bookpower Chapter 244 : Chapter 244
Chapter 244 : Chapter 244
A new sun rose over the Carmine Desert.“Oh, god Nava…”
“How could this happen…!”
The Lizardmen were tightly bound, forced to watch the break of dawn.
“…To think we would be captured by humans.”
Geheram Kau, their chieftain, spent the night wide awake.
Of all people, the chieftain himself had been captured.
‘F-fall back!’
‘Fall back, fall back!’
The moment the griffin appeared, he had made a swift decision worthy of a chieftain.
A true warrior knew when to retreat.
They had prepared for a long time to strike the Horizon Knights, but it could not be helped.
As long as the tribe’s warriors survived, they could wait for another opportunity.
With that judgment, Geheram fled with his warriors without looking back.
However, retreat was not as easy as he had hoped.
When the human riding the griffin shouted something, a black-haired human pursued them at terrifying speed.
Then, using magic, he bound the Lizardmen’s legs and began capturing them one by one.
“Light!”
“Burn!”
It was enough to drive him mad.
When had the Horizon Knights, who had no magic users, brought in such a mage?
And so the Lizardmen fell one after another.
Each time, without fail, a red-haired girl appeared with grim-looking companions, tied them up tightly, and dragged them away somewhere.
The sight was disturbingly familiar.
As if they had experience capturing Lizardmen in groups before…
“Cursed humans…”
Geheram clenched his teeth.
Whether they were used to it or not, the problem was that they had been captured.
What fate now awaited the Kau tribe?
At least the shaman had managed to escape.
If fortune favored them, another tribe might come to rescue them.
And since they had not been killed immediately but captured instead, perhaps they would be treated as prisoners.
“If we are prisoners, that might actually be better. Those humans must at least know how to treat captives.”
For now, he decided to observe the situation.
He was planning an escape, waiting for a lapse in their guard—
Bang.
Suddenly, the door of the storage shed where the Lizardmen were held burst open.
And the human who had flown around on the griffin yesterday entered.
“You… the griffin’s owner?”
Hearing the title used for him, Radel smiled faintly.
“The griffin’s owner. That does not sound bad. Shall we talk for a moment?”
Talk?
Geheram’s expression twisted.
If this human had not suddenly appeared, they might have finally defeated the Horizon Knights and reclaimed their land this time.
“Do not meddle in the affairs of the desert and get lost, griffin’s owner. If you had not brought that griffin, this would have been our victory!”
“Really? Is our griffin that impressive? That is a bit embarrassing.”
When Radel scratched his cheek with a genuinely puzzled expression, Geheram felt his blood pressure spike.
“So you came to humiliate us! You cannot pretend you do not know how strong a griffin is. Get out at once, you arrogant human!”
“Ah, sorry. That was not my intention.”
Radel knew that a griffin was a powerful monster, but it constantly begged for meat, making him forget that fact far too often.
He apologized sincerely and continued the conversation.
“To me, it is just a glutton. You have no idea how much it costs to feed it. You look like the chieftain here, so you understand, right? Feeding people is the hardest part.”
“What nonsense! We are proud warriors of the desert. For warriors, going hungry for a few days is nothing!”
Geheram shouted about the pride of Lizardman warriors, veins bulging in his neck.
“Really? But you do not starve all the time, do you?”
“A warrior naturally hunts to live! We are true hunters who even eat death worms!”
He had meant not to answer, yet before he realized it, Geheram was talking with Radel.
The smooth flow of the conversation led him to vent their grievances as well.
“You saw it too! This oasis was originally ours. Until those foul-smelling Horizon Knights appeared one day!”
Radel listened carefully, nodding along.
“I see. Then you were unfairly driven from your land? This was your territory.”
“That is right! This was originally the land of the Kau tribe!”
Encouraged by Radel’s words, Geheram launched into an impassioned explanation.
At last, a human who understood their injustice had appeared.
“We know it too. That human territory and our territory are different! But those Horizon Knights attacked first…!”
The Lizardmen behind Geheram voiced their agreement heatedly.
“That is right! Those humans invaded our land!”
“Foul-smelling humans!”
“Damn the Horizon Knights!”
The Lizardmen’s shouts grew louder and louder.
The warriors who had lived near the oasis had been driven out overnight and forced to wander the desert, surviving on the occasional rainfall.
Eventually, they had brought in a shaman from another tribe and prepared to strike the Horizon Knights.
“So this is the opposite of what happened in Raviedel.”
Feeling sympathy for their story, Radel offered some advice.
“Then you should have attacked the oasis directly, not struck out in the desert.”
“You speak without understanding! To attack those who control water requires far more preparation. And are not the ones remaining here human children? Our warriors wish to fight warriors honorably!”
They were not as bad as he had expected.
They were not unreasonable, nor incapable of conversation.
Radel was reminded of Ishan Rau, a senior from the Academy research year.
