Well, it did not mean that something happened to us right away. It was a significant relief for Rhea!

– Whiiiiimper.

“Shh, it’s okay. Big bro is here, nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, our Rhea is so brave.” I calmed the red pandas and looked outside the window. Demy and Perry tightly hugged her as well. We could faintly make out the ghosts crying outside.

– Ooooooooo—

– Aaaaaaaaaahh……!

They resembled will-o’-the-wisp. A human-like shadow that had no legs roamed around the ruins as if it was lost. It was the first time since we came into the desert that I felt like it was cold. I couldn’t tell their faces or appearance because of the distance, but it gave me the chills.

Joanne was all over the place as well. I couldn’t tell whether she was saying she was going to die from laughter or from fear. Christelle was clearly the former while Sand was the latter.

We instantly gathered around like a pile of mussels. The Imperial Crown Prince had a glare on his face like a predatory beast aiming for its prey.

“But they are not coming over here. Is it some kind of location-based grudge or something?”

“That is correct.” Sir Johann answered the MC’s question. His explanation was easy to understand. “The ghosts of Únĭo can only be found in the ruins. They are tied to it and cannot leave. Some people believe that they remain there out of their own free will.”

“Then the reason they are called evil souls……”

“It is something the tomb raiders gave them. They bother the humans who infiltrate the ruins. They do not otherwise harm people.”

“Huuuuuu.”

I looked at a ghost that was shaking ominously and let out a sigh. I was still scared and had chills down my body, but I felt relieved that they only appear in those areas.

‘Then they shouldn’t come to villages where people live. They shouldn’t attack our caravan either. We are not here to do bad things.’

……After thinking that far, I suddenly became curious. “Sir Johann.”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Are priests not able to push ghosts away? Well, more than pushing them away…… Is it difficult to help them rest in peace?”

“That is a bit difficult to explain.”

Sir Johann tilted his head. Everybody looked toward him. Even Rhea, who gathered up the courage, was patting Sand’s shaking hand.

“They are the souls of the dead and not demonic beasts, so you cannot take care of them through water or fire. That much is understandable, but it is quite odd that they are not affected by ether either. The Vatican has researched it for quite a long time without gaining much information.”

“Ho. There are truly all sorts of things in the world.” Joanne looked extremely pale. But the fact that she was looking at her charcoal and paper must mean that she was able to find some inspiration in such a situation as well.

Basically, they were existences that could not be erased from this world. A priest’s ether, a mage’s mana, even a warrior’s weapon did not work on these souls.

‘I wonder how they ended up with so much grudge. How did they end up spending a thousand years in this place?’

“Aigoo. Our Tithé has turned into an icicle.”

– Aarf!

Christelle suddenly got up and looked for the rope to close the blinds. I could see that the harp seal she was looking after was cold from fear. I wrapped the little guy like a crêpe and urgently shoved him toward crown prince Cédric. He sat elegantly, looking at me with a gaze that seemed to be asking what I wanted him to do, but I just placed the little guy in his clothes.

‘He shouldn’t suffocate from being pushed down by those muscles, right…… Let’s not think about such things.’

“How dare you-”

– Aarf.

“You are warm, your Royal Highness. Please take care of our baby for us.”

I smiled and patted his shoulder as if it was a button. Activate the crown prince’s warmth generator!

“Your highness, please come over here and take a look. The sunset is amazing!”

Christelle, who had been putting the blinds down to cover the window, smiled brightly and called out to me. Even Joanne, who did not like the ghosts, must not have wanted to miss the beautiful sunset as she covered her face with her hand and looked outside. Sand squirmed his way to let me see.

I quickly got off the bed and stuck to the window with the little troublemakers. I staggered for a moment and the crown prince clicked his tongue from the back. ‘I’m the older one.’

“Wow……”

What followed was the most beautiful and romantic view on the entire continent. I blanked out as I stared at the sky outside the window. It started with a thick gold glow at the horizon and spread up in orange, red, and then magenta. The end of the sunset showed the light purple color of night. The few blue-gray clouds I could see resembled the mobiles rotating above the cradle. The sky seemed to be showing off to us, letting us see all of the colors that it possessed.

It was the type of thing I would see while stealthily going to travel websites while working. I wasn’t the type to be wowed by nature, but I couldn’t help but smile. The moans of the ghosts in the distance put a bit of a damper, and I was sad that Eunseo and my brother were not with me. But the fact that I could be here with my friends like this was something happy that I should be thankful for.

