Numerous merchants were lined up in the busy marketplace trying to receive the Goddess’ blessing. The merchants took turns once in a while to receive the blessing of Sylphia, the Goddess of the Continent, and today was the water seller's turn to receive the Goddess’ blessings.
“Sell me some water!”
“It’s a silver coin per canteen!”
“Damn it, why would water be so expensive?”
“Do you think it’s easy to get ice-cold water in this heat?”
“Hey, still… It’s too expensive. A silver coin will let you stay two nights at an inn! Give me a little discount, will you?”
“Go away if you ain’t buying!”
Henrick grumbled as he tossed a silver coin to the water-seller. The water-seller passed him a water canteen with small pieces of ice inside.
“I’m thirsty too,” Iris said.
“Me too,” Shaneth added.
“…Don’t you guys have money? Why didn’t you buy some a while ago…?” Henrick grumbled once again before passing the water canteen to Shaneth and Iris. He then turned toward Kang Yoon-Soo and asked, “How about you? Aren’t you thirsty?”
“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
The hot sun shone down on them. The moon of the Phoenix had descended, and the moon of the Solar had taken its place. The continent had now officially entered the summer season.
“I miss the chilling alcohol we got from the Castle of the Dead,” Henrick grumbled as he chewed on a piece of ice.
They were now at a store, and were purchasing quite a bit of food and water for their long journey ahead. Kang Yoon-Soo reached up a shelf to grab a liquor bottle when Shaneth suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.
“You have to stop drinking excessively,” Shaneth nagged.
“Hey, look here, little miss. Aren’t you being too cruel saying that to a guy who’s more addicted to alcohol than drugs?” Henrick remarked mockingly.
However, Shaneth shook her head a few times and stood her ground, saying, “No, I’ll make him quit drinking one way or another. It’s dangerous for him to drink so much in the desert.” She asked Kang Yoon-Soo, “Can you not drink this time?”
“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied.
“Then drink moderately, at least down to a bottle a day,” Shaneth said.
“I said no,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
Kang Yoon-Soo and Shaneth glared at each other as if they were about to start fighting. Henrick smirked as if he found the sight of the two fighting entertaining.
Iris looked quite curious as she asked, “Is alcohol tasty?”
“It’s a taste for an adult; you won’t understand it yet,” Henrick replied.
Iris seemed upset by Henrick’s words, as she glared at him and said, “I am not a kid.”
“Then are you an adult? I don’t think so!” Henrick replied mockingly.
“Henrick is stupid!” Iris shouted, her eyes welling up with tears.
Henrick was taken aback by Iris’ sudden tears and hurriedly bought a bottle of grape wine that had a low alcohol percentage. He remarked, “Ahhh, I can’t even tease you now? Here, drink it if you want to.”
Iris took a sip of the wine, and her face contorted into a grimace as she said, “It does not taste good. It is bitter...”
“Well, look at this! You had no qualms eating those fishy, stinky hearts, so what’s the fuss now?” Henrick remarked.
“A heart has a chewy texture from beating and squirming,” Iris replied.
“What bullshit are you talking about…?” Henrick shot back.
The party lifted their luggage and exited the marketplace.
Shaneth added ‘Making Kang Yoon-Soo Drink Moderately’ to the ‘Impossible Things That Cannot Be Done in This World List’. The disheartened woman asked as she sniffled, “How do you plan to reach the Desert of Death?”
They did have the carriage they had received from the Sunset Glass Merchant Company, but there was a high chance that the carriage would get caught on Lefman’s radar.
“Lefman might have done it on purpose, but the wheels of that carriage were quite old. It would be impossible to ride that all the way to the Desert of Death,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
He eventually stopped a carriage that was going on its way on the road, and they stored their luggage in the luggage compartment.
The coachman turned around and asked, “Where shall I take you to?”
“Raviesk,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Ah, that’s a rough place to visit these days. Do you have something you want to buy from the treasure hunters?” the coachman asked.
Shaneth asked curiously, “What kind of a place is Raviesk?”
“It’s a rugged and rough desert city in the southwest, and it mainly attracts rough treasure hunters since it's right beside the Desert of Death. You can easily find famous treasure hunter clans over there too,” the coachman explained. Then, he scratched his chin and added, “It’ll take more than ten days to get there, and it’s going to cost a lot. Is that alright with you?”
