The Desert of Extinction

THE LODGINGS THE GUARD had pointed me toward were more than

large enough to accommodate any and all passing travelers. Even from afar,

the size of the place was so imposing that I hesitated to call it an inn. Since

Myne and I had arrived in the evening, travelers from all over were

streaming in for the night. I joined the crowd and entered the structure.

"This place is amazing." My mouth hung open.

To ensure that nobody had to leave to get what they needed, a host of

shops lined the interior. The skeptical part of me suspected that, besides

their convenience, the shops kept outsiders from wandering the city. I

wandered from storefront to storefront, gawking in awe, Myne steadily

snoring on my back. Eventually, a member of the inn staff approached us.

"Will you be staying this evening, sir?" they asked.

"Yes. I need a room for two, please."

"Right this way, sir."

Impressed by the polite service, I followed the employee to a huge

staircase. The building's center was an immense lobby in which a spiraling

staircase led to the upper floors. From where I stood, looking up, I couldn't

even count how many rooms there were. A hundred? Two hundred?

"Please watch your step, sir. We have you on the third floor."

"Looks like there's a lot of rooms. How many are there total?"

"Our amenities encompass five floors, with five hundred rooms per

floor. That makes for two thousand and five hundred rooms in total." The

staff member had a practiced tone as they recited the number.

The whole operation was incredible. Not a single inn in Seifort could

claim anything like two thousand rooms. Even the largest could only host

maybe a thousand guests.

"Yes, we surprise everyone staying with us for the first time. This inn

is the pride of Lanchester. As you may have noticed, there are some travel

restrictions for people visiting from outside the city. For that reason, this inn

was established to accommodate travelers and merchants during short-term

stays."

"And not so that the city can keep foreigners from causing trouble in

other districts?"

"Inside the inn, lodgers are free to do as they like," the staff member

said, evading my question. "You may even keep your weapon equipped

while on our premises."

"That's handy. Being asked to hand over my weapon would feel like

being asked to strip."

It was also likely that adventurers would just start picking fights if

they were told to relinquish their weapons in order to stay at an inn in a city

they were unfamiliar with. For example, Greed had already implied that if

her black axe were taken, Myne would explode in fury. She'd more than

demonstrated that her rage could crush boulders. Although I didn't know

the depths of the power hidden in her Wrath, I had an inkling that things

would end poorly for anyone on the other side of such a rampage. In short,

it was a relief to know that carrying weapons was allowed.

We climbed the stairs to the third floor. When we got to the door to

my room, the staffer seemed to remember something.

"Based on your equipment, would I be correct in assuming that

you're an adventurer, sir?"

The abruptness of the question put me on edge, but I nodded.

"In that case, would you consider sandman hunting during your stay,

sir? The city is paying out rewards to those who do."

Those words were like the clear peals of a dinner bell for my hungry

Gluttony, and the timing was perfect.

"Sounds intriguing. I'd like to learn more about that," I said, trying to

suppress the sudden rumbling of my stomach. "I've got to admit that I'm

starving for…uh, money. Yes. Money. Money is what I am starving for."

The staffer continued smoothly. "We're grateful for any help, sir. The

sandmen are terribly active at the moment, and at present the city doesn't

have enough resident adventurers to keep them under control. We often

enlist outside help to boost our ranks where we can."

Sounded like they needed all the help they could get. However, even

with my upgraded stats, my arms were finally tiring, so the staffer and I

went into my room. I did want to learn more about the sandmen before I

rushed off to battle, though. I carefully laid Myne down on the bed and set

the black axe against the wall nearby. It wasn't a huge room, but there was a

simple table and two chairs. The staffer and I sat down, and I quickly got up

to speed on the monsters known as sandmen.

The sandmen lived in the desert east of Lanchester. Specifically, the

desert was the only place they could live. At first, I asked why they couldn't

just be left alone, but as the staffer explained, I learned that Lanchester had

good reason to pour resources into culling them. Sandmen grew their own

habitat by transforming greenery into desert, a process called

"desertification." If you didn't keep sandman numbers under control, they'd

expand and expand their territory until they turned the world to sand.

Near the desert was a forest, which was Lanchester's source of water.

Wide swathes of farmland also surrounded the city. Desertification

threatened the livelihoods of the farmers who lived and worked there, and

in turn, threatened Lanchester itself. That was why the inn staff were so

quick to recommend the task; sandman hunting was a matter of life and

death for citizens of Lanchester.