I pushed my forehead out to see the back of the wagon. Demy also leaned so far that his stomach flatted against the window.

– Clack, clack……

– Pruuuuuuuuu

The long caravan was constantly moving with the sunset behind it. The endless sand moved like waves with the wind. The staff who had covered their bodies with cloth seemed to be a part of the masterpiece.

My jaw dropped.

‘I’ve said things like this so many times since transmigrating here, but I guess I’ll say it again.’

“How magical. It’s so cool.”

– Kiiiiii….

Perry’s tongue stuck out as he agreed with me. Joanne suddenly raised her voice at that moment.

“Oh! That looks like our lodging! Isn’t that the caravan sewrap or whatever?!”

“I believe it is, Baroness!” Sand answered with excitement. We quickly rushed back toward the window.

Sir Johann quietly chuckled. The little troublemakers and I were pushing our bodies up against the window, trying not to miss a beautiful sight, despite the caravanserai not going anywhere.

“It is beautiful seeing it from here too. Everything looks so interesting.” I quietly gasped with admiration, making Christelle’s cheek move up and down. We still had a long way to go, but I could clearly see a large and exotic building at the end.

I took a peek toward the crown prince. The punk who was seated on the bed was too busy showing Tithé a fire orb that he was not paying us any attention. I bit down on my lips so that I did not burst into laughter.

*

The desert was quite cold once the sun set.

‘I wonder if it would look like this if they mixed a freeway rest stop with a motel and created it in the desert. Well, I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been to a motel.’

“Welcome, Viscount Rambouillet. Thank you so much for returning to our caravanserai.”

“It’s been a while, Monica. You’re looking pretty healthy. We’ll be in your care for a bit.”

“It is my honor, Viscount Rambouillet. Lady Rambouillet, I hope the trip wasn’t too difficult.”

“You all are the ones working hard. Please take good care of our kids this time too.”

Viscount Rambouillet and his wife greeted the owner of the lodging while Sir Johann pulled Joanne back from running off three times. The little troublemakers were staying on the wagon just in case. Sand, as someone from the Vatican, was pretty calm, but Christelle and I were constantly looking around to see the people and the buildings. Only the crown prince showed a different demeanor. He was as calm as a sage despite it probably being his first time in such a place. To be more specific, he resembled a member of the Imperial family from the neutral region. ‘Just his usual self.’

-♬♪♩……!

“Wahahaha!”

I could hear music and laughter coming from somewhere as well. Ring, ring. I felt like I could hear a bell as well. The scent, the noise, the color… Everything that I was experiencing was so new that I got so excited to the point I forgot about my fatigue. I continued to look around beyond the magenta veil on my head.

“To be honest with you, I thought you would be here during the Grand Celebration.”

“Oh, our travel plans got a bit delayed. You know how things are in this line of business.”

“Of course, my lady. It is the Almighty God’s blessing that you all safely arrived here……”

Our first caravanserai, ‘Zaum,’ was a donut-shaped three story extremely large lodging with an opening in the middle. I had no idea how other caravanserais would be, but at least this place looked like that. The light brown buildings that were colored sky blue seemed to have been around for centuries. Most paths were open unless it was a place that truly needed a door; all of the openings had sharp arches up top. The inner court that had old tiles had a fountain and planters decorated in turquoise as well. The first floor corridor had a lobby, a restaurant, the stable, a pawn shop, and a lost and found. People wearing turbans were quickly walking around. I could see some soldiers as well, the only people wearing different outfits. ‘They should be soldiers from the Vatican, right?’

It was bad that I was enjoying this like a resort when we were here on a serious mission.

“But we do have a lot of empty rooms thanks to you coming at this time, so you should be able to relax well.”

“Hohoho. Yes, there is always a silver lining.”

“But the people with you……”

The owner, Monica, cautiously looked at us.

We had all changed into clothes in the fashion of the neutral region, so it made sense she would be curious that we were with the Viscount’s family.

“Are they dancers?”

“……”

‘Wait, is she talking about me? Is she asking if I’m a dancer? Because I’m wearing a veil with a jewel?’

“Kehehehe.”

“This is my daughter, Christelle. The ones by her are her friends.” While Christelle was trying her best to hold back her laughter, Isabelle explained with a gentle smile.

Only Joanne did not realize the situation and asked, ‘your highness, you make money by dancing too?’ by whispering to me.

Monica awkwardly apologized to Christelle.

