Chapter 61 - Four Ladies

"Daa...da!" Avalin exclaimed happily as she grasped Eiro's finger more tightly, and the Imp looked around at the others confused. Especially Nelli seemed to be quite surprised, although the children were basically celebrating the fact that Avalin just 'spoke'.

"What is this... The one being meant to banish all demons... just called a Demon 'Dada'?" The Naiad asked as she floated right next to Jura, who was just leaning back in his chair with a light, pleased smile. But that still didn't help Eiro have the most important thing that he needed to know answered... "What does 'Dada' mean? Is it like that 'Dodo' bird I read about?" The Imp asked, making Jura chuckle quietly as he shook his head.

"Of course not, you buffoon. 'Dada' means 'Dad'. The kid sees you as her father. Guess all those stories you read to them made her remember the word." Jura explained swiftly, before Eiro looked back down at Avalin, unsure of how he should react to this. "Thanks?" He asked with his head tilted to the side, before he heard a slap next to him while Sammy hit her own forehead again.

"Is something wrong?" Eiro asked, but Sammy just shook her head. "Nope, nothing's wrong... That's exactly how my father would have reacted... Either way, now only Leon needs to speak up!" She exclaimed, trying to steer the conversation into a different direction, and the Imp nodded his head as he looked at the other toddler sleeping right next to Avalin. All he ever did was sleep, really.

When everyone was sitting around them to wait for them to crawl, Avalin managed to do so first and everyone was so excited about it that Leon got woken up from his nap and swiftly crawled over toward his cradle at a world-champion speed.

But it seemed like this time around, Leon wouldn't just speak up and tell them to be quiet like Eiro slightly hoped he would, simply because it would be entertaining as heck, and so the Demon just turned over toward the Chubby boy next to him who was slowly returning back to the Kitchen to check on the stew.

"Rudy, I got a Horned Rabbit today. The Spiked-Horn type." The Imp pointed out, and immediately the children looked at him with hungry expressions. "H-Horned Rabbit? Today of all days..? C-Can't we eat that together with the stew this time..?" Arc asked with a curious smile, although he knew what the answer would be.

"The meat we have left over will be made into Jerky, so no. Rudy already uses a lot of meat in the stew, you know? I was just telling him because of the blood." Eiro replied quite clearly, and the young Chef started to chuckle. "Don't worry, I think I could make some Rabbit Blood-Sausage? There was a recipe in the new cookbook Eiro brought me... And you mentioned something about smoking, right? That should make them last longer as well...? Right?" The boy asked, still as unsure in his decisions as always, and as the Imp himself didn't know too much about that either, he swiftly turned toward Jura, who nodded his head with a sigh.

"Mhm... You can use some of leftover wood from my last trip to the forest... Should give it some nice flavor." Jura replied, and Eiro nodded his head in response. "Thank you." He said, and the old man raised his brows with a bit of curiosity.

"Speaking of... Any Progress?" The old man asked, but the Imp just stared back with a gaze that said everything. But as Jura was blind, he obviously had to say it out loud.

"Not as far as I noticed, no. It's still only that I can let my Mana Flow through it, but there's nothing else since that first happened." Eiro pointed out, and Jura slowly nodded his head as he cupped his chin in his hand for a moment.

"I have an idea. I think instead of letting you repeat something that does not work, we should take a little break from that and simply make you help me with a few things." Jura suggested and slowly stood up, making loud m.o.a.ning noises to exaggerate the pain he was feeling in his knees and back like always, and then stepped over toward the door, while Eiro looked at him surprised.

"What do you need my help with?" He asked slightly suspicious. Ever since he first came here, his daily routine had been the exact same thing over and over again. He would go out into the forest to hunt or gather, meditate, and then continue to hunt or gather. Then ever two weeks, Eiro went to the nearby town to get different things, and once a month, always during the two-week interval that Eiro was at home, Jura went off for roughly three to four days and then returned without speaking about what happened during the trip for even a moment.

It was pretty weird that Jura was changing that routine up all of a sudden, at least from the Imp's standpoint.

"Just come outside with me, I will explain on the way." Jura said with a sigh as he put on his jacket and shoes, before Eiro slowly did the same, before turning around toward the children as he opened the door.

"Don't go outside, and be careful until we are back." The Imp said, and the children just nodded their heads, dismissing it as natural after all the times they've heard it already before the Imp stepped outside. Slowyl, he and Jura made their way down the hill, along the frozen path that Eiro really didn't like. But luckily, because of how proficient Jura was with Water Magic, he managed to get rid of all of the ice in front of them without any issue.

