“Dammit, we changed course, but it’s still following us. This can’t be… A Sand Seeker attacking humans… What’s happening in Ednail Desert…? Is this… the end for us?”
“That scorpion is huge, and there are five of them… If even a few of those die, the desert’s entire ecosystem would be thrown off balance. Old man, what do those scorpions do? They must live up to their name, Sand Seeker, right? I mean…”
“No need to explain… they’re coming.”
“What?”
The Sand Seekers momentarily slowed down as they chased us. They braced their legs, lifting their bodies high into the air, then aimed their monstrous jaws down towards us.
──Shaaaaaaa!! Grrrrrr!!
A torrent of sand shot from the Sand Seeker’s mouth—a breath attack of sand, laced with magic of wind and earth. If we take a direct hit, it’ll tear our bodies to shreds.
“Ugh… Looks like we dodged the first one, but… the breath attacks from the other four are coming!”
Sand Seeker… The name meant precisely that—a breath attack as if overturning a sea of sand. Though the breath missed, it created a massive crater where it struck. Any creatures caught in the blast were completely dried up. Could it even suck the moisture out of anything it hit…?
“Big brother!”
“Diar? You think you can do it? Don’t kill it. If we kill one of those, the desert will surely suffer.”
“Whoa, Jan, what are you saying? Don’t kill the Sand Seeker? You plan on fighting it? This won’t be any fight, that thing’s a real monste──”
──Boom!
Diar leapt from the sandboat. She soared high into the sky, casting a huge shadow over the desert as she blocked out the sun. Her shadow shrank as she descended back down.
──Thud!!
The Sand Seeker’s jaws smashed into the desert floor. Diar’s heel drop from above cracked the shell on the Sand Seeker’s head.
“What? What the heck…? No way. I figured she was something special, but… She’s like a hero or a god from legend.”
“Mr. Jandalum! Who… who exactly is Diar?!”
“I’m not really sure myself. My guess? She’s a humanoid golem crafted by some ancient civilization. It seems the Sand Seekers realized it’s in their best interest to retreat. Smart creatures…”
One Sand Seeker, injured from Diar’s heel drop, seemed to have signaled to the others that fighting her would be unwise. Even the injured Sand Seeker quickly scurried away. It’s surprising it could still move so well… they’re tough.
──Alright.
Diar made another great leap, returning to the sandboat I was on. I was used to this by now, but it was still an impressive sight. Everyone’s eyes were wide, mouths agape.
“Thanks, Diar, you did great. How did the others look to you? What did you think?”
“The Sand Seekers are pretty smart. When I did the heel drop, they channeled magic to harden themselves, so they barely took any damage. Just one layer of their multi-layered shell cracked. It felt like I was fighting a creature smarter than humans.”
“Smarter than humans? Could they be on par with high-level monsters like dragons or elves…? But if they’re that intelligent, why did they attack us? Old man, you said they usually don’t attack humans, right?”
“Hmm, I don’t really know either. But I can tell they didn’t look hungry. Moving a body that big and wielding that much magic doesn’t make sense for a regular creature. They seem more like the golems from my ruin…”
“You mean to say they’re creations, here to maintain the desert? So if they’re sophisticated like golems, they wouldn’t need food—they’d have an internal power source. Old man, can you take us to where the Sand Seeker’s breath landed? I want to investigate.”
“Oh, sure, if that’s what you want. Hey, Jan, are you some kind of scholar?”
Together with the desert fishers and young sandstone harvesters, we set out to investigate the crater left by the Sand Seeker’s breath. While I examined the site, everyone else was gathering the dried-out remains of creatures caught in the breath attack. They looked like perfectly dehydrated snacks—seemed edible enough. Not sure they’d sell well, but they’d be fine for us.
“This is… a pale blue glow. There’s more activity here than in other spots… Has the concentration of sandstone in the sand increased? I see, the Sand Seeker’s breath must contain a large amount of sandstone. The magic used to generate the breath lingers in the sandstone and, upon impact, mixes with the surrounding sand. It’s almost as if… the Sand Seekers are replenishing the sandstone in the earth.”
“Wait, are you saying those scorpions are doing something like that? Really…? Jan, the way you’re talking, it sounds like the Sand Seekers are actively managing the environment of the Ednail Desert.”
“I think that’s what’s happening. If Diar’s right, they’re more like intelligent golems. It’s hard to believe just by looking at them… But I understand now why they attacked us. They wanted to reclaim the sandstone Sepia and the others had taken and return it to the desert. And beyond that… they might have intended to stop sandstone harvesting altogether, or perhaps to make an example out of us.”
“…So, it’s our fault, the country’s fault for over-harvesting the sandstone that angered the Sand Seekers? Damn… I want to deny it, but… maybe it’s true… I was talking with some experienced fishers earlier, and they said the types of creatures caught now are different than before, and the numbers are way down. Used to be lots of lizards; now, it’s mostly crab scorpions… If the Sand Seekers transport sandstone, then maybe the crab scorpions, being scorpions too, also transported sandstone. It makes sense now.”
“Sepia…”
Sepia and the other young sandstone harvesters seemed dejected, weighed down by guilt. I couldn’t blame them—they didn’t know. But… maybe the higher-ups did and chose not to stop. In the end, Sepia and the others were simply being used, driven by money.
“Come on, cheer up! You’re all still young; you’ve got your whole lives ahead of you. I didn’t know either, so no one’s blaming you. And hey! Let’s have a meal, yeah? Jan, you’re treating us, right?”
The older fishers sympathized with the downcast Sepia and his group, trying to lift their spirits. They’re already part of the crew, all of them.
“Sure! Just show me a good place to eat! I’m doing well enough as an adventurer to have some cash to spare.”
Before sunset, we returned to the capital of Ednail, the city of Edna.
