“Stand still and don’t panic,” I said to Karl, but my words only seemed to make him more flustered.

“…I’m sorry?”

“There’s a monster. It’s passing underneath the sand. Judging by how it’s not hiding its presence, it probably hasn’t detected us yet.”

Monsters that moved underground like this typically had poor eyesight.

That’s why instead of relying on vision, they sensed vibrations in the ground to locate their prey.

In other words, if we stayed still without walking, there was a chance it would pass by quietly without noticing us.

Scratch, scratch. Scratch, scratch.

The scratching sound was even louder than before.

The monster was probably only about five paces away now.

It had come right up to us, so I thought if we just endured a bit longer, it would pass without incident.

Right at that moment-

Eeeeeeek-

The monster that I expected to pass underfoot suddenly poked its head above the sand with a strange cry.

It was a giant worm-shaped monster with a body as thick as a human’s.

Fortunately, it seemed the creature had surfaced to breathe the air above ground, not because it had spotted us.

I gave Karl instructions in a very low voice.

“It has poor eyesight. If we stay still, it won’t detect us. No matter how scared you are, don’t move a muscle.”

“Yes, I won’t budge an inch.”

As we held our ground, the monster squirmed closer to us.

Now it was a mere three paces away.

That was close enough that it would be difficult to react if the monster suddenly lunged to attack.

Around then, I deliberated. Should I keep enduring like this, or preemptively chop the monster to pieces?

The deliberation didn’t last long.

Plop.

A droplet of rainwater that hadn’t fully dried fell from Karl’s clothes onto the sand.

The monster didn’t miss the faint vibration this caused.

KIIIEEEEK-!!!

“Karl! Duck your head!”

The monster, having detected our presence, bared its teeth and charged straight at us.

Fortunately, Karl reacted swiftly.

Following my order, he immediately bent over at the waist, and I swung my sword at the monster lunging over him.

Kka-kkak-!

The monster bit down on my swinging blade with its sharp teeth.

Despite looking like a worm, its jaw strength was unexpectedly powerful, making it impossible to pull my sword back out.

Giving up on retrieving my sword, I unleashed my psychic power as is.

Crackle, crackle-

The chill emanating from my sword slowly began freezing the monster from its mouth.

Startled by the coldness of ice it had probably never encountered in the desert, the creature started writhing its huge body.

Right then, having that massive body thrash around wildly and end up striking me could only be described as rotten luck.

Thwack-!

The impact of being hit by the giant worm’s body sent me flying a good distance.

As I tumbled head over heels down a sand dune, I heard Karl’s urgent shout.

“Vice Captain!!”

At that moment, I thought, ‘Thank goodness.’

I had frozen the worm’s head before getting hit, so there was no way it could attack Karl with its teeth or anything.

Thus, Karl would be safe, but the problem was me.

My head was ringing terribly.

Although I had fallen on sand rather than hard ground, the impact of the fall wasn’t fully negated.

My head spun and there was a ringing in my ears.

I managed to get to my feet and looked in Karl’s direction.

He had retrieved my sword that had been frozen together with the monster and was running toward me.

I had to protect Karl before any other monsters showed up…

That was the last thought I had before losing consciousness.

Tap tap tap tap.

Martin’s fingers were restlessly drumming on the desk.

As he tapped the desk like that, he simultaneously strained his ears.

It was to check if he could hear even the faintest sound of hoofbeats coming from outside.

But all he heard was the sound of rain; no matter how long he waited, no hoofbeats reached his ears.

Buried in that silence, he unconsciously muttered.

“…It’s too late.”

Yulia had said she would return by morning as it wasn’t a very difficult rift.

However, contrary to her words, even as dawn fully passed, Yulia had yet to return.

Creasing his eyes with worry, he continued thinking.

What could be the reason she still hadn’t returned despite promising to come back by morning?

Karl had even gone with her…

Of course, the definition of morning varied from person to person, so the morning Yulia mentioned could be 2-3 hours later, around 7-8 AM.

So even as he told himself to wait just a bit longer, Martin found it difficult to stop worrying.

Tap tap tap.

The fingers that had been tapping the desk restlessly suddenly stopped.

It was because of an ominous premonition that had abruptly popped into his mind.

Could something have happened inside the rift…?

Perhaps something had happened to Yulia and Karl.

There were many types of accidents that could occur inside a rift, after all.

For example, getting injured due to treacherous terrain, being stranded, or worst of all, getting eaten by monsters.

Having considered that possibility, Martin ground his teeth and rose from his chair.

Then he hurriedly grabbed his coat and weapons.

Both Karl and Yulia were indispensable members of the Order.

So thinking he couldn’t leave them to die, he repeated to himself over and over as he mounted his horse.

The sound of hoofbeats powerfully galloping off shattered the early morning stillness, resounding loudly.

When I fainted and regained consciousness, I was for some reason lying in an unfamiliar place.

With stone pillars lining the walls and an altar-like object placed in the center, it seemed to be the interior of some ancient ruins.

As soon as I spotted Karl next to me, I immediately apologized first.

“I’m sorry. I let my guard down. I should have sliced that bug to pieces as soon as it surfaced.”

“No, it’s my fault. I’m not sure, but I think I moved a little, which made it detect us… More importantly, how are you feeling?”

“I think I’m okay. But where are we?”

I could only vaguely guess it was ruins, but it was hard to tell exactly where this was.

Listening to what Karl said next, it seemed he wasn’t sure either.

“There was a building like this not far from where that bug appeared earlier, so I brought you here first. I thought it would be safer to enter and wait for you to regain consciousness before leaving.”

“Ah.”

“I was so worried when you wouldn’t wake up no matter how much I tried healing you with my ability…”

“Wait, I wouldn’t wake up? How long was I out for?”

It had definitely been midday when we first entered the rift.

But the sky visible through the partially collapsed ceiling above was now dusky.

It seemed strange, but as I suspected, quite some time must have passed while I was unconscious.

“You were unconscious for about 6 hours.”

“What?!”

I held my forehead upon hearing Karl’s words.

6 hours, he said.

Contrary to my initial plan of killing the Queen and closing the rift within 3 hours, far too much time had already passed.

Monsters became more active at night, so we couldn’t head to the oasis right away either.

We would probably have to hide here and wait until morning, wasting even more time.

In an instant, I could easily imagine what would happen to me when I returned to the garrison after closing the rift.

“The Captain is going to chew me out to bits when we get back…”

The Captain had told me directly.

That he didn’t care what I did, but not to do anything that would harm the squad members.

Despite hearing that, I had detained Karl, one of the key personnel of the Order, for this long…

As I was worrying about the scolding I would get from the Captain later, Karl consoled me with a smile.

“He probably won’t say much. If anything, he’ll likely say he’s glad you returned safely.”

“You think so…?”

“Even if it doesn’t seem like it, the Captain cares a lot about you, Vice Captain. I’m sure he’s worrying about you right now too.”

I couldn’t bring myself to agree with Karl’s words.

There was no way the Captain, who had brazenly declared his distrust of me to my face, would be worried about me.

For that reason, I could only give an awkward laugh as I got up from where I was sitting.

“Anyway, I think we need to patrol a bit to see if this place is safe. It’s the time when monsters are most active, so going outside is dangerous. Let’s just look around inside these ruins a little.”

“You just woke up, so it would be better for you to lie down a bit more…”

“It’s fine. I’m completely okay now. You know I’m sturdy.”

Even after saying that, Karl’s expression remained stiff.

What was he so worried about? He should know well how tenacious I was.

Sometimes Karl seemed to worry about me excessively.

I showed Karl an even more energetic expression than usual.

“Come on, get up. Or should I go alone?”