Gilbert knocked on the
door. After hearing a response from inside, he entered.
Sienna, seated at the
table, turned her head toward him. She had a document in hand, with more
scattered across the table.
“Your Highness, we’re about
to arrive.”
“Understood.”
After Gilbert left, Sienna
began tidying up the table. Her heart was starting to beat a little faster.
Whether it was from anticipation or fear, she couldn’t tell. On the way, she
had received a letter from Levan warning her of potential danger.
―Kuhn believes that the
Iron King is coming as the envoy. He probably doesn’t plan to greet you. Though
I’ve sent word to Kuhn, there’s a high chance he won’t receive the message in
time.
Sienna had called her
knights and shared Levan’s warning with them. She had ten knights from her
guard and five more who had been dispatched as part of the envoy—a rather small
number. While they were some of the best knights in the Empire, they might not
be able to perform at their best in the unfamiliar desert environment.
‘In the worst case, I’ll
have to take up arms too.’
She wasn’t confident in
fighting as an elite warrior, but she knew she wouldn’t be a burden either.
‘Is this going to be real
combat?’
"The best combat is
the one you never have to fight in your life."
Sienna smiled as she recalled
Kuhn’s words from the past.
“You told me to run if it
came to that.”
She was about to see him
again. It had been four months since their last meeting. As the thought of
getting closer to where he was crossed her mind, she felt a bit anxious. She
glanced at her outfit.
‘I’d better change into
something more practical.’
Among the items Levan had
delivered after catching up with them on the fast ship was a set of armor. It
wasn’t a full suit, but a piece-by-piece set that could be attached to
different parts of the body.
While it wasn’t as sturdy
as a full suit, it was stronger than light armor. Given the urgency of the
situation, this was the best option, as there hadn’t been time to prepare armor
specifically tailored to her measurements.
With the help of her maid,
Sienna changed her clothes. She wore a shirt, a leather vest, and knee-high
leather boots—travel clothes that Levan had also sent.
She then donned the armor,
which covered her forearms, upper arms, chest, abdomen, thighs, and calves.
Finally, she belted a sword
around her waist—a white blade, a relic of the Duke of Rouk’s family, which had
been the prize for winning a deer hunting tournament. She threw on a cloak that
reached her ankles, which would protect her from the desert’s sandstorms.
A short while later, the
ship came to a full stop. Workers unloaded the cargo first, and several knights
disembarked to scout the surroundings. Shortly after, Sienna, holding Rit’s
reins, got off with her knights.
On the day they left the
capital, as they were almost out of the city, she realized that Rit had been
running alongside the carriage. There was no way to stop in the middle of the
journey, so the carriage had continued all the way to the dock.
When they arrived at the dock,
Sienna tried to send Rit back, but when she handed the reins to someone else,
the unicorn threw a fit. Normally, Sienna wouldn’t tolerate anything being
forced on her, but she couldn’t win against a pet. In the end, she decided to
bring Rit along.
A gust of hot wind blew,
carrying fine sand that stung her eyes. Sienna quickly raised her arm to shield
her face and pulled up her hood.
‘So, this is… the edge of
the world.’
The edge of the world.
Here was where one of the
Empire’s many rivers flowed closest to the desert.
It was the final dock where
ships could travel. In the Empire, this area was known as "the edge of the
world." It served as a buffer zone between the Empire’s territory and the
desert, an invisible border.
No one lived in the vast
area surrounding this region. The Empire’s people avoided it, fearing
encounters with monsters, and to the desert people, this place was not yet part
of the true desert, so they didn’t operate here either.
Gilbert, after speaking
with someone, approached Sienna.
“Your Highness, the guide
has not arrived yet. You may need to wait a little longer. Would you like to
wait on the ship?”
“I’m fine.”
Sienna gazed at the distant
red earth.
The heat rising from the
scorching desert shimmered like a mirage in the distance.
***
The day after Kuhn and his
group set off, they were hit by a small sandstorm that forced them to stay put
for several hours. The guide mentioned that an unexpected sandstorm was often a
sign that rain was coming soon.
