The hug was warm.
In fact, we had hardly ever hugged like this before. After all, I was a man, and the concept of gender in that world was more conservative compared to this one.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I completely avoided any form of physical contact with them.
We could chat freely, and if necessary, we’d hold hands or assist each other without hesitation. It wasn’t that we had never hugged, either.
When we fought together on the battlefield, we had plenty of time to talk. Of course, most of the time, we would lie down silently, barely making a sound.
At night, cooking would often be risky because the smell and smoke could give us away, so we would stay alert, eating already prepared food while keeping an eye out.
Even in the makeshift tents, we would use written notes or whisper in hushed voices so that our conversations wouldn’t be overheard.
However, no matter how careful we were, when you spend 24 hours a day together, there are moments when things loosen up.
When we were far from the enemy, and it was clear there were no foes nearby—though we could reach our allied forces by the next day—we’d sometimes get so exhausted from walking that we had to rest.
When we finally lit a warm campfire and sat around it, basking in the heat, there were times when we became sentimental.
In their world, the sky was full of so many stars that it looked like they were spilling out. It wasn’t just because the sky was clear and the stars were easier to see.
On Earth, pictures of stars are usually made by taking multiple shots of the stars while tracking them, and then combining the images to make the stars appear clearer.
The images of the Milky Way, filled with various colors, are often created in this way.
But the sky of Irellexia clearly showed such sights.
Perhaps it was because there were so many stars, and the nebulae were much closer than on Earth… or maybe it was something else.
After all, this was a world where magic existed, so it’s possible that some magical force influenced the universe.
There were even some who claimed that the stars were overflowing with natural magic.
Anyway, as we gazed up at that sky, we chatted quietly.
They often asked about the world I came from. Of them all, Dana seemed the most curious.
After awakening her ability to read, she dedicated most of her life to researching magic, so imagining a world without magic seemed almost impossible to her.
“So… you’re saying… you move carriages without magic or animals?”
“Well, calling them ‘carriages’ is a bit of a stretch…”
“Then what about this internal combustion engine? You put in oil, and it moves? How does that work?”
“Uh…”
Unfortunately, my knowledge of how machines worked was limited to a rough understanding from high school. All I could explain was the basic concept of cylinders.
But Dana, being sharp, was so fascinated by this that her eyes widened and she nodded eagerly. Watching her, I couldn’t help but be impressed.
Even without me explaining how oil was injected or how the ignition would cause an explosion, it seemed like she had already calculated it in her mind.
Of course, she was probably imagining the process using magic, not complicated electronics.
Still, Dana and Fia were the only ones who had heard about Earth.
These conversations usually happened when Fia and I were alone.
Kalia and Arna, on the other hand, always assumed I was from their world. In fact, Kalia, the second daughter of a duke, never received any information about me being from another world.
The kingdom didn’t want to reveal that I was someone from a ‘different world.’
They feared that the public might lose faith if they learned that their world had been saved by someone from another realm.
At least, they were relieved that I had no particular religion, and that I had come to believe in the goddess during the transition.
So, I was considered someone from the distant East, beyond the seas.
I’d heard that the East was a civilization with very few magicians.
Whether this was a positive or negative thing, I couldn’t say, but both of them were high-ranking individuals with a lot of responsibilities in their own regions.
Naturally, they thought from the perspective of their own positions.
Because of this, Kalia and Arna would usually ask about my personal life…..my family, my origins.
Stories about my mother, and about my older sister.
The story I was telling mostly revolved around those two people.
“So… you were in love with that girl named Lee A-yoon, huh?”
Kalia, who was leisurely maintaining her equipment while sitting down, asked.
She had laid out a cloth on the floor and was inspecting each piece of gear, carefully checking if there were any damages under the dim light.
If she checked in advance, she could inform the kingdom’s army the next day when they went to the village.
“…….”
I didn’t feel the need to answer her question.
“Isn’t it a bit too early to realize your feelings when you’re not even ten yet?”
Arna said, frowning slightly. Even as she spoke, she wasn’t looking at me but was slowly scanning her surroundings. No matter how safe a place may seem, it was never certain that the assessment wouldn’t be overturned.
“Hmm? Oh, right. Elves are considered children even after they’re over a hundred, aren’t they?”
Kalia chuckled softly, then added,
“That’s why elves get called naive. How can they not even understand matters of love at that age…”
“……..”
“It’s not that we don’t understand; we just think carefully about it. Taking your time to think and choosing your partner slowly, what’s wrong with that?”
Arna’s frown deepened at Kalia’s teasing tone.
“So, you, an adult, must have a lot of knowledge about love, huh?”
“……”
At Arna’s words, Kalia didn’t respond.
“Don’t humans get married even at fifteen? By that standard, you’re not exactly early either.”
Everyone was in their twenties, all adults now. We had been traveling together for several years after coming of age, so we were all in our mid-twenties. Well, Arna, being over 150 years old, might be an exception.
“Fifteen? That’s a story from over a hundred years ago.”
“…….”
Come to think of it, Arna had said she was just over 150 years old. On the other hand, from Arna’s perspective, a hundred years ago probably felt like quite a long time ago. It was about two-thirds of her life.
But then again, that also meant that “Arna is over a hundred years older than us.”
The more we traveled with Arna, the more she became subtly self-conscious of her age. People change year by year. Even after becoming an adult, the faces of a twenty-year-old and a twenty-five-year-old are different.
Of course, Arna’s face hadn’t changed at all since then…
When humans live alongside others for years, do they start to feel like one of them?
In the end, the argument between the two didn’t really lead anywhere.
Kalia, being the noble she was, never directly told Arna she was getting old. If she did, Arna would probably return the favor a few years later.
On the other hand, Arna, being an elf who thought long-term, rarely directly teased Kalia.
But after such a clash, the two would often remain silent for a while, not speaking to each other.
Dana, Fia, and I would exchange awkward smiles and glance at each other.
“…….Really…”
Fia’s voice, coming from the arms I was holding her in, pulled me back from my memories.
People passing by glanced at us before continuing on their way. It seemed we had become more noticeable than before.
“…….”
I carefully rubbed Fia’s back and said,
“Let’s move for now. How about we find somewhere more comfortable to sit down and talk slowly about what happened?”
At my words, Fia took a small step back.
I caught my breath as I looked at Fia’s face.
Fia was crying.
No, it wasn’t just Fia.
Kalia was staring at me as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing, and Dana, who was standing there with her mouth slightly open in a daze, didn’t look like she was about to cry just yet… but Arna had the kind of expression as if she were on the verge of tears any moment.
The twisted expression on Arna’s face was something I had never seen before. Even the day before we faced the Demon King, when she had been angry with me, she hadn’t looked like that.
Seeing these faces, ones I hadn’t seen in five years, made the awkwardness rush in. I wasn’t sure how to react.
“……It’s been a while, everyone.”
Looking at the former party members who had frozen in place, except for Fia, I couldn’t hide my awkwardness and blurted out those words.