This was clearly not a game for Seralyn. She simply didn’t have the patience needed for it, and frustration was clear on her face. Nira, on the other hand, quiet as she was, seemed to simply enjoy anything we did together.

For Seralyn, it was a blessing when the doors to the living area opened, and Valtheril, followed closely by Master Pylanor, entered the room.

“Neat,” The brunette said in relief. “You win Nira. Have fun, Elania.”

“Well, isn’t it lively here?” Pylanor said as the general invited him to take a seat.

Draco, like the gentleman he was, stood up and offered the treemender his seat so he and Valtheril would have an easy time playing together. At the same time, Elly poured him a cup of coffee, making me smile at the warm welcome he was receiving.

“Thank you,” He said politely, looking at the chessboard which Velariah was taking care of, rearranging the pieces and shoving it to the two men. “So what is this all about? You seemed unusually excited to show me this.”

“I’d better,” Valtheril said calmly, and with a sly smile. “We, this party and I, worked together for weeks coming up with this.”

I had to give it to him. He knew how to sound confident, even when lying. If I didn’t know any better, I'd have believed every word of what he just said.

“Didn’t take you for that type,” Pylanor said.

“Well, we wanted to keep it secret,” The general continued. “You see, we have big plans.”

“So, you’re telling me that instead of working in your office, you worked on this instead?”

Valtheril chuckled.

“That’s partially true, but you know damn well that one of my priorities here is to ensure a solid economy for Dawnleaf. While that coffee recipe was a blessing, may goddess Velineri rest his soul, I’ve been wanting to come up with something to provide entertainment, and, at the same time, is easy to produce. I asked Velariah and her party to help me, considering they hang out here a lot, and I trust them when it comes to keeping secrets.”

I couldn’t believe how good he was at lying. Scratch that, I couldn’t believe how good my companions were at keeping straight faces knowing he was just spouting nonsense.

“Alright,” The treemender said before Valtheril continued.

“And I’d like your help polishing the product.”

“Yeah,” Pylanor let out, taking a sip of coffee and taking a good look at the pieces on the board. “I can see it looks messy. What’s the idea?”

“It’s a game of two armies clashing on the battlefield. This game requires two players and they take turns moving pieces. The idea is to capture the other player’s pieces by moving them on top of a square they possess, but each piece can only move a certain way. The game ends when the enemy’s king is captured.”

“Is there any reason why there is empty space behind one army and not behind the other?” The treemender pointed at the unused rows. “Is that for an ambush or something? Defender’s advantage?”

Valtheril shook his head. “That’s a remnant of an idea we had earlier. Technically, you could consider it a different game, but it’s just that, a prototype. We changed the board size to eight by eight for this game instead. We found it worked better.”

What a legend.

“So some of the reasons I wanted you for this are quite simple: I trust you to keep this information for yourself as we don’t want others to copy this, and,” He pointed at a piece with a horse head. “I think you have the tools to create what I have in mind. For example, I’d like a horse’s head, noble and fierce, to be carved and put on some sort of pedestal to function as a piece in this game.”

“I think I see what you mean,” Pylanor said, drinking some more of his coffee. “So, I make those pieces. What’s the plan after that?”

“After that, I’d like to introduce the game to the king. I’m more than confident he will love this.”

“Jeez,” Seralyn said. “I can’t believe you still haven’t started it.”

A daring comment, but she was right. The general nodded at it and suggested he’d just show Pylanor.

He explained the rules with as much confidence as ever, not giving away in the slightest that he’d only learned about them today. That had to be one of Valtheril’s most remarkable features. He was so self-assured it was scary. It was almost as if he knew more about the book, the art of war, than me.

Wait, perhaps he did.

Bet he doesn’t know all those iconic quotes though. ‘If you know your enemy, and you know yourself’… and such.”

Maybe I’ll share them with him someday. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was familiar with some of them, maybe not literally, but I was certain he knew of some concepts.

After a quick explanation, Valtheril and the treemender started a game wherein more things were made clear. As before, the first match was just messing around and used to elaborate on some things, before a second, slower and more well-thought out match followed.

It still didn’t take long for Valtheril to win, but Pylanor simply smiled at it as he looked at the resulting board setup.

“You turned your profession into a game. That’s what this is, isn’t it?” The treemender asked with a sly smile. There was no doubt in my mind that he thought Valtheril was the mastermind behind all of this.

I was truly shocked.

“How good of a job did I do?” The general asked with an equally sly smile.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. I think you’re right to introduce it to the king. You wanted to keep this secret to give him a head start so he could beat the lesser nobles, didn’t you?”

“Exactly!” The general said loudly, letting his fist drop onto the table as he chuckled heartily. “Damnit, that’s exactly why I wanted you here. You know me too well.”

