Chapter 26 : Farmland

After finishing our business at the church, we headed back to Castle.

Upon arrival, the hero greeted us warmly, saying he had been waiting for us.

When we noticed that Olivia and Agnes were missing, we asked the hero about their whereabouts. 

He told us they were ready and waiting in the carriage for our departure.

So, we quickly gathered what we needed and headed to the carriage.

“It’s been a while since I finished preparing, but we’re only leaving now,” Olivia grumbled as we arrived at the carriage, though I simply ignored her complaints.

We set off toward the dried-up farmland.

‘Finally, we’re here!’

At last, we arrived at the farmland. 

I stretched after stepping down from the carriage.

Perhaps due to sleeping in an uncomfortable position on the hard carriage, my whole body felt stiff.

As I finished stretching and turned around, I saw that everyone, including the hero, had also disembarked and was surveying the area.

“It seemed serious from a distance, but it’s really severe up close… It feels like all life has been extinguished,” Bliss muttered as he crouched down, fiddling with the dry soil.

“Indeed, there’s no sign of life. It feels like we’re in a desert. Though I’ve never actually been to one,” Agnes commented as she looked around.

The hero, though silent, seemed lost in thought, gazing off into the distance as if contemplating the place.

And me? 

Honestly, I didn’t feel much.

Such desolate regions already exist in the demon lands—quite a lot of them, in fact.

But the reason I was initially surprised to see this place was because it was in human territory, not the demon lands, and in a location surrounded by thriving forests.

In this world, there are two main reasons why deserts form.

The first is a natural occurrence, similar to Earth, and the second is due to monsters.

The reason monsters create such landscapes is simple—they absorb all the mana from the land.

There’s a monster called the Sandworm. 

It’s a gigantic worm, as large as a train.

In the demon lands, when this creature drains the land of mana, the region dries up and eventually turns into a desert.

When a thriving forest or grassland turns into a desert, it’s almost always the work of this monster.

However, this place is probably not due to monsters. 

That’s because this land is not suitable for them.

Unlike the demon lands, which are rich in mana, human lands are relatively mana-poor.

For monsters that feed on mana, human lands are a barren place where they would starve.

As a result, such monsters don’t venture into human territory.

Could a Sandworm survive here? 

Maybe, but it couldn’t reach here on its own. 

So, it’s unlikely that monsters caused this.

Moreover, if there were a Sandworm here, we wouldn’t be walking around so freely. 

It would sense our footsteps and approach us.

And if it ambushed us, well… we’d be its next meal.

In conclusion, this isn’t the result of monsters.

Then, what caused this place to become like this?

Well, Olivia will reveal that for us, so we can just sit back and wait.

I turned my gaze to Olivia with anticipation, and saw her rummaging through her belongings.

“What’s that?” the hero asked.

“A device that shows the flow of mana,” Olivia replied, holding up the device.

“With this, we can observe the mana flow here. If there’s a real issue, the mana won’t flow properly.”

Saying so, Olivia began moving around with the device.

An hour passed.

“Olivia, any findings?” the hero asked.

“This is strange… Why is the mana not flowing?” she replied.

“We still have time, so keep looking.”

Two hours later.

“Olivia, have you discovered anything?” the hero asked again.

“No…”

“Shall we try a different location?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

We moved to another location.

“Olivia,” the hero called out.

“Why isn’t it responding!”

Three hours passed.

“Olivia?”

“…Shall we try somewhere else?”

“Yes…”

We moved again.

“Olivi—”

“No.”

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

Even after moving repeatedly, there were no results.

“Why! Why isn’t there any response?” Olivia shouted in frustration at the empty air after another fruitless search.

“Olivia, maybe it’s time we return,” Agnes suggested.

“No! Just a little longer!” Olivia responded, seemingly stubborn now, as she continued scanning the device.

“Could it be that there was no mana here to begin with?” the hero asked, sounding doubtful.

“That’s impossible! Just wait a little longer!” Olivia answered loudly.

That’s the tenth time we’ve heard her say that.

“Ruina, how much longer will this take?” Reina asked me, sounding weary from the endless search.

“I don’t know either,” I replied.

“This is tiring…”

Hearing my response, Reina’s face fell visibly. 

Seeing her discouraged expression, I wanted to offer her some hopeful words, but not even I knew how much longer that foolish mage would keep this up.

All I could offer was a suggestion.

“Would you like to rest in the carriage?”

That’s about all I could say.

But Reina shook her head.

“I’d rather stay by your side, Ruina,” she said with a smile.

So, I could only smile wryly and pat her head.

In truth, I was reaching my limit, too. 

