In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

She asked again, "Are you confident about this trip?"

"Ah."

"Don't worry, there will be no problem."

He tucked the small box back into his arms, then pulled out the papers from the document bag and began to read them carefully.

This was the information about the Tanit tribe that he had asked the Blazing Beast Hunter to collect in Aru Village.

As for that little box.

Inside are his Eye of the Fire God and Eye of the Grass God.

While he was at the Order Academy, he entrusted both Eyes of God to Desia for safekeeping.

The reason he asked for these two items back at this time was...

It was because after so much preparation, Nafis was finally going to make a move against Hafsey.

Before you need to use yourself.

Rhodes needed to resolve the issue with the Tanit tribe first, lest things get complicated.

It just so happens that Tillyes was a traveling scholar, and it also just so happens that the research project that Gülech applied for for him was taken over by Qinat.

So, taking advantage of this identity as a traveling scholar...

Rhodes then planned to take advantage of this time to go to the Tanit tribe for his first 'study tour'.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 111 Elder Babel

The weather in the desert remained as harsh as ever.

No matter where you go, you can't escape the words "dry, hot, and thirsty." The corpses that can be seen everywhere also fill this yellow sand and blue sky with an atmosphere of death.

Fortunately.

Rhodes is no longer the clueless newbie he used to be.

When he stepped into the desert again, he was already able to easily survive in such a harsh environment.

[Due to security concerns, the Religious Council has issued a ban on other desert areas of the Great Red Sand Sea, strictly prohibiting travel there!]

[If this advice is ignored, the Holy See will not bear any responsibility for any accidents that occur in these areas.]

This was the new announcement that Rhodes saw on the bulletin board when he left Kavan Station.

It is said that the monsters in the Great Red Sand Sea have been unusually restless recently. Therefore, when Rhodes, dressed in the robes of the Order of the Church, appeared in Kawan Post Station and clearly intended to pass through the station alone, the patrolling Order of the Church immediately appeared and stopped him. After confirming that Rhodes was determined to go to the desert, the Order of the Church made him sign a disclaimer before letting him leave.

"There are definitely more monsters than before. Is this a sign that a massive sandstorm is coming?"

Rhodes casually crushed a sand scorpion that was trying to attack him, frowning as he muttered to himself.

He hadn't even ventured deep into the Great Red Sand Sea yet, and the number of monsters he encountered was already several times greater than before.

While in Aru Village.

Rhodes had heard the elders say that once the monsters in the desert showed signs of restlessness and large-scale migration, it meant that the Red King was about to unleash his wrath, and a sandstorm powerful enough to sweep across the entire Great Red Sand Sea would surely punish the people.

I don't know if this statement is true or false.

However, according to Nasita, there is indeed a high possibility of an extreme weather event occurring soon.

"We have to hurry up."

"If we can't find a new foothold for the Tanit tribe soon, the sandstorm will really cause problems."

It's been four days since I returned to the desert.

With Rod's current speed...

Traveling at full speed, they were already very close to the new gathering place of the Tanit tribe that the Blazing Beast had discovered.

Unlike other desert tribes that rarely move once they find a suitable place to live.

The Tanit tribe is a tribe that frequently migrates.

They basically only stay in one region for a few years.

And now.

According to intelligence from the Blazing Beasts, they have just migrated to a new settlement.

"The ruins of the city of Juer in the sandy land of a thousand ravines".

A place name that I'm fairly familiar with.

With the map provided by the Blazing Beast, and with Rhode now knowing how to navigate in the desert, it was quite easy to find.

Having confirmed that a major sandstorm would soon strike, Rhodes quickened his pace again, and in just two days, he arrived near the Tanit tribe's gathering point marked on the map.

What pleased Rodg was that...

He finally encountered the Tanit tribe's hunting party when they were less than a hundred miles away from the tribe.

This so-called hunting team.

They hunt a wide variety of prey.

Edible plants, animals, and marketable specialties, such as various eels and sand pupae, are all targets of the hunting party.

Another factor is people.

The tribespeople all enjoy hunting travelers in the desert.

