CH. 74 — SPIRIT MANA ROAD

[T/N: At the time this was posted (June 16th 2022, the previous chapters after Chapter 43 until Chapter 73 have not been thoroughly edited, and such have not yet been posted. Please visit our Discord for the updates)

“What is it?”

“The person inside wants to take a bath.”

“A bath? In this desert where there is not even enough water to drink?”

The warrior looked at the large wooden barrel and observed it. It was narrow but deep, so it seemed like it should be enough for one person to sit and be submerged in the water. In addition, there was even a round and wide lid so one could prevent the steam formed by the warmed water from escaping.

The warrior honestly didn’t even know that such a thing existed in their tribe.

“It’s usually used to collect water.”

“Non—”

“Please understand. Everything changed when it concerns the incarnation of Sionil. Besides…”

When Dahil blurred the end of her speech, the warrior who seemed to have guessed the latter end of her words, hardened his face.

“Let’s stop arguing. How could we dare make fun of what the Grand Chieftain has in mind?”

Dahil shook her head, and quickly pushed the cart containing the water barrel together with another woman into the tent.

After a brief disturbance, the sound of water splashing was heard.

Had it been about 30 minutes?

The entrance to the tent opened again and those who had gone inside came out again. Dahil greeted the warriors quietly and was about to walk away, but the person with whom she had been talking for a while approached her.

The moment she put more strength into her hand, Rattle! The cart stopped because the wheel was caught on something on the ground. Dahil and the woman were glancing at each other and trying to move the cart, but the warrior was already close.

“Is there something wrong?”

Dahil asked cautiously, but the warrior didn’t find it particularly strange. Ordinary tribesmen usually found the warriors difficult to deal with.

The warrior pushed the back of the cart to remove the missing wheel and looked at the barrel. Light steam was still gushing out of the wooden barrel, where the lid was obliquely opened due to shaking.

As the warrior stretched out his hand towards it, Dahil gulped. The side of the flat, round lid made of similar wood to the barrel was held in the warrior’s thick palm.

With his power, the gap between the barrel’s mouth and the lid widened. The warrior thrust his face into the exposed gap. There was a lot of something floating on it, so he couldn’t see inside.

“What the hell is this?”

The warrior swept the surface of the water with his hand.

Then he lifted his palm up to his eyes to see what came with it.

Red and yellow dried flowers with a cool scent…?

“In the empire, they use high-end spices or foam soap, but we don’t have anything like that, so we replaced them with this.”

As Dahil spoke, the warrior snorted. Rumors about the incarnation of Sionil had spread so widely that there were quite a few people in awe, but there were also rumors that the identity of the woman he had been guarding was unusual. It must be true.

The warrior, whose eyes had widened, abruptly thrust his hand into the wooden barrel.

“I suppose you’re not trying to hide anything, are you?”

Dahil blinked as she looked at him doing what he was doing. The man quickly backed away as if he was embarrassed by his own joke. Wet to his elbow, he waved his hand a few times to dry it off, then jutted his chin as if to let them go.

What they had been doing so far was somewhat formal. Rather than standing on guard bored, it was pretty good to kill time by joking around like this.

He glanced at those who were leaving, then turned his body.

“Hoaaam!”

He yawned. Everyone was busy preparing for the wedding, but only the tent he was guarding and the people in it were sunk in silence.

Dahil pulled the cart and went to the tent where the women lived together. Everyone was busy preparing for the wedding right now, so it was crowded.

Still, after being careful one more time, Dahil opened the lid fully and dunked her hands in it. Nobody knew how many times she had freaked out because of the warrior earlier. She had thought they might’ve really gotten caught in the end, so she had felt suffocated. She was so lucky that the warrior had not noticed her agitation and her surprised expression later on. 

“Huh?”

But why couldn’t she touch the goddess now?

Dahil was startled and just before she dunked her head into the water.

“Puahhh!”

Shwaaa!

A woman with a beautiful and cold face rose her head from the barrel full of water. Her silver hair, her sky blue eyes, and her white skin seen in the flowing stream made it impossible to take her eyes off even though they were both women.

“I thought something was going to happen.”

When Dahil made a tearful face, Elisha patted her on the shoulder. Elisha, too, had been a little surprised when a hand had suddenly popped in.

As much as possible, she had put strength on her stomach with her back attached to the bottom of the barrel. She hadn’t forgotten to grab her hair with her hand, lest it got caught in the man’s fingertips.

It was highly likely that she would have been discovered if the opponent had not quickly pulled out his hand. She had sunk her consciousness, trying to kill her presence as much as possible, so it had taken her time to wake up.

Elisha came out of the barrel and stood on the floor. Dahil took several white fabrics from a small basket inside the cart and wiped Elisha’s drenched body, then she led her toward the tent where she had been staying.

There was no one outside, but this tent was shared by several people. There Elisha changed her clothes and checked the plan once again.

Nobody was inside the tent because everyone had set out since the early morning, so there was only Dahil and another woman whom Dahil had introduced as a trustworthy woman.

But it would soon be noon. People would soon flock to Elisha because they had to assist her in wearing wedding clothes and get her ready in earnest.

At that time, they would know that Elisha was gone, and there would be an uproar. Elisha intended to aim for that time.

