A Strange Rescue

The Church of Light's priest immediately cast Level 7 Magic. Two fire dragons surged toward the charging warriors.

The Divine Beast Cult's mage couldn't just stand by and watch his ally get attacked, so he cast the Level 7 Magic "Wall of Ice" again.

While the Wall of Ice held them back, a young man from the Divine Beast Cult leaped onto the ship and charged straight at the priest of the Church of Light. Since the priest was a mage, his contracted beast, a saber-toothed tiger, blocked the young man's path.

"Go get the target."

After the Divine Beast Cult's leader gave the order, several young men darted past the fighting forces and rushed deeper into the ship!

When the ship rocked, Matthews immediately sensed something was wrong. It seemed someone had come to rescue the mage opposite him. He'd only arrived in this world recently and had no connections, so it looked like he'd have to rely on the young man locked up with him to escape.

"Help... me."

When Matthews said this, the imprisoned mage stared at his strange, halting speech and assumed his friend had come to rescue him. He answered Matthews, "Ah... sure."

A young warrior charged straight toward the cage holding Matthews and cut through the bars and chains with a few swings.

"Wait, weren't you here to save me?"

The young mage was completely dumbfounded when he saw the warrior enter. As they took Matthews away, it was the mage's turn to cry for help. "Take me with you!"

Seeing this, the young warrior from the Divine Beast Cult casually cut through the mage's Magic-suppressing Stone restraints, too.

"Hahaha, thanks!"

Matthews had already been betrayed and auctioned off. He no longer trusted anyone, so the moment he was free, he began surveying his surroundings and preparing to escape.

The young man who had rescued Matthews said coolly, "If you don't want to die, follow me."

"Boom—"

Another explosion rang out. The ship couldn't withstand even a moment of the battle between the Level Seven warrior and mage before breaking apart.

Matthews saw what was happening and jumped straight into the river, swimming downstream.

The Church of Light hadn't brought many people, and before long, the Divine Beast Cult had wiped them all out.

"Where's the target?"

"My lord, the target fell into the river when the ship broke apart."

"What? Hurry and find him."

Although the young leader of the Divine Beast Cult had killed a Level Seven mage-priest from the Church of Light, the body that could allow the Church of Light to summon a Level Nine angel was the real priority.

While the others began searching for Matthews along the riverbank, the rescued mage walked up to the young leader of the Divine Beast Cult. "Thank you for saving my life. My name is Zorn."

The leader of the Divine Beast Cult knew the young man was a Level Six mage and a promising talent. "You've angered the Church of Light. Why not join me?"

Zorn thought it over for a moment, then agreed. The search continued for about half an hour.

"My lord, we still haven't found him."

"Let's go. This is still territory controlled by the Church of Light."

They had fought the Church of Light's men here, even if it was on a remote stretch of river. The longer they stayed, the greater the risk of being discovered.

Meanwhile, Matthews was heading downstream with the current.

"Hehe, good thing I learned to swim with the guys last year."

Matthews had only learned to swim a year ago, and he wasn't yet skilled enough to confidently swim in rivers. Drifting with the current for half an hour was already his limit.

"Half an hour should be enough to get away. They probably can't catch up. This looks like where several tributaries meet. I need to get to shore."

Just as Matthews was thinking about making for the bank, a flash flood surged out of a tributary, carrying lumber and dead trees with it.

"Ah—"

Matthews wasn't a strong swimmer. When branches got in his way, he immediately swallowed several mouthfuls of water and passed out.

A day later, a seven-year-old girl in ragged clothes went to the river to collect branches. She spotted a person caught among the dead branches by the bank. When she went closer, she saw Matthews unconscious.

Her life was already difficult, and she hesitated over whether she should help the injured big brother.

In the end, she dragged Matthews back to her little tent by the riverbank. Then she tore a strip from her ragged skirt and bandaged the wounds he'd sustained during the earlier battle.

The morning sunlight filtered through the trees growing between the cliffs and shone into the simple shelter built from branches.

"Mm..."

Someone stretched with a groan.

Matthews shifted his aching waist, which had been pressed against a rock beneath him, then immediately realized something was wrong. Hadn't he passed out after swallowing water in the river? How could he feel a rock beneath him now?

When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a pile of dry grass inside a crude thatched shelter.

He touched his injuries and discovered that someone had already bandaged them.

Matthews had just sat up when a ragged little girl came running over happily and chattered at him.

"Big brother, you're awake!"

"I saved you from the river yesterday. I'm your lifesaver, so you can't bully Mia later."

Matthews had only spent some time with the mercenary group that betrayed him, where he'd picked up a handful of words from this world. He could only understand a little of what she was saying. Seeing that the girl didn't seem like a threat, he said, "Thanks."

The little girl understood Matthews's strangely pronounced thanks and immediately brightened up.

"Big brother, you hurt your head. I bandaged it with my skirt. It's the first time Mia has ever bandaged anyone's wound. Mia's really good at it!"

Matthews ignored the chattering little girl and walked over to the river to wash his face, which felt unpleasant after being soaked.

In the reflection on the water, he saw that the wound on his head had been wrapped with a cute little bow.

"Pfft—"

Matthews burst out laughing at the bow. Who tied a bow when bandaging a wound?

Only kindhearted little girls would instinctively tie such a cute bow. And the one who'd saved him was just a dirty, ragged little girl.

"Ah, she's a poor little girl, too."

"Big brother, you look so handsome when you smile."

Seeing Matthews smile, the little girl offered him the small fish she'd caught that day.

"Big brother, I'll share my fish with you."

Matthews said, "You eat it."

The little girl couldn't understand what Matthews was saying. She thought he didn't know how to eat fish, so she picked it up, took a bite raw, then offered it to him again.

"Big brother, eat it like this."