The desert landscape was not simply monotonous; it had a richness all its own.
Huge rocks covered this area, worn smooth and rounded by wind and sand over countless years.
A large golden retriever ran among them, bags filled with various implements hanging at his sides and a black cat sitting on his back.
Suddenly, the golden retriever braked to a halt before a huge rock.
Puer jumped down and began carefully circling the rock on light feline steps.
Philomina appeared, confusion in her eyes. She did not know what Puer was doing.
Behind them, nearly twenty more Order Clerics appeared. Their clerical robes had been modified to fit more closely, and each wore a cloak, a concealment Sacred Artifact.
They were scouts. Their nominal captain was Philomina, but Puer was actually in charge.
Philomina crouched down and carefully examined the rock and the sand. She found nothing unusual, yet Puer continued lightly testing the sand with her fleshy paws, as though she had discovered something interesting.
"Is something wrong?" Philomina finally could not help asking.
"Nothing is wrong."
"Then..."
"Because someone deliberately cleaned up the traces."
"Cleaned up the traces?"
"They were a little careless. Calculating how the sand should accumulate based on the position and wind direction, this patch should be slightly lower than its surroundings, not level with them. Pass down the order. Have everyone check beneath the other rocks using this method."
"Understood."
Philomina immediately relayed the order. Soon, the results came back: they had found more than thirty other rocks with sand beneath them that was equally level with its surroundings.
Meanwhile, Kevin sniffed the surface of the rock, then shook his canine head.
"Someone came here recently?" Philomina asked. "A scouting party from the Desert Rebels?"
Puer shook her head. "Aren't the Desert Rebels