------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
Chapter 20
Sand and dust filled the surroundings.
You couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
The massive sandworm that had attacked the strike team had stirred up a sandstorm, pushing it inward.
“Where are they?”
It was difficult to find Louise’s group through the thick dust.
“Your Highness… Ugh!”
Every time I tried to yell, a mouthful of sand entered my mouth.
We needed to get away from the giant sandworm as quickly as possible, or we risked getting caught up in it again.
“Cough, cough!!”
Spitting out the sand that got into my mouth, I gave up trying to speak and focused on the sounds around me.
After walking for a bit, I heard voices.
“What kind of monster is that...?”
“Kegh! Ptoo! You need to dodge it, Your Highness.”
“Head inward first...”
Voices—definitely those of Louise and the knights.
‘There they are.’
I ran as fast as I could.
It seemed the boss battle had begun, as the sandstorm behind us was getting even fiercer.
“Who goes there?! Huff! Cough!”
“It’s Ren! The gravekeeper of Decaine!”
I covered my mouth with both hands to keep sand out as I shouted.
Thankfully, Louise’s group must have heard my voice—no sword came flying through the dust.
“Ren? What are you doing here?”
The knights recognized me and asked.
They must have been confused as to why a gravekeeper was suddenly here.
“I need to wear a mask first.”
At the mustached knight’s words, they all took out and wore masks.
I remembered the mask in my bag and put it on too.
The cloth getting sucked into my mouth made breathing uncomfortable, but I had no choice until the storm passed.
Breathing wasn’t easy anyway with all the sand.
“Why are you here?”
The mustached knight asked.
Even Louise looked a bit surprised.
Why are you surprised?
I’m your secret guard.
Do I seem that unreliable?
“Ah, I was on an errand for the prince and ended up here…”
“…That’s right.”
Louise quickly backed up my excuse.
“Ren, what rotten luck. Of all times, the desert boss had to show up.”
The knights were generally friendly toward me.
So even here, they didn’t seem hostile—just a bit wary, which was understandable.
“I'm alright. May I accompany you?”
“Sure.”
With Louise’s approval, one of the knights helped me up onto a camel.
The group now consisted of Louise, four knights, and me.
Thankfully, they had battle camels, which made crossing the desert more manageable.
“We need to get far away. If it ambushes us again, we’re done.”
“Wouldn’t moving away from the main force be more dangerous?”
“No. Even if they’re nearby, it’s dangerous with that boss around. Our formation is already broken. In this situation, it’s better to retreat.”
The group calmly assessed the situation and began planning.
I checked the knights’ status screens—each of them had better stats than Louise.
With this team, we might just make it out of the desert alive.
“In that case, what do you think about searching for the Red Moon Tribe’s tomb?”
At my suggestion, their expressions hardened.
Louise started stroking his chin, deep in thought.
“We do have a map that supposedly points to its location, don’t we?”
“That’s just speculation. We might get close, but finding the exact location is hard. Even past expeditions couldn’t find it.”
“Isn’t the prince’s goal to locate that tomb? I’ll find it for you.”
“…How do you know that?”
The mustached knight next to Louise drew his sword and pointed it at me.
The atmosphere instantly chilled.
Everyone except Louise was still wary of me.
‘Louise really picked the right people.’
They all had a certain level of affection for me.
But since their duty was to protect someone, it was natural for them to be cautious.
It actually increased my trust in them.
“His Highness told me himself.”
The knight looked at Louise in surprise.
Louise gazed at me calmly and slowly nodded.
“I told him.”
Only then did the mustached knight lower his sword.
“Sorry. It’s my job.”
“No problem. It’s understandable.”
“What do you mean by ‘you’ll find it’? Do you have a way?”
“Yes. You know I’m a gravekeeper, right? If we get close to a tomb, I can sense it.”
“Hmm? Gravekeepers can do that?”
“Haha… I’m a bit special.”
To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure.
But a tomb of such a massive tribe must have a lot of deceased members.
Surely at least one spirit would appear to guide me.
“Alright. Like Ren said, maybe this is for the best. Now we can enter the tomb without worrying about being watched.”
With Louise’s approval, the knights immediately began making the next plan.
We briefly got off our camels and looked at the map.
