CHAPTER 29: RED DESERT

The Bramble Region faded far behind them.

It was now swallowed by hills and distance.

They’d crossed the mossy northern ridge that cut the continent like a cracked spine.

Six days on horseback.

Six days of dust.

Six days of nowhere-towns and no friendly inns.

And six excruciatingly long days of Nero being stuck between Lancelot and Thorin.

Both of whom... talked a lot.

And it was always the dumbest things imaginable.

Day Two.

Lancelot proudly raised a finger.

"I’m telling you, the optimal way to shave your jaw is against the grain! Smoothest cheeks possible."

Thorin snorted like a loud pig.

"And I’m telling you, that’s how you flay half your face off, ye daft human."

Nero exhaled a long, hopeless sigh.

He glanced ahead.

Merlin rode beside Vivianne again.

She laughed softly and gently twirled her hair.

Like how she normally acted.

She hadn’t spoken to him since the whole THING.

Yet—

Every hour or so, she’d suddenly turn her head.

Just to look at her favorite person a bit.

And the instant Nero noticed, she snapped her head away so abruptly her hat almost flew off.

Nero frowned at her deeply.

『Why won’t she just talk to me...?』

It was really annoying.

And the System wasn’t helping matters either.

[ⓘ You have new notifications!]

[Merlin is thinking about what happened that night!]

‣ Shame Level: 57% → 71%

[Avoidance Behavior Detected!]

[Merlin secretly wants to talk to you!]

[Merlin is too embarrassed to talk to you!]

[Merlin accidentally imagined your strong hands on her waist again. She feels good!]

[Merlin is screaming internally.]

[Merlin is pretending not to scream internally.]

[Merlin is jealous of Thorin for talking to you yesterday.]

[Merlin is pretending she isn’t jealous.]

Nero nearly fell off his horse reading all that.

Her affection level for him seemed to be getting even higher the longer they didn’t talk.

But her possessiveness was diminishing slowly.

According to the System that would make the chances of sex with Merlin lower. Meaning he’d have to unlock a marriage hidden event that would require him to legally marry Merlin before she’d agree to sleep with him.

But that also increased the chances of getting Merlin pregnant which had its own reward.

『I don’t want kids, man...』

He sighed inwardly.

『I can’t even imagine her pregnant...』

She already had massive breasts.

He didn’t want to imagine what her pregnancy breasts would look like.

Day Four.

Thorin puffed his chest.

"I’m just sayin’, lad—if a man can’t chug a full barrel of ale on his lonesome, which isn’t even that hard, he can’t call himself a dwarf-friend."

Lancelot laughed too loudly.

"That’s ridiculous! If I drank a whole barrel I’d die!"

"Aye. That’s why ye humans are weak."

Nero stared at the sky.

He was tired of hearing these two talk.

『Please... someone save me... Merlin...』

Ahead, Merlin flicked a glance over her shoulder.

Their eyes met.

She panicked, choked on air, jerked her reins, almost fell off her horse, then whipped her head away and hid behind Vivian’s shoulder like a child being caught doing something naughty.

[Merlin is overthinking again.]

[Merlin wants to apologize to you.]

[Merlin is now thinking about your lips.]

[Merlin is scolding herself for thinking about your lips.]

[Merlin is pretending she didn’t think about your lips.]

Nero covered his face with his hand.

『This feels like torture...』

Other than the secondhand embarrassment he felt.

At the base of the Northern Ridge.

By the late afternoon of the sixth day, the terrain dipped into stony plains.

Dusty winds whipped at their robes as the horizon stretched endless and empty.

The group finally slowed.

Vivianne stopped first.

Merlin’s horse followed.

Lancelot and Thorin halted soon after.

Nero tilted his head.

"Something wrong?"

Vivianne lifted her palms calmly.

"Come forth... Item Box."

A translucent blue cube of energy appeared above her hands as it hummed and rotated.

It was filled with floating runic shapes.

Several thick red robes materialized out of nowhere and stacked in her grip.

Nero’s eyes doubled in size.

"Woah— what’s that?!"

Thorin puffed proudly.

"That, lad, is an Item Box. And not just any... Vivi there uses an S-grade one. They’re immensely rare and cost tens o’ thousands o’ gold."

He was always happy to educate Nero.

It was probably because Nero was the student of the Great Mage, and there wasn’t much he didn’t already know. So whenever Thorin found even the tiniest chance to show off his years of adventuring experience to him, he never held back.

Thorin had kids of his own, but none of them cared about magic or adventuring. So Nero was the only person he ever really got to brag to... and he took full advantage of it.

Nero leaned dangerously close from his saddle.

"S-grade? Tens of thousands—!?"

Thorin grinned and lifted his hand.

A red cube shimmered into being.

Smaller. Denser. Less elegant.

"My own B-grade."

He looked quite proud of it.

"Not unlimited space like hers, but good enough for me smithin’ jobs when I’m in Camelot."

Nero stroked his chin like a scholar examining a rare artifact.

"So... how many more do you have?"

Thorin stared at him.

"Aye? Lad, what d’ye think I am? Made o’ money?! Nobody needs more than one! If ye want a better one, ye sell the one ye have!"

Nero nodded gravely.

"Ahh. I see. Makes sense."

Vivianne and Merlin stood together, quietly watching the two start rambling about enchanting principles, spatial compression theory, mana-binding ratio, and whether multi-pocket spatial arrays could exist.

