Chapter 9 - The Night Companion (Part 2)

 

— ... Why are you giving me this?

"Do I need a reason to help someone?"

I felt a splinter growing in my mouth when I said something I didn't want to say, but there was nothing I could do.

Things like this work on this type of character.

I wanted to be this elf's night companion. It sounds creepy when I say that, but it wouldn't be bad for this woman either.

From injuries, lack of sleep, to good looks, her situation was several times worse than mine. She probably knew that too, which is why she had behaved this way before. To be honest, even I was surprised by her commitment to life.

– As I said, first heal your injury. We can talk later.

"But...

"I will stand guard.

Turning around with a disdainful look, a sound was soon heard from behind. She seemed to be chewing grass to make it easier to apply.

"I'm done...

Already have? That's amazing. She must be quite skillful.

I turned around and saw a tightly wound bandage between her torn clothes. Judging by the way she looked at me, her wariness of me had diminished a little.

First, a little acquaintances to shorten the distance.

"I am Bjorn, son of Yandel.

— ... Erven.

"I don't know what you've been up to, but none of this will happen.

"Excuse me?" Oh. Ok...

She pretended it wasn't, but there was still fear in her eyes. I thought that if I did so much, the misunderstanding would be resolved, but what went wrong?

In the end, I asked directly,

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

— ... Barbarians and elves are enemies, right?

"Enemies?"

"And-I'm sorry. I didn't mean that... I don't want to fight you.

When I asked, she suddenly realized what she had said and began to behave obediently as before.

I was curious...

Elves and barbarians are enemies? This is the first time I've heard about it. In the game, we definitely got along well. How did it happen?

I just stared at her with wide eyes, but she began to lay out the information I wanted to hear.

— ... The war ended 10 years ago. I have no hard feelings! Really.

10 years ago...

I don't know what happened, but hearing these words made me feel more like resentment than an antagonistic relationship.

Mm, then, after hearing bad things about us from an early age, maybe she grew up and became afraid of barbarians?

The situation was getting worse.

What should I do? Maybe look for someone else before it's too late?

But then the herbs and bandages that I have already refused will be wasted...

Okay, let's try it first.

"I don't have any feelings either.

"Really!"

— That's right. That is why, Erwen, would you like to be my night companion to-day?

— ... A night companion?

"I'm tired. You probably do too. So how about working together today, with or without bad feelings?

"Mmm...

Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she began to look almost like another person. I gave her time to think without impatience, and she frowned as she considered the proposal before offering a condition instead of consent.

"I have heard that barbarians value the honor of a warrior. Can you swear to that? That you won't hurt me first?

"Swear?"

"Of course, I'll swear to you in the name of my clan. I'll never hurt you first, uncle.

It was like an oath on your little fingers. Of course, I could do this all day. However, there is one issue that needs to be resolved before that.

"Bjorn, son of Yandel." Not "uncle".

Despite my real age, Bjorn was only 20 years old.

The contract was signed. There was no signing of thumbprints, but we did something similar to it according to the culture here.

Thanks to this, I learned the real name of the elf: Ervena Fornassi di Tercia. She was 20 years old, the same age as me.

Ahem, it's good that I'm not really Bjorn. I'm sure the real Bjorn would think so too. It doesn't matter to me, but this woman might... I'm not going to tell her, though.

— Then how will we decide on the shifts?

"I'll sleep first." This will make you feel safer.

"I wouldn't say that, but if you really want to, I definitely can't refuse..."

In other words, she would love to.

"I'll take it as a 'yes.'

— Yes.

Phew, I'm glad it worked. If she offered to play rock-paper-scissors, everything would be sad.

My eyes had been closing for a long time.

Please, I just want to sleep. Is it really so difficult to get a good night's sleep?

"Oh! How do I know the time?

That's why beginners are a pain.

I took the watch out of my backpack and handed it to Erwen.

"It's an expensive thing, so don't break it.

"Okay...

Seeing how she not only said this, but also treated the watch like a newborn baby, I was very calm.

"I'll handle them carefully. Good night.

I sat down, putting my backpack like a pillow, and covered myself with a blanket, like that man.

And...

*HRAAAAP!! *

I lost consciousness.

"Uncle!"

... I said Bjorn.

"Uncle, wake up." Pore.

I forced myself to open my eyes and stood up. I couldn't believe it. Has it been 2 hours?

"Here's your watch.

I looked at the time - 2 hours had passed. Come to think of it, I didn't even have time to pretend to snore. I planned to pretend for 10 minutes, just in case...

Wow, is this a synergistic effect of a backpack and a blanket? It was almost scary.

Of course, if Hans had lent it to me, I would not have been able to avoid the surprise attack. I would sleep so comfortably that I wouldn't even know if the world was ending.

Was it karma? ... In that sense, I should lend it to this woman as well.

"Use a blanket." If you want to use a pillow, you can use that too.

"Excuse me?" But...

Although she refused, I could see that the corners of her mouth were raised. I decided to pretend I didn't see it.

"Well, thank you then...

Without even insisting any further, Erwen managed to crawl into the blanket and curl up like a cat. And soon after that, she began to breathe regularly.

She slept well, even when there was a strange man in front of her. She must be really tired. If I had a tiring day, she must have had a grueling day.

"*Phew*...

I leaned against the wall and, out of habit, opened my watch.

[22:50]

It seemed that at least 5 days had passed, but there was still more than an hour left before the end of the 2nd day. I wanted to return to the city as soon as possible. To be honest, it's ridiculous to talk about "returning", but... I planned to sleep for a few days after I returned.

... If I can think so, then my body has really recovered.

