Latifa, who secretly slipped out from under the thick leather tent of the barracks, crouched her body as much as possible to avoid showing her white skin.

“With the water we have now, the entire army can only last about two weeks? They say it all spilled into the sand!”

“Two weeks? From what I heard, it won’t even last a week.”

“Damn it. The way back is too far! We’re all dead!”

The soldiers’ laments were endless everywhere. Latifa carefully stepped into the shadows between the tents and looked around.

“It should be somewhere around here… Ah, there it is!”

In one corner of the camp was a cart stacked with small cages. It was where they kept the messenger eagles.

Latifa quickly approached the place. Several eagles glared at her, blinking their wary yellow eyes.

Looking at their sharp eyes and claws that were chilling just to see, Latifa awkwardly greeted them.

To confirm what she had heard from the mice yesterday, she needed to hear from other animals.

“Ah, hello, guys…?”

– Screech!

The well-trained eagles did not easily accept the visit of a stranger. As the birds in the cages flapped their wings and made a shrill cry, Latifa had no choice but to take a step back.

‘I can’t see anything. If I can’t see the spirit, I can’t talk to them. What should I do?’

Latifa tried to persuade them somehow with the bread and fruit she had brought, but the eagles only flapped their wings as if to shoo her away.

“What? Who’s there?!”

As the birds became noisy, the messenger on duty guarding the cages began to approach where Latifa was hiding.

‘I can’t get caught!’

It didn’t seem like a good idea to be caught sneaking around outside the tent against Hades’ orders.

Moreover, all the desert people were now in a state of despair and anger. There was nothing good about provoking their anger further.

She quickly lay down and hid her body under a large rock nearby.

“There’s nothing here. I’m dying of anxiety, don’t make noise on top of that.”

The soldier didn’t seem to notice Latifa under the rock pile as he hit the cage once and walked away. Only after confirming that he had completely passed did Latifa finally catch her breath.

“Whew… I thought I was going to get caught.”

As she sighed, inhaling the acrid sand dust, several long shadows fell over her head.

‘Wh-what is it?’

With an uneasy feeling, she slowly raised her head towards where the shadows were cast.

“Eek…! Wh-what is that.”

There were five or six small creatures she had never seen before staring at her. No, they looked so strange that it was questionable whether they could even be called creatures.

Below the sunken black eyes, the nose and muzzle protruded long like a ferret’s. The body was thin and long, but the really strange thing was that it stood upright on two legs like a human.

“Are you standing? Walking…?”

Standing firmly on their hind legs, they had their front paws neatly folded in front and were staring intently at Latifa. No, to be precise, they were quietly staring at the bread in her hand, not at Latifa herself.

The tallest one among them flicked its pink tongue. Startled by the gesture, she pulled back, and the creatures also flinched and tilted their heads.

‘Given that they’re scared of me too, they probably aren’t carnivores.’

Latifa gathered her courage and placed half of the bread on the rock in front of her. As soon as she put it down, the creatures ran on all fours and began to eat the bread.

After quickly devouring the bread with whimpering sounds, the creatures stood upright again in that spot and stared at Latifa.

[Give us more.]

Along with the creatures’ voices that began to be heard clearly, strong silver spirits bloomed above their crowns.

[Delicious. Give us more.] [It would be nice if there was more.] [Those humans are mean. This human is nice.]

‘They talk a lot more than they look!’

Although they were just staring at Latifa without speaking, their spirits were extremely talkative. Barely holding onto her consciousness that was about to become dazed by the voices rushing in like a flood, Latifa attempted to converse with them.

“I can give you more. Shall we talk for a moment?”

[This human talks!] [What are you?] [Friend, friend.]

When Latifa spoke to them, the creatures surrounded her and began to stare at her with an even more burdensome gaze. Thinking that the creatures were quite cute unlike her first impression, Latifa asked them a question.

“Are you moving by any chance?”

[Yes! We have to move.]

‘As I thought! If my guess is right, we might be able to find water!’

As her prediction about them moving was correct, Latifa’s lips curled up slightly. She waved a piece of bread and asked again.

“Can you tell me why you’re moving? If you do, I’ll give you more of this.”

They tilted their heads and answered.

[Because it’s going to rain.] [It’s going to rain a lot for several days.] [Our burrows will collapse.] [We need to move to higher ground.]

“Thank you for telling me! Eat a lot, guys!”

Latifa smiled brightly at their answer and poured out the rest of the food in front of them.

**

As Hades, with a stiff expression, entered in front of the tent, the guard knelt and saluted.

“Commander Hades!”

“Inside?”

“She seems to have woken up, but as ordered, we absolutely didn’t let her come out.”

“I see.”

“……”

The guard’s lips quivered as if he had something to say, but he ended up saying nothing and just lowered his head.

Seeing this, Hades spoke to him in a coldly settled voice.

“Given the situation, we’ll have to accept a certain level of sacrifice.”

No one knew what decision Hades would make in a situation where water, essential for crossing the desert, had disappeared.

But supplies were limited and there were many people.

Whatever choice Hades made, someone would have to be sacrificed.

The guard spoke solemnly to Hades, as if making a vow.

“I have no regrets about working under the Flame of Flames, Ignite.”

“…Thank you. May the guardian deity’s blessing be upon you.”

“May the guardian deity’s blessing be upon you too, Commander.”

