My Second Chance In Life In Another World

CHAPTER 30: I DID MY BEST

Right after we learned that Carson is living in the slums, we instantly headed there.
 
The slums were located on the outskirts of Craud city, and here you can see many things that are too painful to see, like a child who's so skinny that you can even trace his bones from his body, two women who are fighting for a single piece of bread, an old man who is on the brink of death because of his illness, and many other painful things that a person doesn't want to see.
 
"Don't mind them; we can't do anything to help them; our priority here is saving Chris," Father said.
"Okay," I replied, then looked away from the people I was looking at.
 
While we're walking towards the center of the slums, we can already see the huge house—no, not just a huge house; it is a mansion—in the middle of the slums. When we reach it, we can see two people guarding the gate, and one of them noticed us coming and started to smile.
 
"You two must be the blue-haired magician and his son, right?" asked by the man who is smiling at us.
"Give Chris back," said Father.
"Oh!                Too hasty?              calm down.              Let me ask you one thing first: "Are you here to fight or surrender?" He asked.
"Oh! "Just confirming that if you choose to fight, I don't know what will happen to little Miss in the basement," he added.
"Tsk!"              "We'll come without a fight; it's just the money that you need, right?" Father said
"That's what I want to hear, oy!" "Disarm these two and look if they have any dangerous weapons," said the guy to his fellow guard.
"Don't order me around," the other guy said before heading towards us and checking our bodies to see if we had any dangerous weapons.
"I'll be taking this brat," he said before getting my wooden sword from my side.
 
After that, we are led inside the mansion. The inside of the mansion was so spacious, and you could see stairs heading up and down. That guy said that Chris was held in the basement, so maybe she's there. On the left side of the mansion, I can see many men who seem like Carson's henchmen gambling; their number was around twenty to thirty men, and all of them are looking at us with a scary look.
 
"C'mon, don't stop here; head upstairs," said the guy who led us here.
"I know it," said Father. He then started to walk, heading upstairs.
 
But suddenly something happened that caused all of us to stop what we were doing, even the guys who were gambling; all of us heard a scream, and that scream was the scream of someone in pain.
 
""Aaaarrrrggggghhhhh!"                Someone screams from downstairs, and his next word makes my father and I move our bodies.
"You fucking child! I'll fucking kill you!
 
When we heard that, what came to mind was Chris. Chris was in peril. Before thinking about what would happen, I started to run downstairs, but the guys who are gambling immediately moved too and tried to stop me by throwing their swords at me.
 
"Water shield!" 
"Water shield!"                Shouted by my father and me at the same time, the two walls of water blocked all of the swords that were thrown at me, so I continued running downstairs, heading towards where the scream came from.
 
While I'm running, Father's face came into my mind—the face that he makes before I head downstairs, as if he's saying, "I'm leaving Chris to you." But no matter how you think about it, he's the one who's in the most dangerous spot right now. Can he win against thirty opponents? I will just have to believe that he can and continue to do my own mission, which is to save Chris.
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CHRIS' POV
 
I continue to run, heading towards that stair that is leading upstairs, but this dark corridor is so long, and the dark-haired guy got back to his feet, and now he's chasing me. He's so fast because I know that I make a huge gap between us, but he just closes it in just a minute, and his leg was hurt at this point; if I hadn't injured his leg, maybe he already caught me.
 
"You fucking child! I'll fucking kill you! He shouted.
"Just keep running while you still can; if I ever catch you, you'll be dead!" He added.
 
My body is trembling. I am scared because he's so fast. In just a minute, maybe he can catch me. Maybe it is really wrong for me to try to solve things on my own. I didn't grasp the situation properly. I didn't consider that he was a fast runner and I was a slow runner. Maybe that's wrong, but I did what I could. I don't want to be a burden to Will and Uncle William, and I don't want them to get hurt because of me again. That's why I tried to escape on my own.
 
While I'm thinking that and continuing to run, I see a light coming from upstairs, but on my back, the dark-haired guy has already caught up to me.
 
"You're dead!"
"Vertical slash!"                He shouted, and when it was about to hit, something caught my eye, and the hope that was disappearing from me suddenly came back, and without thinking, I cast a spell.
"Water shield," I shouted, then a wall of water appeared and stopped his sword skill, but my water shield also disappeared, and I fell back to the ground.
 
"You're still resisting?" "Don't you get it?" "You already lost," he said.
"Yes, I lost, and that's a fact, but I did my best just to get here; I used all of what I learned, and I utilized the technique that you taught me, so can you praise me even just a little, Will?" I said, and then a dark-haired boy the same age as me appeared in front of me with a stance as if protecting me from the guy who was about to kill me. 
 
The dark-haired boy looked at me and smiled.
 
"You did your best to get here; I don't know how hard it might be, but I'm glad you're not hurt," he said.
"Now that I'm here, you can leave everything to me; I won't ever let him lay a hand on you," he added.
 
Tears started to fall from my eyes; it's not fair. Will, why are you always there at the right time when I need you? I'm not saying that I'm not glad that you're always helping me, but if you continue it, I will just rely on you forever, and I don't want that because I want to be as strong as you. I don't want to be a burden to you. I want to stand on equal footing with you. That's why I can't rely on you too much, or I won't get stronger. While thinking that, I started to stand up and stand by his side.
 
"Will, I will fight too." "I don't want to just watch you fight; I want to be stronger and fight by your side." "If I keep relying on you, I will not become stronger, so let me fight too," I said to Will.
"Chris," he said, then smiled, "you just didn't realize it, but you've grown plenty stronger." "If that's what you wish, then prepare your heart and your stance now; it seems that our opponent has a short temper." He said then that he looked at the black-haired guy.
"Are you done talking?" "No matter how many of you brats came here, you still don't have a chance of winning against me," he said.
"Is that because you can use sword skills?" Will said sarcastically.
"It seems you're belittling me; let me prove it to you." "I don't care if you're a child or not; anyone who's a dog of this fucking kingdom is going to die on my hands."
 
After he said that, he prepared his stance, so Will also prepared his stance, and I followed suit. With that silence that started to envelop us, we marked the start of our battle.