Chapter 4

“Alright, first things first. We'll need to see what we can and can't do.”

We already knew that we could transfer items between worlds, that energy drink is the proof of it. But what else can we do?

“Here, can you take this?”

In Elerina’s hands was a golden cup. It was around six centimeters in diameter, and weighed at least two hundred grams.

“Is this real gold?” I took it and examined it. Elerina nodded.

“Assuming the gold in our worlds aren't different, then it should be.”

“Where do you even get this?”

A single gram of gold is like one and a half million Rupiah. Two hundred grams is crazy. I'm not sure how the gold economy is over there, but this must be expensive.

“It's in my room when I left. Figuring I would need money, I grabbed everything valuable.”

“And you've been carrying it around while fighting?”

“Yeah. I can't find a buyer.”

Well, this thing must be ridiculously expensive. No one would want to have a golden cup in the middle of a war.

“Can you find a buyer for me?”

“Are you sure it's alright to sell it?”

“Yeah, I trust you. Plus, if you tricked me, I can smack you with my sword.”

Oh yeah, whatever she touched turned into a physical item that I too could touch. I do appreciate her trust, though. It isn’t easy to just give something away after meeting them for a day. I’ll make sure I get her the money. But wait, that's not my point.

“No, I mean, doesn't this thing have some important meaning to you?”

This doesn't look like just a decoration. I fear it might have a deeper meaning.

“... It's not important anymore.”

“...”

Elerina turned to me and smiled wryly while waving her hand. “Look, the past doesn't matter to me, okay? You don't have to worry about it.”

“Alright. I’m going to sell this and use it for supplies. Is that alright?”

“It’s alright. I have more, by the way.”

“Selling all at once is too dangerous. let's go slowly.”

“Okay.”

We didn't want to risk disturbing the market or bringing more attention to us than necessary. For now, I stuffed the cup into my bag, intending to sell it later.

One of the challenges of being apart is the fact that I couldn't see what she was seeing. That would greatly hinder our ability to work together. I took my tablet, a tool I usually use just to draw, and downloaded a messaging app. I made a temporary account with my university email, and connected it to a call with my smartphone. I gave the tablet to her.

“What is this?” she peered at it intently, examining its every corner.

“We call that a tablet. You can use it for all sorts of things.”

I checked my phone. The call worked. The tablet was connected to my smartphone, and was showing a view of the world on her side.

She sat inside a ruined stone building. Most of the second floor had collapsed, leaving an open top and rubble all around. Some remains of wooden furniture peaked through the building’s remains. It's hard to believe someone used to live here.

“Alright, I'm going to turn off the connection.”

I went ahead and turned off the wifi. The call disconnected. This meant the tablet, despite being in her world, relies on a connection from mine. To make sure, I turned on my wifi hotspot. It didn't take long for it to connect once more.

“Now, can you put it on the ground?”

Elerina nodded. She put the tablet down and let go. It disappeared from my sight, and the call disconnected.

“Now try letting it rest on your clothes, but don't touch it with your skin.”

She let it rest on top of her leg armor. The call reconnected.

“The verdict?”

“When one of us touches the item, it exists in this kind of “middle dimension”. When it's there, the tablet can connect with the internet from my world, but when you let go, it disconnected, because it's entirely in your world.”

“Interesting.”

“Now, to figure out the largest item we can transport…”

I held my bed with my hands. “Do you see anything here?”

The bed’s massive, and it would be impossible to miss, and yet she shook her head. “Nothing's there.”

This meant the bed couldn’t enter the middle dimension. I went on, trying my chair this time. She shook her head again. I moved on and tried my laptop.

“There's a very thin book in your hands.”

“I see, so a laptop can still be transported.” This means the size is somewhere between a laptop and a chair. I tried my backpack next.

“So that's how bags in your world look like? This is how mine looks.”

Hers looked more like a sack. It's pretty large, a bit larger than my backpack, but I could still see it. I didn't have any other item that's between the size of a chair and a backpack, but this told me a lot already.

“So the items we can transport are at most this large in size.”

We could probably transport something larger, but most important items are under that size.

“Is size the only factor?”

Her question made sense. The bag is pretty light. What if I gave her something smaller but heavier?

The thing is, there's nothing in my room currently that I can use to test this theory.

My empty backpack is pretty light, though, and my laptop is heavier, so there's that. I tried stuffing both my phone, my laptop, and all my light novels, mangas, books, and anything else I can fit into my backpack. I managed to put in seven items inside, making the backpack pretty heavy. I then showed it to her.

She counted the items inside.

“There are seven things.”

“So we at least know that the weight limit is high.”

I returned my items then sat on my bed. I then remembered that I sat higher than her because of the bed, so I went down and sat by her side. Her face went red for some reason.

“Are you alright, I'm going to try taking your temperature.” I described my intentions, just in case my gesture had a different meaning in her culture. Her head isn't warm, though.

“Umm…” she leaned on my shoulders. “So… this is what having a husband… feels like.”

I had nothing to say. I had nothing to say. Yes, pure mind, Nicholas. Pure mind.

“Ye- yeah, my shoulder is always here if you need it.”

“Thank you… touching someone's head had two meanings, actually. The first is to check the temperature, just like your world, the second…”

Why do I have a bad feeling about this…

“It's to make fun of someone, saying that their head is empty.”

“Sorry.”

“It's alright, I understand which one you meant.”

We stayed like that for a while, sharing each other's warmth.