I Found a Door to the Elven Realm-Chapter 85: Teaching Elven Language

Three days after her first slime kill Rosa’s Elvish was developing faster than anyone expected.

The Basic Elvish skill that Eren transferred was minimum quality and the kind of baseline that let you understand roughly one out of every five words in a normal conversation but most people would need weeks of immersion to build on that foundation.

Rosa built on it in three days.

She carried a small notebook she’d brought from Earth and filled pages with Elvish words organized by category. She had food words on one page, greeting words on another and a separate list for words Emily used when she was happy versus irritated.

There was a separate page titled "Dangerous Words" where she listed everything that could accidentally insult someone based on tone. "Stupid fish" was at the top of that list.

Eren taught her Intermediate Elvish on the third morning. The skill transfer worked again at minimum quality but Rosa’s brain grabbed onto new vocabulary like it was starving for it. By afternoon she could hold a broken but functional conversation.

Her first real conversation partner was Selena. They sat in the restaurant during the slow afternoon hours while Selena peeled some kind of root vegetable and Rosa practiced sentence construction.

Selena pointed the peeling knife at Rosa gently. "You... before come here... what do?" She spoke in simplified Elvish, speaking slowly and separating each word like she was talking to a child.

Rosa understood most of it. She sat up straighter and put her notebook down. "I teach very small children like this." She held her hand at waist height.

"Children?" Selena’s eyes brightened and her hands stopped peeling. Children were the most valuable thing in this village where almost none had been born in two decades.

"Yes. Thirty of them every day." Rosa counted on her fingers to make sure the number was right. "They are five years old and they eat glue. They cry when you take the glue away and put small things in their nose like rocks or food. One time a child put another child’s shoe in his nose and I still don’t understand how."

Selena was watching Rosa’s face more than listening to her words because the Elvish was still broken but Rosa’s expressions were doing most of the communication.

"One time," Rosa continued and she was clearly getting to the good part. She leaned forward on the table and her hands started moving as she talked. "A child set the classroom hamster free. You know hamster? Small animal, round, lives in a box?" She made a circle with her hands to show the size.

Selena didn’t know what a hamster was but she nodded and put the vegetable down completely.

"The child opened the cage, said ’be free’ and the hamster ran." Rosa slapped the table lightly with one hand to show the moment it escaped. "Thirty children screamed, I screamed and the hamster ran under furniture and between legs for twenty minutes. It was thirty children and one adult chasing one very fast small animal."

Rosa paused for dramatic effect and held up three fingers. "I fell three times. The hamster won."

Selena didn’t understand every word but she understood enough. She started laughing and couldn’t stop with deep genuine laughter that made other elves in the restaurant turn and look.

It was the first time since Rosa arrived that someone other than Eren had laughed because of something she said. Not at her but WITH her and it felt amazing.

Selena wiped her eyes and patted Rosa’s hand. "You... good. I like you." She squeezed Rosa’s fingers once before picking her vegetable back up.

Rosa smiled so wide it almost hurt her face.

..

Emily had not smiled that day.

She’d woken up nauseous for the first time since the pregnancy started and not just a little. She spent twenty minutes sitting on the floor next to a bucket trying to keep breakfast down.

Kelion had warned her that the first trimester adjustment phase could start suddenly. Elf pregnancies were different from human ones in almost every way but morning sickness was apparently universal across species.

"It will pass," Kelion told her while checking her pulse. He held her wrist gently and counted under his breath for a few seconds before letting go. "The baby is transitioning from the collection phase to active growth. Your body is adjusting."

Emily wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Adjusting feels like dying."

"That’s normal." He started packing his herbs back into his pouch without looking up.

"How is this normal!" Emily snapped and immediately looked guilty because Kelion was just trying to help. She pressed her palm flat against the floor to steady herself.

The sex ban started the same day. Kelion didn’t call it that but his instructions were clear about no physical strain on the reproductive system for the remaining nine months of pregnancy because the baby’s growth phase was critical and the elven body needed every resource directed inward.

Emily just nodded professionally at his words before walking home to sit on the bed and stare at the wall for fifteen minutes.

The timing was terrible. Rosa had arrived three days ago right when Emily was about to become physically unavailable for nine months. And her husband’s stats were above 40.

She knew Eren would never complain about it. He’d say it was fine and mean it. But his body wouldn’t agree and she could already see how the next nine months would play out.

Emily punched the pillow once and went outside to chop firewood until her arms hurt.

..

Eren found out about the ban when Emily told him at dinner.

She put her fork down and looked straight at him. "My real pregnancy starts today. It happened much earlier than I expected..."

Eren blinked. "Today?"

"Today." She picked her fork back up and stabbed a piece of meat like it owed her money.

"Like right now today?"

Emily pointed the fork at him. "What part of today is confusing you mister?"

He looked at her set jaw and hard eyes and could tell that behind the tough exterior she was more upset about this than he was.

