On the road towards Xerssas city, the path towards there is quite strange. It is called Dunes, but there’s a big, -what do I call it- strange view.
Okay, first of all, if you ever played that block game, you’ll notice that some biomes, specially when you change to new versions of the game, it simply cuts them, and connects, like glue. And here, is quite the same.
The path I choose, had a forest, but out of nowhere, the forest changed to sand. No, not like normal sand, but… Red sand. I mean, there is red sand back on earth, that’s for sure, but again, like it was glued together.
And after a whole day, we stopped on the middle of nowhere, with sand as far as the eye could see. Since I was passing through sand, I needed to slow down Raubtier a bit. And, since we’re passing through a desert, monsters aren’t that much of a problem. Except the ones that are… Stealthy.
First of all, worms. They’re big as my arm, but really long. And they’re waiters. Meaning that they’ll stay still, and when a prey passes right above it, it’ll rush to the surface of the sand, grab it, and drag it back, suffocating the prey on the sands.
Also, Antlions. Larvae Antlions. If you’re not informed, Antlion Larvae, makes a hopper like burrow, and anything that enters on it, hardly escapes. They have a habit of tossing sand to the prey that is almost escaping, knocking them, and grabs the prey. If it wasn’t for my Danger Detection, I was doomed. Well, me and Suzuki.
Second problematic monster… Armadillos. Yeah, they’re carnivores. The size of an urban car, but with spikes. And they can stop in their tracks! That’s a nice feature.
We also found Scorpions, Cobras, Hawks and Gila Monsters. But the one that ticked me off, were the bats. Yes, deserts do have bats. WHAT A DRAG!
Since I created a dome of hardened sand, they kept beating the dome over and over, and would attack us every time we were out. Again, that was on the very first night. And since I couldn’t sleep, I was the one responsible in killing them.
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Second day was when I understood what the Old man and the Dwarf said about the path towards the Solari Dunes being, strange.
I was lazily moving Raubtier ahead, when… That was really scaring- We fell. Yeah, we fell. I instantly activated Raubtier’s function, and the 4 wheels articulated to the sides, becoming identical to a drone. It didn’t propelled us upwards, but we glided towards the ground.
“What?”
It was a cliff. Imagine like a hole on a desert, and the walls of the hole were rocks. There were some small caves on the wall, with a surface, like some monster lived there, and it totally lived. Shock.
“A tiger?”
“Kenji-Sama! There’s some people in trouble up ahead! They’re facing what looks to be bulls!”
While Suzuki-san was impressed with tigers on the desert, Lucy reported about a group up ahead. The tigers are only watching… Probably nocturnal, and they’ll attack us later.
“Can we help them?”
“Why? What good can they give?”
“They’re in trouble!”
“And?”
Why should I waste my time, saving someone that WILL hinder our travel speed? And I bet they’ll ask: Please escort us to the city! We will pay you a handsome compensation!
“Fine! Don’t say that I didn’t warned you.”
“Warned me about what?”
“They’ll ask us to escort them, and that WILL hinder our travel speed. Don’t come to me complaining about we reaching the Vampire’s Fortress late.”
While I accelerated towards the group being attacked, I heard Suzuki grumbling about what I said. Soon, I noticed why the group was being attacked. Bisons. They attacked the group, killed one, and the other Bisons attacked back. Wow… They’re strong!
The monsters had a bigger horn than the Bisons back from earth, and were bigger. Like an SUV. Bisons are already strong and heavy creatures back on earth. Now imagine a much bigger version of that, with bigger horns, and more strength. You’re doomed.
“Get ready!”
Oh, one guy flew really high. Probably some broken ribs and limbs. I used a rock nearby, jumping, and activated the glide of Raubtier, activating the blades on the process. We glided towards the Bisons, and just when one of the Bisons was about to stomp on the poor(already dead camel-like creature), I passed right at the back of it, and the blades cut through its thick fur.
The Bison roared in pain, and fell on the ground. Landing, I made an 180, turning around towards the Bisons. Say cheese. And since they glared at me, one of them received Lucy’s weapon, Vernichter on its head. Ouch. Must have… Nevermind it’s dead.
