Episode 149
EPISODE.75
Puerta.
This place, which has the meaning of ‘gate’ in the local dialect, was one of the cities located at the entrance of the Nadia Desert, as its name suggests.
As it is the Nadia Desert, which is used as a trade route with some of the northern countries of the continent, the city was born and prospered through the coming and going of such merchants.
It was about five days after he had left the palace, where big and small events had taken place just a few minutes ago, that Russell showed up in such a Puerta.
Although they used the warp gate to the nearest big city, it took a few more days to move from there to Puerta.
The scorching heat and scorching sun rising from under the soles of your feet.
When I turned my head, I saw thick, elongated cacti growing everywhere.
The round ball of haystack tumbleweed also rolls around the city unsightly.
You can also feel the fine sand particles mixed with the blowing wind.
‘They say it’s the entrance to the Nadia Desert.’
Moistening his lower lip, which was starting to dry out, Russell moved on.
From the moment you enter the city, you can feel the dry and barren atmosphere unique to the desert.
A completely different atmosphere from the cities of the Takl Desert, located along the oasis on the outskirts.
The place where Russell moved and arrived was a large accommodation located inside the city.
‘I think this is a black cow?’
I couldn’t say the facilities were very good, but it was an inn with a fairly large backyard and barn.
An inn that would be rented out by the upper class with wagons and livestock to pull them, rather than used by ordinary travelers.
just as expected.
At first glance, close to thirty wagons were parked in the backyard.
In addition, there was a group of horses and camels to pull the wagon inside the barn.
Woo woo woo-.
Most distinctive of all was a brown elephant with four tusks.
‘Desert elephant.’
As the name suggests, it was an elephant living in the desert.
Due to the nature of the desert, where it is not easy to use wagons or carts except in special cases, cargoes were often transported in the form of caravans on huge elephants.
‘Looks like you’ve come to the right place.’
Checking the pattern on the wagon, Russell opened the door of the inn with all his might.
with my daughter-
Then a clear bell rang.
Inside, the man who had been dozing with his head lowered raised his head in amazement.
He wiped the saliva from his mouth and muttered in a low voice.
“Sup, what’s going on? If it’s a room, it’s already full, so there’s no room left.”
“I came to find a person, not an accommodation.”
“person?”
“I heard that Mr. Ann Michelin, acting manager of the Michelin Merchant Company, is staying here?”
Considering that she has the surname Michelin, she must be a blood relative of the upper class.
But for some reason, the name ‘Ann’ didn’t feel unfamiliar to me.
“Could you tell him that the wizard Readman Louie has come?”
“Wait a minute.”
The innkeeper got up from her seat and slowly walked up to the second floor.
Russell was able to realize the identity of this familiar sense of déjà vu in the appearance of the agent descending with him soon after.
‘ah.’
A face full of freckles with red hair.
Six years was enough time for a girl to grow into a lady, just as a caterpillar sheds its skin and becomes a butterfly.
Anne Marcherin.
The daughter of Kurtbus Michelin, upper county, pursed her lips.
I made eye contact.
‘Eun Gong.’
.
.
A few minutes later, Anne and Russell were strolling together in the inn’s backyard, which was teeming with elephant caravans and camels.
Anne was the first to speak.
“Somehow, since my father is an honored guest, he strongly warned me to treat him well. That guest must have been Eun-gong.”
At Anne’s words, Russell laughed awkwardly.
“I hope you recognize me.”
“He was the one who willingly proposed an investment when our upper class was having a hard time. It’s a childhood memory, and you changed the color of your eyes and hair, but how can you not recognize it?”
After saying that, Ann suddenly stopped walking. He then shouted at the merchants belonging to the upper tier, who were preparing to go up.
“Tighten your luggage a little tighter.”
“Take out two caravans and make sure you have enough food for the camels and elephants-!”
His voice was scathing yet unstoppable, as if he had done something similar several times before.
“Hahaha I see. miss. Don’t worry.”
“Here, call me acting manager, not a young lady!”
Russell asked, looking at the merchants as well as the porters talking without a face.
“You seem quite used to working at the top.”
Ann shrugged at the question. He then pulled up his clothes and showed his arms.
“sure. I did not sit in the position of acting manager simply by borrowing the strength of my father.”
For a woman, her forearms are well-muscled.
Rather than having been specially trained, these are muscles that naturally developed as a result of packing up and carrying heavy loads.
Shuk.
Ann, with her sleeves down again, led Russell to the front of the barn across from the wagons.
“This is the camel that Eun-gong will ride.”
“This is…”
“It’s a sambong camel.”
True to its name, the three-humped camel was a kind that Russell was also familiar with.
‘As it has three humps, it is bigger and stronger than the other camels.’
I rode it a few times while working as a freelancer before returning.
“Originally, I would have to give up a wagon, but it’s not easy to use a wagon in the desert-”
Ann, the guilty sheep, murmured.
“If not, would you like an elephant caravan?”
Crossing the desert in an elephant caravan would also be quite a special experience.
However, Russell shook his head.
“Then shouldn’t we waste a caravan?”
