Sitting on the cold stone chair, Jared gently stroked Caroline's long blonde hair, grabbing it and playing with it unconsciously. At this moment, Caroline, pale, almost dead lying there. The original soft and warm skin also lost its temperature, and her eyes were closed tightly as if she did not have any consciousness.
"Come on."
Jared gazed a little nervously at the faintly glowing rune formation on the back of her left hand .
"... Come back soon."
As if echoing Jared's call, the light of the rune array on the back of Caroline's hand became bright in an instant, and then burst out a little bit of stardust-like shimmering light, completely enveloping Caroline's body in it. At this moment, her body slowly began to restore the temperature, her face also became red and smooth again, her chest slightly undulating. Only then did Jared let go of Caroline's long hair and leaned back. Caroline slowly opened her eyes and looked at Jared.
(You shouldn't touch a lady's hair.)
She frowned in protest, but a smug smile that she couldn't hide welled up at the corners of her mouth.
"Well, I apologize."
Jared made a gesture of apology without any sincerity at all.
(... us, did it work?)
"At least it didn't fail ..."
Jared stood up and stretched. The sunlight streamed in between the broken walls, tilting the stone floor with a hazy glow. Everything seemed so peaceful, so serene.
Tawana opened her eyes.
"Woo... what the hell happened?"
All she remembers is that Caroline's thunder-like lightning instantly took everything before her eyes, and then she didn't know anything. And when she opened her eyes now, she realized that she was not lying on the cold earth, but in ... what place is this?! Tawana raised her head in surprise, and what met her eyes surprised her. Emerald green, representing the life of the vines climbing and winding on the walls, the gap between the stone can clearly see the long weeds - in this originally should be in the name of death on the land, how can there be grass?
Tawana hurriedly stood up, only to realize that she was in the middle of a large ruin, which should look like the interior of that castle, but ... why was the light outside so dazzling?! This place should not be dim, everywhere is dark clouds and the death of the Forest of the Undead? She walked to the window in disbelief and looked out carefully. After her eyes adjusted to the light outside, what was in front of her even made Tawana think that she had entered the legendary world.
The green grass covering the land, the trees in the distance exuding life and vigor, the river flowing by with its cool, melodic sound, it was all so surreal that Tawana didn't even know what to say.
"This! What the hell is this place?!"
Behind her came Kelly's voice, and it seemed she was just as inexplicably surprised as Tawana was by what was happening in front of her.
"Yo, you guys awake?"
Jared came over, greeted the two men casually, and threw two apples at them.
"This should be fine, eat it, at least now we don't have to worry about a food crisis."
Receiving the apple, and smelling the sweet flavor on it, the two of them immediately felt that their original hungry stomachs were complaining relentlessly. So they started to eat it, and the sweet and sour flesh entered their mouths, making them feel that it was almost as delicious as the royal jelly. They didn't even care about basic etiquette, they just munched on the apples, and only after each of them had stuffed three or four apples into their stomachs, did they finally catch their breath.
"Brother Jared, what the hell is going on ...?"
After filling her stomach, Tawana immediately asked. In response, Jared scratched his head helplessly and shrugged his shoulders.
"This ... I don't know. Caroline said that you guys were fighting that necromancer, right? After Caroline killed him, this place suddenly became like this, as for what exactly happened, we are not sure."
"... suddenly become this?"
Kelly frowned, thought for a moment, then gasped.
"Could it be that the necromancer has learned how to store the life energy of the earth? Could it be that he ..."
You can guess all you want.
Jared leaned against the wall, half amused, and watched Kelly speculate to herself. In their own world, this level of confusion was impossible. But here was different, this was the world of magic, and the so-called magic was to make sense out of those irrational images, wasn't it? Just let them guess, anyway,... anyway, even if it is himself, also can not figure out what is going on.
"Fortunately, the necromancer is dead."
Dead people don't testify, of course.
Naturally, Jared wasn't stupid enough to let that last one slip out of his stomach.
"Now, in any case, as I see it, the land has been restored to life, and we've made sure there's food to eat. So, let's rest here for a while, and then we'll think about what's to come."
"Brother Jared? Where's Sister Caroline?"
"Caroline, for one, is over there taking a bath ..."
Before Jared could finish his sentence, Kylie jumped to her feet and ran in the direction Jared had pointed out. Tawana smiled awkwardly and gave Jared a quick salute before quickly following.
Women are so strange. Is it the end of the world if you don't shower for two days?
Forget it. I'm the one who looks good when I'm clean.
Obviously, those two people have just come to life and don't even realize the problem. This makes Jared very relieved, after all, if you think about it, there are too many unreasonable places. Even if he thought about it now, surely some genius wizard would use his knowledge to make a reasonable explanation. After all, although there are differences in civilization systems, encountering unknown things but want to use the known knowledge to explain is a common human problem.
I hope there's no problem.
