The morning was bright.

“Um… .”

Beatrice stood up, clutching her throbbing hair.

The events of yesterday flashed through her dazed mind.

“ah… .”

her face turned red.

Drunk, he spoke without distinguishing between what to say and what not to say.

“Oh, why did I do that?”

She slammed the blanket hard.

It reminded me of the masked man I met in front of the inn yesterday.

And his wife and siblings who were by his side.

Thinking of them made me smile, but he shook his head briefly and sighed.

“To have a party with someone you’ve never met… .”

Hearing the story of the masked man, Red Mill, he couldn’t stand it.

He was so pitiful, and also admirable.

Although he was older than himself.

Rather, I couldn’t just look at him because I was older.

It was hidden by the mask, so we couldn’t see his expression, but he must have had a sad face when he was talking about himself.

“Sigh… .”

The atmosphere emanating from him was so sad that tears came out.

How can I just watch him who misses his parents and regrets his actions?

‘Why did I suddenly think of my older brother?’

I could see a longing for him as he took care of his party.

The appearance of an older brother who cannot even talk now.

I don’t know why.

I’ve only seen him take care of the needs of the party, but it was the first time I’ve seen him.

The atmosphere was very similar.

“I can’t help it.”

She came to the North for two reasons.

To obtain practical experience and magic materials.

At the banquet, Raymond helped her, and she felt so pitiful.

No matter how much I focused on my studies and tried to forget, I couldn’t.

Rather, it seemed to run away.

That’s why he came to the North to erase his pathetic appearance.

In order to correct his behavior, which would harden when standing in front of a monster.

‘Rather, it could be fine.’

If you move alone and do nothing with a monster in front of you, you will be killed.

So it wouldn’t be bad to team up with someone who seems to be good at this job and proceed step by step.

opened the door and came out

“You woke up early.”

Her face turned red again as Red Mill waved and greeted her.

***

Beatrice hesitated and sat down in front of me.

Looking at her, I couldn’t help but smile.

In the future, I had a chance to travel with her and get to know her.

It would be better if you expose me. If I do, I’m not sure she’ll ever team up with me.

You will be given a boundary around you.

It can be annoying in many ways.

There will be minnows clinging to it to get something to eat.

So at least until my job in the North is over, I shouldn’t reveal that I’m Raymond.

Time passed.

Meanwhile, Beatrice and I got a little closer.

Now I could talk to her comfortably.

She treated me with respect.

If I’m older, it’s impossible to use short language.

We did that when we first introduced them, so now we can’t say we’re the same age.

I decided to just leave it alone.

Although it is a man’s face, it does not cover even that expression.

Maybe that’s why I was able to see quite a lot of emotional expressions while spending time with her.

For now, I decided to be content with that.

“Let’s go out now.”

After leaving the inn, the streets of the city, which were always crowded with people, were quiet.

The door to the north was open. Most of the people in the city came to go to the north.

It was natural for it to be empty like this.

“The business has been down for a while now.”

“How many people will come back alive this time?”

There was only one entrance to the wall, which was thousands of meters long and divided the northern part from the central part.

A city bastion called Last Hope.

Only through it can you come and go to the North.

“Please write your name here.”

There was a tired man by the door.

And the paper he handed over had the names of countless people written on it.

I write it down to figure out how much I went out and how much I came back.

“May you come back alive.”

The guard speaks to us as we write down our names and leave.

It was like a kind of ritual.

Don’t die, come back alive.

woo woo-

The door closes.

Now I have to stay in the North for half a year.

That door would never open, even if the survivors shouted for help to come back.

Until the day comes when the door has to be opened again.

“Write this all over.”

I handed the cloth to the party.

The northern entrance was like that of the desert. After that, you have to go all the way to see the mountains and the sea.

There are mounts that can only be ridden in the desert, but they are very difficult to obtain.

“This is the North… There is nothing.”

“hot… .”

Mahol and Reina covered their necks and mouths with a thin cloth.

The sand in the desert is very small and easy to get into your mouth or nose.

Therefore, it is better to cover your mouth with a magically cooled cloth.

“By the way, where are those people going to move in such a hurry?”

“There aren’t that many monsters you can catch here. That’s why I’m going to the mountain range at the end of the desert. Above all, it is not hot there.”

But running like that is a loss. It takes three days to run from the desert to the mountains.

If you have a mount, you can go faster than that, but if not, you have to move while conserving your stamina as much as possible.

If you exhaust yourself in a place like this, you will die.

And they won’t know that.

‘The desert is dangerous.’

The desert, as well as the environment, was very dangerous in many ways.

It’s better to quickly enter the mountains even if you don’t have enough stamina.

Hard.

“I’m afraid to say… .”

