The Desert City of Ribe
Beneath a blue sky, under a sun that blazed far hotter than it had only days before, I stood on a yellow road that looked dry at a single glance and stretched my whole body into the light.
"Ugh… I thought my back was going to kill me."
"Quit whining over something this minor. You spent the last stretch lying flat on top of the carriage."
"For someone saying that, Master, your own back is trembling."
A full week of being crammed into a carriage will do that.
Crack. Pop.
I worked the stiffness out of a body that had locked up from lack of proper movement and looked back toward the carriage we'd just climbed down from.
More precisely, toward Chloe, who was still exchanging farewells with Jackson after us.
"Ah, were you waiting for me?"
"Not particularly?"
"Since this is a rare chance, I wanted to at least say goodbye properly."
"So she says."
"Fufu. Honestly. Getting all shy about it."
Leaving Jackson behind as he headed off first—his herbalist was a little farther on, he'd said—Chloe bounced over to us, chattering with bright cheer.
"It's really a shame to part ways like this."
Still, she insisted she had to leave soon if she wanted to meet the person she was supposed to see. Chloe bowed toward us.
"Anyway, I've had a wonderful time. I'll pray that we can meet again someday."
From what she'd told us, a companion she'd planned to regroup with after a short rest had gone and taken a job on their own, which was why she was traveling alone like this.
"Ah, right. Come to think of it, there's one thing I need to apologize to all of you for…"
"Huh?"
"Apologize…?"
What was she apologizing for? Chloe edged backward little by little, as if bracing to bolt.
"Those Living Dead that attacked us a few days ago…"
"Huh? Why bring that up now?"
Scratching her head, pouring cold sweat, unable to meet our eyes—it was a look so unlike the Chloe we'd known that a flicker of confusion ran through us.
"That… was actually because of my holy power—I'm so sorryyyyy—!!"
Before we could even react to the sudden confession, Chloe fled at incredible speed, kicking up a cloud of dust. We couldn't even think of chasing her. We just stared blankly at the rising haze.
"…What?"
"So, uh…"
"What on earth just…"
Feeling as if I'd been smacked in the back of the head, I quietly sighed and turned over the words Chloe had left behind.
She'd said the Living Dead had gathered because of her holy power…
After a moment of thought—
"Let's see… Immortal or undead-type monsters like Living Dead are known to flock toward objects or people with strong holy power nearby…"
Huey pulled a familiar notebook from his coat and read from it. Yeah—I remembered hearing something like that. No wonder it had felt off.
"…So in other words, the reason I had to smear that godawful stench all over myself was—"
"Because of that Chloe girl, right?"
Hearing Huey's words, Lucy trembled with rage as she glared in the direction Chloe had vanished. I added the finishing blow for good measure.
Crunch.
Lucy clenched her fist tight.
…That was a very dangerous sound coming from her hand just now.
"If we meet again, I will have my revenge without fail."
She started muttering bloodthirsty things about burying Chloe in the ground and then catching a Living Dead to squeeze its blood over her head, so Huey and I took a few steps back and decided to wait until she calmed down.
Once Lucy had cooled off somewhat, we were wandering the streets of a city that felt far too empty of people to really be called one.
"Ha, it really is scorching hot. No wonder they call it a desert."
"Indeed. If it weren't for Chloe, it wouldn't be this hot."
"…Is it hot?"
I feel reasonably cool, though.
"Do you even feel the heat?"
"It must be because of your clothes."
Come to think of it—had I ever struggled with heat or anything like that since becoming this body? Struck by the sudden question, I quietly looked at my wings and considered.
"I could probably walk into a fire and come out fine."
Of course I hadn't tried it, and I had no intention of trying—but the possibility was real enough.
"I'm jealous. I can handle the cold, but heat? No way."
"I agree. Cold is better."
"Isn't that just because of how you're dressed?"
I stuck out my tongue at the two of them, wrapped head to toe in pitch-black clothes that looked stifling just to look at under this blazing sun.
"Believe it or not, this is the coolest outfit I own."
"Short clothes are embarrassing."
Huey grumbled that his skin was too sensitive for anything but long sleeves, while Lucy muttered in a small voice, her face flushed red.
"Sigh. Fine. It's not me who'll die—it's you two."
"Please fan us with your wings at least."
"Right. That works."
…These brats?
They gestured at me as casually as if they'd left something in my care, telling me to hurry up and flap my wings. I let out a hollow laugh of pure disbelief.
"Ha."
