[44.8] The Hero of the Desert

Now that my body was rejuvenated, I could summon my ice chunk without worry. After safely bringing Cyrus onto the ice chunk, I looked over at the two of them, "Hop on. My Uncle is stationed nearby. We can bring everyone there and explain the situation."

The demon approached my ice chunk and slowly reached out to touch it. Her face was unreadable due to the scarf covering the lower half of her face.

I spoke up, scaring her from her trance, "Is everything alright?"

She looked at me with wide eyes and nodded her head to show that everything was alright. She jumped onto the ice chunk with ease and then held out her hand to help Captain Lou climb aboard.

Captain Lou stared at her hand then raised his head to look at her face.

She batted her eyes as she continued to hold her hand out.

His lips pressed together while he stared at her with a scowl that didn't look as angry as usual. His eyes slowly lowered to look at her outstretched hand once more and it was clear there was a battle of beliefs and values raging on in his head.

He was conflicted between seeing her as the beautiful woman who saved him and a demon who was his enemy.

I was so annoyed by his hesitance and shouted, "GET ON ALREADY! Did you forget Cyrus still needs medical attention?!"

Captain Lou pursed his lips and brushed his hand over the newly healed wound on his forehead. He mumbled, "Fine. I will only go along with this demon since I am incapable of using magic right now."

I rolled my eyes.

Did he forget he called her an angel only moments before?

He grabbed the demon's hand and hoisted himself up with her help. He stared at her flushing expression and stated firmly, "But as soon as I am back to my usual self, I will find you!"

Her face flushed red.

She looked away timidly and held her cheeks.

She misinterpreted his meaning, didn't she?

Whatever. I will let these two figure it out after I get Cyrus to safety.

His fever is still a priority.

I rushed my ice chunk in the direction that the demon had pointed to earlier. I quickly ran into a scene of several people trying to dig out the now-collapsed tunnel.

I caught sight of Chief Gonza and shouted after him, "Uncle Gonza!"

He turned to me quickly and rushed over, "Reika! How did you get out!?"

Caldwell, who had been sticking to Chief Gonza as he panicked and screamed about his young master, rushed over to us.

I lowered the ice chunk to the ground and motioned toward the demon, "She helped us escape."

Chief Gonza's footsteps immediately halted as he stared at the wolverine demon with wide eyes. He quickly pulled me off the chunk and behind his back, "Reika! Be careful! She's a-"

Captain Lou immediately snapped, "We know what she is, Gonza! We aren't blind!"

Chief Gonza froze and looked at Captain Lou in disbelief.

Did Captain Lou just snap at Gonza?! When has that ever happened!?

Captain Lou jumped off the ice chunk holding his head as he grumbled. It was clear by the look in his eyes that he still hadn't fully recovered.

The demon looked over at the rubble to assess the progress made. She ignored the distrustful and malicious stare of Chief Gonza and wrote on her chalkboard: "Are you looking for trapped individuals?"

Chief Gonza paused for a second before nodding grimly, "We have reason to believe the contestants are alive but trapped inside the area where the test was originally supposed to be held. There's a barrier preventing magic, so we can't get to them."

She nodded in understanding and wrote: "I can locate them and bring them to safety."

Before he could accept it or not, she jumped off the ice chunk and transformed back into a wolverine. Her large claws dug at the rocks, effortlessly creating a tunnel large enough to walk through. As she disappeared, Chief Gonza suddenly gasped in surprise.

"Wait. Isn't she the one they call the Hero of the Desert?"

I was confused, "Huh? Hero of the Desert?"

Chief Gonza nodded quickly, "It is! I'm sure of it! They say there is a demon who has made it her personal duty to help free victims of the slave trade in the Desert territory. She has saved countless lives."

Aha! So I was right!

She was the one who saved my mother!

Captain Lou glanced back in the direction of the tunnel where she had disappeared to. His expression was muddled as he fought over his own thoughts. In the end, he spat out, "A demon is a demon. Are you trying to join the demon sympathizers now, Chief Gonza?"

Chief Gonza let out a sigh, "Captain Lou. I know this subject is a sore spot for you, but-"

"IT'S NOT!"

We all flinched from his scream.

His fists trembled as he clenched them. He whispered through his teeth, "I will never be a demon sympathizer like him, and I will never be friends with a demon either."

Chief Gonza looked shocked by his outburst, "I-I never said-"

Captain Lou spun around on his heels and disappeared into the hectic crowd with a resentful grunt.

What was that?

I went to ask, but I suddenly remembered that Cyrus still had a fever.

I don't have time to be nosy.

"Cyrus needs help. Felix-" I paused for a moment and cleared my throat, "Felix healed him, but he still has a fever."

Caldwell helped grab Cyrus from me and gave me a nod, "Don't worry, Miss Reika. Everything will be okay."

I followed Caldwell and Cheif Gonza over to a medical tent where I anxiously waited for the doctor to check over his condition. The doctor handed me some herbs, "Prince Cyrus has a bad fever, but this medicine will cure it. Duke Newman specifically left it for you as per his son's request."

Ah. I hope that means Felix is okay.

My voice cracked as I stared at a sleeping Cyrus, "When will he wake up?"

"It's hard to say. Could be a few hours, could be a few days. However, I don't doubt that he will be in perfect health in a few days."

I let out a sigh of relief, "That's good."

Once again, Felix saved the day.

I should hold healers in higher regard.