Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 68: Haha fire go brrrr (3)

'BOOM!'

"Ack!" I flinched when a sudden blast sound pierced my eardrums.

"That came from general Zhang's direction," Jeanne looked over behind her, "he must've started already."

"Man, that sounded louder than I thought it would. How many explosives did he set off?" I wondered.

"Probably almost every one of them." Jeanne answered.

"We should also hurry." General Emilio said as he led us towards the rooftop.

"Yeah, let's try to sneak inside the castle before night falls. We probably only have around 2-3 hours before it starts getting dark." I agreed. While I stayed over at Elena's room, she told me one crucial thing about the elves.

Night vision. Those elves were born and bred to co-exist with nature. So instead of nighttime being their enemy, they worked together with nighttime. I guess that was because elves needed to be able to care for nature whenever and wherever. While for us humans, fighting in the dark against elves would be asking to get killed.

"Watch your step." Jeanne told us as we stumbled upon a staircase that was already falling apart.

"Man, I think it'll fall apart the moment we step on it..." I frowned and tried to put pressure on the first step using my feet, and wasn't surprised when it immediately crumbled into pieces.

"Let's find another way." General Emilio turned around and started looking for another route.

"Can't we just, like, float up using Jeanne's magic?" I scratched my cheek while I nervously suggested.

"We probably can, but if I make a gust of wind strong enough to lift a person, I'd probably ruin a few things here, and we might get buried. Sorry." Jeanne answered me.

"Aw, okay then." I nodded and followed general Emilio into a dark alleyway.

Every few steps, we would hear the floorboards cracking, making us tense up, thinking that we might fall through the floor. Not stopping at that, the lack of electricity here made everything dark, except for places where there were huge holes that let the orange sunlight pass through.

"This is kinda creepy. A bit like those horror movies beginning, you know?" I laughed nervously.

"Ah, I've watched horror movies before, with..." Jeanne paused, flinched, and looked down, "...Someone. Anyway, usually this is where they split up and meet the ghost, right?"

"Yes, but I bet magic works against ghosts too." I chuckled to lighten the mood. When Jeanne stopped mid-sentence, I felt like her expression changed heavily. Who was that person she mentioned? And what did they have to do with Jeanne?

'Clang!'

"What?" I gasped, but I instinctively aimed my assault rifle towards the foreign sound without missing a beat.

Damn, did a ghost really appear? At such perfect timing, too?

General Emilio held one finger to his lips, signaling us to not make a sound, while his other hand reached for his spear. Jeanne nodded, and unsheathed her sword smoothly without producing a sound.

We waited patiently until the ghost would reveal themselves... Magic did work against ghosts, right? I mean, oh god, please work. I had a love-hate relationship with horror movies, and right now the hate side was winning.

'Clang!'

"Ah--"

My ears perked up upon hearing the new emerging voice, "was that a child's voice?"

"Wait." General Emilio commanded us to stay still.

Did I hear that correctly? Why did this feel familiar...? Kinda like when I first met Wolf, wasn't it? Ugh, what was up with my luck with children...

"Excuse me?" A little girl who was around Wolf's height popped up from around the hallway's corner, but only showing half of her body. She had beautiful, long, light green hair with a pair of shimmering blue eyes. What caught my attention though, were her pointy ears that were barely visible through her flowing hair.

"A child elf?" I exclaimed in surprise as I immediately turned to face Jeanne. Did we get spotted already?

"No, wait. Elves can't have blue eyes... Their eyes are always green." Jeanne said, as equally surprised as I was.

"What do you want, kid?" General Emilio questioned the child who had a fearful expression on her face, and pointed his spear at her.

Seeing that, I followed and re-aimed my rifle at her. I almost forgot that on the battlefield, it didn't matter what age you were, or what race you were. An enemy was an enemy.

"I..." She spoke with a very soft, timid voice while her frown deepened.

We waited for her response as she slowly stepped forward, allowing us to see her ragged outfit. She didn't even wear a pair of footwear.

"I... Wanted to ask you if you need some food?" She said with a voice so small it was barely audible as she held out a can of food.

We blinked a few times upon hearing her words.

"...What?"

--------

'Clank!'

"Here. This is just canned tuna, though..." The little girl who was now sitting with us opened the can and handed it to us.

"Thank you?" I took the can confusedly.

General Emilio told us that we should keep the child as a hostage, just in case we run into the elves that were chasing us because of that lil snipey snipe event. He deemed her perfect as a hostage since the child was obviously weak and unaware of dangers. Even though some things didn't add up, he concluded that she would be useful anyway, so why not keep her?

"I don't have much. Only canned tunas and water." She said to me timidly.

"Are you sure it's okay to give us some? What about you?" I asked her. She looked thin and pale, although I was unsure if it was due to a bad diet or her being an elf.

"It's okay. People usually give me canned tuna every week or so," she smiled weakly, "and friends share with each other, right?"

"Uh, yeah..." I scratched my cheek. By 'people', did she mean the elves? And how come this child already considered us friends? Too gullible, kid. Too gullible! Who taught you to befriend strangers?

"Ehm." General Emilio cleared his throat, and gave me a glare, before looking at the canned tuna, and back at me again. Was he trying to say, 'don't eat that'?

"Ehehe." I grinned at general Emilio. It might be poisoned, but I had a poison resistance, right? I'd be fine. At most, food poison would just increase my skill or something. It was nothing compared to spider poison.

"Hey kid, what's your name again?" I asked her. Even though she was just a hostage, we should at least be friendly for now, right?

"Firiell..." She answered while she fidgeted with her hands.

"Glad to meet you, Firiell," I smiled and patted her head, "and thank you for the food."

I picked a piece of tuna from the can and gulped it down without chewing.

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