Episode 19: The Sandworm Caravan (1)
The endless sea of sand stretched out everywhere.
Strong sunlight poured down, and the hot, dry heat rose from the ground.
Through all this, the caravan marched forward at full speed.
At the very front was the guide.
Around the guide were scouts, and behind them was the mercenary group.
The elite soldiers of the caravan, including the captain, were behind the mercenaries.
At the very back, the same arrangement protected the caravan scouts and mercenaries surrounding it.
If I weren’t a magician, I’d be part of the mercenary group too.
But right now, I was riding inside a carriage in the middle of the caravan.
That’s the advantage of a magician I could attack from afar with strong magic.
I was there to support the front and back of the caravan.
Still, it was a bit stressful.
“Ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t recognize you earlier!”
The plump caravan leader bowed many times from the seat across from me.
I kept telling him it was okay, and only then did he calm down.
“By the way..”
He asked carefully,
“I’ve never heard that Adeline already has a disciple?”
I thought, What a strange question, but then I realized what he meant.
“Um, could you tell me where and from whom you learned your skills?”
That was why I showed him the badge in the first place.
“And you say that disciple is already a 4th Circle? Forgive me, but that sounds unusual”
Hmm, I needed to clear up this misunderstanding first.
“He’s not my disciple. We just shared insights and reached the 4th Circle together. That’s when I got this badge.”
The caravan leader’s eyes grew wide.
“Wow! Did you exchange insights with Adeline? Really?”
“Has Adeline already reached the 4th Circle? In just five years?”
I nodded.
“That means the Red Tower must be celebrating!”
Surely they would be.
Though I doubted Adeline enjoyed celebrations much.
I pictured her, probably still practicing magic hard at that moment.
Suddenly, the carriage became quiet.
What’s going on?
The caravan leader, who had been so loud, now looked shy.
A shiver ran down my spine, remembering some trauma from when I was a branch leader.
“Um, just a personal question. What is Adeline like in person?”
Thank goodness. He’s interested in Adeline, not me.
That explained his reaction when I showed her badge.
But.. What should I say about Adeline?
If I said she was rude, that sounded bad.
If I said she was brilliant but rude, that might sound worse.
I was about to say she had a warm heart beneath it all.
“I heard she’s quite beautiful.”
Oh, he meant her looks.
Looks.. Well, I’ve mostly seen celebrities, not many real women, so it’s hard to judge.
I compared Adeline to celebrities in my mind:
Her arms and legs are just right, slim and long.
Skin fair and white.
Her eyes, nose, and mouth are perfectly balanced.
Basically, she looked like a celebrity.
“I think she’s pretty.”
I wasn’t 100% sure, so I added “I think.”
The caravan leader’s eyes lit up.
“Oh! So the rumors are true!”
He smiled happily, like an astronomer discovering a new planet.
Suddenly
Screech! The carriage stopped abruptly.
The door opened, and the captain appeared with a serious face.
“Caravan leader! A sandworm pit has appeared! One carriage got swept away”
Still, the caravan leader looked calm and said,
“It’s okay! As long as it’s not carriage number seven”
“It’s carriage number seven!”
At that moment, the caravan leader jumped out of the carriage with surprising speed for his size.
“No! Not number seven!” he shouted.
I hurried after him.
At the scene, many caravan members had gathered.
“It’s the caravan leader!”
“He’s here!”
They parted as he arrived, revealing the accident site.
A huge conical sand pit had formed.
On the steep sides, tons of sand were sliding down, gathering in the center and being sucked underground.
The carriage was stuck on one side of the steep pit.
Unlike other carriages, this one was heavily reinforced with strong walls all around the cargo area, clearly very important.
The pale-faced driver trembled on top of the carriage,
“Please, save me!” he begged.
But the caravan leader only cared about the carriage.
“My carriage number seven!”
Hearing his despair, I looked down at the sand pit and thought,
“A sandworm”
Among desert monsters, these are especially dangerous.
The sand pit it creates is notorious.
