Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 1 - Chapter 3

Chapter III: The Macho Fairy of the Desert

Light blazed down on a pair of travelers. The burning heat pricked at their skin, mirages appeared in the distance, sand got in to everything, and the air was so dry breathing hurt.

“He’s... He’s trying to kill us, O-kun.”

“Personify the sun all you want, that’s not going to make Mr. Sunny any less hot.”

A pair of footsteps trudged through the burning sand.

“It’s so hoooooot. Hooooooooot. I’m sweating so much I’ll dry out.”

“At least you’re wearing my coat so it’s better for you.”

Sand stretched out as far as the eye could see. Oscar and Miledi were walking through the Crimson Desert, located on the western part of the northern continent. It had been named such because of how striking the red sand of the desert was. The grains were all so fine that even a slight breeze would whip them through the air, turning even the sky crimson.

Oscar was carrying Miledi on his back as he walked through the unforgiving desert heat.

“My face is hot, my neck’s hot, my arms are hot. Everything feels hoooooot.”

“......”

Miledi slumped against Oscar and flailed her arms around like a spoiled child. Oscar’s jet-black coat looked like the kind of thing that would absorb heat, not reflect it. But of course, it was an artifact with metal threads woven into it. Not only did it reflect heat, but there was cooling magic incorporated into its design, so it kept its wearer at a comfortable temperature.

Miledi had looked like she was really suffering from the heat, so Oscar had given her his coat and decided to carry her on his back.

In other words, not only was Oscar wearing a single, sweat-drenched shirt, he was forced to lug a heavy object as well.

“I’m thiiiiiirsty. If we keep going like this I’ll dry up.”

“......”

“I hate being all sweaty like this.”

“......”

“And the sand’s getting everywhere.”

“......”

“O-kun. O-kun. Hey, O-kun. Glasses-wearing O-kun. I mean, glasses—”

“Gaaaaaah, just shut up!” Oscar finally snapped. He grabbed Miledi by the ankles and started spinning. It looked like he was swinging her around like a giant bat. The pair of them spun in circles in the middle of the desert.

“Hyowaaaaaaaaah!” Miledi’s skirt flipped up, and her panties were clearly visible as she spun through the sand, her hands outstretched behind her.

“Take thaaaaaaaaaaaat!” With a spirited yell, Oscar flung his partner. Miledi screamed as she flew through the air. She landed a short distance away, and kicked up a cloud of dust as she hit the sand.

Oscar wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled.

“Bleh... Pwah... Sand got in my mouth! Why’d you do that, O-kun!? You brute! Devil! Four-eyes!”

“Can you stop making fun of my glasses!?” Oscar adjusted his glasses and walked over to Miledi.

“For crying out loud, the sand and the heat are bad enough without you complaining about it every five seconds. If you’re really that hot, then why don’t you make an ice block or something with your magic?”

“Ah...” Miledi gazed up at Oscar, her mouth a small O in surprise. After a second, she snapped back to her senses and glared at him.

“I could say the same to you, O-kun. You can use that umbrella of yours to block the sun and make water too, can’t you?”

“Ah...”

The two gazed at each other underneath the blazing sun.

A cloud of dust blew past them. They were quiet for a good ten minutes.

Miledi summoned a giant clod of ice, floated it above them with gravity magic, and summoned a breeze to waft past them.

At the same time, Oscar unfolded his umbrella and raised it above them. The cloth expanded to many times its normal size. Then, he activated the new ability he’d installed into it with Miledi’s help. With the combination of spirit stone and Miledi’s gravity magic, he was able to make the umbrella float above them. A veil of wind covered them, protecting the pair from the sand. The two were now pleasantly cool, and free of sand.

“This is all the sun’s fault for being too hot!”

“Seriously. It should learn some humility from the moon and quit trying to show off so damn hard!”

“Yeah, no one cares how bright you’re shining! This is why no one likes guys like you!”

“You’re not some street thug from Velnika, so stop acting like it, you damned sun!”

The pair vented their frustrations at the sun. They’d underestimated the desert’s heat, which had taken a bigger toll on their mental fortitude than they’d thought. They were rather embarrassed that such simple countermeasures hadn’t come to them earlier, so they took it out on the poor sun.

In response, it almost felt as if it got hotter. It was as if the sun was angry.

They walked onward for another hour, berating the sun the whole time.

“Hm? Miledi. Look, there’s a small oasis over there. I think it’s meant to be a rest stop on the way to the city. Should we stop for a bit?”

“Yeah, let’s do it! I was just getting tired too.” Miledi happily bounded forward, her ponytail swishing behind her.

“You’ve got really good eyes, you know that? I can’t even see it from here.” Oscar smiled proudly as he watched Miledi look around.

“Did you think these glasses were just for show?”

“I mean, they totally are, aren’t they? I know you’re the kind of guy who’d wear them to make himself look smarter. I mean, even in Velnika I could tell you were just pushing up your glasses all the time because you knew the girls thought it looked cool. You were totally going for an intelligent gentleman look, right?”

“We really need to have a talk about how you see me.”

Oscar glared at Miledi. Her words hurt even more since she’d said them all with a straight face.

Oscar cleared his throat.

“These glasses are an artifact too. I’ve enchanted them with a lot of different spells. The lenses can emit a powerful flash of light, and they make me immune to dark magic... I’ve also enchanted them with Farsight.” He did his best to explain that they weren’t just a tool for him to be popular with the ladies.

Miledi looked up at him in shock.

“Heh, I knew you’d be surprised. But now you know these glasses aren’t just—”

“Your glasses sparkle!? They can shine!?”

“Wait, that’s what you’re amazed about?”

Miledi’s eyes were glittering with excitement. For whatever reason, the fact that his glasses could glow had really impressed her. “I wanna see it!”

“I get the feeling you’re trying to make fun of me somehow, so no.”

“Why not!? I wanna see Sparkly O-kun!”

“Sparkly O-kun? Now I know you’re making fun of me.”

Miledi continued begging him, but Oscar ignored her and kept walking.

“Come on, O-kun. Make your glasses sparkle for me. Pleaaase O-kun!” A frigid wind blew against Oscar’s face, which made frost rim his glasses. However, Oscar didn’t reply, and the wind grew even colder in turn.

I can’t let myself get angry. I’ll just be playing into her hands if I do. I need to stay calm and compos—

“Remember when you went to visit Aisha-chan before you left, O-kun? She was crying and clinging on to you and told you that—” Glasses Beam!

“Higyaaaaaah!? My eyes! My eyeeeeees!” Miledi clutched her eyes as his flash hit them at point-blank range.

As a side note, the continuation of that sentence would have been “she’d heard from an adventurer that O-kun liked girls in aprons.”

Oscar was only human. He drank with his acquaintances occasionally, too. Naturally, girls were one of the things they talked about while drunk. And it seemed Aisha had grilled those acquaintances of his to tell her more about Oscar. After that she’d requested one final job from Oscar and set up a surprise drinking party for him. By the end, Oscar had grown terrified of women.

There were some things in the world better left unknown.

“Look, Miledi. There’s even a cabin at the oasis. We might as well stop there for lunch.”

“You know, O-kun. I still can’t see anything.” Miledi was still groaning in pain and pawing blindly at the air. She’d experienced firsthand the fearsome power of Oscar’s glasses. In all honesty, they scared her a little.

Oscar commanded his umbrella closer and used it to cast healing magic on her. This was the eleventh of his umbrella’s abilities, Benison Aura. Healing light rained down from the umbrella’s spokes.

“Aaah, I can see again. The world isn’t black!”

“Haaah... Stop fooling around, Miledi. Let’s go.”

Miledi raised her hands up to the light, as if offering a prayer to heaven. Oscar sighed and carried her in his arms.

The oasis had a number of trees growing around it, and the shade was pleasantly cool. The cabin seemed to be in good condition as well. Someone probably comes and cleans it regularly. Clean though it was, it was still just an empty cabin. It kept the sun and sand out, but it was still hot inside.

In fact, it was more comfortable under Oscar’s umbrella than in the cabin. And so, the pair decided to stay outside and sat next to the shore.

Oscar brought his umbrella back to the ground, just in case anyone else showed up. He didn’t want people to suspect what magic they were capable of.

“Everyone needs an O-kun in their house.” Miledi washed her face and hands in the oasis as she said that.

“You could at least make it sound like I’m a person, not an object. Besides, I’m not here to make everyone’s life more convenient.” Oscar bent down and started washing his face as well.

They’d gotten pretty dirty in the time they hadn’t been keeping themselves comfortable with magic. The cool water felt great on their hot, sweaty skin.

Oscar felt refreshed, but this wasn’t enough for Miledi.

“Ugh, it got in my hair too.” She undid her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair. They came back gritty. Her clothes, too, were filled with sand. Her sweat caused them to stick unpleasantly to her skin.

“We’re just going to have to deal with it until we make it to the city. We’ll get there by the end of the day, and you can just take a shower there. I wonder if I can enchant my clothes to keep sand off... Is something like that even possible? Hmm...” Oscar trailed off, and Miledi spoke up.

“Can’t I just strip and jump in the oasis?”

“Bwah!? Are you kidding me!? This is a public place! What if someone comes here!? Actually, forget that, I’m here! Don’t you have any shame!?” Oscar hurriedly stopped Miledi from stripping down.

Normally this would have been the part where Miledi started teasing him for getting flustered, but she was still staring at the oasis instead, a dangerous look in her eyes.

She was still a girl, after all. They may have been in the middle of a journey, but she still wanted to be clean.

At this rate she’ll probably jump in fully clothed if she has to.

“Calm down, Miledi. Think about this rationally.”

“I need to jump in there so I can start thinking rationally again. A famous person once said something like this: Why do I leap into oases? Because they’re there.”

“Whoever this person was, they probably only became famous because everyone thought they were a pervert. Either that, or you got the quote wrong.”

Miledi edged closer to the water. Any more and she really would fall into the oasis.

Oscar sighed.

“Alright, alright. You want to wash up, right? I’ll make you a shower room in the bushes over there, so just use that.”

“I love you, O-kun!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Oscar held Miledi back as she tried to hug him and pulled one of his artifacts out of his pocket.

It was his Silver Slate. Originally it had just been made to track people, but he’d added a second function to it. It could now detect the presence of mana within a certain radius.

They were hunting for other people with ancient magic. It was likely such people would have mana reserves as large as Miledi’s and his own. Moreover, it could sense the approach of any threat, or just anyone with abnormal strength.

As beastmen didn’t possess any mana it couldn’t sense them, but he felt it was good enough for the time being. Oscar definitely wanted to improve it before they reached Haltina, though.

Still, it made a good alarm for Miledi.

“No one around in a three-hundred meter radius. Perfect.” There were only two dots on the plate. Miledi and himself. They were both glowing as bright as possible.

Oscar walked over to a surprisingly dense thicket, and transmuted. He did his best to not harm the local flora as he scrounged materials from underground to craft his makeshift shower.

An average Synergist would have fainted in awe at Oscar’s unbelievable skills. However, he was taking no chances. This was a shower room for his beloved partner!

“Miledi, this is just to ensure your privacy, so the walls aren’t that tough. Don’t go wild in there, okay?”

“Wow, you actually put a shower in there!”

Before Oscar could even tell her to get her own water, she’d scooped out a huge quantity of it with gravity magic and poured it into the tank he’d prepared. He’d left the ceiling open, so she could bring in more if she needed it.

The shower had a faucet and everything, but before he could explain how it worked, Miledi had jumped into the shower room.

“O-kuuun!”

“Yeah?”

“Thank youuu~”

“Uh, yeah. You’re welcome.” Oscar scratched his cheek awkwardly and walked away.

“I’m not that far, so if you need anything just yell for me. Though I think we’ll be fine since I’ve got my Silver Slate.”

“Mmm, got it. No peeking~”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“You better not. Like absolutely, definitely better not. I’m serious, O-kun. Don’t you dare—”

“Are you trying to hint at something!? Or what, do you really not trust me at all!?” Oscar could hear Miledi’s laughter through the walls. A second later, the sound of falling water replaced it. Miledi seemed to be in a good mood.

“Seriously...” Oscar adjusted his glasses in exasperation.

“Come to think of it, I’m pretty sweaty too. Plus, there’s sand all over my clothes...” He realized he was just as dirty as Miledi had been. He looked down at his Silver Slate. It appeared there still wasn’t anyone nearby.