After wandering this wasteland for hours, who wouldn’t feel exhausted?

Not to mention, the ground was cracked and barren, making it tiring to look at.

As I patted Reina’s head, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear, cloudless blue—a very blue sky.

Staring at the autumn sky, I felt slightly better.

The blue sky reminded me of the national anthem. 

Maybe I should hum it after so long.

Though I’d forgotten the third verse where the autumn sky is mentioned.

How much longer did we wait?

“Finally, we got a response!”

After mentally humming the anthem ten times under the blue sky, Olivia’s long-awaited cheer came from the front.

“Did you find something?” the hero asked.

“Yes! Although faint, there’s definitely a flow of mana here. Follow me!”

Her voice was filled with excitement.

“Now, if we follow this…”

We began following behind Olivia, who was walking with a spring in her step.

But then.

“Huh?”

Olivia, who had been confidently leading, suddenly stopped, turned around, walked back a bit, and then moved forward again.

She began repeating this back-and-forth motion.

“This is strange…”

“What’s wrong?”

“All the mana here seems to be converging on one point, as if it’s being drawn in. And that point is…”

Saying this, she walked a bit further and stopped.

“It’s here.”

She handed her device to the hero.

“Hold this for a moment. I need to investigate this spot.”

After handing over the device, she placed her hands on the ground.

“O earth…”

She began chanting.

What is she doing? 

While I knew she was a bit eccentric, seeing her act like this without warning was bewildering.

‘Did she really lose her mind because of the lack of results? Is she pretending there’s something here to save face because admitting nothing would be embarrassing?’

Should I offer some words of comfort?

“…Reveal everything that lies here to me.”

While I contemplated how to comfort the seemingly delusional Olivia, her incantation suddenly ended. For a moment, nothing happened.

“A life form… perhaps?”

She murmured softly, dusting her hands off as she stood up again.

“Did you find something?”

“It seems like something big is absorbing all the mana in this area. Since there’s a sign of life, it’s probably a living creature… But I can’t imagine such a large creature being underground here. I’ll try to provoke it.”

With that, Olivia began chanting again.

This time, her spell was much shorter.

“…May you feel the terror of the earth.”

When her incantation ended—

~Boom!

A loud noise erupted, and the ground shook violently.

“Wh-what did you do?”

“I just used a small vibration spell to give whatever’s below a nudge,” Olivia replied casually, unfazed by the hero’s alarmed question.

A “small vibration spell”? 

Does this woman even understand the meaning of “small”? If this is small, then to her, even an earthquake might just be a minor tremor.

“But… there’s still no movement,” she muttered, preparing to use her so-called small vibration spell again.

~Boom!

“Kyah!”

“Aaah!”

Screams erupted as the tremor was even stronger than before.

“Strange… Still no reaction. I’ll try once more—”

“Please, stop.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t take this anymore. Just stop, please.”

Finally, Bliss, at his limit, shouted at Olivia.

“What, you want me to stop now? We’re almost there!” Olivia replied, looking bewildered, as if she didn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

Yeah, at this rate, the ground’s likely to collapse. What more does she want to accomplish?

I figured I should probably back up Bliss’s opinion.

Just as I was about to speak—

“There’s a tremor.”

Agnes muttered softly from the side.

What was she talking about now?

“What?”

“Is Olivia still casting a spell?”

“No, I’m not casting anything right now.”

“Then… what’s causing this vibration from the ground?”

Wait, is Agnes losing her mind too? 

But Agnes’s expression looked far too serious for it to be a joke.

“Agnes, are you making things up now?” Olivia sighed deeply, seemingly thinking Agnes was talking nonsense.

However, just as Olivia finished speaking—

~Screeeeeeech!

An ear-splitting scream tore through the air.

“What… what is that?”

Bliss’s panicked voice broke through the noise.

Everyone turned to where Bliss was pointing.

And there—

The ground began to erupt.

Dirt shot into the air as if a volcano had erupted, sending up a cloud of smoke that obscured the surroundings. Through that smoke—

Something massive began to emerge.

As the smoke thinned, it finally revealed itself in the sunlight.

A black, segmented exoskeleton, a long, elongated body, a circular mouth lined with hundreds of teeth.

Its name was—

“Sandworm…!”

The hero’s voice trembled from behind me.

‘What the hell is that thing doing here?’

Without hesitation, I grabbed Reina’s hand and started running toward the carriage.

“Everyone, run to the carriage now!” the hero shouted urgently.

No one responded, as everyone was too busy running. We all dashed toward the carriage as fast as we could, and as we reached it—

“Get in, quick!”

We hurriedly climbed into the carriage.

