"You don't know that fairy tale? All right, I'd be happy to share it with you when there's time later."
After Shade nodded, the lady with light brown skin, who looked more and more like a dancer unique to desert regions, smiled as well.
"Hello, Mr. Hamilton, who has come from afar. Please just call me Ms. Meister. I too came here in search of the Oasis Heart. My tribe needs this treasure, rumored to keep any barren land eternally alive, to sustain our oasis, which is about to decline."
The fabric she wore was indeed pitifully sparse, and on the surface, she appeared to be an Eleventh Rank Witch.
Finally, there was the ordinary female knight. Though her features were not as beautiful as those of the three Witches, she was still considered pretty among ordinary people. Her hair was gray-white, but judging from her face, she should have been around thirty.
"Hello, I am Shelly Knight from the Duchy of Flad on the East Continent. Our country is afflicted by the Demon Curse. The Queen sought help from the Witches, and the Witches gave Your Majesty Queen a method to find the Oasis Heart. There were forty-five people in total. I am the only one who made it this far."
She gave Shade a standard knight's salute. Shade, who also held the status of a "knight," awkwardly returned it.
"Ms. Knight, you are truly brave."
By then, they had more or less learned the basic circumstances of all their companions. Grandma Sianode then invited everyone to sit down and talk rather than remain standing.
"Mr. Hamilton, do you need food and water? We still have some here that we can share with you. Going hungry in this desert is no problem, but you absolutely cannot go without water.