Suzuki jumped off of Raubtier before I hit the Bison, and rushed towards the carriage, slashing at 2 Bisons that were about to kill the merchant(dunno), and a 3 guards(probably adventurers). With the Albus Lotus Katana, she slashed through the thick fur with no worry at all. Blast, I’m good.
With Gemetzel in hands, I shot at the Bisons that were closing in on me. When not, I just took Satz, and shot at them. Quite easy, actually. Their fur is more to protect them against the climate, than to protect them against other kinds of danger.
After a few more whackings from Lucy, Amara suffocating the monsters, Kasumi roasting them, Suzuki cutting them like sushi, and me shooting the Bisons, did they retreated. There were like more than 16 Bisons dead around us, and the group was around, what? More than 30? If, we don’t count the 3 that the adventurers already killed.
Of course, I stored all the 16 we killed and left the other 3 there. Each one, with their each thing. And yay~ What did the merchant asked?
“Please! Help us reaching the next city! I’ll pay a handsome reward!”
“I refuse.”
“WHAT?!”
The guy simply wanted to discard the other adventurers, and contract me, cause Suzuki isn’t an adventurer. She gave some thought to the adventurer’s stuff, by the looks of her face. The adventurers looked to the merchant in anger. There was a discussion between the party and the merchant right after.
Apparently, the merchant was traveling from Rezia, to the Dunes. On the way to the dunes, the merchant asked that if they spotted any Desert Bulls(yeah, although they’re Bisons, they’re called bulls), it was to target them, and subjugate.
Problem was, the merchant got too greedy. One bull, has good materials. And another surprise! They’re not monsters! They’re simply animals. I’ll explain more later. ANYWAY! The bulls, have a very good meat, the fur is superb, and the horns are a good find!
Horns are used in agriculture, specially on the dunes, since there’s not much water. The meat is used in lots of dishes, and can be cooked in any way. The fur is high regarded, specially on the cold nights. Apparently, the climate is colder going to the north. Much more so, than the south.
But, the merchant didn’t consider the attack in group, and expected to find a bull alone. But since he’s on this travel for more than 5 days, searching for bulls, and providing food and other things for the adventurers, he got TOO greedy and gave the order to the adventurers, to hunt the groups, which turned into a bad idea.
And we arrived just when they were about to be killed. Talk about bad luck… And not only that, but the camel-like creatures, are dead. And I bet the merchant glanced at Raubtier, and saw the speed and capabilities, he thought I was a driver for hire.
And the discussion got even more heated up. Merchant calls adventurers useless, not able to fight a desert bull. Adventurers toss back that fighting a beast that size, and against a group is impossible. Merchant said that we were able. Adventurers says that we’re probably high-ranked, and with good weapons.
““What are your ranks!?””
“B-Rank.”
“No rank.”
“I’m Kenji-Sama slave.”
Since Amara was on her She-Viper small form, she didn’t talked, and Kasumi stayed quiet. The adventurers then looked down, and merchant looked away. I see. Good payment for a low ranked adventurer, and a merchant that didn’t wanted to expend too much.
“We’ll be here for too long of a time.” I grumbled, and sighed. “Where’s the next village?” I asked Suzuki, since she knew.
“Hmm… If we settle to the road now, we’ll reach there at dusk, I think.”
“And if I speed things up a bit?”
“Earlier.”
“Okay. You. Gonna pay a gold coin for us five. And! Will pay their services. I don’t care if you find that bad, cause you’re holding us down. And you three!”
““YES SIR!””
“Don’t accept things cause it looks more profitable. Weight the pros and cons of the quest. Now, up you guys go to the carriage. Start to lock the goodies in place, cause the travel will be bumpy.”
With that said, the merchant clicked his tongue, adventurers sighed in relief, and started to collect and put the goodies back at the carriage. Some of the products got destroyed, no lucky. The 2 camel-like creatures, which, I dunno why, are called Wild Horses… Wild horses don’t have humps on their back, what the shock? Those are camels!
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
And so, after tying things on the carriages, we settled to travel. The merchant complained about the bumpiness, and I simply ignored him. Unfortunately, with the weight of the carriage, and the sand and rocky terrain, I couldn’t reach higher speeds. It was a constant speed of 30 to 50 Km/H, but I thought it was too slow.