“Hmm... I guess I could wash up too...” He wasn’t planning on stripping down and taking a full shower, just taking his shirt off and wiping himself down. Plus, since he was a man, he didn’t need to make a separate changing room for himself.

Oscar took his shirt off, soaked a towel, and started wiping himself. He scrubbed hard, making sure he got all the sand and sweat off.

Just then, he noticed someone looking at him. Instantly wary, he turned to see what was staring at him.

“Gulp...” Miledi was peeking over the shower room wall.

“What are you doing?” Oscar asked, his eyebrows twitching.

“You know, I realized this back when you were carrying me, but... O-kun, you’re surprisingly buff. You look like a thin scholar, but you’ve got a lot of muscles.”

“I had the adventurers teach me how to fight, just in case. Also, those eyes of yours are scaring me. What happened to not peeking? Don’t you have any tact?”

“I left it back in the Reisen Gorge.”

“Then go get it back!”

And she’s the one who said not to peek on HER! I never knew she was such a hopeless pervert. Just then, Oscar saw something out of the corner of his eye.

“M-Miledi, let’s just drop this. Get away from the wall.”

“Nihihihihi. Are you embarrassed, O-kun? That embarrassed to be seen naked by a girl? Well, are you?”

“I won’t even complain about how annoying you’re being, so please just get away from that wall. I told you before, the shower room wasn’t built to last.”

“Hm? It’s not?”

“Yes, so— Aaah, wait! Don’t lean against it! If you do—”

There was a sharp crack. Then, walls of the shower room suddenly began to crumble.

“Huh?” Miledi’s weight was too much for them to bear, and they collapsed.

“Whoa...”

“Ah...” Miledi, who’d been leaning against them, fell forward. Her naked body flew toward Oscar. He got a good view of her slender back, her beautiful curves, and her smooth legs.

“Gah, I can’t believe this—” Miledi stood up, realizing too late what kind of view that would give Oscar.

“O-O-kun, don’t look!”

“Way ahead of you!” Oscar pivoted on the balls of his feet and turned straight around.

“Ugh, he totally saw. There’s no way he didn’t... I mean it’s my own fault, but... maybe I should hit him with Nether Burst anyway...” Oscar didn’t like the sound of that. There wouldn’t even be a speck of him left if she hit him with that. It had caved in an entire floor of the Greenway.

“I-I didn’t see anything! Promise!”

“Liar. You’re a big fat liar, O-kun! Your voice is shaking!”

“Guh. Okay, so maybe I saw a little... Sorry.”

“Ugh. It’s my fault, so you shouldn’t be the one to apologize... It feels wrong.”

It was kind of novel, seeing Miledi genuinely embarrassed for once. Oscar found it quite cute.

“Anyway, the changing room should be fine still. Go hide in there. I’ll repair the shower, if you want to finish up.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll just go change.” She was acting uncharacteristically meek. When she was like this, she seemed just like any other girl. Oscar found that he preferred her annoying version more, since he didn’t have to feel bad about hitting her when she was like that.

Putting those thoughts aside, Oscar found his shirt and started getting dressed.

The two of them spent some time sitting by the oasis under the shade of Oscar’s umbrella.

“......”

“......”

They didn’t say anything. Miledi’s ears were still red.

Oscar rifled through his pack for their food. He’d brought a lot of non-perishable goods along. They’d been stored in his containers that were popular among adventurers. His airtight seals meant food lasted even longer than usual inside them.

The versions he’d made for himself were, of course, a lot more impressive than the toned down variants he’d made for other adventurers. If word of his improved inventions spread, he’d probably have been flooded with requests from every single country. Logistics for supplies was the hardest part about organizing an army.

“We sweat out a lot earlier. Need to get some salt back in us.” He handed Miledi some food.

“Y-Yeah, you’re right!” She took it excitedly. It seemed she was still trying to shake off her embarrassment.

Oscar was at a loss for what to say too, so he focused on eating.

Today’s lunch was beef. He used a lot of seasonings and spices on the sauce, so it made for a surprisingly delicious meal. That was the other reason Oscar’s food containers were in such high demand. The food he packed into them was good. On top of that, because of how well-sealed his cans were, he could keep perishables in perfect condition too.

“Mmm, this is great! This is the same dish that was at Aisha-chan’s restaurant, right?”

“Yep. Remember how there were always a bunch of adventurers there whenever we went? They like that place because it serves spicy food like this.”

“I see. No wonder our lunches were so delicious. Wait, that means you bought all this from Aisha-chan’s restaurant, didn’t you? That’s how she found out you were leaving and started crying!”

“Pretty much.” Oscar stuffed his face full of meat. He clearly didn’t want to talk about that. Unfortunately for him, he’d piqued Miledi’s curiosity, which at least meant she was back to normal.

“Hey, O-kun. What did Aisha-chan say to you? Come on, tell me. And what’d you tell her? Come on! It’s no big deal, right?” She grinned at him and ribbed him gently with her elbows.

Oscar adjusted his glasses.

“Miledi. You’re being annoying again. Unbelievably annoying. I’m kind of relieved. Please stay like that forever, so I don’t feel guilty about blowing you halfway across the planet.”

“H-Huh? That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting... What’s that even supposed to mean? Here I am making fun of you and you look almost... kind. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to that.”

It was rare for Oscar to show Miledi any kindness, so she was taken aback.

“Uh, umm... Oh yeah! About the city we’re going to!” She forcibly changed the topic.

Oscar went back to his food and grunted a reply.

“The city’s called Chaldea, right? It’s the biggest city in Polvora, I think. They’re part of the Sharod Federation, right?”

Miledi nodded while chewing on some meat. The desert they were crossing was ruled by a group of countries that formed the Sharod Federation. The federation was a loose alliance between the many small independent fiefdoms that dotted the desert. The fiefdoms were more large tribes than properly organized regions, though. Each of the tribes had their own culture, customs, and laws. Even Sharod, the most powerful member of the federation and its namesake, didn’t have the power to influence the rule of another region.

These small tribes had joined together in order to show a united front against the larger powers among the human world.

Polvora was on the southeastern tip of the desert, and the closest fief to Velka. Its largest city, Chaldea, was famous for its textiles.

“We’re going to start by gathering information. And since we’re there anyway, we might as well spend some time checking out their clothes, too.”

“We’re looking for the ‘Fairy of the Desert’ right?”

“Yep. The Fairy of the Desert. I was actually on my way to Polvora originally. I just stopped by Velnika because it was on the way.”

“Turned into a pretty big detour, huh?”

“It turned into the best detour of my life.”

“Mhm,” Oscar replied, and swallowed down his food.

“You said you’ve been searching for more wielders of ancient magic ever since you joined the Liberators, right? You and your comrades have supposedly been scouring the globe looking for people?”

“Most of our leads have ended up being dead ends, but yeah.” She’d told most of this to him back when they’d been in Velnika.

There weren’t too many people like Oscar and Miledi, who could use ancient magic and possessed ungodly amounts of mana. It stood to reason that those few who existed would stand out, which meant rumors of them would spread. However, Oscar hadn’t heard any such rumors. He assumed they were like him, hiding their talents from the rest of the world. That was why Miledi and her comrades had leaped on even the most outlandish of rumors. They were all they had.

Most had ended up being false leads, but every now and then they’d hit the jackpot. Oscar was the first person Miledi had found capable of using magic from the age of the gods, but they’d still picked up a number of insanely talented people.

As their current method of chasing outlandish rumors had borne some fruit, they continued to rely on it. And the Fairy of the Desert was one such rumor.

According to legend, there was a wandering fairy who patrolled the Crimson Desert and guided lost travelers home. It sounded pretty fake to Oscar. He tilted his head.

“Why a fairy, of all things?”

“Because they’re a pretty, dainty little girl, maybe?” Miledi tilted her head as well. She wasn’t sure either.

They still didn’t have enough information, which was why they were planning on going to the largest city in the area and gathering more.

“It would be nice... if they could use ancient magic too.”

“Healing magic specifically, right?” Miledi replied gently.

Miledi wanted to find someone who could help her in her fight against the gods. However, while Oscar did of course want to help her achieve her goal, he also wanted to find someone who could cure his brother and sister. For him, that still took precedence.

Oscar pushed up his glasses, embarrassed at being seen through so easily.

The hidden village where Oscar’s family had been sent, and where all the non-combatant members of Miledi’s group lived, was deep in the Reisen Gorge. Back when she’d worked as an executioner, Miledi had chanced upon a cave deep in the gorge. There were a few other places Miledi had considered putting their base, but this was the easiest to defend and the least likely to be discovered.

Oscar had entrusted the orphans and a few members of the Liberators with some of his artifacts, so the village was at least better defended now.

Once they found a way to heal Dylan and Katy, Oscar was planning on going back to see them. Whenever that was, he’d be sure to bolster the village’s defenses with the most heinous physical traps he could come up with.

Anyone who dared to hurt his family deserved only the most painful of deaths.

“Hey, O-kun? You’re smile’s starting to creep me out. You look kinda evil.”

“Oh, whoops.”

Miledi had finished eating and now she stared at Oscar, shivering in fear.

Oscar hurriedly finished his own meal.

“Well, that’s a long enough break. If night falls before we get into the city, it’ll be harder to find an inn.”

“At least this time the journey will be nice and cool.”

Miledi and Oscar walked into the harsh desert, their floating ice cube and umbrella providing perfect air conditioning.

Sand stretched on as far as the eye could see. The wind shaped the dunes, causing them to undulate like waves. It really felt like they were traversing a sea of sand.

“Hm? Miledi, we’ve got something coming from the right. Five of them.”

“I don’t see anything. They must be underground.” Miledi scanned the area to her right.

Oscar started counting down. As he reached one, five crimson scorpions shot out of the ground.

Miledi struck at almost the same time.

“Heavensfall!”

The scorpions were slammed back into the sand. Gravity magic pinned them in place. The scorpions screeched in pain. However, they were in the desert. Below the scorpions was just sand. Instead of being crushed against the ground, the scorpions sunk deeper inside it.

“Hmm, deserts and I really don’t get along.” Miledi cast a combination of earth and wind magic to summon a blade of sand, which cut through the scorpions. The five of them screeched again as they died.

“You’ve been using gravity magic an awful lot lately. Any reason for that?”

“Practice. It’s pretty hard to use, and it takes up a lot of mana. I want to get better at controlling it, and hopefully reduce the amount of mana it drains, so I’ve gotta keep practicing.” She puffed her chest out proudly.

Though she appeared skilled at first glance, Miledi still couldn’t fuse other elemental magic with her gravity magic. Furthermore, there were spells even she couldn’t control still.

Her Nether Burst was one such spell. Once activated, it would drain all of her mana unless some external factor forced the spell to be cut off partway.

She wasn’t happy that her most powerful spell was one she couldn’t fully control. Worse, if she wasn’t careful she was liable to kill herself with it.

“I see. It certainly does seem difficult to use. So even you’re not able to use it perfectly...”

“Hey, O-kun. I’ve been the only one fighting for a while now... Do you really plan on making a girl do all the work?” Miledi glared at Oscar.

Like most places, the Crimson Desert was rife with monsters. In fact, it was one of the more dangerous regions on the continent.

The scorpions Miledi had just defeated were known as the assassins of the desert. Travelers feared them because of their deadly poison and ability to move through the ground undetected.

Since leaving the oasis, they’d been attacked rather frequently. However, Oscar was always able to detect them ahead of time and Miledi crushed them in seconds, so there was no sense of urgency.

Still, as strong as she was, Miledi was still a girl. She was tired of being the only one fighting, wanting her partner to pull his weight.

Oscar just stared at her blankly in response. It was almost if he didn’t get the reason for her complaints.

“Okay, now I’m mad. I’m mad, O-kun! I’m a girl too, you know!? I know this is child’s play, but you could still say something like ‘Oh, leave it to me’ or ‘I’d feel bad making you do all the hard work’ or something!”

“You just said yourself that this is child’s play. You’re better suited to fighting than I am. Besides, just thinking about you acting like a normal city girl is... Haha.”

“Hey, why’d you laugh? O-kun, you better explain yourself.” Miledi glared at Oscar, a dark look in her eyes. But just then, Oscar’s Silver Slate reacted again. There was a giant monster headed their way. It was fast, too.

“Miledi, behind us. It’s fast. I’ll count down for you.”

“......”

“10, 9, 8 ,7 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!”

A giant earthworm, known to the people here as a Sandworm, burst out from under the ground, directly under their feet.

