(Heartfelt thanks to 'Kaede no Chōrei,' 'Panda Ah!,' 'Pokémon,' 'Sui Feng Qi Wu,' and 'Nyanpasu' for their rewards!)
The next day...
When the scorching sunlight poured down once more upon the monotonous desert, forever painted in a single color, the night's chill vanished almost instantly. Heat unique to the desert spread across the sands, even causing the air to distort slightly.
If someone were walking through such a desert, their view ahead would surely be warped as well, right?...
Meanwhile, the Royal City of the Baruba Empire, nestled between two towering mountain ranges, welcomed a new group of guards to relieve those who had defended the city through the night.
Leading the смена was a middle-aged warrior in his thirties or forties, clad head to toe in sturdy armor.
As soon as he led his team onto the Royal City's walls, the middle-aged warrior shouted at a burly, bare-chested man standing at the highest point of the wall, gazing into the distance with a knight's sword in hand, seemingly the commander.
"Hey! Buddy! Time to change shifts!"
"You're here?..." The burly man withdrew his gaze from the distance and looked at the middle-aged warrior, a trace of displeasure on his face.
"You're half an hour late today!"
"Eh, it's only half an hour. It's not like I was sleeping in!" The middle-aged warrior waved his hand carelessly.
"I could've made it on time, but there were some strange rumors in the city this morning that caught my interest. I kept listening, and by the time I came to my senses, I was already late!"
"Strange rumors?..." the burly man asked curiously.
"What rumors?..."
"There are two!" The middle-aged warrior did not hide anything and held up two fingers.
"One is that servants in the palace supposedly overheard some higher-ups saying