Emily had always been the one who initiated things by pulling him into bed or pushing him against walls or announcing at maximum volume that clothes were no longer needed in this house. Taking that away from her for nine months was going to be harder on her than on him.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay?" Emily’s eyebrows went up. She clearly expected more resistance than that.

Emily studied his face for signs of panic or disappointment but found neither because Eren was actually telling the truth. He would survive nine months. His body would protest heavily but he would survive.

"You’re not upset?" She sounded almost suspicious and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I’m more worried about you than me silly," he said and reached for her hand across the table.

Emily pulled her hand back before he touched it. "Don’t." Her voice was low and serious. "If you touch me right now I will change my mind and Kelion will be very angry."

Eren pulled his hand back immediately. "Understood. No touching. Got it."

"For now."

"For now."

They ate the rest of dinner in a silence that was somehow both comfortable and painfully tense.

..

That night Eren couldn’t sleep.

His body had too much energy and nowhere to put it. Every muscle wanted to move and even the quiet sounds of the village felt loud with his senses maxed out.

He got up quietly and went outside.

The village was dark except for the flashlight beams of the night patrol moving along the northern barricade. Two moons hung in the sky and made everything look silver and strange.

He started training with basic sword drills using the kobold scimitars before moving to bodyweight exercises. He did push-ups, squats and movements that would exhaust a normal human in minutes but barely took the edge off for him.

Between sets his mind drifted to the clone skill sitting unused in his ability list.

He’d tested it once near the fragment and the clone had lasted almost twelve minutes as a perfect copy that had his face, his memories and his voice.

And 1 stat per level while I get 9. That still doesn’t make sense.

The clone had felt real. It talked like him, thought like him and had no idea it wasn’t the original until Eren told it. That part bothered him more than the stat difference because it was a perfect copy that believed it was the real thing.

He didn’t use the skill tonight. He just thought about it while swinging blades at shadows and burning off the energy that Emily couldn’t help him with anymore.

He heard footsteps behind him and stopped mid-swing.

Rosa was standing at the edge of the clearing in her Earth clothes with arms wrapped around herself because Evon nights were colder than she’d expected. She looked like she hadn’t slept either.

She didn’t say anything and just walked over to the flat rock near the training area to sit down.

Eren lowered the scimitars and looked at her.

They stayed like that for a while with Rosa sitting on the rock and Eren standing in the moonlight with sweat on his face and two alien blades in his hands.

They used to do this back on Earth too. Sit on the balcony of her parents’ apartment after bad days and just exist next to each other without talking.

The fact that Rosa was here at all, in a magical forest on an alien planet sitting on a rock at two in the morning, said more than any conversation could.

Eren went back to training while Rosa just watched. The scimitars caught moonlight as they moved and Rosa’s eyes followed them with a focus that was more about the person holding them than the blades themselves.

After twenty minutes Eren stopped and sat down on the ground near her rock while his breathing finally settled.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. "The hamster story was funny."

Rosa tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Selena almost choked."

"She told me. She likes you."

Rosa pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them. "I like her too. She’s the first person here who laughed at something I said instead of looking confused."

They sat in the quiet for another few minutes before Rosa stood up and brushed off her jeans.

"Goodnight Eren."

"Goodnight."

She walked past him toward the house and reached down to touch his hand as she passed. Quick but deliberate, her fingers pressed against his for maybe two seconds before she pulled away and kept walking.

Eren watched her disappear into the house and stayed outside for another hour thinking about a hundred different things.

The totem in the center of the village stood still against the moonlit sky. Its roots sat quietly in the ground and if they moved tonight Eren didn’t see it.

But he kept thinking about what Fury said. The roots were moving and the tree wasn’t sleeping.

I really need to figure that out before it figures us out.

...

Five days later Eren went into the forest alone.

Emily was stuck in the house with morning sickness and the wolves were on patrol rotation near the northern barricade. Rosa was at Selena’s restaurant butchering Elvish grammar and making everyone laugh in the process. Nobody needed him for anything and his body had been screaming for a real fight for days.

He took both kobold scimitars and headed northeast past the ruins where the troll territory started.

I haven’t gone solo hunting since before the dungeon. Let’s see what Level 36 actually feels like against these things.

The first group was three regular Rotwood Trolls sitting in a muddy clearing near the river. Two Level 19s and a Level 21 that had moss growing on its shoulders like little green epaulettes.

Two months ago I needed Emily and both wolves to fight one of these. Now there’s three and I’m annoyed they’re blocking my path.

He hit the biggest one first. His scimitar went through the bark-skin on the right arm and the troll didn’t even have time to scream before Eren’s second blade punched through its center mass. Green sap exploded across his chest.

The other two lurched up and swung at him together. He ducked under the first arm and used his momentum to spin into the second troll’s legs. The blade cut deep into the knee joint where the bark was thinnest and the creature crashed sideways into the mud.

