Sylwen blinked, no doubt thinking of the logistics of things, but she broke into a soft smile that was designed to mesmerize all living things, and his amber eyes stayed on her for a moment before pulling away.
Neither spoke for a while after that, but the night was comforting.
The next several minutes were just soothing silence, with two people lost in their own thoughts while physically enjoying the proximity of another person.
"What do you think of my inn so far?" he asked after a while, taking another bite of a crisp. "Please be brutally honest."
"This place is very good," she said. "The regenerative ability of the place is something unique, and the food is extraordinary," she said. "You have something very good."
"I inherited it," he said vaguely. "But I do feel blessed."
"There must be magic circles around, though oddly I cannot see them." She could sense them to some degree, but that’s about it.
Finn took note of this. He also caught something interesting in her statement. She could tell her regeneration was faster, and the best way was to monitor stats.
He had been wondering about this. "How do you know how much mana and stamina you have left?"
He found out that not everyone had a system from Pang. At his question, the elf raised her hand and showed him a bracelet on her wrist. It had a single symmetrical gem on it.
Suddenly, a light lit up and a screen appeared above it, similar to a hologram, except the projection was more circular than a cone of light originating from the stone.
He could vaguely see some numbers, and he felt dizzy looking at them.
"This is called Status Gem," she told him. "It is a magic-infused gemstone. It is fairly standard for people with some identity in this world. I’m surprised you don’t have one."
"...I have been very sheltered," he said. "All I had was cooking."
"I see..." she said. "Then it is an envious thing."
Finn looked at her, drawn not just by her beauty and grace, but also by her mystery.
"What do you mean by ’people with identity’?" he asked in the end.
"Anyone with a named family, guild, or organization would have it," she told him. "Like adventurers, mercenaries, and people from clans. You really do not know about this?"
"I told you I was sheltered," he chuckled. "So what else does it do?"
"It serves as an identification for the person—which makes entering territories much faster—and also a honing device wherein the person, if he wanted to, would alert his guild of his location, among other things."
"Oh? Why didn’t you use it?" he asked, referring to her troubles from earlier. Even if she didn’t die from her injuries, she’d have lost an appendage. Why didn’t she call anyone for help?
However, he realized it was an insensitive question almost as soon as he uttered the words. Her neutral expression darkened, and he immediately shut his lips, with Finn wanting to slap his own damned mouth.
Syl couldn’t answer because...the people who’d receive her location might not necessarily be trustworthy people.
He rubbed his gossamer red hair and sighed, handing her another piece of crisp, eager to change the topic.
Her eyebrows rose a bit as she stared at him. "They said that eating is one of the best tools to bury sadness away."
An eyebrow raised, she looked at the food and then at Finn. "Who is ’they’?"
"Wise people," he said with a gentle smile. "Mysterious people even I don’t know."
"I see..."
"Well, whatever’s happening out there," he said. "You can stay here for as long as you want. The barrier will protect you.
"I might not know much about the outside world but—in this Inn—you are safe and you can relax."
Her eyes flickered and he could almost—almost—see that light blush on her pale face. However, he could tell that she had loosened up, and he found himself smiling a bit as he realized this.
He wanted to know more about her and this world, and it felt like this was the time to ask.
He knew there was no point pretending to know things. Anyway, he had a feeling that she wouldn’t take advantage of his lack of knowledge—it’d be below her.
"Can you tell me more about the outside World? A general idea will do." He could tell she wasn’t that fond of speaking, and he didn’t want to exhaust her, so he only asked for an overview.
Regardless, this question would confuse anyone, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she asked him a series of cynical questions. However, she just stared at him for a moment, nodded, and took out a map from her space.
"How big is your space?" he couldn’t help but ask.
She blinked and then looked at the inn. "About the size of the living room to the dining room."
"That’s quite big. Where’d you get it? How does it work?"
At this, she lifted her left hand and pulled up her long sleeves to reveal a few beautiful bangles on it. They were made of gems, carved with intricate patterns, which was a fascinating thing to look at.
"This is a type of Space Rune," she told him. "I’ve had it since I was young. The item itself is not common, but the smaller versions are not too rare. As long as one had enough money, one could have it."
"I see..." he said. "Well, I was just curious."
Moving on, she unscrolled the parchment and showed a rough map with mountains, forests, and deserts. They were in another language but, fortunately, he could read the language, too, for some reason.
He looked over and saw a large continent with some smaller land around it. It showed some terrain, but there was a large blot of forest area that was greyed out. The text outside this was black, while the texts in the greyed area were red.
"Which part do you want to know about?" she asked, asking which area he’d want to know more about.
Finn couldn’t help but awkwardly smile. "...everything."