This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

"Is this all for the first day..."

"What do you think is going to happen? I'm glad to have more firewood. It will keep me from freezing to death at night."

"It's fine to burn it... but I feel like my hands are being burned after being chopped off... it's an indescribable feeling..."

Three people camped in the middle of the desert... to be precise, two people plus a tree spirit, are now preparing campfires and food to survive this gradually decreasing temperature. The difference from the forest is that there are no trees here, so there are fewer flammable materials and fewer windbreaks, so they have to make a fire under such circumstances.

This is an extremely difficult task for Linnae's current skills.

"Wow... Why is it that my brother is always successful in making a fire..."

"It's just luck... Sometimes it takes half an hour to get it right..."

That being said, John built a campfire in no time by sprinkling wood chips chopped with a dagger on the bottom, and then placed chopstick-sized branches on top. Usually, once you have gone through these steps to obtain a fire source, there will be no difficulty in most cases. He just did the first few parts more perfectly.

To be honest, it was also due to environmental factors. Today's temperature was not very changeable, and the air pressure had not changed much from the beginning, so the wind volume had also decreased a lot.

"Are you still getting used to it? The air here is very dry, right?"

"Uh... um... yes... it is indeed a bit uncomfortable... Xiaobi... so it turns out that elves cannot live in such an environment..."

"Hmm... you're already feeling uncomfortable on the first day... you're more sensitive or weaker than I thought... drink the soup and vegetables quickly, then apply some of this medicine... what do you think?"

"I'm used to it, it's okay."

John, whose adaptability was incomparable to that of the elves, chopped the firewood nonchalantly and placed it on the campfire so that it slowly caught fire. Although it was a very slow process, he continued to do it without any boredom.

"That's about it... Then I'll go hunt some food..."

"Eh? Now..."

"Um... can't I?"

Frankly speaking, John, whose wounds had healed long ago, did not think that he would lose to a few hyenas now. The weapons he could use included a crossbow, twenty short arrows, a dagger, twenty throwing knives, and two tiger claws, which were more than enough to defeat the hyena pack.

So what Linnae was worried about was certainly not these things.

"Today... is a special day... Can we just eat forest food... I... I want to cook it for my brother myself..."

"Oh... then... okay then..."

Since Linnai knew nothing about meat cooking… no, it should be said that she didn’t want to cook for the hyena’s coarse food on such a day, so she basically put all the ingredients she needed into Xiaobi’s body. All she needed was a campfire and proper firewood management. It turned out that she wasn’t afraid of making mistakes…

John breathed a sigh of relief and said, "But what do you want to cook... vegetable soup? Mixed vegetable soup?"

"No... but it seems like... uh..."

"Besides this pot that requires fire... is there anything else you can cook..."

"Of course there is... it's just..."

As far as John knows, Linnay's cooking skills are almost all related to "soup" dishes. In most cases, she would chop up the ingredients, seasonings, onions, garlic, and cabbage, throw them into the pot, cover it, and then...that's it.

If there was meat, at least he could cook some ordinary food, but John did not particularly pursue such luxury during his travels. He usually cooked just to fill his stomach. Apart from that, the only thing he needed to pay attention to was the freshness of the food. Smoking and grilling were his specialties.

"Brother... don't you like it..."

"……well?"

Linna, who was holding the pot lid in her hand and covering her mouth with her head tilted, of course also took into consideration John's feelings as a meat eater, but for John, it was a great pleasure to have a girl so attentively want to cook for him...

There is really no reason to refuse. You won't die if you don't eat meat for a day. Most hyena meat doesn't have any sweetness or rich gravy. It's just one of the ways to get nutrition.

"If...if you want to say whether I hate it or like it...I still like it..."

"Yeah! That's great... I'll start now! Wait a minute!"

"Oh……"

After spending almost a week together, John felt as if he had been with her for several months, his heart filled with a sense of comfort and freshness.

Is this... the feeling of traveling with someone... no... should I say... the last time I shared with her... My magic veins are exhausted.

To be more precise, it was a symptom of exhaustion caused by poisoning of the magic veins. Generally speaking, if it was mild, one could recover in a few days, but if it was serious, there was no hope of recovery. John knew very well that the spiritual power he absorbed had occupied more than 9% of the magic power in the veins. Not only did he lose consciousness for a week afterwards...

The magic blood has completely lost the basic ability to transport and transmit magic particles, and the vascular mucosa can no longer filter out the magic particles remaining in the atmosphere. Once magic or skills are used again, it will directly take away the remaining life of John. It is a miracle that he is still alive now.

——Before that day comes...how much time can I spend with her...

"elder brother……"

——Before that day comes...will I cherish this time...

"Brother? Hmm?"

——Ahh… I had originally planned not to struggle in my life anymore… but your sudden appearance changed everything… It’s really disturbing…

"elder brother!"

"Ah, yes!"

"Really...what happened? You suddenly became dazed and stopped talking. It's scary."

"Ah... sorry... I was wondering what you would do... I'm so looking forward to it..."

"You're lying... You obviously know that people only do those few things... Stop saying comforting words, just come and try it."

"Oh……"

Linnay held the wooden spoon in front of John's mouth and looked at him with an expression as if she wanted to feed him soup. Although there was nothing to be embarrassed about, John was still a little uncomfortable with this and seemed a little hesitant...

"what--"

"……what……"

John, who couldn't resist her, finally opened his mouth and swallowed the soup - the sweet taste of red dates and the unique taste of aloe vera spread in his mouth. John, who had rarely come into contact with this kind of food, still felt very fresh about her cooking. Otherwise, today and yesterday's dinner would probably have been solved with meat.

