Chapter 3

"It's ridiculous. No matter how many times I think about it, it's just ridiculous. Live for eternity? Does that make sense?" Helina, who was mad, didn't accept what Isdor just said.

Julia sat beside Helina without saying anything.

They were resting after walking nonstop for whole damn day. Isdor is nowhere to be found after saying he would hunt some rabbits for them to eat.

"It sounds funny. I never thought this kind of thing would actually happen." Julia is being honest.

She also finds it unbelievable.

She thought it wouldn't be so bad to try to live a new life in a new world. But to think that they will have to live for eternity makes her sick.

"Do we have to live for eternity for real?" Helina asked while leaning her head towards Julia's shoulder.

"I guess we have no choice but to accept it."

They're reader.

They read a lot of books from many perspectives. People who cannot die live a very lonely life. Reading it from their perspective makes they sad. They're a very lonely being. Having to watch their loved ones die one by one is the most painful part for them.

It's not a blessing that a person can live for eternity. Rather, it just feels like a curse. Watch but can't do anything. They're the most pitiful beings. And right now, Julia and Helina will become one of them.

"If we love someone too much, we will be in a lot of pain." Julia said the reality

Helina, who understood, didn't reply to her. None of them thought this situation would happen. To love someone while living forever is the hardest thing to do.

"Arghhh! Help me! No! Let me go! Arghhh!"

When Helina and Julia were trying to calm their messy heads, a kid's scream was heard in the forest. Julia and Helina look at each other before standing up.

"What the hell? It's not a ghost right?" Helina asked while looking around.

"Let go of me! Please, I have siblings that waiting for me...! Let go!" The scream was heard again.

"I don't think that's a ghost." Helina said.

"Let's go and take a look." Julia spoke with a calm voice.

Helina nodded her head.

It would be better if they didn't interfere, but it was the sound of a child screaming. They can't just ignore the cry for help.

They don't need to bother themselves to help others other than Neveah since their main purpose in this world is to make sure Neveah gets her happiness together with Asher. But they are not so ignorant that they are willing to ignore someone who needs help.

They cannot guess where Neveah right now since the story always end up different. They only read some of their stories so they didn't have much information about Neveah. They didn't even know what year is it right now.

"Julia. Look at there."

Helina said as she stared at the group of men who were grabbing a little girl's hair and throwing her into a carriage like a prison.

"Lizzie..." Helina was shocked to hear that name and look at Julia. "From now on, let's use our new name. Call me Lilian, and I'll call you Lizzie." She said it with a calm voice.

Helina, who didn't say anything but smile at her say,

"Okay, let's do that. So, what are we going to do now, Lilian?"

"Let's follow them first. I believe that child is not the only one that was kidnapped." Lizzie nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes. Let's do as you say. But what about Isdor?" Lizzie asked as she stared at the male group.

Afraid that they will lose them if they are careless.

"It's fine. He's our guardian. He can track us in no time."

"Fine."

They followed the group of men in silence. They arrived at a cave that was clearly abandoned and looked creepy. The girl their age, who was locked in the carriage like a prison, was dragged inside.

"Hey Lilian. Do you know how to use magic?" Lizzie asked with a curious face.

Lilian frowned at her questions. It would be great if she could slap Lizzie right now.

"Are you crazy? How am I supposed to know? Our world was not a world of magic. Our world has no magic, so how am I supposed to know?"

It's simply impossible for Lilian to know how to use magic when she doesn't have any knowledge about it or how to use it.

In the original novel, it was describe how sorcerer use magic but Lilian is still in a body of a kid. And she also doesn't know much about magic, so it will be hard for her to try using it in the first place.

"So, your abilities are useless for now, right?"

Lilian felt slightly useless at her word, but what Lizzie said was true. She doesn't know how to use magic, so she's basically useless for now.

"We don't need to use my magic powers. You're here. I'm sure you can defeat them with your powers."

"I'm sure you're called a genius in our real world. Don't you think there will be more people in that cave than we expected? Do you think my power alone is enough to take them all down at once?" Lizzie asked with a serious face.

