Death Can’t Sleep - Chapter 104
Three days later…
“Victor… The next oasis.”
“…We are still far away.”
In the middle of the vast desert, they were literally starving.
“Haaah…”
Amarion drooped on her horse. She had no energy because she had not eaten properly for several days. After starving for so long, her head was spinning.
She looked over the horizon through the scattering sand. The golden sand was piled up, forming dunes.
“Those dunes, don’t they look like pudding? It’s like bright yellow bread pudding. The chef at the mansion made a really good pudding. The buttercream on top of the pudding was also excellent… I want to eat pudding…”
At her words, Victor sighed. His eyes were haggard.
It happened like this.
On the day they left the nameless village, they were caught in a sandstorm.
They weren’t hit head-on or for very long, but after the storm had passed, the food bag that had been attached to their horse had been blown away. All that was left was the map of Oasis, a knife, and a handful of dried food that Victor had brought as snacks.
Fortunately, water and sleeping areas were available in Oasis, but food was out of the question. If they ate their horses, they would have to walk on foot, and oases were not common, so filling their stomachs with water was the limit. Even though they ate their dry food sparingly, they quickly ran out of it.
After a few days, even Victor, who always ate less, began to show signs of exhaustion.
“What about beef jerky?”
“It’s all gone. I do have some dried fruits.”
Victor reached into their bag of rations and split the small dried apple into halves. Of course, he didn’t feel like he ate anything. If he hadn’t received the blessing of Mirage before leaving, it was obvious he would have collapsed.
Amarion glared resentfully at the scorching sky.
“I… I thought that if I suffered hardships in the wasteland, it would be because of monsters.”
“I did too. But right now, I want to fight a monster.”
“No. They said that the ones that came down from the Black Mountain are poisonous.”
Victor said sadly.
“If I die, I want to die with a full stomach…”
“It’s no good, it’s won’t be as good as the Griffin you roasted and ate.”
At her words, Victor looked pained.
Amarion sadly rested her forehead on her horse’s neck. She thought it would be okay since it was not far away, but they were about to die of starvation before they even reached the kingdom. She let her horse roam on its own and looked back at Victor. His rough cheeks were visible under the cloth he was wearing to shield from the sunlight.
Amarion expressed her concerns in a hollow voice.
“Victor, your skin is very damaged.”
“I won’t be fooled anymore.”
“No, really… Is it because you haven’t eaten? It is different from before.”
Victor became even more serious. He rubbed his cheek with his hand. The sight suddenly made her resent the sandstorm more.
How dare it ruin that precious face!
Seeing her expression, he asked pitifully.
“If I hurt my face, will you leave me?”
“No, why are you asking that again?”
“You like handsome men.”
Her husband affirmed. Amarion was dumbfounded and stared at him.
“You speak as if I’ve only lived with you for your face, my dear.”
“Of course you aren’t like that. But… you always said you liked my face.”
‘Are you serious? This man!’
But Victor seemed genuine. Perhaps because he was hungry, he looked at her with puppy-like eyes. It was really unfair, but since her husband asked, she seriously thought about it.
Honestly, she didn’t think Victor could become ugly. She didn’t think that was a good answer though…
Amarion answered after thinking.
“Besides the face, there are other things that are also important. If I only like good looks… hmm… Wouldn’t I have been thrilled when I saw Sir Jane?”
“You mean you weren’t thrilled after seeing Jane?”
“Why would I be?”
Amarion shook her head.
Of course, the knight was really beautiful, and for a while, Amarion was surprised every time she saw him… but not like Victor. The reason she fell in love with Victor was because of the butterflies he made her feel.
“I like strong people.”
Victor was silent at her words. He nodded his head as he pondered something.
“It’s fortunate that Yaji is a woman*.”
[*E/N: It has come to our attention that Yaji is, in fact, a woman. We apologize for any confusion!]
Amarion laughed lightly.
“Is she stronger than you?”
“I don’t know, but at first glance, she didn’t look incredibly strong.”
Amarion nodded in agreement. It was the first time in her life that she found someone as strong as her. No, actually, there was one similar, but…
The moment she thought about it, she was startled by the question that flew by.
“Come to think of it, isn’t Kyrgyz, the king of bandits, a man?”
“What? Oh, he is. He is a young man.”
“…How do you know? Have you ever met him?”
Victor narrowed his eyes.
Amarion scratched her cheek and turned her head.
Just in time, she saw a welcome scenery in the distance. A small shelter made of stones and a few tall trees…
“Victor! An oasis!”
