A bottle of wine

"Honey, meet Aelric. You never had a chance to see each other before, but I hope that you will get along. Please, take good care of my daughter, young man." said Egon. Aelric was one of the most talented disciples, so he had a good opinion of him. He knew that Aelric was a very hardworking and reliable young lad.

"Yes, Chief." said Aelric.

"So annoying..." thought both Ember and Aelric. Ember would prefer to go by herself to have more freedom while Aelric would rather continue his training. They just exchanged nods and left the room.

Ember decided to get as strong as possible in those few days that she had before the tournament. She was almost sure that killing monsters would grant her experience, so she decided to find a place to level up.

They left the mansion and followed the path to Dorden, a village just slightly outside the clan's influence zone. On their way to Dorden neither of them spoke, they just travelled in silence. About eight hours passed before they reached their destination. The streets were empty since it was already getting dark.

Dorden was located on the edge of a lush forest. There were only about thirty houses made out of wood. In the middle of the town stood a building built out of stone that was bigger than the rest. Most of the residents were living from selling wood and furniture.

They followed the path that led through the centre of the village until they noticed a nameless inn, which stood next to the stone building. From the outside, it looked cheerful, modest and cosy.

"We will spend the night in this inn." said Ember. She didn't want to risk going into the forest at night. She had no idea what to expect since she didn't know enough about monsters and animals inhabiting this world.

Aelric just silently followed behind her. He was irritated that he was chosen to escort a rich, rotten lass. He thought that if not for her father being the chief, then she would never achieve anything in her life. He believed that Ember was just a pretty face and that her father will soon arrange a marriage for her to gain benefits for the clan. After all, why would he keep a useless girl that only knew how to eat and wear pretty clothes. When he was training back in the clan, he overheard that their little miss started learning martial arts, but he knew that she would never become strong because she was already sixteen. It was almost impossible for her to catch up at this point.

They entered the inn through a thick, wooden door and were welcomed by laughing voices and aromas of food. Wooden beams with candles attached to them supported the upper floor. The inn itself was packed. Adventurers and merchants seemed to be their primary customers. Several long tables were occupied by, what appeared to be one group of roughly thirty men clad in light, leather armours. All of them had weapons and looked like they just came from a battleground. The other, smaller tables were also filled by people who enjoyed each other's company, though they seemed to be strangers who have met here for the first time.

When Ember came in, she heard that some of the people in leather armours started whistling at her. Even dressed in plain clothes she was still considered to be very attractive. She didn't want to start a fight, so she just quickly went to the bartender that stood behind the counter.

"Welcome, customers. You are such a beautiful couple, what brings you to this small village? How can I help you?" said the bartender.

"Fuck! Man, you should get a new pair of eyes! Where do you see a couple?! He's my servant, not my lover! Be glad that there are so many people here or else I would gouge your dog eyes out and cut off your tongue to prevent you from spewing bullshit for the rest of your life." thought Ember.

"We are just passing by. We want two rooms and a bottle of your best wine. We will be staying for one day." answered Ember.

"There is only one room left since we have a lot of guests today. If you still want it, then that will cost you two silver coins." said the bartender, apparently unhappy that they didn't tell him why they came to the village. Usually, he only took ten bronze coins for a night and one silver coin for a bottle of good wine, but because he thought that she looked clueless, he decided to increase the price.

Ember threw two shiny, silver coins on the counter and waited for the key to the room and her wine. Since she recently came to this world, she had no clue about prices. Just when the bartender was about to take the money, Aelric grabbed his hand and stared at him coldly.

"One silver and thirty bronze coins. We won't pay a single coin more." said Aelric.

Aelric travelled a lot and knew the prices. He couldn't look at that naive lass getting scammed like this, even if she's spending her father's money. He never had a comfortable life or got any money from his foster father. Aelric had to work hard for every single coin and learned to save as much as possible. He only had five silver coins. Aelric often had to spend money to repair his equipment. His aggressive and domineering fighting style usually put him in danger, so he received a blow or two from time to time.

"Y-yes... I guess that I can make an exception for you, haha... " said the bartender and laughed faintly. As an experienced bartender that often came in contact with dangerous people, he knew when to give up. He took the money and gave the change back to Ember. Shortly after, he came back with an iron key and a bottle of wine.

Ember hid the key and money in her pocket and carried the wine in her hand. She thought that Aelric was overreacting, even if she were to spend a bit more then it was not the end of the world. She only cared about getting stronger. Money wasn't that important to her. They walked upstairs, found their room and came in.

It was a small, clean room with one bed under the window and a wardrobe. Close to the entrance stood a small, wooden table with two chairs on both sides of it. Ember sat on the bed and opened a bottle of wine. She took a large sip straight from the bottle and thought that it tasted terrible. It was comparable to the cheapest wine that you could get on Earth, but she still took one more sip because it reminded her of the previous life. She often used to drink with her friends and do stupid things when she was younger.

"Hey, want some?" said Ember. She closed the bottle and used her telekinesis to send it to Aelric, who was still standing next to the entrance. It wasn't a big deal if he saw her use telekinesis since he would see it tomorrow anyway.

He took the bottle, sat on the chair and drank a mouthful of wine. It was the best wine that he had a chance to drink, so he quickly decided to take another sip, but then the bottle instantly flew back to Ember.

"Well, it's my turn to drink now." said Ember with a grin on her face.

Aelric thought that she used wind magic to manipulate the bottle. He didn't know much about magic. He only had a basic understanding of skills and spells that were related to his affinity.

"So she's a mage, no wonder that her father still hasn't arranged a marriage for her. Then why did she start learning martial arts? Was it just for fun?" thought Aelric but soon it was his turn to drink again.

Ember thought it was to be expected, that her affinity doesn't rise anymore from just moving the bottle with telekinesis, after all, that would be too easy.