Chapter 6

The one meter limit is a genuine hindrance, especially during fights, but at moments like this, it's nice. Since she couldn't be far from me, her running figure didn't move away, allowing me to care for her while she moved.

I wiped the sweat off her forehead, careful to not block her vision or her ears.

“Do elves not sweat as much as humans?”

“There are magic spells that allow you to have a constant cooling air circulating you.”

“I see…”

“I don't use that spell, though.”

She took a small box out of her pocket.

“What is that?”

“This is called a magic regulation device. Have I explained how magic works in my world?”

“Not yet. Explain like I'm a toddler.”

“you’re not actually one, are you?”

“Of course not. I'm twenty one.”

“You're a year older than me, then.”

“Wait, is the time system the same?”

The time system on Earth is based on Earth’s rotation around the sun. Unless this world had the same rotation period, it should be different. Even on Earth, there were different time systems based on different religion and cultures.

“Three hundred fifty days, ten months.”

“I see, I have three hundred sixty five, with twelve months.”

She glanced at me, looking confused. “That’s not a round number.”

“Some months have thirty, others thirty one. One month even have twenty eight days, and once every four years, it have twenty nine.”

“Why not just divide it by five?”

“Wouldn't that make… umm… seventy… three? Seventy three days in a month?”

“I guess that's a bit too much, huh?”

“Yeah. Besides, I'm sure there's a reason why we have twelve months, although I don't know why. How about you?”

Elerina fell silent for a moment. “I think because it's easy.”

“Huh?”

“We know we have three hundred fifty days, so we divide it by ten, thirty five days each, right? Then one month has five weeks, with seven days each. It's convenient that way. Regardless of the month, you know what day a date would be.”

It is, admittedly, pretty annoying when trying to figure out what day a date is.

Elerina tensed up all of a sudden. “Umm… by the way…”

“Yes?”

“I want to do that.”

Even without her explicitly saying it, I understood what she meant.

•••

After she finished her business, we continued on. Well, she continued on. I stayed in my room.

I brought up her wounds, but she kept insisting that she's alright.

“How far before you reached a city?”

“It took me two days walking from the front line camp, and a day carriage from the nearest city…”

“Are you extra sure you're alright?”

“Geez, you worry too much. I'll be fine.”

“Does healing magic not exist in your world?”

“Oh yeah, I didn't explain our magic to you, did I?”

“No?”

“It's simple, really. If you live here, you're supposed to be able to sense the flow of magic, and magic spells are essentially lines that command the magic to do what you want them to do.”

“So they're like regular sentences?”

“The spells? Not really. It's a kind of ancient language thing. People don't really know what they actually mean, but they do understand what it does.”

“Ah, so it's like a foreign language?”

“Precisely.”

The fact that she could tell me this while running is impressive in its own right.

“How about healing magic? Does it exist?”

“Well, it exists, but using it is rather complicated. Unlike regular sentences, to trigger magic, you need to say the spells with good pronunciation. For some basic spells, you don't need accurate pronunciation, but for more advanced ones, even the slightest bit of deviation would cancel it.”

“So does that mean your accent plays a role in it?”

“Yeah, hence why different regions have their own specialty. Us elves have accents that match many nature-based spells, some even said that our language originates from those spells.”

If that's the case, then I could imagine some talented voice actors being great mages. You would be surprised just how far their ranges are.

“You need to be able to feel and regulate the magic inside your body as well, although this is on the easier side.”

“Hmm… I wonder if I could use magic.”

Elerina let out a dry laugh. “Well, the humans could. Other elves could as well.”

“Do you have any spells I could try?”

Elerina stopped all of a sudden.

“Elerina?”

“Ah, sorry, I was thinking about one.” She began moving again, at a slightly slower pace compared to before.

“Huhjeheoremonotati.”

Immediately, I understand why being a mage is tough.

“... What spell is that for?”

I expected it to be some kind of attack, but it was nowhere near what I expected.

“It creates a spark on your palm.”

“A spark?”

“Yes.”

“Not even a fireball?”

“That's Huhjeheoremonotati hakozoreretayelu.”

“... Wow…”

“Fire spells aren't our specialty, though.”

“That sounds pretty good to me.”

“... Thanks, but using magic isn't about sounding good, it's about sounding right.”

“I see…”

It would be difficult to mimic such complex words.

“Which nation specializes in fire?”

“None, actually. It's one of the elements that no one knows who's linked to it.”

“What magic does the humans specialize in, then?”

“It's ground magic.”

“I see…”

Since Earth had many different accents, it might be tough for me to mimic it, as my accent might be different.

“Wait, if a simple fireball is that long, how long is a high-level attack?”

“Those spells could go on for paragraphs.”

“Really?”

“And the bigger the spell, the less tolerance it had for mispronunciations. The fire spell I showed is often used by other races as it had a low bar of error. You didn't have to match everything to get it to work.”

“Oh wow…”

That sounds tough. I couldn't imagine myself reading an entire page with correct pronunciation in the heat of battle.

“That's crazy…”

“Yeah… people that can use high level magic are impressive.”

“Can you use any?”

Elerina stopped again. She must be scoping the area, seeing whether or not there's monsters.

“Is it alright to talk?” I fear I was disturbing her, but she quickly shook her head.

“It's alright, I can talk while I move.”

She then continued on.

“I see… so someone like you must have some pretty powerful magic in your arsenal, huh?”

I really wanted to see what kind of magic she could deploy. Imagine a powerful beam of light, or an earth-shattering strike. But she did mention that elves specialize in nature-based magic. I wonder what their attack spells are…

“Haha, yeah… I know some…”

“Can you show me?”

She tensed up. Must be a monster nearby.

“I- I can show you the incantation…”

“Are you sure? I mean, there aren't any monsters around?”

“No, don't worry.”

Well, I guess I can trust her.

She took a deep breath. “Noreterasirksohu nazetarebukilasiza nuziefetegerusela…”

She continued chanting. At some point, her words became a blur in my ear. It wasn't translated, so she probably didn't know what it meant, either.

“... nizisokuzetarema izoma.”

“I- izoma?” That last word caught my attention. Unlike the rest, it was surprisingly simple.

“Yeah. That's not part of the spell, actually. It's a kind of enchantment spell, something to boost the attack of the previous spell, so it's not part of the spell itself.”

“I see…”

We continued talking about magic as she traveled.