Chapter 141: Through The Scorched Lands

"This is the desert you talked about?"

"Indeed."

Apparently, we were in front of the desert but there was not even a grain of sand.

It was about six kilometers away from the city and we were at the very edge of the green zone.

What the hell.

The temperature was high, resembling a dessert. But it was more like a brazen scorched land. Earth was shattered and there were cracks everywhere. No trees, no animals, no rocks, no nothing: at least not past this point.

It wasn't even noon and the temperature was above forty degrees, at least that's what my imaginary thermometer told me. If it was this high, in the afternoon, I couldn't even imagine how high it would be tomorrow, when we'd actually cross it. "How the hell are we supposed to cross this?"

"Just like that." The old man covered his face with a white cloth. "It's rather cool now, so we'll cross the first half now and the rest tomorrow."

This is rather cool for you?

"Wait, we're going to travel at night?" The thought of traveling at night brought back horrible memories.

"Yup. Or are you suggesting, we travel in the blazing hot sun?"

The monsters were a problem but he was right. Traveling at night was the better option. However, we were already tired, rather I was. And it hadn't even been an hour since we started.

We had three camels. Jowy and Alisa shared one. While I and the geezer had two for ourselves.

It was kind of weird how there was a desert in the middle of nowhere just like that. "Why is there a dessert here, anyway?"

It was hard to even breathe. But Jowy started talking like it was a picnic or something. He was totally unfazed. "I heard long ago, the goddess of water used to visit these lands and give us her blessings. The blessings were divine water. Some say this water could have easily cured even the most horrible of wounds. The goddess gave people so much water that a small pond formed and over the years, a lake. The water was said to have been as potent as a high potion: but that's just the rumors. Little by little the small pond became a massive lake and everything flourished. But one day something happened and she stopped coming," Jowy paused. "And then this desert formed in place of that lake."

"But that doesn't explain why it became a desert though. Think about it. Even if the goddess disappeared-" Maybe it was me who wasn't doing the thinking.

Alisa ignored me and issued her own thoughts. "I wonder if something like that monster happened to her…"

It probably did.

I didn't know why but Alisa almost seemed a little sad.

"Anyway, like I was saying-" I started.

"Yes, it doesn't explain it and we don't know." Jowy was being a bit too frank.

The heat decreased as time passed: it was almost evening. The dessert glistened like a pond in the distance.

Mirage?

As the sunset, everything became too chilly, too sudden.

Where the hell did all that heat go?

By the time we saw stars, it was more than just chilly and it hadn't even been that late. "How are we supposed to travel in this cold?"

"What's up with you? Why're complaining so much?" The old man got irritated. But didn't he know? I was injured. It was my job to complain. He looked at my face, sighed, and signaled Jowy to stop. "I suppose taking a break won't hurt too much. We haven't had dinner yet."

"I agree. But Alisa's already asleep so I think it'd be better if we didn't wake her." Jowy stopped and so did we.

How lucky.

To think I'd be jealous of a little girl. She looked kind of cute though, with those droopy little bunny ears.

We lit a fire by a date tree. At first, I thought there wasn't even a single tree. But I was wrong. The dessert was about twenty kilometers in radius, and we'd only crossed ten or so: and there definitely were trees and cactuses. The lake must have been really big. And to think the whole thing was like a high potion reservoir, life must have been really fun back then. The high potions were really tasty in this world. If I had money, you bet I'd be downing high potions all the time.

I couldn't help but be jealous as I sipped my warm soup. I entangled myself in whatever warm cloth I had. It was friggin cold even with the fire.

I never knew October could be so damn cold. From the day I came to this world, I kept track of the calendar. This world had the same year system but they didn't have names for their months. The prominent month system of thirty individual days was a new thing, so not many ordinary citizens knew of it: at least not on this continent. Apparently, it was publicized about twenty years ago. But one thing shocked me the most. This new system was actually adopted by the Galbatian Empire more than fifty years ago. Almost at the same time when their new emperor, the demon lord Namcha, came to the throne.

"Tell me, how come I never hear anything about the emperor?"