“I’ll pay you upfront,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Aigoo, thank you so much, kind sir!” the coachman exclaimed. He counted the gold coins he received before starting to drive the carriage. The carriage containing the party started to move slowly with a creak.
“I’m guessing we’ll be traveling together until we reach there?” Shaneth asked.
“It sounds like this is your first time using a travel carriage. We usually make stops at night to rest, and we can make frequent stops whenever you want to take a break. We coachmen are usually capable enough to take care of our food and shelter during our stops, so you don’t have to worry about us,” the coachman said.
“Ah, I see! Excuse me, but what is your good name?” Shaneth politely asked.
“My name is Slang[1],” the coachman replied.
Their carriage ride was quite peaceful. Slang stopped the carriage from time to time to spray water onto the roof of the carriage, making the interior feel cool and fresh while the carriage was running.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of place a desert is,” Iris said.
“It’s also my first time going to a desert, but I’m not that excited about it,” Shaneth responded.
“To think we’re going to the desert in this summer heat… What a perfect plan to match the weather…” Henrick grumbled.
***
The carriage left the outskirts of the capital and entered a remote area. Slang stopped the carriage when it was starting to get darker outside; the sun had started to set.
“I suggest we stop here and rest for the night. Also, thank you very much!” Slang exclaimed.
“What are you thanking us for?” Shaneth asked.
Slang looked at them with a bright smile and said, “Won’t you be donating your precious assets to us tonight?”
Suddenly, numerous masked men appeared one after another from the darkness as soon as Slang finished talking. He took out a dagger from under his sleeve and exclaimed, “Hand over all of your belongings!”
The travel carriage was actually a carriage bandits used to steal from their unsuspecting passengers.
However, their customers today were a bit different from their usual customers. Their usual victims would be stricken with fear by now and hand over all of their belongings, but these people were just staring at them and none of them were surprised at all.
Henrick let out a sigh and said, “I’m not surprised anymore at all… Hey you, you took this carriage on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“You’re such an asshole…” Henrick sighed once again.
Slang clicked his tongue and said, “I don’t think you understand what’s going on.”
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He took the weakest-looking woman from among the victims and held his dagger to her neck, taking her hostage.
However, what happened next was quite obvious. Iris punched Slang’s chin, and his jaw dislocated, having been severely twisted.
“Ack!”
“Slang!”
The bandits brandished their weapons threateningly and approached the party. Suddenly, however, balls of fire suddenly flew into their faces and burned them.
“Ouch!”
“H-hot!”
Shaneth had gotten down from the carriage with her scythe in hand.
“There’s no need to roast their faces, is there?” Henrick remarked, snickering.
“I’m more experienced at handling the skill and I can control the temperature now, okay?” Shaneth retorted as she swung her scythe against the remaining bandits charging at her.
Then, a bandit in the back line started to chant a spell. “O, mark of the blue flower! Grant me strength to punish thy enemies, and banish them to never-ending anguish, lost in the bright fire of fury amid the unending darkness of the night’s a…”
“What’s taking you so long just to use one spell? I’m getting bored waiting for you to finish,” Henrick said with a sigh.
Pukeok!
Henrick’s doll swung its leg and kicked the bandit in the mouth, shutting him up. Henrick leaned lazily on the carriage, simultaneously controlling twenty fighter dolls with ease.
Kang Yoon-Soo slowly climbed down from the carriage, and he brought his hand to his waist to pull his sword out when he realized, ‘I don’t have a weapon.’
Ravian’s Longsword and Slaughterer’s Bloodsword had been destroyed by Helkin, and he had used up all of the equipment he took from the Crossed Swords Bandits when he summoned the Mini-Lich.
The only weapon he had as of now was…
“Die!” A bandit charged at him and swung his sword.
Kang Yoon-Soo easily avoided the attack and grabbed the bandit’s neck with one hand.
“Ke-heok!”
‘Should I take it?’ Kang Yoon-Soo pondered for a moment whether he should steal the bandit’s sword or not. However, he decided against it, thinking, ‘Let’s fight without any weapons for now.’