Oscar and Miledi jumped back in different directions, just barely avoiding the creature’s circular maw. Its razor-sharp teeth ground the sand it had been chewing. It almost looked like it was grinding its teeth in frustration at failing to catch its prey.

“Hm? Huh?” Oscar looked over in confusion.

Normally, Miledi would have crushed the worm to the ground with her gravity magic.

Is she charging up a really powerful spell or something? Oscar flicked his left hand. Thin chains flew out of his sleeve.

His Metamorph Chains. Before he’d had to physically fling them, or snake them along the ground to his target by using the spirit stone contained within them. Now, however, he’d enhanced them with Miledi’s gravity magic and they floated freely in the air.

He could control all five at once since they’d become easier to handle. Furthermore, the pouch at his waist had a huge carrying capacity, so he’d lengthened each one to one hundred meters.

His chains wound their way around the Sandworm. They were powerful enough to bind it in place.

He sent a second chain burrowing through the ground, then remotely transmuted the ground underneath the Sandworm into stone.

“Miledi, how much longer is this going to take!?” Oscar shouted to his partner. However, there was no reply. Don’t tell me she got injured!? But when he looked over he saw that she’d dodged just fine. Her actions baffled him.

“Miledi? What are you doing?” She was lying in midair, her hands behind her head. High up enough that the Sandworm couldn’t reach her.

Miledi grinned at him.

“I thought I should give you a chance to train your skills too. That monster is a gift from me to you. Oh, what’s that? No need for thanks! We’re partners, after all.”

Guess she’s holding a grudge. She’d lifted herself high enough that she was in no danger.

A vein pulsed in Oscar’s forehead. He tightened the chains around the Sandworm, and it screamed in pain.

“Miledi. Doing in this in the middle of a fight is not funny. What you’re trying to say doesn’t even make sense. Listen up, in the first place—” He himself cut off as he looked at his Silver Slate. A number of huge enemies were headed their way. Oscar guessed they were this Sandworm’s friends.

“M-Miledi. There’s six more coming. Stop playing around and get rid of them.” Miledi made no move to get up.

“No.” She said, like a spoiled child, and smiled.

Six Sandworms popped out of the ground, surrounding Oscar. They looked at their trapped buddy, and then at Oscar. Their anger was palpable.

Oscar’s expression stiffened, but he remained calm. Then, he adjusted his glasses.

“Miledi, I understand that you’re frustrated. I’m willing to listen, so let’s talk this out, okay? But first, could you please get rid of these—”

“Giyaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Before he could finish, the Sandworms converged on Oscar. Six gaping maws bore down on him.

Oscar screamed, and a cloud of dust rose up where he’d been standing. The Sandworms’ heads were all stuck in the ground, and they looked like giant upside-down Ns.

A second later Oscar spoke.

“A-Are you really just going to sit there!?” As the dust cleared, Miledi saw Oscar on one knee, with his umbrella thrust out before him.

He’d activated Hallowed Ground to keep himself alive. The sheer weight of six massive creatures should have buried him in the sand even with a barrier, but he’d transmuted the ground into metal and affixed his umbrella in place. His Transmutation abilities were truly impressive.

“You’re my partner, aren’t you, O-kun? You’re not going to be much help against the gods if you can’t beat monsters like this.” Oscar finally snapped. Miledi didn’t notice, and kept needling him.

“What’s wrong, O-kun? Come on, you can do it! Don’t give up! Stay light on your feet! Believe in yourself! I know you can do better than this! Come on, get back up!” Oscar stood up. He extended the umbrella’s shaft toward the Sandworms, then pulled out a single black glove and put it on. After that, he also took out a few of his enchanted weapons.

Finally, he took a deep breath, looked up at Miledi, and shouted.

“Milediiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! I’m going to fucking murder you!” His voice carried pretty far.

At the same time, there was an explosion, and the one of the Sandworms flew back. The first Sandworm that he’d suppressed with his chains was a smoking husk. He’d used lightning to kill it.

The explosion had torn huge chunks out of a few of the remaining Sandworms’ torsos.

He’d hit them all with Combustion Blades. The resulting blast had been pretty powerful.

Chunks of meat rained down on him, which he fended off with his umbrella. He then bent one of his gloved fingers. There was a loud whistling noise, and one of the Sandworms was split into five.

This was another one of his artifacts, the Sable Glove. It was crafted from superfine threads of metal that had been enchanted with gravity magic. The threads were made of spirit stone, so he could also control them freely. While his chains were made for binding and restraining targets, those were made for killing. The threads of spirit stone were sharp enough to cut flesh.

The remaining Sandworms tried to burrow back underground, as this opponent was too much for them to handle.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Oscar transmuted the ground around him. The sand, which should have been their domain, turned into the tombs that entrapped them.

Oscar closed his umbrella, lifted it up, and slammed it into the ground. Blades of wind bisected two of the Sandworms, while electrified chains and metal wire made mincemeat of the rest.

It hadn’t even taken a minute for Oscar to wipe them all out.

After finishing up, he glared at Miledi.

“I knew you could do it if you tried, O-kun!” She was clapping happily.

In order to ensure they had a good working relationship going forward, Oscar decided he needed to teach her a little lesson. He aimed his chains at her. But before he could fire them off—

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

The air shook. A second later, the ground began to shake too.

Something a few hundred meters out was running right at them. It was kicking up a cloud of dust so big that it looked like a sandstorm was following in its wake. That something turned out to be an entire herd of Sandworms.

Oscar looked down at his Silver Slate. The whole thing was glowing with light. There was easily more than a hundred of them, which spanned an area over three hundred meters wide. One of the Sandworms looked a lot larger than usual.

It appeared those Sandworms from before had a lot of friends.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight such a large group. He’d be blown away by their sheer mass before he even had a chance.

“Miledi-san? If you’re telling me to fight that all on my own too, I’m going to have to rethink my decision to travel with you.” Oscar looked pleadingly up at Miledi.

“E-Even I wouldn’t be that cruel. Actually, let’s get out of here! I don’t think my magic’s gonna be enough for that!”

“Y-Yeah.”

Oscar attempted to leap into the air with his Onyx Boots.

The Sandworm army was almost on top of him. They were even faster than he’d thought. Up close, he realized the giant one was even bigger than he’d first thought. It was like a living mountain was looming over him.

Crap, I might not make it. Miledi must have been thinking the same thing, as she lightened him with her gravity magic.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Just then, Miledi and Oscar looked down in shock.

This was hardly the time for it, but what they saw was simply unbelievable. A man had appeared between him and the monsters.

He had rust-red hair and eyes as sharp as a hawk. His eyes were the same color as his hair. He wore a faded gray robe, with a white sash over it. Standing a formidable two meters tall, he had a massive frame. Oscar guessed he was in his mid-twenties.

From his clothes it seemed likely that he was a resident of the Crimson Desert, but neither Oscar nor Miledi had sensed him coming at all.

He silently dashed over to Oscar, as if completely unconcerned about the army of Sandworms behind him.

“Huh, wait, who are—”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Oscar faltered as the heavily muscled man towered over him. He grabbed Oscar’s arms, his voice utterly emotionless.

A second later—

“Wha?”

“O-O-kun?”

Miledi was directly in front of him. They both blinked.

With his free hand he grabbed hold of Miledi.

A second later, they vanished.

“Huh?”

“Wha? Wait, all we’ve been saying for the past minute is huh and wha...” And reappeared on a sand dune somewhere else. A giant city rose up in the distance.

The two of them exchanged looks and turned back around.

“Please forget all about me.” He let go of their hands and looked into their eyes. Just then, Miledi blurted out,

“A-Are you the Fairy of the Desert?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Both the man and Oscar looked at her in surprise.

Oscar then turned back to the man.

“Fairy?” His sharp eyes refused to meet Miledi’s gaze.

“F-Fairy?” A blush spread up his chiseled face. It looked like he’d only just realized that was what people called him. He must have been embarrassed to have such a dainty nickname.

The man returned to his senses and coughed.

“Anyway, please don’t tell other people about me.” Mana began swirling around the man.

“O-kun, don’t let him get away!”

“Huh? Oh, got it!” Oscar wrapped his chains around the man, which made his mana disperse. The man let out a gasp of surprise.

“Wow, that was amazing, O-kun! And it looks like we hit the jackpot right off the bat! I can’t believe this! I spent years searching fruitlessly before I found you, and now we’ve got another falling right into our laps! Looks like my luck’s finally turning around!”

“Uh, sure.”

Miledi got herself hyped up. She pumped a fist into the air and leaped with joy. Oscar was honestly a bit put off.

Meanwhile, the man tried to free himself of his restraints.

“Fufufu, don’t even bother. O-kun’s chains are made of sealstone. You won’t be able to emit mana easily with those around you.”

“What do you plan on doing to me?” He stared warily at the two of them. When he narrowed his eyes, he looked positively terrifying.

Cold sweat poured down Miledi’s forehead.

“Th-Thanks for saving us back there, but we can’t have you leaving just yet. We actually came here to find you. But man, I can’t believe we ran into you before we even got around to gathering info!”

“What do you plan on doing to me?” He repeated his question. His tone was even fiercer than before. It seemed Miledi had only made him more suspicious. Oscar sighed and removed his chains.

The man looked at Oscar in surprise.

“Sorry. It’s true that we came all this way to meet you, so I panicked a bit when you were about to leave. Also, I apologize for my partner’s attitude. I’m truly sorry.” The man looked away, clearly uncomfortable at being apologized to.

“And what’s that supposed to mean!?” Miledi screamed. But then a second later she looked back at the man and bowed with a mumbled “Sorry.”

The man tried to look anywhere but at the two of them.

Oscar held out a hand.

“Thanks for saving us back there, really. My name’s Oscar. Oscar Orcus.” The man looked at Oscar’s outstretched hand.

He made no motion to take it. After a brief moment of silence, he shook his head.

“Sorry, but I’m not interested.” Mana started swirling around him once more.

Miledi tried to stop him.

“Wait, please listen!”

“......”

Miledi yelled out one last thing just as he was about to vanish.

“We’re like you! We can use magic from the age of the gods too!” His mana dispersed again. This time though, Oscar hadn’t done anything. He’d stopped casting of his own accord. Judging by his stunned expression, he probably hadn’t meant to.

Miledi breathed a sigh of relief and stared at the man. Her expression was serious now.

“You’re the same, aren’t you?”

The man’s expression gave nothing away, but Miledi continued anyway.

“You just popped up out of nowhere, and then you touched O-kun and showed up next to me with him. After that, you brought us here in an instant. You must have some kind of teleportation magic, correct? Something normal mages can’t possibly use.”

“You’re wrong. My power is nothing special. It comes from an artifact I happened to find.”

The man pulled a necklace out of his robes.

Miledi glanced over at Oscar. Oscar gazed intently at the necklace for a few seconds before turning to Miledi and shaking his head.

“That’s just a normal necklace.”

“You simply cannot see its power. I’ll say this now: I won’t lend it to you. If you plan on stealing it—”

“Sorry, but those lies won’t work on us. I told you before, we can use ancient magic too. O-kun over here’s probably the only Synergist alive who can make artifacts still. No one’s more knowledgeable about them than him.”

The man turned to Oscar, clearly at a loss for words.

Oscar made his chains and umbrella float in the air. Electric sparks flew off of them. They were obviously not your average magical tools.

“By the way, I was floating using gravity magic earlier, not wind magic.” Miledi showed off her powers as well. Sky blue mana swirled around her, and a second later a massive segment of sand flew up into the air.

“We’re on a journey to find other people with powers like ours. Please at least hear us out.” She silently gazed at the man after saying that.

For a while, he just stared at the floating umbrella and sand. Neither Miledi nor Oscar could read his expression.

Though Oscar thought he caught a hint of jealousy in the man’s eyes.

“My answer remains unchanged. I have already decided how I wish to live my life. I have no desire to join any group.” His sharp gaze pierced through Miledi.

“Why? You’re using that power of yours to help people, aren’t you? So why do you want to be alone?”

“This power is nothing more than a curse.”

What kind of things happened in his past? Oscar was surprised at the darkness in his eyes as he said that.

“That’s all I have to say. Please don’t trouble yourself any further with me.” He said with a tone of finality.

Miledi hung her head. She was trembling. The man felt a little guilty about leaving her like that.

Oscar spared Miledi a glance before giving the man a look of sympathy. He already knew where this was going.

“No! I’m not giving up that easily! I managed to seduce O-kun eventually, too! Don’t underestimate me!”