After seeing the soldier who believed in him even in the face of death, Hades lifted the tent curtain with an even darker expression. But Latifa, who should have been sitting quietly, was not there.

“…?”

Hades hurriedly walked over and shook the leather blanket placed on her bed. Of course, nothing came out.

“…Did she run away?!”

Even the small amount of food that should have been left around was empty.

“Damn it!”

He muttered a small curse and hurriedly went outside to look for her. It would be her freedom to run away, but now was really not a good time.

Faced with the situation of no water, the soldiers were in an extremely anxious state and highly excited.

In this situation, they didn’t know how violently they might change if they saw an imperial woman walking alone.

Just as Hades was about to hurriedly draw his sword and leave the tent, the back wall of the tent shook and a small face popped out.

“Puhah!”

“You!”

“H-Hades Commander!”

He quickly grabbed and pulled up Latifa, who was trying to sneak into the tent by lying flat on her stomach.

Latifa’s face was covered in dirt and dust, but her eyes were shining blue and cold.

Hades gritted his teeth and growled at her warningly.

“Are you in your right mind?!”

“W-wait a moment. Listen to me-.”

“The guard must have told you it’s dangerous outside right now!”

Feeling the eeriness from his sharp black pupils shining more brightly than his loud shouting voice, Latifa took a step back from him.

‘It’s similar to that time. When he separated Brenda…’

Between his gaze, reminiscent of a wild beast, a dangerous madness was faintly seeping in.

Latifa quickly tried to calm him down. She had a feeling that if she didn’t stop the madness rising in his eyes now, something terrible would happen.

“Ugh! I’m really sorry for sneaking out! Just a moment. I went out for a bit because there was something I needed to confirm.”

“Nothing is more important than life! This isn’t the empire, it’s the desert, wake up! We’re not on a picnic!”

“There was something I absolutely had to check!”

“You dare disobey my orders and wander around as you please?! Damn it! What do you think will happen…!”

“I’m not your soldier, and it wasn’t my will to come here. So I have no reason to follow your orders!”

“Insolent…!”

“Just listen to me for a moment!”

“No. You listen to me! How dare you, a woman of a fallen nation-!”

‘Who did I go out for!’

Latifa also became angry at Hades, who was raging and calling her a woman of a fallen nation without even listening to what she had to say, after she had gone to find out news that could save many people from danger.

Finally, she grabbed one of Hades’ wrists and raised her voice.

“Are you really going to kill half of the soldiers?! Calm down. Stop raging like a mad dog!”

“…!”

At the words ‘mad dog’ that came out of Latifa’s mouth, he instantly closed his mouth.

“I know the current situation too! I’m not as stupid as you think! The soldiers are agitated because of the lack of water, right?!”

Latifa looked straight at Hades while exhaling roughly. Her stamina had weakened so much that just shouting like this was making her breathless.

“Huff. We can get water again, so please… calm down.”

She was starting to feel dizzy from not being able to breathe properly. Her legs were also starting to lose strength, and Latifa slightly staggered and grabbed her forehead.

Only then did Hades stop shouting and quickly grabbed her waist firmly.

The sudden heat of his body temperature and the smell of sand dust made her heart beat faster and her dizziness worsen.

“…You can get water? From where?”

At his much calmer voice, Latifa raised her head to check Hades’ face. The aura of madness that had been deeply settled in his black eyes was gradually clearing.

‘Now we can have a proper conversation.’

Slightly relieved, Latifa calmed her rapidly beating heart and spoke calmly.

“Yes. It’s going to rain soon.”

“You’re crazy.”

An immediate answer without a hint of consideration came from Hades.

“No. It’s really going to rain. There will be heavy rain for several days!”

“The heat and cold of the desert have driven you mad.”

“Why don’t you believe what I’m saying?!”

“I’d believe it if you said something that made sense. We’re in the middle of a desert with no oasis.”

Latifa was at a loss for words. She had planned to return to the tent first and think about how to tell him about the rain, but meeting him suddenly had jumbled her thoughts.

There was no evidence to convince him.

Just one thing.

The only way was to honestly tell him about the ability she possessed.

But being able to talk to animals. This too would sound like a ridiculous excuse to Hades.

‘If I say this, I’ll really be treated like a crazy person. As mother said, they might even kill me for being a witch.’

But there was no choice.

If she didn’t convince him now, many people could be sacrificed. And that would include her half-sister Aris, whom she had only seen a few times, and herself.

It was better to grasp at straws than to die being accused of being a witch now or die in the desert later.

“Actually, someone told me. I… Commander Hades. I have a special ability…”

“A special ability?”

His pitch-black eyes turned towards Latifa.

Was it an illusion that one corner of his mouth seemed to twitch?

“I…”

“Yes. You are?”

Latifa finally exhaled a long sigh and shook her head.

“I can’t say it. You’ll think it’s nonsense anyway. But please don’t think of me as a crazy person. It really is going to rain. This is reliable information.”

At her words, he let out a small snort. Hades slowly approached behind Latifa.

“Then shall I tell you one of my secrets that no one knows? After hearing my secret, you might be able to tell me yours.”

“Y-your secret…?”

His low voice resonated in her ear.

“Just as you are, everyone in the Grand Bazaar believes I’m a mad dog. But my secret is that I’m absolutely not mad.”

Hades’ fingers brushed Latifa’s fallen silver hair behind her ear.