Were there no normal men left in Sumeru?

Caravan Ribat.

The border checkpoint separating Sumeru's rainforest from the Great Red Sand was also the only official way station connecting the rainforest to Aaru Village and the desert's interior.

Xingsu followed Cyno, his mouth and nose covered with a scarf as he disguised himself as a mercenary.

In principle, everyone passing through Caravan Ribat had to undergo strict questioning. Unfortunately, principle itself was walking ahead of Xingsu, showing him the way.

"Once you pass through Caravan Ribat, you'll be in the desert." Cyno pointed at a woman with tawny skin and cat ears. "She's your guide for this trip. Go over and exchange the password with her in a moment. Just ask her, 'Why are people from Sumeru good at football?'"

The wind swept fine sand across the ground, ruffling the boy's hastily packed belongings. Xingsu looked back at the Great General Mahamatra who had secretly protected him, and actually felt a little reluctant to part.

"No need to thank me. I merely upheld the fairness that Sumeru's laws ought to have. This is as far as I'll see you off. May your journey go smoothly."

There was no overly sentimental farewell. Amid the howling wind and sand, the two turned away and set off on their respective paths.

Xingsu had only taken a few steps when the daylight around him, the wind at Caravan Ribat, and the distant sounds of patrols were all abruptly cut off. The world contracted and warped, and in the blink of an eye, he was dragged into a deathly silent, gray-white space.

Xingsu instinctively tensed, carefully examining his surroundings.

"Hello there, Xingsu."

A man wearing a plague doctor's beaked mask slowly approached Xingsu. The overlapping layers of the mask concealed his expression, but the eyes beneath it brimmed with the intense interest of a hunter who had spotted his prey.

"...The Harbinger, 'The Doctor.' Heh, I won't bother asking how you found me. Working out my escape route wouldn't have been difficult.

"But I really didn't expect this. Do you like an ordinary person earning just 80,000 Mora a month so much that you jumped off your ship in your hurry to chase me?"

It took Xingsu one second to accept the fact that a turbo creep had locked him in a dark room.

"Not bad. Being able to remain calm under any circumstances is indeed an excellent quality."

Dottore took a few slow steps forward, the cold, oppressive aura emanating from him enveloping the entire space.

Xingsu stared straight at Dottore, his calm tone cutting through the other man's affected air of amusement. "I assume you didn't drag my consciousness here just to compliment me?"

"Oh? You've already seen through the nature of this space? How many more surprises do you have that I don't know about?"

Dottore slowly approached and gently lifted Xingsu's chin, his gaze tracing and scrutinizing him like a collector examining an experimental work of art of unparalleled rarity.

A chill shot up his spine to the crown of his head, and physical revulsion surged wildly. Xingsu jerked his head aside to break free of the touch, clenched his fist, and drove a vicious punch straight at Dottore's torso.

But the instant his fist passed through, Dottore's body turned into a flickering, translucent phantom, dispersing the force of the attack like ripples. A second later, it re-formed completely, entirely unharmed.

Rather than growing angry at this counterattack, he gave a low, mocking chuckle. His beaked mask opened and closed, and his voice echoed through the empty, deathly silent space:

"Don't waste your effort. What you see here is merely a projection of my consciousness. Your attacks cannot harm me in the slightest."

"Just an instinctive reaction. Can I seriously not meet a man with a normal sexual orientation in Sumeru? Why does every single one act so gay?"

"...Heh, hahahahaha! How interesting. A little lab rat I've locked in a cage, yet so disrespectful toward its owner."

The phantom abruptly tore through the gray-white space's deathly stillness. Dottore instantly teleported in front of Xingsu, his gloved hand clamping around the boy's slender neck and lifting him effortlessly off the ground.

He leaned down slightly, his beaked mask almost touching Xingsu's eyes. A morbid curiosity akin to the urge to dissect roiled in his gaze, and his voice was hoarse and cold:

"Relax. I simply want to look inside your brain and see how you came back from the dead, and exactly what kind of power your brain contains... hmm?"

Before he finished speaking, the void barriers of the entire prison of consciousness abruptly glimmered with a soft yet intensely intimidating silvery-white light.

"Poking through other people's memories without permission isn't a good habit, you know~"

Dottore's phantom body abruptly stiffened, and the gray-white void around him instantly cracked and collapsed, inch by inch.

Before he could even think of resisting, the entire projection vanished into the gray-white void like a torn canvas, unable to get out even a complete sentence.

The force restraining Xingsu abruptly disappeared. He gasped for breath as the sound of the desert wind outside rushed back into his ears. In the distance, the big brown kitty was leaning against a wall, surveying her surroundings.

Clutching his throat, Xingsu looked around and relaxed once he confirmed he was still at Caravan Ribat.

Huh, my throat doesn't hurt.

"Is that really the point? Shouldn't the point be that I saved you?" Lin's voice suddenly sounded in Xingsu's mind.

"Thank you, Lin. But why did you come to see me during the day this time?"

"If some burly man suddenly appeared beside you while you were sleeping at night and stared at you, you'd wake up in fright too.

"Ah, our poor little Xingsu. If I hadn't suddenly come to the rescue, Dottore would have grabbed your chin and really..."

Xingsu listened to the blatant amusement and provocation in Lin's tone, and... was there a little excitement too?!

What are you getting excited about?!

"Stop! Don't say another word!" Xingsu was so frightened he nearly covered his backside on the spot.

"All right, all right, big sis won't tease you anymore. Remember, don't give anyone a chance to force their way into your memories, or I'll have to help you again."

"Then why not give me a little more of the blessing of Remembrance?"

"Mm-hmm, wait until you find the necklace. Don't forget~ This is a deal~"

"Sigh, fine."

Regardless, it was time to keep moving.

The hot, sandy wind swept dust past the stalls. Quite a few Eremite mercenaries leaned against the walls in twos and threes, chatting idly. A figure lounged against the way station's stone wall, one hand resting on the hilt of the greatsword at her waist, her fitted red-and-black outfit particularly eye-catching. It was Dehya.

Xingsu straightened his clothes, which the wind and sand had disheveled, then slowly walked over and stopped in front of her.

"Hello, beautiful miss. May I ask why people from Sumeru are good at football?"

"Because they all know where Tighnari-where to kick." Dehya smiled as she answered. "That password really does have that Great General Mahamatra's style."

"..."

Goddammit, Cyno's still chasing me!

The humid sea breeze carried the scents of spices and seawater through Port Ormos's stone-paved streets, while the merchant ships coming and going loaded and unloaded cargo in an endless din.

Dottore was walking along a secluded passage at the docks when his previously steady footsteps suddenly stopped.

"Hmm?"

Seeing this, Scott, who had been following half a step behind, immediately hurried forward and bowed, carefully studying his expression:

"Lord Doctor! What's wrong? Were the merchants along the way too noisy? Did they disturb you? If you have any instructions, please leave them to me."

Dottore raised his gloved hand and gently rubbed the edge of his long beaked mask. Instead of growing angry, he let out a cold, amused chuckle that sounded particularly chilling amid the noisy port.

"No need. An impatient egomaniac merely paid the price for his haste."