Even though Wendy had been born in peaceful, prosperous Dragon Gold City, her noble upbringing had given her a broad view of the world. She had, of course, heard her father describe what the Great Wall truly looked like.
Once you crossed the Gray Mountains to the south, the cracked earth took on the color of lime.
The Great Wall stood at the far end of the Gray Desolate Plains beyond the mountains. One more step south would take you into the dreaded Great Desert.
The land had long been starved of organic matter. Its soil had turned to sand, and a hard crust covered the surface. Years of fierce winds had left nothing but uneven mounds and gravel. Even black rye, the hardiest crop in the world, could not survive in that gray soil.
The name of the Dragon Gold City lord from two generations before the last seemed to have become taboo two hundred years ago. Wendy did not even know her name.
Her father had only told her that the woman had built planting fields atop the Great Wall, creating a place where black rye could grow so its guards would no longer have to worry about food.
Over the following centuries, the Southern Great Wall had even become an important source of grain for Wind Sand Islet.
After all, Wind Sand Islet lay within the Great Wall, yet a real desert covered it—
Even now, Wendy could not understand why a coastal place like Wind Sand Islet stood amid an arid desert. She had only heard that it had something to do with the so-called spice.
Yet everything she knew, limited as it was, pointed to one conclusion. "I've heard the Southern Great Wall is enormous. It stretches between two great mountains for who knows how