"You mean Namcha Miallianes?" Jowy looked a bit puzzled.

"Yeah? Or are there more emperors?"

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"Alfeime is also an empire." The old man began, he looked a bit serious. "But that- His name itself is a bad omen."

Neither of them looked at me. They didn't want to talk about the emperor for one reason or the other.

I sighed. If those two weren't willing to talk, then I couldn't wring out anything out of them either.

"Once-" The old man begun. I thought he wasn't going to talk but he did. "He destroyed a town just for fun: at least that's what he called fun." He chuckled in despair. "I was a fresh infantry back then…" He got quiet. "Let's drop the subject."

My blood kind of went cold. If I wasn't careful something like that could have happened to Moire, too.

And yet, it was kind of weird how the demons were the ones who were more advanced.

"Boy, that soup is gettin cold!"

For a second there I forgot about my soup altogether.

But one thing was for certain… this geezer was definitely a lot older than I thought.

We finished our dinner, rested, and moved on. I was getting sleepy but we couldn't stop. There weren't any undead roaming about. That got me thinking. How come there weren't many undead in wild areas such as these? "Old man, can you tell me something?"

"It's not like I've got something better to do."

Talk about an attitude.

"Why aren't there any undead in places like these?"

Undead in general were mostly found in forests and though some did roam in wild grass fields that were rare. The only time undead attacked cities or villages was when something else controlled them or perhaps if the forests were too close to civilization.

"Honestly… I don't know. I think it has something to do with them wanting to eat your brains or something." The geezer smirked.

It kind of irritated me.

Jowy held his chin and thought for a minute. "I believe in ancient times these forests were battlefields. The bodies became nutrition for the trees and the souls became the undead. Hence the whole forest fiasco."

Didn't expect you to talk like that!

"I think I read something like that once. But man, it's freezing!" It was very cold no doubt.

The old man snorted out the stuff he was drinking and laughed wildly. I couldn't help but be somewhat irritated, again. If he wanted to laugh, he was free to do so, but why'd he have to waste precious water?

I kept my mouth shut and we moved through the cold drylands. No monsters or undead for that matter got in our way.

We stopped at late midnight to set camp. I almost fell asleep on the road and yet I couldn't sleep when I lied down. Just what the hell was wrong with my body?

"By the way," I began. "How come things were so bad between elves and men?" I had the representatives from both species, so this was one of those rare moments. With all the constant worries and dangers, and… tragedies, I kind of forgot about it.

"Well." The old man held his head in his hands. "Men and elves have been at war for over a century now. So I guess that's why?" The old man questioned me.

"Excuse me? At war? How? What?" If I wasn't confused before, I was definitely confused now.

"Men and elves have been at war for a long time. But it's not what you think." Jowy looked at me, emotionless.

"Long story short, it's like a break. A long break. But things could go bad anytime. I think there's actually a kingdom in between Destoa and Alfheim. And since most of the citizens of that country are men the humans demand that kingdom. But I tell ya, the king of that country is a literal piece of shit." The old man chuckled hard. "I think it was called Hell-something."

"Hell? The country is literally called hell?" I didn't buy it.

Jowy cleared his throat. "That is why both countries are trying to take over the country in the middle and avoiding clashes with verbal feud. As things are, a full-scale war isn't bound to happen in the next few decades." He looked at the sky. "But it isn't far away either."

I sighed.

I guess it's not my problem.

The conversation died, but it didn't feel like anything was resolved.

But why a war over something so trivial?

Well, I guess it wasn't trivial for them. Food was always a priority. And what better way to secure more food than to secure more land? But really? People could afford a war in this kind of war when everything literally wanted to end life?

The day ended just like that, huh? I wonder how things are looking for you, Brenda… And Biteria too. I wonder how the afterlife is…. Oh, wait, I don't wanna know just yet…

It hurt and I had trouble forgetting. But it all felt distant now. Yet I still couldn't stop my mind from remembering all the good times. The stars were bright. I always heard about people turning to stars. Never believed it though.. I wonder if I'll ever see you again… I closed my eyes with a bitter smile.

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