The Great Wish - Chapter 37: The Great Wish (5)

With the help of her maid, Sienna changed her clothes. She wore a shirt, a leather vest, and knee-high leather boots—travel clothes that Levan had also sent.

She then donned the armor, which covered her forearms, upper arms, chest, abdomen, thighs, and calves.

Finally, she belted a sword around her waist—a white blade, a relic of the Duke of Luc’s family, which had been the prize for winning a deer hunting tournament. She threw on a cloak that reached her ankles, which would protect her from the desert’s sandstorms.

A short while later, the ship came to a full stop. Workers unloaded the cargo first, and several knights disembarked to scout the surroundings. Shortly after, Sienna, holding Rit’s reins, got off with her knights.

On the day they left the capital, as they were almost out of the city, she realized that Rit had been running alongside the carriage. There was no way to stop in the middle of the journey, so the carriage had continued all the way to the dock.

When they arrived at the dock, Sienna tried to send Rit back, but when she handed the reins to someone else, the unicorn threw a fit. Normally, Sienna wouldn’t tolerate anything being forced on her, but she couldn’t win against a pet. In the end, she decided to bring Rit along.

A gust of hot wind blew, carrying fine sand that stung her eyes. Sienna quickly raised her arm to shield her face and pulled up her hood.

‘So, this is… the edge of the world.’

The edge of the world.

Here was where one of the Empire’s many rivers flowed closest to the desert.

It was the final dock where ships could travel. In the Empire, this area was known as “the edge of the world.” It served as a buffer zone between the Empire’s territory and the desert, an invisible border.

No one lived in the vast area surrounding this region. The Empire’s people avoided it, fearing encounters with monsters, and to the desert people, this place was not yet part of the true desert, so they didn’t operate here either.

Gilbert, after speaking with someone, approached Sienna.

“Your Highness, the guide has not arrived yet. You may need to wait a little longer. Would you like to wait on the ship?”

“I’m fine.”

Sienna gazed at the distant red earth.

The heat rising from the scorching desert shimmered like a mirage in the distance.

***

The day after Kuhn and his group set off, they were hit by a small sandstorm that forced them to stay put for several hours. The guide mentioned that an unexpected sandstorm was often a sign that rain was coming soon.

Kuhn climbed up a tall rock and looked at the sky, shading his eyes with his hand to block out the blinding sunlight. After scanning the sky for a while, he spotted a small dot in the distance.

He pulled out a wooden whistle hanging from his neck and blew into it. There was no audible sound, but the whistle emitted a special frequency beyond the range of human hearing.

The small dot grew larger as it flew toward Kuhn, eventually becoming visible as a hawk. Kuhn raised his arm, and the hawk landed on his leather bracer.

He opened the small wooden container tied to the bird’s leg and took out a rolled piece of paper. After reading the message, Kuhn filled the container with a bit of sand as a signal that the message had been received, then tied it back to the hawk’s leg and let it fly away.

Jumping down from the rock, he addressed his subordinates, who were watching him closely.

“The Red Turban Raiders have split into two groups. Some are heading in the same direction, while others are going toward the Antlion Pit.”

The guide’s face turned pale, and the other subordinates’ expressions stiffened as well.

The Antlion Pit was known to be a habitat of the Desert Ghosts. While the creatures roamed unpredictably, there were certain areas they were known to frequent. To cross the desert safely, one had to steer clear of such dangerous locations.

“They wouldn’t be suicidal enough to go there on purpose…”

Kuhn pondered the raiders’ intentions. Kaligo had crossed the desert many times, but they had never faced a large group of marauders.

A large group meant they had some degree of intelligence. Marauders who survived long in the desert were cunning; they never attacked enemies they couldn’t defeat.

“Uh… I’ve heard a rumor about the Red Turban Raiders.”

The guide hesitated before speaking.

“What is it?”

“It’s a wild story, but…”

“Doesn’t matter. Tell me.”

“They say the Red Turbans sometimes lure and use the Desert Ghosts to their advantage.”

Kuhn frowned. That would be a reckless and dangerous move. But if the reward was worth the risk, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

“Let’s go. We need to figure out what they’re planning.”

The subordinates who had been resting immediately stood up.

As they continued tracking the movements of the Red Turbans, they discovered that the group had split again.

‘They’re preparing for a hunt.’

It was a tactic to scatter the target’s defenses, lure them in, and capture them by setting traps. Kuhn, being an experienced hunter himself, could see through their strategy.

It became increasingly clear that the Red Turbans’ final destination was the Mushroom Rock Dunes. The only target they could be planning such an elaborate operation for was the Empire’s envoy delegation.

‘Could the Hotu tribe have allied with the marauders?’

Had they gone so far as to do something so reckless? Or perhaps another tribe seeking to dismantle the Confederation was trying to sabotage the alliance between the Empire and the desert?

Kuhn’s group caught up with the Red Turbans’ rear scouts and managed to capture one of them. Kneeling with his arms bound, the marauder looked up at the men surrounding him with fear in his eyes.

“You know what this is, don’t you?”

Us hit the hilt of his black sword as he spoke, showing it off to the marauder.

“K-Kaligo…”

The marauder’s face turned ashen.

“If you tell us what we want to know, we’ll spare you. Just a bit of advice—you might not want to go back to your comrades. We wouldn’t want you to walk straight back to your death after being saved.”

The marauder nodded so vigorously it seemed his neck might snap. The reputation of Kaligo made things easier. Most men would surrender immediately at the mere mention of the name.

After Us had intimidated the marauder, Kuhn began questioning him.

“Where were you headed?”

The marauder spilled everything he knew.

They had taken on a job—though only the leader knew who had hired them. The leader had received a cancellation message a few days ago and had been quite angry about it, but he had decided to continue with the plan. They had also heard that the Empire’s envoy had brought a rare beast with them, and the raiders intended to steal it.

“A rare beast?”

“A horse, but… with a horn on its forehead…”

The marauder’s words were cut off as his collar was suddenly grabbed, and he let out a strangled cry. The man who had approached him radiated murderous intent, and the marauder trembled in fear.

“Tell me in detail. What did you just say?”