The touch of their bodies reminded Iris of the time when their bodies touched in the bathtub.
He didn’t try much to hide his desire for her. Rather, he seemed to think it was only natural.
Iris opened her mouth.
“I guess it wasn’t that strong a poison.”
Hayer could not immediately respond to her words and kept his mouth shut. But soon he opened his mouth again.
“Yes. It wasn’t a lethal dose of poison.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But it would have been dangerous without tolerance.”
“…Oh. Do I have tolerance?”
Hayer fell silent again at Iris’s questionable answer. However, as Iris looked up at him as if asking for an answer, he muttered helplessly.
“It seems that someone in the royal palace has tried to poison you.”
“Poi…son?”
“Yes. Someone who can touch your food.”
“……”
“I think it might be Miss Madeleine.”
Iris paused for a moment, then said, closing her eyes gently.
“…Maybe.”
“You’re not as disappointed as I thought.”
“You’re not sure. And… I still don’t trust her. I needed her, my replacement.”
“……”
Maybe Madeleine knew that she hadn’t given her heart completely, Iris thought. ‘Maybe’ though.
After the conversation, they ran a long way down the dawn road, setting up tents and entering it before it got too hot.
The sun pouring down from the desert in the midday was nothing short of a weapon. At least it was winter, so it was definitely better than the long summer sun, but the hot weather was the same. Iris wanted to do something with her mental strength, but the aftereffects of the poison needle still lingered in her body.
After moving too hard without being able to rest, she started to suffer once more and mumbled dizzily.
“…A sip of cool water would be good.”
It was the desert where it was difficult to get a sip of cool water. Still, the temperature would drop sharply at night, so she was just waiting for that time with difficulty.
In the midst of such patience, the sun slowly began to pass. As Iris finally stepped out of the tent, which had become a little less hot, a Qahif boy peeped at her condition.
He was a boy with a youthful energy on his face. It was said that the Qahifs would consider themselves adults when they were over the age of fifteen, so he must be around that.
Iris spoke first.
“The sunset in the desert is very beautiful.”
At her words, the boy held his weapon on guard. Then he said, pointing his chin at the sun.
“It’s planting the sun in the sand. The god of the desert.”
“Hmm.”
Iris heard the story of the Qahifs who believed that the desert god killed Tilla for the first time.
She asked out of curiosity.
“So? Then what comes out?”
“Tomorrow, a new sun will grow, and it will be planted again. That’s how the day goes.”
“The sun is planted on the ground, so the night comes?”
“…Isn’t that obvious?”
The boy asked back with a pained look, as if asking what she meant.
Iris smiled and nodded.
“Right. That’s a given for you.”
“The desert god makes every day for us.”
“Hmm. That’s nice.”
Iris said frankly. It was an absurd story for her, but on the other hand, she thought it was also a romantic story.
She asked.
“What about the moon? Do you plant the moon, too?”
“Originally, the god Tilla planted the moon every day and grew it, but the moon lost its light because there was no more planting for it after Tilla died.”
“Then what is the moonlight?”
“The moon shines because the desert god left a little light of the sun for the nights of the Qahifs. It doesn’t shine on its own.”
It was all new to her. A story that had never been heard in Luwan.
For the Luwans, the moon was the eye of Tilla. The moon, of course, was a self-luminous being, and they could look at it with their own two eyes because it was much milder than the evil sun.
Iris believed what the people of Luwan believed was true, but she thought that the stories of other peoples might contain pieces of truth.
The boy’s father, who found the boy talking excitedly, came running in surprise.
“This child! You shouldn’t say that to the Luwans”
“Why not?”
“Because the Luwans believe that Tilla is alive!”
“What? No way.”
Iris sympathized with the boy’s expression of never-before-seen shock. When she first heard the pagan stories, she felt the same way. The feeling that the wall of truth you believed in was breaking.
Iris said to the boy being dragged by his father’s hands.
“I’m fine. So tell me again next time.”
“Got it!”
After that, Iris turned around and found Hayer standing with water, staring at her.
