#053

“Did you notice?”

It wasn’t difficult to recognize, but it was enough to fool someone who wasn’t looking closely. Arne, who genuinely hadn’t known, looked puzzled.

“What? A woman?”

Instead of answering Arne’s question, Kiyen continued.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you not draw your sword first.”

“I don’t do that to ordinary people.”

“Are you acquainted? Or do you always act like that towards females.”

For some reason, Kiyen seemed displeased.

“No. It’s just that there’s no need to create conflict.”

Cullen spoke quickly, feeling as if he were being interrogated. Kiyen snorted.

“I’m sure.”

His tone clearly indicated he didn’t believe it at all. Hearing their conversation, Arne finally understood and exclaimed.

“That, that person is a woman? Wow, I wouldn’t even be able to lift something like that. Mercenaries are amazing.”

Cullen didn’t have the leisure to humor Arne. Kiyen had almost completely removed his hood. His face, already attention-grabbing, would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention from the mercenaries if revealed in the middle of the group. Cullen rode his horse closer to Kiyen.

“I will fix your hood.”

“No need.”

“From here on, it’s desert again. The sun is harsh, so it’s better to cover up.”

He tried his best to use a gentle voice. He had only spoken like this to Roach, so even he felt unfamiliar and embarrassed. Hearing the soothing voice, Kiyen stared at Cullen for a moment, then stopped. Cullen quickly reached out and covered Kiyen’s face with the hood.

“All done.”

Just then, someone blew a horn. The sound signaling departure made the horses twitch their manes. Following the people who began to move in formation, Cullen and his party also departed.

The journey continued smoothly. The desert, under a scorching sun uncharacteristic of spring, was quiet. The sound of waves and birdsong mixed from afar. The mercenaries, who had set off with tension, began to chat while wiping sweat as the sun grew stronger in the afternoon. It was that peaceful.

Cullen tried to find the merchant named Kus that Kiyen had mentioned but couldn’t. He could only hope that Lasano had found out from the merchant in the wagon. Cullen was perplexed by something else.

“It seems… that person is interested in Cullen-nim. Ulli-nim, was it?”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“But they keep looking over, and they’re still looking now. They even smile when our eyes meet. Honestly, if I were that person, I would have fallen for Cullen-nim at first sight.”

Cullen frowned, a rare occurrence. At his stern expression, Arne quickly added,

“I’m just saying. It’s obvious that Cullen-nim’s appearance is the most striking here. Ah, excluding Kiyen-nim, of course.”

Kiyen was following at a distance behind Arne. Until then, he had been near Cullen, but after Ulli shared a piece of bread with him, filled with sheep’s milk cheese, pork, and arugula, he had moved all the way back there. He looked like a beast guarding its territory.

Does she not like Ulli?

Cullen pondered seriously. With Kiyen acting like this, nothing else registered.

“I’m telling you, it’s not. It’s probably just a return favor for what I yielded yesterday. I only listened to her to ask if she had seen a merchant named Kus.”

“Eh, even so, they wouldn’t do this much.”

Arne then glanced sideways at Kiyen.

“Still, shouldn’t you try to appease Kiyen-nim’s mood? You never know what might happen if a Dragon gets angry.”

At the mention of Dragon, Arne’s voice shrunk to the size of an insect.

“Kiyen-nim is fine.”

“It seems my lover is upset because someone is flirting with them.”

“We’re not lovers……”

Tired of the repeated denials, Cullen simply closed his mouth. Arne was clearly very unobservant. It was around then that the mercenaries, who had been traveling at a relaxed pace, suddenly tensed up.

“Everyone, focus! We are entering ‘that zone’ from now on.”

They slowed their horses. Cullen recalled the story he had heard from the information broker yesterday. Merchant guilds and mercenaries traveling through the middle of the desert would disappear without a trace. He had said that people would fail to arrive at their destinations.

Gael’s disappearance coincided with the start of this incident. His elite mercenary corps, who were supposed to have returned three months ago, had still not appeared. It was just that everyone was keeping it quiet because the situation would become complicated if Gael’s absence from Dadin became known.

However, people like the innkeeper where Cullen was staying were starting to emerge, and it was said that Gael needed to return soon for the sake of public order. Fortunately, his other mercenary members were stationed in Dadin, but the information broker added that if this continued, it would be discovered soon.

“For now, I don’t see anything.”

Cullen said, looking back at Kiyen. Kiyen, scanning their surroundings, spoke from a distance.

“I don’t see anything, but I feel something.”

There was no special aura or sign of an ambush. Only flat sand stretched in all directions.

“What do you feel?”

“Faintly, but I feel that power from below.”

“From below?”

Before the words were even out, something began to happen. The first to be sacrificed was the leader at the front. His horse whinnied. The strange phenomenon occurred next.

“Captain Keon!”

The sand, which had been walking without issue, suddenly swirled and collapsed downwards. The horse, struggling to escape, threw the man off. The horse, abandoning its master, narrowly escaped the sand and galloped away.

But the man could not. As if someone were pulling him from below, he was sucked into the sand at a terrifying speed.

“Everyone, fall back! Fall back in formation!”

Someone shouted, having quickly assessed the situation, but it was too late. The swirling sand began to grow in size, as if it were a living creature. In the blink of an eye, the sand wave spread to where Cullen’s party was. People’s bodies sank down, down. As if not even giving them a chance to escape.

