Chapter 16

“It was tough, wasn't it?” Elerina smiled wryly. She sat cross legged in front of me. I sat by her side. In front of her was a small campfire, and she ate some meatball soup, or we call them sop bakso here in Indonesia, that I made for her. I used pre-made meatballs and seasoning, but I added the veggies myself.

“Yeah, unexpectedly so.”

Frederick continued pestering me for more information after that. He knew I wouldn't answer any straight questions, so he kept trying to slip traps through normal conversation. It became exhausting real quick.

Luckily, he eventually noticed that I really didn't want to speak about it, and decided to finally stop.

“Sorry.”

“It's not your fault.” I shrugged. It’s just a part of what we need to do if we want to keep it a secret.

And I know we must keep it a secret. I know the risks of failing. I wouldn’t be able to help if I’m in a mental asylum.

We were in the middle of dinner. Elerina would continue her trip deeper into enemy territory tonight. On her map, she already marked a destroyed city where she would be longing for the night.

There's no reason for her to worry about me. My life isn't threatened, hers is.

“By the way, when are you setting off?”

“Half an hour or so.”

The concept of time is one of the few things similar in both of our worlds, with one hour being sixty minutes and one day consisting of twenty four hours. The area we lived in also had similar day and night cycles, making scheduling our day easy.

She rested for another half hour before beginning her journey north. The monsters had pushed far following their invasion, and they had reached the forested areas of the elven’s kingdom. The trees were filled with threats. Weak monsters that once could be dispatched by a lightly-armed, new adventurer now needed to be fought carefully, or else one might lose their life.

Elerina moved through the trees. She would occasionally run into monsters. Thanks to the demons’ influence, even a regular sheep or cow could be dangerous. Hence she sliced through them whenever she saw one, preventing them from alerting the others.

While she traveled, I did my university tasks. I tried to complete as many as I could, as I didn’t know if I would be able to do them once Elerina found her target. Eventually, she managed to arrive in the ruins and set up camp for the night. I had bought her a motion detector that connects directly to her phone by bluetooth. If a monster passed by, the phone would vibrate, letting her know.

“I’m done setting up,” she said, sitting down on the floor. She had taken a picture of the ruins she was in earlier. It still seemed rather fresh. The room she sat in had its windows shattered, but other than that, it seemed pretty well. There were no missing stones from the walls, and the furniture hadn’t collapsed yet. The books on the bookshelf, while no longer in pristine condition, could still be read.

Elerina reached out and grabbed a book lying on the floor next to her. It was a children’s picture book. She did a quick read through it.

“... So much effort for something so useless…”

“Useless?”

Elerina set aside the picture book. “During a war, I mean.” She then began eating the Satay I had prepared for her.

Something I noticed is that elven culture doesn’t mince words. If they have something in their mind, they’ll say it.

Hearing she call my job, an artist, useless hurts, but I understand where she’s coming from. That said, I disagreed.

“You always need some kind of entertainment to keep yourself sane during tough times.”

Not everyone could work without rest, and not everyone could continue fighting without some form of recuperation. I saved the drawing I was working on and did some quick sketches on my tablet. After I was done, I sent it to Elerina. Elerina put her phone in her backpack, and since her backpack wasn’t touching her at the moment, the phone wasn’t able to connect.

“Check the message I just sent you.”

She eyed me curiously then dug into the bag, bringing out her phone. The phone connected, and not long after, I heard a small vibration coming out of it.

“Is this me?”

“Yeah.”

“Impressive.”

I drew her in the middle of enjoying some satay. She smiled when she saw the picture.

“But… this isn’t really useful, isn’t it? I mean, it’s still impressive, but I can’t use it to kill enemies.”

I got off my chair and sat in front of her. With my right index finger, I poked at her cheek.

“But you just smiled.”

“... And?”

“That means it serves its purpose.”

As long as the picture could make her smile, then it did its duty. That is one of the functions of art, to make others happy. As long as I could do that for her, then I feel satisfied.

“... Human culture sure is weird.” She chuckled.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Thanks, Nicholas.”

“You're welcome.”