“Go, go now!” I shouted to the driver.

The carriage jolted into motion, beginning to rumble forward.

As it sped along, Bliss let out a sigh of relief, speaking in a slightly relieved voice.

“What is that thing? At least we’re safe for now.”

“It’s not over yet.”

“What?”

Bliss’s voice was filled with confusion, but the hero didn’t answer.

Here’s a fun fact!

Sandworms chase anything that creates vibrations above ground.

Damn it.

~Screeeeech!

Another terrifying roar echoed from behind us.

We all turned to look out the back window of the carriage.

And there—

~Screeeeech!

The sandworm, its enormous mouth open, was tearing through the ground, coming straight after us.

“Can’t we go any faster?” Bliss cried out to the driver in a panicked voice.

“This is as fast as it goes!”

“Damn it!”

Meanwhile, the sandworm was drawing closer. Its mouth, once a dot in the distance, was now large enough to swallow the entire carriage.

I could clearly see the hundreds of teeth, each moving in its own eerie rhythm.

If I get caught in that, I’d be instant tomato juice.

Damn it! We’re all going to die at this rate!

“Do something! Cast a spell, a buff, anything! We’re almost out of time!”

“Hold on!”

~Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud explosions rang out as a series of spells burst into the air, creating clouds of smoke.

And within that dense cloud, the sandworm’s silhouette vanished.

Watching this, Olivia muttered under her breath.

“Did we defeat it?”

This damned woman.

~Screeeeeeech!

As if in answer, the sandworm reappeared, bursting through the smoke.

“None of it worked!”

“Just wait!”

~Boom! Boom! Boom!

Another round of spells was unleashed.

But despite Olivia’s blasts of fire, water, and wind, the sandworm bulldozed through everything, like a tank on the battlefield.

Here’s another fun fact!

Sandworms have magic resistance!

Goddamn it!

“For crying out loud! Use something stronger! None of this is working!”

Bliss grabbed Olivia’s shoulders, shaking her.

“I can’t! Don’t you see? Nothing’s working!”

“In that case, let’s fight it head-on!” Agnes shouted, raising her sword.

“Agnes, are you insane? Do you think we can take that thing on? What can five people even do?”

“Look, Ruina! That worm is huge!”

“That’s not a worm!”

“What should we do, what should we do, what should we do? Water, wind, next is earth…?”

“Hehe, this is fun!”

“We must fight! With dragon blood in my veins, I won’t disgrace myself by fleeing! My pride as a dragon won’t allow it!”

“Yeah, well, you need to be alive to show off that pride, you idiot!”

The carriage grew increasingly chaotic.

Haha, this is total chaos.

For the record, I can’t defeat that thing on my own. No, let me rephrase: I can defeat it, but not with my powers sealed.

Magic? Doesn’t work.

Swordsmanship? How am I supposed to stick a sword in that massive creature?

If we had more people, I might be able to take it down even with my powers sealed, but there are only six of us here, including myself.

We’re screwed.

“Naias, Naias, Naias, Naias!”

“Let go of me, Olivia!”

“Just stay still, you dragon-head!”

“Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!”

We were all getting more and more heated.

“Monster! Here I come!”

And just as Agnes managed to shake off Olivia and was about to leap from the carriage—

“Everyone, quiet!”

The hero, who had been silent until now, shouted loudly.

“Olivia, cast a spell in a different direction! Now!”

He issued the order to Olivia in a calm, steady voice.

“You saw it, magic doesn’t work!”

“Not on the sandworm—on the ground!”

“What’s the point of that?!”

“Just do as I say! Do you want to die here?”

Despite her protests, Olivia started chanting under the hero’s firm command.

“…Reveal your power!”

With the end of her incantation—

~Boom

Another loud noise resounded as a pillar of fire erupted in the distance.

And in that instant, the sandworm’s head began to turn toward where Olivia’s magic had exploded.

“Now that it’s distracted, we need to escape! Faster!”

Seeing this, the hero urged the driver, who cracked his whip, speeding up the horses.

And, perhaps thanks to that? The carriage picked up speed, and at last—

“Damn… we’re alive.”

We managed to escape the farmland.

After narrowly escaping death, we returned to the village of Viln.

Perhaps because of the close brush with death, the carriage was quieter than ever.

No one spoke. All anyone did was stare blankly out the window, looking as if they had exhausted every last bit of strength.

The drained, lifeless atmosphere lingered as we approached the castle, and finally, the hero broke the silence.

“Let’s head to the castle. We’ll think about what to do next after meeting with the lord.”

No one had the strength to respond, so no answer came.

Everyone merely nodded at the same time.

It was unanimous.