The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

"Someone's here? We've finally found them!"

Ember immediately jumped up from his chair. After waiting for so long, the people from the Order of the Church had finally arrived.

Before his excitement could last long, the noisy reality pulled him back to reality. Surrounded by a cacophony of voices, Yu Jin felt that the current state of the Vitality House might scare away the "guests" who had traveled from afar.

"Everyone, go back to sleep!" Yu Jin shouted at the top of his lungs as he darted through the Vitality House. As long as these energetic and eccentric scholars were asleep, everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, although the scholars at Vitality House may have some mental issues, they were still able to recognize such an obvious scam.

For example, what Yu Jin just mentioned.

"It's...it's not dark yet..."

A mad scholar stood on the roof of the House of Vitality, pointing at the blazing sun overhead and shouting.

"How did you climb up there?" Yu Jin was taken aback. There was nothing to hold onto near the House of Vitality. These scholars must have turned their brains into muscles.

Then he leaped onto the roof. Looking up at the blinding sunlight overhead, Yu Jin raised his hands.

"Crash!"

The sound of the sand flowing rose up, and sand, seemingly from nowhere, surged into the sky, completely obscuring the sun's rays.

Wow! It's getting dark!

In front of Ember, the mad scholar beside him transformed into a human gecko, quickly climbed down from the rooftop, and then shrank into the House of Vitality.

Not only him, but the others wandering outside also noticed the dim light and hurriedly ran into the Vitality House.

In just a few days, this place has transformed from the prison they managed to escape into a haven from the sandstorms and darkness.

"Finally, it's quiet. Let me see who's coming..."

Ember's voice grew softer and softer as he concealed himself, quietly watching the canyon outside where Vitality House was located.

……

"It seems to be getting darker?"

In the desert, a group of people walked through a huge canyon. At the head of the group were several scholars dressed in academic robes, and behind them was a group of gilded brigade members with weapons in hand and fierce-looking faces.

This combination is common in the desert, where there are many relics of ancient civilizations, which attract a large number of scholars every year.

For their own safety, most scholars would spend some Mora to hire a few reliable mercenaries to escort them.

But what sets this group apart from the others is that the gilded troupe seems to be in a dominant position.

"Hurry up! Stop dawdling. This is deep in the desert. You'd better forget about any disciplinary officers or the thirty-man group!"

Seeing that the scholar ahead had slowed down, the gilded brigade behind him immediately brandished their weapons.

“But…but it’s really dark here!” The scholars shrank back and looked at the dim sky as they explained.

"The weather in the desert is just so changeable, it's normal that you rainforest people can't understand it."

"Don't worry, it's just a small sandstorm, it'll stop soon. You guys should focus on taking us to find the mad scholar, or you'll be sleeping forever in the sand!"

A particularly burly mercenary stepped forward, glanced at the sandstorm in the distance, and said nonchalantly.

Sure enough, no sooner had he finished speaking than the intense sunlight pierced through the sandstorm and poured down.

The earth was bright again, and hot again.

"As expected of the boss, he's really something!"

"Of course! Our leader is the famous Rahman! Lord Red King's right-hand man!"

"That's right! Even the Eye of Akhmar is slightly inferior to our boss!"

……

Rahman briefly demonstrated his extensive experience, immediately drawing cheers from his underlings.

"Alright, instead of wasting time flattering, let's get going!"

Rahman waved his hand and walked ahead of everyone else.

Chapter 666 Desert People Don't Fight Desert People

2024-05-15

"The Vitality House is just ahead!"

Led by the scholar, the group soon spotted the Vitality House nestled in the desert.

Looking at the dilapidated building in front of them, the Gilded Brigade's reaction was remarkably similar to that of Ember.

"Here? Are you sure this isn't where you rainforest people throw your trash?"

The Vitality House had been abandoned for many years and was only recently put into use. Many of its components had not been renovated or replaced, making the building look as if it could collapse at any moment.

"That's how we keep things from being discovered," the scholars explained with a few smirks at the mercenaries.

"You two, in front. You two, in the middle. The rest of you, move to the very back!"

The Vitality House was very quiet, with only the howling desert winds around it, giving people a strange feeling of being swallowed up.

To be on the safe side, Rahman dispersed the scholars to different parts of the team.

The scholars readily agreed, since they had been captured by these desert people.

As the group approached the quiet Vitality House, the atmosphere within the group became somewhat heavy.