The question made Lilian giggle.

She didn't know Lizzie could be serious in this situation. Lizzie is a playful and unserious child. So it's weird and fun to see her acting like a mature child.

"That's right. We're still small kids. We can't kill them all at once. So, we're going to sneak in. Don't get caught. We have to save as many as we can. I'm sure there are more than two people that were kidnapped there." Lilian answered calmly.

She stared at her own hand.

Isdor said she and Lizzie would be the most powerful people in that world, but how can she be powerful when she doesn't even know how to use magic?

"If that's the case, let's go." Lizzie entered the cave cautiously.

Lilian stopped at the waggon outside the cave, took some daggers, and hid them in her cloth. She immediately followed Lizzie from behind after taking the dagger.

Lilian and Lizzie entered cautiously.

Their eyes did not stop moving and scanning their surroundings.

From the outside, this cave looked like an abandoned cave, but once they entered, they were very surprised. This place looks like a dungeon. Only the candle lights are lit, and there is only one lane to go through.

"This place is creepy."

Lizzie expresses what she feels.

Lilian agrees with Lizzie. If their souls were not from another world, they would both tremble and cry in fear.

"There's only one passage. If we meet group of people, it would be troublesome." Lilian said as they walked without stopping.

They need to hurry.

Lilian hope that nothing bad will happen. That what she was hopping for until Lizzie said something in nervous manner,

"Someone is walking towards us...!" Lizzie said in a panicked voice.

They can't hide anywhere since there's only one lane to go through.

Magic...! If only Lilian knew how to use invisibility magic, surely they could pass without any problem!

"Lilian...! What are we going to do now? I can hear four footsteps! Two from the front and two from behind! We can't run anywhere!" Lizzie was panicking.

At the moment Lizzie shook Lilian's arm with an anxious face, Lilian could feel a strange wave in her body. She held Lizzie's hand tightly. As if hoping for the magic to happen.

"Lilian...!"

"Shh."

Lizzie kept her mouth shut.

"I will try using magic. If it didn't work, we need to knock them out as fast as possible. We cannot get caught." Lilian said calmly.

"But you don't know how to use magic..?"

"That's why I say I'll try."

Four men walked past the two of them as if they were completely invisible.

"Xenon. Go make preparations. Count Glen is coming here to buy one of those kids. Make sure the kids are in good condition." The brown-haired man said as they bumped into each other.

"Count Glen wants to come here himself? Doesn't he always send his butler?"

Count Glen was one of their regular customers. They didn't know what the old man did to the kids he bought, but what they did know was that Count Glen was the source of their money. What he did to the kids they kidnapped meant nothing to them.

"I don't know why he wants to come here by himself, but we have to be prepared. He is our source of money." Xenon, who completely understood that fact, nodded his head.

"Alright. I'll go and get ready."

They just split like nothing happened.

Lizzie frowned. Strange.

"Lilian, do you use magic?"

"I'm glad it's working. I was worried."

"So you really can use magic? How did you do that? How does it feel?" Lizzie, who's curious, asked.

"I don't know. Something flows inside me, and it works. But I need to learn more to understand how magicians use magic."

Lizzie nodded as if she understands.

"First, let's go find the children! We need to move fast!" Lizzie said.

They moved immediately. They need to get the children out before the count visits this place!

"Lilian. Do you remember who's Count Glen? I don't think I remember a character with that name in the novel." Lizzie asked as they walked, trying to find the children's location.

"Do you remember the character Crimson Shadow?"

"Huh? Of course I remember! He's the villain who directly kills or orders someone to kill Neveah every single time!"

Crimson Shadow is a mysterious character.

There's not much information about him in the novel. It's hard to guess who's actually the Crimson Shadow, but the important thing is that that person has royal blood. He can be the first prince but he also can be the second prince or maybe the emperor's brother. Or he might be the emperor himself.

It's obvious the Crimson Shadow is part of the royal family since whatever count Glen did was protected. Of course, no one knows who he is.

"Count Glen clearly working for that person."

"What? I don't remember reading that."

