Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 186

Charlie’s experience with “pain” was actually quite limited.

In his more than twenty years of life, he couldn’t say he had never been injured, but most incidents occurred under the strict surveillance of Lord Fahim in Fortuna City. Fahim considered their blood to be the ultimate taboo. There was an instance when a servant was severely reprimanded because he briefly looked away, and restless Charlie climbed a tree and scraped his palm. That very day, several caretakers were replaced.

During their exploratory childhood phase, it was nearly impossible to avoid bumps and scrapes, but the domineering Fahim managed to minimize any incidents involving blood. When Louis was prone to nosebleeds before the age of five, adults were even assigned to sleep with them to prevent any bleeding during sleep.

This upbringing led the brothers to view injuries and bleeding as more severe than death for a time.

However, this didn’t reduce their sensitivity to pain. After Charlie’s body instinctively stiffened for a moment, the pain immediately surged from his spine to the back of his head. His arm dropped, and the weakened Prima collapsed against him, rolling out of the magical array’s range as he moved his foot.

Seeing that his sword strike missed, Khalif intended to pull back, but Charlie lifted his leg and kicked. Although his brain registered the kick, his heavy body couldn’t keep up with his consciousness, causing him to stumble back two steps. Charlie then used his back to push open the door. By this time, Louis had arrived and reached out to grab him.

Charlie’s large, round rabbit eyes looked at Louis and suddenly grinned. Louis pressed his lips tightly together, stubbornly holding out his hand—but Charlie had no intention of responding. He didn’t even look back to see what was inside the door. He maintained his position, facing Louis, as he backed into the door.

“No!” Khalif roared, lunging forward, but Louis slammed into him. Both of them groaned from their injuries. Khalif refused to give up and reached for the door, but it closed firmly in front of him, the handle clicking back into place with a clear sound.

Sven fared slightly better than Khalif. He panted heavily, trying to shake off Nieman, but a mage’s physical strength was always a weakness. His helper, Xanye, had her neck snapped by Urch in the white mist, collapsing limply against the wall.

“Prima, right, Prima.” Khalif gasped heavily, turning to find his daughter, whom he had momentarily forgotten. He wanted to pull her up, but his body was already at its limit. Urch attempted to step forward but was blocked by McMullan.

McMullan and Vasilia had somehow ceased fighting. Urch looked surprised at McMullan, who was ready to fight.

“What are you doing?” Urch asked in confusion, looking at McMullan, then at Nieman, who had Sven under control.

“Don’t you understand yet?” McMullan said calmly, his gaze falling behind Urch, where Louis stood in front of Prima, blocking Khalif’s desperate gaze at her.

“It’s useless, Khalif,” Sven rasped. “You know each door can only be used once, hahahaha!”

His laugh was particularly unpleasant. Nieman frowned, took off his coat with one hand, and rolled it up to cover Sven’s face, muffling his laughter.

Khalif glared at Louis with hatred, but his sword had been taken by the rabbit-headed man. If he were barehanded—

Louis, unlike him, had no such concerns. Before Khalif could decide, Louis swung a punch at his face. Khalif felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his head, making the world spin as he collapsed, vomiting.

Seeing the fight, Urch seemed to remember something, his face darkening as he asked McMullan, “Is this your decision?”

McMullan didn’t answer. Instead, he drew a short, curved knife, revealing a weapon for the first time that night. During the encounters with Khalif and Vasilia, he had only used his fists—this was his way of respecting and…

…mourning his former comrade.

……

Charlie thought Khalif and Xanye’s “door” was, in some ways, a cunning, even sentient creation—perhaps because each door indeed absorbed a person.

However, he had never felt the doors’ temptation. Unlike Prima’s description of the light and whispers from the door cracks on the stairs, he had never encountered such things. Even now, having fully entered the door, it was pitch black inside, with no visibility of the interior.

Logically, being the first person to enter this new door, he should be the master of this space. The fact that neither Louis nor Khalif followed him confirmed this: only he could use this door.

Charlie clutched his wound and tried to brighten the space through meditation, verbal commands, and magical probing, but all efforts failed.

Perhaps it was because this was a semi-finished or failed product? The girl from the Lion family had activated the magic but didn’t complete it. Prima had added power, but it was interrupted after a portion was absorbed. Charlie thought that whatever this space behind the door was, it certainly wasn’t what Khalif had been expecting.

But that didn’t matter. He cautiously waited for a moment after entering, confirming that the spatial distortion he had sensed was suppressed. This was enough. Time and space were interconnected, and this door blocked the outside world. Even if the Lamp Bearers received some signal, it would have been fleeting and bewildering.

Charlie preferred to believe that those guys would think it was just false information, much like the fake Holy Grail created by Lestrop.

He sat down on the ground, took out various pills from his pocket, chewed and swallowed a handful as if they were beans, and then gritted his teeth as he pulled out Khalif’s short sword.

