Harwin's party followed behind the dwarves, who had graciously yet firmly invited them to their settlement. They did not protest, however, as it was the dwarven territory after-all and angering the natives could have resulted in unprecedented consequences.

  Coming back to Harwin, he was now able to control the blessing that had been bestowed upon him by the strange divine mage — the ability to speak, understand and write all languages. His findings were as follows:

  ● For the blessing to work, he had to direct all his focus and attention whilst addressing the intended. Only the intended individual, or anyone else who understood the same tongue could understand the user's words.

  ● If Harwin wrote anything on a piece of paper, it would be understood by the intended and also by anyone who understood the language in the first place.

  He had to keep these bits in mind to not make anyone suspicious. Of course, there were exceptions and limits that the blessed was still not aware of. It was a bit complex but still useful, especially considering that he had declared the ability useless in the first place.

  It took about half a day to reach their destination as the dwarves marched on foot.

  The settlement appeared to be a small village of sort. Most notably, it was right next to a mine.

  The houses were made up of clay and stone bricks — built exquisitely. The design was masterful and matching the quality of any house in the cities, some might even claim that these were much better. All of this was possible due to dwarven architectural talent.

  Even inside this small settlment, there were pavements. Harwin had read and heard that Dwarves were a rowdy bunch but this place was almost spotless, infact, it was much better maintained than a town or a city.

  “WELCOME TO OUR SETTLMENT, IT IS CALLED 'TOLLARDLAND'. IT WAS FOUNDED AND BUILT BY MY GREAT-GRAND FATHER, A MARVELLOUS MAN. IF YOU HAD BEEN A DECADE EARLY, YOU COULD HAVE SEEN HIM IN FLESH. NOW, LET US MAKE OUR WAY TO MY HOUSE.”

  Tolborf acted as their guide as well as host. Fom the original party of ten dwarves, now only three remained, others had scattered as they had other duties to attend to.

  “I am grateful for your invitation, but we do not want to impose on you any further.”

  “NONE-SENSE, I WILL BE A STAIN ON MY FAMILY IF I DID NOT TREAT MY GUESTS WITH RESPECT. THIS IS MORE OF A PERSONAL MATTER NOW.” Tolborf argued.

  Harwin relied the words to the captains who just shrugged in response. It was clear that they were annoyed, but could not care less.

  Everyone, except for Alisa, were looking around suspiciously and being careful. She was enjoying the sight, after-all, it was a new place, it had great architecture and an exotic culture. One thing that she did not like was how loud everyone was.

  “COME IN! NO NEED TO BE SHY. TIARA, I HAVE BROUGHT GUESTS!.”

  Tolborf annouced his arrival even whilst entering his own house.

  The house, rather a mansion, was built with polished stone bricks. It was an architectural marvel especially in this time. It had a large door even though the stature of the owner was quite small.

  It was furnished with all sorts of decor which appeared to be extravgant and foreign.

  Right after the entrance was the great-hall with a long dining table. Tolborf was the leader of the settlement, so he had to accommodate a lot of guests for council-meetings and even foreign merchants.

  To everyone’s surprise, a human woman entered the hall from one of the many interconnected rooms.

  She appeared to be in her late thirties. She had tanned skin, slender physique, her eyes were the color of an emerald which complimented her brunette hair; she was certainly very beautiful.

  “THIS HERE IS MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE, TIARA.”

  Tolborf announced passionately. It was clear from his eyes that he was head over heels for her.

  “Tolborf, how many times have I told you to speak softly in the house.” She spoke sternly.

  “I am sorry, dear. It is a force of habit. These are my guests whom I found on the road. This here is…..what was your name again?”

  Tolborf certainly was quick to follow his wife’s instruction, he did not want to upset her. Harwin was surprised of how quickly this man’s demeanour had changed.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “You do not even remember the names of our guests, how shameful. I think, I will need to give you that punishment again.”

  “No no, please do not go silent on me again. I will never repeat the mistake again. These are unexpected guests, I came across them suddenly, so I can not recall all of their names. Lets see, this one here is.....Graitheon.”

  This made everyone in Harwin's party laugh. Well, except for the man himself who was not amused at his name being changed once again.

  “Forgive my husband for his behaviour; he has a lot responsibilites, so he has become quite forgetful lately. Please introduce yourselves. All of you are more than welcome to stay here.”

  She bowed her head a little, an action which Tolborf followed as well.

  “Please raise your heads, we are already imposing on you. My name is Gor, this here is Viyetral, the tall fellow is Farelen, standing behind him is Landel, the other gentleman is Kraft and finally the lady's name is Alisa.”

  Everyone stepped forward as Harwin called their names. Alisa tried to remain a bit behind Landel as she was not used to strangers.

  “All of you are welcome to stay as long as you like.”

  Tiara made her way to Alisa, pracitcally ignoring everyone else. She spoke in the human tongue which most of the people in the room understood.