“Here… This is where we got separated from the main force. We’ve been moving in the opposite direction since then. We’re probably around here.”
It was hard to be precise in a desert, but we had a rough idea.
“The place where we expect the Red Moon Tribe’s tomb to be is here, just next to our current location.”
One of the knights pointed to the red moon symbol on the map.
“If we search this area, we might find it.”
“What do you think?”
Louise looked at me.
“It’s not too far, and it doesn’t look like the boss is following us. I think we’re good.”
“Alright. Let’s move.”
* * *
Slish! Chhraaak!
I sliced through the body of a desert snake and wiped the sweat off my face.
Traversing the desert was more exhausting than I’d imagined.
“Hoo…”
“You alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
The mustached knight asked, his facial hair now packed with sand.
It made me want to clean it off for him.
“You fight better than I expected.”
“I’ve done some sword training now and then.”
He let out a quiet sound of admiration and nodded.
A satisfied smile spread across his face.
“Impressive.”
“Ren, still haven’t found it?”
Louise approached and asked.
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
“Let’s try moving a bit more.”
“…Very well.”
The atmosphere was gradually starting to sink.
Wandering aimlessly in the middle of this desert dulls the mind.
And it wasn’t just wandering — they had to stay alert for monster attacks, which made the exhaustion pile up even faster.
“…At this point, I can’t even tell where we are anymore.”
“If we don’t find the grave, we’ll need to quickly plan for a return.”
The knights expressed their concern to Louise.
It seemed they were beginning to lose faith in my abilities too.
‘I wouldn’t trust me either, honestly.’
I’d claimed we could find it without any solid proof and now we were just wandering the desert.
“Ren, still nothing?”
I met Louise’s gaze.
His indifferent eyes shone with a piercing intensity, as if demanding an answer.
Was Louise doubting me now?
Or was he trying to give me one last chance?
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all.
“Let’s give it one more day. If we still can’t find it after the night, we’ll head back.”
“Alright. Continue the search.”
He gave the order without a hint of hesitation.
And the knights didn’t question Louise’s command either.
As we continued the search, night fell.
Our bodies were already worn out from the accumulated fatigue.
The scorching heat of the day turned chilling in an instant.
Now we even needed a fire just to keep warm.
We hadn’t packed clothes for the night, nor did we have the equipment to light a fire, so we had no choice but to endure the cold through the night.
“If we stay up like this all night, we might not be able to make it back tomorrow. Let’s take turns keeping watch and get some rest.”
“No, we’ll take turns on the watch. Your Highness should rest first.”
“Yes, there’s no need for you to keep watch, Your Highness.”
“No, I’ll do my part. We’re all tired, aren’t we?”
After a short back-and-forth, Louise ended up taking the first watch.
The rest of us were assigned shifts after him.
My turn came right after Louise.
I was hoping to get some sleep, but the knights didn’t seem to be settling down.
They looked visibly uncomfortable with Louise keeping the first watch.
‘Tsk…’
With a sigh, I got up.
“Ugh, I just can’t fall asleep.”
Muttering to myself, I walked over to Louise.
“Lord Louise.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Well…”
I whispered in his ear as politely and tactfully as I could: “You're making the knights too nervous to sleep. Let’s switch—I'll go first, and you can rest.”
“…I didn’t think of that.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Understood. Ren, you take the first shift. I’ll get some rest.”
As Louise stood up, I spoke loud enough for the others to hear.
“I couldn’t sleep anyway, so thank you for being considerate.”
“…Not at all. Then I’ll rest now. I’m counting on you.”
Louise gave a brief glance at the knights and then lay down, closing his eyes.
Only then did the uneasy knights finally smile at me and drift off to sleep.
They must’ve been truly exhausted.
“Hmm…”
Where in the world is the Red Moon Tribe’s grave?
We’ve been searching all day without finding a thing.
“…Huh?”
While aimlessly scanning the surroundings, I saw something faint crawling across the ground in the distance.
‘No way…’
A translucent spirit was rising from the ground.
‘I’m sure there wasn’t a grave anywhere nearby.’
Which meant the grave must be hidden somewhere…
My instincts told me — that had to be a spirit of the Red Moon Tribe.
