—–
“Are you not nervous? This is the first time you go to Eric’s house!”
Eleanora interrupted my thoughts, as I was already thinking about the great amount of knowledge I would acquire today. To me, knowledge was something great that was valued even above strength. With proper knowledge, understanding, and comprehension, you can do many things. One of such things is growing strong too. This is why I often value it so much. I’ve wished for a while to find some sort of library to read many books, but this village lacks any of them, and even the noble houses have little books which they don’t let me read either.
“Why should I be nervous? In fact, I am quite excited.”
“E-Excited?”
“Yes?”
“Y-You’re not into boys, right?”
“…Eleanora, have you grown clumsier over time? What sort of joke is this?”
“Ahah… S-Sorry, I didn’t meant to sound rude…”
“I am not interested in boys; I am interested in the things Eric will lend to me. Eleanora this is the first time I see you laugh this much though. Was that really a joke?”
“M-Mildly… Ah! Am I getting too absorbed in human customs?”
“Certainly. It was a really bad joke as well…”
“S-Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It is fine, I can see that you are in high spirits today. Behave well with Eric’s family if possible. Remember that you’re now the spirit of a human, not the vampire you once were.”
“I understand. I will behave, please don’t worry about it.”
“Okay… And stop treating me with manners, be more carefree with your speech. Don’t feel forced to speak with me as if I were a figure of authority… Like the other kids talk to me.”
“T-That’s very hard after I spent thousands of years treating you like this, you know?”
“Hm… I suppose you’re right.”
When we reached Eric’s house, Eleanora found it rather beautiful, and so did I. The house of Eric was a three-floor house with a large amount of moss growing over certain areas, vines as well, and there was a large tree spreading its branches through the upper half of the house. Atop the large tree, there were stairs and a small room too. Was that a tree house? Eric’s family used this house as their shop too, so the first floor was open and attending customers. There were just a few adventurers purchasing healing potions and some other things, so we politely waited before they were done to talk with the shop owners, Eric’s aunt, and uncle.
“Hello dear, is there something you need?” A radiant woman near her 40’s greeted me, with long blonde hair and bright emerald eyes. She seemed serene in nature. This was most likely Eric’s aunt.
“I came to met Eric, is he in the house? I am his friend Blake…”
“Oh! Y-You’re Blake! Oh my! You’re the one he always speaks about the most aside from Chris and Erika!”
“Is that so…?”
“Yeah! I’ll bring him right away! ERIC! YOUR FRIEND IS HERE!”
The woman suddenly screamed all the way up to the third floor. His uncle quickly came from behind the counter, bringing a few potions freshly made to put for sale. The man seemed slightly younger than the woman and had short black hair and brown eyes. I can see that Eric’s aunt was probably either his mother or father’s sister, while the uncle is his aunt’s husband but he’s not related to his family through blood.
“Oh, is this Blake?” He asked. “Welcome to our small shop. We make potions and all of that here. You’re Eric’s best friend, isn’t it?”
“I seem to be. I wasn’t aware he valued me this much…” I said.
“Oho, of course he does.” Said the Aunt. “He really always talks about you every time he goes to meet you with the other two kids. I am really happy you’re my child’s friend. Chris was also a good kid, but you’ve really changed him since he became your friend…”
“Is that so?” I wondered.
“Yes, he often was a cowardly boy.” Sighed the Uncle. “But since he met you that he slowly began to develop more, he grew more self-confident and also more studious… He has already learned how to make good potions with Alchemy Magic, which his Druid Talent could learn rather easily!”
“You’re like his big brother at this point! So feel free to stay here as long as you want.” Said the Aunt. “Oh, maybe you could stay over the night as well?”
“I will think about it.”
I heard Eric walking downstairs hurriedly, clumsily putting on his glasses as he suddenly blushed a bit, getting all red.
“Geez! W-Why are you talking all these embarrassing things to Blake?” He cried. “N-Nice to meet you again, Blake. Sorry, my aunt and uncle are a bit too annoying.”
“Not at all. I wasn’t aware you valued me so much.” I said.
“I-It’s not like that! …I mean, maybe, but… Agh, let’s go to my room for now! I got a big tree house to show you too! Wanna see it?”
“Sure.”
Eric quickly grabbed my arm and led me upstairs, as his uncle and aunt never removed their happy smiles from their faces even when we moved upstairs. Eleanora was surprised by how talkative they were, but they ended embarrassing Eric quite a lot.
“Your uncle and your aunt seem quite talented at Alchemy.” I said, as we moved upstairs.
“Y-Yeah, maybe.” He said. “They’re actually pretty good, but because we are serfs we can’t get a good spot to sell… They would be making way more money if we could become commoners and move to the capital.”
“Hm, I see… I didn’t knew you were not commoners. You got a lot of things and the house is quite big.” I said.
“Yeah but that’s because my family has worked very hard over generations in this house… It has a long history. Even all the books we got were slowly accumulated over the previous generations, Blake!”
“I see…”
—–