“Can you please stop using suggestive words like that?”

Miledi ignored his protests. After throwing a mini-tantrum, Miledi closed in on the man.

Flustered, he took a step back. Miledi’s menacing demeanor, or perhaps just her overbearing presence, had been enough to leave him disturbed.

“I’ll make you listen to me, even if I have to force you!”

“Wh-Wha!? I told you I don’t— Cosmic Rift!”

Miledi disappeared into a glowing ring of light. Just before she vanished, she let out a confused yell.

The man was breathing heavily, and looked like he’d just faced down some kind of demonic monster.

“Sorry about that. Our leader’s a little excitable. Just making sure, but she’s okay, right?”

“Haaah... Haaah... Y-You’ll see in a moment.” The man waved his hand. Another ring of light appeared at Oscar’s feet. Oscar, too, yelled in surprise and vanished into the portal of light.

A very exhausted man remained alone on the sand after that.

There was a huge splash in a small oasis some distance away.

“Ack... Hic... I swallowed too much water...” This stopping point between desert towns was empty, but had anyone been there they would have seen someone appear seemingly out of thin air right above the water.

Oscar splashed about in the shallows, still trying to get his bearings. He slicked back his hair and looked around. His glasses were missing.

“Looks like I got sent to an oasis somewhere... That guy’s got some impressive magic. Anyway, did he also send Miledi...” There she is. She was sitting at the edge of the water, sobbing and cradling her knees.

Upon closer inspection, Oscar realized that her clothes and hair were muddy, and her face was dripping with water. Her nose was red, as if it had scraped across the ground.

Off to the side, he noticed the oasis turned into a marshy swamp a little ways away. There were skid marks showing someone had slipped into it recently.

That told Oscar everything he needed to know. When Miledi had been teleported, she’d been running. If he’d teleported her near the oasis, it stood to reason that she would have slipped on the slick mud. And because she’d been waving her arms around wildly, she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from falling flat on her face.

Oscar walked over to Miledi.

“Should I make you another shower?”

“Please.” Miledi sniffled and nodded meekly.

A short while later, Miledi returned to Oscar’s side. Her nose was still a little red, but she was clean. Oscar was sitting cross-legged at the oasis’ bank and staring at his Silver Slate.

“O-kun, thanks for the shower.”

“Your welcome.”

Miledi sat herself next to him. She hugged her knees and stared at the water’s surface.

Finally, she muttered something.

“All the wielders of ancient magic are a huge pain the ass.”

“I hope you realize that includes you.”

She ignored him, as usual.

“That was teleportation magic he used back there, right?”

“Seems like it. That ring of light... It’s some kind of portal, I guess? Passing through it will put you in a completely different location. It seems he can transport himself even without that portal, though. Either way it’s pretty impressive. And it’s going to be a real pain to deal with.”

“Anytime he realizes we’re close he can just send us away, or teleport himself. We won’t even have a chance to talk to him.”

“I’m pretty sure he only teleported us away that time because you were scaring him.”

Oscar was once again, ignored. Still, he cleared his throat and continued.

“At any rate, he refused our offer. Quite firmly, too. I imagine that won’t be deterring you, though.”

“Of course not! I mean, he didn’t refuse us completely. You could tell there was something else in his eyes, right?”

So you won’t stop until you hear what he really thinks, huh? Oscar smiled to himself. Like she’d said, that was how she’d managed to seduce him too.

He almost felt a twinge of sympathy for the poor man.

“Though, I have no idea where we are or where he went... And since he can teleport wherever he wants, it’s going to be hard to gather information on his whereabouts... Jeez, what are we supposed to do noooooow.” Miledi rolled around and pounded the sand angrily. She was back to acting like a spoiled child.

Oscar smiled and his Silver Slate began to glow.

“Finding him will be a piece of cake, actually.”

“Huh? How!?” Miledi looked up in surprise and Oscar showed her his slate.

“The moment he transported you, I figured I’d be next. So while we were talking, I attached one of my trackers to a thread and hid it under the ground. I managed to get it onto him before he dropped me.”

The slate showed Miledi and Oscar in the center, two dazzling pinpricks of light. Some distance away was a third pinprick of light, equally as bright.

“Oh, and from the looks of it, he transported us two days east of Chaldea. I found a signpost near the oasis while you were taking your shower. Judging by the distance, he’s probably somewhere near the city still.” Miledi started trembling.

Is she going through some weird withdrawal symptoms or something? Oscar thought to himself. A second later, she hugged him with all her might. His head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice.

“Nice job, O-kun! I knew I could count on my partner! Those glasses really aren’t just for show after all! I’m sorry I thought you were a weirdo for wearing a black coat in the middle of the desert!”

“Can you give it a rest about my glasses already!? Wait, hey, you were really thinking that!? And get off of me! Let me go!”

“Come ooon~ Let me hug you a little longer!”

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! God you’re so annoying!” Oscar finally managed to push Miledi away. Though it might not have been because he thought she was annoying, but for a different reason entirely. Oscar’s face was bright red as he adjusted his glasses.

“Alriiight! Thanks to your quick thinking we know where he is. Let’s hurry back to town!” She pumped her fist into the air energetically, already over being pushed away by Oscar.

“Roger,” Oscar said with a nod. He was still blushing.

One day after Miledi and Oscar left the oasis.

The man who’d sent the terrifying girl and her weary glasses-wearing companion away led a herd of four iraks into Chaldea.

Iraks were large four-legged mammals that the desert folk used in place of horses. Normally, the beasts were lazy creatures. They were often too lazy to even find food, and had evolved to be able to survive a month without eating. As long as they drank water every few days, at least.

They shambled along as fast as a human walking briskly. Rarely could their riders urge them into anything faster than that. But if they felt their lives in danger, they could gallop across the dunes for hours on end without tiring. They often spit at people who annoyed them, too.

Still, iraks were valued by the desert people and sold for high prices.

This man was an irak herder who made his living selling them.

He’d sold quite a few at the nearby villages already, and was planning to sell the remainder of his stock in Chaldea. After that, all that remained was to deliver supplies to a few other villages.

Chaldea’s main street was a cacophony of noise. Travelers and merchants haggled over prices, hawkers called out the names of their wares, and people shouted to be heard over the din.

The man gently led the iraks down the street and turned at an intersection. Before him stood a large pillar, to which many iraks’ reins were tied.

This was the main irak market.

“Oh, it’s you. I was expecting you.” The owner of the iraks smiled and walked up to the man. He was well-built, but a slight paunch still bulged out from behind his white robe. His clothes were of fine quality, and had clearly been sewn by a master tailor. One could easily tell he was a prospering merchant.

“I’ve brought three to sell. What’s your price?”

“Curt as always, I see. I haven’t seen you in months, my friend. Surely you can spare some time to share a tale or two.”

The man looked away, troubled. The merchant clearly meant no harm, though.

“Well, I won’t force you. I certainly wouldn’t want to lose your business... Marvelous. As always, the iraks you’ve brought me are of exceptional quality.” The merchant tied the three iraks’ reins to the pillar and nodded in satisfaction. He asked the man to sit inside his shop while he performed a more thorough inspection of the goods. And so, he sat down and an apprentice brought him some tea.

The apprentice had seen the man quite a few times by now too, and wasn’t nervous around the silent giant. The man smiled slightly and gave the boy his thanks.

He didn’t know if the merchant had sent the boy to keep him company while he examined the iraks, or if it was the boy’s own curiosity that kept him there. Regardless, the boy was clearly intent on making conversation.

“Mister, the master’s been complaining a lot recently.”

“Huh?”

“The Holy Church has started monopolizing the irak trade... Of course, that means master was able to sell his whole herd to them, but then he was out of stock. An irak trader is nothing without iraks, so he went around looking for more to buy, but the other big irak traders sold to the Holy Church as well, and all he could find were dregs no one else wanted.”

“Why would the Holy Church want iraks?”

“Beats me... Anyway, that’s why master’s so happy to see you. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to sell all four of them?”

“I’d have a hard time getting home if I did.”

In truth, he’d have no trouble at all, but it would start raising suspicion otherwise. The merchant was convinced he lived far away since he only came by once every few months, and it would be odd not to take an irak over such long distances.

Besides, he’d kept that one irak a long time, so it was practically family to him. He knew he wouldn’t sell it even if he could.

The boy knew he wouldn’t part with his last irak either. He smiled in understanding and said “I thought as much.”

“Well, did you have any trouble getting here? Like a run-in with monsters or something?” The man looked up in surprise.

It was clear from his gaze that he was wondering what had led the boy to that conclusion.

“You just look tired, is all.”

This boy is quite sharp. He’ll make a good merchant someday. The man thought back to his strange encounter yesterday.

That boy and girl who’d possessed the same kind of abnormal powers he did. They’d claimed they’d come looking for him.

Neither of them had seemed like bad people, really. Furthermore, they’d both seemed proud of their abilities.

The boy had claimed he could create artifacts, even. The power to create... Truly, he’d been a little jealous. Especially of their relationship.

Though the girl seemed to lead him by the nose quite often, the pair clearly trusted each other as equals. Neither was the other’s servant.

“Umm, Mister?” He snapped back to the present. The boy was looking at him with worry.

The man gave him a small smile.

“Ah, sorry. It’s nothing.” In a sense, he had encountered monsters, and he told the boy as much.

He took another sip of his tea and—

“Miledi-chan’s here! I’ve finally found you!”

“Bwah!?”

He spotted Miledi hurtling down from above. The man spit out his tea. The boy, who she’d landed on, rolled across the ground, covering his eyes in pain.

“Wh-Why? How did...”

How did she find me? In fact, how is she even here? I sent her two days away just one day ago.

Miledi looked down at the man and grinned.

“I won’t let you escape that easily!” Miledi frightened him, but that grin of hers also irked him.

The man hesitated for a moment. Meanwhile, the young boy whimpered.

“Mister, why did this happen to me? Did I do something wrong?” He was still rubbing his eyes, which Miledi had hurt. The man was worried about him of course, but right now he needed to find a way out of this predicament.

He couldn’t open a portal here. The risk that someone might see it was far too great. That left running. But he hadn’t been paid yet, and he didn’t want to leave his irak partner behind.

“Hey, what’s going on in there?” The merchant had heard the noise and came to see what was happening. An idea came to mind and the man turned to the merchant.

“Sir. Please put the money for my iraks on the pouch tied to my personal irak. I’ll come back for it later.”

“What? But then how... Hey, wait!”

The man dashed off without waiting for a reply.

“Aaah, get back here!” Miledi ran off after him.

“Master? Master! What’s going on? I still can’t see.” The young apprentice blinked a few times to clear his sight.

“Sorry about my companion. She’s rather boisterous. Anyway, could I ask you a few questions about the man who was in here?” A young man in a stiflingly hot black coat appeared in the doorway. For some reason, he was carrying a black umbrella.

“What on earth is going on here?” The merchant scratched his balding head and turned to Oscar.

“Sniffle...” A young girl was crying at the edge of an oasis. She was soaked from head to toe, and covered in mud. Her nose was red.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light in front of her.

A second later, Oscar fell into the water with a huge splash.

The water and wind magic embedded in his clothes cleaned and dried him off, and he walked out of the water looking none the worse for the wear.

When he saw the state Miledi was in, he guessed more or less what must have happened.

“O-kun, he threw me away like I was trash...”

“Ah... I see.”

Oscar gave a noncommittal reply and nodded.

After Miledi had chased after the man, she’d run straight into a portal he’d set up in an alleyway. However, she’d managed to dodge over it with her gravity magic.

Certain that he’d be willing to at least listen now that she’d rendered his traps ineffective, Miledi had let her guard down. Just as she’d started talking, the man had grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and threw her into his portal.

She’d been so shocked that she’d lost her concentration and fell into the mud.

“Ugh, damn that man! I can’t believe he’d throw a girl like that!”

“In your case, I can see why he’d do it... Also, it’s Naiz, not ‘that man.’”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“That’s his name. While you were wasting your time running after him, I talked to the merchant he was with. The guy’s name is Naiz. Turns out he’s an irak herder. He comes by every few months with a few well-bred iraks to sell.”

Unfortunately, that was all he’d been able to find out. Even the merchant, who seemed somewhat close to Naiz, had known very little about him. He’d described Naiz as a taciturn, but sincere man.

After Oscar was done talking to the merchant, he’d noticed that Naiz’s irak was missing.