If something falls in, it’s nearly impossible to escape the steep slopes and flowing sand.
The prey struggles and is pulled down into the pit…
Then the worm snaps it up with its huge jaws.
That’s the end.
People, monsters, or carriages all swallowed.
At least it should be worth the travel fee
I cast a spell:
Magic Web.
Threads of magical energy wrapped around the driver and pulled him out.
“Ugh!”
The driver flew out like a fish caught on a line, landing safely outside the pit.
That saved the easy part the driver.
Now came the heavy carriage.
The caravan leader ran over to me.
“Magician! Please, do something!”
I thought about it.
Too heavy to pull with the Magic Web alone…
Space magic crossed my mind, but it uses too much mana.
Moving myself isn’t bad, but opening a large portal for the carriage would drain a lot of mana.
I put space magic aside and looked for another plan.
Do I even have to pull it out?
If pulling it out is too hard, holding it in place with Magic Web might work.
If the carriage stayed stuck halfway on the slope..
I imagined what could happen.
Satisfied with the idea, I fired several Magic Web strands at the carriage.
Ping!
The webs stretched tight but held firm.
“Wow! The carriage stopped moving!”
The caravan leader cheered.
But then he asked,
“How do we pull it up now?”
I wasn’t planning to pull it up.
We just had to wait.
“Let’s wait and see.”
My plan was to use the sandworm’s habits against it.
Normally, the worm waits until the prey tires in the pit, then bites it with those huge jaws.
But if the prey resists halfway like this…
The worm gets impatient.
Looks like it doesn’t have much patience after all.
Suddenly, Boom! A loud explosion sounded.
From the pit’s center, sand sprayed up like hot springs.
Finally, the sandworm appeared.
It was huge, matching the size of the sand pit.
Its jaws were big enough to swallow the carriage in one bite.
The worm wriggled like a giant worm and started climbing the slope.
“Gasp!”
“What is that?”
People screamed as they saw the worm’s main body for the first time.
I had only seen it in the game before, but this was real.
Still, I wasn’t scared.
I just waited for the right moment.
That carriage that was inside that made it so heavily guarded, with magic leaking out?
It was a perfect bait for the mana-sensitive sandworm.
Meanwhile, the caravan leader shouted,
“No! The carriage! No!”
He dropped to his knees, crying.
“It’s over! I’m done for!”
“Wait! Don’t lose patience!” I shouted.
Rumble!
The sandworm roared as it climbed up.
Its terrible smell made me wrinkle my nose.
Chomp!
The worm opened its huge mouth to swallow the carriage.
Sharp teeth covered its jaws, and inside was endless darkness.
Now, that was a little scary.
But I didn’t miss the moment.
Now!
Whoosh!
Fire Lance appeared at my fingertips, a spear of flame shooting at the pit below the carriage.
It barely brushed the carriage’s edge, lighting up the darkness inside the worm’s mouth.
Boom!
The explosion made the worm breathe fire.
Thud!
Its massive body fell to the ground.
Its head was toasted and smoking.
No matter the size, a bug is a bug.
They’re weak to fire.
The captain muttered in disbelief,
“You killed it? In one shot?”
One shot.
I liked that too.
Saved mana.
You never know what might happen next. Better to save mana.
The caravan leader looked worried but relieved.
As I relaxed, I started hearing people talk around me.
“None of the magicians I’ve seen were like this.”
“You’re a 4th Circle! Of course, you’re better than those 1st or 2nd Circles!”
“This expedition has nothing to worry about now!”
Honestly, I didn’t think it was that amazing.
I didn’t even modify the code much, just cast some existing spells.
It felt like when non-experts clap just for running a command prompt after staying up all night writing code.
It’s a strange feeling, not bad, but weird.
Just as I was about to return to the carriage,
“Magician! Please wait!”
The caravan leader called me.
Is there something else?
He seemed unusually eager and respectful.
“I want to offer you some kind of reward.”
There was still an important matter to handle.