Estio Book 5
- Episode 16
Jose replied with a natural expression on his face.
"I heard that you are a newcomer who just joined the guild."
"Only for that reason?"
"Last time I saw it, it seemed like he didn't even know how to fight. If he couldn't deal with swords and magic as the subject of a new guild at the end of the guild, he would be a complete kid."
The opposing mercenary had some logic to it. Mubin realized that such a misunderstanding was possible and narrowed his brow.
In the meantime, José, who felt alone in doubt as he talked, began to talk about it every now and then.
"Wait, how did you get into the guild, that little boy? He doesn't have any skills! These days, Ignis hires people based on passion only?
Anyone can see that Estio was far from passion. He was always indifferent and his actions were rather slow. He used to watch and only act when it was absolutely necessary, rather than actively engaging in the work he was assigned to do. Rather, his teammate, Bernie Parker, was far more enthusiastic about his task.
"no way."
José, who had been thinking deeply about Estio, lowered his voice. It was only after he heard the next words that Mubin's expression, who was about to be relieved that this stupid mercenary just had a sense of humor, wrinkled.
"Is it a parachute? Is that kid from aristocrats?"
"Sigh."
let's not talk Mubin mumbled inwardly and shook her head. In any case, he had no intention of revealing the truth that the master had not personally revealed. He just poked around to get to know.
Anyone who doesn't know if it's stabbed like this is an idiot. Mubin thought so and shut his mouth, and when he didn't react any more, Jose, who was talking to himself, was awkwardly silent.
That's how my first day in the desert passed.
Chapter 19 Desert Waves
the next morning.
The mercenaries who looked down on the desert night got up and rolled up their tents one by one, shaking. The temperature that fell during the night was so cold that it was incomparable to the heat during the day. With general camping equipment, the warmth function was insufficient.
The sand, which had become as cold as ice, heated up again in the sunlight. Beginners felt the extreme temperature difference in the desert with their whole body and started again. The direction was determined by the constellations Algeniv had read through the night. The desert crabs sprinted across the sand just like the day before.
The upper part of Forma moved five more days in that way.
He had not yet encountered the monsters that inhabit the desert. Sang-joo Russell said that this ascent was very lucky, but Moobin expressed disappointment as he could not see the terrible situation José warned of.
"Slowly this journey is coming to an end. I was wondering what the desert monster looked like."
"It's really just sand."
The time when the sun is at the center of the sky. The sun was too strong, so it was a short break. Even desert crabs with hard shells that are resistant to heat had a hard time running at this time.
Russell chuckled when talking about monsters among the mercenaries.
"The majority of guys you can't see even if you meet them."
"Why?"
"Most of them hide themselves in the sand. Sandworms, giant scorpions, and red octopus are all digging burrows in the sand to move."
They were all monsters I had never met before. When the monster was talked about, Yeon-yeon-rang made an outright disliked expression.
"Even though they are large monsters, they are often attacked because it is difficult to notice their approach. Be careful, especially since they love desert crabs as food."
"I'm sure it'll be hard to notice if it crawls into the ground."
"Ugh, they're both scary opponents."
Parker, feeling a chill, shrugged his wings. It was at this point that Jose spoke up.
"But the scariest monsters in Turke are the desert ghosts of the Blue Sands."
Mubin, who was about to bleed through one ear to scare him again, heard Russell's sympathy in his ear.
"Blue Sands is a kind of ghost story, although it's a real realm."
"...is that a joke?"
At least, it worked well for the cowardly joins. Russell saw Parker's swaying eyes and lowered his voice.
"'It's a mirage. At some point, a mysterious blue sand spreads out before you. The blue sand desert is dreamy and beautiful, but never be deceived. If you step into it, you will surely die.'"
It was a phrase that remained in the record book of a traveler who had wandered through the desert. Russell smirked after reciting the verse.
"It's a blue sand story that is floating around like a ghost story among travelers."
"Is the reason you must die because there are powerful monsters there?"
"Well. It's not known. I've only heard that the moment you step into it, you will die of unknown causes. It's like a human or an animal that turns to sand, leaving only empty bones."
Hearing that only bones remain and become sand, weak Parker swallowed a sigh of relief.
"Well, then, has the Lord Sang Sang never met Blue Sands?"
"Um! I've seen it before."
He has had numerous experiences as a merchant selling goods mainly across the desert. Among them, he saw blue sands, of course, often.
"It was just one step ahead of a sandy desert as blue as sea water. It was a creepy moment."
If he had taken one more step, his whole body would have turned to sand like a ghost story, and he might have died. Russell, who recalled the moment, trembled with her smirk and gave her one final request.
"No matter how much you follow the guidance of the stars, you must be careful because the blue sands suddenly appear like a mirage."
"I hope we won't meet on this trip, will we?"