He said, holding out cool water.
“Such a generous person.”
“That is the truth for them.”
Iris replied and took the water he handed over. A sip of cool water that she wanted all day woke her up.
As they were walking through the tents to set out again, Sichtis, the chief of the Qahifs accompanying them, approached them.
Sichtis said with a pale face they had never seen before.
“I’ll have to stop by my village on the way.”
Hayer’s expression hardened at his words.
“What are you talking about? You have to go back there for more than a day.”
“The monsters attacked the village!”
At his words, both turned to look at Sichtis.
Sichtis continued with a brooding face.
“The village just sent a carrier bird. I don’t know if the village will be safe even if I go back now…”
Hayer looked at Iris, and she said.
“You decide. You know best about the monsters.”
“……”
Hayer briefly looked around at the Qahifs and the Tejas Knights.
He had long regarded it as his mission to stop the monsters. Nevertheless, the reason why a long consideration was needed was because the 100 days received from King Eswa were too short.
Maybe, he wouldn’t be able to return to Luwan in 100 days.
If that happened, he would be a criminal who fled from Luwan, and would surely be killed as soon as he was found by the Royal Knights.
But if they didn’t go to that tribe’s village, would they give up their family’s life and death and cross the desert together?
It never was.
After much thought, Hayer said to the chief of the Qahifs.
“Let’s go to the village now.”
“Really? Thank you!”
Sichtis expressed his gratitude and got on his horse.
The party immediately headed to the village where the tribe led by Sichtis lived. In order to do so, it was necessary to choose a long way back northeast from the straight distance to the target Siere.
The Qahifs found the direction in which the oasis was located through the positions of the moon, stars, time and sun. And Iris, more clearly than they, found the shortest path.
Iris said to Sichtis.
“It’s too far south. Further north.”
“…Understood, Princess.”
Sichtis had heard somewhere that the people of the Lepos family could find their way even if they were dropped in the middle of the desert.
The words were not wrong. Iris led the party on the right path.
They arrived at the oasis three days later. Hayer, who saw the oasis in the distance, stopped the party.
“The monsters have taken over.”
In the oasis of the village where the Qahif tribe was located, there were strange beings that couldn’t exist in this desert.
When Sichtis couldn’t contain his anger and tried to rush in, Hayer blocked him with words.
“Have you ever fought a monster?”
“Isn’t it enough for us to catch it? It’ll be no different than a person.”
“No. It’s totally different.”
Hayer continued.
“They are not scared. Just because we have a lot of people doesn’t mean we can push in and win.”
“But here…”
“Sichtis.”
Hayer said the chief’s name for the first time.
“I’ve already lost many subordinates to them.”
“……”
“I can’t let that happen again. For at least a few hours, we have to watch how they move.”
Sichtis widened his bloodshot eyes and tried to stop his trembling hands. But he couldn’t stand the thought of having his own family in that oasis village. It wasn’t just him, it was the same for his men. They were all men with families there.
Eventually, one of the Qahifs couldn’t stand it and charged into the oasis on a camel.
“Aaaagh!”
The monsters looked back at the Qahif, who screamed and wielded the curved blade in terror. And he slashed the head of a camel-like monster drinking water in the oasis.
Shortly after that, when the Qahifs were about to run into their homes in the village. A nearby termite hill moved slowly.
“W-why is that moving?”
The voice of the Qahif, who had seen countless termite hills in the desert, trembled.
The termite hill that moved like that began to cover the Qahif.
His scream came, and Iris covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes.
After a while, the screams went away.
When Iris opened her eyes, as expected, the belligerent and hot-tempered Qahifs, who saw the termite hill-type monster gnawing at their comrade, were about to rush into the oasis to find out the whereabouts of their family.
Iris cried out urgently.
“I’ll find you where your family is!”
“……”
“I can find them. So don’t rush in. Rather, it may stimulate it, and it may even kill the people who can be saved.”
At her persuasion, the Qahifs who were about to rush into the village stopped their camels, holding back sobs.
