Chapter 302 - Using Wine as a Medium

"Stay calm, everyone, please, calm down," Lord Virginia interjected as she sensed the right moment, "I am a lord of the Fairy Wilderness, and Lord Gaven is an ally of our territory, bound by the Fairy Wilderness Pact. He is a mutual friend of our Fae Race, and you can trust him as much as you would trust me."As Lord Virginia spoke, a gentle natural aura emanated not only from her but also from Gaven.

Her words and her gracious smile were like a spring breeze, sweeping over the Pikespirit and throughout the entire vineyard.

Under this breath of air, the expressions on the Pikespirits’ faces miraculously softened considerably, and the one leading them nodded to Lord Virginia, "We had never thought that we would one day meet a Fairy Wilderness Lord. I apologize, we were rude just now. Had we known that a lord was gracing us with her presence, we would have prepared a feast to welcome you. Everyone, come out; with a Fairy Wilderness Lord among us, we will certainly not suffer any harm."

Gaven was secretly astonished on the side.

First, Lord Virginia’s ability to influence people with that natural aura, like a spring breeze, was indeed formidable.

Second, the influence of the Fairy Wilderness within the Fae Race was much higher than he had imagined.

On further thought, it seemed not so surprising after all.

For the Fae Race, the Fairy Wilderness is like the higher planes for humans and other sage races – a place where their souls may reside.

Those of the Fae Race from the Material Plane who believe in the gods will have their souls journey to the Realms of the Gods.

But many more of the Fae Race do not worship the gods, instead vowing to nature, and after death, they will be reborn in the Fairy Wilderness.

Of course, while alive, the Fae Race can also choose to go to the Fairy Wilderness, just as humans can go to the higher planes, but there they will exist as otherworldly creatures.

A lord from the Fairy Wilderness, to these material-plane Fae Race, might well be their future, potential lord, and naturally, they deserved high respect.

"I have long heard that the Pikespirits’ winemaking and violin playing are not only unparalleled in the Fae Race but also admired by the other sage races. By chance, we acquired a unique batch of black wine at the haunted manor previously. Would we be fortunate enough to invite you to help us taste it?" Lord Virginia flipped her hand and took out bottles of Weizemay Black Wine from her Dimensional Bag, and as she gently shook them, the pure liquid within swirled back and forth without any impurities.

The heads of those Pikespirits involuntarily swayed along with it, many throats gulping down saliva, barely able to disguise their eagerness, like a bunch of seasoned drinkers.

Of course, the black wine from Lord Virginia’s Dimensional Bag had been stocked by Gaven himself.

Good stuff should be shared with one’s own, aside from selling it.

He hadn’t expected it to come in handy here.

In the end, it was still a matter of insufficient intelligence; if he had known earlier that Pikespirits loved wine, he would have started from there.

After whispering among themselves for a moment, the Pikespirit leader finally replied, "Since the lord has come with sincerity, it would be somewhat inhospitable of us to refuse. Please, come inside."

After all that commotion, the situation finally evolved into a normal diplomatic exchange.

Surrounded by many Gnomes, Lord Virginia, Gaven, and Nicole were invited into the Gnome’s grapevine village.

For the sake of convenience in movement, before entering the Gnome village, both Virginia and Gaven had cast Shrinking Spells, reducing their bodies to half their original size.

Even so, they still felt like giants entering a village of tiny folk, finding it quite inconvenient to move around.

These Gnomes not only turned this place into a grapevine canopy, but they also built thick grapevine walls, encasing the entire village tightly.

Everything here was super small.

The sparrow may be small, but it has all its internal organs.

There were not only houses and buildings constructed from grapevines, but they even saw a grape wine distillery on a scale quite large compared to the village. It was filled with all sorts of tiny, mini barrels that looked about the size of beer mugs to humans.

Seeing this, Gaven’s eyes began to sparkle again; those who knew him understood that he was coming up with some mischievous idea.

In terms of affability, Gaven definitely couldn’t catch up to Virginia.

But when it comes to crafty ideas, Virginia couldn’t hold a candle to Gaven.

Although they hadn’t counted the Gnomes, judging from their size and the scale of their village, their numbers wouldn’t be too great, approximately around a hundred or so.

After sitting down, Lord Virginia still didn’t seem inclined to talk business. Instead, he opened a bottle of black grape wine and, while pouring, explained, "Since you’ve settled here for some time, you should be aware of the events happening at that estate.

It’s not just haunted, but it’s been targeted by that madwoman, Chiaranlisha. The whole estate has been dragged into the Shadow Plane, and the wines stored there have become unusual as well. They are cool and refreshing, like drinking ice in summer, leaving an unforgettable aftertaste. I believe that they will taste even more unique in the summer."

Though he opened a bottled black wine, after pouring a round, there was still less than half a bottle left.

The gnomes were using tiny cups, and only about a dozen elderly ones appeared, while the rest were hidden behind houses and grapevine walls.

Before Virginia could finish introducing, several impatient Gnomes had already drained the black wine in their hands. Then they closed their eyes for several seconds, seemingly concentrating on feeling the sensation of the wine rolling in their mouth, passing their throat, and entering their stomach.

They exhibited the epitome of an old drunkard’s behavior.

In the end, not only did the tentacles on their heads shake violently, but the wings of the crickets behind them couldn’t help but flutter softly along.