"Of course, blue sandy beaches aren't something you see often."
Russell chuckled again, waving his hand, and Parker reassured.
Unfortunately, it was that night that they witnessed the Blue Sands.
* * *
Sixth night after entering the Turke Desert.
The mercenaries, who are now quite accustomed to it, set up tents and made fires on their own without the help of other merchants. I didn't forget to put in the ignition stone to keep the fire from getting weak in the cold night air.
The merchants fell asleep, exhausted from the arduous desert march during the day, and the hired mercenaries took turns to be vigilant. The people who remained in front of the bonfire today were Jose Marc and Yeon Yeon-rang from the Ballista Guild. José, who had to stand alone with the chilly Yeon-yeon, looked at the burning bonfire while wearing a bamboo robe.
Outwardly, she was a skinny, scarred girl without a single muscle, but the power she possessed was so powerful that rumors spread even within Ignis.
Forgetting that fact the day before too, a mercenary who had been scolding in front of her, saying, 'What kind of tough combat mercenary is a woman' or 'Go in and do office work' was struck with a bare fist and lost two teeth. It's a pity that Estio came forward and stopped the situation that would have been more serious, but he almost died in vain in exchange for stimulating Ignis' claws.
Even after the incident ended in a simple physical fight, Yeon Yeon-rang used to stare at the ballista guild members with a lively gaze. In order not to get into an argument for nothing, she had no choice but to avoid her gaze.
Alzeniv, who remained in front of the bonfire together to read the starlight, looked up at the night sky calmly with a star compass, regardless of the cold atmosphere.
Then, a rustling sound from the side of the tent broke the silence. Yeon-yeon Lang, who had accumulated magical power in his hand, checked his opponent and let out his strength and sighed.
"Ah... I thought it was a raid. What are you doing up to this hour, leader?"
"I'm sorry if I startled you."
There was one more person who had not yet fallen asleep.
"This is it."
Alzeniv found Estio hesitating and waved his hand. It was because he was worried that he might burn his eyes because he could not see, but he could not see even if he waved his hand anyway.
Still, Estio, who came to Alzeniv's seat, sat down next to him and asked.
"Isn't it cold?"
"A little bit. Did you come out because it was cold too?"
For him, who once slept well in the attic of freezing icicles, the cold desert night didn't bother him much, but he didn't seem to need to talk about it.
"I just couldn't sleep..."
"It's just like me. If you keep looking at the stars like this, your head will be clear."
Because Alzeniv was a special astrologer called the contract of the stars, he had a peculiar constitution in which fatigue was recovered as if he had slept soundly just by basking in the light of the stars. So she stayed awake and recorded her star compass during her long desert journey. She seemed too harsh for a 7-year-old girl to take on, but she was enjoying herself. So Estio quietly nodded her head.
Alzeniv, who was staring at him, raised his little finger.
"Aren't your eyes still all healed?"
"Yes."
"Then how long can you not untie it?"
"......"
It cannot be released when the ability is out of control. I didn't know if it would be okay tomorrow, or maybe a year later, maybe 10 years.
As Estio couldn't answer easily, Alzeniv mumbled with a finger in his mouth.
"I'm sorry. The night sky in the desert is really pretty."
It was not, but instead of grains of sand, the sky was studded with countless stars, almost like a black river that reflected the desert land as it was. Jose, who was listening, also shook his head in sympathy.
"Hua-am, it's hard to fall asleep after moving like that during the day, so your stamina is really good. Is it because you're still young?"
A huge yawn erupted from the mouth of Jose, who had a shaggy beard that had not been shaved for a long time. If Estio had not appeared in time, Jose would have been dozing off. In the daytime, the sun was hot as if it was going to burn the skin, and at night, a cold wind blew in the sand, and the desert was a climatic terrain that was difficult for beginners to bear.
"It must have been that his stamina was too poor."
José groaned in response to Yeon-yeon-rang's blunt tip.
"That's too harsh. It's not as bad as Ignis, but we're also from a guild with strong bones."
"The Ballista Guild Master closed the door and ran away at night?"
"He, even with such a survival instinct, his bones are thick."
"Puck."
Yeon-yeon-rang laughed at the poor excuses of the former ballista guild members. Jose, who was desperate for nothing to say, suddenly pointed to the back of Yeon-yeon-rang.
"Huh? What is that?"
"Hey, do you know how to fall for such a childish trick?"
"No, it's real. I'm not kidding you, really over there!"
Jose finally got up from his seat. And he gradually grew tired of his complexion white.
"Something sparkling... something like a blue wave..."
"......!"
It was only then that Yeon-yeon-rang realized the seriousness and stood up.
"A wave in the desert? That's probably it."
"It's Blue Sand!"
Likewise, Alzeniv, who turned to the direction José was pointing, screamed.