At her shout, Victor immediately turned his head with a happy face. They both rode towards it at full gallop.
***
This oasis miraculously had food.
But…
“Can you call this food?”
“Of course, it’s just a little… old.”
He looked disgusted at the musty jerky. The only thing left at the bottom of the box was a piece of jerky made of unknown meat. It was unclear how old it was.
Still, since it was salted and dried, wouldn’t it be edible?
When Amarion put her hand in and picked it up, something sticky was smeared on it. Victor’s face looked like he was about to vomit.
“Leave it, Marion. Isn’t that something you can’t eat just by looking at it?”
“But food is food! Have you never starved on the battlefield?”
“The Empire’s logistics aren’t that bad.”
Amarion clicked her tongue and brought the jerky to her mouth. Then, a hand as quick as lightning struck the back of her hand.
“…!”
The tiny bit of old beef jerky rolled around on the sand. She got upset and screamed.
“Why did you throw it away when it’s fine?! It’s not like food rots!”
“Have you really eaten rotten things?!”
Victor groaned. Amarion watched the jerky roll on the floor with a very upset face.
‘Can I eat it if I pick it up?’
As if reading her thoughts, Victor’s expression turned cold in an instant.
“Marion, don’t even dream.”
He resolutely dragged her to the water’s edge. She couldn’t help but drink the water with tears in her eyes. As she was filling her empty stomach, she noticed grass growing along the water’s edge. It was planted to feed horses, but looking at it in this situation, she had a different idea.
In Amari, in the middle of winter, they boiled and ate dried grass…
Victor, who followed her gaze, was stunned.
“Marion, that’s the grass that horses eat. People can’t… No, in the first place, you want to eat that?”
“Yes, Victor. I also ate sprouted potatoes when I was hungry.”
“My wife really is like a wild dog…”
Victor let out a sigh. He seemed to have recovered quite a bit by drinking some water, even though he was starving until now. She stared at the grass with a guilty feeling.
‘If I eat this grass… I’m sure it won’t digest well and I’ll get a fever.’
Kingdoms weren’t as wealthy as Empires, so getting an antidote would be much harder than getting food. And she had to go home quickly, so…
“…I give up.”
At her words, Victor had a visibly relieved expression. He patted her on the shoulder.
“Good idea. We’ll be at the border soon, so let’s do our best.”
“Stop saying that you want to eat monsters.”
“But I, sincerely, prefer Griffin meat to rotten jerky.”
“Tell me honestly, dear. The Griffin was delicious, right? Do you want to try it again?”
They bickered again and got on their horses. The dazzling sun was shining brightly overhead.
***
The hot desert passed by quickly. They rode on, covering their mouths with cloth to keep out the sand. Now that Amarion was dangerously hungry, she ran frantically without speaking.
After another night like that, they finally got out of the desert.
“…Ugh.”
As soon as they stepped off of the sand and onto the black ground, she shrank. Somehow, as soon as she left the wasteland, the heat disappeared like a lie. And a cold that she hadn’t experienced in a good while wrapped around her body. The icy ground cracked under their horse’s hooves, and the biting wind pierced the inside of their clothes.
It was a northern winter. Freezing to the soul.
Amarion pushed her hood down even further and wrapped her saddle cloth around Victor. Victor, who had always been strong, had visibly turned pale. He muttered in disbelief that he had only visited the south during the war.
“This can’t even compare to Morte… The capital of the kingdom is this cold?”
“It’s because we came straight to the North. The capital is on the southernmost point of the kingdom, so it’s not too cold.”
She lied. Amari was colder than here.
She swallowed. Then, slowly, they began to move toward a distant light.
Unlike the Empire, few travelers used the passage. There weren’t as many guards guarding the passageway as in the Empire, and there were so many monsters that it wasn’t particularly safe. So, a few bolder people just openly smuggled themselves in, and the residents set up villages on the border area and did business targeting travelers who smuggled in.
The village they headed for was one of those places. They entered the village, soothing their horses that kept shaking in the cold.
When she took in the scenery, she was instantly filled with appreciation.
The village was familiar. This place was close to the Black Mountain, so she had often visited it. There were many wooden buildings on the snow-covered ground, and the outer wall was high to prevent the wind from blowing strongly. All the shops had small windows and thick walls. People with white hair similar to hers were walking through the cold wind with their heads lowered.
However, Victor seemed to be in too much of a hurry to see such scenery. He asked without energy.
“Where is the food?”
“Oh! It’s this way.
Amarion hurried to the nearest store.
***
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