Trudging in front of the caravan, Gus was on the lookout for any potential dangers within the gray desert. By his side, Marco walked with confident strides despite showing signs of exhaustion, making sure never to lag behind the golem. Gus found the sight funny to observe, watching man’s pride for pointless endeavors.

“...so you finished reading up on the notes I made?” Marco asked after some small idle talk.

“Oh…for the most part. I have some questions though on some of the notes,” Gus returned with the question.

“Sure, what’s got you thinking?” Marco obliged.

“Well, I wanted to ask about Cricket—”

“Ah, let me cut you off there really quick. I know you saw what was written on her page, but Cricket doesn’t like talking about it very much. I don’t know much myself, but I know enough to get in massive trouble with her if I spill. So, I suggest leaving those questions to her once she wakes up,” Marco interrupted.

I guess…that’s expected.

“Ah, okay, then can I ask about those two siblings, Quillon and Nina Circe?”

Among the survivors, there was a strange pair of twins that had greatly interested Gus. Brother and sister, Quillon and Nina had come from France as employees hired by Marco for the exploration. Originally, it was supposed to be just Nina who was supposed to come on the trip as an archaeologist who was knowledgeable about traversing such old ruins, but near the time of departure, she had suddenly insisted that Quillon was to come with her. The man himself was also very vocal about the need, and because Marco needed her talents and could not wait any longer, he relented to the idea. Quillon’s official duty on the journey was to be a porter, someone who would carry out the grunt work while his sister worked. This by itself, however, was not what made Gus so interested in the pair. Instead, it was Quillon’s sheer tenacity and fighting ability that he exhibited after their group was sent to the gray world. Fighting relentlessly with coordinated and experienced skills, Quillon was like a demon on the battlefield as the lean, brown-hair handsome man wielded his two short swords effortlessly without using his P.G.R. ability. The handicap of not using the supernatural ability of the short swords, however, was not done on purpose. Instead, Quillon just did not know how to use it in the first place. Yet even then, he was one of the most dangerous fighters of the humans, if not the most powerful. The reason was that, unlike the other humans, Quillon seemed strangely proficient with his P.G.R. as if he had trained with dual short swords for a long time. It was this knowledge and experience that allowed him to protect his sister from the golems, albeit both were injured by the end of it.

And yet now he says he can’t participate in the front lines because of severe joint pain. Even when Ronald healed him, the man still insisted on staying behind with his sister. Is it because she is weak that he is staying behind?

Nina, twin sister of Quillon, had the same brown hair as her brother but was lacking in the same lean build. Nina was instead what one would call a soft beauty, a woman who would inspire any man to become protective of her with just her looks. While her brother was just as pretty to look at, Quillon contained the aura of roughness that was evident in his eyes, which Nina herself lacked. It didn’t help that she wielded an underwhelming P.G.R. that consisted of two wooden wands. While each wand had the power of launching spells, they were each locked to only one type of attack. The left wand, for example, could only launch condensed manifested balls of water that were as powerful as a rock being thrown by a human with good arm strength. The other wand on the right, however, could create a blast of wind that could knock over even a sand domineer onto the ground by its force. Although it sounded useful, albeit weak, the wands proved to be even more useless when Nina discovered that using the spells too often made her grow both weak and hungry at incredible rates. Compared to the other more powerful P.G.R.s the human cohort had, she had been among the unluckiest receivers besides Cricket.

Hearing Gus’s question, Marco’s eyebrows raised upwards with curiosity.

“Sure, what do you want to know about them?”

“Well, I’m just curious how they interacted with the other humans back in the library. Do you think they will work well as a team?” Gus asked.

Gus did not acquaint himself much with the twins back in the library, so he did not have a good read on their characters. However, based on what he read about Quillon, the brother seemed to be very protective of his sister, which might lead to in-party fighting if something were to occur to her. Gus wanted to prepare as much as possible for such an occasion.

“Hm…Nina is good to talk with, she’s nice and carefree but knows how to act mature with wisdom when things get serious. Quillon, however, is a bit of a mystery. He seems apathetic to almost anything around him except for his sister. Doyle tells me he has the eyes of a killer, similar to himself. I know that man well enough to tell he’s saying the truth. But Quillon is useful, and I have no bad blood with either of the siblings. So…if you're worried about us fighting, there is no need for that. The only one I would worry about is Neve, but she has a smart head, she knows that fighting you currently would lead to our deaths. And…she’s still human enough inside to not want to cause all our deaths…I think.”

“How reassuring,” Gus sarcastically added.

“Oh, so a golem can even be sarcastic now?” Marco responded with a smile.

Gus looked at the man and wished at that moment he could have laughed normally as humans could. To recreate the noise with his fire felt unauthentic to the golem, so he never once laughed out loud like a human had. A shame…but one of the many cons a stone man must deal with. Gus had long adapted to it.

Stolen novel; please report.

“If you don’t mind me asking, you seem to know what those monsters that attacked us were called. Do you perhaps know of this place?” Marco asked after some silence.

“Unfortunately, I am just as lost in this world as you. I am probably more confused than you are actually, as I spent my entire life that I could remember in that library. I’ve only ever read of deserts in books, and even then, I have never read of such a particular gray desert.”