I felt a vibration under my feet.

It was seen that the party was frightened by the vibration.

“Dah, the land… !”

They looked at me urgently.

I told Mahol to take Reina and took Ellis in my arms.

Beatrice had already been enchanted.

“Huh!”

At the same time as the ground cracked, he spurred on the ground and rolled sideways.

Mahol had already run away with Reina in his arms.

Beatrice… You don’t have to worry.

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Kukieek!

Something rose high and shook its long body wildly, screaming.

That’s it.

The reason why the people who came to the north are busy,

Because it has sandworms.

Because of the tough leather that is impenetrable to most swordsmanship.

A predator in the desert that even veteran mercenaries had no choice but to give up catching.

Because it was a huge object boasting a whopping 22m in length.

Dealing with this guy was suicidal.

and more than anything else.

“Tsk. This is why I hate sandworms.”

Charrr-

There were monsters always following Sandworm around.

“Leechs are always attached, so it’s the most annoying thing to deal with.”

The monster, also known as the sand shark, resembles the shark of the sea.

The only difference is that the mouth resembles that of a sandworm, and the size is similar to that of an adult male.

Sandworms are also Sandworms, but Sand Sharks are the most troublesome.

He was quick and clever, never going alone.

Always have at least three of them, accompanied by sandworms.

Sandworms hunted and ate leftover debris. Another nickname for them was desert scavengers.

“Beth. There is no need to hunt, so just be on your guard.”

I handed Ellis over to her and checked her condition.

Although the hand holding the staff was shaking, fortunately, he calmly grasped the situation.

That was it.

The overly pale face showed that it was difficult for her to hunt monsters.

So I didn’t make her go hunting.

“I alone am enough.”

Because even without her, I can win enough.

As long as the party’s safety was confirmed, there was no reason why I couldn’t run amok.

The only thing I was worried about was whether the sword could withstand it.

The sword the Crown Prince gave me was well kept, and now I had the longsword I bought in the city in my hand.

Because I can’t break the crown prince’s sword and eat it.

Chew.

I cut my hand.

Blood trickled down and dripped onto the sand.

One of the characteristics of sandworms and sandsharks is.

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Kieeck!

It was crazy about the smell of blood.

Even from tens of kilometers away, if even a single drop of blood falls on the sand, it smells it and comes back.

That’s why it was forbidden to get hurt in the desert with sandworms.

“This should be enough.”

You only need to bleed enough to smell the blood.

If you shed too much, more sandworms will come along than the sandworms in front of you.

Wrap your hand in a cloth to stop the bleeding.

swung the sword

Chow!

Sand Shark’s body rose from the ground and split in half.

Whoops!

The black was dyed blue.

I could feel the strength growing in real time.

My body was filled with the feeling of being able to do anything.

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Kiek!

The sand shark, smelling the blood of its own kind, rushed in rage.

The ground vibrated beneath it.

Fuhuaak!

As he flung his body to the side, a sandworm surged beneath him.

Fu-wook!

He stabbed his body with a sword.

The sword only went in half.

It was so tough that even with the aura wrapped around it, I couldn’t stab it all the way.

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Kiyeek!

Sandworm burrowed into the ground as if enraged by the sword embedded in his body.

I drew my sword and dodged.

Chew.

He landed on the ground and cut off the Sand Shark’s head.

I climbed on the body and slipped on the blood.

“uh… .”

Taking advantage of that gap, another sand shark approaches.

The teeth that grow like protruding teeth are ugly.

The sand shark’s mouth swallows me.

“Red Mill!”

Seeing that, Beatrice screamed.

And he hurriedly tried to use magic.

But something is strange. Unlike himself, his party with her is too calm.

It’s a dangerous situation where anyone can die.

I just watched it blankly as if that was common.

Feeling strange, she saw Sand Shark’s body exploding.

Quaaa!

He clenched his fist and slashed his fist at his head.

My aura-filled fist gnawed my teeth and blew the whole head off.

“Ah… .”

Blood and flesh poured out of his body.

When you wake up with an impression on him.

Wow!

The sandworm approached before I knew it and swallowed me.

That’s not it.

Beatrice stared blankly at Raymond, missing the timing to use her magic.

And after seeing him being swallowed by the sandworm, he used his magic in a hurry.

“Fire lance!”

Spears of fire sprang up around her and struck the sandworm.

However, the spear of fire she created did not properly hit Sandworm.

It only made a little bit of soot.

She bit her lip and prepared for even greater magic.

However, Sandworm’s condition was strange.

The body that had been digging into the ground began to shake.

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Kieeck!

Sandworm’s body screamed in agony.

Patter.

It turned into finely chopped pieces of meat and fell to the ground.