Human Strength

The lush forest is way less dense than near the city of Wülgenville. I am not sure why forests can differ so much from place to place, but it makes our journey much easier nonetheless. After Solitaire introduced me to this world, I made one wrong assumption, thinking that wild life here is more preserved than the one from my original world. Here and there I can see trampled pathways and even hemps that are left by lumberjacks. This world might be set further in the past, but it seems like human activity is omnipotent throughout all times.

As we traverse through the tall grass and obstacles, I notice that Nila stops time to time and picks up various mushrooms and berries. At one point, she looks at me and points at the fallen tree, "Let's have breakfast over there."

"Breakfast?"

She ignores my question and instead overtakes the lead, shifting our path to the right. I narrow at this sight and catch her hand before she makes her way to the tree.

"We already wasted more than enough time in the morning, why would we stop to have breakfast?"

She tilts her head to the side and gently shakes off my hand, then she replies, "I get it that you did not have much opportunity to travel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! You never know when will be the next opportunity to eat, thus eating before going on a journey is the safest bet."

I have not eaten for a few days now. Even though I am already used to cramps from a rumbling stomach, I am perfectly aware about the necessity of food. It was not a rarity for me to starve when I worked with the gang. But there is a slight problem with her suggestion. I hate breakfasts, my stomach does not usually tolerate food until noon. In fact, my first meal of the day more often than not was at around 1 pm. On the other hand, we have wasted so much time at the beginning of the day, that it must be around this time now, which makes this suggestion more tolerable. But I still dislike her carefree demeanour about this venture.

"Just do not waste too much time, I am not joking when I say that I will abandon you if we do not get to that village throughout this day."

Nila does not answer, instead she opens her suitcase with some items falling to the ground. I squint at this sight, but my face loosens up after she extends a piece of dried meat to me. Afterwards, she puts all the collected gifts from the forest between us and picks some out of the pile.

"Is it safe to eat it?"

"If you do not trust me, then feel free to only eat meat."

I huff at her remark and pick up some of the berries, both red and white in colour. They are sweet and sour, their juices are helpful to push dried meat down my throat. While we are eating in silence, I notice how Nila peeks at me a few times.

"What?"

"You are rather rude even for human standards."

"And you are rather dumb for an elf."

She sighs and takes a bite out of the meat, "You do not have many friends, right?"

"Shut up, I do not need friends. I always work alone."

She smirks at my remark and proudly declares, "Well, then welcome to the world of duet!. I will make sure to complete our deal, even though I really do not like you."

"No one asked, I said to you to finish as fast as possible, but you keep yapping about whatever. If you do not like me, then make it all faster." I lash out, but she does not react anyhow to my words. It is almost insulting how calm she is with my attitude, as if she does not even consider me as a fully fledged person.

Fortunately, she follows through with my words and once we are done with the food, I take the lead once again, setting us on the same road. I notice how she starts walking in another direction, but at my sight, she quickly turns back to me and tags along.

"If I do not like you, it does not mean that I would not want to know you better." She whispers behind my back, which I hear well, but decide to ignore. I do not care about friendships or acquaintances, I am only using you to escape this hellhole called Schöltum region. I am perfectly aware how partnerships go, it might feel nice to have a person to talk to at first, but these memories won't be worth a penny once you feel the cold blade up your back. If I have to choose, I better be the one with the knife in hand.

Luckily for Nila, the village appears to be much closer than I expected at first, soon enough I notice faint pillars of smoke coming from further down the forest. I turn to her with my lips tugging upwards, but once I notice her listless expression, my smile drops, and I say, "The village is ahead."

"Yeah, I can already hear the cattle and farm equipment. It seems they are working in the fields."

I look at her once again, but now observing her ears with silver jewellery at the tips. I raise my brow and ask, "How much better is your sense of hearing compared to humans?"

"By quite a margin, but hearing is not the only sense more developed in us. Eyesight, smell and mana detection are all far better than in humans."

I scoff at her smug remark, however, she continues talking in a serious tone, "There is nothing funny about it, we are solitary creatures and need these traits for survival. You, humans, are far better in other departments."

As if I would trust someone who was showing off her supremacy just a second ago, but curiosity kills a cat and I end up asking, "And what would those departments be?"

"Humans can be clever, stubborn and… affectionate."

"Well, two out of three of these traits are indeed useful."

Her pace increases as we come closer to the village. Nila levels up with me and lightly smacks my shoulder, I narrow my brows and glare at her, but then I am caught by surprise with her confident smile, she declares, "Never underestimate the power of empathy, Dusk, it can change anyone."