He said while looking at the appearance of the three-boned camel that was his mount.
“A camel is enough.”
.
.
Did you come at the right time?
It was only a few hours after Russell joined that the caravan left the city of Puerta.
Somehow, he was busy packing his things.
‘Looks like they were planning to leave as soon as I arrived.’
Others would have grumbled about not being able to solve the travel poison, but that was not the case for Russell.
A fair amount of travel poisoning and fatigue were easily removed by using the Overlord and the Wizard Body.
As he left the city and entered the desert, the stronger sunlight hit Russell’s head.
In addition, the heat of the blazing surface of the earth made the surrounding objects look pale.
All over again-.
Ann asked, attaching her camel to Russell’s side.
“Can I get you a Thobe right now?”
As a garment with the meaning of ‘dress’, tov was a long white garment that reached up to the ankles worn by the peoples of the desert.
Long clothes may look hot, but they are even essential to protect your skin from the hot desert sun.
At Anne’s consideration, Russell shook his head.
“it’s okay.”
Not empty words, it was really good.
Because the coat of the mage tower given to Russell had the ability to control the temperature.
Of course, you can’t stop the really hot flames or the chill, but-.
‘It’s about the heat of the desert.’
For a few days like that, the days went by without any major incidents. The incident happened about five days after entering the desert.
‘-?’
A low vibration came along the sharpened senses. Rather than running over the sand, it feels like something huge is swimming in the ground.
Russell raised his head at the sensation. I looked directly at the direction the vibration was transmitted.
Whii Yii Yii-!
At that moment, a thick sand wind blows and covers his eyes.
In the midst of such a blur in front of my eyes, I could see the sand dunes of the desert swaying.
‘No, it’s not a sand dune-!’
It looked like a hill in the desert as something gigantic came out and went in and was covered by the sand wind!
“coming.”
Russell, who had discovered it long before the others, warned in a low voice.
“yes?”
Anne, who did not understand the warning, tilted her head a few seconds later.
Woo-woo-!
At the same time as the camels and elephants were frightened and excited, one of the mercenaries hired at the top shouted in fright.
“Ho Horhoy (Xорхой)!”
It was the cry of an old mercenary with much more experience than other mercenaries.
“Hee hee hee!”
“Is it Horho?”
At that cry, the faces of Ann and others turned pale.
It has to be.
Xорхой This monster, which Dali calls a gut worm, is what the people of the Nadia Desert call a sand worm.
The reason why sand worms in the Nadia Desert are distinguished by the name Horho is simple.
‘Because it’s much stronger than a normal sand worm and has a harder shell.’
The rock-hard exoskeleton was so hard that it was difficult to slash even with an arrow or even a blade.
The size is also so huge that the adult Horhoi is well over a hundred meters long!
It was large enough to swallow a camel and even an elephant in one bite. Besides, how powerful the shockwaves are emitted whenever the giant moves!
Nine out of ten of the caravans encountered were annihilated.
Merchants crossing Nadia did not call Horhoi the plague of the desert for nothing.
It’s a shame because the population is small. If not, the Nadia Desert would never be used as a trade route!
Kwagwagwagwa-!!
As Horhoi begins to draw closer, the earth shakes and dust begins to rise violently.
The sandstorm that first covered his eyes was also the aftermath of Horhoi moving his body.
“Everyone will die!”
“Aaaaaaaaa!”
Terrifying cries erupted from among the inexperienced mercenaries.
“Don’t panic! Disperse for now!”
“Expand a wide range, surround and attack from all sides!”
“Half the elephants move!”
At least a few seasoned mercenaries gritted their teeth and tried to deal with it.
However, he couldn’t hide the dark defeat that was revealed on his face.
widely-.
In an instant, Russell got off the camel. Relief spreads over Ann’s face, which was white with that appearance.
It has to be.
I don’t know about the others, but on this trip, she was the only person who knew Russell’s identity.
A 6th Circle mage who may be the youngest in the history of Endymion, or perhaps the youngest in the history of the continent.
No matter how monstrous Horhoi was, there was no way he could be a match for such a mage.
Russell looked around.
‘It’s just right to try out the newly learned magic.’
Checking out the desert full of sand, he quietly raised the corners of his mouth.
Kwagwagwa-.
The distance between Horhoi and the top is several hundred meters.
It was a long distance, but it was a guy with a considerable length among adults over 100 meters.
At that distance, it was clear that it would be covered in the blink of an eye.
Kwagwagwagwagwa-!
A sharp sandstorm along with a powerful shock wave scratches the floor at random.
Meanwhile, Russell gathered his mana. The magic power that was clenched in his grasp rotated and twisted.
high speed and high pressure.
The moment the flow of mana faded to the desired level, Russell slammed his palm down onto the sand without a moment’s hesitation.
The images we want to realize are cactus thorns and sand spears.
and flowers.
Angal Gloman.
Originality.
Desert Flower.
200 years ago.
The originality magic of Angal Gloman, who led a part of the Yellow Tower in the province of Endymion.
At this moment, it has once again manifested itself in the world.
dragon-swallowed wizard