Jared frowned, he knew that Caroline used the "Twilight of the Gods" Thor mode, and he also did the same ... hope that these can be used as an excuse for the characteristics of their magical weapons. Of course, the best case scenario is to kill and silence. But now obviously can not do so, the reason why the front to drive away Kelly is because the two also want to know their secrets of the people the less the better. But in the current situation, since they had to accept her help, there was no way to kill her. What's more, without the problem of food, Tawana would definitely insist on her proposal to go with her and the others. At this point, Jared and Caroline couldn't come up with any viable way to separate.
Almost, it's time for Caroline to drop a hint on her.
"Well, let's do it."
Jared nodded to himself, as if answering a question from some unseen person.
In the end, the group decided to stay in the abandoned castle for a while and wait until tomorrow to decide what to do next. Tawana ran outside to the woods and picked a lot of fruit. Apparently, the hunger of the previous two days had stuck in her memory - even a roasted mouse could be devoured under those circumstances, let alone these delicious fruits.
"This place is just as I expected, a necromancer has made this his residence."
Kelly walked over to the fire, clutching the book she'd gotten from somewhere. The weather was no longer as cold and damp as it had been the previous two nights, but as warm as spring. When she looked up, she could even see the stars in the sky.
Tavana watched her nervously and expectantly, Jared leaned against the wall without much care, and Caroline gently twirled the umbrella in her hand, wondering what she was thinking.
"According to these letters written in demonic language, I can be sure that this necromancer is receiving instructions from the Lord of Souls, and I don't know exactly what they are. The only thing I can understand is that ... "Perhaps even the speaker became disinterested because he realized that no one was listening." Anyway, we defeated an evil mage, and that's something to celebrate, isn't it?"
"Maybe so."
Jared replied, leaning against the wall.
"It has nothing to do with us either."
"But, but brother Jared, we beat a necromancer!"
Tawana was quite excited, although to be honest, all she had done was to cooperate with Kylie when she performed the Wind Barrier. But for a fledgling magician, it was a great achievement.
（You're right, Tawana. You're very proud of yourself, and that's a very big deal.)
Caroline gently stroked Tawana's hair, softly. And Tawana smiled happily, with a contented weariness, and moved closer into Caroline's arms.
"I'm tired too."
Kelly smiled a little, but returned to her aloof and arrogant attitude before anyone realized it. In fact, she was surprised, even shocked, by the strength displayed by Jared and Caroline. Although in this world, it was no secret that there were many warriors of different races, or some hybrids who possessed a variety of unique, beyond the ordinary talent. Kylie had seen warriors who could manipulate flames, or crack the earth, increase their combat power, or increase their speed. But at that time, she didn't give those people a second thought, because no matter what, the talent itself was limited, but the power of magic was infinite. With the limited against the infinite, it was impossible to have any suspenseful results. Of course, for magicians, if they can get the talent warrior, naturally better than ordinary warriors, after all, talent this kind of thing is equivalent to a kind of magic, if the use of the right words, can be very good to improve the combat power.
But honestly, even Kelly couldn't tell what either of their natural abilities were.
Their abilities seem to be quite different from the usual warriors who are born with magic-like abilities.
And their magical weapons also seem to be a bit different from what is commonly rumored on the continent ...
"I guess it's safe here, then I'm going to rest in the other room."
At that thought, Kelly shook her head, then she turned and left the open hall.
Caroline gently put down Tawana, who had fallen asleep, and draped her clothes over her, then walked over to Jared, who was leaning against the wall, staring at the stars, and sat down against his shoulder.
（Why did you just say that?)
"Isn't it right?"
Jared's reply was laced with a bitter smile .
"Even if we defeat them, what can we do? We all know that if you have a heart, there's no end of enemies. They're everywhere. When you defeat one, another one appears. Unless you climb to the top of everything, what's the end? No, there's no end. Why are we pushed that far? Isn't it because we've defeated one enemy after another, only to be greeted by more?"
(...)
"Honestly, even if this necromancer is planning a plot to destroy the world, I'm not interested in stopping it, even if I'm content to be an ignorant little person who will be destroyed with the world the moment it's destroyed. At least I'll have the whole world to bury with me, right? What's so great about being a hero? You thwart one Ra.One's schemes, and another Ra.One comes along. Think of you as a boring, righteous representative and guardian of mankind. I don't think a hero can live the happily ever after that he's dreamed of, it only happens in fairy tales, not in reality. If you want to live a peaceful life, don't make trouble for yourself, or it will never end."
Jared's voice was a little low, and Caroline couldn't help leaning back into him, perhaps because it was so cold.
（I know what you mean, Jared. You're tired, I'm tired ... Maybe, you're right.)
Caroline gently touched her golden eye .
(We'd better not get involved in any disputes.)
Caroline said, leaning on Jared's shoulder, slowly falling asleep.