CHAPTER 26: THE ELF WHO CALLED ME BROTHER 25

Next morning, with the noise from outside, he woke up and slowly opened his eyes.

"Ah... headache..."

He turned his head a little.

"Ah... who is this girl?"

A gloomy-looking girl was sleeping right beside him. He jumped a little in fear and looked around to see if anyone was watching.

"Phew! No one is here."

He sighed in relief, then looked at her more closely. Her ear was pointy.

"A real elf!" he got excited and said out loud, but instantly grabbed his own mouth.

He looked around again, moving like a thief about to steal something. Then he came closer with a blushed face and touched her ear.

"It’s real. So real... he heh heh..."

He smiled creepily, whispering to himself.

Suddenly he looked at her face.

She was staring at him, eyes wide, not blinking at all.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

He jumped back in shock and fell on the ground, hitting his head.

"Ouch... ouch..." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

He looked at her again. Seeing a little girl like her and remembering what he had done a moment ago, he felt even more ashamed. He didn’t know what to do.

"Brother," she said softly.

She came closer to him and sat on the ground, placing both hands on her knees with an innocent look.

"Brother?" she said, looking innocent.

"Mm... I was... looking at your... ear," he hesitated. He felt ashamed and tried to hide his embarrassed expression.

"My ears? Why?"

She touched her hair, confused.

"It’s fine looking... but you were touching them."

He froze, scared, sweating fast.

She leaned even closer, still with that innocent look—no smile, no emotion.

"I was touching them a bit because... because..."

She came even closer and climbed onto his lap. He turned bright red, completely embarrassed.

"Well—fine! You... win..."

He gently grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back a little to keep some distance.

"I was touching them because I was curious. I never saw an elf ear, you see..."

He tried to hide his embarrassing, pathetic look.

"Brother, you never saw an elf ear before? I see. Then it’s fine. You can touch them," she said with her innocent, smileless look.

"Really?"

He got excited, then immediately felt embarrassed again.

After a few seconds he whispered, "Sorry..."

She looked at him blankly.

He couldn’t handle her innocent, cute look at all.

He blushed. "Huh... it’s not the time for this kind of thing," he thought to himself.

Then he asked, "Let me ask you something."

Both of them stayed sitting on the ground.

"Ask me?" she pointed at herself.

"Yeah," he said. He felt a bit uncomfortable around her.

"Okay. First... why were you out there, fighting the hyenas all alone? They could have killed you."

She stayed silent.

You fool... why did you ask that? She might be traumatized by that incident, he scolded himself in his mind.

He realized it might have been a bad idea to ask. He started thinking about how to cheer her up.

Then she started to speak.

"We came here to search for herbs. I was separated from my people when the green uglies suddenly attacked us in the forest. They killed many of our people and kidnapped the girls... including me. I was able to escape safely, thanks to their sacrifice."

A single tear fell from her eye.

He listened silently.

"But other monsters were still following me... and then, finally, the hyenas."

She looked emotional.

"Okay... it’s fine. You can rest here," he said gently.

"No, I have to go and report them. There is a shaman among the goblins."

"Okay, I understand the situation."

"By the way... why do you keep calling me ’brother’?" he asked.

She stared blankly ahead, touching her chin as she thought.

"My father said... that’s why."

"What... your father said?"

He was totally confused.

’’My father said, If any man saves your life, then he is your brother. You should call him that."She said.

"Ah..."He thought to himself, He is an overprotective father. Did he think I would steal his daughter?

Nawfi looked at her. She stared at him blankly.

In his mind, he imagined her father—a man with black goggles—smiling at him and calling him, "Son!" while giving a thumbs-up.

He tried not to get distracted.

"Ah, okay. You will stay here until you recover, and then we will take you home."

"Brother, you are going to take me home?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, yeah. You can’t live here forever."

He didn’t even finish speaking when she suddenly grabbed him.

"Hey, hey! Why are you hugging me?"

He felt embarrassed and tried to resist.