"Is it delicious? Hmm? Hmm?"

"... Delicious... Thank you... I've never had the chance to eat these sweets before... They make me very hungry..."

"Hmm... Come on, eat more, eat more."

I don't know why, but it's all what she said, what she did, and what she wanted to achieve.

John was very supportive of this, as if he was a man who had seen how small his own world was. He felt very dazzling about the girl's current growth.

Unlike myself, my past growing up was really too unbearable to look at. There was neither such an environment nor such time. I kept running and running busy until I reached the finish line and realized that there was no one competing with me. I had already taken the wrong track.

"Brother...you eat too fast...is it really that delicious..."

"Hmm... Compared to the usual barbecue, it's very fresh... Frankly speaking, I didn't expect to be able to eat such food in the desert."

"Then I'll make it for you tomorrow... Let's eat it together... Hehe..."

Linnay, who was sitting next to John, snuggled into his lap, stretched out her hands to the campfire to warm herself, and leaned her back against John's chest to block the cold wind.

I really don’t know who she is like, such a clingy child that makes John realize that she is really just a child at heart.

Does she really understand... her own pain... the past that she wanted to share with her... loneliness...

“Linna…”

"Um...what?"

"If...if we find your companions...and bring them back to the forest...after that...after that...that..."

"..."

Even if Linnae only tilted her head and glanced at him with a wry smile, she knew that what John was worried about was so trivial that it seemed impossible to happen: "It's okay... I will still be with you when the time comes... It's okay, okay..."

“…Is…Is that so…Is that so…Then…that’s good…”

It was not until Linnae made this promise to him in person that John realized that his heartbeat was actually beating so fast outside of battle, because he was nervous and scared about this kind of thing - he really had no idea who the child was - and his hands inadvertently moved forward to hug her petite body.

"...You can hold on tighter...it's okay..."

"Ah... sorry... I... was just a little... scared, that's all... I accidentally..."

"..."

Linna leaned back and pushed the other's upper body down with her weight. John, who was lying on the straw mat, looked at her face indifferently. Suddenly, a warm and smooth touch came from her lips. Linna stared at John with a wry smile and knew very well his loneliness, his worries, and his thoughts.

"——It's okay. Trust me."

"..."

——As if she knew all that, John really didn’t think she was a child and asked, “Is it okay…I…Is it okay…I…depending on you like this…you won’t think I’m useless…”

"Okay... passive prohibition... kiss again..."

Linnay once again blocked John's mouth with her soft little mouth, hugged his upper body tightly and stroked his broad back, eliminating all the uneasiness in him from within.

Let him know that all this is not as far away as he imagined, and the light belonging to John has always been in front of him.

“Brother is definitely not a useless person… You have saved so many… so many people… At the critical moment… When you saw others suffering… You never gave up on what you wanted to do… You never gave up on helping others… I think you can rely on such a brother a little more - that way you will understand… How much the people you saved… value you… How much they love you… Do you understand…”

“… Linna… wu…”

Linnae, who was held in his arms, closed half of her eyes to feel his body temperature. The smell of charcoal that entered her nose was mixed with his unique body odor. Just smelling this smell and being trusted by him so much, Linnae's brain would release a sense of happiness of endorphins - being able to be loved by such a gentle person, being able to love such a gentle person, being able to repay such a gentle him - the elf girl felt a great sense of accomplishment about this.

She would never forget - the man holding a gleaming lightning spear and piercing the body of the monster of hellfire. At the moment when the magic particles could not withstand the pressure and produced an explosion, he never nodded, never ran away, and desperately stood in front to block the pain that all the elves would suffer. Showered by the hellfire, he fell into a nightmare.

And the reason was simply that he wanted to protect the promise he made with the girl. He was a real fool.

"It's okay... It's okay... Brother..."

“Wu…Wu…Wu…Wu…”

As such, he has become accustomed to denying his own weakness.

A strong person cannot have weaknesses, and a tough person cannot have a cowardly side. Only by implementing all of this can he become the ideal person in his heart - a realist.

Simply put, this was too impractical for young Linnae.

How can a person not have a cowardly side? How can a person not be weak? It is through these that people become strong, but this does not mean that they will disappear. The only thing that will disappear is the action itself; a person's character and emotions will not disappear.

As strength grows, cowardice will also expand along with it, and eventually it will end up like John, who will not be able to bear it sooner or later.

That's what I said, but I can't just say it.

He hoped that she could tolerate his weakness.

If you can say it yourself, there will be no need for extra tolerance.

So he didn't know how to say it and could only stutter as he expressed his thoughts.

"You must be tired... you've been walking all day... it's time to go to sleep..."

"……Um……"

John, who was lying on the straw mat and hugging Linnae tightly, felt his spirit relax. He no longer tried to maintain that expression that would scare anyone, and closed his sharp yet gentle eyes again - what was left in front of Linnae was just a child that could be seen everywhere.

——No one would have thought that such a man would kill more than a dozen fully armed human traffickers in that forest.

——He did not rely on magic at all, nor did he rely on anyone. He only followed the idea of ​​power and fought, killed, and plundered. He achieved the final victory and glory without any honor.

——Is it natural to be afraid? Is it natural to pursue strength? Don't be silly, Linna knows how little he values ​​himself, how much he hates victory, and how much he hates himself.

——The reason why he did so many things and became like this was all for others.

——The real him is really a lot like Linna, and she can feel the same emotions from him as she does herself.

——So if one day no one can understand him, I have to understand him myself.

——By then, she would believe him.

——Because, this is the agreement between the elf girl and the magician.