He was bound to face different kinds of battles, as it was his last life. It was at least an opportunity for him to measure how good his martial arts were.
Kang Yoon-Soo slammed the bandit he was holding by the neck into the ground.
“Ku-heok!”
‘The past life I lived as a boxer.’
Kang Yoon-Soo lightly warmed up with boxing footwork. Two bandits charged at him at the same time, but he easily avoided their attacks and counter-attacked with punches. One of the bandits was struck in the temple, while the other had his chin crushed by consecutive uppercuts.
‘The past life I lived as a martial artist.’
Kang Yoon-Soo lightly stretched his leg and whipped the cheek of a bandit who tried to ambush him from behind. The bandit’s cheekbone was crushed with an audible crunch.
‘The past life I lived as a vagrant fighter.’
A large bandit and three skinny bandits surrounded him. A large, thick mace grazed his nose and three poison-laden daggers flew past his neck. However, Kang Yoon-Soo used the twelve-point defensive stance he had used quite frequently in a previous life.
Pukeok!
The four bandits were easily knocked down all at once.
‘The past life I lived as a bare-handed slaughterer…’
Kang Yoon-Soo brought up the memories of the past life when he had lived as a vicious slaughterer. However, Shaneth suddenly approached him from behind and tapped his shoulder, saying, “It’s over.”
It was only then that Kang Yoon-Soo snapped out of it and looked around his surroundings.
Slang was on his knees kowtowing and begging for his life. “P-please just spare my life…!”
Kang Yoon-Soo went straight to the point, saying, “Hand over all your belongings.”
***
“Look at this fella. He's definitely a premium breed!” Henrick exclaimed as he stroked the mane of a gray horse. Four horses of different breeds and different colors were tied to the reins.
“T-they’re the best horses we have in our possession,” Slang said pitifully. Even bandits used horses, as the area was quite remote, far from any towns or settlements.
Iris smiled brightly and stroked a beautiful white horse, saying, “This is really a cool and majestic white mane you have; I like it.”
“If you’re talking about white manes, don’t we have one as well? You know, White?” Henrick remarked mockingly.
“Werewolves are not my type,” Iris said with a straight face.
Shaneth asked out of curiosity, “Why don’t you like werewolves?”
“They use their sense of smell to sniff out odors and tell which race someone in front of them is, even if that person has changed their form. That is why doppelgangers hate werewolves,” Iris replied simply.
“Ah… I-I see…” Shaneth stuttered. She frequently forgot about the fact that Iris was a doppelganger, since she had gotten used to traveling with her.
Kang Yoon-Soo turned toward Slang and the other bandits and said, “Money and your belongings. In the back of the carriage, now.”
The bandits gritted their teeth and cursed under their breath, but it was all for naught. Some of the bandits who were more docile were the first to walk toward the back of the carriage and put their belongings in it.
Kang Yoon-Soo pointed to a few bandits without any hesitation and said, “You’re hiding an earth magic staff and a ring with healing powers in your inner pocket. You, hand over your earrings with protection magic. Also, you, hand over the dagger embedded with a jewel you’re hiding in your back pocket.”
Kang Yoon-Soo knew exactly where all of the valuable items the bandits were hiding were. The bandits were left penniless thanks to Kang Yoon-Soo’s keen senses(?).
‘Damn it!’
‘What the hell is that guy?!’
To think that the vicious bandits who had tried to hit it big had been robbed in reverse! It was a laughable story that was only going to be useful to flirt with barmaids.
Henrick connected the reins of the four horses to the carriage and said, “We’re ready to go.”
“Let’s go,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.
The four people boarded the carriage with Kang Yoon-Soo sitting in the coachman seat with a whip. The carriage seemed to run much more smoothly and quickly after they changed to the new set of horses.
“Hehe, stupid fools,” Slang said as he watched the carriage go into the distance.
“I bet those fools could never imagine that this area is filled with our traps.”
“Even the Investigators can’t identify the traps we installed.”
“That’s when we’ll kill them and recover our belongings.”
“This is our turf; they’ll never make it out alive. Kekekeke!”
The bandits cackled excitedly.
***
“Why are you steering the carriage over to that side?” Shaneth asked.
“There’s a trap over there,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he skillfully drove the carriage.