As to Suzuki’s calculations, we reached the village at dusk. I stored the 3 Bulls, and took out on the village. The Merchant was pleased, but his happiness fell right after, since most of the fur was destroyed. Not only that, but the Adventurers that were guarding him, abandoned the job. They were all issued of course, but got happy for not dying.
I received the Gold coin, and simply walked to an Inn. We ate, and fell asleep afterwards. Food was medium, and so were beds.
“Well, at least I’ll have a good rest.”
We did have a problem of me having to share the room with the girls. What news! The inn didn’t had more rooms. Is the cliché of Isekais? Being on the same room as the girls? Urgh~
Anyway, I waited outside, while Suzuki cleaned herself from the dust, and just afterwards I could sleep.
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In the middle of the night, while I was ‘trying’ to sleep, when I finally closed my eyes, something strange happened. It felt like something got connected to me, and wanted me to go somewhere. I flash stepped out of bed, since I didn’t wanted to wake the girls up, and got out.
On the outside, I climbed the inn, reaching the rooftop. Glancing towards what it could be the east(dunno), there was a strange light show happening.
“The coast… there’s a river coming from there right? Why no one’s awake though?”
There was a strong, and strange light coming from there. Imagine like a thin and long cloth is floating on the skies. And there’s 3 different colors to it. A Dark-Blue, a Dark-Red, and lastly a Bright Yellow.
“Kenji-Sama?”
Looking behind me, I see Lucy, in her nightgown, and worried.
“Ah, sorry. I got something on my mind.”
“Is it those?”
And she pointed towards the three colors. So she can see them too. The Light’s Acolyte title! I have the Darkness Acolyte, albeit is lock- nevermind, is not anymore. Just as I checked my STATUS, the title was unlocked.
“Is it calling you too?”
“No. I just got up because of the bright light.”
“I see.”
“We’ll be going there?”
“No. That can wait. I have a feeling that’s something that can wait.”
And just like that, the light show was over. And I lost my will to sleep. Great. The more time it passes, I just don’t have will to sleep.
“Go back. You’re in your sleepwear.”
“Eh? AH!” She seriously didn’t noticed?
She hurriedly descended the roof, and I felt she reaching the room. As for me, I stayed there, laying on the roof, and waiting for the sunset. Seeing that was soothing at least. Not a complete waste of time.
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Next day, we set to the road again, find yet another cliff, or should I say cliffs, cause there were a lot of them. Soon enough we’ll be reaching this planet’s crust, my god. There were so many descents, that I seriously thought we would reach this planet’s crust.
It was like, after a certain amount of distance reached, another cliff appeared. I think we passed more than 20 cliffs, although more often than not, those cliffs had like, 1 to 3 meters of difference in height. In distance from one to another, was about 2 to 3 kilometers, I think.
Thanks to our little errand to bring that merchant to that village, we had to rest on one of those cliffs. While we we’re doing so, I simply blurted a question on my mind.
“Why so many cliffs?”
“Probably because of an ancient war.”
And Suzuki answered. She sat right next to me and continued with the dialogue. (Author’s Note: Long Dialogue incoming)
“Apparently, a really big war happened here.”
“Yeah, I heard that from the Dwarf. Although he didn’t knew much.”
“At least being on the library of the Empire has a good thing.”
“Oh yeah. Almost forgot. Kasumi! Take this shitty watch spell from her please.”
“Watch spell?”
“Looks like the emperor, and his cohorts wants to keep an eye on you. Shock you, Goldguard.”
Kasumi used some kind of Darkness spell, and soon, the Watch spell was gone. I even used my Magic Detection to confirm it. Bunch of good for nothing.
“Okay, keep on with the history class, sensei.”
“Aaah… This place was used as a battlefield, between the Icy Fairies, Mountain Giants, Onis, Vampires, and the more prominent races at this time.”
“You mean, Humans, Beast-kin, Elves, Dark-Elves, and Dwarfs?”
“Yeah. Albeit, Dwarfs and the 2 Elven races entered on the end of the fray, and also the Psy Tribe, which were Humans with some strong Psychic powers, too. That happened, if I remember from the book, around 500 years ago. They all fought for something, the book doesn’t mention that, unfortunately.”
“Kinda reminds me of an Armageddon game.”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s that kombat game, you know? They all killed each other to reach the end of a pyramid, where they could attain a super power to dominate other realms.”
