“……I can see the sky.”

“Yes. Of course you can see the sky.”

“It isn’t ‘of course.’”

Ophelia answered firmly, her gaze still fixed overhead.

This was not the ceiling of an attic enclosed by musty stone walls, but the vast, unobstructed sky above the desert.

Its immensity held her gaze captive.

“Is that so?”

Kapkan lifted his head and followed Ophelia’s gaze.

As the sun rose, its light gradually spread across the sky, driving away the darkness of night.

Casting a deep orange glow along the horizon, the sun radiated brilliant light in every direction, heralding the imminent arrival of dawn.

It was the same ordinary sunrise he had witnessed countless times before.

What could make this one so special?

Kapkan lowered his gaze and watched Ophelia, who was still unable to look away from the sky. He wondered what could captivate her so deeply.

The warriors behind him had already finished preparing and were waiting for his command.

The desert would be unbearably hot at midday, so they needed to set off as early as possible, while the faint light of dawn still allowed them to see their surroundings. Yet, for some reason, Kapkan did not want to interrupt her concentration.

He quietly gestured for the warriors to wait.

It was an inexplicable impulse — the feeling that he should protect this moment for her, even if it meant disregarding the harsh rules of desert travel.

Only once the sun had risen high enough to cast their shadows side by side did he finally speak.

“Let’s depart.”

***

“Haa…… Haaah……”

The scorching sun.

Labored breathing.

An endless desert stretched out before them.

Dozens of footprints sank into the sand behind them, forming a single line.

Their journey, which had begun at dawn, had already lasted nearly half the day.

Waves of heat rose from the burning sand, pulling at the warriors’ feet.

Evidently parched, they gulped down the water in their canteens as they trudged on.

Lying limply across the camel, Ophelia watched them for a long time, deep in thought.

‘……Are they idiots?’

They claimed to have been stranded for a month. If that were true, they would have hurried back to a village by now. Instead, the scoundrels who had kidnapped Ophelia were marching deeper into the desert.

Moreover, after observing her kidnappers struggling in the blazing sun for some time, Ophelia suspected that they did not even know where they were going.

When Kapkan first spoke to her while she was lying on the sand, he said that they would take her to a village but could not guarantee it.

Had they truly been wandering at random?

They seemed so disorganized that she wondered if they were searching for a village at all.

‘I don’t think it’s in this direction……’

Ophelia focused her senses on the route they had travelled, slowly closing her eyes as she did so.

As usual, she communed with the spirits, sharpening her senses, which had previously been hazy.

She could perceive everything the spirits of nature took in as if it were her own perception.

However, her range had diminished considerably after years of imprisonment and her body had been damaged by being used as a sacrifice. Nevertheless, locating several nearby villages remained an easy task.

‘Then, let’s see……’

Steadying her breathing, Ophelia connected her consciousness to the flowing currents of sand.

She could sense faint vibrations carried by the wind and the earth beneath the dunes, as well as a distant movement resembling the flow of a river.

Amidst the myriad sensations emanating from the spirits, she began searching for the distinctive bustle generated by human beings.

“Ah, there’s sand in my boots again. My soles are going to be rubbed raw at this rate.”

“That’s because you’re always dragging your feet.”

Before long, she found a point where various sounds gathered indistinctly beneath the earth.

A place where overlapping voices and hundreds of footsteps converged could only be one thing.

A village.

The very thing the men who kidnapped her were desperately seeking.

‘Hmm……’

Ophelia glanced at the chief kidnapper and his band of followers.

Just as she expected, they were traveling in the wrong direction.

If they continued this way, there was a high probability they would become stranded in the middle of the desert and die.

‘Should I tell them?’

Ophelia considered the matter while watching her handsome but useless kidnapper clutch a compass whose needle spun wildly in every direction, practically announcing, ‘We are lost.’

Was there any reason to show kindness to kidnappers who ignored her requests to be released and dragged her wherever they pleased?

Especially when she had no idea what they intended to do to her?

The image of her musty attic flashed through her mind.

Rather than helping people who might imprison her in such a place again, she thought it would be better to wander the desert with them and quietly starve to death.

“Careful.”

Perhaps because she had become lost in thought, Ophelia slipped from the camel. Fortunately, Kapkan caught her and helped her to sit up again.

“…….”

Ophelia frowned without attempting to conceal her annoyance.

She had secretly hoped he might leave her upon the sand once she fell, but this was already the third time that day he had caught her.

Contrary to her wishes, the march across the desert continued for several more hours.

“Ah……”

Then Ophelia, who had been lying limply beneath the sunlight, abruptly sat upright.

“What is it? Is your position uncomfortable?”

Kapkan asked as he watched her raise herself with sudden wariness.

Ignoring his question, Ophelia stared across the desert, where their footprints stretched in a long line behind them.

“…….”

What was this?

Her senses had detected an enormous presence.

Something so immense that its size rivaled a building.

Ophelia looked toward Kapkan, who had moved closer, and asked,

“Do animals here live underground?”

“No. They live aboveground.”

“……Is that so?”

She furrowed her brow.

“Why the sudden curiosity?”

Kapkan regarded Ophelia with interest as she stared rigidly into the desert like a small animal on alert.

Ignoring the gazes beginning to focus upon her, Ophelia concentrated her senses once more.

‘……That can’t be right.’

Yet if it was not an animal, what enormous creature was rapidly approaching beneath the ground?

Tilting her head in puzzlement, Ophelia pointed beneath the sand.

“Something is approaching underground. It’s about…… that large.”

“……What?”

When Ophelia pointed toward a boulder the size of a house in warning, everyone stopped walking and froze.

There could be only one explanation for such an enormous movement beneath the ground.

“Could it be a sandworm?”

Kapkan murmured unconsciously.

A desert monster that swallowed its prey whole.

It excelled at ambushes, moving freely above and below the ground before suddenly emerging to attack. Accounts of anyone surviving an encounter with one were exceedingly rare.

“Is-is that really what it is……?”

Everyone tensed and stared in the direction Ophelia was watching.

A silence so complete that the sound of swallowing could be heard settled over them. As an ominous rumble drew closer, the ground began to tremble.

Rrrrrrrrrumble—

The sand blanketing the desert vibrated in tiny waves.

Dust rose into the windless air, and a deafening roar spread across the dunes as though an earthquake had begun.

“It’s approaching!”

“I know! Everyone, spread out!”

Kapkan commanded his warriors as they assumed battle formations. At his shout, they scattered in perfect order.

“Take her as far away from here as possible!”

Kapkan thr*st the reins of Ophelia’s camel into the red-haired warrior’s hand and issued an urgent command.

“Make sure the monster doesn’t approach her!”

“Yes, my lord!”

After seizing control of the reins, the warrior quickly pulled Ophelia’s camel away.

The ground shook so violently that they found it difficult to keep their balance.