"It was written in their first life. It's normal that you don't remember."

"How do you remember that?" Lizzie can't believe that Lilian remembered something like that.

"Because it's important. We need to know every single character that was written by the author since we don't know how the story will progress. Like now. I believe the imperial family knows about this kidnapping. But we didn't know the motive. If it's simply kidnapped and sold, it won't be troublesome, but I was worried they kidnapped the child to use as a sacrifice to open the gate of hell."

"Gate of hell? Is that possible?"

"Think about it, Lizzie. Every time Asher burns down the world, a demon from another world appears too. The demon is trying hard to kill Asher, who's trying to destroy the world. Demons can't appear in this world since they only live in the underworld. So what's the reason they suddenly appeared? The only evil that is originally from this world is beasts and monsters. Not demons."

Chevelure, the God of Earth and Horizon, probably controls the underworld. He should know if something weird happens there. If a human was trying to summon demons, shouldn't he stop them?

Or is it because he's not allowed to interrupt what humans do? A human summons demons from the underworld, and he can't stop that from happening?

Well, it's just something that Lilian can think of. She didn't know the exact answer. She probably needs to hear it from Isdor or from Chevelure himself.

"Demons... Wait. Now that you mention it, normal people can never open the gate of hell, right? So why do the demons always appear at the end of the original story?"

Lizzie, who started using a head frown,

She's trying to remember the original content of the story she's read before.

"Think again. You almost got the answer." Lilian wants her to remember it on her own.

Lizzie's eyes widened as she thought of something. "Ah, the gate of hell can be opened with human sacrifice." She said this while looking at Lilian with a shocked expression.

Lilian nodded her head. "That's right... This is more troublesome than we ever imagined."

If they want to protect the female lead, they need to know who the Crimson Shadow is. In the original novel, Crimson Shadow always aimed for Neveah. The fact is, Neveah keeps dying because of him.

In Neveah's first and second lives, she was directly killed by this person. In her other life, she was killed by Crimson Shadow subordinates. Neveah was killed in her first life because she was too kind. She's naive and didn't know that people were aiming at her. So she died.

In her second life, Neveah was raped by Crimson Shadow and then killed by him. It's tragic how Asher found Neveah's dead body in a very dark and small room. She was found naked and bathed in her own blood. For Lilian, Neveah's second life was the most tragic because she died like that.

She's helpless till the end, with no one coming to save her. Even though Asher went to get her, he arrived too late. Lilian, who rarely sheds tears, was crying really hard at that time.

Lizzie's eyes widened as she observed the prison where so many kids reside. All the kids were wearing clothes that were torn apart. They're all thin and look weak. Can they even walk? Their bone looks like it will break if they touch it.

"This is crazy. It's so different when I read about this situation." Lizzie, who was genuinely shocked, expressed her regret.

"It's worse than we expected." Lilian agrees with Lizzie.

"How do we get them out of here? There are too many kids, and can they even walk?" Lizzie feels worried.

They look so weak.

Lilian didn't answer immediately.

She releases the invisible magic, and they appear in front of those kids. The kids look shocked at their appearance.

The girl with greyish-brown hair asked, "Who are you? Are you trying to buy us?"

Lizzie looks at Lilian, and Lilian looks at her. What the hell does this child think when she says that? Can't she see that they're kids too, so how can they have money to buy them?

"No. We're trying to help you." Lizzie said.

"Help us? Don't lie...!" The boy who sits next to her shouts angrily.

"Don't be too loud. We will get caught." Lilian was calm.

Lizzie stared at them without saying anything. There are many prisons, and many kids are stuck in them. The kids were staring at them with a wary look since Lizzie and Lilian looked much smaller than the kids that were locked in.

"Do you guys want to live?" Lizzie asked with a confident voice.

The kids didn't answer and looked at each other before nodding their heads. The boy who shouted at them also nodded seriously. No matter how much they don't believe in Lizzie and Lilian, they can't lie about the fact that they want to be free and live. They don't want to die.

"What do we do now, Lilian? Use invisibility magic to get out of here, or what?" Lizzie asked Lilian with a calm look.

