Chapter 39

Hard Carry Support

Chapter 39 – Twilight Temple (3)

Both priests looked at each other and nodded after applying a lot of different spells on the little girl, and then they left the room. 

Hyun slowly approached the girl once he couldn’t hear the men anymore.

Then their eyes met again.

‘What’s happening?’

The girl’s eyes were still out of focus.

Her face was even paler than before.

Hyun immediately took out an item from his inventory.

—It was an elixir that allowed you to recover from any abnormal status condition.

It was an item Hyun had obtained after defeating a hidden named monster, but he didn’t hesitate for even a second before using it on the girl.

Hyun carefully dripped the elixir into the girl’s mouth.

“Ugh… This place.”

The elixir quickly took effect.

The girl soon began to mumble.

Once Hyun freed her from the chains binding her, she fully recovered her consciousness.

Thankfully, the chains weren’t magical items, so Hyun could break them with the things he was carrying.

The girl seemed moved by the sight of Hyun freeing her from the chains.

“Ooh, you’re trying to free me? You have my gratitude! But tell me, who are you? And why are you trying to save me?” she said.

“Be quiet…”

Hyun was afraid of her voice leaking out through the door. 

The girl, who had then been freed, looked at Hyun with teary eyes.

“Ugh… I’m hungry. Won’t you sell me something to eat?”

“Something to eat…?”

“Yes, anything is good. I’m okay with anything!”

When he looked inside his inventory, he found an old piece of bread.

It was the food you got for free when you created a character, but Hyun had never even tried it.

If he was hungry, he could just log out and grab some food.

A user did not need to solve basic needs inside the game. 

As Hyun took out a piece of bread from his inventory, the girl exclaimed in excitement. 

“Oh, ohh…!”

The little hands that were about to grab the bread suddenly stopped. 

The girl’s face, while she was rummaging through her pockets, was wet with tears.

After checking out her pockets for a while, she spoke. 

“I… Don’t seem to have any money with me.”

Just like she said, she didn’t have anything.

To be more precise, she didn’t have anything that could be turned into money. 

The necklace the girl was wearing around her neck…

The blue jewel placed in the middle shone even in the dark.

—It could probably be sold for hundreds of gold in the market.

He was wondering how they hadn’t taken that necklace from her. 

The girl got surprised because Hyun had placed his eyes on her necklace; she quickly wrapped her hands around it.

“I… I cannot give you this…! I cannot lose this…!”

“I won’t take it.”

The necklace did indeed look expensive, but he wasn’t interested in that.

What he wanted to know was her identity and why she was in that situation. 

“You can pay me back later on, so just eat.”

“Are you sure…?! How much do I owe you?!”

“10 gold…”

The girl’s face brightened at Hyun’s words.

In the Asrian world, 10 gold wasn’t a small amount of money.

Not only that, but she hadn’t asked him to give her some food, she had asked him to sell it to her…

The girl had an unusual set of values.

“It’s delicious…! So delicious…!”

She ate the food in the blink of an eye.

‘If she eats it like that, won’t her throat become stuffy?’ 

Hyun took out a bottle of water from his inventory.

Just like with the food, Asrian’s user didn’t feel thirst, so he had no real use for the water bottles. 

The girl drank the water.

After taking a few sips, she became worried.

“How much is the water…?”

“That’s a service if you pay for the bread.”

“Service…?”

“I mean, it’s free.”

Ohh- After nodding her head, her facial expression brightened.

The girl ate and drank what was left of the bread and water.

Hyun was just watching her.

“What’s your name?”

The girl shrugged her shoulders in surprise, but after a while, she answered.

“Louise… You can call me Louise.”

“Louise?”

Hyun went through the Asra Online information he had in his head.

Because he had played the story content, he knew most of the important information about the relevant NPCs. 

But it was his first time hearing the name Louise.

If he didn’t have it on the NPC list, that meant that she wasn’t important in the game’s story.

‘It seems like the name of a noble…’

‘Why did the temple lock down the daughter of a noble family?’

He couldn’t even imagine what was behind the event.

‘What should I do…’

Suddenly, he had one more concern: he was clearly an outsider to the temple.

If he left, he would move on, and it would be as if their meeting had never taken place.

But Hyun was having a hard time abandoning her like that.

The scared expression the little girl had on her face was real.

Should he get involved? Or just ignore the whole situation?

Ting- While Hyun wondered about that, he got a quest notification.

[ ]

– The girl that has been trapped in the temple by unknown people is waiting for someone to help her. She may need your help.

After reading the details of the quest, Hyun scrunched his eyebrows.

The rules were different.

In Asrian, most quests were activated when an NPC asked you for a favor.

But right then, even though Louise hadn’t said anything, a quest had activated.

‘Main Quest?’

It was a phrase he had never seen in Asra Online.

Hyun’s eyes widened after reading the words ‘Main Quest’. 

‘This means she isn’t just a simple NPC… Right?’

Hyun looked at Louise up and down again.

Her outer appearance was that of a normal 10 years old kid.

She had a peculiar way of speaking, and the situation she was in was even stranger.

The girl who had finished the bread looked at Hyun with uneasiness while drinking water.

He could sense what she was feeling.

Her eyes were filled with fear.

* * *

* * *

“Do you want to get out of here?” Hyun said without noticing.

“C… Can you help me…?” Louise asked Hyun while trembling.

“Sob, Sob…”

Tears flowed from the girl’s eyes. Although she hadn’t told him the reason, he thought he could understand a little bit of what was going on.

Hyun let her cry for a moment—he thought that would be for the best.

“I’ll help you get out. After all, I have a lot of free time.”

After Louise stopped crying, Hyun opened the window.

It was night outside.

