often move around with his spatial gate or most of the time he would be going inside the Khaos space. It would be awkward if he had to make up some explanation again.
"There was no way to convince you otherwise, was it?"
"No!"
Emery wasn't sure if the girl was just not smart enough to understand his intentions, or if she's too smart and used Emery's past mistake to force him to agree to her terms.
Either way, without waiting for his answer, Morgana had already said her farewells to her sisters and announced she wished to follow Emery again.
Even without looking, Emery could feel the four sisters' threatening gaze drill holes onto his back, with the unsaid threat of what would happen if he made them worry again.
Ohh damn! At least Emery had no plan to go far at the moment, probably having her around wouldn't be much of a problem this time around.
Emery told her he would have places to go that he couldn't bring her along all the time.
She nodded in silence, but unfortunately, her expression was truly worrisome for him.
The group said their goodbyes to the village and returned back to the Venta town.
After arriving at the town, Arthur and his knight had no plan to stay much longer, hence they said their goodbye and left for Logres.