My Servant Is An Elf-Knight From Another World

Chapter 8

We left the office building to a cloudless afternoon sky. By the time the whole commotion was over and done with, both our stomachs were loud and growling.

So what did we do to resolve it?

Head to a restaurant? Grab a quick snack at a store? Ice-cream, maybe?

Nah, we headed home.

I flopped my wallet onto my living room table, sprawling it open for the whole world to see.

"No money!" I proclaimed, flinging my hands to the air.

Ash was crouched, her knees to the floor, and picked up my wallet by the very ends of her fingertips as if holding up some kind of weird bug.

"Intriguing coin pouch, master," she said, glancing at it from all angles. "But what does that mean for lunch?"

I looked at her and her big, bright questioning eyes as large as saucers, and felt guilt surge through me.

She got shot in the forehead for me and I couldn't even get her any lunch for it. What kind of sorry excuse of a human being am I?

"Well, uh - I'll call a friend," I whipped out my phone. "Borrow some cash, then we'll get some -"

But before I could dial any number, Ash had seized the phone from my grip with a swipe so fast, I didn't even realize she took it until I stupidly started trying to dial the air.

"Master, let us not act upon impulse, shall we?" Ash said, keeping my phone at a distance. "Lest we forget what has brought you trouble in the first place."

Realization hit me like an oncoming freight train and immediately I wanted to throw myself out the window for even coming up with the idea. No more borrowing money.

"My bad," I muttered, smiling apologetically. "I just wanted to show my gratitude to you in some way. You know... get you something nice."

Ash expelled a small sigh. "You already have, master."

"Have I?"

"You clothed me, fed me, and provided refuge. What is all of that if not 'nice', I ask?"

"But that's kind of a given," I answered back. "I would have done the same to anybody else. It didn't have to be you."

She shook her head. "It needn't matter. Kindness, where I'm from, you'll find very little of it, if any at all. In the eyes of many, most may say I don't even deserve such luxuries."

"That's horrible."

"And yet, that is simply just the very nature of my world."

Speaking of worlds, I realized I still had no idea where on earth she came from. What kind of fantasy world was it? What kind of creatures inhabited it? Who are the dominant species, and what's the situation like over there?

Put it simply...

"Just where exactly are you from anyway?"

"Well, it's a land far removed from your own... Asteria, we call it," She waved her hand. "Alas, it needn't matter. Let's leave it as a topic of little concern, shall we?"

"But why? Don't you want to go back?"

Blankly staring, Ash fell into a strange sort of silence. Usually, she'd be quick with a reply ready to go. Not this time.

She smiled again, it looked forced, and handed the phone back in my hands.

"Maybe," she said.

"Maybe?"