The touch of their bodies reminded Iris of the time when their bodies touched in the bathtub.
He didn’t try much to hide his desire for her. Rather, he seemed to think it was only natural.
Iris opened her mouth.
“I guess it wasn’t that strong a poison.”
Hayer could not immediately respond to her words and kept his mouth shut. But soon he opened his mouth again.
“Yes. It wasn’t a lethal dose of poison.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But it would have been dangerous without tolerance.”
“…Oh. Do I have tolerance?”
Hayer fell silent again at Iris’s questionable answer. However, as Iris looked up at him as if asking for an answer, he muttered helplessly.
“It seems that someone in the royal palace has tried to poison you.”
“Poi…son?”
“Yes. Someone who can touch your food.”
“……”
“I think it might be Miss Madeleine.”
Iris paused for a moment, then said, closing her eyes gently.
“…Maybe.”
“You’re not as disappointed as I thought.”
“You’re not sure. And… I still don’t trust her. I needed her, my replacement.”
“……”
Maybe Madeleine knew that she hadn’t given her heart completely, Iris thought. ‘Maybe’ though.
After the conversation, they ran a long way down the dawn road, setting up tents and entering it before it got too hot.
The sun pouring down from the desert in the midday was nothing short of a weapon. At least it was winter, so it was definitely better than the long summer sun, but the hot weather was the same. Iris wanted to do something with her mental strength, but the aftereffects of the poison needle still lingered in her body.
After moving too hard without being able to rest, she started to suffer once more and mumbled dizzily.
“…A sip of cool water would be good.”
It was the desert where it was difficult to get a sip of cool water. Still, the temperature would drop sharply at night, so she was just waiting for that time with difficulty.
In the midst of such patience, the sun slowly began to pass. As Iris finally stepped out of the tent, which had become a little less hot, a Qahif boy peeped at her condition.
He was a boy with a youthful energy on his face. It was said that the Qahifs would consider themselves adults when they were over the age of fifteen, so he must be around that.
Iris spoke first.
“The sunset in the desert is very beautiful.”
At her words, the boy held his weapon on guard. Then he said, pointing his chin at the sun.
“It’s planting the sun in the sand. The god of the desert.”
“Hmm.”
Iris heard the story of the Qahifs who believed that the desert god killed Tilla for the first time.
She asked out of curiosity.
“So? Then what comes out?”
“Tomorrow, a new sun will grow, and it will be planted again. That’s how the day goes.”
“The sun is planted on the ground, so the night comes?”
“…Isn’t that obvious?”
The boy asked back with a pained look, as if asking what she meant.
Iris smiled and nodded.
“Right. That’s a given for you.”
“The desert god makes every day for us.”
“Hmm. That’s nice.”
Iris said frankly. It was an absurd story for her, but on the other hand, she thought it was also a romantic story.
She asked.
“What about the moon? Do you plant the moon, too?”
“Originally, the god Tilla planted the moon every day and grew it, but the moon lost its light because there was no more planting for it after Tilla died.”
“Then what is the moonlight?”
“The moon shines because the desert god left a little light of the sun for the nights of the Qahifs. It doesn’t shine on its own.”
It was all new to her. A story that had never been heard in Luwan.
For the Luwans, the moon was the eye of Tilla. The moon, of course, was a self-luminous being, and they could look at it with their own two eyes because it was much milder than the evil sun.
Iris believed what the people of Luwan believed was true, but she thought that the stories of other peoples might contain pieces of truth.
The boy’s father, who found the boy talking excitedly, came running in surprise.
“This child! You shouldn’t say that to the Luwans”
“Why not?”
“Because the Luwans believe that Tilla is alive!”
“What? No way.”
Iris sympathized with the boy’s expression of never-before-seen shock. When she first heard the pagan stories, she felt the same way. The feeling that the wall of truth you believed in was breaking.
Iris said to the boy being dragged by his father’s hands.
“I’m fine. So tell me again next time.”
“Got it!”
After that, Iris turned around and found Hayer standing with water, staring at her.
