Chapter 13: Jaina¿!?
The cold at Camp Rogue is in the mid-15s Celsius range, as a place submerged in shade almost all year round, Khanduras, with the epicenter in Tristan, the temperatures are on the cool side, not quite freezing. So Christel is currently wearing a priestess robe borrowed from Akara so she can keep warm.
Christel, wearing the robes of the Blind Eye's priestess, a very simple white with no ostentatious markings or designs, more like what a nun-in-training would wear, now stands looking out over the wasteland ahead from the top of the log wall, the torches around the camp kept lit by the rogues on guard. In a place like this, night is when the Rogue Camp is most vigilant.
Christel knows that even though she has passed Akara's exam, she is still not 100% reliable, so the rogue girls around her keep a little distance from her with eyes of surveillance, but also of curiosity. Akara let her wear this priestess robe and she could choose an empty tent near her tent.
Akara told her she would go out to find her some dinner, but Christel knows she will also announce her findings to the other camp leaders.
'It's scarier than camping in any forest on the blue planet,' Christel says to herself as she sees the gruesome shadows forming on the bloody wasteland in front of her. If a person were to stay in this place alone, their mind would surely break within a few nights.
'On my blue planet, we conquer the night with energy, illuminating the environment where we live. Bringing light to this place could work. I could create a Tesla tower.' Christel's mind thinks as she watches the river passing below.
'Anyone else would be finished if they came to this world, unless they brought with them a system like Golden Finger or some kind of plugin that makes them take off like rockets in terms of power. But me, I just need water and metal to bring about an era that surely neither Diablo nor his beloved brothers would expect.'
Christel knows that if she were to wake up here every night she goes to sleep, then she will spend half of her life in the Sanctuary World. As a person who has lived in the Information Age, it will be a very hard blow to live in a place without even electricity, and worse, with undead dangers surrounding her everywhere, or waiting for Diablo to destroy the world or the Heroes to stop him.
Christel looked down into his robe, where his pajamas that accompanied him on this journey between worlds were still. Christel doesn't know how his transportation ability works, but the fact that the clothes he was wearing were with him and not the bed he was lying on, gives him the idea that maybe he has a small aura covering his clothes. So some small experiments await him, to see if he can bring things or take them.
While Christel was thinking, making plans for this world, footsteps were heard behind her, climbing the wooden stairs. Despite being immersed in her mind, Christel has not stopped being aware of her surroundings. As a CEO, it was normal to be fully working among mountains of papers and still be attentive to her office, and yet, she already suffered a stab in the back.
"Haaa~" As Christel was about to turn around, she felt hands passing through the sides of her body and hugging her from behind. Christel's heart skipped a beat and her body went stiff. But when she felt soft things behind her head, and a familiar smell, she guessed who it was.
The youngest girl in the Evil Cave Raid Group with blue locks and ice arrow attacks, who had practically stood by his side in all but the last fight, it was only natural that Christel recognized her figure just by feeling her, and her scent.
But that didn't stop her from letting out a soft cry of surprise.
'The curse of surprise attacks by older women has not disappeared even by coming to another world' Christel had a darkened face. Obviously she is a man, she was fooling herself.
"Christel... Jaina..." The blue-haired girl who served as his pillow the first time they met said Christel's name and then another word. Christel still doesn't know how or why this girl is so clingy to him, despite everyone else keeping a guard against him, this girl is like she doesn't care and trusts him so much. 'I just gave her a kiss, in the sanctuary world they are so open with same-sex relationships? No wait, I'm a guy, everything is fine! Yes that.!!'
'No wait, what did he say? His name?'
Christel wanted to turn around, so the girl let go of her hug, and when she was in front of the girl who was a head taller than her, Christel had to look up. Christel pointed to her chest and said her name.
"Christel..."
"Jaina..."
The girl, understanding the actions, repeated the same thing, pointing to her chest and said a word, her name.
"Jaina..." 'Jaina isn't supposed to be from another world, I mean, they're the same franchise so you can consider it the blizzard multiverse. But -Jaina- you got the wrong birthplace, you're supposed to be blonde (and in the future with white locks) and you study magic not archery. Although both of you specialize in ice apparently. and, my favorite is Sylvanas!'
The girl pillows... coughs, Jaina, hearing her name in the mouth of the blonde girl in front of her, got excited, and hugged the little girl burying Christel's face in something soft. Christel now only lets herself be carried away by destiny, in her first life she never touched a woman deeply, now in her second life and in two worlds it seems that God gave her the opportunity to compensate for previous grievances, but obviously Christel now has new grievances.
And so, after Christel finished imagining the fusion of an archery Sylvanas with Miss Proudmoore 's ice magic into a floating ship in the sky, Jaina, the blue-haired girl, released Christel and then gestured toward a metal tray with two plates and two metal cups that apparently contained dinner.
Christel guesses that when Akara went to report her findings, Jaina heard her name and that she was going to ask for some food to be brought to her, so she quickly offered and simply ran off to get the food. The Rogue Camp is divided into 4 zones with a plaza in the center, so the merchant area in the back and the blacksmiths in front each have their own areas to prepare their food individually. The priestess tent area and the archer area also have their own food preparation places, so when Akara said she was going to ask someone to help with the food, she thought of her own place, but seeing someone on the archer side, she just let it go.
