Free Web NovelAt daybreak, the people of ‘Oasis Village’ were stunned by the chief’s announcement.
The priest they had treated as their savior—and the companions traveling with him—had not been benefactors after all. They were the ones who had drained the Oasis dry.
“You really can’t trust outsiders,” the elder muttered while being carried on Thomas’s back.
Thomas felt conflicted.
‘But... he saved my life.’
Even so, being forced to abandon the village and search for a new home was practically a death sentence.
Could that truly be called salvation?
The chief clearly didn’t think so.
His face remained rigid with bitterness and hatred. He was normally calm and rational, so the villagers were unsettled by the intensity of emotion radiating from him.
Those who still owned camels loaded their belongings onto them, but the village had long since fallen into poverty. Most of their camels had been stolen years ago by passing outsiders.
In the end, most people were forced to walk.
Even for someone as strong as Thomas, crossing the desert beneath the blazing sun while carrying the elder would be brutal.
The chief was already distressed enough that his frail daughter Lily had wandered alone into the desert searching for the villagers.
Now he had to face the thought of dragging her aimlessly through the wasteland as well.
“Wouldn’t it be better to leave at night?” Thomas asked uncertainly.
Back when they’d first headed toward the tower, Otto had still simply been his friend—the chief’s son—so it still felt awkward to treat him formally.
“Watch your tone.”
“Ah! Dad, stop hitting me on the head.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking. Don’t waste your strength carrying around someone with healthy legs.”
“Is it a crime to finally try being filial after all this time?”
“Quiet. You’ve already committed enough unfilial behavior for one lifetime.” freēwebnovel.com
The elder clicked his tongue sharply.
Only then did Chief Otto answer Thomas’s question.
“The sun won’t kill us immediately,” he said grimly. “The mamools we encounter at night might.”
It was simply the better option for survival.
Thomas trusted his clever friend and nodded while rubbing the back of his aching head.
The villagers cursed the people they had once believed were their saviors.
Tears streamed down their faces as they abandoned the homeland they loved. Fear and grief weighed heavily on every step.
Meanwhile, the chief felt something far more complicated twisting inside him.
Guilt.
Following Ian’s instructions, they headed toward the tower. It was the only direction left to them.
The heat exhausted them quickly.
They had to ration their water carefully while enduring a thirst that scorched their throats raw.
Then suddenly—
“Huh?”
Someone looked up at the sky.
Plink.
Plop.
Raindrops began to fall.
Not the violent storms that occasionally swept across the desert, but a soft, steady drizzle.
Cool air slowly spread through the burning wasteland, pushing away the oppressive heat.
“Rain... at this time of year?” the chief murmured.
This was the dry season.
Rain shouldn’t have been possible.
If it became heavier, the cold would only make traveling harder.
“How long is this supposed to last...?”
“A week.”
The answer came from Lily, whom he carried in his arms.
“What?”
“A whole week, Daddy.”
The chief frowned.
“How would you know that?”
At first, he assumed Lily was simply saying another childish nonsense phrase and nearly laughed it off.
Then she added calmly,
“Lord Ian told me. We have to travel for one week. So it’ll rain for one week.”
“What...?”
Lord Ian.
The black-haired man.
The one Otto had mistaken for a god.
‘That man...’
He remembered asking to see Lily before leaving.
She had slipped away before Otto could stop her.
And he remembered the sight of Ian leaning down to whisper something to her.
Despite everything, despite being such a terrifying person, he had treated Lily gently enough that she had happily kissed him goodbye.
What exactly had he whispered to her?
‘No way.’
“What else did he say?” Otto asked quietly.
“Lord Ian?”
Lily tilted her head, her hair brushing softly against his neck.
“He said a new village would appear after a week. There’s a well there too. If we ask nicely, the well will give us water.”
“Why would he tell you something like that...?”
And only you?
The question nearly escaped his lips.
But Otto stopped himself.
Why indeed?
Lily and he were not the same.
Even after apologizing, they had still tried to harm travelers who merely wanted to spend a single night in their village.
True, they had only intended to drug them rather than poison them outright.
But abandoning unconscious people in the middle of the desert beneath that scorching sun—
Wasn’t that murder all the same?
Otto finally understood.
All this time, he had merely been making excuses for himself.
‘I can’t kill people.’
‘I don’t want blood on my hands.’
Those thoughts had only been lies he told himself to feel better.
Deep down, he had known perfectly well that there was no meaningful difference between his actions and murder.