Hyun grabbed Louise with his arms and jumped.

‘If it’s now…’

Maybe it was because of the time, but he couldn’t see the priests he had seen during the day. 

The temple at night was engulfed in silence.

They probably wouldn’t be found out if they hid in the darkness.

Hyun began walking quickly with Louise.

‘Who?!’

Hyun turned his head around.

He felt the presence of someone from the side.

‘Huh…?’

Was he mistaken? There wasn’t anyone there.

Had his senses become sharper?

Anyway, he thought it would be better if they escaped from the temple as quickly as possible.

“Can you run quickly?” Hyun asked Louise.

“A… Are you asking me?”

“Is there anyone here besides you?”

Louise answered Hyun’s question while mumbling.

“I can move somewhat fast… I’m able to use wind magic…”

“That’s great. Let’s go.”

What Louise could use was wind-type magic of the moving type.

Swoosh- She cast wind and began running.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t that much difference compared to Hyun’s speed.

They soon got out of the temple, and a straight road appeared.

—It was the road he had seen while going to the Twilight Temple.

Hyun began running down it with Louise.

‘Wait a moment. There’s something strange…’

Hyun felt as if a ghost had tricked them.

‘Wasn’t the distance only 10 minutes when walking?’

It didn’t matter how much they ran. There didn’t seem to be an end to the road. 

He felt as if they’d been running in a loop.

He turned around.

The distance between them and the temple hadn’t decreased.

“What’s happening… There doesn’t seem to be an end.” Louise asked Hyun with uneasiness—it seemed that she also felt that something was wrong.

Hyun and Louise were trapped in the forest maze. 

‘Is there a barrier here?’

That was the only explanation he could come up with.

But he couldn’t go back to the temple.

The moment they were struggling with what they should do…

A white light rose from the direction of the temple.

A white light was shot into the night sky as if it was a firework.

Then the lights changed direction toward where Hyun and Louise were standing and hit something that was in front of them.

Clang!

Hyun and Louise were thrown to the floor from the explosion’s shock.

“S… Something came flying from behind…!”

Even if she hadn’t told him, he knew what had happened.

The scenery in front of them changed. 

‘What’s happening?’

The endless road had disappeared, and a thick forest was in its place. 

A lot of weird things were happening one after the other.

‘Did someone help us?’

After the light hit them, it was clear that something like a barrier had broke.

It was clearly magic that was shot from the temple.

‘Damn it. I don’t know what’s going on!’

He wasn’t sure about anything.

The only thing he knew was that the child was involved in something big. 

…Or maybe she was the center of the incident.

The tumult in the temple was getting stronger.

There was no time to doubt.

Hyun grabbed Louis’s arms and began running toward the forest.

He thought that option would be better even if they found a monster that lived in the forest.

“Do you have any destinations in mind?” Hyun asked Louise while running.

Louise shook her head. 

If she didn’t have anywhere to go, it would be better if they went as far away as possible from the temple.

‘We have no choice but to cross the forest… The closest town to this forest is Lecatra Castle, so we should go there first!’

Both started to run across the forest.

The good thing was that Louise ran almost as fast as Hyun.

To be more precise, she wasn’t running—she was using magic that used the wind to move her. 

Thanks to that, Louise didn’t get out of breath easily.

‘How far can we run away…?’

Even while running, Hyun constantly turned his head around. 

The forest that Gluna illuminated was as bright as a city’s nightscape. 

If someone came chasing them, they wouldn’t be able to escape easily. 

Hyun’s worries very soon became reality.

“Hide…!”

Hyun, who had suddenly stopped running, pressed Louise’s shoulders.

“W… What are you doing…?!”

“Shh, be quiet…”

They kneeled and hid behind a rock while trying to hold their breaths.

Hyun and Louise could see a shadow approaching them from a distance.

‘Did they catch up to us already…?’

A shadow figure wearing black clothes was slowly walking across the forest.

He took a closer look.

The shadow was wearing tight clothes and was using a mask to cover the mouth. 

—It was a typical Thief outfit.

Because of the tight clothes, he knew that the one following them was a woman.

‘She’s not a priestess…’

Hyun tried to think.

Was she an assassin?

Why was there someone like her at a temple?

What level was she?

Could he beat her in a fight?

While he was thinking, the girl chasing them down was getting closer.

If they remained still, it would be a matter of time before she discovered them. 

Whish-!

Suddenly, a sharp dagger came flying toward them.

A blind spot! An unexpected surprise attack!

The blue dagger came flying toward Louise’s neck.

«One Second Absorption»!

Hyun immediately used his skill.

Clash!

The dagger that came flying as fast as light bounced off Louise’s neck. 

Louise flopped down while touching her neck. 

“Ah, ugh…”

It seems like she thought for a moment that she had died.

Her thin hands that were touching the ground were shaking.

“Tsk…!”

Hyun turned around.

The one who had launched a surprise attack on them was someone who appeared from behind.

It was a man who was standing still with his hands extended.

“…”

Since his attack had failed, he stood still because of the unexpected result, but his expression hadn’t changed. 

It seemed like the woman also heard the noise and was quickly approaching them.

Hyun’s heart began beating faster. 

‘Damn it. This isn’t a joke…’

He had been lucky to block the last attack with his «One Second Absorption».

Hyun remembered something from the past.

The hidden named boss, Leopard.

His main attack, ‘Ice Top,’ was so fast that if he or Ain weren’t concentrating, they wouldn’t have been able to brush it off.

But those peoples’ attacks were faster than Leopards.

‘It’s too dangerous.’

The opponents were getting closer to them.

Even though they were walking while stepping on the fallen leaves, they weren’t making any noise. It was as if they were cats. 

Hyun’s eyes sank coldly as he watched them. 

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