I glanced back. Everyone was sound asleep.
I quietly approached the spirit.
“Excuse me.”
— Who are you? Can you see me?
The spirit tilted its head from side to side, surprised.
“Yes. Are you a member of the Red Moon Tribe, by any chance?”
— Oh, you know about us?
‘Found it…!’
I cheered inwardly.
Never thought I’d discover it while keeping watch.
“Do you know where your tribe’s grave is located?”
— Our grave? It’s right below here.
“Below…?”
Buried beneath the sand?
— Ah, since you’re alive, you can’t just enter from anywhere. Want me to show you?
“Yes, please!”
— Then follow me.
“Ah! Wait, just a moment.”
I hurried over to wake up Louise and the others.
“Mm… What? Is it my turn already?”
“It’s still night, isn’t it? I’m the last shift, no?”
“Mmm… meat… meat…”
The groggy knights stared at me in confusion.
Louise, frowning slightly, stood up.
“Did something happen?”
“Not a problem — I found the grave.”
“What…?”
Louise and the knights widened their eyes in shock.
“You found the Red Moon Tribe’s grave?”
For the first time, Louise raised his voice in excitement.
“Yes. Please, follow me.”
Wearing a confident smile, I led the way to the spirit.
The others followed behind, half skeptical, half hopeful.
The Red Moon Tribe spirit, walking ahead, stopped and pointed to the ground.
— Here. If you dig here, you’ll find stairs leading down to our grave.
I nodded and turned to the knights.
“Do you all know how to dig?”
“Why digging?”
“Because the Red Moon Tribe’s grave is right below us.”
“Are you sure?”
Not just Louise, but the other knights also looked doubtful.
Well… I guess if someone woke me up out of the blue and told me to start digging in the sand, I’d be suspicious too.
“I’m sure of it.”
‘I was about to say, “If it’s not here, you can kill me,” but let’s not go that far.’
Just in case.
"But how are we supposed to dig?"
"We don’t even have a shovel."
"What do you mean how? We’ve got hands, don’t we?"
With that, I squatted down and started digging the sand with my hands like a dog.
The other knights, startled by my actions, hesitated.
Even Louise seemed a bit taken aback, but soon enough, he crouched down and began digging with his hands as well.
"Dig faster."
"But, Your Highness—"
"Dig."
"Understood."
"Hurry up!"
So, the six of us dug through the sand with our bare hands for quite a while.
Thunk.
"Huh? I think I hit something."
The mustached knight said as if he had discovered something.
As we brushed the sand away, an old stone door was revealed beneath.
"It’s real…?"
"Open it. Quickly."
As Louise urged him on, the mustached knight grabbed the handle and lifted the stone door.
Beneath it, a staircase leading underground appeared.
"Wow, it actually exists."
"Ren, how in the world did you find this?"
"Hahaha. Gravekeeper’s intuition. Intuition."
I gave a vague excuse and laughed it off.
"Let’s go in."
We descended.
At the bottom of the stairs, blue gems embedded in the walls lit up the interior, revealing a massive tomb.
"Whoa…"
"This is insane."
The knights let out awed murmurs.
A long corridor stretched before us, lined with hundreds of tombs on either side.
At the end of the corridor stood a grand royal tomb.
— That’s our chieftain’s tomb.
The spirit who had earlier told me the location of this place approached and spoke.
This is… the tomb of the Red Moon Tribe?
The tomb of the legendary chieftain who had unified more than half the desert tribes.
At last, we had found it.
Drawn by something beyond reason, I stepped toward the chieftain’s tomb.
I ran my hand over the gravestone standing there.
Though it was written in an unfamiliar language I couldn’t read, I could tell it bore the chieftain’s name.
[Using spiritual power to awaken the tomb’s sleeping spirit.]
Huh?
[The spirit is awakening.]
Just as I stood there confused by the sudden system message—
— Who dares?
A translucent, solemn-looking spirit emerged from the tomb.
He had a burly, muscular frame, a red moon emblazoned on his chest, and menacing, protruding canines.
His long black hair was roughly tied back, and his blood-red eyes stared daggers at me.
— Was it you who awakened me?
Meeting his gaze, my heart dropped like a stone.
------------------
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
------------------
