After hearing desperation in my tone, the truthful one, that I put my very soul into, she narrowed her brows, sighed wearily, and came closer while saying, "I suppose I should, right?... But leave your dagger here, I do not want to deal with another sneak attack from you."
I cast my gaze at the short sword that had been my partner throughout my stay in this world. I did not want to leave it behind, but if it meant that I would get to live at least one more day, then so be it. With my last effort, I threw the dagger to the side. Although not too far, it was now out of my reach. The girl did not observe any of my movements; instead, she concentrated on my eyes. She stared so much that I involuntarily tried to avoid eye contact, but whenever I returned it, her persistence did not perish.
After the dagger was gone from my hands, she came closer while clutching her staff. She knelt beside me, but instead of helping me to stand up, the girl took out a book, as if out of nowhere, and flipped some of the pages.
"Healing magic can be tricky," she whispered and raised her staff. A bright light formed a cluster of small dots, which were all rotating but gradually slowing down. Once the dots, reminiscent of stars, halted completely, she said, "Pollux Miaplacidus," and one of them grew exponentially and exploded into dust that enveloped my body. I felt as if moisture swallowed my hands and legs, and washed off the wounds, cuts, and pain throughout the whole body. However, I still felt uneasiness in my shoulder, and the bolt had not gone anywhere from my thigh.
Even though I had already seen magic in this world, this was the first time it did not harm me but instead healed, making me feel pleasant. My interest grew with the revelation of those stars; however, I struggled to decide whether I should ask about it or not. On one hand, there was no harm in extra knowledge, but on the other, it might show my incompetence, which was easier to believe than myself being a traveller from another world. But after further consideration, I finally opened my mouth, but instead presented a question in another direction.
"When I attacked you, why weren't you fighting back?"
She tilted her head for a second and wondered, "I did shake you off using the wind, though."
"But when I pinned you down, you looked like you accepted your fate… Why? Why weren't you scared?"
"If my destiny is to die in the field by the hands of a ragamuffin, then so be it. I saw hesitation in your movements and decided to fight back, all as simple as that. You humans sure make a huge deal out of it."
Who in their right mind would simply accept death? This went beyond anything I knew. I would struggle with the slightest chance of survival no matter what, even if it meant that I would need to break my arms and legs! But she was somehow different with her nihilistic outlook; perhaps something happened in her life that deprived her of the instinct of self-preservation. I also noticed another different detail in her manner of speech and asked about it directly.
"Humans, you say? Why does it sound like you do not think of yourself as a human?"
She sighed and lightly brushed her hair from her temples, showing off her long ears. "I thought it was obvious enough that I am an elf. You do not seem to notice much around you, huh."
I clicked my tongue at her mockery and narrowed my brows. "Comes from the one who casually picked berries beside a presumably dead body!"
She shrugged and dropped her hair. "Fair enough." Then she helped me get on my feet. Even though the healing magic was certainly a life-saver this time, I was still unable to put pressure on the leg that was shot. It seemed like traditional methods of medicine were unavoidable, even in the world of magic.
"An elf, huh. Never saw one before," I said, which was not a lie, but I felt like she was a rarity even among the inhabitants of this world. My speculations were quickly confirmed when she nodded and told me, "This is no surprise to me. Our population is scarce, especially within the human realm. I might be the only elf present in the Schöltum region."
I noticed her hardship in carrying me. Despite my small body frame for a man, she was still shorter than me, thus it must have been a burden to drag me along the way like that. For some reason, I felt calm under her cold demeanour; people who acted indifferent rarely lied and deceived, which made them endearing. I did not know many individuals like that from my world, but those that I knew were the only ones who gave colours to my pitiful existence. One of them was a lady who worked under one key smith. She was just as short as this elf, but her skin and hair were darker. One day, she was shot during the robbery… that I was part of. Human lives are truly fragile, but such is life.
After a long walk in silence along the trampled pathway, she put me on the ground with shortness of breath. Then, she took her staff out and summoned another miniature cluster of stars, but this time did not say anything and cast an unknown effect on me. At once, my body floated up in the air. It soared slowly but did not fall to the ground. Naturally, I was left speechless from this trick and looked at her with fear while instinctively trying to grasp onto something.
"Do not wiggle too much; you might harm yourself. I figured it would be better to get you to my shelter this way."
"I-is this also magic?"
"What else could it be? Regardless, just relax and have fun floating. This must be something humans do not get to do often."
For the first time, she broke a smile, which put a weight in my stomach; however, the spell continued its work flawlessly. Such was the world where magic was not just fiction. It must have been mundane to her but so new to me, thus I couldn't help but answer with a smile of my own.
"This is amazing! It's as if I am a bird…"
Suddenly, I realized that I still did not know her name. I hesitated for a moment, but after quick consideration, chose to open my mouth.
"We did not introduce each other yet. My name is Dusk. What is your name?"
She glared at me for a second, her expression calm as always, but then she turned away and murmured just one word, "Nila."
Nila the elf it is, then.