  “Alisa, was it? You are a beautiful girl. I know that the elves are known for their looks, but you clearly are special even amongst your race. No need to be shy, let us girls go to another room to talk, as these boys can be a rowdy bunch. Let me show you around the house.”

  She grabbed the hand of Alisa who was clearly begging Harwin for help, but he could do nothing. Besides, what was the harm in the offer. Tiara looked at Alisa with an almost motherly affection.

  After the two of them left, Tolborf laughed and said:

  “Do excuse my wife. There are hardly any other women in the village, most of the dwarven women are fierce and ambitious so they like to live in the city. Our village mostly have old hags who only know how to complain." Tolborf became more and more annoyed after each sentence, continuing with:

  "Those old hags are jealous of my wife who obviously is the fairest in the world. They are jealous of her to the core, serves them right. Their rotten hearts can never accept the innocence and beauty of my Tiara—”

  Tolborf could have gone on and on but was interrupted by an older dwarf.

  “You say these things like you have conquered the world by marrying a human girl! Have you forgotten who your mother was? Aside from that, have you offered a drink to our guests, boy?”

  The old dwarf spoke strcitly with Tolborf, who in response, was not agitated in the least.

  “Old man, let me introduce you—”

  “I have already heard their names, so let them sit now, I am sure they are tired. My name is Ronald, I am the father of Tolborf. Do excuse my son’s ettiquates, he is a warrior at heart, well, so are all of us dwarves.”

  Both of them laughed at this remark, Harwin followed but others avoided any reaction.

  All of them sat around the dining table. Tolborf ordered for one of his servants to fetch some drinks and also prepare food.

  A barrel was brought from one of the rooms. Tolborf explained its contents:

  “This here is the famous dwarven jin, it is not like the cheap swill that you can find anywhere else in the continent. Infact, it is a native drink that is almost never sold to any other race. Now, I suggest you to drink only a little as it is highly intoxicating. Oh, I almost forgot, what happened to that comrade of yours that you was injured? We have some healers in our settlement who can take a look at him.”

  The question totally caught Harwin off caught. He had forgotten about his unconscious comrade, so he quickly turned to Farelen.

  “I had totally forgotten about Grantal, what should we do about him? Our host is offering to help treat him.” He whsipered to the captain.

  “They can treat him if they want. Kraft you and Landel quickly carry Grantal here.”

  Farelen ordered the young bloods. Harwin, in the mean-time, explained the situation to Tolborf who was more than happy to help and had already ordered one of the servants to bring the village healer to the hall.

  They also discussed the dwarven drink for a while with Harwin translating from time to time for the others. None of them, except for Harwin, drank. The lad had a natural immunity against any sort of intoxication which greatly amused the dwarves.

  Once Grantal had arrived, Tolborf ordered one of his servants to carry him to the guest room. The village healer arrived sometime later as well, his name was “Zoic”. After inspecting the injuries of Granal, he stated:

  “He has lost too much blood, but it appears that due to the presence of an experienced healer in your party, he is out of the danger. I will prepare a few things for him to recover faster. He has lost his leg, so he would not be able to walk again.” as Zoic spoke, Harwin translated for the rest of his party members.

  After the final affirmation of Farelen, Harwin requested Zoic to heal Grantal as soon as possible as they had a long journey ahead. This slightly annoyed the dwarf but Tolborf was quick to say:

  “Complete this task swiftly, and I shall grant you that shard which you had requested a while back.”

  After hearing this, Zoic’s eyes sparkled with motivation and he quickly got to work.

  “We can pay for that shard, as we do not want to become anymore burden on you.” Harwin offered.

  “Do not worry about it; these artifacts are nothing precious. They are 'elemental stones' similar to eco shards, but these have the ability to channel greater magika through them so can be used to make all sorts of enchanted items. I basically keep all of these extracted stones so they do not get in the wrong hands. Zoic had requested to be granted some on various occasions. I think, he wants to use them for researching magika further.” Tolborf reassured.

  Soon Alisa returned as well. She was in cheerful mood which was surprising to Harwin and Landel who thought that she would have considered the company of a stranger rather dreadful. Even now, both of the ladies were talking to each-other quite frankly while setting up the table with all kinds of dishes.

  It was dwarven tradition that the members of the house served food to the guests themselves even if they had servants. It was a sign of respect and humility. Alisa just wanted to help along even after much protest from Tiara.

  The table was was set up with lavish, exotic meals; most of the dishes consisted of meat while only a few fruits and greens. The highlanders' diet needed to be protein-rich due to their harsh environment.

  As Harwin's party was about to dig in, they were signalled to wait by Farelen and Viyetral in a subtle way......

  It will be in this place that Harwin will obtain something of great value whilst the elves would build a foundation for the future.

  Everysekai

  by Bluesycobalt

  > Female Lead with cast of developed side-characters

  > A lot of poking at Isekai tropes

  > Rational and Underpowered Protagonist fighting for her life

  > 1500-2500 Word Chapters

  Updates daily at 7:10pm EST until Chapter 28, then M-thru-F releases.