“The truth is just on the other side of that wall. Mage, go into the city and see for yourself if what I’m saying is true.”
The Silverblood Knight Captain had already been worn down, utterly out of patience. He really had never met someone so difficult to communicate with.
“There’s definitely a trap inside! Don’t try to fool me! The moment I step in, you’ll catch me and turn me into a blood pack for your vampires!”
Xiadam felt like she was losing her mind.
“Why are you so stubborn? The sun is already up, and we can’t follow you out. Is it really that hard for you to just go and have a look?”
The Silverblood Knight Captain ignored the sword pressed to his neck, turning around to retort.
The surrounding Silverblood Knights could see that the mage girl had no real intention of harming the captain; she was just being obstinate, and they watched the quarrel with interest.
Utterly sharp-tongued, throwing tantrums, constantly questioning, but without true malice—she was a strange kind of mage.
The Silverblood Knights had no idea what she wanted or what she was trying to do.
If she wanted answers, she had to ask directly, but she refused to take a single step forward to see for herself. Was this really how a mage behaved?
Even the vampires knew mages had strange tempers, so this kind of situation wasn’t surprising.
“That’s enough probing. It’s time to stop.”
Finally, Sheffield couldn’t hold back and stepped forward to stop the farce, pushing down Xiadam’s broad sword.
Hearing the word “probing,” everyone understood—although they had suspected it all along.
“Probing? So you’ve been probing me this whole time?”
Only the Silverblood Knight Captain was left confused by Xiadam, unable to grasp that the human mage had been testing him all along.
“Just messing with you. You’re not angry, are you?”
Xiadam sheathed her broad sword with a mischievous grin.
“Once you two go out, just walk straight ahead. At the end, there will be a castle. Someone there will receive you. My comrades will explain our philosophy more clearly and answer your questions. I’m just a warrior—clumsy with words—and can’t explain things properly. The sun is up now; we cannot escort you.”
The Silverblood Knight Captain was angry, but forced his tone to stay calm and friendly.
“A castle? Sounds like a trap. Are you trying to lure us in to feed us to your vampires?” Xiadam still doubted.
“Mage, you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. I see right through you. You don’t want to attack me, but you keep insulting me. You understand us perfectly but insist on doubting us. You remind me of someone we know.”
The Silverblood Knight Captain smiled, but it was an unpleasant smile.
The other Silverblood Knights also smiled, but theirs was a happy one.
Seeing the vampires’ smiles, Xiadam’s face turned sour.
She knew her probing had completely failed.
“Mage, we’ll meet again tonight. I believe you’ll like our city.”
The Silverblood Knights held an inexplicable confidence in Xiadam, convinced she was a good person and were content to let the human mages enter the city.
It could only be said that Xiadam exuded an aura of “a truly good person” in every gesture and movement.
Although she looked like a cold, expressionless girl, she was a chatterbox.
Every word she spoke revealed her relentless pursuit of justice.
“We share the same ideals!”
“Stop pretending. Your intentions are completely transparent. You might be the first person ever to win a vampire’s trust just by talking, huh?” Sheffield quipped sharply.
“Enough talk. Let’s go. Let’s see what kind of experiment the vampires are up to.”
Xiadam, still fuming, picked up the Fat Little Dragon and left the dirt-walled secret passage, entering the city.
Bathed in the morning sunlight, rows of earthen houses stood firm on the flat yellow earth.
Besides wooden houses, there were expansive patches of black soil fields stretching to the horizon.
At a glance, this earthen city was essentially an agricultural metropolis.
But farming in the western desert?
The difficulty was comparable to inventing a Forbidden Spell that forcibly turned an Evil Dragon into a cute girl.
Xiadam jogged to a patch of black soil and crouched down for a closer look.
“Potatoes? So these are potatoes?”
It turned out to be potatoes, crops that could grow in harsh environments.
Large-scale potato farming could indeed solve the food problem for many.
But the black soil looked clearly cultivated, not just dug out from the ground.
Desert soil was nothing but sand and dust.
Xiadam immediately understood.
The city’s leader was a great mastermind.
Their extraordinary wisdom undoubtedly surpassed all the kings of contemporary human kingdoms.
Xiadam stood and gazed into the distance.
At the edge of the earthen city loomed a dark, gloomy castle, glaringly out of place amid the peaceful surroundings.
Early in the morning, many of the earthen houses had their doors pushed open.
Ordinary residents emerged, inspecting the potatoes in the fields.
The people here had dark, sunburned skin similar in tone to Sheffield’s, but far less moist and smooth.
Sheffield’s tanned skin was supple and fiery—looking pinchably soft.
But these people’s skin was darkened by long sun exposure, dry and rough.
“Are those newcomers?”
“A mage…”
“Why is there a mage here?”
“And a little magic beast?”
The residents were surprised to see Xiadam and Sheffield arrive with the Fat Little Dragon in tow, whispering among themselves, but none dared approach.
Because the two looked completely out of place among the locals, dressed plainly but radiating a spoiled, noble aura—the innate dignity of mages.
Watching Xiadam examine the potatoes anxiously, the farmers were worried.
Yet they didn’t dare utter a single word—like encountering officials.
No, a mage was far more terrifying than an official. Officials were paper tigers; mages were the real ones.
“Do you only grow potatoes here?”
Xiadam, friendly and straightforward, ignored their fear and grabbed the nearest straw hat-wearing brother to ask.
“Yes, yes, just potatoes. But the Lord has been experimenting with planting other grains.”
The straw hat-wearing brother had never seen such a beautiful young mage and immediately became a sycophant, bowing and flattering her.
“Lord?”
Xiadam frowned.
“The Lord who founded this City of Sunset Sands—Lord Dante-Louis.”
“Is this Lord a vampire?”
“Uh… Mage Lady, don’t you know the rules here? How did the Blood Knights even let you in? You didn’t sneak in, did you?”
The straw hat-wearing brother was bewildered and increasingly fearful.
“I was brought in by a Blood Knight, but she didn’t explain much—just told me to go to the castle where someone would clarify everything.”
Xiadam didn’t want to scare the residents and explained gently.
“Maybe they didn’t explain because of your foul mouth,” Sheffield whispered.