I am back – Chapter 48

The hug was warm.

In fact, we had rarely hugged like this. After all, I was a man, and the notions of gender in that world were more conservative compared to this one.

Of course, that didn’t mean that I completely shut myself off from her and them. We conversed freely, and if necessary, we would hold hands or assist each other without hesitation. It wasn’t that we had never hugged before.

When we traversed the battlefield together, there were many times to talk. Of course, there were plenty of occasions where we had to stay completely quiet and lay low. At night, cooking could risk exposure due to the smoke, so even while eating prepared food, we stayed vigilant of our surroundings. Even in our makeshift tent, we would communicate through written notes or whisper to avoid being overheard.

However, no matter how cautious we were, after spending 24 hours together, there were moments when we could afford to be a little relaxed. We were quite far from enemy territory, and it was clear there were no foes around. While we would arrive at our allied camp the next day, if we were too exhausted to keep walking today, we would take a rest.

After a long time, we lit a warm campfire and gathered around to bask in its glow, often getting lost in sentiment.

In that world, the stars poured down like rain in the sky. It wasn’t just because the sky was clear and visibility was better; that was not the case.

Photos of stars taken on Earth were usually composites of several images taken to make the stars appear clearer. The countless colors found in astrophotography were often created this way.

However, the sky of Irrelaysia revealed that splendor vividly.

Perhaps it was simply that there were so many stars and that the nebulas were much closer compared to Earth… It’s anyone’s guess. Since this was a world where magic exists, there might have been some magical influence in the universe as well. There were even claims that the stars overflowed with natural magic.

In any case, as we gazed up at that sky, we chatted leisurely.

They often asked me about the world I came from. Among them, Dana appeared to be the most curious. After having dedicated most of her life to studying magic since learning to read, she seemed to have a difficult time imagining a “world without magic.”

“So… you’re saying that the carriage moves without magic, and without even a word?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a ‘carriage’…”

“Then what about this internal combustion engine? You pour in oil, and it moves? How does that work?”

“Um…”

Unfortunately, my knowledge of the principles behind how machines work was limited to the vague concepts I learned in high school science class, so all I could visualize was a rough idea of the cylinder structure.

But the fact that I could grasp that much made her eyes widen with curiosity. Just by looking at her, I could tell she was mentally calculating how to inject oil into that cylinder and how to ignite it to create an explosion. Of course, that method was likely not through complex machinery but by using magic.

However, the only people who heard about Earth in this manner were Dana and Pia.

Such conversations mostly only occurred when it was just Pia and me around.

Kalia and Arna assumed I was from their world by default. In Kalia’s case, even though she was the daughter of a duke, she had not received any information about me being from another world.

In the kingdom, I didn’t want to reveal that I had come from a different world. They probably thought that the fact their world was saved by someone from “another world” could shake the faith of their people. Even though I had no particular religion, I found comfort in knowing I had come to believe in the Goddess during my crossing.

So, I was positioned as someone who came from a faraway land, beyond the sea, in the East.

Coincidentally, I had heard that the East was a civilization where there were very few Mages.

Whether that was a positive or negative thing wasn’t up to me to decide, but both of them held high status needed for much doing in their regions and naturally tended to think from that perspective.

Thus, Kalia and Arna would often ask me personal questions. About family, for instance, or my origins.

Stories about my mom and my sister.

What I shared with them were tales mostly concerning those two.

“So, you were in love with that Lee A-yoon girl?”

As Kalia sat there leisurely maintaining her gear, she asked that. She had laid a cloth on the ground, set her equipment on it, and was inspecting each piece under the light to see if anything was amiss. By checking it ahead of time, she would be able to inform the kingdom soldiers when we reached the village the next day.

“…”

I didn’t feel the need to respond to that.

“Isn’t it a bit precocious to become aware of your feelings at just over ten years old?”

Arna said with a frown. Despite saying that, she was not looking at me, instead slowly surveying the surroundings. No matter how safe it seemed, there was no guarantee that assessment wouldn’t change at any moment.

“Hmm? Ah, right. Elves are still considered children even after reaching a hundred, huh?”

Kalia chuckled and said.

“That’s why elves are often said to be immature. Not knowing about such things at that age…”

“It’s not that I don’t know; I just think carefully about it. Taking the time to ponder and choosing someone is not a bad thing, is it?”

“I didn’t say it was bad. It just seemed immature.”

Kalia’s teasing tone deepened the creases on Arna’s forehead.

“Well then, you must have a wealth of knowledge about such matters as an adult, right?”

“…”

In response to Arna’s words, Kalia couldn’t muster any reply.

“Humans often get married by fifteen, right? By that standard, you wouldn’t be able to say it’s that fast.”

They all were adults over twenty years old. In fact, they had been traveling together for several years after coming of age, meaning they were all in their mid-twenties. While Arna, being over 150 years old, could be exempt from such comparisons.

“Fifteen? That’s a story from over a hundred years ago.”

“…”

Well, thinking about it, Arna said she was a little over 150 years old.

On the contrary, that meant that even in Arna’s shoes, a hundred years felt like a pretty long time ago. That accounts for two-thirds of her life.

But that’s again saying that, ‘Arna is over a hundred years older than us.’

The more time Arna spent with us, the more conscious she became of her age. Humans change from year to year. No matter how much of an adult one becomes, the face of a twenty-year-old is different from that of a twenty-five-year-old.

Of course, while Arna’s face had not changed since then…

If they mixed with humans for years, would one start to feel like a human too?

In the end, their argument yielded little conclusion and simply fizzled out. Kalia, being of noble standing, refrained from directly telling Arna she was getting old. Otherwise, she’d probably get told that in a few years by Arna herself.

Conversely, Arna, true to her elfin nature that lived in the long-term, rarely teased Kalia directly.

However, once such a clash happened, they would both remain quiet for a time.

Dana, Pia, and I exchanged awkward smiles and eyed each other.

“…really…”

Pia’s voice, nestled in my embrace, brought me back to reality from my reminiscing.

Passersby glanced at us as they went by. It seemed we had become more noticeable than before.

“…”

I gently stroked Pia’s back and spoke.

“Let’s move somewhere else for now. Wouldn’t it be better to find a comfortable spot and slowly talk about what’s happened?”

At my words, Pia took a small step back.

Seeing Pia’s face, I instinctively caught my breath.

Pia was crying.

No, it wasn’t just Pia.

There was Kalia looking at me as if she couldn’t believe I was really there, and then there was Dana, who seemed to have her mouth agape in astonishment, appearing not to have tears but not particularly cheerful either… Arna looked ready to cry at any moment.

Arna’s expression, twisted in anguish, was one I had never seen before. Even when she got angry with me right before facing the Demon King, she hadn’t worn such an expression.

Seeing them all with faces I hadn’t seen in five years filled me with a sudden awkwardness. What to say to them was unclear.

“…it’s been a while.”

Gazing at my former party members, excluding Pia, I ultimately couldn’t hide my awkwardness and just said that.