In the Gobi desert.
The sun was high in the sky, and a dry, scorching wind blew across the wasteland.
At this moment, a strange sight appeared just outside the ruined city of Rand.
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
Eight figures were seen carrying a massive sedan chair, walking across the vast Gobi.
If any passing merchant caravans or adventurers saw this, they would certainly have expressions of utter disbelief.
Sedan chairs did exist in the human kingdom, but they were typically found in noble households that were neither too large nor too small—the kind where using a carriage felt like an unnecessary overreaction.
To think that in the sweltering Gobi desert, someone would choose to travel by sedan chair.
Was their brain kicked by a donkey?
A donkey could never kick the Lady’s head.
There was no choice; all of this was a matter of necessity.
Although Lady Ileya’s carriage was crafted with the highest quality, its wheels had been smashed to pieces when it fell into the tomb, turning it into an immovable square box.
When the Lady collected those dried corpses, she had simply tossed them into the dead—or what should now be called the Underworld.
As for Arthur’s carriage…
He had jumped down alone out of concern for Ileya and the others, leaving the carriage behind, and he hadn’t gone back to look for it later.
At this point, it was hard to say if it had been eaten by a sandworm or if it had simply wandered off because there was no fodder on the Gobi.
It was absolutely impossible for the Lady to walk back step by step!
However, by chance, she discovered that the dried corpses she had brought in a few days ago had all awakened after she blew the Wind of Resurgence over them a few times.
These fellows were Level 2 Second-Rank Tough-skinned Zombies upon waking, and because the bodies were refined through alchemy, their limbs were much more flexible than ordinary Tough-skinned Zombies.
Two zombies were enough to carry the carriage compartment.
Ileya had a sudden flash of inspiration and converted the compartment into a sedan chair; to ensure stability, she summoned eight ancient corpses to carry it.
As for the personnel distribution, she, Reliel, and Veil sat inside the sedan, while Holly and Amisa, master and apprentice, rode the two spectral horses that were already dead, yet puffed pale blue ghostly flames from their nostrils.
For Holly, this was a truly astonishing experience!
Even though it was her first time riding a horse, and she was a bit clumsy, she was surprisingly proficient. After Amisa gave her a few pointers, she was already able to maintain basic control.
This caused the Head Maid to sigh once again.
Did she even have talent in horsemanship?
By now, Amisa had learned to take it in stride whenever the Holy Sword Bearer revealed such gifts.
First the Lady, then Veil, and now Holly. Would Reliel not also eventually reveal abilities that surpassed ordinary people?
Did that make her, a common Level 5 Transcendent, seem out of place in this team?
Compared to the helplessly smiling maid, Arthur was even more helpless at this moment.
The Lady had not arranged mounts for him and Franlot.
He could understand this, as he had undermined her authority in front of so many people earlier.
As a noble, it was only natural for the Lady to be angry.
But… he was doing fine himself.
Thinking of this, Arthur glanced at Franlot beside him.
At this moment, the second son of a duke was dripping with sweat, his clothes soaked through, his eyes glazed over, following behind mechanically.
They had only been walking for 2 hours.
At this speed, it wouldn’t be possible to reach the Kingdom Eastern Gate, Jierlisi, from the ruined city of Rand within the better part of a day as originally planned.
If they didn’t rest, they probably wouldn’t arrive until early tomorrow morning.
However, in Franlot’s current state, never mind early tomorrow—if he had to walk for just another hour, he might pass out on the spot.
At this moment, Franlot was in even greater agony.
He had a system panel, so he could see things more clearly.
Besides [Fatigue], [Low Stamina], and [Mild Heatstroke], he had several other DeBuff effects.
In front of him lay the endless Gobi, and besides himself and Arthur, everyone else was either riding in a sedan chair or on horseback.
Why? This group was clearly discriminating against him! They were even isolating the one who helped him!
Bastards… these bastards.
He had merely wanted to use Detection to check that Lady’s stats; it was impolite, sure, but did it warrant being treated like this?
Just wait… all of you just wait!
When the time comes… when he becomes strong enough…
Just as he gritted his teeth and lifted his head, he saw the curtains of the sedan chair, held up by the eight zombie-like monsters, being slowly opened.
Then came Ileya’s voice, sounding somewhat complaining.
“It seems this constant temperature engraving has malfunctioned.” She said this while looking at Reliel in front of her.
“Are you still cold?”
Reliel was slightly taken aback; she hadn’t said she was cold.
Besides, it wasn’t cold inside; the temperature was comfortable and actually quite pleasant.
However, expecting the little mute to speak up over such a thing was clearly too much.
So she just shook her head dismissively.
“That’s good then.” Ileya smiled faintly at her, reaching out to pinch her cheek.
This gesture instantly reminded the younger sister of what had happened before—the things Ileya had “resolved” for her, and what had occurred between her and the little rabbit.
The girl’s face flushed red, and she glared viciously at Ileya!
But for some reason, a strange emotion welled up in her heart, something akin to…
‘Ugh! No, no! What am I thinking… that was a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding.’
‘It will absolutely never happen again!’
Whew! Watching Reliel turn her head away and ignore her, Ileya felt that the mind of an adolescent girl was truly hard to guess.
Of course, Ileya’s behavior at this moment was obviously not just making idle chatter.
She was doing it for the sake of a certain guy who was about to suffer heatstroke.
Naturally, the Lady had her reasons for doing such petty things.
She wanted to use these trifles to slowly erode Franlot’s temperament, laying the groundwork for the day he would eventually have a hysterical outburst or do something unwise, causing Arthur to despise him.
Although she could have used better methods, such as winning the guy over to her side.
The stronger the subordinates were, the stronger the master manipulating them behind the scenes appeared.
Not to mention others, but simply having the confidence to control strong individuals was something ordinary people could not achieve.
Throughout history, so many capable generals and talented individuals who achieved great success only to be executed on false charges suffered that fate for this very reason.
And when it came to having a fated individual work for her, Ileya certainly had considerable confidence in herself, whether in terms of strength or intellect.
But… if she hadn’t witnessed those “future” scenes and hadn’t experienced the despair of the original “Ileya,” she might have trained them just as she did Holly and Veil, turning them into her own assets.
However, she didn’t want to do that right now.
She wanted the source of all the original body’s suffering to taste everything the original Ileya had gone through.
Hum… Just as she thought of this, a sound faintly echoed in her ears.
“Lady!”
Amisa’s voice followed the next second from outside, and it sounded very serious!
Clearly, she had seen something out there.