Cullen’s horse was not spared either. Cullen looked back and shouted.

“Fall back!”

Arne’s horse quickly retreated. However, contrary to Cullen’s shout, Kiyen tried to approach him. Kiyen dismounted and tried to grab him, but Cullen dissuaded him.

“It’s dangerous, Kiyen-nim. Please fall back…!”

Instinctively, he pushed Kiyen away. His words were cut off there. In an instant, his body sank down, sand entered his mouth, and his vision darkened. Sand covered his face.

With a dull impact, Cullen fell. His tailbone throbbed. His hair and face, swept by the sand, were a mess. Coughing, he wiped his eyes. Instinctively, he checked the weapons he had equipped on his body. Fortunately, he hadn’t lost anything during the fall.

Spitting out the sand filling his mouth, he stood up. He could smell the musty scent of earth and the cool air of the underground.

It took several blinks before his vision returned. Then, he witnessed an unexpected sight. For one, he was in what appeared to be an indoor space. More precisely, it was a cave-like place made of dirt. It was a vast cavern with torches fixed to the walls.

Before Cullen could even grasp the situation, a terrified scream echoed from somewhere.

“Wh-what is that! H-huh!”

A long, massive shadow flashed by. Cullen quickly drew his sword and surveyed his surroundings. Within seconds, he spotted a bizarre Demonic Beast he had never seen before.

It was like a long snake with multiple heads resembling sea turtles. Its body was thick and long enough to fill the cave, its appearance a strange fusion of turtle and snake.

Its back was covered in sharp, protruding, thick spines like shells, and its body was studded with what looked like hard, blue scales. Its long tail had snatched up the mercenaries who had fallen with Cullen in one go. There was no chance to resist.

No, in this situation, it seemed impossible to resist.

While they should have been forming ranks and working together to kill it, those who had fallen from above had no time to react. Cullen rolled forward and slipped into a narrow gap he saw before him. By a hair’s breadth, the long tail swept across the clearing. Seen up close, the Demonic Beast also had short, massive claw-like hands.

The Demonic Beast’s tail swept through the interior once more before slowly withdrawing. As he watched the dust rise with a swish, a voice called out from behind Cullen.

“You’re alive.”

A chilling sensation on his back made Cullen spin around. He met a pair of teal eyes drawing a bow. The arrowhead was inches from his face.

“……Ulli?”

“How unexpected. For a pampered royal to survive.”

This… was unexpected.

The teal eyes that had been smiling slowly hardened. Cullen’s expression stiffened at the word ‘royal’ that came from her lips. Before meeting Lasano, Cullen hadn’t known that purple eyes were a mark of royalty. It wasn’t just him. Even Pellar Exion in the Exion Marquessate couldn’t recognize purple eyes.

How could this person know something only high-ranking nobles would…?

“Knowing things like this, you must be a noble…”

At Cullen’s words, her eyes curved.

“What is a noblewoman doing here?”

Ulli retorted with a question.

“I’m the one asking. What is a royal doing here? No, don’t answer. It doesn’t matter.”

The bowstring tightened. She was serious. The moment Cullen felt killing intent, he leaned back. Simultaneously, the sharp arrowhead grazed his nose. Had he reacted even a moment slower, it would have embedded somewhere in his face. Most likely, in his eye.

Scrambling backward, Cullen shouted,

“What are you doing? This isn’t the time…!”

“I intended to kill you from the moment I first saw you. So it’s for the best!”

Ulli followed Cullen out and shot another arrow. As the distance widened, it wasn’t difficult to dodge the arrows. In the first place, a bow isn’t a very good weapon in such a confined space. Especially in close combat.

Regaining his composure, Cullen briefly surveyed his surroundings. The Demonic Beast had disappeared for now. Cullen, quickly widening the distance, threw the dagger at his waist. The sharply honed blade instantly severed Ulli’s bowstring and grazed her head. Her robe was sliced.

“I won’t kill you, so stop.”

If she was an assassin, he needed to find her backer, so he had to keep her alive. Cullen said so and kicked off the ground. Ulli, who had dropped the pretense of politeness, struck back.

“You too, if you don’t want to die…!”

Cullen was much faster. He knew she was a skilled archer, but compared to the experts he had encountered, she was nothing. Cullen, closing the distance in an instant, struck her wrist hard with the edge of his sword. It wasn’t enough to break a bone, but it was strong enough to at least crack it.

“Ugh…!”

Ulli gritted her teeth, suppressing a groan. Taking advantage of her faltering stance, Cullen pressed the tip of his longsword to her chest. As if intending to pierce her heart.

“If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you live. Who ordered you? Did you follow me?”

As the cut robe fell away, Ulli’s face was fully revealed. Her short-cropped blonde hair fell over her face. Her elegant, delicate face looked as if it had never known hardship, but Cullen noticed a burn scar near her neck. With the sword at her chest, Ulli spoke with a sneer.

“What assassin would foolishly tell the truth?”

That’s true.

Cullen conceded. He made a decision. Then he would kill her. If she was an assassin, she wouldn’t be an innocent civilian.

“Then die.”

With a blank expression and no hesitation, Cullen moved to push the sword in. Then Ulli shouted.

“Ah, wait! Are you really going to kill a woman?”