Lilian shook her head with a serious look.

"I can't use invisibility magic since there are too many kids here. I'm afraid I will run out of energy real quick."

This is the body of a child, so it is possible that she will run out of energy if she uses too much magic.

"Then what do we do?" Lizzie asked because she didn't know what to do.

"I tried to open the magic portal." Lilian's confident words made Lizzie look at her while frowning.

Not all sorcerer can open magic portals. Only those with a lot of mana can do that, but, based on what Chevelure said before sending them here, she should be able to open the magic portal too. But this is their first time in this body, so can she really do that?

"Can you do that? In the book, it's the magic that needs a lot of energy too. Can you use it?" Lizzie was worried, but Lilian is confident in her talent.

"I need to try it out to know."

"Then where do you want to open the magic portal? What place will you send them to?"

"The place we rest before coming here"

"That's a good place too. Then do it fast."

"Open this prison. I'll open the portal here. And open all the prisons and ask them to come here." Lilian spoke calmly.

Lizzie nodded.

"What are you guys talking about? How can you open this iron prison cell? And what is that about the magic portal?" The boy asked when Lizzie grabbed the iron prison cell.

"Well, like this?"

She broke it without much difficulty, and the kids eyes widened as if they saw something crazy. They probably doubt their ability since they're younger than these kids. Lilian and Lizzie look smaller and a lot weaker, so it's normal for these kids to have a lot of doubt.

"H—How...?!"

They were shocked. But they don't have time to answer those suspicious questions.

"Lilian. You better hurry and open the portal. I'm going to open all the prison cells." Lizzie said, and Lilian nodded.

Based on the novel, mages here didn't need to memorise any spells. Of course, there were some magician that used magic spells, but they got stuck in the magic tower and were called out when it was really urgent.

The standard for measuring the greatness of a mage was 'how much power they need to utilise to cause a natural phenomenon'. A great mage was regarded as someone who could cause a huge natural phenomenon while using only a small fraction of their power.

The standard for measuring the skill of a mage was their efficiency. Or rather, those wizards who could control the elements with minimal effort were the most talented.

She entered the prison and walked towards the wall. She stretched her hand forward, and she felt a gentle breeze of air that she could control as she wanted. The light gust of air wrapped around her fingers, hugging her hand like a gossamer glove.

However, she felt very uneasy since this was the first time her body had been used to channel such a huge amount of power.

'It will work out, right?'

She quickly got rid of that thought.

She had to concentrate. If she were to lose focus for even a second, the flow of air would be scattered. She closed her eyes to centre her mind.

The black hole appeared as she felt the power wrap around her hand. It really needs a lot of energy, but she can bear with it. It's not that hard, but she can feel the magic keep using her energy, and she feels like she's getting weak.

"Quick! Move!" Lilian told them to enter the hole, but all of them looked reluctant to do so. "What are you guys doing? Move fast! The count will arrive at any time soon!" Lilian tried to force them, but they didn't move at all.

"How can we believe you? You might be trying to kill us." The boy said it with a trembling voice.

It's not weird for them to be so wary, even though Lilian and Lizzie are simply trying to help them. They probably get tired of being deceived all the time.

"We're trying to help. If you guys keep doing this, everyone will die. Trust me. We're not trying to harm any of you. We need to get all of you out of here, so go right now." Lilian said.

"Then I will go first."

The greyish-brown-haired girl said as she stepped forward. The brown-haired boy immediately stopped her by grabbing her hands.

"What if this is a trap?" The boy asks, but the girl smiles softly.

"We need to try. I don't want to die in this place. It's cold and lonely. And I also don't want to be sold as a slave." She said.

The boy didn't say anything and let go of her hands.

She entered the hole without much thought. The other kids look at each other when the girl disappears through a hole.

"Let's go too."

The other girls started to move and entered the hole one by one, while the boys looked hesitant.

"Hey! Move fast! The count will appear!" Lizzie's loud voice was heard as she opened the last prison cell.

"Come on...! We need to run!" Lilian tried to reassure them, but it didn't work.