The merchant was wondering when Naiz had had time to come get it, but he assumed he’d just missed Naiz while talking to Oscar.

On the other hand, Oscar had guessed what must have really happened.

He’d thanked the merchant and decided to head back. When he’d stepped into an alleyway though, he’d fallen through one of Naiz’s portals.

Still, they’d gotten some more information on him, at least.

“You’re amazing, O-kun! No matter what happens, you still come away with something useful!”

“Meanwhile, you just keep charging in like an idiot.”

She went to hug him, but Oscar restrained her with his Metamorph Chains. He didn’t want to get smeared in mud too. He sighed and made another shower room for Miledi. Then, he threw her into the changing room and heard her mutter “I feel like I’m being thrown around a lot lately...” which he ignored.

Two days later.

Naiz finished up his business in the surrounding villages and started on the road home. He led his irak from the village on foot until he was out of sight. Only then did he teleport.

He’d gone to that village to deliver stillstone, which only grew in the wastelands to the north, or within the Red Dragon’s Mountain. When he’d been on his way to Chaldea, he’d heard the villages had been suffering from a stillstone shortage, so he’d teleported north and gathered some for them.

Though those two had somehow found him at the irak trader’s place, he was certain he’d be safe in the surrounding villages. His business there hadn’t been planned, and no one knew he’d gone there. Still, he looked around restlessly.

He had a nagging feeling that that girl who came and went like a storm would somehow appear anyway, followed by that respectable young man.

“I’m just being paranoid...” This time he’d teleported them a whole five days away. That was the furthest distance he could teleport anyone. There was no way they’d catch up to him in just two days.

The irak tilted its head at Naiz, wondering what he was worrying about. Its droopy eyes were trained on him.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go home, Suzanne.”

“Gweeeh.” Suzanne was his irak’s name. It lost interest in Naiz after hearing his reply, and turned its half-dead eyes forward again.

It seemed to be staring at something. Something far off in the distance.

“Suzanne?”

“Gweeeeeeh.” Naiz had been with Suzanne for years now. He could tell what her grunts meant.

“What is it, girl? What do you see?” Naiz squinted at the horizon. All he could see was the sun, the sand, and—

“Hm? What’s that...” Naiz felt a sense of foreboding. He spotted something far off in the sky.

“Is that a black...dot? No, it seems to be a...” Naiz’s voice was trembling.

The steadily growing black spot turned out to be two people.

“Found youuuuuuuuu!”

“Impossible.”

Miledi’s voice rang loudly through the empty desert. He was stunned. This was quickly becoming his worst nightmare.

As they got closer, Naiz could see that Miledi was holding Oscar by the collar. Oscar looked exhausted, and it was clear that if they’d been on the ground he would have been slumped on the floor.

“We found you again, Nacchan!”

“N-Nacchan?”

Miledi landed lightly. The moment her feet touched the ground though, she doubled over and started panting. Her chosen method of travel had exhausted her quite a bit.

Naiz was amazed at what seemed like her nickname for him. He looked over at Oscar, who she’d deposited at her side.

He was lying face-up on the ground. It didn’t look like he’d be getting up anytime soon, either.

“Is he... alright?”

“Haaah... Haaah... He’s fine! He’s O-kun after all!”

I’m not quite sure how that’s a proper reason. Still, Oscar raised his hand and waved it weakly to indicate he was fine, so Naiz left it at that.

“I gotta say though, using ancient magic for two days straight really wears a girl out. Even with all of O-kun’s mana, I was barely able to make it. If monsters found us now, we’d be dead!”

“That’s not really something to be excited about...” Naiz stared at her as if he was looking at some alien creature.

“How’d you find me?”

“That’s a secret!” She brought her finger to her lips and winked at Naiz. Though there was no wind blowing, her ponytail bobbed back and forth.

For a few short seconds, Naiz lost it. He knew he could kill at that very moment.

“How’d you find me?” Once he’d calmed down he repeated his question.

“Fufufu. Well, I suppose I could tell you. But not for free. You’ve gotta listen to what I have to say fir—” Naiz opened a portal beneath them. His retribution was merciless.

Oscar vanished into it.

“Ah, O-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!?” Miledi dropped to all fours and stared into the portal.

“Come to think of it, he can’t move... Oh no. I hope he doesn’t drown...”

“Wait, O-kun’s in trouble!? Damn you, don’t think this is over yet! Even if I leave now, I’ll keep coming back as many times as it takes!”

With those parting words, Miledi jumped into the portal of her own volition.

The desert was quiet once more.

Though for some reason, with the disappearance of just one girl, the silence now felt oppressive.

A slight breeze ruffled Naiz’s hair.

“Gweeeeeeh.”

“You’re right, Suzanne. Let’s go home.” Naiz started on the road home.

A few days later.

Naiz was back home. Though whether his living space really qualified as a house was up for debate.

Currently, he lived in a cave. It fell straight down, and ended at a terraced base. There he’d carved out rooms from the rock. There was a spot for his bed, a table in the center, a storage room, a kitchen, and so on.

What was truly strange about his dwelling though was that it was lit by magma.

His cavern home was at the heart of the Red Dragon’s Mountain, which was the massive volcano that was the heart of the Crimson Desert. No people lived near the volcano, nor was it somewhere people should have been able to live in.

The volcano had earned its name because its eruptions were like a red dragon’s breath, burning hot and always unpredictable.

The nearby villagers believed a red dragon truly did sleep in the volcano’s depths.

Not only did no one live at its base, but people didn’t even dare approach it usually.

Despite that, Naiz had no problems living there. The magma’s extreme heat didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He stepped out on the terrace and looked at the river of magma below him.

“Everything looks fine...” He turned on his heel and returned to his room, then sat down at his table and reached for the basket atop it. In it was food he’d bought with the money he earned selling his iraks. Bread, cheese, and fruit.

He pulled a sheet of parchment from a nearby rack and started writing something as he munched on some bread.

“The Holy Church has been buying up iraks...” He muttered quietly to himself. That was what the merchant’s apprentice had said. He was somewhat curious about what they were planning, but it didn’t really matter to him since he was basically retired from irak herding.

Though he knew it would be a problem if their actions made iraks vanish from the desert.

They were the preeminent beasts of burden in the area, and were used in many different aspects of life. The more rural villages depended on iraks for trade, and would die without them. Transporting as many goods as possible in one trip was of paramount importance because of how frequent monster attacks were.

Oftentimes traders lost their iraks to monsters. Unless they were able to find a replacement instantly, they were forced to transport their wares by foot. If the Holy Church had taken all of those spares, then it was a reason to be concerned.

“Maybe I should see what they’re scheming...” Naiz finished off his bread, downed a pitcher of water, and stood up.

He thought back to the two who’d been chasing him this whole time. He was certain they wouldn’t be able to chase him into the volcano, but once he left chances were they’d pop up again.

“Nah, it’s impossible... This place is too far from where I sent them. They definitely won’t find me here.” He’d encountered Miledi and Oscar in the southeastern fringes of the desert, but the volcano was to the north. Moreover, he was planning to make his trip using teleportation. There was no possible way for them to keep up.

At least, that was what he kept telling himself. He was still terrified of running into them the moment he stepped out of his house. Next time I’ll force them to tell me how they’re tracking me and promise to leave me alone.

Unwilling to even step foot outside of his house, he left using teleportation. He spent the day checking up on the outlying villages, finally starting down the road home as the sun began to set.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The pair of troublemakers hadn’t appeared all day.

Once he was safely hidden behind a pair of sand dunes, he teleported back home.

“Ah, welcome back, Nacchan!”

“Sorry for barging into your house without asking. We brought you some gifts, though.”

Miledi and Oscar were sitting at his table, sipping tea. Naiz couldn’t believe it.

“How?” He croaked out.

“D-Don’t be so mad. I-I’m sorry I came in without asking. Please forgive us, Nacchan.”

“I’m not mad. Just amazed. Also, quit calling me Nacchan.” He said, as he sank down into a chair. Idly, he noticed there were more than there had been before.

In truth, he almost admired their persistence. At the same time, he couldn’t believe they’d managed to track him down all the way here. Or had the guts to come into a magma chamber, even. More than anything though, he really wished she’d stop calling him Nacchan.

“You might as well give up... That nickname’s there to stay. She’s crazy— I mean, stubborn. Oh, these are for you, by the way. They’re baked sweets made with the local fruit. You don’t dislike sweets, do you?”

“Hm? Yeah, they’re fine.”

“Hey, did you just call me crazy, O-kun? Did you? Hey! Answer me—”

“You won’t teleport us away again, will you?”

“Now that you’ve found even this place, it won’t matter where I send you. At this point, I have only two options. Find out how you’re tracking me and destroy whatever means you’re using, or...”

“Hear us out and refuse our offer, right?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, why’re you two leaving me out? Don’t you think that’s mean? Also, O-kun, you totally did call me cra—”

Oscar and Naiz stared at each other, completely ignoring Miledi. They were trying to probe each other’s intentions. An epic battle of wills played out between the two of them in the span of a few short seconds.

After a while, they heard sobbing from under the table. The two men blinked as they returned to reality. They looked underneath the table simultaneously, and found Miledi curled up in a ball, crying.

The two proceeded to ignore her completely and resumed staring at each other. Oscar took a sip of his tea.

“By the way, your place is amazing. As far as I can tell you’re not using any artifacts, but the place is still perfectly insulated against the magma. Are you doing this with your ancient magic?”

“You could say that.”

“But why make a place like this your home? Well, I guess if you want to avoid people the middle of a volcano is a perfect place to live.”

“Are you here to tell me what you came for or to ask me about my life?”

“Whoops, my apologies. Your design choices just piqued my interest as a Synergist.” For once, the two of them were actually carrying on a conversation.

Still in tears, Miledi crawled out from under the table and sat with them.

“Okay, I’ll be serious now, so can you please stop ignoring me?” Her tone was uncharacteristically contrite.

Naiz and Oscar sighed simultaneously.

“How are you two in sync like that?”

“Probably because of you.”

“It’s definitely because of you.”

“Hic...” Miledi blew her nose a few times.

Once she’d composed herself, she gave Naiz the same speech she’d given Oscar. She talked about the tyranny of the gods, the Holy Church’s madness, and the twisted way of the world. She spoke about the fate that awaited those who stepped out of line, as well as the horrors that accompanied blind fanaticism.

Finally, she came to the organization she belonged to— the Liberators.

She also briefly explained her past and how she came to meet Oscar.

Three people’s soft breathing were the only sounds that could be heard when she finished.

“My magic allows me to interfere with space. I can connect two different points together, teleport somewhere else in the blink of an eye, and, like I did with my house, create spacial barriers to block things off, even insubstantial things like heat... But I don’t have the ability to heal. Not one bit.” After hearing their tale, Naiz explained his powers.

Oscar could guess why he’d brought up healing.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile and shook his head.

Miledi looked warmly into his eyes and spoke to him once more, offering her praise.

“You’re a good person.” She said it with conviction. What had pained Naiz the most wasn’t the truth about the gods, or the wretched state of the world, but the fact that Oscar’s siblings had been hurt. And he lamented his own powerlessness to help.

Come to think of it, he was like that the first time he saved us, too. Oscar thought to himself. Judging by his actions and the fact that he’d chosen a volcano for a home, Oscar could tell he was trying to hide his powers too.

Despite that, he hadn’t even hesitated to use his powers to save the two of them from the Sandworms.

The only reason rumors of him had spread at all was because he’d broken his cover to help those in need.

However, Naiz didn’t seem happy at all to be called kind by Miledi. He twisted his face into a grimace.

“No, I’m not. I’m just—” He cut himself off. They could tell whatever it was he couldn’t say pained him to no end.

Miledi looked straight at him and urged him to speak.

“Just what? Tell us.” She knew it was rude, but she asked anyway. Even if it hurt him to speak, they couldn’t help until they knew.

Oscar chimed in as well.

“I have no way of knowing what kind of things you’re dealing with, but at the very least you’ve saved enough people in the desert that rumors have spread about you. And for that, I respect you. We’d really like to have someone like you in our group.”

Naiz could tell they were being sincere, but his expression hardened. Then, he delivered his ultimatum.

“As you wished, I listened to your story. However, my answer remains unchanged. Nothing you say can convince me otherwise.” In the end, he said no. At the same time, he opened up another portal. It was obvious he wanted them to leave. Miledi and Oscar could tell from his grim expression that he would say no more.