"Do you remember, three months ago? There was one day when I was gone from midnight to midnight, the whole complete day. That was because I was out to greet a very special Lady. This forest is quite a special one, you see. The Flow of nature is strong and everpresent. One of the things that makes this forest so special is the appearance of the four Ladies." Jura explained in a clear, albeit quiet voice, before the Imp raised his brows surprised.

"Four Ladies? A Lady is an A.d.u.l.t Woman, right? There should be more than four of those..." He muttered quietly, making the old man next to Eiro chuckle in response.

"Of course, of course. But in this case, 'Four Ladies' refers to the Ladies of the Seasons. Three months ago, I greeted the Lady Autumn, like I do each and every time. Tomorrow, Lady Winter will appear in this forest, and I wish for you to greet her with me and bring her to the town." Jura explained, and the Imp just turned to him curiously.

"Bring her to town? Why do we need to bring her there?" He asked, and Jura sighed out deeply.

"Did you never take a look at the central plaza? That town was founded solely to serve the four Ladies. They are depicted as statues there. Long ago, I was given the task to lead the Ladies, so that's what I am doing."

"I see..." Eiro replied coldly as he looked around himself, trying to figure out where exactly they were going at the moment, although he was quite surprised to see them stop in front of a simple rock.

"Ah, here we are. Fresh Lavender Moss." The old man muttered as he smelled the air, all the whilst Eiro just looked at the snow-covered rock confused.

"Lavender Moss?" The Imp asked, before Jura once more nodded in response. "Yes, it is the purple-pink growth underneath that snow. It's one of the things we need. So grab as much of it as you can, and then we will continue."

With a slight frown, Eiro nodded his head and pushed the snow away with his wooden hand to look for the growth Jura mentioned, and then simply pulled it off when he found it, folding it up like a piece of cloth before putting it over his arm, as he didn't have a bag with him.

It seemed quite strong for some reason, so Eiro figured it would be fine like this. "Next, we are looking for Elf-Berries. They grow on bushes around here, although they're pure white and as such hard to find in the snow." Jura explained next.

And as Eiro followed Jura around for a couple of hours, he found just how little he knew about this forest even after spending day after day inside of it. He never even read about any of the plants or fruit they gathered today.

In the end, they only returned home when the sun went down as well, although that happened very, very early lately.

"Now then." Jura said once the two of them returned back to the House, slowly opening the front door as he and Eiro carried everything inside, "Hang some of these things to dry above flames made with this charcoal. Don't worry, it won't burn hotter than a person's touch." The old man explained, and Eiro did as told and made his way over toward the fireplace that was set into the ground in the corner especially for occasions like these. It was pretty closed off, so all the smoke just left through the chimney without spreading through the room.

And then, after Eiro prepared the things he was told to to dry, he made his way back toward the old man, who sat down at the table already, considering that Rudy was just about to serve the stew. This surprised Eiro, considering that he thought they were supposed to take care of all of the preparations for tomorrow, but apparently, that wasn't all that important right now after all?

"Come on, sit down! Let's eat first! The rest is quite easily done, after all." Jura pointed out, so the Imp just simply nodded his head in resposne and sat down on his usual seat as well, right inbetween Arc and Clementine, on the opposite side of Jura.

Eiro really didn't exactly know why, but he was feeling pretty nervous, so he figured he should go ahead and do what he did every day during dinner. "Status."

[Name – Eiro][Race – Scholar Imp][Level – 99]

[Health – 10500][Mana – 12500]

[Strength – 20][Constitution - 30][Resistance – 20]

[Agility - 42][Evasion – 20][Dexterity - 42]

[Intelligence - 79][Wisdom – 52]

[Perception – 66][Willpower – 20][Charisma – 20]

[0 Stat Points Available]

[Skills]

-[Intermediate Common Language Comprehension][Level – 2]

-[Apprentice Stealth][Level – 58]

-[Apprentice Butchering][Level – 9]

-[Apprentice Water Magic][Level – 3]

-[Apprentice Air Magic][Level – 5]

-[Apprentice Holy Energy Resistance][Level – 4]

-[Apprentice Concentration][Level – 3]

-[Apprentice Meditation][Level – 12]

-[Beginner Trapmaking][Level – 21]

-[Beginner Trading][Level – 31]

-[Beginner Botany][Level – 47]

-[Beginner Dagger Mastery][Level – 94]

-[Beginner Overeating][Level – 19]

-[Beginner Exhaustion Resistance][Level – 65]

-[Beginner Sickness Resistance][Level – 41]

-[Beginner Cold Resistance][Level – 16]

-[Beginner Cooking][Level – 83]

[Blessings]

-[Blessing of the Lonely Naiad]