Master Pylanor smiled.

“I’d love to help you out. You did a great job coming up with something so refreshing as this.”

“I’m not the only one you should praise. Velariah in particular did a lot of work as well, but everyone here did their part.”

“You all did a wonderful job. I can’t wait to see what exactly this will bring to the village, but I’ll leave all that to you. Say, would you like to do another round?”

Already hooked, I saw.

“Sure,” Valtheril replied excitedly.

“And I’d like another round of coffee,” Seralyn added before looking at Elly with puppy eyes. “Please?”

Nira giggled at the sight, and Gray who’d been sitting on her lap all this time stuck out his tongue and cocked his head looking at the archer.

“Sure,” The maid replied happily, who looked at me, her eyes asking if I wanted anything to which I shook my head.

“I’m fine.”

She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen while the board was being rearranged into its starting position.

“So, how are you all enjoying the festival?” Pylanor asked as they started playing. “Elania, Draco, Nira, have you experienced it before?”

“Nope,” The lizardman was the first to talk. “And now that I’ve seen it, I doubt I’d ever want to miss it again.”

“It’s amazing,” I added. “And I agree with Draco. It’s wonderful to have observed the tree and the festivities after its eclipse, but I also feel happy to be back inside with just my friends.”

Nira nodded in agreement. It was widely accepted she was fairly shy and preferred to be out of the crowd.

“It was beautiful,” She said softly.

“The play was also great fun,” I said. “But I heard about what the activity was last year, and I have to admit, I’m a little sad we didn’t have that this year.”

Velariah burst into laughter.

“Damnit, El. You’re right. I completely forgot about that.”

“Hm?” Valtheril hummed the question.

“Elania is the best climber you’ve ever seen. She can climb against vertical walls like the one in our bedroom. Even better, she can climb to the ceiling and literally stick to it without issues. She would have beaten everyone, and it wouldn’t even have been close.”

“Master Endomir will kill me if I don’t tell him about this information,” Pylanor said casually. “You don’t mind if I do tell him, do you?”

“It’s fine. Go ahead,” I said warmly.

The general and treemender moved a few pieces in silence and utmost concentration. A few minutes later, Elly walked in with more coffee, and she had some freshly-baked cookies to go with it. I only just now registered the delicious smell coming from the kitchen, that’s how occupied I’d been.

Strange that the others hadn’t mentioned anything about it. Maybe Elly had been wanting to disguise it? I didn’t think ovens in this world would be as airtight as in my old one, though.

Oh well. Cookies. I can’t complain.

“So,” I started, munching on a cookie. I sort of regretted not getting some milk to go with it. ”Today I learned where the name ‘Dawnleaf’ comes from, but what about the other settlements? I keep hearing Goldleaf and Duskleaf, but I believe that the tree here is unique, isn’t it?“

“You’re right,” Valtheril said. “Dawnleaf predates both. Duskleaf is the closest and the most valuable trade partner, and was set up specifically for that reason. It’s name was formed with that in mind long before it grew into the village it is now. As for Goldleaf, well, it used to have goldfields, which grew into mines, but nowadays, they are about exhausted. There are several more villages in the province, all have their names based on these three. Makes it easy for travelers from far away to find it.”

“Interesting piece of history,” I commented. “Thank you for that.”

I wondered if Goldleaf became the provincial capital due to the so-called gold rush. I imagined something similar happened here where many people were drawn to that one place, explaining why the settlement grew into a capital, but on the other hand, it seemed quite obvious that that was what happened.

“Elly,” I asked the maid’s name. “I feel sorry for asking, but could you get me some milk, please?”

“Sure,” She said smiling when she got up, making me feel relieved.

“A bold move,” Valtheril said in response to the treemender’s latest action in the game. “But one I had foreseen.”

He moved one of his own pieces and Pylanor was left staring at the board, not in disbelief, but rather, in confusion. I hadn’t been paying attention to the match, but the sly smile on the general’s face told me everything I needed to know.

“Did I miss something?” Pylanor asked. “I don’t see how that was a good move.”

“Yet,” Valtheril added. “You will see soon.”

What the crap? How good did this guy get within the past hour?

Two moves later, we found out that he’d been right when he made the move that won the game.

“Well,” Pylanor said with a grin. “I suppose you built up quite a bit of experience before you challenged me. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do in a few weeks.”

“That a challenge?” Valtheril asked slyly.

“Certainly,” Pylanor replied with the same mischief before leaning back in his chair.

“Feels good to have some time off,” he continued. “Hope we can keep the same kind of rest after tomorrow.”

“You know I’m doing everything I can to make your job easy,” The general replied, referring to the number of wounded people that would need medical attention from the treemenders. “But sometimes, there’s no avoiding casualties.”