I accepted the quest just as quickly as the inn employee had

recommended it to me. The sandmen were nocturnal monsters, so I had to

leave immediately.

"Sandmen create their bodies from the desert sand around them.

Protected inside them is a red core. You can kill them by breaking or

fracturing it," the employee explained. "You'll know they're dead when the

core turns blue. Bring those cores to the inn's trading post, and they'll pay

you for your work. Good luck."

The staffer bowed politely, then left.

I was headed to the desert, but…what was I going to do about Myne,

who was still fast asleep? If I left without saying anything, I'd probably tick

her off, but if I woke her up…she would probably also be ticked. Okay.

Time for a note.

Dear Myne, I'm heading east of the city to hunt sandmen in the

desert, I wrote.

Still holding the pen, I glanced over at Myne's peaceful, sleeping face

and had a wonderful idea. Stealthily, I drew three whiskers on both cheeks,

cleanly and clearly. They were perfect. They looked good on her, too!

I left the adorably napping cat to her slumber and got ready to depart.

I took Greed in hand, and he took the opportunity to once again break his

silence.

"Oh, Fate. You're like a little boy who still doesn't understand real

fear. Now that you've gone and put your foot in it, don't come crying to

me."

"You're overreacting," I said. "It's just a couple of whiskers. Besides,

they look cute."

If I left now, I'd arrive at the desert by nightfall. Then I remembered

that Lanchester was holy knight territory. If I drew too much attention in

battle, I'd end up with all sorts of trouble to juggle in the aftermath. My best

bet was to hide my identity, and I had just the item for that.

I pulled the old, blackened skull mask from my bag. I hadn't used it

at all since leaving Seifort, but it contained a little spell that hid my identity.

Wearing the mask under my black hooded robes, and with Greed changed

from the black sword to the black scythe, I'd be the very picture of a lich.

Sure, I didn't act like one, but that didn't matter. The effect was close

enough that I could go to the desert, put on my mask, and hunt a whole

feast of sandmen with none the wiser to my true identity.

Although…maybe it was about time for me to let go of the lich

disguise. I wasn't a servant of the Hart family anymore, so I didn't need to

go through the trouble of leading a double-life. Couldn't I ditch the lich and

become… What had they called me in Seifort? The Corpse, a dangerous

monster. Perhaps I could be just Corpse, the adventurer in the skull mask.

This way, I could gorge upon monster souls, and nobody would know

it was me, Fate. So long as I kept to about ten targets per hunt, I'd have no

trouble at the trading post when I handed in the sandman cores. I wouldn't

build up enough monster hate for anybody to get suspicious, or to induce

the creation of a crowned beast either. It was perfect.

I explained my plan to Greed, but he seemed uninspired. "Sure, if it

works, it'll be great. If it works…"

"Why do you have to be so negative? We haven't even gotten to the

desert!"

I whispered goodbye to the slumbering Myne-cat and left the room.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I noticed a group of adventurers

gathered in the hall, each fully equipped, like myself. Perhaps they were a

sandman-hunting party. Gradually, more people arrived, until there were

twenty adventurers total. They seemed to be planning a pretty large-scale

hunt.

I'd have to be careful to keep my distance. I didn't want anyone

interrupting my meals. It had been a while since I could hunt freely, to my

heart's content. But…no, I'd been thinking about hunting and feasting all

evening. Something deeper in me was driving my desire to feed, and I

didn't like it. I glanced into the blade of the black sword to find my eye

reflected back at me. As I expected, it was now stained crimson, just like

Myne's.

Without noticing, I'd fallen halfway into Gluttony's starvation state.

"This is bad…" I muttered. "I've already lost an eye to it."

"Fate," Greed said, "you allow Gluttony to pull you along far too

easily. You need to learn to control it. To endure it. So, I have my own idea.

On this hunt, try pushing yourself to the very limit of Gluttony's half-starved

state. Doing so will force you to develop techniques to control and resist its

urges."

Easy for Greed to say. Gluttony felt instinctual, an urge from deep

within my body that fully overtook me. It was hard to resist. Occasionally,

the hunger was so bad that I didn't know whether it was me starving, or the

Gluttony.

But I had to try. If I didn't learn how to control it, and if I couldn't

develop that control over time, Gluttony would take everything from me.

Slavering, thoughtless, it would force me to lash out. Of everything I still

didn't know about my skill, that was the one fact I was certain of.

"You have to find a balance. A way to confront the urges of your

Gluttony. If you don't, then sooner rather than later, you will lose yourself

to it."

Greed's words weighed heavily on my mind.