Especially the rainforest people dressed in scholar's clothes and alone.

Most desert tribes are not interested in the knowledge of scholars. Once they run into them, the victims are either captured and sold or killed and robbed. Moreover, in order to prevent the Church from tracking down their killing of scholars, the dead are usually not left with a complete body.

But the Tanit tribe is different.

After Elder Babel took office, their tribe suddenly began to show a strong interest in the knowledge of scholars.

Therefore, during their hunting expeditions.

When encountering scholars, they would first try to persuade them with kind words. If that didn't work, they would forcibly abduct them. If all else failed, and they encountered a stubborn person like Old Roy, they would simply kill them according to the rules of the desert, leaving no evidence behind.

What Rhodes encountered was the "courtesy" aspect of the Tanit tribe's "courtesy before force" approach to scholars.

Looking at the several burly men in front of him, shirtless with curved knives hanging from their waists, awkwardly speaking polite language and bowing to him with etiquette he didn't know where they had learned it from, they said that they were on the orders of the elders and wanted to invite him to visit the Tanit tribe.

These were the exact same actions and words that the Tanit tribe bandits had used when they invited old Roy back when he was kidnapped.

However, Rod isn't as stubborn as old Roy.

Instead, he perfectly mimicked how a normal person would react to being robbed, shrinking back and trembling, timidly asking, "You...you won't kill me, will you?"

The bandits exchanged glances, then looked at the Grass Elemental God's Eye hanging from Rhode's waist. Their faces immediately showed disdain, but they spoke quite politely: "Of course not. Elder Babel sincerely invited every scholar to the tribe. How could we possibly kill our guests?"

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Rod perfectly portrayed the image of a bookworm in the eyes of the desert people.

Actually, this doesn't really count as acting.

After all, Rhodes had once begged the Tanit tribe bandits not to kill him.

This is at most a repeat of the past.

The Tanit tribe warriors were clearly very satisfied with Rhodes' performance.

They did indeed keep their promise.

Not only did they not take any drastic measures, but they also gave Rhodes some food and water. However, no matter what time it was, there were at least two people watching him even when he went to the toilet, which made Rhodes quite unhappy.

The unexpected discovery of a scholar during a hunting expedition led the Tanit tribe warriors to abandon their original hunting plans. Under their leader's orders, they led Rhodes directly towards the Tanit tribe.

While on the road.

These robbers made no attempt to conceal their actions, loudly boasting about robbing passing merchants the day before and discussing how rainforest women were easier to tame than desert women.

They completely disregarded Rhodes.

Don't think about it.

Just by listening to them, Rod could tell just how miserable the fate of those abducted during the hunt really was.

What's most infuriating is...

Rhodes couldn't make any unnecessary movements, so he could only pretend to be even more fearful.

Seeing him like this, the Tanit tribe bandits seemed to find it very amusing, so they started talking without restraint, chattering away all the way, recounting all the 'great achievements' they had made recently.

Once wasn't enough; they had to say it again, and even made a pact in front of Rhodes to enjoy each other's spoils that night.

This was a hardship for Rhodes.

This was the first time he had realized that his patience and acting skills could reach such a level.

On one hand, you have to endure the incessant chatter of these bastards and suppress the urge to slap them to death, while on the other hand, you have to continue to pretend to be scared, and the more they talk, the more you tremble.

at last.

Just as Rhodes felt he was about to lose control, the Tanit tribe arrived.

Unlike the image I had of a small tribe that lived amidst ruins yet dreamed of unifying the desert.

The real Tanit tribe was extremely large.

Or.

The site is so large that it could accommodate a large tribe of several thousand people to live and thrive here.

And it's not just about the large area.

The biggest advantage of this settlement is the river that flows beneath it.

Compared to Aru Village, which used Red King technology to directly pump water from underground rivers to create a river, the river in the Tanit tribe settlement is obviously much smaller.

However, the population of the Tanit tribe is much smaller than that of Aru village, so with this river, the water supply is more than enough.

Look from a distance.

Many dark figures could be clearly seen crawling on the riverbed.