He said, holding out cool water.
“Such a generous person.”
“That is the truth for them.”
Iris replied and took the water he handed over. A sip of cool water that she wanted all day woke her up.
As they were walking through the tents to set out again, Sichtis, the chief of the Qahifs accompanying them, approached them.
Sichtis said with a pale face they had never seen before.
“I’ll have to stop by my village on the way.”
Hayer’s expression hardened at his words.
“What are you talking about? You have to go back there for more than a day.”
“The monsters attacked the village!”
At his words, both turned to look at Sichtis.
Sichtis continued with a brooding face.
“The village just sent a carrier bird. I don’t know if the village will be safe even if I go back now…”
Hayer looked at Iris, and she said.
“You decide. You know best about the monsters.”
“……”
Hayer briefly looked around at the Qahifs and the Tejas Knights.
He had long regarded it as his mission to stop the monsters. Nevertheless, the reason why a long consideration was needed was because the 100 days received from King Eswa were too short.
Maybe, he wouldn’t be able to return to Luwan in 100 days.
If that happened, he would be a criminal who fled from Luwan, and would surely be killed as soon as he was found by the Royal Knights.
But if they didn’t go to that tribe’s village, would they give up their family’s life and death and cross the desert together?
It never was.
After much thought, Hayer said to the chief of the Qahifs.
“Let’s go to the village now.”
“Really? Thank you!”
Sichtis expressed his gratitude and got on his horse.
The party immediately headed to the village where the tribe led by Sichtis lived. In order to do so, it was necessary to choose a long way back northeast from the straight distance to the target Siere.
The Qahifs found the direction in which the oasis was located through the positions of the moon, stars, time and sun. And Iris, more clearly than they, found the shortest path.
Iris said to Sichtis.
“It’s too far south. Further north.”
“…Understood, Princess.”
Sichtis had heard somewhere that the people of the Lepos family could find their way even if they were dropped in the middle of the desert.
The words were not wrong. Iris led the party on the right path.
They arrived at the oasis three days later. Hayer, who saw the oasis in the distance, stopped the party.
“The monsters have taken over.”
In the oasis of the village where the Qahif tribe was located, there were strange beings that couldn’t exist in this desert.
When Sichtis couldn’t contain his anger and tried to rush in, Hayer blocked him with words.
“Have you ever fought a monster?”
“Isn’t it enough for us to catch it? It’ll be no different than a person.”
“No. It’s totally different.”
Hayer continued.
“They are not scared. Just because we have a lot of people doesn’t mean we can push in and win.”
“But here…”
“Sichtis.”
Hayer said the chief’s name for the first time.
“I’ve already lost many subordinates to them.”
“……”
“I can’t let that happen again. For at least a few hours, we have to watch how they move.”
Sichtis widened his bloodshot eyes and tried to stop his trembling hands. But he couldn’t stand the thought of having his own family in that oasis village. It wasn’t just him, it was the same for his men. They were all men with families there.
Eventually, one of the Qahifs couldn’t stand it and charged into the oasis on a camel.
“Aaaagh!”
The monsters looked back at the Qahif, who screamed and wielded the curved blade in terror. And he slashed the head of a camel-like monster drinking water in the oasis.
Shortly after that, when the Qahifs were about to run into their homes in the village. A nearby termite hill moved slowly.
“W-why is that moving?”
The voice of the Qahif, who had seen countless termite hills in the desert, trembled.
The termite hill that moved like that began to cover the Qahif.
His scream came, and Iris covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes.
After a while, the screams went away.
When Iris opened her eyes, as expected, the belligerent and hot-tempered Qahifs, who saw the termite hill-type monster gnawing at their comrade, were about to rush into the oasis to find out the whereabouts of their family.
Iris cried out urgently.
“I’ll find you where your family is!”
“……”
“I can find them. So don’t rush in. Rather, it may stimulate it, and it may even kill the people who can be saved.”
At her persuasion, the Qahifs who were about to rush into the village stopped their camels, holding back sobs.