They exchanged glances. Oscar shook his head. Miledi’s shoulders drooped, and she smiled sadly at Naiz.

“Okay. Bye then, Nacchan.” She stepped into the portal of her own accord. Oscar nodded to Naiz and followed after her.

Silence filled the room.

For some reason he felt cold as he stared at the chairs Oscar had transmuted into his home.

Naiz spent a long time staring at those two chairs.

The next day.

“We’re baaack. Nacchan, are you here? I’ve come over to hang out!”

“Hey it’s been a while. A whole day in fact. We brought you some cheese this time.” Miledi and Oscar returned to Naiz’s house.

He stared at them in shock, as he’d been certain he wouldn’t see them again.

“Oh? Did you think we’d leave you alone because of how we parted yesterday? Puhahaha! I never said anything about leaving you alone forever! You just assumed that all on your own, Nacchan!”

Miledi cackled, her serious demeanor from yesterday nowhere to be seen. A vein pulsed in Naiz’s forehead and he opened a portal underneath Miledi.

However, she used her gravity magic to dodge out of the way. Then, she sidestepped every other portal Naiz opened too.

“How many times do you think you’ve done that to us now? I’ve got the timing of your portals down pat!” Naiz wanted to knock that smug smile off her face. This was the first time in his life he’d actually wanted to hurt anyone.

“We brought our cups too. Seems like we’ll be coming here pretty often now, so do you mind if we leave them here? This is your cupboard, right? Oscar put not just cups, but a few plates and spoons into Naiz’s cupboard as well.

I thought he was suffering under Miledi’s tyranny, but he’s just as brazen as she is.

Had Oscar realized how much Miledi had influenced him, he’d probably have been so shocked he’d stay huddled in bed for a week.

Another week passed.

Oscar and Miledi started taking their meals together with Naiz. Sometimes they’d talk about the Liberators, other times they’d just make small talk.

Whenever Naiz tried to tell them he wasn’t interested, Miledi would wave him off and change the topic. He couldn’t get rid of them either. Miledi was too used to his portals now, and could dodge them with her gravity magic.

Oscar had found himself fascinated by the ore contained inside the volcano, and had started exploring its depths. At one point he had ridden his umbrella like a miniature boat down the volcano’s magma streams.

In doing so, he’d figured out the real reason why Naiz had chosen this volcano as his home.

In truth, the Red Dragon’s Mountain was an active volcano that had erupted once every fifty years or so. It had been 55 years since the last eruption, and most of the desert dwellers were expecting another one any year now.

However, Naiz had been forcibly keeping the volcano dormant. He’d calmed the magma by dumping a massive quantity of stillstone into it. He’d also carved a side channel with his spatial magic for the magma to flow into when the pressure grew too great.

That had told Oscar that even if he explained to Naiz how they’d been following him, the taciturn man still wouldn’t disappear. Unless something serious happened, he wouldn’t leave the volcano.

So far, neither threats, nor escape, nor even a blunt refusal had gotten Miledi or Oscar to leave Naiz alone. He was at his wits’ end. Still, though he didn’t realize it, he had started to look forward to Oscar and Miledi’s visits. Eating meals together, talking to Oscar about his various inventions, and discussing iraks with Miledi had started taking on a certain charm.

Naturally, Oscar and Miledi easily picked up on the shift in his attitude.

The fact that he genuinely seemed to enjoy their company was the main reason that they hadn’t given up.

Though Naiz still stubbornly refused to budge whenever they brought up the topic of joining them.

Eight days had passed since Miledi and Oscar found out where Naiz lived. They were currently eating breakfast at a restaurant in the small oasis village of Liv.

Though it was classified as a village, the settlement had grown to the size of a small town. It was located in the southern Doumibral domain, and was the closest human settlement to the volcano.

The two had rented an inn here because of its proximity to Naiz.

At present, Miledi was flopped over their table and groaning loudly. The two of them were supposed to be hashing out a plan to convince Naiz.

They were eating their breakfast early, and there was still a chill in the air. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and nights in the desert were frigid. For denizens of the desert though, this cool time period between the freezing nights and scorching days was one of their favorite. Despite the early hour, many other people were eating their breakfast as well.

Most of the other patrons’ gazes were locked onto Miledi, whose loud groaning had attracted their attention. Oscar, meanwhile, was perusing a local brochure and paying his partner no mind.

“Miledi, according to this brochure, the greengrocer to the east distills his own wine. What do you think of bringing some to Naiz as a gift? He seems like a heavy drinker, but it didn’t look like he liked the dry sake we got him last time.”

“O-kun, can’t you see how distressed I am? As my partner, shouldn’t you be more concerned about me?”

Oscar looked up from the brochure.

“Sorry. I figured you were just complaining about breakfast. You’re always whining about how you don’t have enough to eat.”

“Excuse me, I’m no glutton. Besides, what I’m worried about is how we’re going to convince Nacchan. I know you two get along now and all that, but we still haven’t gotten any closer to convincing him to actually join us.”

“Well, he’s definitely interested in all of my inventions. He’s liked all the ones I showed him so far. Whenever I bring up what I’m working on he instantly pulls out the alcohol and we start talking for ages. Anyway, as for changing his mind... I think we should just take it slow. First we’ve got to build a relationship of trust.”

“So Nacchan can tell us what’s burdening him, right?”

“Exactly. Even you had to warm up to me before you were willing to tell me about your past.”

“You’ve... got a point there.”

Oscar set aside the brochure. Then, he entwined his fingers together and spoke carefully, choosing his words.

“Life is... difficult. For everyone, really. But especially if you have scars so deep that they’re still hurting. His problems aren’t something he can tell just anyone, nor are they things we can ask about just because we’re curious. That’s why I want us to get to know each other better. We have to grow closer if we want to help him. And making lasting friendships is something that takes time, right? If we push him, it’ll only end up driving him into a corner.”

Oscar gulped down some water. As he felt the temperature rise, he turned away from Miledi and looked over at the sparkling oasis. While watching the sun crest the horizon, he spoke once more.

“So let’s take it slow. I’ll follow you forever, so long as you haven’t given up. There’s no need to rush.” He’d promised her he’d follow her to the depths of hell, and he meant to keep his word.

Miledi didn’t reply. The sounds of other customers eating filled the silence between them.

Oscar turned back to Miledi, wondering why she was so quiet.

“What’s with that expression?”

“Hmmm? What do you mean?” Miledi was grinning from ear to ear. Oscar’s mood suddenly soured.

He busied himself with cleaning up the remnants of their breakfast.

“You’re totaaaaaally in love with me, aren’t you, O-kun?”

“Leave the sleeptalking for when you’re asleep and help me clean up.” Oscar narrowed his eyes and jerked his chin at Miledi’s plate. Still grinning, Miledi teased him further.

“Oh are you blushing? You are O-kun!”

Oscar debated throwing his coffee into Miledi’s face, but he decided to be civil instead. As the days passed, he was getting better and better at handling Miledi.

And so, Oscar simply adjusted his glasses and changed the topic.

“Naiz said he’d be busy this morning. He’s probably delivering iraks to the villages that are running low, so I’m thinking we should head over in the afternoon.”

“He’s out helping people again? I can’t tell if he’s just a good person, or if...”

“Hopefully we find that out eventually too. Though I am a little worried. Sure, he tends to hide his abilities, but he’ll use them if necessary to help people. After all, he didn’t hesitate to save us. And rumors have spread so far that even you’d heard of him, all the way in the east. It’s only a matter of time before his powers are exposed.”

“You’re right. One thing I don’t get though... Why does everyone call him a fairy?”

The rumors had all said that the “Fairy of the Desert” had saved them. With his bulky frame, taciturn expression, sharp eyes, and red hair, Naiz was the furthest thing from a fairy that Oscar could imagine.

“Bwah.” Oscar nearly spit out his coffee, as he imagined Naiz trying to look like a fairy.

“W-Well, it doesn’t look like he’s the one who came up with it, and rumors have a habit of going wild. A wandering fairy of the desert who helps lost travelers makes for a much better story than a buff dude doing the same.”

Still, I really want to know how anyone came to associate the word fairy with Naiz. Both Miledi and Oscar were burning with curiosity.

As they were cleaning up, a young girl’s voice interrupted them.

“Umm... have you met the Fairy of the Desert before?” Miledi and Oscar turned to see two girls looking up at them.

They appeared to be siblings. At the very least, they resembled each other quite a bit. They both had dark brown skin and jade green eyes. The older one looked to be around 12 or 13, while they younger couldn’t have been over 8. The younger girl wore her long hair loose, while the older sister had her shoulder-length hair in braids. They were both wearing white robes and sandals, and seemed to be local residents.

“Umm, are you talking to us?”

“Ah, y-yes. We’re sorry for interrupting you!” The older sister bowed her head. It seemed they’d overheard Oscar and Miledi talking about the Fairy of the Desert.

Miledi smiled reassuringly at them.

“He certainly didn’t look like a fairy to me, but we have~ We were just wondering why everyone calls him a fairy... Would you two happen to know?” The girls’ expressions changed when Miledi mentioned that they’d met him. They exchanged furtive glances. It was obvious they knew something. However, the two didn’t say anything. They weren’t sure whether or not it was safe to tell Miledi.

After a few seconds, the older sister replied.

“Are you two from the Holy Church?”

“Hell no.” Oscar and Miledi answered in sync, their contempt obvious. Such an open display of malice would have been dangerous had they been talking to devout believers.

Fortunately, the two girls seemed relieved when they heard Miledi and Oscar’s disgust. Unable to hold back any longer, the younger sister leaned forward and blurted out something.

“Onii-san, Onee-san! Do you know where the guardian deity is!? Me and Sue-nee really like him! We’ve been looking for him this whole time! We really want to see him again!” The older sister hurriedly tried to cover her younger sister’s mouth, but it was already too late.

Miledi and Oscar exchanged glances. She’d called him a guardian deity, not a fairy. This was something they needed to know more about.

Especially when the younger sister, who didn’t know when to shut her mouth, added, “Sue-nee is really popular with the boys, but she turned them all down because she’s in love with him!” Poor Sue blushed as she tried to shut her sister up.

Oscar and Miledi nodded to each other.

“Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

“We’ll treat you to dessert too.”

They bribed the sisters with food.

The sisters loaded their plates, the younger with gusto, the older with a little more hesitation. She was still embarrassed by what her younger sister had said.

Over the course of breakfast, Miledi and Oscar learned that the older sister’s name was Susha Liv Doumibral and the younger’s was Yunfa Liv Doumibral. They were, as Oscar had guessed, residents of the village.

It was customary for people in the desert to take the name of the region and village they were born in, which was why their middle and last name were Liv and Doumibral respectively. She was from Liv village, in the Doumibral fiefdom.

That reminds me, where’s Naiz from? As Oscar hadn’t known too much about the desert customs before, he hadn’t given much thought to Naiz’s last name. He’d asked Susha if she knew, but she hadn’t even known that his first name was Naiz.

When Oscar had told her, she’d repeated it to herself like some kind of charm. Damn, this girl’s serious about him.

Miledi asked how the girls had met Naiz, and it turned out their first encounter was pretty much the same as Miledi’s.

They’d been under attack by monsters when he’d shown up and teleported them to safety.

However, one of the monsters had caused Yunfa’s mana to go berserk. When Susha told Naiz that, he vanished and came back with stillstone for her.

They’d been so surprised by Naiz’s constant teleporting that they hadn’t even been able to thank him before he’d disappeared with his customary “Don’t tell anyone about me.”

“Since then, we’ve been looking all over for him. I still haven’t been able to give him my thanks.”

“And you want to confess and marry him too! I’m fine with being his mistress!”

Susha blushed again. She wrapped an arm around her sister’s mouth and gagged her.

“We actually spread the rumors that he was the Fairy of the Desert on purpose. I thought that since Naiz-sama didn’t want people to know about him the least we could do was say that someone who looked completely different saved us. I knew word would spread eventually, so I made sure to tell all the adventurers and bards that visited this place my version of events first.”

“I see. So your way of thanking him was turning the guardian into a fairy.”

Miledi nodded in understanding. However, Oscar noticed something off about Susha’s story. Yunfa’s next words solidified his suspicions.

“I helped Sue-nee out too! I told everyone exactly what Sue-nee told me to!” So this was definitely all her idea... Oscar came to a conclusion. He pushed up his glasses and asked a question to help confirm his theory.

“Sorry for asking such a sudden question, but do your parents run this bar?”

