(Because?)
During these minutes that Carter was following Arthur, this question crossed his mind, he also looked at Arthur's back and tails who continued to guide the group with the compass in his hand.
He couldn't understand where Arthur's strength was coming from, he was so calm and calm, as if all this chaos didn't exist.
Even when the group faced another fight, Arthur remained calm and even occasionally activated his magical artifacts to aid the guards.
This was not something a man could do, men were supposed to be protected, however, Arthur was supporting the guards from behind and he was not being protected by them.
Likewise, a great feeling of security invaded him and he did not dare to stray too far from Arthur.
Rather, he even took one of his tails as a means of alleviating his fears.
"Because?"
"Hm?"
But Carter's curiosity was greater, that he asked directly.
"Because you help me? …"
"..."
Arthur didn't reply, but seeing Carter's lips tremble, he sighed.
If Carter was taken to his old world, he was the female version of a rich girl who had been kidnapped, and suddenly he was saved, by the person he hates the most, just when no one helped him, the only person who came to his rescue it was that person whom he rejected his friendship.
This left him confused ...
"Because we are friends..."
Smiling, Arthur turned and continued to support the guards from behind.
"... !!"
Arthur's words stunned Carter and he felt worse than a cockroach.
Only now did he understand that Arthur was sincere when he said that he wanted to be his friend.
(What a fool I have been ...)
Lowering his head, Carter decided, when this is all over, Arthur would be his brother sworn to him.
Likewise, he thought about all the damage he has done to Arthur during these two years, this embarrassed him even more.
----------
"Hm?"
"Young Master ..."
But as Carter sank into his thoughts, the compass in Arthur's hand reversed his needle and pointed at a bush in front of him.
This left him a bit confused and with high expectations, he opened his fan ready to attack, and took a look.
CC-1 stepped forward and prepared to attack, at the same time parting the bush.
In the middle of the bush, there was a small hole and inside it was a girl with golden hair curling into a ball with her two tails.
Her presence and flow from her were so tiny, that if she weren't for the compass, Arthur would be unable to detect her.
Seeing this girl, CC-1 sighed in relief and Arthur stepped forward.
"Miss Hatsumi?"
"... !!"
Upon being called, Hatsumi trembled in panic as she shrugged even harder, however upon recognizing her voice, she stuck her head out and looked up.
"Arthur !!"
Hatsumi's eyes lit up and without wasting time she came out of the hole and she jumped into Arthur's arms.
"Thank you! Thank you for coming for me!"
Hugging Arthur tightly, Hatsumi began to cry and her tails ran around Arthur's waist refusing to let him go.
After her bodyguards were eliminated, Hatsumi followed Lupeta's instructions and hid in that bush, even digging a small hole.
At the same time she bought in the store a mana reduction potion and an Artifact that hides her vitality, with this her presence would be as weak as a small insect, so these female rats would ignore her and she would be safe.
But this was no longer necessary, Arthur had found her, knew that she would be safe, at least in the novel the protagonist was always safe when she was with Arthur and she thought that being Arthur's cousin, he had come to save her.
Recounting her experience, Hatsumi continued crying and let Arthur pamper her.
"...."
Sighing, Arthur stroked her back and comforted kindly, at least this girl stayed safe, even after her guards were defeated.
Although the hiding solution was good, it was only temporary, since if Arthur could find it, so could the elemental rats, to hide they needed anti-detection artifacts, like those used by Arthur and the group to become invisible and mask their aura and power magical.
"Okay, I'll protect you but don't get too far from me"
"Hm!"
Attending, Hatsumi hugged her arm tightly, likewise a tail of Hatsumi wrapped around Arthur's waist.
This rendered Arthur defenseless.
*Doorbell
[Hidden mission activated]
[Task: Survive the invasion of the elemental rats and avoid the kidnapping of Arthur Van Panthohime]
[Reward: 25,000 origin points, an Innate Ability, and a Legendary Grade Artifact]
[Penalty: The time of the Great World War will accelerate]
Reading this, Hatsumi was dumbfounded and couldn't help but look at Arthur, who was frowning.
"...."
Carter on the other hand narrowed his eyes and thought that Hatsumi's actions are very shameless, she is a woman, it should be her who should protect us, not the other way around.
"Young Master ..."
"Okay, let's keep moving forward ...."
After taking down this team of female rats, the group again became invisible and continued to advance.
-------------
"What do you think, Master?"
[It's bad, this barrier is denying my materialization of my soul, I'm sorry but I can't help you]
Biting her lip, Charlotte thought deeply, half of her guards have already fallen and yet she is being pursued by the Elemental Rats.
She at first she did not put much importance on it, even if her guards cannot with the enemy, she only had to ask Claudia for help, with a high-level existence like Claudia, it would be a piece of cake to get rid of these rats.
However the existence of this barrier changed everything, Claudia could not materialize her soul and protect her.
[This is the work of a World Artifact, the laws and concepts within this barrier have changed, denying not only my existence but also that of the avatars]
After careful analysis, Claudia quickly concluded, for high-level beings like Claudia, only Divine Artifacts and World Artifacts, had the power and effects to deny their existence.
Especially the World Artifacts, these were so-called because they had the power to alter the reality, time, laws, and concepts of the world, some are so powerful that they can destroy the world.
