My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World
Chapter 121: Going to the Desert

Chapter 121: Going to the Desert

Vespera and I kept reading Giuseppe’s book until we reached the final Chapter titled "Destroy the Black Pearls," which we instantly knew what he was referring to.

The black pearls were the little orbs that the captain from the slave’s ship and Copper ate, turning them into lesser demons.

In the book, Giuseppe talked about how he had to face an army of lesser demons at Vista one time and said that the demons’ bodies were made of shadows.

He explained that using the "Day Magic" from Kyoko had helped him defeat them, but he felt horrible about ending their lives instead of turning them back to their real forms.

Giuseppe was able to get his hands on one of the black pearls that he had taken from a bandit before they could ingest it and started to research it to look for a cure.

The Italian man kept researching the pearl for a few years, explaining all the different methods he tried and how they all failed. However, he ended the book with a single quote.

"The only way is by killing the shadow.

Light kills shadow, but the shadow can kill light if it is stronger..."

’Huh?’ I thought.

"What did he mean by this? Could light magic help in turning them back?" I wondered aloud as I turned to Vespera, who seemed deep in thought.

"I suppose we will have to try. It doesn’t seem like that man came to a resolution..." she replied, inquisitively maintaining her hand on her chin.

After we returned the book, we met back with Gina, who had a book on Kalusia’s history and showed us a section that talked about the redhead phoenix man who protected the nation.

However, the phoenix wasn’t the only protector, as there was another man they referred to as the "Terra Titan," which was said to be a massive humanoid colossus made of extremely hard rock.

"Hmmm..." Vespera pondered out loud.

"Vesp, you know something about those guys, right?" I asked, recalling that my companion had also reacted strangely the first time we heard of the redhead man.

"The phoenix and the terra titan are Legendary Beasts. I met them a very long time ago, but my memories are a bit fuzzy, so I can’t remember much about them..." she said.

"I do remember they were tasked with protecting Kalusia since it’s the beastkins’ domain, which Garon favors, of course." Vespera continued.

It was possible that the devil Zagor had controlled the two Legendary Beasts, but it was also possible that he was threatening them, and if their mission was to protect the kingdom, then they probably didn’t have much of a choice.

I had never fought against a Legendary Beast before, at least not in a real battle. I had sparred with Vespera numerous times, but that wasn’t the same as fighting for your life.

Thinking that we could be facing a devil, two Legendary Beasts, and a bunch of lesser demons didn’t sound like we had much of a chance.

"We are gonna need more help for this..." I said, planning what our next move should be.

We had heard that the country of Aridonia in the desert was also fighting the Kalusian soldiers as the devil was trying to conquer two nations at once. However, that could end up playing in our favor.

__________

After we left the library, I went to the empress’ palace to tell her about what he had found out.

Well, not everything. I skipped the whole part of Giuseppe’s notebook since that wasn’t relevant to her, so I told her about the phoenix and the terra titan.

The empress said that she already knew of those two individuals, but as their mission was to protect Kalusia, she wasn’t scared of them directly attacking the empire.

I told the empress to consider asking the nation of Aridonia to work together against Kalusia, but she told me she had already talked to them long ago.

From what she said, when Kalusia started their first attacks on both nations, the empress sent a message to the sultan of Aridonia, suggesting they joined forces to drive away the lesser demons.

However, the sultan declined her alliance, saying that they could take care of their country as the desert was their territory.

Lysandra looked quite annoyed when recounting the story to me, probably because she wasn’t expecting them to decline so quickly.

After her alliance with Aridonia failed, she sent a group of soldiers to the Sephyr Kingdom, which was the group that we had to help at the Illusive Woods near the border.

My plan was to visit Aridonia and talk to the sultan myself, but the man didn’t sound like the kind of person I would want to talk to. Nonetheless, I didn’t have many options.

The empress told me that the trip to the capital of Aridonia from the capital of the Droman Empire could take around a month of traveling since people had to cross a large chunk of the desert. However, this didn’t apply to us since we would be flying.

That night, while I was in my room at the palace, I used my voice crystal to send a message to Melina to tell her about what I had been doing.

I didn’t want to worry her too much, so I downplayed the situation a bit by telling her that the lesser demons were no big deal.

I knew that if I told her the truth, she would want to come help, and she seemed like she wanted to focus on her own thing at the academy, so it was better not to stress her out.

After sending the message, I waited a few minutes but got no response, so I assumed that she was either sleeping or busy.

The following morning, I woke up and noticed the crystal blinking red, meaning Melina had answered.

[ "Hi, Ichiro! I’m glad to know you are alright.

I was starting to worry and thought about sending a message first, but...

*ahem*

I’m glad to hear your voice.

I’ve been working hard but still feel somewhat out of place here. Maybe it’s just me...

But at least I’ve made friends who hang out with me every day, and my roommates have been pretty great, too.

Take care, okay?" ]

When the message ended, I felt a strange sensation of a void inside of me.

I was relieved and glad to have received a message from Melina, but her voice didn’t sound as enthusiastic as when we were hanging out together in End Town.

Vespera, who listened to the message as she was standing next to me, asked me if we should return to the Sephyr Kingdom. Still, I had already planned on going to Aridonia to see if I could do anything about their sultan declining their alliance.

I wasn’t going to threaten the man or anything. In fact, I didn’t even know if I was going to meet him.

All I needed to do was check the place and see if they were truly fighting off the lesser demons. I thought that if the sultan declined to ally themselves with another nation, then maybe they had a way to combat these monsters effectively.

It was a pretty hard decision for me, to be honest.

I could keep doing what I was doing and try to put an end to the war or visit Melina and hang out.

Now, I would have thought that helping the people fight the demons would be the obvious choice, but I was seriously considering just leaving and going back to her.

’No, No, Ichiro. I was already set on doing this. I can visit Melina after. Besides, she is probably busy with her classes...’ I thought, convincing myself to go to Aridonia.

The empress had given me a map with the capital of the desert nation marked on it, and while my companions and I were getting ready to leave, Lysandra and Arabella, the empress and the princess, approached us to wish us good luck.

Arabella still seemed to be shy around me, but I couldn’t understand why.

’Is she scared of me or something?’ I pondered, noticing that she flushed a little and turned her head to the side.

’Maybe she hates me!?’ I thought.

I believed that the food I cooked for them would make them trust me a little more, and it did work for the empress, but the princess was even shyer than the first time we met.

Before we took flight, the empress stopped me one last time and gave me a small insignia, telling me that if I ran to any of her soldiers, I could show them the trinket to let them know that I was being sent by the empress herself.

Lysandra was going to leave the capital to go fight in a few days as her brother, the prince, had been directing the soldiers for a few months at the frontlines.

After everything was set, I took flight with my group and began making our way towards the desert kingdom of Aridonia.