## Chapter 1216 – The Shurdick Great Desert

And so, we set off for the Shurdick Great Desert.

“I never thought I’d travel this far in my life. I’m seeing all sorts of places.”
“This one has never set foot in a desert either.”

Given the lack of entertainment in this other world, traveling somewhere was always a joy.

It was almost like a vacation.

But that bastard One Dragon and Two Dragon couldn’t come with us. They said drake-type mounts weren’t effective in the desert, so we just left them at the capital and paid for their upkeep. Those damn useless bastards!

Honestly, mounts weren’t really necessary these days anyway.

What am I going to do with these guys? I should just sell them since they’re useless, but I’ve grown attached to them. I might have to raise them for the rest of my life. As far as I can tell, these guys are just pets now.

I’ll raise you with love.

“Sis, is there anything fun there?”
“Hmm, I wonder? What could there be?”
“Why don’t you know?”
“It’s not that I don’t know, but it’s better to see for yourself. The cultures are different, after all.”
“Is that so?”

For transportation, we either used a carriage or I carried a few people and we ran together. Since we didn’t have any luggage, we didn’t really need anything else. We could just focus on moving.

In fact, this was even faster.

Honestly, if anyone could enter Hilde’s inventory, I would have put them all inside and just carried Hilde while running. It might be good to develop Hilde’s abilities in that direction, but it’s fine if it works out, and it’s fine if it doesn’t.

Like that.

We crossed the border and entered the Merkudia Kingdom. After entering, there wasn’t anything particularly special.

Just southwest.

As we continued diagonally downwards towards that direction, the normal scenery gradually disappeared, and a place that looked like the beginning of the desert appeared.

In other words, a rocky desert zone.

“Yeah. You could say this is the edge of the Shurdick Great Desert. If you keep going down, you’ll find a sandy area.”
“What a unique landscape!”

Certainly, the Karga Kingdom had a lot of mountains and lakes, so this rocky desert zone felt very unique. It really had an exotic feel.

“Surprisingly, there are a lot of merchants, huh?”

As Karin said, there were many merchants around using various livestock monsters to transport goods. Not only that, but there were also quite a few warriors escorting the merchants. There seemed to be some travelers as well.

“The northern desert kingdoms often trade with kingdoms outside the desert. But I spent a lot of time in the central region, so I don’t know much about that.”

You can’t just lump all deserts together as one.

The culture varies by region, so it’s diverse.

“Hoo… What about the Dark Elf Kingdom? I heard there was one of those too?”
“There isn’t one in the north. Humans occupy the north.”

Dark Elves also created kingdoms, but they don’t gather together as a race to establish a unified kingdom and live like the dwarves or the elves of Elven Forest.

They’re just like humans.

There are several kingdoms, city-states, or tribal states scattered around, and they fight among themselves for territory. They may look different, but their habits are similar to those of humans.

But it seems that the Dark Elf Kingdom isn’t in the north. You have to go south to find it. If we travel around, we might see it nearby.

“Sis, don’t you hate Dark Elves?”
“I had more reasons to fight them, so I don’t really like them. I’ve killed quite a few, actually.”
“Heo.”
“Hehehe, it can’t be helped. That’s just how it is in the desert.”

Since Claudia was a half-elf, she couldn’t live among the Dark Elves. It’s the same in any neighborhood, but in the desert, half-elves are even more hated.

Humans and Dark Elves are almost hostile, and that sentiment is widespread, so it’s only natural.

But the Dark Elves are even worse because they have better senses than humans, so they often distinguish half-elves. When they’re in human cities, they don’t know if they’re just covered up, but the elves recognize them and come to pick a fight.

So Claudia said she mostly lived in human cities.

“Claudia, should I take care of any Dark Elf bastards you meet?”

I don’t forgive those who oppress half-elves.

“It’s okay, Katt. Only do it when there’s a good reason. Thank you.”
“I will.”

Anyway, Dark Elves.

Claudia’s mother was human and her father was a Dark Elf. Her hair color was from her mother’s genes, she said. But her mother passed away about a hundred years ago… So that means her elf father might still be alive.

If we’re lucky, we might meet him, but the Shurdick Great Desert is such a large place. There’s nothing harder than meeting someone in the desert.

While sharing such stories, we moved along with the merchants’ procession.

* * *

We finally entered the desert proper.

This was a large city located inside the Shurdick Great Desert, but it was quite close to the Merkudia Kingdom and other countries.

It could be said to be located at the northern end of the desert.

Such places inevitably have a large floating population. It was very prosperous because merchants and others were moving around a lot, and so it was quite large.

The scenery was quite exotic, and the yellow buildings unique to the desert were truly impressive. What should I say? Ancient Egypt? It was as if such a place had not collapsed and had continued to develop in an otherworldy way.

Damn it.

I can’t help but think of Imhotep.

“Ah.”

I’ve seen the movie “The Mummy” so many times that it’s one of my favorite movies. When I was young, I was so obsessed with Imhotep that I wandered around the neighborhood all day chanting “Imhotep, Imhotep, Imhotep” as if I was hypnotized.

Of course, the moment my dad caught me, he beat me to death, saying that I was doing some kind of cult thing again, but at the time, I was so into “The Mummy.” No matter how much you try to prohibit it with violence, you can’t stop a child’s pure heart.

In fact, there wasn’t a single kid in that age group who didn’t like “The Mummy.”

