The carriage ran continuously for days without stopping, which allowed the party to reach Raviesk faster than they had planned. The hot, dry air that entered the carriage through the window pricked their skin.
“This is completely different from all the other cities we’ve been to,” Shaneth said.
The city was filled with strategically placed stone structures, and the stone pavement was littered with grains of sand. Raviesk was not an affluent city, and the people were quite hostile and hardy because of their economic situation.
“Yeah, I agree… in a bad way,” Henrick added.
They sold most of the items they had looted from the bandits at the exchange center and kept the useful ones for themselves. The receptionist at the exchange center was shocked by the mountain of items they brought, and could not stop asking how they got their hands on it while taking out a bag of gold.
“Let’s take our belongings and dispose of the carriage,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
They could not use the carriage in the desert, but they were faced with a challenge right away. Iris refused to part with the horse, and she tightly hugged the horse’s neck with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Do we really have to leave Snow White behind?” Iris asked tearfully.
“Snow White? You named the horse?” Henrick exclaimed.
Iris nodded seriously and replied, “Just as Kang Yoon-Soo gave me a name, I named it as well. A name is a very important thing.” The white horse neighed, as if it wanted to show that it agreed with what Iris was saying.
Kang Yoon-Soo stared at Iris for a while before saying, “Let’s keep the carriage at a nearby inn and come collect it later.”
“I’m really thankful,” Iris said, smiling brightly.
Henrick narrowed his eyes and stared at Kang Yoon-Soo, saying, “You… You seem to have become very benevolent these days. What are you up to…?”
Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly added, “No matter how precious it is, you can’t stay with it forever.”
“It’s always been like this. But you always sound as if you’ve experienced everything,” Shaneth remarked in surprise.
Kang Yoon-Soo stared at Shaneth’s eyes for quite a while before looking away.
***
The party approached the largest treasure hunter clan in the city. The place was packed with sandy treasure hunters who were either drinking or maintaining their equipment.
A middle-aged man at the counter asked, “What business do you have here?”
“We want to go to the Desert of Death,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“There are many easier ways to get yourself killed, but why are you guys taking the difficult road?” the middle-aged man asked.
He took out an assortment of old, worn-out equipment from a drawer. The equipment consisted of windbreakers, sand shovels, leather pouches, water canteens, maps, compasses, and makeshift tents. He asked in a businesslike voice, “Is this your first time in the desert?”
“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“That’s good. There are many people who rush into the desert hoping to get rich quickly, but end up as dried skeletons. Please don’t be greedy, and turn back if you feel it’s hopeless. Don’t throw away your precious lives,” the middle-aged man cautioned them.
Shaneth looked around at the other treasure hunters and asked, “There seem to be a lot of people going into the Desert of Death at this time of year, no?”
“It’s because they’re fools who will go to the ends of the world,” the middle-aged man replied.
“Are there a lot of treasures in the desert?” Shaneth asked.
“They’re after the remnants of a ruined civilization. There are quite a few of them who talk about finding the golden mask of an ancient king or the rare blade of an ancient knight captain, but half of the stories are just hot-air. I suggest that you diligently do whatever you’re doing now instead of chasing after a pot of gold in the desert,” the middle-aged man replied.
Kang Yoon-Soo paid the fee for the equipment and exited. He went to a camel merchant and bought four camels, and the party stored their luggage between the camels’ humps. He said, “Let’s go.”
Their adventure in the desert had finally started.
***
Fifty Fire Trolls were gathered around. Fire Trolls naturally had the fire attribute, unlike normal trolls, and could thus attack with fire. The air sizzled around them as they gathered together.
The leader of each Fire Troll tribe had gathered together to discuss a highly important issue.
The Fire Troll High Priest loudly declared, “Our goddess requires a groom!”
“Who will be the goddess’ groom?!” a Fire Troll asked.
“Our goddess Sylphia appeared in my dreams last night! She told me to bring her a man who will accept her proposal! That’s why we need to find a groom for the goddess!” the Fire Troll High Priest replied.
The Fire Trolls murmured among themselves in surprise. The goddess of the continent, Sylphia, was revered even by trolls.
A Fire Troll yelled, “Then I’ll be the goddess’ groom!”
“Shut up! What nonsense are you spewing?!” The Fire Troll High Priest smacked the troll who had spoken up in the head and rebuked him.
The Fire Troll who had been smacked in the head balled his hand into a fist and tried to argue against the Fire Troll High Priest, but the other Fire Trolls stopped him.
