Party Preparation

"Did you get everything that we need?" Eisen asked Bree once he placed all of his crafting materials into the back of the carriage. The Fey-kin was about to respond, but then stopped immediately and moved her eyes around to look into empty space, meaning that she was currently looking at her Database, where she probably created a small list of things that they would need.

After a few seconds, she finally replied with a bright smile and a nod. "Mhm! We've got everything! What now?" Bree asked with a smile, and Eisen began scratching his beard. "I was thinking that we should just visit people that helped us out and say our goodbyes to them. It might be a while until we can see them again, after all. Maybe we could invite them for a small party at the Inn tonight."

"Oooh! That sounds great! Let's do that!" Bree responded excitedly while the two of them sat down on the front bench of the carriage, and Eisen commanded Cabarum to start walking. Luckily, most of the shops they wanted to visit were mostly on the way to the stables where they wanted to park the carriage, so it didn't take long to visit everyone. Their first destination was Denmir's shop, "Dwarf's Delight".

Eisen and Bree stepped inside and made their way to the back of the shop to look for Denmir, who once more immediately hurried over to Eisen's side once he laid eyes on him.

"Hey Denmir. So, we just finished all the preparations for starting to travel, so we will probably leave quite soon. We wanted to invite you to a farewell party at the inn for that tonight." Eisen quickly explained, and the Dwarf in front of him immediately nodded. "Of course! I'll come, definitely! Thanks for invitin' me!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't throw a party without you." Eisen chuckled and gave Denmir the rough time where they planned to meet up in the Inn's Bar, before they were on their way again.

Their next stop was at Folmirra's Tailoring Shop, "Beautiful Clothes".

When they entered, the Dwarven lady Folmirra was, like usual, sitting at the front counter with a notepad, apparently drawing a few different sketches inside. When she saw Eisen and Bree, her eyes lit up and she smiled happily.

"Hello! Long time no see, you two! How have you been?" She asked and stood up to properly greet the two people that just walked in.

With a soft chuckle, Eisen responded by explaining that they wanted to leave Melroe within the next few days, and that they would be happy if Folmirra could join them in a celebration that evening.

Of course, she was quite excited about this. "Well, if you're leaving, I can't just let you without properly saying goodbye! I will definitely be there!" Folmirra exclaimed, and both Eisen and Bree happily smiled and made their way to the next shop where an important person was waiting.

"Jekyll's Hides", which was the Grandmaster Leatherworker Jeky'll shop. To their surprise, even he more than happily agreed to come join them at the party. Out of all the people that Eisen met here in Melroe, he was the most cynical, so it was quite weird to actually see him be quite happy and borderline excited for something. This made Eisen feel kind of weird about something already, but he tried to ignore that thought to have fun with his friends tonight.

Of course, the next stop was at Morrom's magic related shop, "Everything Magic". Eisen worried that he might have some kind of new item to work on, but luckily, he had nothing to do that evening. But there was something else that Eisen noticed. He already noticed that when he came to pick up the barrels before, but he ignored it because he thought that Morrom was simply a bit nervous about work or something, but today everyone was acting a little bit different to usual, so Eisen simply had to ask.

"Morrom, but could it be that Denmir told you about who I am?" He asked, and Morrom's face immediately lost all its color.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" The Dwarf-Elf Halfling responded while averting his gaze.

Yup, Morrom definitely knew about it. "That Denmir really had to tell all of you, huh…? Well, anyway, I would have told you guys sooner or later anyway. So don't worry about it. Me having been one of those that peaked in the past shouldn't matter."

"Y-Yeah, but it's still so amazing… You were a person that has completely mastered every single craft there was, so me being able to teach you two skills is incredibly surreal." Morrom explained with a complicated smile, and Eisen couldn't help but chuckle.

"Don't worry, just see it as fate that we met. Without your help, I wouldn't have gotten this far so quickly." Eisen responded, but Morrom immediately shook his head after ripping his eyes open.

"No, that's not true at all! You would have been able to do this even without my help, or anyone's help! You were the one that discovered skills like these in the first place!"

Eisen's brows changed into a state somewhere inbetween surprise and confusion, as he was trying to figure out what Morrom was talking about. And apparently, Morrom could figure out what that expression meant.

"Didn't Denmir tell you about that? Then should I explain?" Morrom asked, looking over to Bree who simply nodded with an embarrassed smile. She was probably feeling weird that there was something she could have told Eisen, but somehow forgot about.