"Thank you’’

’’huh?"

Nawfi saw her crying and decided to let her do whatever she needed.

"Thank you so much, brother. I was alone... there were so many monsters. I thought I would never get home."

She was crying like a baby. He gently tried to comfort her.

"Well, brother is here. No one can harm you."

Unintentionally, he realized he had accepted being her brother.

Even as he comforted her, he thought, But... who will save me, though?

Wait... my guardian angel, he thought.

He remembered that Skull had saved him the moment he got unconscious. ’’Skull... where is he?’’ he asked her.

she wiped her tears.

"Skull?.. Do you mean... Skeley Brother?"

"Skeley Brother?" he thought. What kind of name is this... well, he might like it and give a thumbs-up.

"Yeah... where is he?"

"He’s in the kitchen, making food for Elena."

"Kitchen? I see... Wait, who is Elena?" he asked, confused again.

"Elena is Elena," she replied, her face completely expressionless.

"I mean... where is she then?" he wondered, thinking she might be dumb or stupid.

"Elena is here."

"You mean... your name is Elena?" He was even more confused by her words.

"Brother, don’t you know?"

"Huh?"

She humped and looked at him.

"Sorry, I was foolish to ask so late."

"Don’t worry, brother. It’s fine. Elena is not angry."

She gave a thumbs-up, her usual smileless face in place.

I know where she learned it from, he thought, imagining Skull giving him a thumbs-up and a skelly smile while wearing a cute headband.

"Yeah... okay. Let’s go to him."

"Okay," she said, seeming happy, though it was hard to tell because of her expressionless face.

In the kitchen, the sound of food frying filled the air. He was flipping the frying pan, sunlight falling on his food through the window. the food was sparkling .He was completely focused, passionate about what he was doing.

Skull noticed him. He came over quickly, examining him carefully from head to toe, looking here and there. After finishing, he gave a thumbs-up and a smile.

Elena imitated him, copying the gesture perfectly.

"Yeah... I’m fine," he said.

Nawfi ignored them.

Crook... kk... A sound came from his belly. He blushed a little and asked with a smile, "Do you have anything to eat?"

Skull gave a thumbs-up, smiling happily.

He grabbed Nawfi’s shoulder and gently pushed him toward a chair by the table.

Then he prepared a variety of foods and served them on the table. Small screens hovered above the dishes:

[Dragon Meat Stack]

[Phoenix Roast]

[Juice of Jungle]

[Dark Cocoa Cake]

"These look so premium... no kidding," he said, staring at the details.

Elena was looking at the food intensely, her eyes sparkling and drooling a little.

"Well... let’s start," he said.

They began eating like it was the end of the world.

After eating, he leaned back and sighed, "Ah... it’s always satisfying to eat your food, Skull."

Skull looked happy.

Elena looked like a balloon, her eyes half-closed as if her soul was floating out of her mouth.

Suddenly, some notifications popped up:

[Divine Shield is activated]

[Info: Can take a hit with zero damage once]

[Stamina increased 30% for 1 hour].....

"Pretty good," he said with a smile.

Elena and Skull were having a conversation.

Skull looked serious, as if it was something very important. Sometimes he nodded in agreement, and occasionally gave his usual thumbs-up with a skelly smile.

"Hu..." he murmured, looking out the window.

A deer-like monster was quietly grazing on the grass, the environment peaceful... for now.

Suddenly, a tiger-like monster, flames flickering across its body, moved silently and leapt onto the deer. After a brief struggle, the deer died. The tiger began eating its flesh.

At that moment, other vicious monsters hidden nearby waited for the tiger to leave, so they could feast on the remains.

It was hard for Nawfi to imagine that he was witnessing all this from a big tree... and that he was in another world.

[Common Skill Manual]

[Cooking Lv1 – Common]

[Alchemy Lv1 – Common]

[Blacksmith ......]

To survive in this unknown place, I need to get stronger... at least enough to protect myself and learn more about this world.