“Is the preparation well?”

“Yes, please feel free to call him Taro. Even though he’s a bit clumsy, he’s good at doing what he’s told, so don’t worry.”

Dahil replied with a bashful smile when talking about her lover. Perhaps because they were friends who had grown up together before they were lovers, she didn’t have any hesitation in her words.

“Alright, then we will start the moment Taro ignites the fire. But are you really not going? If it is revealed later that you’ve been on the sidelines, you could be punished.”

The woman, to whom Elisha asked this question, who had said before that she would not leave the tribe, bowed her head.

“It is already too late for me. But I hope these children can live the life they want.”

“I understand.”

Elisha did not recommend it again.

Aran was not in a very good mood from the morning. Something seemed to have annoyed him since the night of the conference.

Any noise made him unhappy, and even those who had been sent to look at the situation of the Laoman tribe had given no news.

“It’s a pity at times like this.”

A guy perfect for this kind of mission immediately came to mind. But Shamir was too big. There were many who hated him, but there were also many who admired and followed him.

The problem was that the number of the former was shallow, while the latter was deep and profound. If left alone, Shamir’s power would’ve surely grown and form a new faction within the tribe.

Moreover, Aran was displeased with those who accepted Shamir as the tribe’s successor and spread that news everywhere. There were various factors, so he had let that guy go at that time before the tribe, even though this wrong judgment had cost him.

As the guy’s character had become apparent in front of the native tribe, everyone no longer liked or disliked him.

They only called him a traitor.

“I did a good job. I would’ve suffered more damage if I did not do that.”

Come to think of it, the problem now was not about finding out about the Laoman tribe, but not knowing the whereabouts of that guy.

“Will he come back?”

He stopped the search in nearby areas last night. After today’s wedding ceremony, all the tribes gathered for the conference would return to their headquarters. Aran tribe warriors alone could not bear to spare more manpower for the task, so that agenda had to be stopped.

“He’s a guy who gets bored easily, so he might have gone somewhere else by now because he’s annoyed with everything.”

He seemed to be paying special attention to the 2nd Consort, but it seemed that he was using her as a means to rebel against him. If not, how could he push her off a rocky slope without hesitation?

But still, if he ever comes back.

“He’s something to be dealt with.”

Just in case, Aran let Baheum take care of it. He was definitely one who hated Shamir the most within the tribe.

“Grand Chieftain!”

Aran wrinkled his forehead at the sound of someone calling him from outside the tent. Was it time already? He also had to prepare himself for the wedding.

“If she ate even a little, she should be quiet during the ceremony.”

The tribe called the cactus the desert stones.

Some types of desert stones released a white, sticky liquid when the thorns were pulled out and the body was squeezed.

If it was dried and made into powder, it became a good medicine for desert warriors to forget the pain when they got a big wound or when they couldn’t sleep.

It was not widely used because it was highly addictive and had a severe side effect of weakening people.

“Grand Chieftain, may I come in?”

“I’ll take care of the preparation myself, so you—”

“It’s not about that! The incarnation of Sionil has disappeared!”

“What?”

Aran frowned and walked out of the tent in stride. There was already a commotion outside. The warriors with bewildered expressions were checking the surroundings, asking the people around, dividing themselves into groups to check each tent, and soon dispersing.

“What happened?”

“That person was exceptionally sensitive today, so when the time came, the people assigned to assist asked if they could go in, but there was no answer. After waiting for some time, they had no choice but to go in, but it was empty inside.”

“Does anything feel strange? Who entered the tent before?”

“They said she wanted to take a bath, so two women came to serve her with water—”

“Find them! Don’t let anyone get out of here!”

When Aran raised his voice.

Fwoosh!

Flames soared.

“What is that?”

“Isn’t that where the horses and carriages are gathered?”

As soon as that sentence ended.

Neeeeiiigh!!

The sound of horses crying rang loud and long from that side.

And all of a sudden, Duddeukk! Duddeuk!

There was the sound of a carriage wheel being dragged.

Once entering the basin, there was no need to use a carriage, so naturally, the horses and the carriages must be separated. But hearing this sound…

“Isn’t this a big problem?”

This meant that unless the carriages were moving by themselves, the horses that had been released were tied back to the carriages by someone. And these horses were now running wild with the carriages behind them because they were startled by the fire.

The basin was wide and safe enough for one large tribe to stay. It covered the surrounding area to block the wind so that tents did not have to be opened in the scattered sand of the desert.

Unlike the outside, the floor mixed with soil and stones supported the feet more firmly. This grace-like place, which played a major role in stabilizing the Aran tribe, now looked like a trap from which it was difficult to escape because it was blocked on all sides.

“U-uwaakh!”

The warrior’s, who was stepped on by a horseshoe, scream did not last very long.

Puck!

It was because his head was trampled and smashed by another horse that followed.

Tududdeuk! Tududdeuk!

Tents hit by horses and trampled on by carriages trembled and fell flat on the floor. Unbelievably, in this brief moment, Aran’s dream turned into a nightmare.

Because of who?

A face immediately popped into Aran’s mind.

“That bitch will not have an easy death!”

Aran’s face was contorted like a monster.