It had simply been easier to persuade the others to “put the plunderers to sleep” rather than openly suggest killing them.
Otto glanced back at the villagers.
The same people who had already forgotten their own sins and now mourned only the suffering inflicted upon themselves.
The hatred that had consumed him earlier slowly twisted into shame instead.
Without another word, he kept walking.
They rested during the night and traveled during the day.
The rain continued the entire time, yet never enough to soak their clothes or hinder their movement.
Every evening, they left bowls outside before sleeping. By morning, enough rainwater had gathered to quench their thirst.
Not once during the journey did they encounter demons.
Their trip became far safer and easier than anyone had expected.
And then, on the seventh day—
They found it.
A stone village hidden in the desert.
Many buildings had partially collapsed with age, yet the remaining structures were sturdy enough to withstand even direct blows from tools.
“Wow... a place like this actually existed?”
“We could shelter from the wind here.”
“If we repair the walls, keeping demons out would be easy...”
The villagers stared around in amazement.
Carrying Lily in his arms, Otto followed the stone road deeper into the settlement.
Then he saw it.
The well.
“Ah! There it is!”
Lily immediately wriggled out of his arms without the slightest surprise.
The well was completely dry.
It looked abandoned for years.
But Lily walked up to it without hesitation and placed her small hand against the stone.
“Hello, Mr. Well. I’m Lily.”
“......”
“We walked very far and we’re really thirsty. Could you please give us some water?”
Otto watched her with disbelief.
Then—
Crrrk.
Water began rising from the bottom of the dry well.
“Wow!”
Lily clapped happily.
“Thank you, Mr. Well!”
Otto froze in place, eyes wide.
“Daddy, Daddy! Hurry and get some water!”
“Right...”
Still dazed, Otto lowered the bucket into the well.
‘The rope’s going to snap.’
In a ruined village like this, there was no way the rope could still be intact.
Yet the bucket returned without issue.
“It’s cold!”
Lily drank eagerly, her face blooming into a bright smile.
“It’s even cooler than the Oasis, Daddy.”
“...Yeah.”
Otto slowly took the bucket from her.
The cold water slid down his throat, soothing the heat that had burned inside him for days.
“It’s cold...”
His head lowered.
“Daddy? Why are you crying?”
Lily stared up at him in alarm.
Otto covered his face with both hands, drowning in shame.
There was a scripture passed down in the desert.
Without priests, the villagers only knew fragments of it, praying and worshipping in their own crude ways.
Otto was probably the only person in the village who had ever read it from beginning to end.
One story suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
God and His apostle once visited a village in disguise.
The villagers rejected them.
Only a single child offered them bread, secretly giving away their own portion.
Because of that child alone, the village was spared destruction.
The lesson had been simple:
God may appear in any form, and He is always watching.
And now Otto finally understood.
“Lily,” he whispered hoarsely. “You saved us.”
“Daddy...?”
Otto pulled his daughter tightly into his arms.
Ding!
[Chief Otto thinks you are a deity.]
Ding!
[You are a spreader of sanctity.]
All of this happened ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) without Ian ever knowing.
Meanwhile, deep within the desert, an elf traveled alone atop a camel.
Neither the blazing sun nor the heat rising from the sands affected him in the slightest.
He did not sweat.
He did not tire.
Then suddenly, the camel beneath him collapsed, its body crumbling apart as though rotting from within.
“Damn.”
The elf clicked his tongue after confirming it was dead.
“You’ll need a new mount, won’t you?”
A black-haired, black-eyed man stepped out from behind a nearby rock.
At first glance, his innocent appearance resembled someone the elf had only recently parted ways with.
His first regular customer.
A precious jewel found after such a long time.
“Gula.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t wear that face. I hate it.”
“Ah... I thought you might like this appearance.” The man smiled slyly. “Don’t I look good?”
That expression—
One Ian would never make.
Disgust rose instantly inside the elf.
Why did it irritate him so much?
There was no need to think deeply about it.
The feeling would disappear once its source was destroyed.
A moment later—
One of Gula’s eyeballs exploded.
“AAAGH!”
Gula collapsed into the sand screaming.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
The elf calmly climbed onto the new camel Gula had brought.
Dark demonic energy seeped from the creature.
It was no longer truly a camel.
‘Once touched by a demon’s hand, this is what becomes of it.’
The elf sighed softly.
Then he looked down at the figure writhing in the sand.
The false appearance dissolved away.
What remained was a demon.
Gula, the demon of Greed.
Yes.
Something so filthy should never imitate Ian.
