Chapter 218

(218) Prologue

Translator: Tseirp

The camel she was riding on foamed at its mouth and collapsed . As suspected, the arrow it was shot with just now was coated with poison .

Abandoning the camel that could no longer be used, she carried her baggage over her shoulder and started walking .

“Please wait for me, Father . Shumei will definitely live to fulfil my role . ”

She said with her teeth clenched as she advanced step by step .

Even though the season had just entered summer, the ambient temperature had already reached 40 degrees Celsius . Heat would enter her body every time she took a breath . Sweat entered her eyes but she didn’t wipe it off as she advanced in a straight path .

There was almost no water left in her water bag .

In order to cross 10 kilometers, she could not drink water there .

Once it entered night time, the monsters would appear from their lairs and run rampant in the desert expanse . That was not a place where regular humans could tread . Because of that, she could not rest if she wished to reach a town before nightfall .

The only thing she could do was to just continue walking .

But she was not even allowed to do so .

A sand cloud rose from the sand behind her .

It was proof that the reptile-type monster capable of running on sand, the Desert Runner, was approaching her . More than a hundred years ago, the Desert Runner laid waste to the desert as wild monsters and was a feared monster gang in the desert at that time but Desert Runners in the wild have become extinct in recent years and were currently used as riding beast along with camels in the desert .

Help was here ― she was not optimistic enough to think that . That location was a distance away from the main road and furthermore, she heard that it was the turf of the bandit group ‘Sand Scorpion’ . Most likely ―

“Hyaha, what is a cute girl like you doing alone in a place like this?”

“Boss, she looks like a great woman . Maybe we can sell her to the slave merchant for a large sum?”

“Idiot, don’t forget that I will have to taste her first!”

“As expected of boss! So sleazy!”

Men easily taken to be bandits manipulated the Desert Runners and wrapped in front of her .

“Pl-please let me pa.s.s . Please . I will give you money if that is what you want . ”

She said as she took out the bag containing her coins from her luggage .

“Oo, money? Money is good, I’ll be taking that . ”

The man called the bandit boss took the money bag while chuckling to himself .

However ―

“I don’t just want money, you won’t have to feel pain if you obediently put down all your luggage too . ”

After keeping the bag filled with coins, the boss immediately grabbed her wrist .

“Please let go of me! Please!”

“Oo, I will let go! After I put this on you . ”

The man took out a collar .

That was called a slave collar and a magic tool used to make a person a slave . After having that put on her and registering a master, she would not be able to go against the words of that master .

“N-no . If I wear something like that ―”

“Hey now, don’t resist! It will be over soon, hehehe . ”

The man showed a sleazy look but the difference in their strength was too much even if she tried to resist .

If this goes on ―

“Erm, sorry for interrupting your capture . ”

… Eh?

She wasn’t the only person at a lost for words as the bandit also loosened his grip for a moment .

The person who spoke was a black-haired guy about 20 years of age holding not a single weapon . He was also riding on a Desert Runner like the bandits but when exactly did he show up?

“I can kind of tell ― that this is a scene where three bandits are trying to force a sinless girl into slavery . ”

It seemed like he was not a bandit .

She wanted to ask for his help but she quickly reconsidered . Looking closely, the man wasn’t holding a single weapon at all ― he didn’t seem to be the companion of the bandits .

“And so what are you getting at? Huh, mister . ”

“No, well, I am being chased by a monster so I was thinking that I might trouble you guys …”

“Monster?”

The bandit was thinking it was dubious when it happened .

The earth was swallowed inward and a huge monster appeared .

“N-no … no way ― Sand Wyrm!?”

Called the master of the desert, the Sand Wyrm that swallows everything .

With the appearance of an enormous earthworm, the monster said to not leave a single blade of gra.s.s behind wherever it pa.s.ses by was currently at that location .

“― Runnnnn!”

The bandits immediately fled in the opposite direction from the Sand Wyrm .

“Hey, wait! That place is!”

It happened when the man shouted .

A sand pillar burst forth .

The second Sand Wyrm appeared and swallowed all the bandits in the blink of the eye .

Even though one would have to be prepared for death with just a single Sand Wyrm, a second Sand Wyrm had actually appeared .

“Sheesh, that’s why I told them not to go there ― Hmm, are you from around here?”

“Eh? Yes ― yes but …”

“Is there a legend or something stating that the Sand Wyrm is the guardian deity of this land? Or that it is a beneficial monster to the land like the Tubifex worm at Ferruite?”

“No, there are no such stories . ”

“I see ― then there won’t be any issue if I kill them . ”

Immediately after he said that .

She felt that she was dreaming .

That was because the next instant, the two Sand Wyrms were encased in frozen ice .

” … I don’t know who you are but ― please . The letter in my luggage ― please send it to the Marquis Hydor . ”

Her consciousness turned hazy .

Please ― at this rate, the Demon Lord ― the Demon Lord .

※※※

Oh man, who is Marquis Hydor?

Before I could ask that, the girl, whose name I don’t even know, collapsed .

I could not abandon her in the middle of the desert so for now, I laid her down on a deck chair and erected a parasol .

(As expected of Miri’s item bag ― are you treating this like a resort beach?)

Inside my younger sister’s item bag was a mountain load of ‘Made in Earth’ items .

Also, in order to lower the surrounding temperature,

“「Slash」”

I sliced the frozen Sand Wyrm into pieces with sword art .

At any rate ― I investigated the girl’s job .

【n.o.ble: Lv2】

Sheesh, rescuing a n.o.ble girl the moment I enter the desert, am I some protagonist from a novel?

It only felt like trouble .