Chapter 29

It stared at Xie Juanhan with round eyes, tilting its head and looking him over several times before landing on his arm and giving him the letter. "Coo, coo."

Telingewei came over to have a look. "A messenger bird from the craftsman dwarves?"

Xie Juanhan opened the letter and poured out the seeds inside. "Yes!"

Every race had messenger birds.

The fairies mostly favored small birds of all kinds, which were light, nimble, and fast.

Dwarves, like humans, preferred owls.

After receiving the letter, Xie Juanhan invited the owl to rest on the fence for a while and gave it strips of meat and water.

The owl stood on the fence, turning its head and watching the other little messenger birds with its eyes darting about.

It spread its wings, about to pounce on a little messenger bird nearby.

Xie Juanhan, who was reading the letter, looked up sharply, hurried over in two strides, and held the owl down.

The other little messenger birds didn't even look up.

The owl held beneath his hand looked utterly innocent. "Coo?"

Xie Juanhan said to Telingewei, "Having too many little messenger birds come here has its drawbacks, like this-"

Xie Juanhan tapped the owl beneath his hand. "There are always some that get restless and try to catch the other little messenger birds for an extra meal."

The owl ducked its head at the tap and pretended nothing had happened. "Coo, coo."

==========Author's note:==========

See you tonight!

Chapter 29: Chapter 29 [VIP]

In June, the weather grew hotter, and more and more berries ripened in the woods.

Creatures of all races inside and outside the forest made the most of the season, hurrying to gather as much as they could.

Xie Juanhan was one of the many gatherers.

That day, he came out of the woods after gathering and ran into the villagers from Ailan Village.

Orfrey was walking on the outer edge of the group.

"My lord, good day!" The villagers were familiar with him by now and greeted him warmly.

"Good morning." Xie Juanhan glanced at the baskets they were carrying and asked, "Have you just finished gathering too?"

"Yes, there were especially many Evelyn honeyberries today."

As Orfrey spoke, he held out his basket for Xie Juanhan to see. "Did you pick any?"

Even now, Xie Juanhan still couldn't match the names of all the berries and mushrooms to what they looked like.

The name Orfrey had mentioned sounded somewhat familiar, as though it belonged to a rather tasty berry, but the berries in the basket were unlike any he had seen.

This was a new kind of berry.

Xie Juanhan asked, "Where did you pick them?"

"By Molten Gold Lake," another villager replied. "There's a ring of Evelyn grass growing along the shore. Lift the grass, and you'll see the honeyberries beneath the leaves."

Orfrey pushed the basket closer to Xie Juanhan. "Haven't you tried these berries? Go on, have one."

Xie Juanhan tried one and found it sweet and tart, and quite tasty.

Seeing that he liked it, Orfrey immediately gave him a big handful to take home and eat, and reminded him, "The Evelyn honeyberries will fall off in the next few days. If you want to pick them, you'll have to hurry."

Another villager advised, "Go in the morning if you want to pick the freshest honeyberries. They slowly start to rot after noon."

Xie Juanhan smiled and thanked them, committing the practical tip to memory.

There had indeed been plenty of berries lately, and Xie Juanhan had picked quite a few.

When Telingewei came to visit, Xie Juanhan even brought out berries to serve him.

Telingewei glanced at the berries.

Xie Juanhan caught his expression and pushed another plate of small cookies forward. "You don't like them? Try the cookies, then."

Telingewei said, "That's not it."

Xie Juanhan smiled. "The little ones don't seem to like berries much. I thought your tastes would be more alike."

Telingewei picked up a berry and put it in his mouth. "Our tastes aren't exactly the same. I just usually find picking berries troublesome, so I rarely do it."

Xie Juanhan said, "It's not so bad. I find them pretty easy to pick—you get a whole cluster at a time."

As he spoke, Xie Juanhan gradually fell silent and looked at Telingewei across from him.

Telingewei looked up. "What is it?"

Xie Juanhan asked, "You don't spit out the seeds?"

Telingewei had already swallowed the berry whole and was reaching for another. "It's fine. You can eat the seeds too."

Xie Juanhan moved the plate away. "Don't. Next time I'll get seedless ones."

Wild berries hadn't been selectively bred, so their seeds did tend to be numerous and large. Xie Juanhan didn't mind spitting out a few.

He just hadn't expected that Telingewei wasn't in the habit of spitting out food scraps in front of other people.

Xie Juanhan smiled apologetically. "It seems they really aren't very suitable for eating as fruit. It'll be much better when I pick some in a couple of days and turn them into wine."

Telingewei asked, "You want to make wine?"

"A little fruit wine," Xie Juanhan said. "I recently exchanged brewing methods with the brewer dwarves, and they sent me a secret recipe for fruit wine. I'd like to try it."

