Chapter 60 Extrovert gossip
“Yeah, just this rhubarb then?” I pulled out the sacrificial stalks of rhubarb near the front of the shared farm plot for the housewife who came for it. I ended up needing to plant twice as much of that, and you’re not supposed to pick any the first year, so half of the rhubarb was going to be sacrificed to pick this year while the rhubarb at the back grew out. I shook my head again as this was what Cherry wanted to do for our date.
It was already the end of spring, and I couldn’t believe how fast a quarter of the year had already passed. It felt both more and less hectic than the first season of the first year at the same time. So much happened, yet I felt like I could do more because of how much stamina I had now. In terms of stamina, I had four times the amount I had during the first year, but with my higher stats, I also got more out of each point in stamina, plus I regenerated stamina just by having sex.
It meant that instead of going to bed dead tired, I normally went to bed energetic, which made it harder to go to sleep more times than not. Cherry talked to the housewife, and I could only sigh in contentment. She was just like her mother and loved to gossip, which is why we were here helping the housewives take some crops from the communal plot.
“Did you see Janice changed her hair?” “Oh, yeah, bless her heart. The things an older woman will do to feel young again.” Both of them laughed as I picked a few more varieties of crops for her, and they kept gossiping. “So… Have you heard about the capital?” I felt the tone shift in their conversation as I slowed down to pay more attention to their conversation.
“I heard that the current colosseum champion is a woman… And that she’s willing to marry the first person who can beat her in battle.” Cherry asked the gossiping woman. “Oh, is she an Amazon then?” “That’s the current running theory, but she might just be a battle junky looking to pass on the strongest seed she can get her hands on to her future children.”
Cherry’s eyes briefly met mine as she smirked. “Interesting.” She went on to explain. “There’s also the news that the fight between the princes is ramping up. The king hasn’t been seen in court by anyone not closely tied to him in years, and his sons have finally begun to make moves to counter their brothers.” I looked down as I had distractedly loaded about four dozen corn into a bundle for her and quickly unloaded three of that dozen because that was far too much.
I guess I was interested in gossip too, as long as it wasn’t the boring kind, talking about the people around us. The gossipy woman kept going. “The three oldest princes are the only real candidates, but the real group who will most likely choose the next king is whoever the princesses decide to back. From what I hear, they all allied together and will only offer their help if they get a good enough deal from joining with whoever they choose. The princes are all collectively fighting over who will win them to their side… I just hope it isn’t the third. A pervert like him should never be put in charge of anything.”
My attention was once again distracted as I thankfully noticed before picking too much of one crop for her to take home. I would need to ask Cherry to explain who the princes were later, as the gossip off-handedly mentioned. “He kind of reminds me of your husband.” I couldn’t help but fall over as she mentioned and off-handedly insulted me.
…
I spent the entire rest of the day following Cherry around as she greeted people and handed them some of the produce we made or that came from the communal plot. She was something I wasn’t, a charismatic extrovert. She made easy conversation with everyone as I followed behind her, mostly silent, only really speaking when she tried to include me in the conversations.
We wrapped things up and went to have dinner with her parents. If the gossip I heard up to that point was bad, the stuff I heard from the mother/daughter combination was insane. “Well, I was with Clive for a short while there, we just didn’t mesh sexually. That’s why I ended up with your father.” “Mom, I don’t need to know about your sexual experience. It’s gross!” “Oh, hush. You’re the one who asked why Clive was so stuck on me, hon.” “Yeah, but I’d rather think of you being a virgin who married the first man you were with, and that being dad. Also, why is Dad okay with this?”
I slurped soup as he scoffed. “Because I won. Why would I care that my rival was both weaker and worse in bed than me? I hadn’t thought about him in decades, but apparently, we were the only thing he could think about. He was a loser then, and he was a loser now… Let’s talk about something else… Like the new wife, the farmboy took.”
Both girls laughed at the sudden shift as they started gossiping about our love life. “Well, Tems and Silk both gave birth, Sarah is a month pregnant, and Olivia is showing signs, but we’re not one hundred percent certain yet. It’s nice to be part of such a huge family, but we’re going to need to expand the home again soon.”
Marcus smiled as he spoke. “Well, that’s good news! It’s always good to hear that the village is about to get bigger. Here, let’s toast to your expanding family.” He left to get a bottle of wine as Cherry tried to wave him back. “No, there’s no need for that. If we do celebrate, it should be with all of us.” He ignored her as I heard bottles clinking, and Berry kept up the conversation.
“Speaking of babies, why didn’t you bring the little ones with you? It would have been a nice break for the rest of your sister wives if you brought them with you.” Berry loved my kids and tried to get as much time as she could with them, even though babysitting was stressful to her.
The sheriff came running out excited. “Look at this wine I made! Strawberries grown in your field, give it a try and tell me how you like it.” He poured me a generous glass of wine, and I took a sip. It was delicious, sweet, and fruity compared to the wine I made, it might be better to swap from grapes to strawberries in the future.
Or I could just make both. He wasn’t in a crafting class, so even if his ability to make wine from a job was high, a crafting profession like his daughter's must be able to do better. He poured an equally sized glass for his daughter as he patiently waited for her to try it. She looked sheepishly at the wine before almost whispering. “I can’t drink that.”
All of us looked confused as she sighed and spoke out loud. “Well, I wanted to wait until we were done eating but… I’m pregnant.” For the next few seconds, the three of us were completely silent before Berry moved to congratulate her. “Oh my gosh, that’s such great news. I’m so happy for you, hun.” Her father sat there, not saying anything, but he had a soft smile on his face as tears formed in the corner of his eyes. I felt a little worried, Cherry was my weakest wife and the most likely to have complications from birth. I sighed away my fear before moving over and holding her hand, now wasn’t the time to show how worried I was.