So Jaina went to the bonfires where the food preparations for her companions were, and brought two portions, one for Christel, and one for herself, Jaina wanted to have dinner with the little blonde girl.
The log wall surrounding the camp is not wide enough to have a 'patrol path', but it does have flat sections made of wood with ladders for the guard to stand on and keep watch outside the wall, as well as watchtowers that are higher than the wall. These areas of the wall have very simple wooden tables for the girls on guard to eat at. There are no chairs, so Christel and Jaina had to eat standing up, although it didn't bother them.
Christel approached the table and with a thank you to Jaina, took the glass and drank some milk. Christel has seen bulls, which pulled the carts that brought her to the camp, so it does not seem strange to her that there are also cows and they can get milk. Christel, as a food lover in her previous life, has also tried raw milk and boiled milk, so she can tell the difference between one state of milk and the other. So, perhaps in the sanctuary world they have not yet discovered the -pasteurization- of milk if it is boiled.
On the plate there is also a ham, a loaf of bread, and some fruits that look like small red apples, but not as small as berries. A meal that, despite the area, is already considered abundant. 'But the diet can be improved, the girls need a lot of energy, but we must not forget what vegetables can provide, can I bring seeds?'
The food is delicious, the loaf of bread is soft and not at all bad like the ones they said in the Middle Ages on the blue planet, although not as bad as modern bread. And maybe these mini-apples are because there are not enough nutrients in these lands and they can only grow to this size.
But Christel, looking at the beautiful girl in front of her who was eating with a smile, said, perhaps for Jaina, it was one of the most delicious meals in the world.
Christel, seeing the beautiful girl, illuminated by the light of the torches, at a dinner outside, and with nothing to talk about, feels that, for being her first meal with a woman, she will mark it as a wish fulfilled, although due to the language barrier, the entire dinner will be in silence.
You say Koneko doesn't count? Christel ate with Koneko at the school cafeteria, so it doesn't count as a date!
After finishing dinner, Jaina took the plates and put them on the tray, then she pointed towards the archers' tent area and then pointed towards her feet. Christel knows that she is trying to say that she will take the things over there and then come back. So Christel hugged her body and shivered a little and then pointed towards the bonfire in front of Akara's tent.
" Umm !" Jaina understood and nodded, then went down the stairs. The further into the night the colder it gets, so waiting up here is difficult, the archers who are now on guard wear leather armor like an animal coat, perhaps from those yetis from the cave, so they can withstand the low temperature. But Christel is only wearing a cloth tunic of what seems to be cotton and it is not to resist the cold.
Christel followed her and on the ground they separated, with Jaina pointing again now towards the bonfire, as if saying "Wait for me."
Christel had to wait. Akara hasn't returned, it seems the meeting has run a bit long and she doesn't know what's being discussed. Christel is also feeling a bit sleepy, but based on the time she arrived at sunset and the job interview, she feels it's now just after 10pm. Luckily, it didn't take long for Jaina to come back at a jog or almost a run.
Christel, seeing her a little sweaty, sat down and used the sleeve of her tunic to wipe some of the sweat from Jaina's forehead. It caused her to smile on her already slightly red face, Christel doesn't know if it was from running or something else.
Christel is no fool, and feeling tired, he just took Jaina's hand and led her to the tent he had already chosen in Akara, 'It's just sleeping, like on a hiking trip, there's no need to think too much...' Christel told herself in her mind, but just like Jaina, her face was also red.
Upon entering, Christel doesn't know how sleeping in such a place works, but Jaina skillfully closed the entrance to the tent with some ropes. The tent is a bit larger than what you would get on the blue planet in sporting goods stores. It's made of animal skins with a wooden frame, there's no log in the middle, but the height is enough for Christel and Jaina to stand up. There's a box made of wood and a bed of animal skins that works as a bed.
Christel thought about it, and decided to take off her robes, she doesn't want to suddenly appear in her bed and have her mom see her in a priest's robe out of nowhere. And sleeping in your pajamas is what should be done, or the pajamas would lose their value of existence. And Jaina seeing Christel's actions, also took off her leather armor.
Society on the world of Sanctuary, though it seems medieval, is not backward. There is underwear, and all the girls wear underwear over cloth clothes that they wear under their leather armor, Christel noticed in the cave. Jaina is wearing a blouse of sorts and short shorts, made of the same cloth material and in a gray color. Christel guesses that white fabrics must be very expensive, and although her tunic is white, it is definitely not the whiteness that exists on the blue planet.
And so, preparing for sleep, Jaina lifted an animal skin blanket to cover Christel and herself. As they lay facing each other, Christel looked into Jaina's blue eyes and said "Good Night," and Jaina responded with a smile and taking Christel's hands, she replied with a phrase that could mean "good night," and gave Christel a kiss, closing her eyes.
Christel doesn't know if there is a "France" or any similar culture, since the kiss was soft and she only felt the lips pressed against hers, she closed her eyes and prepared to sleep or travel. 'Could it be that I travel right at bedtime, or like on the blue planet, here it has to be three thirty-three in the morning too?'