Once I had arrived, more and more people started to show up, and along with them, food and drink was brought about. There was even a silver goblet of blood handed to me. It looked like it had been an hour since it had been extracted, if the film on top was any indication.

(Hmmm...I wonder...)

If I remembered right, blood sucking creatures on Earth had special enzymes in their saliva to prevent the coagulation of blood. It was possible that my own saliva had the same properties, though I had never actually tested that out.

Trying to conceal what I was doing the best I could, when as few people were looking my way as possible, I pretended to take a sniff of my drink, all the while pushing out a drop of my saliva into my drink. Once I did, I swirled the blood around to allow it to mix. The film on top was probably already a goner, but if it would keep the fluid blood underneath from clumping up, then it would make this drink quite a bit more decent.

It was unfortunate though, that it would take time before I could verify the results of my little experiment. It might have been entirely too late for that matter and even if my saliva had such an effect, that it couldn't be displayed on a cup of blood this old.

"Everyone's here! Now!"

As I was engrossed in staring at the swirling crimson liquid, Aurae's voice broke my concentration and caused me to look up at the crowd that had formed. There were quite a few people who looked like they were hiding something behind their backs.

Hopefully I'd find out what was going on soon.

"As you know, we had all gathered in celebration tonight! Of the happiness brought about by one of the founders of our great new nation!"

Elli in turn started the speech.

"That's right! The miracle of which we all hope for ourselves!"

Alvaldi continued the speech.

"Yea! Yea! Happy! Happy for all!"

Geirskogul added his own bit.

"So to that, we all say, congratulations!"

Frigg finally raised her cup, and along with them, everyone in turn raised their own cups...before turning towards me for some reason.

"""Congratulations!"""

"Tonight, we celebrate the pregnancy of our vampire elder! Cheers!"

"""Cheers!"""

"Huh? Ah, umm, ah...thank you..."

Completely flatfooted, I stumbled on my words before raising my goblet and downed my own drink together with everyone else. With my mind not really in the right frame, I wasn't able to identify what sort of blood was in the cup, but I distinctly remembered it being quite sweet.

 

Many of the people formed a circle around the crystal mansion and danced around, some even with drinks in hand. The fairies danced together with their larger counterparts or swooped around in intricate aerial shows together with the fluffballs.

Other fluffballs surrounded me as they competed against each other for my attention. I would pat or stroke one, only for it to rush around its peers in jubilance, and in turn those peers would come to be in jealousy dancing in front of me or rubbing my body until I got around to giving them a pat, only for them to go and proudly tell even more fluffballs what had happened, causing more fluffballs to try to vie for my attention.

All the while, everyone came around to where I was sat in small groups, congratulating me on my recently found situation.

Each group gifted me a present, each one related to my near future.

From baby clothes to cribs, cloth diapers to baby slings, all sorts of baby related items, some of which I had no idea what they were even for. The number of items was so great that they created a pile larger than I was tall.

As someone who didn't exactly find much use for having a large number or variety of personal items, I had no idea how I could respectfully receive so much, but declining any of them was completely out of the question. That would be far ruder than being unable to use them.

So all I could do was receive all the gifts with the best smile I could manage. And in return agree to any requests of touching my belly. Which, by the way, came from almost everyone.

It really made me feel more like some sort of exhibit at a petting zoo or something, and the gifts were some sort of entry fee.

But celebrations were important. Having an excuse to let loose and drink was important. At least, probably.

It wasn't exactly something I was familiar with, even in my previous life. I preferred having a chance to laze around in my room than to go to some party. Parties were exhausting. Being expected to do so many things for so long. Couldn't they just be restricted to an hour at a time?

What made things even more difficult on this occasion was all the arbitrary and random advice I was being given. Lots of them were even from people who've never experienced a pregnancy before.

Probably the worst advice, at least from my perspective, were those that sounded like they should have been directed more towards the elderly or the ill. Lots of rest, plenty of water, which I couldn't even consume, to avoid stress of any kind, to avoid personally doing anything that could be left to another.

(I'm only pregnant damnit! Not some sort of cripple!)

Of course, since they were only trying to give that advice for my benefit, I couldn't actually complain about such things. Not especially considering the current mood.

At least someone had the decency of refilling my goblet.

While pretending to take a sip, I dribbled a bit of saliva into the cup as a continuation of my experiment and swirled the fluid around, allowing the contents to mix a little before taking a sip.