Looking back, that’s how we all played back then. We would collectively sing “Imhotep,” or compete to see who could pronounce “Anck-su-namun” the best. It was nothing special, but boys burned their souls for such trivial things… just like Imhotep, who wished for the resurrection of Anck-su-namun.

I have such memories.

Especially when I tricked my younger sibling by pretending that a female stag beetle was a flesh-eating scarab and stuck it on their back, it was truly spectacular.

ㅡ”I’m being eaten!!! I’m being eaten!!! I’m being eaaaaaten!!!! I’m being eaten!!! Aaaaaaaah!! Kyaaaaaaaaah!! Oooooooooh!!”

I still can’t forget the way my younger sibling genuinely screamed back then. My younger sibling was truly desperate, thinking that they were being eaten.

The screams were so realistic that even I, who had played the prank, believed it was a real scarab and burst into tears. So I had no choice but to abandon my younger sibling there and run away… These are all old memories.

“Hehehe.”

I’m living a good life here with eight beautiful women and gaining divine power. But what are my younger siblings doing? Did they all go to college?

“It’s so amazing. It’s completely different from the Dwarf Kingdom.”
“This one also feels like her knowledge is expanding.”
“Sis, hurry. Give us a local guide.”

That was their impression of the city. Everyone was admiring the buildings or observing the passersby and marveling.

“I’ve only been here once. I only stopped by once when I left the desert last time.”

I also looked around and it was really different.

The clothing was especially interesting. Some people were wearing revealing clothes, while others were wrapped tightly in black clothes.

It felt like about half of the people were showing a lot of skin, and the other half were covering their bodies. Those people were walking along the yellow streets and under the strangely shaped desert trees, so it was truly exotic.

“Oh.”

But what was particularly noticeable was the women’s clothing. Some people were wearing clothes like dancers, and some women were dressed like the real Anck-su-namun.

Anck-su-namun.

For some reason, if I looked around, I felt like I would see Imhotep, as well as O’Connell and Evelyn… What is this nostalgia for the past? I felt like Shin-chan’s dad who had entered a 20th-century museum.

“Hmm. But are they all human?”
“Yeah. Unless it’s a special city, it’s natural for races to be hostile to each other.”

Currently, Claudia was covering her ears.
Risha also didn’t have her ears exposed.

“Of course, there are cities where various races live together, and they may mix depending on the industry, but in the end, it’s not common. So I have to cover my ears like this.”

Hmm.

“Because if you go around with them exposed, you might suddenly be attacked.”
“Attacked!!!”

These crazy bastards!!!

“To dare make Claudia cover her pretty ears!!!”

Rage erupts…!
I immediately took off Claudia’s hat.

ㅡWhoosh!

“Katt…?”
“Go around with them exposed. As long as I’m by your side, there’s no need to hide them.”

If anyone picks a fight over her ears, I’ll tear their ears off on the spot.

“Hehehe, okay. Then I’ll do as Katt says.”

Claudia looked at me with a happy smile. ㅡSwish. As I looked around, I could feel that everyone’s attention was focused on us in an instant.

ㅡ…
ㅡ…
ㅡ…

They were pretending not to, but everyone was glancing at Claudia from all directions.

“Wow. This is a bit blatant.”
“Hoo… The reaction is definitely different.”

Karin and Risha said.

“To be this blatant. But I can just ignore them looking. The important thing is if they come at us with hostility.”

The habits of the humans living here are not something I need to consider. There’s no reason for Claudia to hide her ears uncomfortably because of such reasons.

“The discrimination seems really bad. Humans tend to believe in useless things. Such discrimination is useless!”
“It’s embarrassing that humans don’t know what even succubi know.”

Anyway, we strolled through the streets. Honestly, I was a bit bothered by the attention, but when I glared at them once, they flinched and looked away, so it didn’t matter much.

These bastards are instinctively feeling my power right now.

“Father, everyone seems to be looking too much.”
“It’s okay. Ah. By the way, is Ari doing okay?”
“Ah, yes. It’s not a friendly environment, but I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief.”

I’m glad Ari is okay.

“Oh? Sis. Look at that.”

At that time, Winia said.

“Yeah?”

I followed Winia’s gaze.

“Is purple hair common here? I don’t think I saw it much when we were in the kingdom, but there are quite a few here.”
“Ah? You’re right? There are a lot of purple-haired people?”

As she said, there were many people with purple hair here and there. There were a lot of them, regardless of gender. Their skin was also brown like Claudia’s.

Certainly, Claudia’s style seems to be common in the desert.

“It seems to be common in the desert. It’s probably similar for humans and Dark Elves.”
“I see.”

Well, this isn’t Earth.

“By the way, is anyone hot here?”

But suddenly, that came to mind.

“Huh? I’m not hot.”
“I’m not hot either, Katt!”

No one said they were hot. The temperature was actually a bit high. But I wasn’t hot at all… Well. That’s probably natural. It’s called being impervious to heat and cold. Superhumans don’t really feel heat or cold.

“Winia?”
“I’m okay too.”
“See, Winia? I told you your level has increased.”
“Is that so?”

If Winia doesn’t feel the heat well, she must have grown for sure.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

At that time, Liztina said.

“I’ve been looking around while walking, but shouldn’t we buy new clothes since we’ve come to the desert?”
“Clothes, you say? Certainly. The clothes we’re wearing now seem to stand out.”
“Right?”

Clothes.

“Then let’s go buy them.”

Of course, we have to go buy them.
I have no intention of just passing by those revealing outfits.