As word of his achievement spread throughout the village within the span of a night, Valyr had somewhat expected the fact that the owners of both the carriage and horse shop would give him a substantial discount, recalling his conversation with Alfaera earlier.
Nevertheless, he told the two owners that he would pay for the carriage and horses at its original price, eliciting a light frown to appear on their faces, telling him that they insisted on Valyr following the price they had given him.
Not wanting to take advantage of their kindness, Valyr eventually settled on a price that was lower than the original price, but higher than the price given to him by the owners, which the two fortunately agreed with.
Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief, he then told the two that he would come pick up the carriage and horses at a later time before proceeding to stroll through the village streets once more, wanting to see what the people were doing during the celebration. From time to time, some of the people would greet him and thank him for the fact that he had given the village the path to expansion, prompting him to respond back with a wave and a thanks.
Then, there were times where people came up to him for the sole fact that they had heard of the feat Valyr had achieved, wanting to know how strong Valyr was in order to be able to clear the dungeon. With most of the people that asked this question being children around 8 to 10 years of age, Valyr went ahead and showed them a bit of the might he had used in the dungeon, thrusting outward with his spear at full strength, which caused a small sonic boom in response.
All in all, the joyous and festive atmosphere surrounding the village had not dissipated, with Valyr even obtaining free food from the villagers at some point, as well as looks with hidden meanings from women that were beautiful in their own right.
Nevertheless, all of that eventually came to an end once the sun had reached its peak, prompting everyone in the village to head to the center, with Valyr utilizing a bit of his AGI in order to arrive there first.
Once there, he noticed that a raised wooden platform was built at the village’s center, only for his eyes to shift towards Alfaera soon after. Seeing that she was talking to a few people regarding the progression of events for the celebration, he slowly swerved through the gradually growing crowd and eventually appeared in front of her, waving as a bitter smile adorned his face.
Noticing Valyr’s appearance, Alfaera lightly nodded as she took note of the bitter smile on his face, conversing with the people in front of her for a bit more before dismissing them, allowing her to finally focus her attention on Valyr. “So, are you ready?”
“It’s only sunk in that I have to narrate my adventure in the dungeon to hundreds of people at once.” Valyr wryly chuckled in response. “I’m basically the first performance for this celebration, right? Is there a time limit? Do I have to make the story more engaging? Add a few flourishes here and there?”
“Just tell the story like how you told me and the other two the story last night,” said Alfaera, telling him to calm down and relax. “Also, there’s no time limit. Take as much time as you need.”
“After that, I’ll give you the titles that come along with the quest, plus a little surprise after that,” she added, piquing Valyr’s interest. Unfortunately, when the latter asked her what she meant by a little surprise, Alfaera responded by telling him that he would eventually find out later.
Seeing as it was useless for him to pester Alfaera regarding what the little surprise meant, he eventually gave up, asking Alfaera instead as to when he would start narrating the story.
“You could start now, if you want,” said Alfaera to him. “Or if you want to start later, we could do that as well.”
“I’ll start now.” Looking at the crowd surrounding the raised wooden platform, patiently and eagerly waiting for the sequence of events for the celebration to start, Valyr took in a deep breath before heading up the raised platform, eliciting a round of cheers and applause from the villagers as he waited them for finish their applause.
“For those who don’t know me, my name is Valyr. I’m not originally from this village, but because of how kind and helpful has been to get to where I am today, you could say that I feel like I’m a part of it.” Taking in yet another deep breath, Valyr went ahead and introduced himself to those that did not know him before proceeding to tell the story of how he had cleared the dungeon, even giving some backstory along the way, thanking Tristan, Damian, and Alfaera, as well as Vera for their help.
Within minutes, everyone in the crowd was engrossed in listening to Valyr narrate his story, who decided to tell the same story he had told Tristan and the others when they were on their way back to the village. Though, thinking about how this was the opener to the events making up the entire celebration, he decided to add a bit more flourish to his storytelling, invoking quite a few emotions from the villagers as he narrated how he fought against the two mini-bosses.
However, most of the reactions from the villagers came when he talked about how he fought against the final boss, causing them to gasp out in shock, or look at Valyr with widened eyes as he recounted the experience of fighting against a boss with three forms, as well as the resurrection of the mini-bosses.
By the time Valyr was done narrating, the crowd had gone silent, looking at Valyr for a bit in silence as they processed everything the man had said thus far. After that, a sonorous applause spread throughout the village, with the crowd saying words of gratitude to him. At that very moment, Valyr felt his heart warm up from the sincerity of their words, thanking everyone back as he slowly made his way down the raised platform, only to be stopped by Alfaera before he could even do so.
Stifling the tears that welled up around her eyes while she listened to Valyr’s narration, Alfaera urged Valyr to return to the center of the platform as she took in a deep breath. “As the chief of Astarto Village, I am incredibly thankful for the fact that someone like Valyr, even though he had not been born in the village, was selfless enough to aid the village in solving its biggest roadblock to expansion.”
“I’m sure all of you know of him as Astarto’s Tidebreaker, being one of the brave few to remain at the frontlines during the defense against the recent monster tide,” she continued, prompting others to nod in agreement to her words. Sometime later, a screen appeared before her, interacting with it as words continued to escape her mouth.
“However, with Valyr’s recent feat of clearing the village’s only roadblock to expansion, although the title does embody his capabilities during the monster tide, it does not embody what he has become for the village, especially after clearing the dungeon. I’m sure all of you feel the same way, no?”
Seeing the crowd nod in agreement to her words, Alfaera nodded back. “Valyr is not only Astarto’s Tidebreaker…”
“He is Astarto’s beacon of hope.”
Ding!
[Due to the feat you have achieved, you have gained the title ‘Astarto’s Beacon of Hope’.]
“However, even that is an understatement to what effects his actions have given the village. He has opened up the village in preparation for an era of prosperity, for its expansion into a town.” Taking a swift look at Valyr, a light smirk adorned Alfaera’s face as she continued.
“Not only is he Astarto’s beacon of hope…”
“He is also… Astarto’s light.”
Ding!
[Due to the feat you have achieved, the title ‘Astarto’s Tidebreaker’ has been upgraded to ‘Astarto’s Light’.]𝒐𝑽𝐿xt.𝑐𝑜𝚖