Chapter 173: From Departure to Sinking (2/2)

“Isn’t this one of the test sites?”

“We demons don’t know the details either, but it seems like this artificial desert is a byproduct of the ancient kingdom’s magic research institute.”

Her words made Loren take another look at the place. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing magical about this sea of blue sand. But from the girls’ conversion, this desert had been created by some large-scale magical experiment conducted hundreds of years ago, and that fact terrified him a bit.

Loren voiced his impression when seeing the scenery before his eyes:

“It was such a crazy kingdom.”

Loren’s tone was even and words didn’t betray whether he thought it was a good or bad thing.

“The ancient kingdom was said to be able to manipulate time and space during its heyday. Even though the demon race is overwhelmingly powerful compared to humans nowadays, we were in quite a danger during that time.”

“Demons are also an outrageous race…”

The bad impression was, if pushed to say, a bit more vivid this time. But even if Loren didn’t highlight this, the feeling was still apparent in his eyes. Lapis raised her voice, sounding wounded somehow:

“You really consider us to be the same as those stupid magic fanatics?!”

“Now, now, Lapis-chan, calm down. How’d we cross this desert?”

Even though the temperature wasn’t that high, the air was dry. The sand was fine, so the horse’s hooves would easily get caught. They wouldn’t be able to move easily.

“We’ll need to go forward a bit more, but we won’t need to cross the desert.”

“Does that mean the stop you mentioned is somewhere in this desert?”

Loren wondered what kind of business they had to do in the middle of this desert, which could only be described as a barren wasteland.

Lapis fold her arms and replied with:

“What do you mean?”

“No, I mean there’s no doubt our destination is in the desert, but where?”

Just when Loren was wondering if rephrasing his question was enough, the horse pulling their carriage, let out a high-pitched neigh. Turning to look, how the horse was dealing with the sand, Loren noticed that the horse’s hooves were being swallowed by the desert.

“Hey, this…”

“This ain’t good, Loren! The horse is being swallowed by the sand!”

The horse struggled wildly while sinking. If the horse sunk, the carriage, which was linked to it, would also be in danger. Not to mention that if they lost the horse here, there would be no replacement to pull the carriage, and they would have no choice but to abandon their luggage.

Loren grabbed the rein on the driver seat and tried to see if he could somehow pull the horse up. But before he could, Lapis gently placed her hand on his arm.

“It’s alright. Just let it sink.”

“What are you saying…?”

“Our stop is below this desert.”

Loren worried that the heat might have gotten to her. But then the temperature wasn’t that high, and the sun wasn’t that hot. It was difficult to think that the heat at this place was enough to make Lapis lose her mind.

“I’m serious. We’ll need to get under this desert.”

“Through the sand? Won’t we suffocate?”

Living things couldn’t breathe in sand. Assuming that the stop Lapis mentioned was really under this desert, then depending on the depth, there was the very real possibility of them suffocating and dying before reaching it.

“Loren, let me tell you one good thing.”

“I only have bad feelings about this, but speak anyway.”

Following the horse, the carriage was slowly being swallowed by sand. Lapis placed both hands on Loren’s shoulders, Lapis said with a deadly serious face:

“If you faint before suffocating, the chance of being saved will be higher.”

“I don’t have such a convenient skill!”

Loren unthinkingly shouted back. He tried to jump out of the carriage, but Lapis clung to his waist. It looked like Loren would be able to immediately shake her off in this contest of strength, but that was not the case, and he was pulled back into the carriage.

“It’s alright. Just take a deep breath before your head goes under and bear with it for a while.”

“Could it be that there’s a difference between our breathing time?”

“…Loren, do you want to faint now?”

“Are you stupid?! Let me go!”

Loren struggled violently but couldn’t escape from Lapis’ arms. Gula watched Lapis pinned a squirming Loren down while tightening the mouth of the groceries bag so that sand couldn’t get in, and regarded the carriage sinking into the desert little by little with a shrug.