“Yeah… It makes sense. Anyway, they all fought for that power, but when one of the races got that power, another being appeared.”
“A titan.”
“Yeah. That titan saw the conflict, and stopped the war. Sacrificing his own life on the process. The thing is, most of the people on that conflict, died, AND! Here we are on the afterwards of it all.”
“So! All of these cliffs, were caused by the Titan sacrificing his own life. He what? Exploded?”
“The one who wrote that book was Goldguard himself. Don’t know how, and honestly? I don’t wanna find out. Anyway, most of the tribes lost their numbers. The ones most affected, were the Giants, Onis, Vampires, Icy Fairies, Elves, Dwarfs, and Beast-kin. Humans weren’t affected that much.”
“What about the Crevasse between the two halves of this continent we’re in?”
“Oh, that. Apparently-”
“A guy attracted a Volatilion to there, and the monster exploded, causing the crevasse to be created. I don’t believe that. The monster is powerful, but I don’t think it’s THAT powerful.”
“You thought that too, huh? Here’s the thing. There were some highly advanced civilization living on the crevasse. The crevasse was already there. And the Volatilion didn’t caused that.”
“HA! The Volatilion was a weapon to eradicate them, I’m sure.”
“Yeah. No matter where we go, humans cause trouble, huh.”
“Heh! That’s what makes us humans. Also… Something is troubling me.”
“What?”
“My STATUS. It shows Human, but when I see yours or the others STATUS, it shows Human Traveler.”
She arched one brow, and took her card, and answered.
“Yeah. Mine is Human Traveler.”
“Ah, forget it. I’ll look into it later.”
“You didn’t change that attitude, huh?”
“About what?”
“If it’s not interesting, whatever.”
“That’s how I do!”
She shook her head, and we kept looking ahead. Another day or half of one, and we would reach Xerssas, the capital of the Solari Dunes. The place of the merchants was a few kilometers after that.
“Now that I think about it, if we get rid of the Vampire threat, we’ll also free the other path for Merchants to come.”
“What you mean?”
“You see, with the crevasse, we have only 2 paths to travel from the Empire, towards either Rezia, or the Theocracy.”
“The 2 bridges. That’s not true though. It does exist another path. People uses as a last resort though.”
“There’s another path?”
“Yeah. You know about that mountain?”
“The one that separates the Empire from the League?”
“Yeah. They built a path with magic, and it connects with the mountain. Unfortunately, there’s too many monsters there, so it’s rarely used.”
“Meh. But we’ll be freeing another path for merchants. And the Theocracy has lots of goodies, so they tend to travel from there, to the north part of the Empire. But, looks like the Vampires are barring that path.”
We kept talking about a few more things, including one that was the most worrisome: Takahashi’s attitude. Towards anything.
“He’s strange.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“I’m being serious!”
“I know. And the reason why he’s so strange, is actually quite simple.”
“You know about it?!”
“Yeah I do. Actually, how was I able to Scan him in the first place? Sinners can’t be Scanned.”
“Sinners?”
“Oh! Yeah, sinners. You see, apparently, this world has the 7 Deadly Sins Skills. And also has the 7 Holy Virtues. Each one does one thing. If you connect the dots, Takahashi’s sin is…”
“Wrath?”
“Correct! He has the Wrath sin. That one is… kinda bad. It keeps decreasing his INT stat constantly, and he gets angry towards ANYTHING.”
“Yeah. He asked Naomi to be his wife, and when she rejected him… He almost ripped the head off of her body. I was able to stop his scythe, but it was so strong. He wasn’t the strongest of us before.”
“Uhuh. The skill does that. It powers the user up, according to its rage. That’s what the skill description says.”
“Okay. Question: Why you say scan, and not Appraising?”
“You see, my left eye, don’t know why, it was technology when we were summoned.”
“Didn’t you lose it? Now it’s back.”
“Yeah, kinda. After we defeated that Vampire, my visor, which was a visor from before, transformed into this eye. Which is basically the same as before. And, I can scan people, for their STATUS, any problems the person might have, such as malformed bones, like Lucy, or an illness.”
“That’s nice. I thought the maniac for tech you are, you would build a mechanical arm or something.”
“If I ever lose one of my arms or legs, yeah, I would build. Not now though. I’m kinda scared of replacing my limbs with technology.”