“Please excuse me for not recognizing you, my lady. You must have come to sightsee in the desert with your friends.”

“Yes ma’am, that’s okay.”

“I pray that you have a wonderful time under the eyes of the Almighty God. It will be a precious experience.” She gently said some words to bless our trip before swiftly helping us sign in. The caravanserai staff had been taking our stuff to our rooms already. They said that we didn’t need to use our real names, so after seeing the crown prince just use his initials… I also just wrote down J.V. Sir Johann put Johann G., while Sand put Sand R. Joanne, the only one of us with nothing to hide, put Joanne T. Haas, her full name, as well as a beautiful signature next to it.

As for the last person……

‘Christelle’.

That’s all she wrote.

Isabelle received the ledger from her and I could see deep sorrow in her eyes. I opened and closed my mouth a few times to say something but ended up closing my mouth without being able to say anything.

The quill pen and the ledger made its way around. Christelle’s demeanor showed no changes until we headed to our assigned rooms.

*

‘Why did she not write her last name? Just to keep it short? Maybe because she didn’t want to write Sarnez? But she could have put her mother’s last name. Maybe she doesn’t consider herself a member of the Viscount’s House of Rambouillet yet?’

However……

– Knock!

“Mm.”

I quietly groaned as I woke up. My eyelids would not open, as I did not manage to fall asleep until late last night.

My body and mind were excited, and it was a foreign place, but most importantly, Christelle’s actions had been weighing heavily on me. I couldn’t easily forget Isabelle looking hurt as well.

I squirmed and the red pandas that had been lying down by my ankles slowly crawled up. For reference, Tithé was sleeping with the crown prince bastard in the room across from us. The harp seal had been scared of him until recently, but they seemed to have gotten quite close after yesterday.

– Squeeeee.

“Oh, what time is it?”

– Kiiiii.

“Eight o’ clock? Hehehe.” I couldn’t help but chuckle despite being the one who said it.

I kept my eyes closed and the little guys slowly squirmed into my arms. I petted the three little troublemakers and continued my thoughts from last night.

First of all, it was difficult for me to go ask her. Yes, I accepted that Christelle and I were now close… And we shared almost all of our secrets except things like our transmigration… But this was still an extremely sensitive topic. Or maybe I was turning something that wasn’t anything into something big. It had only been two months since that trial and everybody was being careful whenever Simon de Simon was mentioned……

– Knock!

“Hey kid! What are you doing to a guest’s room?!”

– Thunk thump clang!

‘Mm, I guess I can’t go back to sleep.’ I opened my eyes about half way and slowly got up. It made more sense to figure out the cause of this noise rather than continuously worrying about something I had no answers for.

I petted Percy, who was resting in the silk nest on a side table and and gasped after seeing that the clock was really showing 8:03am…

(Demy, did you learn human speech?” – Whimper. “No. Did I learn the language of the divine beasts?”)

I brushed the back of my head with my hand and headed out to the living room.

The lodging was in the shape of a suite. The four men shared a suite while Isabelle and the two ladies shared another one. The Viscount and his wife naturally had their own room.

‘But where is that knocking…….’

– Squeak!

Our Action Leader strikes again! Demy got up and expanded his body before tapping a piece of paper stuck to the door with his front paw. Cutting the life out of its target fruit at once was one of a red panda’s vicious traits. I had been struck by it many times as well.

“Good job, Demy. I guess it was loud because someone was dropping that off.”

– Pruu

“Thanks.”

I slowly picked up the sand-colored paper. I then saw a desperate cry for help. The writing was very large and slanted.

“Looking for my ten year old younger sibling, India. She went into the Zaum ruins during the Grand Celebration and has not returned. My sister is not a tomb raider. She is not a thief either. She is just a talented archaeologist who followed adults into the ruins because she wanted to see the treasures for herself. Please look for Marian, the theologian, in the Zaum caravanserai pawnshop if you have any information. Appearance: Short with long hair. Red dot under her right eye……’

‘Holy shit. She must have lost her sister in this dangerous desert.’ This girl named Marian must have been putting these notes in every room. ‘I wish we could help her.’

“You are scheming something again.”

“Eek!” I gasped and clutched my chest. I then opened my tightly shut eyes and slowly turned around.

‘This motherfucker must be creeping up silently to kill me from a heart attack. The male lead is scarier than the ghosts. Do you understand how I feel, oh readers of romfans?’

—
Translator’s Comments

Is he scary? Or are you just a bit slow…

<< Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter >>