"Well... What should we do now?"
I looked around at the corpses lying around me.
There were more than twenty sand bandits, but we had wiped them out in less than five minutes. Among the corpses lying on the ground was our guide who had brought us here.
"...Oh no. I didn't know how to return. And where is this place?"
We've been set up by the guide and taken to a different place than the royal city we were supposed to be heading for. We don't know where we are, and we don't know where the royal capital is.
If it was a game, I could just open the map screen and check the location... but in the real world, that is not so easy to do.
The situation was very frightening: we were lost in the middle of the desert.
"Royal capital... or wherever it is, we must find a human settlement or else we will die out. Besides, I can't even operate a dragon carriage..."
I looked at Urza and Levienna, hoping for a glimmer of hope, but they both shook their heads frantically.
If this is a horse-drawn carriage, I might have been able to do something about it, but to operate a dragon carriage it requires the job of 'Monster Tamer (魔物使い)'. Of course, none of us had it.
Again, the scorching sun is shining down from the sky.
Sweat is pouring down my body as soon as I become aware of it again, and at this rate, we will be lost in the middle of the desert.
"Goshujin-sama... it's suddenly getting hot, desu~no"
"...You were acting wildly just now, so you probably didn't notice. Let's just go inside the dragon carriage and figure out what to do. We'll turn into mummies if we stay here."
A little farther away from us, the sand dragon that brought us here is lazily sleeping.
Although we can't move the dragon carriage now that our 'Monster Tamer' is gone, we can at least take shelter in the carriage and avoid the sun.
As we move toward the carriage, I notice that among the dead sand bandits, there is a man who is crawling on the ground and trying to get away from us.
The one who is crawling is a big hairy man who used to call himself the leader of the Red Spear Gang.
"Hey, where are you going in a hurry?"
"Eeek!?"
I shoot a dark magic bullet, and the bullet lands next to the face of the big man who was crawling in the desert.
"You're a tough guy to survive being kicked by Urza. But... you're lucky. I was having a hard time figuring out where I was."
"Hey, don't think you can get away with this! The Red Spear Gang have 50 more men! My men will avenge you for sure!"
"Oh? You've got a very interesting remark. It's so interesting, it makes my stomach curl."
"...!"
I take off the sunglasses covering my eyes and glare at the big guy lying on the ground.
As everyone knows, my piercing white eyes make even monsters tremble. So, it's obvious that the big guy, who has just been beaten to a pulp, is terrified, as if he had just met a man-eating tiger.
"Eeeeeeeeek!? I-I'll tell you anything! I'll tell you anything, but please don't kill me! Please don't eat me!"
"I won't eat you! What the hell are you talking about?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?"
I glared at him, and the big man let out a scream that echoed through the desert. Although he is a big man, he is a small man inside.
"Good grief... So, where the hell is this place? Which way is the village? You'd better answer quickly..."
"T-This place is 100 km southeast from the capital!"
"A hundred kilometers... that's a long way to walk without a camel, isn't it?"
I have never traveled in the desert before, including before I came to this world.
Also, I don't know how far a 100 km journey is... but there is a possibility that if we walk in the desert, we might get lost and die.
With a 'certain item', we could get back to the village where we started... but then we would have to start the journey all over again.
"I want to get to the capital somehow, but... can you operate the dragon carriage?"
"...I-I can't."
"I see... then there's no reason to keep you alive."
"Eeeeeeeeeek!? M-My friends! My friend's a Monster Tamer! That guy can handle it!"
I try to pull out my sword, but the big man pleads with tears in his eyes.
"Where is this guy? If you're lying, I'll make you regret your birth!"
"M-My friend at our hideout... I'll show you the way..."
"..."
I looked at Urza and Levienna, and they both nodded their heads in agreement.
It seems that there are no objections from the others. I ask the big man to lead us to his hideout.
"If you try to run away, I'll pull out your knee plate. Don't try anything stupid."
I take a rope out of my magic bag and restrain the big guy with it, and make him stand up.
I let him lead us to his hideout, which he said was a short walk from here.
