"That was one tough fight." Adriel groaned while flexing his muscles, completely oblivious to Meyara who was frowning beside him after the girl saw all the veins popping up on his arms. “I never liked children before, but now my view of them is getting worse. The sound of their crying was too loud! I guess I would never want to have children of my own!”

Meyara hummed while giving the young man a quick nod of acknowledgement. She looked a little panicked when she realized she had been staring at Adriel's biceps longer than she would like to admit.

Who can blame her? She was surprised at how much the young man had grown. Since when did Adriel look more like a tough guy?

“Like I said, they are not children. At least not anymore." She suddenly stopped in front of a large gate that looked similar to the ones they had at the inner border of Deterville. Her breath was ragged and she took a moment before continuing to speak. "We're lucky we only encountered less than 10 Abikus. It could be more, especially once we crossed the frontier. It's a relief you can handle them all."

"That's it? No thanks, or a hug of appreciation?” Adriel also stopped his steps and faced Meyara. He didn't look tired at all even though they had just passed through the vast empty desert. "I also deserve more credit after what I've done to the invisible magical frontier. If it weren't for my skills, we would have had to deal with the authorities which is really troublesome, you know."

"That's all you care about?"

"Yes. Unlike you, I've never heard so many compliments in my life. But that's okay, I can gather them bit by bit. And it would be even more special if I heard them from you."

Poor Adriel. Even after hearing that, Meyara just shrugged and returned her focus to the gate in front of them. "Whatever. We're finally here.”

Upon careful inspection, it turned out that the gate only bears a resemblance to the Deterville gate in terms of its large size, towering height, and the material that was made of old logs lined up. Meanwhile, the designs and carvings that adorned the arch in front of it simply did not exist in Deterville. The carvings of the horse's head and the back of the horse's body are lined up several meters apart. Meyara had to jog to get around for a while. Intended to see further.

“This is exactly the same as I've heard. They are crazy about horses,” the girl chirped while stroking the wooden bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet radiated such warmth to her skin that she instantly relaxed under its touch. "I don't know what would have happened if my mom hadn't given me this."

“There's nothing to worry about. We still have my handmade compass."

"But things will be much easier if you don't forget to take our map with you."

"… Sorry.".

"If you’re really sorry then you should pay for it." Meyara raised an eyebrow when Adriel looked at her questioningly. "What? Do it. Knock on the big gate, will you?"

There was no way they could make a recognizable sound if they were just knocking with their hands, that was common sense. They would only hurt their knuckles if they were stupid enough to try.

Maybe that's why Meyara didn't bother trying, because she could always rely on Adriel's magic.

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But not the task that made Adriel nervous, nor the hot wind blowing so hard he was almost afraid his spell would simply wear off before the magic even worked. It was the thought about what was beyond that gate. Unknown situations, different weather, various magical abilities that he may not have known about, and … the people.

The name of the village is engraved giantly at the very top of the gate.

"Are you sure we need help from the villagers of Oxcross?" He felt restless. He occasionally gulped, feeling his mouth and throat dry because it had been so long since he last swallowed a drop of water. "We can go around this gate and keep following the path until we see another village."

“We need their charm, merchandise, or something. I don't know exactly what it is, but we need it if we want to meet the royal family.” Meyara said firmly, even though she also looked uneasy and kept biting her lower lip. Her head kept looking up, with her hands blocking the hot and scorching sunlight. She almost thought they might evaporate at any moment. "Don't waste any more time or we'll die of drought here."

Running out of options, Adriel finally took a deep breath to prepare himself. Slightly frowned when he felt fine dust enter his respiratory tract. He stretched out one of his hands, and touched the rough surface of Oxcross Village's gate. The rough texture scratched his palm slightly.

“More than a few inanimate objects in this world have lived once,” he muttered under his breath. "It is with all humility that I ask for your generosity to convey our small, helpless voices to those responsible for the serenity beyond these gates."

The young man snapped his fingers once, twice, until a drop of clear green water appeared on his palm. He rubbed the water on the wooden surface of the gate.

Meyara watched everything fold with bated breath. She felt a bit relieved after confirming that the gate in front of them wasn't protected by any magic shields at all.

"Just like it says in the book. The people of Oxcross don't like using magic," she thought.

No other sound reached their ears other than the gentle request that Adriel repeated over and over again. Meyara was about to give up and wanted to ask the young man to find another way when she suddenly gasped.

The tremors under her feet at first weren't too noticeable, but they got bigger and bigger gradually until the sand near her feet seemed to be swaying.

"Move!" Adriel yelled. Even without screaming he still made Meyara back off by pulling the girl's hand.

Slowly but surely the gate in front of them began to open. The two sides of the entrance narrowed further, joining the carved horse head to the body. Meyara squinted to see clearly, but her gaze was not alert enough to see how the sculptures were moving up there.

Especially after Adriel and her were forced to hide their faces in their arms due to the flying dust and sand, she couldn't see anything until the roars completely stopped filling the atmosphere.

She heard how Adriel's breath caught before finally seeing for herself what had surprised the young man.

Dozens, if not, hundreds of big, burly men lined up, piercing eyes staring at them mercilessly. Meyara could allay the fear by laughing at the men’s bald head, but she couldn't ignore their ridiculous size. Equipped with various tools that Meyara had never seen before but she was sure that those objects were not used for good intentions. She considered herself and Adriel to be quite strong mentally because they didn't immediately faint on the spot.

The man standing right in the middle had very dark black eyes, and a slightly protruding mouth. The movement of his chest that rose and fell very clearly with every breath made Meyara remember one of the very rare animals in Deterville.

"They really look like horses." Adriel said the exact same thing Meyara was thinking. The young man's voice was barely audible from the way he whispered so quietly. "Not in a bad way, I mean ... geez, it's hard to even talk. I think I'm going to pee my pants!"

"Don't you dare or I'll leave you to them. Maybe if I sacrifice your soul, I can leave here with all the things I need, if not more."

“You really are cold-hearted.”

The two of them jumped in surprise when the man who seemed to be the leader cleared his throat so loudly. The sound almost brought them to their knees.

"It's been a long time since we've had a call from the gate," said the sinister-looking man. "What brings you here, you little punks?"

***