I put down my watch and lost myself in thought. It's been a long time since I've had a quiet moment to reflect, so my mind has been constantly wandering here and there.

What happened to me in the real world? Am I declared in? Obviously not yet. No one would have come. Even at my job, a few days of absence would not have been taken too seriously.

"Hah.

There's a reason I haven't thought about it until now. That would only upset me. If I started to think that there was nothing to go back for, I would completely destroy my will.

For many reasons, it's best not to think about such things, no matter how self-deceiving it may be.

Because I'm quite disciplined, I've consciously changed the flow of my thoughts.

So, let's remember what happened in the last 2 days: the coming-of-age ceremony, the entrance to the maze, the fight against the goblins, the fight against the thief of hearts...

I could praise myself for going well so far, right? I really thought I was going to die. Since there's no one to pat me on the back, why not pat myself on the back?

*Click*

I decided to think about self-praise only after returning to the city. When I opened the clock, it was already time.

— Эрвен, вставай.

"Another 5 minutes...

A what? 5 minutes? Get up.

Ervena rubbed her eyes and stood up as I vigorously shook her shoulder with my barbaric hand.

"Phew...

It looks dangerous. Now I understand why this thief of hearts does not trust me.

"Don't think about falling asleep just because no monsters have appeared yet.

"Okay...

I was a little nervous, but still lay down.

Since I had lent Erwen a blanket and a backpack, her warmth remained even when it was my turn to sleep.

It was even ironic. How long has it been since I felt someone else's warmth? It was very strange. Perhaps even stranger than anything I've been through in the last two days.

*Hraaap!! *

This time, I had quite a lot of energy, so I started pretending to snore. To be honest, it was more to make sure that Ervena would not fall asleep.

... It doesn't seem so.

I opened my eyes and looked in her direction, then let go of my worries and closed my eyes again.

It's been so long since...

I felt someone's presence and sat down urgently.

*Grab*

"Ah!"

For some reason, I was holding Ervena's white wrist. It seemed to be stretched in my direction.

"What are you doing?"

"You've had a nightmare and you're sweating...

Looking at the handkerchief in her hand, it didn't look like a lie. If it had been a weapon, I would have slammed my shield into it without any explanation.

"And-I'm sorry.

Understanding the situation, I relaxed my hands. Then, with a pained expression on her face, Ervena stroked the wrist I grabbed. Red traces have already appeared there. I didn't apologize. That would still be an empty apology.

"How much time has passed?"

— ... There are 10 minutes left before we switch.

- I see. Then let's switch now.

"But...

"If I fall asleep now, I'll end up getting even more tired.

At my words, Ervena lay down with an apologetic expression on her face.

Then she spun around for a while and turned around before she spoke.

"Hmm...

— Any problems?

— No, I don't. I just have a question.

"Ask."

Ervena hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.

— ... Who is "uncle"?

A what? Is that a pun?

"You kept asking for forgiveness in your dreams... Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to answer. I'm just going to fall asleep.

Before I could answer, Ervena ended the conversation and threw a blanket over her head. It seemed that this girl realized that I was not so scary, and began to show curiosity.

"Phew...

Stretching my body, I thought about everything in my head.

I couldn't remember anything, but it looked like I was really having a nightmare. Suddenly I became a little curious.

Who the hell was the uncle I asked for forgiveness?

Two candidates come to mind: a nameless guy who was beheaded at a coming-of-age ceremony, and Hans, the heart thief who taught me how to be human again.

... But when I thought about it, both options were strange. I didn't do anything to any of them for which I should apologize.

Soon I came to a conclusion.

Whatever dream I had, it must have been a stupid dream.

[04: 30]

The 3rd day had begun, and there were about 10 minutes left to wake Erwen. As I watched her curl up in a ball and sleep with the blanket between her legs, I wondered if I should invite her to join me again. That is, whether it is worth asking her to become my friend.

Of course, there was a downside - we would have to divide the booty.

Even if the goblins appear in threes and fours starting from the 3rd day, the partnership will definitely reduce my income.

It had nothing to do with her strength. Well, since she was an elf, she could handle it anyway...

Needless to say, I'm already strong enough on my own?

Even without Ervena, I could easily kill 3-4 goblins alone. It wasn't presumptuous, it was just an observation after a few battles with this body. This is what I sincerely believed in. And when I'm alone, I'll be able to collect as many mana gems as I can to prepare for the costs of living in the city and the taxes that follow.

"*Phew*...

Sleep without risk or more mana stones. I kept thinking about it in order to make the most rational decision,

*Top*

From the passage to the left, I heard the footsteps of another researcher. This had already happened several times during the night, so I wasn't particularly nervous. Most of the time, they just looked at us and walked by.

However...

*Top*

This duo of explorers, Chubby and Boni, looked in our direction.

They immediately stopped and whispered to each other.

"Isn't that an elf?" Chubby asked.

"It looks like it. The shape of the bow is the same," Boni grinned in response.

The two men whispered to each other, and when they came to some conclusion. Chubby became a spokesperson and asked a question.

"Barbarian, what is your relationship with this elf?"

"As you can see, we're night companions.

"The barbarian and the elf are like night companions... What a strange sight. So how long do you have left?

"I have no reason to answer you.

After that, Chubby didn't ask any more questions. He only grinned and, taking Boni, who was next to him, left.

- I see. Come along.

"What?" Y-yes...

Soon the duo disappeared from our passage. However, I could not calm down.

Who the hell were those creepy assholes? It was as ominous as when the chief shouted in my face.

I slowly stepped aside and patted the sleeping Ervena on the shoulder.

"Hugh...

How can you sleep in such a situation?

"Hurry, wake up." It seems that we got into trouble.