Estio Book 5
- Episode 16
Jose replied with a natural expression on his face.
"I heard that you are a newcomer who just joined the guild."
"Only for that reason?"
"Last time I saw it, it seemed like he didn't even know how to fight. If he couldn't deal with swords and magic as the subject of a new guild at the end of the guild, he would be a complete kid."
The opposing mercenary had some logic to it. Mubin realized that such a misunderstanding was possible and narrowed his brow.
In the meantime, José, who felt alone in doubt as he talked, began to talk about it every now and then.
"Wait, how did you get into the guild, that little boy? He doesn't have any skills! These days, Ignis hires people based on passion only?
Anyone can see that Estio was far from passion. He was always indifferent and his actions were rather slow. He used to watch and only act when it was absolutely necessary, rather than actively engaging in the work he was assigned to do. Rather, his teammate, Bernie Parker, was far more enthusiastic about his task.
"no way."
José, who had been thinking deeply about Estio, lowered his voice. It was only after he heard the next words that Mubin's expression, who was about to be relieved that this stupid mercenary just had a sense of humor, wrinkled.
"Is it a parachute? Is that kid from aristocrats?"
"Sigh."
let's not talk Mubin mumbled inwardly and shook her head. In any case, he had no intention of revealing the truth that the master had not personally revealed. He just poked around to get to know.
Anyone who doesn't know if it's stabbed like this is an idiot. Mubin thought so and shut his mouth, and when he didn't react any more, Jose, who was talking to himself, was awkwardly silent.
That's how my first day in the desert passed.
Chapter 19 Desert Waves
the next morning.
The mercenaries who looked down on the desert night got up and rolled up their tents one by one, shaking. The temperature that fell during the night was so cold that it was incomparable to the heat during the day. With general camping equipment, the warmth function was insufficient.
The sand, which had become as cold as ice, heated up again in the sunlight. Beginners felt the extreme temperature difference in the desert with their whole body and started again. The direction was determined by the constellations Algeniv had read through the night. The desert crabs sprinted across the sand just like the day before.
The upper part of Forma moved five more days in that way.
He had not yet encountered the monsters that inhabit the desert. Sang-joo Russell said that this ascent was very lucky, but Moobin expressed disappointment as he could not see the terrible situation José warned of.
"Slowly this journey is coming to an end. I was wondering what the desert monster looked like."
"It's really just sand."
The time when the sun is at the center of the sky. The sun was too strong, so it was a short break. Even desert crabs with hard shells that are resistant to heat had a hard time running at this time.
Russell chuckled when talking about monsters among the mercenaries.
"The majority of guys you can't see even if you meet them."
"Why?"
"Most of them hide themselves in the sand. Sandworms, giant scorpions, and red octopus are all digging burrows in the sand to move."
They were all monsters I had never met before. When the monster was talked about, Yeon-yeon-rang made an outright disliked expression.
"Even though they are large monsters, they are often attacked because it is difficult to notice their approach. Be careful, especially since they love desert crabs as food."
"I'm sure it'll be hard to notice if it crawls into the ground."
"Ugh, they're both scary opponents."
Parker, feeling a chill, shrugged his wings. It was at this point that Jose spoke up.
"But the scariest monsters in Turke are the desert ghosts of the Blue Sands."
Mubin, who was about to bleed through one ear to scare him again, heard Russell's sympathy in his ear.
"Blue Sands is a kind of ghost story, although it's a real realm."
"...is that a joke?"
At least, it worked well for the cowardly joins. Russell saw Parker's swaying eyes and lowered his voice.
"'It's a mirage. At some point, a mysterious blue sand spreads out before you. The blue sand desert is dreamy and beautiful, but never be deceived. If you step into it, you will surely die.'"
It was a phrase that remained in the record book of a traveler who had wandered through the desert. Russell smirked after reciting the verse.
"It's a blue sand story that is floating around like a ghost story among travelers."
"Is the reason you must die because there are powerful monsters there?"
"Well. It's not known. I've only heard that the moment you step into it, you will die of unknown causes. It's like a human or an animal that turns to sand, leaving only empty bones."
Hearing that only bones remain and become sand, weak Parker swallowed a sigh of relief.
"Well, then, has the Lord Sang Sang never met Blue Sands?"
"Um! I've seen it before."
He has had numerous experiences as a merchant selling goods mainly across the desert. Among them, he saw blue sands, of course, often.
"It was just one step ahead of a sandy desert as blue as sea water. It was a creepy moment."
If he had taken one more step, his whole body would have turned to sand like a ghost story, and he might have died. Russell, who recalled the moment, trembled with her smirk and gave her one final request.
"No matter how much you follow the guidance of the stars, you must be careful because the blue sands suddenly appear like a mirage."
"I hope we won't meet on this trip, will we?"