The group of scholars claimed that there were only a bunch of mad scholars and a few technicians who extracted divine knowledge, but who can know the truth?

People who live in the desert and are not cunning are probably fewer than the rare animals classified by the Order of the Church.

"Huh? Scholars? And a whole bunch of bodyguards?" Yu Jin, who was hiding in the shadows, looked at the approaching group and found it very strange.

Aren't the bodyguards hired by these scholars a bit too fierce? One of them even kicked the employer because he thought he was too slow.

"It's because we didn't hire any adventurers," Ember commented. If it were the Adventurers' Guild, this would never have happened.

Unfortunately, the Adventurers' Guild's influence in Sumeru has shrunk to an unimaginable level.

The main reason is the extremely harsh desert environment. Those who aren't native to the desert might not even survive three days there.

As for setting up a reception center in the desert... Ember can only say that among the desert people, those who can write their own names are considered cultured.

So they still have a long way to go before becoming qualified adventurers—at the very least, an adventurer should be able to understand a commission letter, right?

Just as Yu Jin was expecting the group to walk right into his trap, he noticed that they suddenly stopped at the door.

"stop!"

Standing in front of the Vitality House, Rahman waved to his companions behind him.

The advancing group stopped instantly, and both mercenaries and scholars looked at Rahman with puzzled expressions.

Ignoring his companions' stares, Rahman turned around and slipped slightly away from the group.

He tilted his head slightly, focusing his gaze on the rocks in the distance.

"Your patience is better than I imagined. Come out. You are a subject of the Red King and also my compatriot. We can talk."

"Someone is following us!"

"Damn it! When?!"

"Quiet!!!"

After Rahman's loud shout, the restless group quieted down. Now everyone's eyes followed Rahman's gaze to the distant boulder.

"Hahaha! I've long heard that Rahman is devout in his faith in the Red King and treats the desert people as his own children. Seeing him today, I can confirm it's true."

A burst of laughter came from behind the rocks, and then a mercenary wearing a headscarf and eye patch, with most of his face covered by cloth, came out.

"Isn't this guy boring?" Yu Jin couldn't help but make a comment when he saw the newcomer's outfit, which made his head almost completely covered.

Aside from his unusual attire, what's most striking is the pair of gleaming curved blades on his back.

When Rahman saw the stalker appear, he glanced at his attire and immediately made up his mind.

"Samel of Thutmose?"

“Indeed, I’m curious how you saw through me? You saw it yourself, I didn’t even bring a single subordinate with me to keep things secret.”

Samel nodded in acknowledgment of his identity, and then immediately posed a question.

"One of Thutmose's twin swords... quite famous indeed." Rahman closed his eyes slightly, inexplicably offering a compliment to Samel.

"Unlike you, your troupe is one of the best in the entire desert."

Sammer's expression changed slightly. Rahman's words were less of a compliment and more like reopening his wounds.

Thutmose's fame resounded throughout the desert many years ago thanks to Samer and Jeberel, who were known as the "Desert Twins."

Unfortunately, after Jeberlele had a daughter, he parted ways with Sammer, and Thutmose never recovered.

Rahman opened his eyes, picked at his ear, and said to Samel in the distance:

"I advise you to throw away your weapon as soon as possible. The roars of the spirits inside are very loud."

Samel paused upon hearing this, realizing why he had been exposed. But even so, he had no intention of abandoning his weapon.

"Don't worry about it, I have my own way of handling this."

The weapon, imbued with the spirit of the ancient town, is one of the few ways that these godless people of the desert can wield elemental power, and Samir would never discard it under any circumstances.

"Do as you please, just hope that next time I see you, you won't be a madman."

Rahman shook his head. There's no such thing as a free lunch. The Spirit Suppression allows an ordinary person to use elemental power, but the price is to quell the relentless anger within with the wails of the defeated—whether that defeated person is the "master" or the opponent.

Those who use spirit-suppressing devices will only be hacked to death or tortured to death by the spirits; there are no other outcomes.

That is why Rahman never touches weapons inhabited by spirits. He believes neither in spirits, which are like madmen, nor in the seven gods of the earth.

The only things he believed in were the deceased Red King and his own muscles.

“My impression of you isn’t so good anymore.” Samel walked casually into the group from a distance, not at all worried that Rahman would suddenly cause trouble.

And just as he expected, Rahman did not make things difficult for him.

"Purpose?" Rahman asked, looking at Samel in front of him.

"As you know, I'm not interested in anything else, I just want to find the legendary Golden Dreamland."