“The groom of the goddess will be given the right to pull out the Sword of Revelation!” the Fire Troll High Priest explained, pointing at a white sword. The sword was half-buried under the sand and only had its hilt and a portion of its blade visibly sticking out, but anyone could tell that it was no ordinary weapon.
“Then I’ll pull that sword out!” the Fire Troll shouted.
“You fool!” The Fire Troll High Priest rebuked and smacked the Fire Troll once more.
It was the same Fire Troll who had been smacked previously. He grimaced and grabbed his club as he tried to retaliate against the Fire Troll High Priest, but the other Fire Trolls around him stopped him from doing any other stupid things.
“One must pass the Trials of Fire to pull the sword out!” the Fire Troll High Priest explained.
“We’re strong against fire! We regenerate quickly too!” a Fire Troll shouted.
“Yanak is right! Something like the Trials of Fire will be nothing to us Fire Trolls!” another Fire Troll shouted.
The Fire Troll High Priest smacked a Fire Troll in the head. It was the same Fire Troll who had just been smacked twice. The Fire Troll Yanak, who had now been smacked thrice by the Fire Troll High Priest, screamed in frustration. However, the Fire Troll High Priest did not even pretend to hear Yanak’s frustrated screams.
“One of us can’t be the groom of the goddess!” the Fire Troll High Priest exclaimed.
“Why?! We serve the goddess Sylphia just like any other creature on the continent!” one of the Fire Trolls shouted.
The other Fire Trolls seemed to agree with the words their comrade had just spoken, but the Fire Troll High Priest did not pay heed to them and continued, “One of us cannot be the groom of the goddess even if they pass the Trials of Fire and pull the sword out, because we lack one important quality required to be the goddess’ groom!”
“Why?!”
“Tell us the reason why!”
The Fire Troll High Priest said in a defeated voice, “The goddess’ groom… has to be handsome…!”
“I’m very handsome! Then I should be the goddess’ groom!” a Fire Troll exclaimed.
“You thick-faced bastard!” the Fire Troll High Priest shouted in anger as he smacked the forehead of the troll who had just shouted those preposterous words. As expected, it was Yanak.
“Why am I the only one getting hit?!” Yanak exclaimed as tears welled up in his eyes. The other Fire Trolls patted Yanak’s shoulder and tried to comfort him.
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“The beauty standards of the goddess are very different from ours! That’s why one of us can’t be the goddess’ groom!” the Fire Troll High Priest explained.
“This is racism!” a Fire Troll shouted.
“That’s right! Why can’t a troll be the groom of the goddess?!” another Fire Troll complained.
The Fire Trolls started to complain furiously. That forced the Fire Troll High Priest to shout out loud, “Trolls aren’t the goddess’ type!”
The Fire Trolls were shocked by the Fire Troll High Priest’s words.
“There’s none among us whom the goddess would favor as her groom! That’s why we have to kidnap one! We have to kidnap someone who will become the goddess’ husband!” the Fire Troll High Priest added.
The Fire Trolls murmured among themselves upon hearing the words of their leader. One of the Fire Trolls suddenly spoke up and exclaimed, “Kidnap?! That’s a cowardly and evil thing to do!”
“That’s right! You’d be disqualified as a troll even before you were tried as a warrior!”
“Silence! This is why one of us can’t be the goddess’ groom!” the Fire Troll High Priest shouted, gritting his fangs and adding, “Tell me, what’s the vilest thing you did this week? I’ll give the opportunity to become the goddess’ groom to the troll who did the vilest thing today!”
The Fire Trolls were dumbfounded by the words suddenly spoken by the Fire Troll High Priest, but they soon shouted one by one as soon as they realized that an opportunity had presented itself.
“I found a lost child while I was walking in the desert! The child fainted after seeing my face and I took the child to a nearby human village! Kuhahaha! That village will now suffer from taking care of that non-productive human parasite wasting their food and shelter!”
“No! I’m the worst! I dug a branch into the only stream in the desert so it would flow to a nearby human settlement! Now nobody can monopolize that water!”
The Fire Trolls started to boast about their evil deeds. Suddenly, Yanak spoke up and proudly boasted, “I stepped on an innocent scorpion that crossed my path!”
“OOOH!” The other Fire Trolls clapped upon hearing Yanak’s evil deed.
Yanak scratched his head as if to show that he was embarrassed by the sudden applause and added, “To be honest, it was unintentional! I just stepped on it by pure coincidence while I was walking!”