"Of course, blue sandy beaches aren't something you see often."
Russell chuckled again, waving his hand, and Parker reassured.
Unfortunately, it was that night that they witnessed the Blue Sands.
* * *
Sixth night after entering the Turke Desert.
The mercenaries, who are now quite accustomed to it, set up tents and made fires on their own without the help of other merchants. I didn't forget to put in the ignition stone to keep the fire from getting weak in the cold night air.
The merchants fell asleep, exhausted from the arduous desert march during the day, and the hired mercenaries took turns to be vigilant. The people who remained in front of the bonfire today were Jose Marc and Yeon Yeon-rang from the Ballista Guild. José, who had to stand alone with the chilly Yeon-yeon, looked at the burning bonfire while wearing a bamboo robe.
Outwardly, she was a skinny, scarred girl without a single muscle, but the power she possessed was so powerful that rumors spread even within Ignis.
Forgetting that fact the day before too, a mercenary who had been scolding in front of her, saying, 'What kind of tough combat mercenary is a woman' or 'Go in and do office work' was struck with a bare fist and lost two teeth. It's a pity that Estio came forward and stopped the situation that would have been more serious, but he almost died in vain in exchange for stimulating Ignis' claws.
Even after the incident ended in a simple physical fight, Yeon Yeon-rang used to stare at the ballista guild members with a lively gaze. In order not to get into an argument for nothing, she had no choice but to avoid her gaze.
Alzeniv, who remained in front of the bonfire together to read the starlight, looked up at the night sky calmly with a star compass, regardless of the cold atmosphere.
Then, a rustling sound from the side of the tent broke the silence. Yeon-yeon Lang, who had accumulated magical power in his hand, checked his opponent and let out his strength and sighed.
"Ah... I thought it was a raid. What are you doing up to this hour, leader?"
"I'm sorry if I startled you."
There was one more person who had not yet fallen asleep.
"This is it."
Alzeniv found Estio hesitating and waved his hand. It was because he was worried that he might burn his eyes because he could not see, but he could not see even if he waved his hand anyway.
Still, Estio, who came to Alzeniv's seat, sat down next to him and asked.
"Isn't it cold?"
"A little bit. Did you come out because it was cold too?"
For him, who once slept well in the attic of freezing icicles, the cold desert night didn't bother him much, but he didn't seem to need to talk about it.
"I just couldn't sleep..."
"It's just like me. If you keep looking at the stars like this, your head will be clear."
Because Alzeniv was a special astrologer called the contract of the stars, he had a peculiar constitution in which fatigue was recovered as if he had slept soundly just by basking in the light of the stars. So she stayed awake and recorded her star compass during her long desert journey. She seemed too harsh for a 7-year-old girl to take on, but she was enjoying herself. So Estio quietly nodded her head.
Alzeniv, who was staring at him, raised his little finger.
"Aren't your eyes still all healed?"
"Yes."
"Then how long can you not untie it?"
"......"
It cannot be released when the ability is out of control. I didn't know if it would be okay tomorrow, or maybe a year later, maybe 10 years.
As Estio couldn't answer easily, Alzeniv mumbled with a finger in his mouth.
"I'm sorry. The night sky in the desert is really pretty."
It was not, but instead of grains of sand, the sky was studded with countless stars, almost like a black river that reflected the desert land as it was. Jose, who was listening, also shook his head in sympathy.
"Hua-am, it's hard to fall asleep after moving like that during the day, so your stamina is really good. Is it because you're still young?"
A huge yawn erupted from the mouth of Jose, who had a shaggy beard that had not been shaved for a long time. If Estio had not appeared in time, Jose would have been dozing off. In the daytime, the sun was hot as if it was going to burn the skin, and at night, a cold wind blew in the sand, and the desert was a climatic terrain that was difficult for beginners to bear.
"It must have been that his stamina was too poor."
José groaned in response to Yeon-yeon-rang's blunt tip.
"That's too harsh. It's not as bad as Ignis, but we're also from a guild with strong bones."
"The Ballista Guild Master closed the door and ran away at night?"
"He, even with such a survival instinct, his bones are thick."
"Puck."
Yeon-yeon-rang laughed at the poor excuses of the former ballista guild members. Jose, who was desperate for nothing to say, suddenly pointed to the back of Yeon-yeon-rang.
"Huh? What is that?"
"Hey, do you know how to fall for such a childish trick?"
"No, it's real. I'm not kidding you, really over there!"
Jose finally got up from his seat. And he gradually grew tired of his complexion white.
"Something sparkling... something like a blue wave..."
"......!"
It was only then that Yeon-yeon-rang realized the seriousness and stood up.
"A wave in the desert? That's probably it."
"It's Blue Sand!"
Likewise, Alzeniv, who turned to the direction José was pointing, screamed.
