Help Me, Hilde

Rudeus felt groggy.

It was like he was dreaming, muddled and unable to fully regain consciousness.

He only felt that his body was curled up in a cramped space, unable to move, unbearably heavy.

He could vaguely hear screams and the sounds of fighting outside.

He tried hard to open his eyes, but all he saw was darkness. He could not even tell whether his eyes were truly open.

What was going on?

How could he get out of this situation?

Magic...

Right, he still had magic.

No, that would not work.

Using magic in an environment like this would only make him the first one to get hurt.

Rudeus found it difficult to think.

In this darkness, even his thoughts seemed to have slowed to a standstill. He could not tell whether he was awake.

Suddenly.

A blinding light burst forth from the darkness.

Like lightning tearing through the curtain of night, Rudeus opened his eyes wide.

The next moment, a familiar face appeared before him.

"Yo, Rudeus."

Hilde sat on the edge of the box.

Seeing Rudeus curled up inside it like a maggot, she smiled. "Long time no see."

"...Hilde?"

Rudeus muttered, startled by how hoarse his own voice sounded.

A hand reached out before him.

Rudeus grasped it instinctively, only to be forcibly pulled out of the box.

He looked around and soon saw a horrifying sight.

Corpses covered the ground, and blood flowed like a river.

A bloody battle had clearly just taken place here.

Rudeus shuddered instinctively. "What kind of hellhole is this, Hilde? Why are you here?"

"This is Royal Capital Arus. I should be the one asking that. Why are you here?"

"I..."

Rudeus was about to think back when his gaze suddenly fell on Hilde.

He noticed the bloodstains on her clothes.

"You're hurt?"

"Who do you think I am? Trash like that couldn't possibly hurt me. It's all enemy blood."

As she spoke, Hilde instinctively hid her left hand behind her back.

Fortunately, Rudeus did not notice her small movement.

After hearing Hilde's explanation, Rudeus immediately chose to believe her.

He began recalling what had happened before he lost consciousness. Perhaps because he had only just awakened, his mind was still somewhat unclear.

Then a cool sensation touched his forehead.

It was Hilde's palm.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't move. I'm going to detoxify you."

"Oh..."

As Hilde activated intermediate detoxification magic.

Rudeus soon felt a cool clarity spread through his mind, and his whole body relaxed considerably.

The next moment, he suddenly came to his senses.

"Eris!"

"What Eris? Who's that?"

"The noble young lady I'm tutoring."

Rudeus climbed out of the box, cold sweat covering his forehead.

"Hilde, did you see a red-haired girl? No, first tell me what's going on. Why... why am I here?"

"It's a long story. Just calm down first."

Hilde also felt that this matter was not so simple.

After all, they had not seen each other for more than half a month, yet her brother had been trafficked here from right under the nose of a great noble.

No one would believe there was nothing suspicious about that.

"Don't panic yet. Tell me everything from the beginning," Hilde said.

"Okay."

Rudeus took a deep breath and suppressed the unease in his heart.

He sat on the box with Hilde, surrounded by corpses that had died gruesome deaths, and began explaining what had happened during this time.

At the same time Hilde arrived in Royal Capital Arus, Rudeus had also reached his destination: Roa City, at the edge of Fittoa Territory.

The lord of Roa City was Philip Boreas Greyrat. He was related to Rudeus by blood, and it had been thanks to this lord's help that Paul had found work as a village resident knight and supported the whole family.

The person Rudeus was meant to tutor was Philip's daughter.

Eris Boreas Greyrat.

Since Ghislaine had warned him beforehand, Rudeus had been somewhat mentally prepared. Even so, this young lady's unruliness far exceeded his expectations. Rather than a noble young lady's temper, she was basically a little demon!

To deal with a little demon, he had to strike hard.

Rudeus decided to stage a "noble young lady kidnapping incident." The plan was to find several people to pose as traffickers and abduct both Eris and him, then, at the critical moment, use his brilliant intellect and unparalleled personal charm to lead the young lady to safety.

During that process, Eris would come to deeply understand the importance of magic.

From then on, she would become obsessed with magic and fall in love with it.

His teaching work would then proceed smoothly.

Rudeus proposed this plan.

Though it sounded rather far-fetched, Philip still chose to support it. After all, Rudeus was probably the only one capable of carrying out such a plan. It was still an option, and there was no harm in trying.

Then something went wrong.

They were supposed to be kidnapped to a neighboring town together, but when he opened his eyes...

He had ended up in this godforsaken place.

"There are at least ten days of travel between Fittoa Territory and Asura Kingdom Territory. Eris and I must have spent those ten days muddled by the effects of the drug."

As Rudeus spoke, he felt a lingering fear himself.

If Hilde had not happened to find him, then perhaps...

His journey in another world really would have ended before it even began.

Damn it.

This world was way too dangerous.

Was this really the kind of dungeon thrown at him right after leaving the beginner village? Had the planners lost their minds?

Rudeus grumbled inwardly before quickly asking again:

"So, do you know where Eris was taken? We have to find her!"

"Find her? I'm afraid there's not much hope."

Hilde thought it over calmly.

Boreas was one of the four great dukes of the Asura Kingdom. Very few people in the entire Asura Kingdom could withstand the retaliation for kidnapping a noble of that rank. Yet those traffickers had still done it. They seemed wary, but they had done it anyway.

That indicated three things.

First, this was not their first time doing something like this.

Second, they had been plotting against Eris for a long time.

Third, the true mastermind behind them was also highly placed, perhaps even powerful enough to cover the sky with one hand.

This was...

The darkness of the Asura Kingdom!

"I advise you to give up."

Hilde calculated the time and shook her head.

"It's been about half an hour since that man in black took the noble young lady away. Half an hour... honestly, I'm not familiar with the royal capital either. We're strangers here, and finding someone deliberately hiding would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Besides, they definitely haven't done this for the first time."

"They're experienced..."

No matter how he looked at it, there was no room to maneuver in this matter.

Hilde also felt that it was nearly impossible.

But...

Rudeus clenched his teeth. He did not want to give up.

Although unforeseen changes had occurred in the middle of the plan, someone had clearly used his plan to cause trouble.

But it had been his plan in the first place. Since something had gone wrong during its execution and resulted in the young lady being trafficked, he was undoubtedly responsible.

And more importantly...

Eris was gone, yet he would return alive.

What kind of situation was that?

Rudeus could not explain himself to the Boreas Family.

He dared not even imagine what would happen to him if the Boreas Family could not find the true mastermind but still needed someone to take responsibility.

Not only him, but even his father's job...

The entire Greyrat family might face utter ruin.

So even if the hope was slim, Rudeus had to struggle.

"Hilde, help me."

He suddenly raised his head to look at Hilde, pleading with her from the bottom of his heart.

"This is complicated. I can't just give up like this, or I won't be able to explain myself to the Boreas Family. And although Eris has a terrible personality, she's still just a child. She shouldn't end up like this."

"So please help me, Hilde."

"If it's you... no, if it's the two of us, we can definitely do it!"

Rudeus spoke solemnly and held out his hand to Hilde.

Without any hesitation.

Hilde gripped Rudeus's hand tightly, a smile curling her lips.

"Since it's your request, there's nothing more to say."