Chapter 653

Chapter 38 – Night in the Desert

I stood up from where I was, shook the short sword to dislodge the blood-stained ice shards, wiped it on my robe, and sheathed it at my waist. I gathered my hair behind my head, glanced at the dead beast to confirm it had stopped breathing, then hurried inside the cave.

“Betty!”

The darkness inside the cave was profound. I could vaguely see where the little girl had been lying; the sand had been disturbed, and she was no longer there. Soft ground showed marks of claws. I scanned the cave and saw her small body curled up in a narrow corner between the rocky walls on the left side.

“Betty, are you okay?”

I walked over. The little girl seemed too frightened to respond. When she noticed me approaching, she instinctively shrank back. The dim light revealed a look of terror and tears welling up in her eyes as she stared out of the cave.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s me, it’s me… You’re safe now…”

I squatted down in front of her, gently holding her trembling hand and soothing her by stroking her hand. After a long moment, her gaze finally focused, and she turned towards me.

“Lady…?”

She murmured, and I nodded slightly, smiling softly. “How are you? Are you hurt anywhere…”

As I spoke, my eyes quickly scanned her body. Her cheeks were fine, her neck unmarked, and her clothes intact… She seemed fine except for being terrified.

“Phew—”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“When did you wake up?”

I tried to help her stand up, but the little girl’s legs were already weak. She stumbled after standing and nearly fell again. I quickly caught her, feeling her cold, trembling little body. Her hands clung tightly to my robe, burying her face in my chest. After a deep breath, she spoke in a quivering voice, as if complaining.

“Where did you go… Where did you go… Lady… I was so scared…”

She no longer addressed me with formality.

“I was so scared…”

“Ahh—”

Soon, the little girl’s loud cries echoed through the silent desert night.

…………

As the night grew deeper, the temperature around us dropped even more. The bright campfire crackled, illuminating the entire rock cave in a bright red glow, while gray smoke drifted out into the night sky, disappearing into the darkness.

“I… I just woke up too…”

The little girl, with messy hair, squatted beside the fire, warming her hands. Her face was dirty, and her eyes were still red from crying. She wrapped herself tightly in her cloak, mumbling, her eyes fixed on the red meat sizzling on the skewer made of thick branches. Her throat moved slowly, gulping audibly.

On the other side, the black-haired girl sat on a rock she had brought over, holding one end of the thick branch, roasting the meat back and forth over the fire. She muttered to herself, “Will this be good?” Then, she bent down to add some dry grass to the fire and blew into it, making the flames brighter.

“This beast is called a Lysta Sand Leopard. We usually call it a Sand Cat. It’s very fierce. Though not as strong as a Ranier Giant Lizard, it’s much more agile and has thicker scales… People living in Epalista are all afraid of it because it appears and disappears without a trace, like the most skilled hunter in the desert. By the time you see it, you can’t escape anymore…”

The little girl leaned closer to the fire, rubbing her nose, and smiled shyly. “But to Lady, it’s only about whether it’s tasty or not… Betty hasn’t eaten this before, but when I was little, Grandpa used to tell me about it. He said there was a great hunter named Mr. West who once killed a Sand Cat in the desert and brought it back to town for everyone to share. My grandpa ate it too, and he said it was delicious.”

“Is that so…”

The girl’s eyes lit up at the mention.

The campfire warmed the cave, and soon, they felt cozy. The little girl stopped shivering, and her thin lips regained their color. Despite the harsh conditions, she seemed to have grown up resilient. The earlier fright didn’t seem to have affected her much.

She couldn’t help but feel a heavy psychological burden and started chattering again, incessantly talking.

“We have to spend the night in the desert… There are no adults around, and this is Betty’s first time… It’s her first time encountering a sandstorm and eating a sand cat… Today was really terrifying… But, she also felt amazed. Betty actually made it through unscathed. When she goes back and tells the boys in town, their jaws will drop… Huhu…”

“Just that we can’t go back for now, Grandpa must be very worried…”

“Sister, can I take a look at that short sword? I haven’t seen it before… What was it burned with? How could it be so powerful, piercing right through the sand cat’s head with just one swipe…”

“It was given to me by someone else.”

I unfastened the scabbard tied around my waist and tossed it to her. The little girl caught it hurriedly, holding it in her palms, and feeling the prominent patterns on the leather scabbard. After a moment, she couldn’t hold back her exclamation: “Wow… Such beautiful beast patterns, just touching it feels so powerful, my heart inexplicably races, how strange… What kind of beast skin is this…”

The little girl didn’t wait for me to answer; with a clang, she drew the short sword out, revealing a large portion of the blade, which gleamed white and sharp under the firelight, casting a dazzling cold light.

That light shone into Betty’s azure eyes, twinkling beautifully.

“Wow…”

The little girl let out another exclamation: “Why is it white… I’ve never seen such a thing before, what exactly is it…”

“It’s a dragon.”

The meat was already changing color. I flipped it over, poked it with a finger, put the finger in my mouth, and tasted it with a satisfying smack. I nodded contentedly: “Dragon bones and skin.”

It tasted like beef… It would definitely be delicious when cooked, and even better with salt. Unfortunately… I had brought salt, but it was all lost in the sandstorm…

“Oh, so it’s a dragon…”

Betty nodded as well, completely drawing out the short sword and waving it in her hand for a few seconds, then suddenly froze.

“Dragon dragon dragon dragon… Dragon!?”

The little girl raised her head abruptly, her widened eyes filled with horror, looking at me, her face showing disbelief: “What did you say, sister, this is a dragon?!! The legendary great dragon!!!”

“Mm-hm.”

Her voice was quite loud, disturbing me, making my ears itch. I scratched my ear with my little finger, frowning slightly: “Don’t be so surprised. It’s just a dragon. There’s one still alive here.”

“Huh!?”

Upon hearing my words, Betty sat up straight, her shock even greater, hastily looking around: “There is?! Where, shouldn’t we escape quickly…”

Then the little girl realized, and laughed: “Sister, you’re fooling me.”

“Haha.”

I shrugged indifferently.

Not long after, the meat was done. The little girl returned the dragon claw to me, and I used it to cut the meat, dividing a fist-sized piece for Betty and keeping the rest for myself. The girl seemed genuinely hungry, holding the greasy sand panther meat, blowing air to cool it while eating, her face lighting up with joy.

The meat indeed tasted good. Although it had no spices, its natural flavor was rich, tender and smooth, easy to swallow without much chewing, even better than lizard meat. I couldn’t resist roasting another leg, which the little girl couldn’t finish, so I ate it all.

“So, we’ll rest here for the night. Tomorrow, continue heading east?”

“Uh-huh, that’s right.”

During the meal, I told Little Betty about our current predicament. Initially, the girl was also anxious, but after going out to see the terrain and returning, her excitement was impossible to hide.

She said she knew where they were. Last year, she had been to the neighboring town with people from her town, the same town Robert the old man had previously mentioned, located to the east. The little girl and the townspeople passed through here on their way there to exchange hair ties, and she remembered these rocks, vouching that she wouldn’t be wrong.

Most importantly, this place was not far from that town.

What good luck…

“Sister, you truly are the successor of the Goddess… Truly blessed, even I am fortunate to share in your luck,” Betty said with a silly smile.