After sighing loudly, Morrom began to speak. "You see, the ones that peaked weren't only known for reaching the max level, but also for discovering new skills. The Master of Combat found different combat arts, while the Master of Magic found different magic elements and spells. You on the other hand found out numerous things, and not only related to crafting. Amongst those that peaked, you are by far the oldest, and I'm pretty sure you're double the age of even the oldest of the others that peaked. You were the first to figure out numerous things such as what blacksmithing is for example. You found an incredibly amount of different crafting skills, and even some general skills, such as tactical skills. On top of that, you were also the first that found out what happened when someone reached the absolute peak of a skill."

Curious at that last part, Eisen began scratching his beard. "Oh? What happens when you reach the peak of a skill, then?"

"Well… You know, the proficiency we gain in skills is also a type of experience, which is why it's displayed in levels. But when we reach the highest proficiency possible, where is that experience supposed to go? That's what you found out. Instead of going toward that skill, it goes toward your actual experience, allowing you to actually level up through using that skill. It's not a lot of experience, but it is still an incredible thing for any craftsman, especially pacifists that want to avoid combat."

"I see… I didn't know that was a thing. Thanks for explaining all that."

"Of course, no problem. But I would be careful who you tell about yourself. Denmir only told the three of us, since he knew weren't fanatics, but there is something like a religion built around those that peaked. Denmir also told us about his theory with those people appearing out of nowhere. If it really is how he thought, and this theory got out at some point, many of those people might be targeted by those fanatics."

Eisen sighed loudly at this. So the game developers even built something like this into the game? They really thought about lots of ways to make this game exciting.

"Then I really should only tell those I trust. Well, this kind of thing should come out sooner or later, but I would prefer if it was later rather than sooner." Eisen said, and Morrom could only nod in respond.

"Anyway, we'll see you at the party tonight, then?" Eisen asked with a smile, causing Morrom to smile back. "Yes, of course. I wouldn't miss it."

And with that, Eisen and Bree left the shop and sat back down in the front of the carriage. The story that the developers came up with was really amazing in his opinion, but Eisen was feeling kind of hurt by the fact that he was supposed to be literally centuries old. He knew he was old, but that was a bit much, wasn't it?

Either way, Eisen ignored those thoughts and instead drove the carriage back toward the inn so that they could park it in the stables. Eisen also thought about inviting Belrim as well, but Eisen felt kind of weird about him. Of course he helped Eisen quite a bit, but there was just something off about the way that he acted that gave Eisen chills. He felt like Belrim really wasn't such a good guy as he thought at first.

So, Eisen chose to stay away from him as much as possible.

After paying the fee to be able to leave their carriage in the stable under the stable's protection, Eisen and Bree made their way back to the Inn, and Eisen looked at the current time. Since it was about this late, Jyuuk might actually not come back in time for the party, but should probably be back by the time that Eisen and Bree leave town.

He just really wanted to say goodbye to him as well, although this most certainly wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. It was just proper manners to say goodbye to your friends when you leave.

But now, back at the Inn, Eisen brought Cabarum and Aulu back to the room and had them stay there with Bree, while he decided to talk to Innkeeper. Eisen wanted to leave Caria in the room as well to let her practice plant control while he was gone, but she simply didn't want to leave his side, so Eisen had to bring her along after all.

So, Eisen walked up to the Innkeeper and greeted him, starting out with some casual conversation before moving on to the two important things that Eisen wanted to ask.

"So, Bree and I will be leaving quite soon, possibly even tomorrow, so we're throwing something like a small party with a few people. Is it possible to reserve a table in the Bar?" Eisen asked, and the Innkeeper nodded in response.

"Of course ye can. How many people are ya expecting? And when is it startin'?"

"Not too many, we'll just be six in total. And it should start around 8pm."

"Got it, I'll prepare a table for ya. But ye're leavin' already, huh? It's been a bit more than a month since ye've arrived here in Melroe, right?" The Innkeeper asked before writing down the reservation info on a small piece of paper in front of him.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm not sure if that time seems shorter or longer than that, haha." Eisen laughed loudly, because he really wasn't sure. For once, it passed quite slowly since he did so many different things throughout that time, but then on the other hand, passed time always seems shorter in retrospect, especially since Eisen was often simply grinding away while doing the same thing. But at the very least, he had immense fun during this time.

During this past month, Eisen had some of the most fun he had in years.