Telingewei thought for a moment. "The berries in the forest aren't anything special. The fruit wine made from them probably won't taste very good. The berries on the snowy mountains are excellent, though. Some elves even travel all the way to the snowy mountains to pick berries for wine. If you want, I'll go with you to pick some."

Xie Juanhan's interest was immediately piqued. "The elves' wine—you mean the Elven Holy Wine we had last time? That wine was really good. Its aroma was so rich."

"That's the one," Telingewei said. "There aren't any famous vineyards or wines near us. When it comes to making wine, those berries are the best option."

Xie Juanhan asked, "Is it far?"

"Not far," Telingewei said, adding, "For us, the mountains aren't hard to climb either."

With that, the two dragons happily agreed to go berry picking in the mountains.

On a sunny day, they took the little ones up the mountains early in the morning.

The two dragons flew very fast.

The sun had yet to rise when they reached the mountains.

It was an early morning in June.

The mountains were clear and windless. Because it was colder at their feet than higher up, cold air and mist had gathered in the valleys, leaving them a vast expanse of white.

Once they flew up into the mountains, their view was exceptionally clear, with excellent visibility.

Xie Juanhan stopped to rest and returned to human form, gazing out at the Magic Forest and the human villages, towns, and ports farther away.

"The weather is wonderful today, and we were lucky enough to encounter a temperature inversion. Looks like we're sure to have a good haul today."

The little ones leaned against Xie Juanhan and nodded solemnly. "Chirp, chirp!"

Xie Juanhan reached out to scratch one of the little ones under the chin and asked Telingewei, "How much longer do we have to fly?"

Telingewei said, "Once we fly over that mountain, we'll be able to see the snowy mountains beyond it. We have to go up there to pick the berries."

"That's still a fair distance." Xie Juanhan looked at the mountains in the distance. "No wonder only the elves can pick those berries."

Telingewei reminded him, "We can pick them too."

"Yes, thanks to you." Xie Juanhan joked, "The wine the elves make is Elven Holy Wine. Maybe after I pick these berries and make them into wine, what I make will be 'silver dragon's dragon wine.'"

Telingewei agreed earnestly. "That would certainly be special."

Xie Juanhan raised his brows. "You didn't say it would taste good. Sounds like you don't have much confidence in me?"

The little ones cried out loudly at their feet in agreement. "Chirp, chirp!"

They seemed rather united with Xie Juanhan against Telingewei.

Telingewei pushed the little ones away with his foot. "Don't make trouble."

The little ones immediately opened their mouths and bit his boots. "Chirp, chirp!"

Xie Juanhan and the others continued flying upward.

By the time the sun came out, they had finally reached the snowy mountains.

The berries Telingewei had mentioned actually grew only near the snow line.

It was summer now, and the snow line was at its highest.

The berries grew where the snow and ice met the meadow.

A breeze stirred the slender blades of grass, making them tremble like waves.

Each time the grass swayed, plump purplish-red or purplish-black berries appeared from beneath the blades, looking exceedingly tempting.

Xie Juanhan crouched down and picked a berry. "What are these berries called?"

"They don't have a name. They're just wild fruit in a place no one visits." After saying that, Telingewei corrected himself. "Perhaps I just don't know. To me, they're simply nameless berries."

Xie Juanhan said, "They really do sound like an obscure kind of berry."

Telingewei said, "Maybe they taste ordinary, and only the elves use them to make wine, so their name never spread."

Xie Juanhan looked at the berry in his palm and summoned dew to wash it clean.

He tasted it.

The berry's skin was very thick, almost as thick as the flesh.

The skin was sweet and tart. When he chewed it, a rich, complex aroma was released, filling his entire mouth.

Compared with the skin's rich aroma, the flesh was rather ordinary.

The thin layer of flesh tasted sweet and tart and disappeared with a press of his tongue. There was nothing special about it.

After tasting it, Xie Juanhan picked another.

The Companion Beasts watched him without blinking, their eyes full of curiosity.

Xie Juanhan confirmed, "The aroma of the skin is indeed very rich. It's well suited to making wine."

Telingewei was puzzled. "Why does a rich aroma in the skin make it suitable for wine?"

Xie Juanhan said, "Because the aroma can be preserved through technical methods. And with a skin this fragrant, fermentation will surely produce a distinctive aroma too."

Telingewei nodded thoughtfully.

Xie Juanhan didn't know whether he truly understood or was only pretending, but he knew Telingewei had always been quite interested in cooking, so he explained, "Winemakers often chew their raw ingredients to judge the aroma of the finished wine. Try one now, then compare it after the wine is ready, and you'll understand."

Xie Juanhan washed another berry and handed it to Telingewei, gesturing for him to try it.