Kuhn climbed up a tall rock
and looked at the sky, shading his eyes with his hand to block out the blinding
sunlight. After scanning the sky for a while, he spotted a small dot in the
distance.
He pulled out a wooden
whistle hanging from his neck and blew into it. There was no audible sound, but
the whistle emitted a special frequency beyond the range of human hearing.
The small dot grew larger
as it flew toward Kuhn, eventually becoming visible as a hawk. Kuhn raised his
arm, and the hawk landed on his leather bracer.
He opened the small wooden
container tied to the bird’s leg and took out a rolled piece of paper. After
reading the message, Kuhn filled the container with a bit of sand as a signal
that the message had been received, then tied it back to the hawk’s leg and let
it fly away.
Jumping down from the rock,
he addressed his subordinates, who were watching him closely.
“The Red Turban Raiders
have split into two groups. Some are heading in the same direction, while
others are going toward the Antlion Pit.”
The guide’s face turned
pale, and the other subordinates' expressions stiffened as well.
The Antlion Pit was known
to be a habitat of the Desert Ghosts. While the creatures roamed
unpredictably, there were certain areas they were known to frequent. To cross
the desert safely, one had to steer clear of such dangerous locations.
“They wouldn’t be suicidal
enough to go there on purpose…”
Kuhn pondered the raiders'
intentions. Kaligo had crossed the desert many times, but they had never faced
a large group of marauders.
A large group meant they
had some degree of intelligence. Marauders who survived long in the desert were
cunning; they never attacked enemies they couldn’t defeat.
“Uh… I’ve heard a rumor
about the Red Turban Raiders.”
The guide hesitated before
speaking.
“What is it?”
“It’s a wild story, but…”
“Doesn’t matter. Tell me.”
“They say the Red Turbans
sometimes lure and use the Desert Ghosts to their advantage.”
Kuhn frowned. That would be
a reckless and dangerous move. But if the reward was worth the risk, it wasn’t
entirely impossible.
“Let’s go. We need to
figure out what they’re planning.”
The subordinates who had
been resting immediately stood up.
As they continued tracking
the movements of the Red Turbans, they discovered that the group had split
again.
‘They’re preparing for a
hunt.’
It was a tactic to scatter
the target’s defenses, lure them in, and capture them by setting traps. Kuhn,
being an experienced hunter himself, could see through their strategy.
It became increasingly
clear that the Red Turbans' final destination was the Mushroom Rock Dunes. The
only target they could be planning such an elaborate operation for was the
Empire’s envoy delegation.
‘Could the Hotu tribe have
allied with the marauders?’
Had they gone so far as to
do something so reckless? Or perhaps another tribe seeking to dismantle the
Confederation was trying to sabotage the alliance between the Empire and the
desert?
Kuhn’s group caught up with
the Red Turbans' rear scouts and managed to capture one of them. Kneeling with
his arms bound, the marauder looked up at the men surrounding him with fear in
his eyes.
“You know what this is,
don’t you?”
Russ hit the hilt of his
black sword as he spoke, showing it off to the marauder.
“K-Kaligo…”
The marauder’s face turned
ashen.
“If you tell us what we
want to know, we’ll spare you. Just a bit of advice—you might not want to go
back to your comrades. We wouldn’t want you to walk straight back to your death
after being saved.”
The marauder nodded so
vigorously it seemed his neck might snap. The reputation of Kaligo made things
easier. Most men would surrender immediately at the mere mention of the name.
After Russ had intimidated
the marauder, Kuhn began questioning him.
“Where were you headed?”
The marauder spilled
everything he knew.
They had taken on a
job—though only the leader knew who had hired them. The leader had received a
cancellation message a few days ago and had been quite angry about it, but he
had decided to continue with the plan. They had also heard that the Empire’s
envoy had brought a rare beast with them, and the raiders intended to steal it.
“A rare beast?”
“A horse, but… with a horn
on its forehead…”
The marauder’s words were
cut off as his collar was suddenly grabbed, and he let out a strangled cry. The
man who had approached him radiated murderous intent, and the marauder trembled
in fear.
“Tell me in detail. What
did you just say?”
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