“I know,” Pylanor replied with a nod. “Doesn’t mean I can’t hope.”

“Good news is that most of the heavy lifting is already done. It’s just a cleanup mission more than anything, and our battalion is more than equipped to deal with unforeseen circumstances.”

“If you guys don’t mind,” Seralyn suddenly said. “I’ll be upstairs for a while.”

I looked at the archer as she stood up, trying to figure out what made her decide to leave us for the time being. I couldn’t quite figure out if it was just boredom, or whether there was something else. Her feelings were always masked and hard to read at times.

“Take care,” Draco said calmly, and with a certain worry, but also mindfulness.

The brunette nodded and left the room and even Velariah didn’t seem to know what to say at the moment. The three men seemed to be the most composed and Draco carefully placed the chess pieces back in place and invited the treemender for a game, quoting that he thought they were on about even levels.

I watched but didn’t pay too much attention to it, as, strange as it may be, I was slightly worried about Seralyn. I hoped that it was because this new game bored her and not anything deeper than that. I shrugged it off and took another cookie, thankful that I didn’t lose my taste for sweets.

The games continued over the next couple of hours, kept fresh and lively by talk from our companions, reciting our adventures to Pylanor and Valtheril. The general didn’t get to talk much with Velariah so this was an excellent time to catch up on what we’d done so far. He was particularly interested in the way I fought, which was to be expected judging from how he’d stared at my unconventional weapons.

He was amused when I explained I’d picked this weapon because it would take like no time to learn it. Normally, one would have to learn how to ride a horse, and then learn how to use it on horseback, but all that, obviously, didn’t apply to me.

Safe to say that it wasn’t surprising that he said I’d made a smart choice.

Eventually, Seralyn had made her way down again, and she seemed a lot less bothered by the games that were still being played. Honestly, she looked quite… happy. I was glad to see that taking a little time away from all the commotion had done her well.

Just in time too. The conversation was starting to slow down and a revitalized Seralyn knew just how to blow new life into it. Her way of storytelling was just something else. The manner in which she talked about the most bloody, most gruesome ways we slaughtered the goblins at the camp the other day, including her own, perhaps overglorified, shots from away put everyone in a good mood.

Then, she got to know the combination of coffee and alcohol, something which she asked about before. I of course knew a thing or two about mixing alcohol with coffee, but I wasn’t an expert in the matter per se. However, I did know that the fifty-fifty beverage she was currently mixing wasn’t a good idea.

But she didn’t seem to mind.

The drink disappeared within seconds, and I just knew this was going to result in the worst headache for her the next day. What I wasn’t so sure about were the short-term effects. I was eager to find out.

She surprised both friend and foe when she challenged Draco to a game of chess, all while keeping the largest, most devious smile on her face.

For real, it was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen.

Things got worse when she, somehow, surprisingly… honestly, I had no idea how she did it… beat Draco, resulting in her cheering loudly, drunk on both alcohol and coffee at the same time. She then shoved her chair back and ran to Gray, who was more than happy to share in her excitement.

The rest of us, including Valtheril, were left laughing at her actions.

The day progressed, and eventually, evening came, the games and stories still going strong, given new life now that our party was whole again. Master Pylanor, after going over the chess plan with Valtheril once more, left, and soon after, we decided to head out for one last time to get a last glance of the magical tree.

We didn’t bother to armor up as we just walked outside to watch. The tree towered high above us, and we could see everything from here just as well.

With the red glow of evening already here, and darkness slowly beginning to creep in, the blue leaves emitted an even more otherworldly glow as they reflected the last bits of altered sunlight. It left me in amazement, just like before, and I was certain I’d remember just how enchanting the sight was for many years to come.

And I intended to see this every single year. Velariah was absolutely right. There was no way one would miss this.

We headed back inside while Elly walked out with Gray for his evening walk.

It was mutually agreed upon that we’d go to bed early as we would need our rest for the next day, and we said our goodnights as Velariah and I retreated to our room.

Soon after, we were laying in bed, my legs hugging her frame as she ran a hand through my long hair. Minia wanted to be close too and watched from the head end of the hammock.

“You were right,” I said softly before kissing the elf. “No way in hell I wanted to miss this day.”

The white-haired elf giggled quietly.

“I’m so happy you liked it. This is probably the most important day for us.”

“Kind of makes me sad that I’m not an elf,” I replied. “I can’t imagine what you feel, what kind of connection you have to the tree.”

“No need to be sad,” She whispered. “You’re unique in your own right, and you can feel things that I can’t even dream of.”

“Like you pulling out silk from my behind,” I joked.

Velariah chuckled, louder than she wanted, before shaking her head.

“You’re right, but you know what I mean.”

“I know,” I said, before kissing her again. “Let’s go to sleep. Good night, Vel.”

“Good night, El.”