Chapter 21

“Phew, what a day…”

After that rather… embarrassing display of swordsmanship, if you can even call it that, they picked one of the abandoned buildings to make their base for the night.

After she finished setting up, Elerina went out to look for food. By looking for food, she meant taking food from me. I had cooked her rawon soup for tonight. I had prepared it myself, albeit using pre-made rawon seasoning.

She went to a different house, a couple of buildings away from the two, then began eating.

“I feel bad hoarding this for myself.”

“It's better than explaining, I guess?”

Even if you could say it's magic, it would be difficult to explain being able to use such advanced magic but not light up fire.

Although I could just give her a lighter. Actually, yeah, why hadn't I thought about that before? Rather, a whole lot of magic would be rendered useless if I could give them technology. Well, not useless necessarily, but a fan could replace wind magic, for example.

“There's a piece of tech you can use to light up fires without using magic.”

“Oh?”

I didn't have any lighters, though, as I don't smoke. “I'll fetch you one tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Once Elerina finished eating, she made her way back toward the building.

“Oh hey, Ellen, you're back.” Angen greeted.

Elerina's eyebrows twitched upon hearing that nickname for the umpteenth time. She still didn't enjoy being called that, but understood that fighting it would be useless.

“Yeah.”

She sat down on Angen’s left, Memorus sitting across them. The group huddled around a small campfire made in front of the building. I sat beside Elerina. Physically, I couldn't feel the warmth of the campfire, but my brain registered it from the pictures I saw on my screen.

“This reminded me of when I used to go camping back in high school.”

Elerina couldn't reply, but she nodded anyway, signaling that she heard me. Memorus and Angen were in the middle of grilling some meat. I didn't know which monster it came from, since it didn't look similar to any animal on Earth. It didn't look to have been cut up, either.

“I'm surprised you can survive like that,” Angen said, I assume she's referring to how Elerina went to the wilds without bringing any food. It was what she told them. She would go looking for mushrooms and whatnot, citing her elven culture as an excuse.

“It's an everyday occurrence for us elves. Since we lived near the forest, nature provided us for our living.”

Elerina explained to the two. She wasn't lying. She had told me stories about her life prior to the war. Unlike humans that focused on farming, elves focus on hunting and foraging. Mushroom dishes are a common staple of elven households.

Regular elves also use magic to track down certain types of delicious mushrooms, and would use it to help them grow. Some elves do dip their feet into farming, and ended up pretty successful, but most didn't bother with it.

“Don't you felink hunt as well?”

“Eh… hunting is a pain. We just blast em with magic.”

“That's the same thing…” Memorus sighed.

“How about you, Memorus? What did you do prior to the war?”

“Me? I helped my dad on our family farm, raised some cattle.”

“I see…”

They all had normal jobs prior to the war. The demons' influence turned the monsters that used to be the hunted into hunters. The average monster exceeded the strength of the average people, people like me, hence how they could progress so quickly. These three are by no-means normal, however. The fact that they're allowed this far from the frontlines is a testament of their strength.

If anything, I consider myself lucky not being in the same world as theirs. I would be the one weighing the party down.

“By the way, what are you going to do, now that we're in town?”

“My actual destination is slightly north, to a magic shrine.”

“Oh, that magic shrine?” Memorus pointed toward the distance. Elerina turned her head to the direction he's pointing at. Peeking between the buildings was a pure white tower, similar to the one we visited prior.

“Yes, that's the one.”

“And after that?”

Elerina shrugged. When we discussed it, we decided to visit as many shrines as we could to hopefully find something. There weren't much, all concentrated around the elven kingdom’s northern regions. Other kingdoms have their own version of magic shrines with different shapes.

Elerina had a map listing all the magic shrines of the northern regions. There's around five of them, and we already visited the first one. They're all in demon-controlled territory, however, with each one being further in than the one before. That might pose a challenge.

“Isn't that dangerous?” Memorus asked. The danger itself didn’t come from the monsters. Thanks to the concentration of monsters near the frontlines, the further north she went, the less likely she'd run into one. That said, if she did run into one and were harmed, it would be far from the nearest healer.

“It is, but I need to go.”

We couldn't explain our circumstances to them, but visiting those shrines may reveal the answer to the voice I heard. It may also reveal a way to bring Elerina into my world.

Memorus and Angen looked at each other.

“We'll accompany you.”

“Eh…?” Both of us let out a gasp, but they only heard Elerina’s.

“Why?”

“Why? Isn't it dangerous going all the way there on your own?”

True, but to an extent. So far, the only enemy Elerina couldn't face was that T-Rex, but that's because it has ridiculously high physical defense. The average monster didn't have that high of a resistance. Although, to be fair, there’s a chance we would run into a not-so-average monster.

Having a powerful magic user like Angen and an effective vanguard like Memorus would be useful. That said, it would greatly limit our already limited interaction. And, based on Elerina's eyes, that wasn't something she wanted.

“Don't you have anything else to do?” Elerina asked.

“We have enough supplies to last, I think.”