Fine. I'll give you what you want.
Fwoosh.
"…Huh?"
"Ren? Why the fire all of a sudden…"
Feeling the blood rush to my head, I ignited flames on my wings—
"Here. The breeze you wanted, you little shits."
Whoosh!
I swung them at Huey and Lucy like I was shaking something off. And for good measure, I used the wind to wrap the flames and drop them right on top of their heads.
"Aaaagh!"
"W-what are you doing!"
"You asked for a breeze. The fire's a free bonus."
"My hair! My hair's burning!"
"Nah, it's not."
I'd tried it a few days ago, after all. Huey had kicked off all his blankets and was shivering in the night wind, so rather than bother covering him up again, I'd half-jokingly tried it once—and even leaving it all night, nothing burned.
After a brief scuffle with the two of them making a huge fuss over nothing—
"Can't handle a little heat? Pfft. Amateurs."
"Huff… so hot… Truce… truce…"
"G-good idea, Master. This was a losing fight from the start…"
I laughed at Huey and Lucy as they finally gave up, worn out by the desert heat, and headed toward the inn ahead with a rare lift in my spirits.
"Desert Oasis Inn. This one looks decent—what do you think?"
"Anything's fine, just let me rest already."
"Judging by how few people there are around, there should be plenty of rooms."
Looking at the empty, quiet inn with not a single guest in sight, just as Lucy said—
"I'm gonna look around the area a bit and then come up. You two go ahead."
"Haaah, I thought I was gonna die."
"As you wish."
Unable to contain my curiosity, I sent Huey and Lucy up to the room first, then asked the innkeeper, who was cleaning the empty hall on the first floor.
"Hey, mister. Is this place always this empty?"
"Ah, one of the guests who just came in? A bird beastfolk, huh. Pretty wings you've got there."
"Compliments aside."
"Hrm. Anyway, you're an outsider?"
"Yeah."
"Then it makes sense you wouldn't know. This city isn't usually this deserted. Ah, since we've got the chance, better to talk over a drink."
Setting down the cleaning tools in his hands, he asked me to wait a moment, then quickly mixed a drink and handed it to me.
"Here. A freebie from a bored old man. I'm thinking of making it a new menu item, so drink up without worrying."
"Oh, thanks."
He seemed like he'd been wanting to vent. I took the cup he offered with both wings, sipped the sweet-and-sour drink, and listened.
"A while back, a kingdom investigation team passed through nearby. That's when it started."
The Vista investigation unit Frederica had mentioned, maybe.
"Investigation teams passing through—there's unexplored territory right nearby, so I figured it was business as usual… But that day was different."
He said the entire city had suddenly shaken hard.
"An earthquake?"
"That's what everyone thought at first. But it wasn't."
Could something related to a demon realm or disaster-class threat have been involved? From what Frederica had said, the place was pretty far from here.
"Miss. If I told you a mountain shot up into the sky—would you believe me?"
A mountain… into the sky?
"Hard to believe, right? Even we who saw it with our own eyes could barely believe it."
"Wait, you're not joking?"
"Nope. What we thought was an earthquake was the aftershock from that mountain that had shot into the sky crashing back down to earth."
He said it was a sight that completely defied common sense.
"Ever since then, the ground still shakes from time to time—not as bad as that day, but often enough."
Omens of catastrophe, they say. An ancient forgotten god is angry, they say.
…If it was that bad, then no matter how hard the kingdom tried to suppress the information, it was useless, wasn't it?
"Anyway, thanks to that, folks like me who need people coming into the city to make a living are the only ones dying out here."
"That's rough."
"So, what brings your party here, miss?"
Soon enough the Hero would arrive and the rumors would spread everywhere anyway, so there was no reason to hide it.
"Looks like we've got business at that place you just mentioned."
"Huh, so you're adventurers?"
"Something like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He looked at me like I was being absurd. Instead of answering, I just smirked and stood up.
"Thanks for the chat. And for the drink."
"Glad it suited your taste. My wife keeps asking what anyone would eat something like this for."
"Really? I think it's good enough to put on the menu as is."
"That's the nicest review I've heard yet."
Sweet and tart—just right.
And so, just as I was about to open the inn door and step outside—
"Anyway, welcome to the desert city of Ribe, miss."
I turned at the voice from behind me and saw the man who'd been sitting across from me just moments ago, chin resting on his hand at the table, smiling warmly. There was something so full of warmth about him even in this barren desert that I smiled back and called out loudly.
"Just Ren is fine!"