“Don’t be ashamed of yourself! You’re evil! You’re fully qualified to become the groom of the goddess!” a Fire Troll said as he wrapped his arm around Yanak’s shoulders.
The Fire Troll High Priest sighed and said, “You trolls are too simple! The goddess doesn’t desire such simpletons! The goddess’ groom has to understand what’s going on in the world!”
“Then is the goddess’ groom handsome and evil?!”
The Fire Trolls started to murmur among themselves.
“Why are all women like this? They only want the bad and handsome men!”
“That’s right! To hell with looks or whatnot! Kind men are the best!”
An out-of-place debate about what women should look for in men suddenly broke out.
The Fire Troll High Priest could not help but frown at the stupidity happening in front of him and ordered, “Anyway, go kidnap someone from wherever in the desert! Someone who’ll be suitable to be the groom of the goddess!”
“Why don’t we bring someone from the elves we usually get along with?”
“No! The elves spend their whole lives with only one mate! It’s rude to request an elf to be the goddess’ groom. We have to look for another race to kidnap!”
The Fire Trolls murmured among themselves as they discussed who to kidnap, but of course, nothing great came out of their discussions.
The Fire Troll High Priest was now furious at the trolls’ stupidity. He roared, “The one who kidnaps the most suitable groom candidate for the goddess will become the tribe leader! So hurry up and bring them here!”
“OOOOHH!”
The recommendation of the Fire Troll High Priest was the fastest and easiest way to become a tribe leader. The normal way to become a tribe leader was to bring back the talon of an Eagle King, or the fang of a large ant that resided in the Ant Hell.
The Fire Trolls spread out into the Desert of Death to find a suitable groom candidate for the goddess.
***
“It’s hot,” Henrick grumbled.
“Yes, it is hot.” Iris agreed as they both struggled in the desert heat.
The blazing sun high up above the desert was almost murderous. They were able to block the sunlight by wearing the thin windbreakers they had bought, but the heat of the sun penetrated through the windbreakers and deep into their skin.
“Aren’t you guys hot?” Henrick asked as he looked at Shaneth and Kang Yoon-Soo. The two did not seem to be tired at all despite being under the hot desert sun.
“I’m fine because I’m drinking alcohol,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“I don’t feel the heat after becoming an Ignus Warrior,” Shaneth replied.
Henrick grimaced when he heard their responses and said, “Those two aren’t humans.”
There was no way to overcome the heat of the desert even though they were riding camels. The desert had mountains of sand piled next to each other; the Desert of Death lived up to its name, as no lifeforms of any sort could be found around them at all.
“Summon Acle,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered, calling on the spirit of ice.
Acle looked around his surroundings before angrily complaining, “Are you crazy?! You dare to summon me in a hot desert like this?!”
“We need cold air,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Hmph! Why should I listen to you?” Acle scoffed.
“Frozen Crown,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
The Frozen Crown was one of the treasures Kang Yoon-Soo had obtained from the Winterkill Ruin. It was a majestic crown that held an immense amount of cold power, and Acle was obsessed with the treasure.
“Che! You cheater,” Acle complained.
Henrick frowned as he wiped the sweat off his cheek, saying, “Enough of that. Hey, you spirit of ice thing. Why don’t you live up to your name and make some cold ice?”
“I can’t make ice here; there’s not enough moisture in the air,” Acle replied.
“Since when does magic nitpick about such realistic things?” Henrick complained.
“Hmph! What a loudmouth for a human who can’t even summon shaved ice! There are limitations to the powers of us spirits, and that’s why it’s difficult for me to use my powers in the desert,” Acle haughtily explained.
“Wow, how useless can you be? What’s the use of an ice maker if it can’t make ice when it’s hot?” Henrick complained once again.
“What did you say?” Acle glared at Henrick, who was openly mocking him.
It was at that moment that Iris suddenly charged like a beast who had seen prey to hunt down, and tightly hugged Acle.
“Ack! Get off me this instant! You stupid wench!” Acle shouted as he struggled to break free from Iris’ grip, but the doppelganger was just too strong for the ice spirit to break free.
Iris rubbed her face on Acle’s cheek and looked very happy while doing so. She said, “Acle is really cool.”
“…this must be the first time in the history of the continent that an ice spirit has been used as an ice bag,” Shaneth said as she stared at the strange sight unfolding in front of her eyes.
Kang Yoon-Soo ignored his noisy companions and looked far into the distant desert, thinking, ‘I should find myself a sword first.’