“If anything, we're more worried about you.”

“There's nothing to worry about, promise.”

“You can speak with spirits, can't you?” Angen sudden words caught both of us off guard.

“Wha- what do you mean? Where did that come from?”

“You've been occasionally glancing that way, despite no one being there. I also noticed back at the carriage that you're doing that.”

I was speechless. I didn't expect her, out of all people, to notice.

Angen brought her index finger to her lips and winked. “Don't worry, we'll keep it a secret.”

Elerina slowly nodded, her partner still baffled.

“So, tell us more about your ghost buddy.”

“He's not a ghost, and he isn't just my buddy…” she bashfully murmured. “He's name is Nicholas, and he's my husband.”

The two of them stared at Elerina, who began fidgeting. She looked so adorable, I couldn't help but hug her.

“In- interesting…”

“I see… so… hello, husband?”

Elerina patted my back. I pulled myself forward, before remembering that they couldn't see me. I lifted my face off my phone, reminded of where I am. Elerina looked at me, before letting out a gasp.

“Oh yeah, anyway, he's a human from a different world, and all these… These are tools from his world.”

I gave her the charged drone and she held the remote. The drone turned on and floated in the air.

“Woah…” Both Memorus and Angen stared in awe. I did little tricks to show them the drone's capabilities. Turn three hundred sixty degrees, fly fast to the other side of the street then fly back, and whatnot.

“Impressive…”

“That world must be so advanced.”

Made me wonder how they would react to commercial airliners much, much larger to this drone.

“Can he hear us?”

I tilted the drone forward and backward to simulate a nod. The movement was sluggish, but the two still understood what I meant.

“And he understands what we're saying?”

I nodded using the drone again. The two looked even more surprised.

“He couldn't read texts, though.”

“Since he can fly, does that mean…”

“Yes, he can scout our surroundings for us…”

“Is this his eyes?” Angen pointed toward the drone’s camera lens. For someone unaware, that part does look like the eyes. I was about to nod when I realized they thought I was the drone, as in my body is the drone.

“He- he's a regular human! These are just his tools.”

“Oh, I thought that's him…”

Angen tried poking on the drone’s body, but I pushed the control stick and flew away. The drone’s propellers spun pretty fast, so if I’m not careful, it might hurt her. The company probably made it with that in mind, but I would rather not risk it.

“Ah, it flew away…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t try touching it, Angen.”

Angen pouted but said nothing else. Once she returned to her seating position, I lowered the drone down. Since we didn’t need the drone, I let it land on the ground. Elerina picked it up and returned it to me.

“Oh… it disappeared!”

“I transferred it back to his world. That’s how I got my food.”

“So a kind of magic transport system? That’s neat.”

While Angen dreamt about the possibilities, Memorus asked the question we were expecting to hear. “Does that have anything to do with why you’re heading to the shrines?”

Elerina nodded, her expression grim. “The reason we first met was because I touched a shrine while wishing, then weird things happened when I touched a different magic shrine. I believe that touching the shrines results in a reaction.”

Angen and Memorus glanced at each other again. No words were traded between them.

“Does telepathy magic exist?”

“It requires a difficult incantation, but yes.”

“What was he asking?” Angen asked, but Elerina shrugged.

She brought her mouth closer to me and whispered, “I hope we can understand each other like that one day.”

“Yeah.”

That would be really convenient, especially when we’re out in public and couldn’t talk normally.

“Anyway, how about we take you to the shrines? I’m curious to see where this goes.” Angen said with a wide grin. Elerina turned toward Memorus who shrugged his shoulders.

“Angen’s the one driving the carriage.”

“But… you don’t really get anything from it?”

I could get them food, at least. That would mean cooking even more food, enough for the four of us. That might be a challenge. Or, I could cook once a day, and buy delivery for the rest. I could look for a salad restaurant… I guess? Or one that prioritizes health. Actually, I remembered hearing about the diet, pre-cooked meals services some places offered. If I get them that, it should be healthier, while still manageable.

“It’s fine… we’re not strapped for cash anyway.”

S-Rank quests gave out a lot in terms of rewards. They were often adjusted to support the lives of four adventurers with only one or two S-Ranks among them, the standard size in a party. But Elerina’s a solo fighter, and Angen and Memorus deployed with just each other. They all should be pretty loaded in terms of money.

If anything, the thing that is more concerning to me is how deep they’re heading into demon territory. Most of the monsters were concentrated near the frontlines. Once they went through the forest and slipped past, there weren’t many. That doesn't mean they’re trip isn’t risky, however. The farther they are from the frontlines, the farther they are from help if something goes wrong.

Plus the controlled territory is massive, I had seen it from a map at the adventurers’ guild before. While they could occasionally run into other S-Rank adventurers, that would become even rarer the further they go.

“Maybe we’ll find something out there, something that will end the war.”

“So, what do you say? Will you join us?” Angen stretched out her hand. Elerina glanced my way.

“It’s your call.”

She looked back toward Angen’s hand and took it.

“Alright, looking forward to working with you.”