Even someone as composed as the rabbit-headed shopkeeper couldn’t help but curl up in pain on the ground from the act. He hadn’t taken any anesthetics because he needed to stay alert without any help around.

He couldn’t afford to roll around in pain for too long either. To prevent accidental injury, he always carried a fast-acting hemostatic agent—a sticky herbal paste that worked like strong glue to seal the wound.

Khalif’s sword also had some of his blood on it (this was why he didn’t let Khalif pull it out earlier). In the dark, Charlie meticulously wiped the sword several times with a handkerchief, then folded the handkerchief and put it back in his pocket.

Burning it would be the safest option, but it seemed that magic couldn’t be used inside the “door,” and he didn’t have a fire starter, so he had to keep the blood-stained items on him for now.

Without fire, there was no light. Charlie lay on the ground for a while until his eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, but he still couldn’t tell where he was. Finally, he resorted to feeling around with his hands.

The floor beneath him was soft. Due to the pain, he didn’t pay much attention and initially thought it was carpet. But touching it now, it felt like extremely soft grass—like the freshest, tenderest spring grass that even a baby could sit on without getting pricked.

How could there be grass indoors? Or did this door create a simulated outdoor environment? Charlie sat up on his knees and slowly explored the area bit by bit. The walls were rough, with some splinters and a wooden smell, occasionally encountering a snail that would fall off the wall when touched. The ceiling was quite high, beyond his reach even with arms extended. The walls were curved, and if there were a layer of fallen leaves underfoot, he would think he was in a bear’s den.

But bear dens certainly didn’t have doors.

Eventually, he felt a familiar door frame and panel on the wall, without a glowing magical array but with a small door handle.

Charlie didn’t think much and placed his hand on it. He had a premonition that even if he opened the door, the outside would likely not be Khalif’s damp basement.

Even if it was, he had already stopped the bleeding, and as long as he burned all his blood-stained clothes immediately, there would be no problem.

Shiloh and Eugene always mistakenly thought the rabbit-headed shopkeeper was a man of foresight, but in reality, he usually acted first and then thought things through, going with the flow.

Charlie found the handle to be heavy. He applied more force, pressed down the handle, and then pushed the door open…

Charlie: “?!”

He had clearly opened a door set in the wall, not a trapdoor on the floor! So why did he fall out of the door the moment he opened it???

A sudden gust of wind blew his rabbit fur into disarray. Before he could figure out what was happening, he splashed into the water.

After air, water? Instinctively, Charlie tightened his limbs and adjusted his posture, trying to swim up, but the current was too fast. After two attempts nearly made him sink, he gave up struggling, held his breath, and floated on the surface like a log, letting the water carry him along.

Turning his head in the water, he saw the rapidly passing trees on the shore, moss-covered rocks, and deer drinking by the water. The deer seemed startled by Charlie, daintily running back into the forest on their slender legs.

Amidst the sound of rushing water were other noises, like bird calls and the faint sound of a harp—it had to be a forest nymph playing.

A forest with fairies wouldn’t have dangerous evils, so Charlie relaxed and let the river carry him downstream. The rushing river gradually calmed down, eventually wedging him between two large logs in a bend.

The logs were wet and slippery but provided some support. Charlie clung to a log, catching his breath, and immediately checked the handkerchief and clothes around his wound.

After being soaked in water for a long time and with the strong current, most of the bloodstains had washed away, and the scent of blood was gone. He wiped his wet face and squeezed his long ears, wringing out some water.

Confirming he hadn’t become younger or older, it seemed Khalif’s magic had ultimately failed.

Charlie walked on the giant logs to the shore, feeling famished. In the forest, food wasn’t a concern, and with a river nearby, he could at least drink to fill up. However, he urgently needed to know where he was and how to get back.

White Bridge certainly didn’t have such large rivers and forests. Charlie’s attempt to summon the Darby Belly Fish also failed. Magic was still usable, but the seeking spell didn’t work over long distances.

For now, his best option was to follow the river out of the forest and look for villages nearby. Hopefully, the locals wouldn’t overreact to his rabbit head… Though used to it, the exhausted rabbit-headed shopkeeper sighed.

The wet head was uncomfortable, and the waterlogged clothes were heavy. Charlie shook his head and started taking off his clothes to wring them out.

While removing his coat, something small fell out of his chest pocket.

Charlie rarely kept anything other than decorations in his coat’s front pocket, believing useful items belonged in the inner pocket. He squatted down and saw a ring lying on the ground.

It was the key to Daisy’s castle, the one he had given to Dwight.

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The author has something to say:

But Dwight didn’t seem to expect an answer. He suddenly raised his hand to push Charlie away.

—Chapter 176

I can say that the initial inspiration for the previous hundred or so chapters came from the sudden idea of writing a scene where a rabbit falls into a hole, inspired by the rabbit in “Alice in Wonderland”.

Though it took over 600,000 words (and counting) to set up this scene, I didn’t expect it myself.

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