While the blood wasn't exactly very high quality, it did help to subside the headache which had started to threaten to take over for the last little while. The minty freshness of the lesser wind dragon would have been perfect for this situation, the more greasy orc blood would have to do. Pulling out my own blood supply at this point would be rude after all.

 

"So what made guys do this for me anyways?"

After the gift giving was finished, a few of the less rambunctious members sat down nearby to more quietly enjoy the spectacle of everyone else loudly singing and dancing while letting the drinks flow like a river.

Not like I could really complain, being that I was taking regular sips from my own drink in between the mana treats which I threw around for the sake of the little fluffballs who couldn't enjoy the feast directly.

But as much as they were dancing around and doing some aerial acrobatics, Claret flying around in the swarm of fluffballs showing off the special mana treat I had given her in between taking bites of it.

(What are you, a ten year old?!)

"Why? What an odd question. Why not, perhaps?"

Beside me, Elli gave me a non answer before taking a swig out from her own goblet. The strong purple colouring of her normally grey cheeks was testament to how much she had already drank.

"Several of us came up with the idea on our own, and when we heard that you'd be making a short trip away for half a day, we thought that it would be perfect."

On my other side, Frigg gave me part of an actual explanation before emptying her own cup. As for how drunk she was, I couldn't tell. Her cheeks seemed to be a bit more colourful than usual, but that was hard to tell when she already had bright red skin.

"Capture this view! This sprawl all around! You did this! And only in a few months! How could we all not celebrate one of your happiest moments when you've done so much for us?"

Elli spread out her arms, emphasizing the food and drink that was spread out in front of everyone. All around people who weren't dancing around the crystal mansion were surrounding tables covered in all sorts of food and drink. Many of the dishes being things which I had introduced.

Even the people dancing, many were holding drinks procured from the many tables as well.

"Well, I am happy that everyone's enjoying the recipes I had introduced, but just that is..."

"Not just that! This food, if it weren't of your Hunter's Guild, our homes wouldn't be filled with food everyday, our artisans would be without material to work with half the days. It's not merely the taste, but everything! If it weren't you, we would have gone to war with the people of this settlement, instead of sharing in drink and food!"

"Drink and food! Yay!"

Sitting on my head, Aurae yelled out while pushing out her own cup, which was almost as big as her head.

""Yay!""

And for some reason, the two other elders flanking me copied the little fairy, raising their own cups.

"Yay..."

Feeling a little bit left out by my conversation being completely derailed out of nowhere, I meekly raised my own cup before we all took a drink.

It was quickly followed by the sound of chewing and the sight of crumbs spilling past the brim of my hood.

"Waaah! Boss! You're so mean, throwing me to the chieftain!"

While I sat there, awkward in the silence as the ones around me enjoyed their food and drink, a familiar dragonkin had appeared, rushing over as fast as his wings could take him.

"Oh, umm, hey."

"Don't hey me! Boss! I thought you wanted me to follow you! But instead, the second you called for me, I ended up getting taken away by the chieftain?! Do you realize how hard I've had it with all the constant training?!"

"Ah, umm, well...if you've been moving your body so much, then wouldn't you enjoy the feast that much more?"

"Well, that's true, boss. But..."

"And if you join in on the dancing, wouldn't that be the perfect place to let go of some steam?"

"But..."

"And outside of the dragonkin, the only other people who can fly are all here. Wouldn't you want to be able to show off how majestic the flight of dragonkin can be?"

"..."

"Anyways, have a drink! It all starts with that!"

I pointed at one of the tables that still had quite the hefty spread on it.

"Gah! Fine! I'll go eat to make up for all that training damnit!"

And with those words, I had succeeded in distracting the dragonkin I had frankly forgotten about.

"So anyways, all this is some sort of thanks for what I did?"

Turning back to the three elders surrounding me, I quickly tried to move on the conversation before some other distraction came.

"Rather than thanks, it is recognition of what you have contributed to our society. If we didn't respect you so much, so many would not have come."

"Then...these gifts are tribute of some sort?"

"Tribute? Hahaha! What sort of demon lord do you claim to be?"

After laughing at my words, the dokkalfar elder finished off her drink and poured another before continuing to drink. It seemed like she had no intent on elaborating on her words.

"It's not tribute you receive, but cordial gifts. For you, and your unborn. We discussed with the fairies, and it seem that we both have customs to gift parents of our tribe to help ease the burden of childbirth."