“Okay. Aaaah… I’m gonna sleep. It’s too late already. Good night Ueda-kun.”
“Kenji.”
“What?”
“You can call me Kenji, with no honorifics.”
“Okay. Then, you can call me the same.”
“Fair enough. Good Night.”
After she walked to her ‘tent’, which was basically a stone hut, I kept staring at the night sky. Why? Cause bats. Getting up, I activated my blades, and jumped towards them.
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After another night fighting bats, and making breakfast, since no one can cook(yay), we wrapped the things on the camp we made, and started to prepare for the travel. With that out of the way, we settled towards the next city, thankfully being, Xerssas. At last. But why do I have this feeling that I’ll find something good there? And at the same time I’ll be asked for me to do something?
We reached halfway through to the gates, and I stored Raubtier with me. We reached the line to the gate, which was… quite big. We awaited for quite some time, and the sun wasn’t helping at all. As time passed, and we were waiting, Lucy unfolded her wings, and used them to shield us from the sun. Some idiots tried to take advantage of that, but a [Killing Instinct] burst was enough to make them back away.
At last, we reached the gate. I gave my card, and Suzuki did as well. Awkwardly, the knight bulged his eyes upon seeing my card, and when Suzuki showed hers, the guy was agape. And his reaction right after, made people around start to murmur. Why? Well!
“A HERO AND A B-RANK ADVENTURER?!”
Yay, the guy shouted. I held my temples, and held my [Killing Instinct], at maximum. Even Suzuki facepalmed to the idiot’s reaction. He bowed repeatedly, apologizing for his blunder. After you make the mistake, that’s kinda useless.
I wanted to check the Guild and all, but we were instantly taken to the lord’s ‘mansion’. I say mansion, but the place was a castle, made out of Sandstone, and Limestone. It had a yellow-ish white and light-gray tint to it.
We entered the castle, and were guided to the throne room. The guy asked for slaves and pets to be left behind. Suzuki just got silent and looked away, while I glared daggers at the knight. He gulped and was adamant to that. My decision?
“I’m out of here.”
“WHAT?! YOU’LL MEET THE LORD!”
“What about it? In the end, he’s human. He bleeds like me, like Lucy, like Kasumi and Amara.”
“HE HAS HIGHER PRIORITY HERE! NOT A DIRT- GUH!”
“Say it. C’mon… SAY IT!”
You can call me whatever you want, but whenever the girls are involved? I lose my patience quite quickly. Especially if someone calls them dirty or something like that. And, unfortunately for anyone who says it, I let my [Killing Instinct] on maximum.
“Kenji… Please, control yourself.”
“T-That is enough! Your ‘friends’ can come too.”
Looking to the source of voice, I found a guy in pompous desert clothing, and with a different demeanor from anyone I saw up till now.
“Nice.”
My mood took an 180, and I calmed myself. Before going out of the previous room, we all heard a thud. Afterwards, we were guided by the noble to the throne room.
We reached the throne room, and we all saw a man, with tanned skin, seated on the throne. He had a nice build on him, with a gray hair, and blue eyes. Yeah, the guy had blue eyes. I remember a certain kind of people having tanned skin, AND blue eyes. They were so beautiful! And this guy has it too!
“I thank you both for coming here. I am Sheikh Kaddrad. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”
Of course, I talked with Suzuki the way here, and agreed to not say a word. I would be too sarcastic towards whatever he asked, and so, she would give the words.
“A pleasure as well, Sheikh Kaddrad. I am Suzuki Mari. And these are, Kenji, B-Ranked adventurer, with his companions, Lucy-san, Kasumi-san, and Amara-san. Uhm, I am a… Summoned Hero, from the Empire.”
I simply bowed my head with respect, and the girls did that too. And Suzuki said that last phrase a bit embarrassed, and the Sheikh had… A empathetic expression? Why’s that? Most of the higher ups, has that strange face when mentioning the empire. I know Goldguard’s a jackass, but what exactly is he planning?
“Yes, I do know. I am sorry to ask. And I’ll be direct to the point. May I proceed?”
“Yes, the fast we hear about it, the fast we can decide.”
“I thank you. Well, the problem is…”
And a super long explanation of the ‘problem’ started. Gotta say though, Ancient Ruins? That’s dope.