Vivianne’s forehead twitched.

A tiny vein throbbed.

Her face remained expressionless, but murder radiated from her like cold fog.

Merlin noticed instantly and cleared her throat loudly.

"A-, AHEM!"

Both Nero and Thorin jumped like guilty children.

"Sorry!"

"Ah— apologies, lass."

Vivianne gave Merlin the smallest, cutest side-glance you could imagine.

"...thank you..."

Merlin smiled warmly.

"Anything for you, Vivi."

Vivianne’s cheeks tinted faint pink.

She stared down at the robes quietly.

"...Mmm..."

Then she spoke up.

"We’ll reach the Red Desert in a few hours..."

She paused to think about Merlin’s smile.

It was a weird pause.

But nothing too weird for a reserved woman like her.

"Put these on."

She held up the thick red robes.

They were embroidered with faint gold sigils.

"These are Red Dragon Robes of the Dragon Tribe. They’re A-grade armor. Made from the scales of infant Red Dragons. Adult scales cannot be sewn... too hard."

Thorin whistled.

"Aye... expensive stuff."

Vivianne nodded.

"These ancient robes provide immense magic and heat resistance. You’ll need both."

She tossed one to each of them.

They smelled... questionable.

The kind of questionable that made you cough.

Nero gagged.

It felt theatrical, but it wasn’t.

It smelled that foul.

『Fuck this... why does this VR have to simulate smells so accurately—!?』

He stifled it instantly when Merlin and Vivianne turned toward him.

He straightened his back, elegant and noble.

"Alright! Let’s get moving!"

His eyes were watering.

But he pretended they weren’t.

Red Desert.

Hours later, the world turned red.

Not red like flowers.

Red like fire.

Red like a forge.

The sky shimmered with heatwaves thick enough to bend the horizon.

Not a single cloud. Not a hint of cool breeze.

The air itself felt like it had weight.

A heavy, scorching blanket trying to crush anyone foolish enough to enter.

The desert stretched endlessly in every direction.

The sand was crimson and fine as powder, heating until it glowed faintly like embers.

The smell was awful.

A pungent mix of sulfur, metal, and something rotten left in the sun too long.

Perhaps the scent of ancient dragon territory.

Thanks to the [Red Dragon Robe] this was nothing.

It felt like golf weather.

Still, the party didn’t go with their horses.

Those poor creatures would die here.

Especially after a six-day journey.

Luckily, the party hadn’t been attacked so far.

Different creatures roamed the dunes from afar.

But the dragon scent was too fierce for them.

Fire-breathing jackals called Blisterback Hounds.

There were Scorch Vultures who circled far above with wings like burning parchment.

Even Red Dragon Ants that were big enough to be seen on the blood-stained boulders.

Nero sketched furiously in his thick book while walking.

Notes, diagrams, doodles.

Thorin marched beside him, arms behind his back like a proud professor.

"Aye, those ones there are called Fire Antelopes."

He stroked his thick beards.

"They only drink molten rock. If I remember correctly water is poisonous to them."

Nero scribbled.

"And those hounds over there?"

"Throw sand in their mouths."

"That... actually works?"

"Aye. Works on me too."

Nero snorted.

『This world is too realistic...』

Meanwhile.

Merlin walked behind them.

She watched Nero’s back as he wrote.

His shoulders relaxed for the first time in days.

But the muscular outlines were still there.

『He has such a fit body...』

Merlin stared at him for so long she didn’t know when she started rubbing the spot between her legs against her staff as she bit her lower lip.

Then she realized what she was doing.

『NO, NO, NO! I’M NOT A SLUT!』

Her heart twisted.

『Nero... he’s been so patient with me. I’ve been acting so immature... embarrassed... selfish.』

She tightened her grip on her horse’s reins.

『He’s an orphan who lost everything to demons. It’s not fair for me to take advantage of him. He’s probably never even held a girl’s hand properly... and what did I do? I almost seduced him. I almost used him.』

Her chest tightened.

Before she ever took on a student, she used magic to keep her sexual desire under control. But she hadn’t cast that spell in days... she’d been too worried about Nero being missing to think about anything else.

So when he finally came back, all that pent-up desire hit her hard and at once.

She couldn’t help but look at him differently.

After all, she was a Transcendent Human.

Her body felt everything more intensely.

Including her sexual drive, which was much stronger than that of a normal human.

『I should be protecting him... not doing this. I can’t keep on confusing him. I’m supposed to be his teacher... not some desperate woman flinging myself—』

A hand touched her back.

Merlin jolted like she’d been stabbed.

"—!"

Vivianne blinked.

"You’re trembling..."

Merlin exhaled shakily.

"I’m fine... just... tired."

Vivianne nodded silently and stepped a little closer as they walked in the sand.

Lancelot stopped suddenly.

He lowered his hand to the hilt of his sword.

His battle-trained eyes which could sight arrows from afar caught sight of something.

"What’s that?"

The group halted.

Far ahead... emerging through the red haze...

Dozens of tall silhouettes.

They were absolutely massive.

Like gray fang-like towers piercing the sky.

Or maybe an ancient civilization of giants.

Vivianne shaded her eyes.

"Those are the... Tower Cities."

The desert wind howled around them.

The next stage of their journey... finally began.