"Baby! Yay!"

""Yay!""

"Yay..."

With the sound of drinks spilling from our hastily raised cups, we each took a drink following Aurae's prompt.

Elli and Frigg's words made me think. What I was receiving wasn't due to my status or anything, but more everyone's personal feelings towards me. The definition between a gift and tribute had quite a lot of overlap, but there was a distinct difference between the two, and that was the impression towards the one being given the objects.

"But what about Harja and the other dragonkin?"

Magni was the only one of the dragonkin to have shown up. All the other elders and chieftains were there, but Harja was the sole exception.

My eyes went to Alvaldi partway around the crystal mansion. He was having some sort of drinking competition with the ones around him. The noise the group was making was so loud that I could feel the deep base of some of their voices run through my body despite the distance.

"Her condition is not one you must worry about. She will come around in time."

Frigg patted the back of my head as she gave me her reassurances.

"That is right. That one is just stubborn. Too set in the old ways."

Elli's words weren't quite as reassuring though, considering that the first time we met, she argued with one of the demons on the basis of traditional fashion. She had even forced one of her traditional garbs on me, though it was quite a nice piece and I did enjoy wearing it in private. That fact wasn't one which I could tell her though, as she'd probably find a way to convince me to wear it in public. Though as embarrassing as that thought was, it was nothing compared to the unease of exposing my bare skin to the sun's direct attacks.

"Remember, you are one of us, Scarlet. A friend, a comrade, a sister. So all of us look forward to seeing the smile of one of our own, when another join our ranks!"

The elder and chieftain beside me wrapped an arm around my shoulder, the feeling strange being that it wasn't Claret's arm. Yet somehow it felt nice despite that.

"One of us! One of us! Yay!"

""Yay!""

"Yay!"

After a moment, I thrust up my cup together with the others with strength equalling theirs and downed the drink all at once.

Despite the lack of alcohol in my cup, my cheeks felt hot as my lips curled up on their own.

By the time the party was finished, the sun had long since retreated and the three moons peeked through the thick forest canopy.

Most of the people were already asleep, having drunk themselves into a coma. Even most of the people from the dark side was in such a condition.

(Is drinking yourself under the table normal in this world, or is it just influence from the fairies?)

But if that was how people destressed in this world, I wasn't exactly one to argue about it.

A part of me was a bit envious though, as alcohol was something I couldn't enjoy with this body, even when I wasn't pregnant. But on the other hand, while not being able to enjoy being under the influence, I could enjoy plenty of other things.

The richness and variety of blood I could enjoy was something which any non-vampire could never do was one such advantage. I was able to enjoy a delectable feast whenever I wanted, and there was no signs of me growing fat on top of that!

Thinking about all that, I was forced to catch myself as drool started to make its way down my chin.

When it came to everyday life, it was difficult to say which way the benefits and drawbacks balanced out. In the end, I couldn't really say I had any real regrets, just things that I missed.

And despite the things I missed, I was gaining so many things that I never had in my previous life.

(Most of all...)

My hand touched the moderately hard surface of my belly.

(There's so much to look forward to as well.)

And with that thought, I gathered all of my gifts and headed back home. The night was still young, and I had plenty of things I wanted to do.

 

===========================================================

 

"Ah, man! You should've seen it! He was all like: 'Oh, that was amazing!' and I was all like, 'hey dude, I just beat your ass and even made you like it!'. Like seriously, it was a riot!"

"Ahaha, well, I mean, I bet nobody thought you'd lose though!"

"Of course I wouldn't lose! There's no way in hell I would!"

The two men laughed as they walked down a hallway made entirely of marble, cleanly cut and orderly placed to reduce any gaps to nearly imperceptible levels.

"Geez, would you quit it? You've told that story to us seven times already!"

"*Sigh*"

"Eh, let him have it. We haven't seen each other in years."

A third man rebuked the woman's complaint, while a second woman simply sighed in a vain attempt to ignore it all. Though going by the third man's expression, he wasn't really enjoying hearing the same things over and over either.

"I don't care. Is he so bored that the only interesting thing to happen to him in the last few years was winning a stupid tournament of arms? None of the rest of us bothered with it, so it's not like anyone really stood a chance. I bet the next guy was over fifty levels lower than him!"

"Seventy, actually! It was so pathetic!"

The first man's loud complaints echoed throughout the empty hall before the sound of the plates of his pearl white armour sliding across each other filled everyone's ears again.

