Chapter 19: 19. A Wife’s Dominance

“Just who was it that prepared all the vegetables?!”

Hilda yelled back, putting her hands on her hips while puffing out her cheeks.

Hearing the back and forth between the two, Elyssia couldn’t hold her laughter as it reminded her of the regular interactions of Arthur and Delia.

After hearing Elyssia laughing at the interaction, the head of a young girl who looked to be around the age of 16 poked out of the doorway looking to see who was laughing.

The girl was an older version of Kara, with her brown hair tied up in a ponytail and a face that resembled Hilda quite closely. When her amber eyes spotted Elyssia she quickly entered the room and walked up to where Elyssia was sitting.

Putting her hands on her hips while looking Elyssia up and down, she frowned.

“So, you can use magic huh? You are going to need more than that to survive in Havall.”

Elyssia raised her eyebrow at the new girl’s indignant attitude, staring directly into the girls’ eyes.

Elyssia didn’t know where her magic stood in this world but given that she was taught by the literal goddess of magic and Hilda’s earlier comments about the magic she used, she was certain that it ranked quite high.

Seeing her daughter’s behaviour, Hilda walked up behind the girl and smacked her upside the head.

“Thyra, show more respect to our guest, your attitude will have a bad impact on Lara.” Hilda started to scold her daughter, her face looking like that of a demon while gesturing towards Lara who was staring at everything going, peeking from the door with wide eyes.

Thyra lowered her head from the scolding, but she made sure to shoot a glare at Elyssia.

Seeing how openly hostile this girl was towards her, Elyssia became somewhat confused. From the girls comments it was clear that she looked down on magic like what Hilda had mentioned about the Norsemen, but she thought to herself, ‘surely it is not this bad right?’

“Since you were so rude, you can show Elyssia here to the adventure’s guild as an apology. Make sure you have done all your chores by the time she is ready to go.”

Slumping her shoulders, Thyra shot Elyssia another glare before trudging off.

“Sorry about Thyra, she is normally a nice girl. I don’t know what has gotten into her.” Hilda apologised to Elyssia, lowering her head.

Lightly smiling, Elyssia assured Hilda that it was nothing to worry about as they started to talk about the city while waiting for the food to be ready.

From the conversation they had Elyssia found out that the Jarldom they were in was ruled by a man called Jarl Arne the One-eyed and that the Jarldoms name was ‘The Jarldom of Halrimarch’. It was located just east of the provincial capital of the Province of Ellrijord.

The city was quite wealthy as it was the only major settlement on the road that leads into the eastern side of the province before the it splits off towards the other major settlements.

With its location, the city became the centre of trade between the eastern jarldoms and the merchants who travelled from the western side of the province. This was aided by the fact that the eastern road was the only route leading to Eastern Jarldoms, meaning that unless someone wanted to attempt traveling across the harsh terrain, they were forced to use this route.

Elyssia also found out that the Adventures guild was quite similar to those she had seen in the games Ben and Christopher had played. Someone could sign up and accept tasks from the guild and be paid in return. In essence it was hub for the local residents to get help with a variety of tasks that needed doing, saving them time and effort in searching for someone to complete the task.

Hilda had suggested that Elyssia should think about taking on some jobs from the guild, and to use that money to travel to a different city that is more welcoming of magic users. After seeing how much Hilda was trying to help her out, Elyssia couldn’t help but smile, promising to herself to pay Hilda back in any way she could.

Their conversation was eventually interrupted when a large man around 6ft tall entered, who had to slightly duck to avoid hitting his head on the door frame. He was well built with clearly defined bulging muscles. His long dark brown hair tightly braided into 3 with the sides of his head shaved while a bushy beard hung from his jaw. He wore a rough white shirt with trousers and leather boots.

Out of everyone Elyssia had met so far, he would have definitely had the closest look to a stereotypical Viking had it not been for the apron with a flower design wrapped around his waist. It was clear that this was Hilda’s husband Gunnar

“Greetings lass, you must be Elyssia?” Gunnar asked, putting the food on the counter in front of Elyssia.

“Yes, I am. Thank you for taking care of me, I will make sure to pay you both back for everything you have done.” Elyssia bowed her head with a smile.

Thinking of all the possible things that might have happened had she not been found by someone friendly and left in the wild, she was truly thankful that this couple had been so kind to her.

Gunnar smiled seeing Elyssia’s response, nodding in appreciation.

“You don’t need to worry yourself about its lass. Hilda told me your situation, as unbelievable as it is, so focus on getting yourself settled to begin with.”

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Raising an eyebrow, he continued.

“Looking at your state now compared to when you came in, it seems true that you can use healing magic. I’m sure that the guild will have work for you like Hilda mentioned, there is a shortage of healing potions at the moment so it will give you a safe way to earn some money.”

He heartily smiled before his expression became pained as Hilda smacked him on the head.

“You stupid muscle brain! If she goes around healing everybody, she will attract attention from the ruffians of the guild! Since she can’t protect herself who knows what will happen to her!”

“Oh, I guess your right…” Gunnar awkwardly looked away rubbing his head.

Hilda crossed her arms with a snort.

“Ignore him, there are plenty of other safe jobs you can take that won’t draw attention to yourself.”

Elyssia could not help but think the couple had a slight misunderstanding of her capability to deal with danger, but she decided not to complicate the matter and let her future actions speak instead of bragging. After all, there was always the off chance that the conclusions she has made so far might be wrong and she might be in danger. There was the old saying that was often proven true: ‘Better safe than sorry’.

Letting a mysterious smile play on her lips, Elyssia replied.

“I’m not exactly a weak damsel, but I appreciate your advice.”

Both slightly curious but satisfied by Elyssia’s response, they left her to enjoy her food.  

Looking down at her meal, Elyssia saw that she had a bowl of red soup and a plate with a hard piece of bread, a couple of sausages and what looked like mashed potatoes.

Taking the spoon from the selection of crude iron cutlery, Elyssia started by tasting the soup. Much to her pleasure the soup was made from tomatoes and was very well seasoned. She was quite impressed, she had expected the food to taste bland and to lack seasonings, but it seemed that no matter the world, everyone pursued good food.

Next, she picked up the knife and 2 pronged fork, and tried the sausages. The were quite strong in flavour so she assumed that they were made with boar, a meat she never had the chance to try while back home. The mixture of herbs used in sausage also held a unique taste she had never tasted before. Elyssia assumed that they were herbs unique to this world.

Moving on to the part of the dish that looked mashed potato, Elyssia took a bite and internally facepalmed. It was not mashed potatoes, rather poorly mashed parsnips with a dash of salt.

‘Maybe it’s a local preference.’ Elyssia laughed to herself.

And lastly the hard bread was, as expected, hard bread. Soaking it in the soup made it edible so the taste was not so prevalent under the strong flavour of the tomato.

For Elyssia’s first meal in this world, she was quite impressed. While there was the questionable choice of poorly mashed parsnips, the meal was delicious, especially considering that Elyssia was quite hungry.

Sitting and relaxing, Elyssia took the time to calm her mind and enjoy a the first moment of peace she had since she had woken up.

 

****

 

After a bit of time had passed, Hilda came out to collect Elyssia’s empty dishes and went to get Thyra to lead Elyssia to the guild.

After shooting Elyssia a quick glare she turned around and walked out the door.

“let’s go.” She called out clearly displeased.