Chapter 300 - A Story of a Certain Village 10 (Side: Gizel)
The four members of the Marren Abel search party, Gizel, Shibi, Firo, and Lil, left behind the adults who were planning a hidden sightseeing tour, and proceeded from the Lomarn City to the city of Asshim, and then continued on to the north.
Finally, we arrived at Lugart City, where Abel was said to be.
The northern part of the Dinrat Kingdom, where the Lugart City is located, has the highest average temperature in the country, and is unsafe because bandits and magical beasts tend to be left unattended, making the journey quite difficult.
On top of that, it was very dry, and strange winds blew, often causing sandstorms.
It was definitely the worst place in Dinrat.
As a native of the Marren tribe, whose climate is mostly cool and stable throughout the year, I was exhausted by the bad climate and poor security in the northern part of Dinrat.
When the Desert Fogg, a magical beast that looked like a lump of sand, attacked, Gizel responded with water magic to melt it, when a tornado came, Gizel used wind magic to deflect it, and when bandits came, Gizel responded by manipulating the Ortem.
The other three were exhausted from the heat and collapsed, so they stayed to support her.
The group covered their bodies and faces with cloaks as they walked through Lugart City.
Sandstorms often raged around Lugart City.
Therefore, it was necessary to protect the entire body with the cloak when walking outside to avoid getting sand on the face and clothes.
The soles of my shoes scraped the dry earth, creating dust.
“…… So this is where you are, Abel-san. It’s been a long time coming, but this is finally the end of our inconvenient and painful journey. At any rate, when we see each other, we should complain to him. You didn’t have to come to such a remote place for nothing.”
Shibi muttered.
His steps were heavy.
The remaining two, Lil and Firo, were also walking aimlessly through the city, looking exhausted.
“My feet hurt …… It’s hot …… I want to go home ……”
“I don’t think I want to see Abel in my current state ……”
Gizel was the only one with a grim face, and she continued on in silence.
“What’s wrong, Gizel-chan?”
Shibi called out to her.
Gizel replied without looking back.
“I was in a hurry. I should have realized this earlier …… There is no way my brother would come to a place with such bad conditions.”
” ” “Ah!” ” “
The three of them who were following behind stopped in our tracks.
“But I’ve got corroboration from a number of people …… and I’m sure of it! I’m sure Abel-san is here!”
“In fact, I find out when we came here. No matter how much I want to, this territory is the worst. In addition, now that I think about it, there were unnaturally too many sightings. From these two points of view …… we’ve probably been set up.”
Gizel stopped and looked back.
“No! I don’t want to travel any further!”
Lil collapsed on the spot and started crying.
Even Firo, who had been so happy to see Abel again soon, was stunned.
“Come on, let’s find out as much as we can! It’s not as if there’s no possibility!”
“No, this is absolutely no good. My brother is definitely not here. Even if he had the intention to come here, he would probably have turned back unless he had a specific goal in mind. Let’s head back to Asshim. The fact that the trap was set there means that we must have made it that far. After that, we can re-gather information there and rethink where our brother would go. As long as the trap was set in Lugart, it is not on our side. We should be able to narrow it down significantly.”
“We’ve gone through so much trouble to get here! I don’t want that to go to waste!”
When she heard Shibi’s words, Gizel’s mind was filled with the image of Shibi gulping down her magic water as she desperately tried to deflect the tornado.
But she decided not to touch it for now.
“On the contrary, I was able to narrow down my brother’s movements to this point! It’s a shame this time, but we need to move as soon as possible to make sure we catch up with him next time, next …… time! There’s definitely a difference here!”
“Uuuh …… B-But.”
When Gizel was looking at Shibi, who was clamoring, she suddenly felt an unpleasant presence.
I looked around and saw a group of people coming towards us. The atmosphere was different from the other residents here.
I don’t know why, but they weren’t wearing cloaks to protect themselves from the sand.
There was something sinister about them.
“Let’s hide for a bit!”
Gizel tugged on the sleeve of Shibi’s cloak and hid behind a building.
The other two followed suit.
Gizel stretched her neck and looked at the group.
The long spear on his back gave her a strong sense of familiarity, and she remembered that this was the Doom tribe she had seen before in the Lomarn City.
As before, there were ten of them.
They were uniformly wearing dark cloaks with symbols on the edges, and they were carrying long spears on their backs.
Their heads were uncovered, and their two horns, the pride and symbol of the Doom, and the blue crystalline stone on their foreheads were stained with the sands of Lugart.
The man who seemed to be the head of the group paced unhappily.
The others followed him, trembling with fear.
(Even the Doom tribe, why are they here ……)
Gizel narrowed her eyes.
I had no idea that we were going to the same place.
“Melzef-sama, what should we do? It’s just like Mea-sama …… cough, there’s no sign of the Red Stone here! There are no sightings at all either ……”
One of his men called out to the man who was walking ahead of us.
“Are you sure we’re in Lugart?”
“I’m sure it is …… I’m sure it is ……! Should, Should I check again, just in case?”
“…… Yes, just to be sure. When I came here, I took a wrong turn three times. …… Maybe it’s possible that it’s a completely different place with the same name as before.”
“Ah, yes!”
“Also …… Will you see if you can get to exchange the thing they put to cover their heads for something else. No matter how hard I try, this is no match for me.”
Melzef wiped the sand from the blue crystalline stone on his forehead with his finger and said tiredly.
“That’s brilliant thinking, Melzef-sama!”
Gizel tilted her head as she overheard the exchange.
(Isn’t that just too lax of a prior confirmation ……?)
The Doom tribe, like the Marren tribe, had been living by their own rules in a small settlement and were severely lacking in the ability to adapt to others.
Since they were all adults who had lived in the village for a long time, they had not been able to bend their experience and adapt to the new environment any more than Gizel and the others.
“The Red Stone, I will certainly bury it …… The Moon Festival Din Mei is near, time is running out.”
A few moments after the Doom tribe had passed, the four Marrens stepped out into the street.
They looked at each other and then nodded in unison.
“For now, let’s head back to Asshim ……”
I didn’t know what the Doom tribe were up to, but as I looked at them, covered in sand and fixated on the Lugart City, I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be able to achieve our goals if we did what they did.