That Lizardman, too, had conducted research on purifying water, lamenting the lack of clean water in the desert.
Water.
All of this had happened because of a lack of water.
***
“Spirit summoning!”
BOOM!
Radel summoned the Spirit of the Library.
“Hmph. What is it this time?”
The Sports Festival had ended, and the Spirit Talent Show was over as well.
The Spirit of the Library had been enjoying a peaceful routine in the Academy library.
From time to time, it reminisced about the Spirit Talent Show.
Standing on a stage had been quite a stimulating experience.
At first, it had wondered how a great spirit like itself could perform before Academy students, but…
“It was not so bad.”
This time, it even felt a hint of anticipation about what kind of stimulating situation its clumsy contractor had brought.
With that thought, the Spirit of the Library looked around.
“Huh?”
Then it realized where it was.
A scorching land where not even a blade of grass grew, the Carmine Desert.
A desolate landscape it had only known through written records now spread before it.
A blazing sun, dunes made of sand, and the horizon where sky and earth met.
More than anything, there was a distinct aura.
A dried-up aura of death.
“No, is this not cursed land? You summoned me to such a bleak place?”
As the Spirit of the Library rattled its pages, confusion appeared on Radel’s face.
Cursed land?
He had only known it as a desert, not a cursed place.
This was the first he had heard of it.
“Did something happen here long ago?”
When Radel asked, the Spirit of the Library looked at its young contractor.
A clumsy boy not even twenty years old.
There was no way he would know of events from over a thousand years ago.
And in truth, most records from that era had been lost.
“Long ago, this was the place where dragons fought their final battle, just before their extinction.”
The Spirit of the Library spoke while gazing at the desert.
“Such mighty beings shed their blood and died here. How could the land remain intact? Everywhere their blood flowed became a place where life could no longer survive.”
So dragon blood had soaked this land.
Was that why the sand of the Carmine Desert was red?
Radel listened intently, astonished by the connection between the desert and dragons.
“All the water that once flowed across the land dried up. Lakes, streams… everything that once held life vanished overnight.”
“But there is an oasis.”
“So much time has passed that even underground water may have surfaced.”
The Spirit of the Library said it casually, but Radel caught a hint in those words.
All surface water had dried up, but underground water remained?
Perhaps the desert’s problem could be solved.
Radel asked,
“Is it possible to know how much water lies beneath the ground?”
***
Carlos could not make sense of it.
It was rare enough for trainees to come from the Academy, but every one of them behaved in ways he had not anticipated.
Shartea had been the first.
A Magic Academy student should be using magic, yet she preferred drawing her sword over wielding a staff.
Fortunately, her swordsmanship was exceptional, so it had not been a problem.
Thanks to Shartea, the Horizon Knights had gained a valuable opportunity to face authentic imperial swordsmanship.
That much was understandable.
What he truly could not understand was Radel.
Radel had outright asked Carlos to spare time so he could do something with the Lizardmen.
“What on earth does he plan to do with them?”
Carlos found it puzzling, but he gave his permission.
He had sensed sincerity in Radel’s eyes.
As soon as he received approval, Radel began taking the Lizardmen out at dawn and returning in the evening.
The other students seemed to be helping him.
Carlos spoke with the vice commander.
“I thought the prince might be flaying the lizards and selling the hides at the market, but it looks like he is really doing something.”
“He is imperial blood, after all. From what the kids say, he is anything but ordinary.”
The elderly vice commander said, looking at Carlos with a knowing gaze.
“And you must have felt something different as well, or you would not have allowed it.”
“I cannot fool you, old man.”
Carlos chuckled and set off with the vice commander.
They wanted to see for themselves what Radel’s group was doing.
The two arrived at the place Radel and the Lizardmen headed to every dawn.
It was a part of the desert where the surface was covered in solid rock.
CLANG!
There, Carlos and the vice commander witnessed a bizarre sight.
Each Lizardman held a shovel in their hands.
And they were digging the ground with it, earnestly.
Those lizards… could hold something other than a blade?
“Old man, am I really seeing this? Is this a dream?”
“I am seeing it too. This is unbelievable.”
Lizardmen wielding shovels instead of swords.
“Griffin’s owner! How long do we have to do this!”
The Lizardmen digging in the pit shouted upward.
“No matter what, this is too much!”
“To treat prisoners like this!”
Radel replied casually,
“Those who do not work shall not eat. Did you forget?”
Then he shrugged.
“I gave you a chance to eat proudly because you are proud warriors. Well, if you want to eat while doing nothing, you can do that too. You will just have to mind everyone’s stares while you eat.”
“What?!”
The Lizardmen jumped in outrage.
“You expect us to mind others’ stares? We are great warriors!”
“That is an insult!”
“Exactly! Warriors eat proudly!”
Carlos stared at the Lizardmen resuming their digging, mouth agape.
“They actually fell for that?”