Other kids from another prison immediately went to the hole without much thought, but some of them refused to enter. Lilian tries to persuade them, but it's no use.

"What the hell is this situation?"

"F—ck!" Lizzie spit out abusive language when the group of adult men appeared in front of them.

"Count Glen," Lilian muttered in a low voice.

Count Glen, who has brown hair and green eyes, is staring at them. He's fat and ugly, but he was protected by his escort knight. His escort knight looked strong.

Lilian and Lizzie look very cautious. Lizzie stood in front of the prison cell to stop those people from entering the prison, where the kids were still standing.

"Where is this kid coming from...?"

Xenon shouted when he saw two girls he had never seen before. The fact that all prisons were opened by force made him mad, and right now, there's even a magic portal in this prison! How can this happen?

"Move immediately...!" Lilian said to the kids, but they just didn't move because they felt scared by those men. "Ha, this is troublesome. Lizzie, can you knock them out? How many people are there?" Lilian asked as she walked and stood by her side.

"There are about twenty people. I think I can try knocking out fifteen of them." Lizzie said as she stared at them.

Lizzie's energy was running out since she used her strength to open the prison cell. No matter how powerful they will be in the future, they are still in the body of a child. They didn't have much energy.

"Then please do so." Lilian said to her, and Lizzie nodded.

"Wait for me here." Lizzie moves her body and punches them.

Most of them flew off and hit the wall. The wall cracked, and the cave shook terribly as if it were about to fall. But Lizzie didn't stop. She kept punching and kicking them like a mad person.

She succeeds in knocking them out with just one kick and punch, but she gets weaker as time passes. No matter how strong she is, she still has her limits as a kid.

Count Glen, who didn't get hit, stared at Lizzie with a dangerous gaze. Xenon, who stood by his side, looked scared by the crazy situation he saw for the first time.

"Glen. Bring the monster, and let's get out of this place." Lilian looked at Count Glen, who whispered to Xenon.

So they want to run, huh?

"M—Monster? But they're not stable yet." Xenon was worried.

That's right. Monsters and humans were locked up in this cave. They do some experiments using monsters, and they sell humans to gain money to do this experiment.

"Who cares about that? We need to release them and kill those remaining children." He said.

"What about the kids that run away?"

"They probably can't run that far. Didn't we put magic on them? Just kill them with that magic."

Lilian frown. Magic...? She looked at those kids who refused to enter the hole. They probably know about the magic that was placed on their bodies.

Count Glen and Xenon disappear really fast because the moment Lilian turns her head towards them, they are already gone.

"Things are getting more complicated. Magic...? At this rate, I need to free this kid from those magic spells first for them to be truly free, but what about the kids who've already run away?" Lilian muttered and grabbed her hair with a complicated expression.

"A monster!" The kids voices make Lilian look in front of her again.

Lizzie, who has already knocked out all of the humans, looks at the monsters with round eyes. In the novel, this monster was called a troll. It's very big and dangerous. Trolls heal incredibly fast. Even if they lose their limbs, they can catch them or grow them back.

Therefore, you must quickly behead a troll in order to kill it. But its neck is as thick and hard as a tree stump, so it's nearly impossible to serve them with normal human strength.

"Kerghh... Arghhh..! Arghhh!" The kids screaming was heard at the same time.

Lilian and Lizzie look at them and see the magic pattern that was carved on their skin.

"This...?!" Lizzie, who recognised the pattern, opened her mouth in shock.

It's a magic that the owner places on their slave to make sure they don't run away, and even if they did, they would suffer and die if they were too far from the owner.

"Lilian, what do we do now?" Lizzie looks tired.

"We need to gather the kids. I will undo the spell."

"Can you do that?" Lizzie asked again.

"I'm confident in myself."

"Then let's go through the portal first."

Lizzie can't kill the trolls since she doesn't have a sword that can slash their heads, so they have no choice but to run. But it's hard because the kids refuse to move.

"But how do we get them to go through the portal?" Lizzie asked with a cautious gesture.

"Throw them."