"Were those guys really supposed to be the best in the continent?"

Tired of hearing virtually the exact same thing so many times, the first woman tried to change the subject, even if it was only a little.

"Probably. Most of the strong guys got killed in the last war so it's really no surprise."

The second man turned back to return his own answer in place of the first's. But even with so little movement, the heavy plates of his ebony coloured armour made noisy scraping sounds even more obnoxious than the first man's armour.

"But it's been years since then! You'd think at least a few people would've made up the difference by now!"

"It's the same every cycle. Everyone starts to relax after the demon lord dies. Only battle freaks actively push themselves to become stronger when there's no worry of another demon lord showing up for decades."

The third man explained, even though he was aware everyone present knew the answer.

"Aaah! It's so boring without anyone strong to fight!"

"Like I said, only battle freaks..."

The group of five continued to grumble as they reached the stairs at the far end of the overly white hallway.

"But really, why did the pope call for all of us?"

The third man wondered out loud. He quickly dusted off his black cloak and checked his daggers hidden underneath. He wasn't particularly expecting to have to use them, but the reassuring weight of them on his hips helped to calm him down.

"Maybe there's a new demon lord or something?"

"Don't even joke about that! The demon lord's castle is so far away! It'll take another year just doing the trip!"

The first woman almost shrieked out in response to the second man's words. The very act almost ruffled her perfectly arranged hair that cascaded halfway down her back.

"If it's not, can I just go home?"

For the first time, the second woman finally let her voice be heard. She was leaning heavily on her large staff the whole way, despite her not actually having any need to. Though her always sleepy eyes suggested that might not be completely true.

Finally, the group reached the top of the stairs, and as the man in the lead approached the massive marble double doors, they automatically gave way as if retreating from the man's very presence with a low grinding sound.

"Hey! We're here like you wanted, old man!"

"I am the pope! Not some 'old man'!"

An old man in white and gold robes wearing a tall, pointed hat turned, holding an equally white and gold staff carved to appear like the wood it was made from was braided. The large crystal at the head of the staff persistently glowed bright enough that it almost overshadowed the numerous magical lanterns places all around the large room.

"Whatever. So what's so important that you called for all of us! We're supposed to be retired you know!"

"If you realized that it was so important, why did you spend six months reaching the cathedral?!"

Despite his apparent age, the old man's voice travelled well, causing slight reverb as it bounced off of all the marble surfaces in the room.

"Ah, you know. There was the tournament of arms, then the after party, and then the after after party, then the tours around all the biggest cities showing off my trophy..."

"How is any of that even slightly important?!"

"It's important to me, old man!"

The others simply shrugged at each other. For them, this scene wasn't anything new, so there wasn't really any point in stopping this farce.

"Ahem! Anyways, this really is important!"

"Fine, what is it then?"

After some pointless back and forths, the pope managed to finally return the conversation back to where it was supposed to be. Or rather, he finally managed to bring the topic up in the first place.

"Back when I called for all of you, there was an oracle."

"What, someone begged for the great heroes to come save them from some goblins?"

"An oracle, not a stupid prayer, you moron!"

The elderly pope massaged his temple with one hand for a few moments before continuing.

"There was an oracle from god! And he said as thus! Use thine holy artifacts and slay the demon lord anew!"

"Wait, seriously? There's another demon lord?!"

"Already?!"

The first man exclaimed in pure joy, while the first woman screamed out in frustration.

"Oh? Maybe it was worth coming back out of retirement?"

"It's not like anyone else can handle this anyways."

"Can I go home now? *Yawn*"

The second, then third men gave their own impressions to the news in the back, while the second woman let out her own complaint.

"Unfortunately, you wasted so much time getting here that deploying immediately isn't possible. You five will stay here in this city until spring arrives! Got it?"

Before the old man had even finished his line, the group had turned their backs on him and started to discuss the future amongst themselves.

"You think the taverns in this city's actually gotten decent?"

"At the very least, I doubt they have enough booze to satisfy you. Last time we went, they don't even serve much meat, just jerky."

The second and third men had already started making plans for wintering through in the city.

"No! I hate it here! The soap they sell here is so harsh, and none of them are scented. My skin's going to become so rough."

"Hibernating sounds nice..."

Next to that, the two women talked to themselves about their greatest concerns at the time.

"Ugh. It's gonna be so boring."

The man in pearl white armour let out a complaint once again.