After exhaling deeply, seven or eight elderly Gnomes opened their eyes simultaneously and unanimously exclaimed, "Good wine!"

One of the leaders among them, a connoisseur, said, "This is a cellar vintage from 1352. That year had just the right sunshine and rainfall, perfect for grape growing. The resulting Weizemay wine had the purest taste, and now it has an added coolness, making it much more delightful than ones with just flavor. This must be the influence of Negative Energy. I never thought I’d get to taste a Weizemay Manor’s cellar vintage again in my lifetime."

"Yes, I thought I would never be able to taste the manor’s wine again in this life!"

"I really miss those days when there was endless fine wine to drink." Thɪs chapter is updated by ɴovᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet

"Back then, we didn’t have to make our own wine, yet there was an endless supply of fine wine to enjoy, so comfortable, unlike now, after toiling for months, the wine we make doesn’t last half a year, especially during these days when the grapes are almost ripe, it’s the hardest."

Gaven had intended to ask if they had always been on such good terms with Weizemay Manor?

They seemed to know so much about the manor’s wine.

But he quickly picked up on the oddity in the conversation.

It turned out to be all about taking advantage of the situation, stealing wine from the manor to drink.

On second thought, such behavior was very characteristic of the Fae Race.

In the Material Plane, it was normal for the Fae Race to steal various items from other Sage Races, especially food.

In their eyes, it wasn’t stealing but borrowing.

Many kind-hearted fairies would repay the Sage Races in other ways.

For example, they might use their Spell-Like Abilities to help tend to their farms, resulting in more bountiful harvests.

Or they might scare away vicious hunters to safeguard the safety of the Sage Races, and so on.

Since most of the Fae Race are relatively small in stature and possess the ability to become invisible, they’re adept at managing the amount of food they take or surreptitiously carrying off long-forgotten trinkets without drawing attention.

More often than not, they go unnoticed by Sage Races, who might think they’ve forgotten where they placed something or that it’s been lost.

These gnomes had clearly been neighbours with Weizemay Manor for a long time or perhaps, like the Black Nanmu, they had been living here even before the manor was constructed, witnessing its establishment with their own eyes.

It’s even possible that they secretly contributed labor and effort during the building of the vineyard.

They considered the vineyard their own and took it for granted.

Therefore, it was a wise decision not to delve into the ownership of the vineyard or who arrived first with these gnomes.

In this aspect, humans and other short-lived races could never catch up to the long lifespan of the Fae Race, akin to trees.

"As long as you enjoy it," said Lord Virginia with a smile, "there’s still plenty in the cellar. Today, drink your fill until there’s no going back sober."

This time, Lord Virginia pulled out a large wine barrel, half the height of a man, directly from a Dimensional Bag and placed it on the ground, "I won’t pour each of you a glass. Those who want to drink, help yourselves."

The gnomes were very self-disciplined; there was no need for Lord Virginia to summon them, as they naturally gathered around. The druids among them were particularly conscientious, directing the surrounding grape vines to form a small platform to help them reach and ladle out the wine.

At first, only the earliest-appearing gnomes came to ladle out the wine, but soon the gnomes lurking in the shadows couldn’t resist the temptation of the wine’s aroma.

Especially the gnome wine lovers, after a few glasses of wine, they became more and more talkative, praising the new black wine endlessly, whetting the appetites of all.

They had settled here and started making their own wine on a large scale only last year.

Although they made quite a bit of wine last year, that could not withstand the consumption by a crowd of heavy drinkers, and they lacked any real planning.

By the time they realized it, the wine they made had long been finished, and they had been craving it for months on end.

Especially when a drunken gnome violinist took out his small violin to play, and Nicole, a Pikespirit dancer, began to dance gracefully in the air, the atmosphere suddenly spiked.

All members of the Fae Race love merriment and feasts, and gnomes are no exception, particularly a feast with endless wine, which they adore the most.

Lord Virginia’s previous comment that the gnome’s winemaking and violin playing were unrivaled in the world was not just flattery.

At least the violin playing, just like the Pikespirit’s dance, was uniquely enchanting.

They had two violins.

One was an extra-small violin, and the other was a natural one, just like a cricket has, using its inner wings as strings and its hind legs as the bow.

The duet of these two violins created a melody more complex than one could imagine.

Soon, many slightly tipsy gnomes unpacked their natural violins and joined the ensemble.

Like the song of a Harpy, this music clearly carried a magical tune, making even someone like Gaven, who was not fond of dancing, feel an urge to dance lightly.

"Together," invited Lord Virginia after sipping on a couple of glasses, standing up to extend the invitation to Gaven.

"Sure." Gaven didn’t refuse this time, not only because of their close relationship but also because he had recently boned up on knowledge and skills in this area.

In this world, walking a different path, singing and dancing seemed to have become essential social skills.

Forget about singing for the short term — that’s not something practice alone can make up for; it also requires a bit of talent in this area, and Gaven considered his own talents in this regard quite average.

But dancing was something he could work on, as it shared some commonalities with combat skills. It’s just that one emphasizes practicality and lethality, while the other emphasizes graceful and fluid movements.

With a little practice, he might not claim to be a top-tier dancer, but he could handle most social situations with ease, at least without worrying about stepping on his dance partner’s foot.