Fury would have been impressed by the efficiency. Rury would have complained he wasn’t leaving her any food.

The third troll tried to run. Eren caught it in four steps and drove both scimitars through its back.

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 19]

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 19]

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 21]

He kept moving.

Over the next two hours he cleared five troll clusters and a scattered group of kobold stragglers that ran the moment they saw him. Most of the trolls were between Level 17 and Level 22 and none of them lasted more than a minute against him one on one.

This is insane. My base stats are almost 45 across the board. These trolls might as well be slimes at this point.

Then he smelled it. That specific chemical burn in the back of his throat that meant poison variant.

Two Rotwood Trolls - Poison Variant stood between the collapsed wall of an old ruin and a dead tree. Bigger than the regulars with veins that glowed a sick yellow-green under their bark-skin. The poison aura was already making his eyes water from thirty meters away.

Last time I fought these things I had Emily doing most of the damage. Let’s try it fair this time.

He activated Wolf Eyes and charged straight at them.

The first one swung a branch-arm at his head and he rolled under it so hard his shoulder dug a line in the dirt. His scimitar came up and severed two of its root-fingers before he pushed off the ground and drove the second blade into its throat.

The poison aura hit him full force at close range. His skin burned and his lungs felt like he’d inhaled hot smoke. But his Poison Resistance absorbed most of it and the burning faded faster than it used to.

[Poison Resistance levelled up: Level 3 > Level 4]

About damn time. That skill has been sitting at 3 forever.

The second poison variant came from behind and caught his shoulder with a bark fist. The impact sent him stumbling forward three steps but didn’t break anything. At Level 36 with 45 Endurance a troll punch was painful but not dangerous.

He turned and threw his left scimitar at its face. The blade hit pommel-first which did nothing except make the troll flinch. But that flinch gave him one second and one second was enough to close the distance and drive his remaining blade straight through its center mass.

It went down hard and the poison aura faded with it.

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll - Poison Variant (Level 26)]

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll - Poison Variant (Level 28)]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 37]

-All stats are +1

-You acquired 1 Stat Point to use

He put the point into Mana without thinking. Always Mana. The pool was growing but still nowhere near enough for what he needed.

He picked up his thrown scimitar and kept going deeper into the forest.

By late afternoon he’d killed another four poison variants and a dozen regular trolls scattered across the northeast corridor. His Wolf Eyes had been active for so long that the skill leveled from the sustained use alone.

[Wolf Eyes levelled up: Level 4 > Level 5]

[Wolf Eyes - Level 5: Perception enhancement range increased. Night vision clarity improved. Motion tracking in peripheral vision now active]

Oh that’s nice. Peripheral tracking means I can see things coming from the side without turning my head. Would have been useful against that troll that punched my shoulder earlier.

He tested an arrow on the last group of three regular trolls near the edge of the territory. His archery had always been inconsistent but at Level 36 with enhanced perception the arrows flew straighter than they used to. Two of the three shots hit clean center mass.

[Basic Archery levelled up: Level 5 > Level 6]

[Basic Archery - Level 6: Arrow stability and draw power scaling improved. Compatible bows now receive minor stat-bonus transfer from user]

Developing this skill was really important. And every level made him much better than the last one in connecting his shots.

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 20]

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 20]

[You gained 100% energy of Rotwood Troll Level 22]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 38]

All stats are +1

You acquired 1 Stat Point to use

FINALLY!!! 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He used it on mana again. He didn’t even hesitate but overjoyed with this level up.

Leveling up like before was becoming harder with each new one and only hunting monsters around level 10 to peak 20’s. His level requirements were such a pain already and it was just the beginning.

..

He walked back toward the village covered in green-black troll blood with both scimitars dripping. The sun was going down and the three-colored Evon sunset painted the forest in orange, pink and something that didn’t have a name on Earth.

Level 38. Two levels in one afternoon. All stats base 47 now... that’s almost ten times a normal person. And Emily is still fifteen levels above me. How strong was she at my age?

When he reached the village Emily was standing at the gate with her arms crossed and her katana on her back. She looked at the blood covering his torso, then at his face, then at the scimitars.

"How many?" Her fingers tightened on her own arms.

"I lost count after twenty. Maybe twenty-five with the kobolds."

Emily didn’t like what she heard. She wanted to be out there with him. He could see it in the way her hand kept drifting to her katana grip and pulling back like she had to remind herself.

But they knew this was going to happen and she changed her look and smiled at Eren.

"You stink mister. Go wash before you come inside." She wrinkled her nose but her eyes stayed on his chest.

He muttered a quiet yes and gave her a small bow that was mostly playful.

She turned and walked back toward the house but not before her eyes tracked across his chest and arms one more time. The no-touching rule was clearly killing her as much as him.

Nine months of this. We’re both going to lose our minds.