“No?” Susha instantly followed up with an explanation.

“Our parents were killed by monsters when we were young... Right now we’re living with our parents’ friends.”

“And they run this bar?”

“Yes.” This time she didn’t deny it. Now Oscar was certain. Susha had been the start of the rumors.

“You were the one behind the fairy rumors?”

“Yep.” Susha grinned.

Oscar and Miledi exchanged glances. According to Susha, Naiz had saved them around two years ago. In other words, she’d come up with this elaborate plan to create the Fairy of the Desert when she’d been just ten years old. All on her own.

And it had worked. At the very least, everyone talked about a Fairy of the Desert, and not a guardian.

“Th-That’s pretty impressive.” Miledi spoke her honest opinion.

Susha blushed and replied.

“It’s all for Naiz-sama’s sake.” Considering her age, it was conceivable that she would have hit puberty already. Still, the fact that she was so set on Naiz from the age of ten was rather impressive. She was really serious about him.

“What kind of relationship do you two have with Naiz-sama? You said you’d met him.” Susha definitely wouldn’t let any leads out of her grasp. Yunfa stared expectantly at the two of them. They both really wanted to meet him again.

“Hmm... You could say we run into him a lot these days.”

“R-Really!? Where is he staying!?” Susha leaned forward excitedly. Neither she nor Yunfa had expected them to be able to meet him at will.

“We’ll have to ask him if it’s okay to tell you first. We’re going to see him again today too, so we’ll ask him then. I promise you’ll get to meet him soon, so just wait patiently, okay?”

“Miledi-san... I suppose we’ll have to. Yeah, we’ll wait.”

Though she was a little disappointed, Susha had to admit Miledi was right. She nodded.

Yunfa looked from Oscar to Miledi. After thinking to herself for a few seconds, she dropped another bombshell.

“By the way, are you two a couple?” Susha turned back to her sister in a panic. You can’t just ask that!

Miledi stared blankly at Yunfa, while Oscar grinned.

“Hahaha... That’s a good joke, Yunfa-chan.”

“O-kun? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Even if you’re not going to admit it, you could at least not deny it so cleanly like that! As Miledi glared at Oscar, Yunfa continued dropping bombshells.

“You’re not? It would have been better if you were, though~”

“Huh? Why’s that, Yunfa?”

“Because you said you’re always talking to the guy Onee-san’s in love with. And you’re going to meet him again today... If you two aren’t lovers, then maybe you’re seducing him!”

“......” Susha fell silent. Her expression was thunderous. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“It’s a misunderstanding! I don’t have any interest in that guy, promise!” Miledi hurriedly tried to explain herself. Susha’s glare was absolutely terrifying, so much so that Miledi broke out in cold sweat.

Oscar simply watched the whole exchange with a grin. Miledi turned her reproachful gaze onto him.

“Besides, O-kun’s been with me the whole time! I promise it’s really not like that. What we’re going to see him about is something a lot more serious than that.”

“A lot more... serious? You mean your future together?”

“Shit. I should have known it would end up like this!” This was the first time Oscar had seen Miledi, who was always the one teasing others, so flustered. It was the most fun he’d had in ages. Plus, Yunfa wasn’t done yet.

“It’s okay, we have Sue-nee anyway! Her boobs are way bigger than yours! Once he sees them he’ll totally fall for her!”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Miledi looked at Susha’s chest. Susha looked at Miledi’s.

It was hard to make out the shape of Susha’s body through her bulky robe. Despite that, her chest still stuck out a little bit.

Miledi compared that to her own chest. She ran her hands over her washboard-flat boobs. Her head drooped. She looked crestfallen.

Oscar was honestly impressed.

“Yunfa-chan, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you. Not many people can say they’ve made Miledi cry...”

“Huh? Umm, ehehe, it was nothing.” Yunfa didn’t really get what Oscar was saying, but she could tell she was being praised.

The real question is, was she doing it all by instinct, or was that planned? Seeing as Yunfa’s older sister had been a master of information manipulation at the age of 10, Oscar was certain she had a lot of potential.

He had a sneaking suspicion that Yunfa had torn Miledi down just in case she’d been thinking of taking Naiz from Susha, but he didn’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest, so he didn’t ask.

Oscar watched while Susha consoled Miledi and wondered how the presence of these sisters would change the relationship between himself and Naiz.

The Red Dragon’s Mountain was a dome volcano. That meant its eruptions were usually just outpourings of viscous lava instead of violent explosions. It also meant the mountain itself was shaped like a gently sloping trapezoid. It was a mere three kilometers tall, but it spanned a length five kilometers wide.

After parting ways with the sisters, Miledi and Oscar headed over to the volcano. They could feel the lava’s heat as they landed on the summit. White smoke rose up from holes in the summit, and it really looked as if a red dragon might live there.

There was an entrance to Naiz’s house from the top. They approached the glowing orange crater that doubled as Naiz’s front door. The lava’s heat was kept at bay by Naiz’s barriers.

“Let’s go, O-kun.”

“No matter how many times I do it, I’ll never get used to jumping into the mouth of an active volcano.”

“Says the guy who rode his umbrella down a lava river.”

The pair bantered with each other as they leaped into the crater. Miledi sped them up with her gravity magic as they headed down to the terrace Naiz made his home.

As they drew closer to the ground, the air grew cooler. Naiz’s barriers kept the heat out around his house more effectively than elsewhere. They were quite an impressive achievement. Oscar had learned over a night of drinking that it had taken Naiz a lot of time to master barriers that precise.

“Nacchaaaaaan! You home? We’ve come back to play~”

“Sorry for coming over all the time. We brought you some wine today. It’s still mid-afternoon, but how about a drink?”

They waltzed into Naiz’s house like it was their own. The pair found him sitting cross-legged on the floor, grinding something down with a pestle and mortar. He sighed and turned to his unwanted house guests.

“It’s already been more than a week... How long are you planning on doing this?”

“Until you agree to become our comrade.”

“So you’ll keep coming for the rest of your life?”

“Ahaha, I feel like someone else said that to me before too!”

“That’d be me.”

Oscar gave Naiz a sympathetic look and helped him clean up his workspace.

“Is that stillstone?”

“Yes. It’s difficult to harvest, so most villages are always short.”

“Except you live where it grows, so it’s a piece of cake for you. I’ve taken the liberty of harvesting some for myself too.”

Oscar eased himself into the chair he’d brought to Naiz’s house. Miledi sat down next to him and idly swung her legs. She seemed bored. Whenever Oscar and Naiz started talking about these kinds of things, Miledi found herself left out of the conversation.

“I wanted to see if I could grind the powder so fine it would turn into a liquid.”

“You what?”

“There’s a lot of monsters around here that make people’s mana go berserk. Stillstone is considered the only cure, since it suppresses people’s mana.”

“I mean, yeah, but why would you need to liquify it?”

“I’m not sure yet, but maybe it’ll be easier to ingest if it’s a liquid. Also, you could change the concentration if it’s liquified. And if you’re trying a dangerous magical experiment, you could make your magic circle out of liquified stillstone.”

“Hmm... So basically, you’re looking for ways to use it other than as medicine.”

“Precisely. So—” As the conversation grew more technical, Miledi interrupted them with a yell.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I can’t believe you two are ignoring me and having fun on your own! It’s not good to ignore your friends like this!” Miledi crossed her arms in an X shape.

Oscar and Naiz shared a knowing smile. Miledi sulked when she saw them getting along so well.

She muttered something angrily.

“I’ll tell Sue-chan that Nacchan’s more into O-kun than he is into me.”

“Hey, don’t make it sound like we’re gay. Also, I get the feeling she’ll take you seriously, so please don’t say that.” Oscar shivered.

Naiz looked over at Oscar with a questioning gaze.

Oscar and Miledi exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

“Sue-chan’s this girl who lives in Liv. She has a little sister called Yunfa.”

“Hmm?”

“They’re the ones that spread the rumor that you’re the Fairy of the Desert.”

“What? What does...”

Naiz suddenly looked interested. He was always interested in the rumors spreading about him. He looked puzzled as to why anyone would change them, though.

Oscar chimed in with an explanation.

“You saved a pair of sisters from monsters two years ago, right? The younger had her mana go berserk and you healed her. Remember them?”

“...Those two, huh?” Naiz combed through his memories for a minute before replying.

“So you do remember them.”

“Nufufufu. You’re one smooth operator, Nacchan. The older sister’s totally head over heels for you, and she’s a real cutie to boot.”

“She’s what now?” Naiz, who didn’t recognize the expression, tilted his head in confusion.

After having been so thoroughly demolished in the morning, Miledi was dying to tease someone.

“Well, you see, ever since you saved them, those two girls have been looking allllll over for you. They said they want to thank you for saving them back then. But the truth is, the older sister’s in love with you! Even though she’s only thirteen years old!” Miledi didn’t mention that despite being only thirteen, Susha had bigger boobs than her. She wasn’t a masochist, after all.

“The little girl from back then is in love with me?” Naiz had remembered how young the children he’d saved were. He found it hard to believe that in just two years that girl had run a mass misinformation campaign because she’d fallen in love with him.

For her part, Miledi found it hard to believe that she’d been beaten by a girl many years younger than her. Worse, Susha was still in the middle of her growth spurt, while on the other hand, Miledi had long since passed through puberty.

“Since you said you didn’t want people to know about you she went and made up a story that the person saving travelers was a dainty fairy. All because she loves you.” Naiz grimaced as he heard Oscar’s follow-up explanation.

Miledi grinned and pointed at Naiz.

“Hey, how does it feel? Hey, Nacchan, tell me. How does it feel knowing a thirteen-year-old girl’s totally in love with an older guy like you? Come on, Nacchan, you can tell, I won’t spill your sec—” Naiz grabbed Miledi’s face in an iron grip.

“Oscar, do you mind if I throw your partner out of this volcano?”

Oscar pulled his chains out of his sleeves.

“Owwwwwwww! Hey, Nacchan, could you loosen your grip a little!? I can feel my skull cracking! And O-kun, you’re my partner! You’re supposed to be helping me not him!”

“This is your fault!”

“Why are you two always in sync like thiiiiiiiiiiiis!?” There was a loud creak and Miledi’s body went limp. When Naiz let her go she fell into her chair with a thud. After that, Oscar and Naiz ignored her and began drinking through the wine he’d brought.

Some time later Miledi awoke to find Oscar’s umbrella raining healing light down on her. Once her headache had gone away, Oscar returned to the topic of the two girls.

He explained how sincere their wish to meet Naiz was. Oscar had expected that Naiz, who had made helping people such a big part of his life, wouldn’t have minded meeting them. However, contrary to expectations, he looked troubled.

“She already knows about your powers. Plus, they’re trying harder than anyone to make sure no one finds out about you, so what’s the problem with going to see them?”

“Even if you don’t have much to say, I think you should go see them. If you don’t, I’m pretty sure Sue-chan will keep searching for you for the rest of her life. She’s that serious about you.”

Naiz spoke in a despondent voice.

“Those girls think I’m some kind of hero or guardian deity, don’t they?”

“I think some of the other locals think you’re a guardian deity too, but yes.”

“Well, they’re wrong. I’m no guardian. I’m only doing this for myself... to atone for my mistakes.”

Oscar and Miledi looked at each other, then Miledi sat up straighter.

“Did something happen in the past? Is that why you can’t meet Sue-chan, or come with us?”

“......”

“Nacchan. You asked how long we’re planning on coming here. I won’t leave until you at least tell us why you won’t come with us. That’s how much recruiting you matters to me. I know this is a rude thing to ask, and I know it probably hurts to talk about, but that’s precisely why we can’t leave until we know.”

Her implacable gaze pierced through Naiz. He turned to see Oscar wearing the same serious expression. His quiet eyes held a deep resolve. They knew what they were asking of Naiz, but this time they wouldn’t back down.

These are the most troublesome friends I’ve ever made. However, he’d already heard Miledi and Oscar’s tales. He’d known from the start that they wouldn’t be shaken so easily. He understood now why a flat refusal hadn’t been enough. Unless he gave them a reason for his refusal they wouldn’t back down. No, they couldn’t back down. Realizing it was his own fault for dragging things on this long, Naiz smiled bitterly to himself and made his decision. He would tell them of his sin.

“Do you know of a village called Gruen?” Miledi and Oscar shook their heads simultaneously. Naiz took a deep breath before continuing.

“It’s the village I was born in... and the village I destroyed.” Oscar and Miledi gulped.