“Makes sense, cause whatever this place is, it ain’t Earth. Not only is the temperature and color scheme all off but there is not even a sun in the sky you can see despite this place never turning dark,” Marco added.

Huh…he’s right. There is no sun here.

Gus had never been to the outside world, so he hadn’t noticed the strange aspect of this world like the humans did. He always assumed the storm above them was the reason why he never spotted the sun, but it seems that the humans who were more familiar with how planets work quickly realized the truth. Suddenly, the gray desert didn’t seem so inviting anymore to Gus. Who knows what else could be different in this desert?

“I can tell you one thing, though,” Gus said in a somber tone, “Those sand beings we fought seemed to be recreations of a species called Domineers. They are those crab things we saw on the necks of the golems that we had to destroy. I only found that out as I was able to recognize the Stageneer language from the attackers. Fortunately, it helped me read their moves while I was in combat and learn how to counter their strategies. The bodies they are hosting, however, I have no clue what they are. It doesn’t seem human…right?”

“Domineers huh…well, I can’t note on those smaller ones, their characteristics were too vague to properly tell. But that leader, yeah no way in hell that’s human,” Marco answered.

As the pair continued to converse in the front, Larry walked farther behind with tired-looking eyes. Jack was resting in the front of the wagon due to losing too much blood, so Larry had no choice but to walk alone as he had no one else to converse with. Emitting a deep sigh, Larry looked at Marco with jealous eyes.

‘Man…not only is he handsome looking, but he has the balls too to talk to a literal fricking golem. I mean…shouldn’t I be doing that!? I love fantasy! And this is like the literal epitome of fantasy! But no…I can barely hold a conversation with Gus. I just can’t shake off that memory of what happened to Primis. I already know it’s not Gus's fault…but I just can’t unsee that scene. It was horrifying to see her killed that easily.’

Larry had always been a cowardly man. He would love to say that he was empathetic and open-minded, but the murder of Primis was too heinous to forgive that easily, even if not done personally by Gus.

‘If it wasn’t for Marco and Cricket’s efforts to quell the group’s hatred this past week, they probably would have already attacked Gus by now.’

Larry was in deep thought, contemplating his feelings. Yet what young man in his early twenties has ever figured out all their shit. Not this man at least.

‘God fucking damn it, does it ever get easier?’

Larry had no idea, however, what he just ushered.

Without warning, a tan, feminine hand covered in calluses gripped his left shoulder while a soft, intoxicating voice whispered into his ear.

“Boo.”

‘What the Fuc–!’

Missing his step, Larry fell forward in surprise and embarrassingly landed in the sand.

“Pft…what’s up with you? Never had a woman whisper in your ears?”

Turning around with red-hot cheeks, Larry looked up to a familiar tomboyish girl of fair tan skin who was currently chuckling at him.

“What–what are you doing, Frankie?! We’re in a fricking hot zone of monsters!” Larry let out in both anger and embarrassment.

‘I was trying to process my goddamn feelings, not add more to this hot mess!’ Larry thought as his brain became a whirlpool of hormones.

“My bad, my bad, I just wanted someone to talk to. Everyone’s so glum and stoic right now, it’s such a downer,” Frankie Scott, the mischievous athletic woman, answered.

“Yeah, maybe it’s cause a shit ton of people just died. Maybe you're the weird one for being all playful like this,” Larry answered back with fire in his tongue.

‘I might be weak to women, but I’m not weak enough to

fall for crazy women!’

“Hmmm…okay Mr. Normal, how about you get your butt off the sand first before more people start staring then,” Frankie responded with an extended hand.

‘Ah shit…’

Just as Frankie said, the humans around had begun staring at the pair with curious eyes. Even Gus and Marco had stopped their conversation to witness Larry’s embarrassing state. Feeling both his cheeks and ears grow hotter by the second, Larry accepted Frankie’s hand for help and quickly got himself back up on his feet. Without batting an eye, he then assumed his march forward once again in awkward silence while wearing his best attempt at a poker face.

“Wow…smooth transition there, Mr. Normal,” Frankie said with a grin.

“Just…bugger off will you? What would happen if more of those Domineers come to attack and the one who has to protect your behind is me?” Larry countered.

“Ooo, is that a threat? I’m shaking in my boots. What would I do if it weren’t for my valiant hero of three hands? Only he with his majestic stick can defend against all those dastardly foes and rescue me with a kiss.”

“God damn it, it’s not a stick! It’s a Zhua!”

“Do you even know what that is?”

Not wanting to give her the victory, Larry continued to walk with his eyes forward in silence. His red ears, though, were all Frankie needed to know she had won.

‘I rather take another attack than deal with this woman!’ Larry thought.

Yet never learning his lesson, Larry had just unknowingly jinxed the situation. Unbeknownst to the humans, a tremor slightly shook within the still desert sands. Only one golem had picked up on the strange phenomenon.

Hm?

Pausing for just a moment, Gus looked up ahead towards the ever-stretching gray desert. A sudden bad premonition swelled within him.

By the stars, it couldn’t be…?