For example [Starfall] by Margareth, its single activation will align the stars and force them to move from their orbits, approaching the world, this has serious consequences since even if the world can defend itself from one or more stars, it could not defend yourself from hundreds of thousands of stars in the universe, pressing your atmosphere.
And with Margareth's gigantic magical power, she could align a few hundred stars, although it would not destroy the world, it would cause serious damage to the world.
Their activation was strictly forbidden by the world government, however at this time, six of these artifacts are activated, of which five of them are locking up Margareth.
"... !!"
Charlotte panicked, like someone who read the novel, she knew how terrible the World Artifacts are, only one of them could take down the low-level Transcendent and erase them from existence.
Also due to the avatars and souls being denied, Arthur was unable to use the Virginity Tattoo to summon Damaris's avatar, leaving him in the same position as Charlotte.
[This troublesome effect, surely belongs to the 'World Code', being able to erase and create concepts, but ... That World Artifact was lost three thousand years ago?]
Thinking deeply, Claudia could not understand it, during the last Great War three thousand years ago, many World Artifacts were lost, it was not known exactly who or what caused it, but that the World Code is activated, meaning that some existence has been hiding...
"World Code ?!"
Charlotte widened her eyes in surprise, after all, she knew the effect as well as the owner of this World Artifact.
During the light novel, in the last volumes, this Artifact was made known and was in the position of one of the greatest antagonists of the novel.
"The Angels"
This troublesome super race, surely they were the cause of this incident.
Thinking of this, Charlotte couldn't help but tremble, since if the angels moved, her target was only one.
"Arthur ..."
The existence of Arthur for the angels is crucial, this was not about genes or procreation, but about something far beyond.
(But it is too soon)
The Angels kidnapped Arthur in the novel, however it was only when Arthur was 12 years old, there were still 4 years to go before the event.
Also when the angels kidnapped Arthur at that time, they did not use World Artifacts.
(Margareth!)
Like a flash of inspiration, Charlotte was able to spot the culprit, after all in the novel, Margareth was a character that appeared in Volume 5, in the Academy arc.
Never in the Spin-off or Arthur's childhood, due to her presence, the difficulty of the event increased and this caused the angels to use their World Artifacts.
This event was nothing like the Spin-off and there were too many variables.
With so many problems in her head, Charlotte made use of all her mental capacity to find a solution, unfortunately, she could not find it, at this rate Arthur would be successfully kidnapped.
[Worried about your little boyfriend?]
Seeing her student scratch her head in frustration and lose herself in her thoughts, Claudia joked.
For two years she has been watching her student courtship and she knew how much Arthur meant to Charlotte.
"Master ... I ..."
[Don't worry, he is the only Spirit Fox in the world, his destiny is not easy]
Consoling her student, Claudia smiled as she looked towards the barrier.
"Your Highness from her Charlotte, we must keep moving"
With Charlotte stopping, her guards quickly spoke, they had already lost half of them, she didn't want to keep losing more people.
"Yes..."
Attending, Charlotte gritted her teeth and moved on, she needed to get out of this barrier and also report this matter to Damaris, she absolutely must stop the Angels.
-----------------
"Quick! Destroy those rats! My future husband is waiting for me!"
At the same time in another part of the park, Lilian with several rings around her body made her way through the crowd of rats, while her bodyguards did everything possible to defend her.
Lilian being reckless, she was not afraid also she was activating her Artifacts left and right, bringing chaos to the elemental rats.
She was very worried, her fiancé was in danger and as her future wife, she must protect him.
(This is my opportunity!)
She also thought that this was a good opportunity to show her strengths to her dear Arthur, surely Arthur would be delighted and fall in love with her if shows her strength and saves him from these rats.
Like in those fairy tales, where a princess saves her prince from danger.
In those most vulnerable moments, Lilian would take advantage of Arthur's weakness and enter his heart.
That's why she didn't care about consuming her mana, using her Artifacts and she kept pushing the rats.
Her guards were also doing their best to keep up with her princess, surely it is good to live in royalty since her artifacts had no limits and she could continue activating one after another.
Also, even in this barrier where the concepts of space were sealed, the ring where Lilian keeps her artifacts were still active, her ring was one of Ancestral Quality, so it generated its own time, where her artifacts were stored in time, for what he could access them, no matter if it was in the past or future, so this barrier did not affect him in the least.
The pocket dimension of her was special ...
"...."
However, Lilian rushing to Arthur's side was due to another factor.
The royal guards watched as her Princess gnashed her teeth, as she watched a girl pass through the rats without a scratch.
This girl is Ludi, her two fox tails flapped in the wind and sweat ran down her beautiful face.
Ludi like all of her, you had her bodyguards, however, they do not need them at all, since it seemed that the world itself was helping her.
She has absurd luck, no matter what happened, even when bombs and explosions by artifacts threatened her life, she always happened something that saved her.
Lilian even opened her mouth in shock, as more than once hers, her artifacts due to collateral effects, were the saviors of this lucky girl.
Ludi's guards also had problems with this, as they didn't know what to do, they were her bodyguards, but Ludi didn't need them at all.
However, they still followed her young miss.
"Arthur, Hatsumi, Cristie, wait for me, I'm going to save you ....".
Ludi was not aware of this, her mind was elsewhere and she was very worried, she did not want anything bad to happen to her cute and lovely fox, as well as her younger sister and her cute cousin.
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Author's Note: Happy Sunday, don't forget to leave your comment.