Eyes downcast, Naiz began his tale.

“My full name is Naiz Gruen Caliente.”

“Caliente’s the region furthest to the north, isn’t it?”

Naiz nodded.

“Gruen was the village closest to the region’s capital. My father was a soldier in the fiefdom’s army. I always looked up to him, and wanted to be a soldier just like him. Me, my best friend Yogun, and my little brother Est would always practice swordplay together. My mother was the kindest person I’d ever known. Not only that, she was also a talented mage. Thinking back on it now, I realize I was truly blessed.” He’d had a loving family, and friends who shared the same dreams. Not only that, he’d been a rather talented young boy. That certainly was what one called blessed.

Oscar glanced over at Miledi. Though she’d been born into a wealthy household, her family hadn’t shown her an ounce of love. Miledi noticed his gaze and looked over. She guessed what he was thinking from his expression, but she didn’t seem the least bit depressed about her situation. In fact, she flashed Oscar a warm smile.

Seeing as he didn’t have to worry about his partner, Oscar adjusted his glasses and returned his gaze to Naiz.

“My dad was usually away for work, but he’d come back for a few days every month to spend time with us. Mom always told us not to bother him because he was tired, but Yogun and I would always beg him to train us. My dad was the strongest warrior in the village, and I was always eager to show him how much I’d grown.” Naiz spoke wistfully about the past. He’d obviously been very fond of his friends and family.

“Yogun had a saying, ‘No true hero meets their end in a backwater village.’ He wanted to fight for important people in important places and rise up in the world. His ambitions were always greater than mine, always looking toward to the future. And even though he was a talented fighter himself, he was always jealous of my skills.” Unlike Naiz, who’d only wanted to be a soldier like his father, Yogun had been dreaming big. And Naiz had envied that part of him.

Naiz smiled briefly, reminiscing. But before long, his dark expression returned. Oscar couldn’t tell if it was anger or regret that clouded Naiz’s face.

“I never realized just how deep that jealousy ran. Even though I was always with him, I never noticed what he was really thinking.”

On a day like any other, Naiz’s father, Solda, had returned home and started sparring with Yogun. The hour had grown late, and Solda was planning on returning home when a bunch of the villagers ran up to him. Their faces were pale, and they were screaming about a monster attack.

The village had its own guards, of course. Most of the threats that showed up were dealt with by said guards. The reason they’d come to Solda this time was because the monster had been too powerful for the village guards to handle.

Solda knew his duty, and he immediately agreed to go help. The monster that had shown up was too powerful for the guards, but a professional soldier like Solda should have had no trouble beating it.

“Yogun and I begged my dad to let us go with him. We were already 15 by then. In one year we would have been eligible to join the army. My dad thought it would make good training for us, so he agreed.” The two of them had happily followed Solda to the village gates... and that was where everything went wrong.

“There were actually more monsters than the villagers had mentioned in their report. We’d just finished dealing with the ones the villagers had told us about, so we’d let our guard down, which was why neither me nor Yogun noticed them burrowing behind us.” By the time they’d heard Solda’s warning, they were nearly in the monster’s jaws.

There wasn’t even enough time to cast a barrier. Even if there had been, both Yogun and Naiz were too terrified to move. However, the crisis had awoken a slumbering power inside Naiz, and he moved entirely on instinct.

“That was the first time you used spatial magic, right?” Naiz nodded silently.

“Yogun, my dad, and even I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I’d shredded the monster in front of everyone’s eyes. I’d unconsciously opened a rift in space where the monster was. No incantations, no magic circle.”

“When your dad and Yogun found out you could use magic from the age of the gods, what did...”

It was obvious the awakening of his powers had been directly linked to the destruction of Naiz’s village. Miledi scrunched up her face. Oscar took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself.

“My dad made me and Yogun promise to keep what I’d done a secret. Though the people of the desert are believers of Ehit now, we used to worship nature. Everyone pays lip service to the Holy Church here too, of course, but most people aren’t as devout. There are many people who still follow the old ways in secret.”

“And your dad was one of them, wasn’t he? That was why he wanted to keep your powers a secret. Your father really loved you, but then...” Oscar furrowed his brows. He could guess what must have happened next. Naiz’s secret had gotten out. And since it was clear Solda loved his son, that only left... Naiz simply continued his tale.

“The next year, me and Yogun joined the army. At first we worked together, aiming to rise up the ranks... but then things changed. Yogun started to act odd, and he often looked at me with barely concealed contempt. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice...” With the awakening of his powers, an unbridgeable gap had been created between Naiz’s abilities and Yogun’s. Furthermore, Naiz discovered he had an aptitude for all kinds of magic. In order to keep his powers a secret he used fake magic circles and incantations, but he continued honing his ability to manipulate mana directly. Naturally, his skill with spatial magic grew along with that of the other elements.

Yogun burned with jealousy. There was no logic behind it, but he grew to resent Naiz. And so, in the end, he broke his word and spilled Naiz’s secret.

He told his lord that he knew someone who could use ancient magic. He’d gone to his lord and not the Holy Church, because he’d known that the Holy Church wouldn’t have given him a reward for the information. They would have said serving Ehit was reward enough.

However, the results of his betrayal were disastrous. Yogun hadn’t realized how far someone in power would be willing to go to get their hands on an ancient magic wielder.

The lord of Caliente, Bolemos, decided to adopt Naiz as his own son, and then step aside to make him the new lord. He wanted his region, Caliente, to be the predominant member of the Sharod alliance, and making an ancient magic wielder the lord of the region was the best way to achieve that dream.

“So then, Bolemos would have found your original family... a hindrance.”

“That’s right. There was a big rainstorm that day. My dad barged into my house, told me to take my brother and mother, and run. Bolemos had sent people to arrest my entire family. In order to let the rest of us escape, my dad...”

Naiz would never forget that stormy day. The sight of his father, yelling at him to save Est and his mother, while facing down the soldiers that had been sent to kill him, had been burned into his skull.

Warriors of the desert were taught to never show their tears, but Naiz cried that night. He wept, cursed his own helplessness, and left his father to die.

He would never forget what happened right after either. Another unit of soldiers ambushed him as he left his house. He was too distraught to fight back, and was nearly captured. But then, someone came to save him.

“It was Yogun. Yogun came to save me. He was the one who had told my father Bolemos’ plan. In the fight that followed, he was mortally injured. With his dying breath, he told me everything.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry, Naiz. I-I’ve done something terrible. Please forgive me.” He died begging for Naiz’s forgiveness, but Naiz wasn’t able to say “I forgive you.”

Even now, he wasn’t sure how he felt about Yogun.

Naiz hated Yogun for destroying his family, but he also couldn’t deny that he shared some of the blame. He’d spent the most time with Yogun, and yet he hadn’t been able to see how his strength was eating away at his best friend. No, he’d pretended not to see it. When he thought about things that way, he couldn’t say with certainty that he should hate Yogun.

“I ran all the way back to my village. I couldn’t teleport as freely as I can now. If I could have, maybe things wouldn’t have ended up the way they did.” When he’d arrived at his village, he knew he was too late. His mother and brother were dead. Hundreds of Bolemos’ soldiers had stormed the village, with Bolemos at their head. The corpses of Naiz’s brother and mother were at the center of the town. They were surrounded by the other villagers.

“He killed them? He didn’t try to take them hostage for leverage?” That would have been the smart decision. The only way to keep control of someone as powerful as Naiz would have been to take hostages to keep him pacified.

“According to Yogun, Bolemos had been planning on killing them all along and just saying he had them hostage. He’d told the other villagers that my mother and brother had been condemned as heretics and ordered them brought out. That was why Bolemos had gone in person. His words were backed by authority. If he was there, the villagers couldn’t disobey.” Bolemos had wanted to remove any trace that his soon-to-be adopted son had ever had a real family.

That was why he’d planned to capture Naiz, kill his father, and condemn his mother and brother as heretics. That way, there would be no one to question his story. Anyone who knew the truth wouldn’t speak out in fear of being silenced by Bolemos’ assassins.

Oscar and Miledi looked at each other again. There was one part of Naiz’s tale that didn’t make sense: Naiz had said that Bolemos had ordered the villagers to bring Naiz’s family to him.

Bolemos had needed Naiz to believe his family was still alive to hold any power over him, so he would never have killed them with witnesses around.

It would have made more sense to take them away and then quietly dispose of them later. That way, even if Naiz found a way to question the villagers, they wouldn’t know whether his family was alive or dead either.

Chances were, the people who really killed Naiz’s family were the villagers themselves. They’d done it to save their own skins. Having been told that Naiz’s family were heretics, they would have wanted to show that they had nothing to do with his mother or brother. That the rest of the village was pure. And so, they’d killed Naiz’s family to prove their loyalty.

After all, Bolemos had brought hundreds of soldiers with him just to capture two people. The villagers weren’t fools. They knew the soldiers had come to destroy their village.

Bolemos had claimed Naiz’s family were heretics, but he hadn’t even brought a single priest to confirm that.

It was obviously suspicious. The villagers knew their lives were forfeit once they gave up Naiz’s mother and brother.

So, like how a drowning man tries to drag others down with him, they’d killed Naiz’s family. At least that way, Bolemos couldn’t claim that they had been harboring heretics.

Of course, Naiz must have noticed that too, which was why—

“When I came to, there was nothing around me. I was holding my family’s corpses in the empty desert. Bolemos, the villagers, and even the village itself had vanished.” Naiz remembered how the villagers had looked at him near the end. They’d all worn the guilty expressions of men and women who knew they’d done something wrong, but had felt they’d had no choice. He remembered how Bolemos had just looked annoyed that his plan had been ruined. He remembered the soldiers looking warily at him, scared of what he might do. But more than anything, he remembered the rage he felt.

What did my family ever do to deserve this!? You want power that badly!? Fine, I’ll let you taste it, then!

He’d let his anger fuel him, and cast the most powerful spell he was capable of. He’d utterly destroyed a section of space. In other words, he quite literally wiped Gruen off the map, along with the villagers and Bolemos.

As Naiz finished his story, Miledi and Oscar let out breaths they hadn’t even known they were holding.

He looked up at them for the first time since starting his tale.

“Even if Bolemos was guilty, I’m sure many of the soldiers following him were just doing their duty. They might have been good people, with families to return home to. I’m still not sure whether I hate the villagers for what they did or not, but that still wasn’t a good reason to kill them all. What I did was horrible.”

So that’s why he said he’s helping people to atone. And because he’s doing it to atone, it’s not something he wants to be praised or thanked for.

A monster like Naiz didn’t deserve to be loved. That was what he believed, at least. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he was surrounded by people thanking him.

“This is the last time I’ll say this.” Miledi gulped. Oscar furrowed his brow.

“I won’t join you guys. I swore to never again use my powers to fight, even if that means my death.” Naiz had decided to only ever use them to run or protect.

He would never fight again, so he couldn’t help Miledi achieve her dream. His refusal this time was absolute.

“But, Nacchan—”

“Please let this be the end. Don’t come see me ever again. If you do, I’ll leave. If I keep running, you’ll have a hard time chasing after me and continuing your own journey at the same time.”

He’s right. Even if I can track him there’s no way we can keep up with the speed of his teleportation. The only reason they’d been able to chase him thus far was because he never strayed out of the desert.

If he really tried to run, they’d never be able to chase him down. Unless they restrained him somehow, anyway. If they did that though, they’d be no different from Bolemos.

Naiz waved a hand and a gate appeared behind the pair.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Miledi Reisen, Oscar Orcus. I doubt we’ll see each other again, but I wish you luck in your travels.” Miledi opened her mouth to say something, but no words came to her.

“Let’s go, Miledi.”

“O-kun...”

Oscar put a hand on her shoulder. Miledi sighed and stood up. And then, the two of them walked over to the gate.

Miledi hung her head for a moment, then turned back to Naiz, a sad expression on her face.

“Nacchan... No, Naiz Gruen. Is this really what you want?” What saddened her wasn’t that Naiz refused her. Rather, it was the path he’d chosen.

“It is.”

“I see...” Miledi gave him a small smile and walked through the gate. Oscar didn’t turn around, but he had some parting words for Naiz too.

“Someday, when our journey is finally over...”

“What?”

“Can we come visit you again, as just friends?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Satisfied, Oscar nodded and stepped through the gate.

Naiz stared at the empty space where his friends had sat.

“What happened to ‘I doubt we’ll ever see each other again?’” His tone was full of self-derision.