Temporary Alliance [2]

The northern part of the Taber Desert was a mix of sand and gravel, making it easy to ride horses. Maybe that's why the horse bandits used horses as long as they didn't go south.

"This way,"

a man who introduced himself as Lofrechon (he told me to call him just that for convenience) found horse droppings and traces of a fire and pointed to the northwest.

His expression was unnecessarily serious. He was as strange as his name.

When Eren tried to ride the horse again, Schon hurriedly stopped him.

"Wait! Why don't we stop chasing today? They say the desert is full of wild beasts at night. If we're unlucky, we might encounter a demonic beast."

"Being here doesn't make any difference," Eren answered bluntly.

Schon clapped his hands in agreement.

"Of course, not here. But I know of a low rocky mountain near here. It would be easy to guard there and shelter from the wind."

Eren was lost in thought for a moment, but instead of answering, he made his point with a light chin gesture.

Schon mounted his horse again and began to lead the way.

As he said, they didn't go far until they came across a small rocky mountain. Schon was quite good at finding his way in the desert.

As they entered the narrow space surrounded by rocks, there were traces of someone having used it and lit a fire.

As the sun set, Schon skillfully gathered dry grass and twigs and made a fire. For dinner, they made do with the dried meat they each brought with them.

Schon, warming up by the bonfire, lay down on his side using his bag as a pillow, covered himself with his cloak, and looked at Eren.

He was still sitting indifferently, looking at the sky with empty eyes.

Even though they were only together for half a day, Schon had learned a lot about Eren.

Eren didn't talk much and maintained an expressionless appearance throughout.

He didn't interfere with whatever Schon was doing as long as it didn't bother him.

Eren looked younger than Schon, but he carried a heavy weight in his demeanor.

Schon had a vague thought that maybe Eren had crossed many lines at a young age.

Schon looked at his eyes for a moment and asked cautiously, "Can I ask you something?"

Eren's eyes were still staring into the distance. Despite being completely ignored, Schon continued to ask questions. He had already gotten used to Eren.

"Do you plan on fighting if you meet them?"

"It's none of your business," Eren immediately looked at him with a cold gaze and said. The chill seemed to worsen as night fell.

Schon shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Of course, that's true. One of them was truly incredible. It was as if he surpassed human abilities."

What he said was not an exaggeration. Just looking at the corpses scattered around the bandits' stronghold showed that his words were not lies. But Eren still remained silent.

Schon continued speaking, lying down as if he had given up. "Yeah. Well, you'll do well. Anyway, even if that situation comes up, I won't help you. All I have to do is steal the beads."

"I didn't even want it in the first place," Eren answered bluntly.

Schon turned around with the same expression on his face as expected. In fact, Schon was curious about Eren's skills. Although Eren looked young, Schon felt quite uncomfortable seeing him cut off the head of a bandit without hesitation or inspect the corpses without flinching.

'What on earth have you been through...?'

But even for a moment, Schon felt tired all at once, as if he had been taking a nap for several days. Just like that, his eyes began to close little by little.

---

"Hmm?"

Schon woke up to a sharp sound that irritated his ears and hurriedly looked around.

The bonfire had already gone out and it was still midnight.

Two moons were softly illuminating the land, and Eren was standing tall with his sword dangling at the entrance to the narrow space between the rocks.

On the other side, two yellow eyes were gradually narrowing the distance.

The shape began to become more and more clear. At that moment, Schon's eyes opened wide.

'Sveks?!'

The figure with yellow eyes was a demonic beast he had only heard about in stories. It looked familiar, but it was an unusually large snake.

It bit people with its sharp fangs, spewed out deadly venom, or entangled people with its body. It was a demonic beast that had to be absolutely avoided in the desert.

"Huh?"

A startled Schon quickly stood up and looked at Eren. Eren was walking towards the Sveks step by step.