Book 2 - 7.5 The Desert Runner (II)

Book 2-7.5 The Desert Runner (II)

The promised date with Thriger.

Yulian took Pere, Grace, and all of the Red Storm warriors, as they nervously waited at the end of the quicksand river.

“Will they come?”

“We can only hope that they will. And believe.”

While Yulian and Grace were chatting with each other, Pere was looking at the quicksand river in front of him.

“The older warriors warned us over and over to never come here, so I have never been here. Is this flowing sand really that scary?”

“Apparently it has a stronger suction force than the normal quicksand. That is probably why generations after generations have warned us to be careful around this quicksand river.”

Yulian quickly reminded Pere to be careful as he was worried Pere might take a step out of curiosity, Pere took another look at the quicksand river before starting to speak.

“Hyung-nim, as you mentioned, if we control this area, our Pareia will control the center of the desert. It would bring us one step, no, many steps closer to our dream. Since you said you had a good conversation with the leader of that ship, I guess we can only hope.”

“He will come. That is what I believe. If we connected as I believe we did, I am certain that he will show up.”

“Since Hyung-nim feels that way, I’m sure he will come. There is nobody who can stop themselves from being attracted to you. Hyung-nim’s body sometimes glows.”

“You are speaking nonsense. I am not a firefly; how would I glow?”

At that time, Grace slowly embraced Yulian’s arm as she interjected.

“Pere-nim is speaking the truth. Every so often when you are giving an impassioned speech, it feels like your body is glowing. I’m sure Pere-nim and I are not the only ones who feel this way.”

One of the leaders of the Red Storm warriors, Kranado, also started to speak.

“What the two of them are saying is the truth. When we all first gathered together, I am certain that the Glow’s body was glowing. It was that light that attracted us to you. In fact, it was that light that helped us make the difficult decision to leave our instructors and gather together like this.”

With Kranado speaking confidently as if he was certain, Yulian could not help but awkwardly smile.”

“All of you, really … you make me sound cool.”

“That is why hyung-nim is the Glow. How can you fill the position of Glow without having the abilities to draw people to you? Remember our father. Although he was not the greatest warrior or even the best politician, he was able to make people feel calm and earn everyone’s respect with just a few words. Hyung-nim, in that aspect, you are just like father.”

“You are also father’s son. Plus, it is just that nobody can forget father and pretending that I am him to fill that void. That is why you are all claiming that my body glows. But as long as we are all headed toward the same dream, that is good enough.”

As Yulian wrapped it up, everybody smiled and once again started to wait for the promised visitors.

The sun quickly came and went and before they knew it, the first moon started to come up.

“Will they not come?”

“Rather than not coming, I want to believe that something happened that is preventing them from coming.”

Although Yulian responded that way to Pere question, it was true that Yulian was also very nervous.

‘I honestly believed that they would come … I had that type of certainty.’

Yulian thought that way as he looked toward the end of the quicksand river.

“Let us head back and return tomorrow. It is possible that they got the date wrong.”

Yulian hoped that Grace was right and started to nod his head. But at that exact moment, Pere suddenly shouted.

“Something is headed this way!”

“What?”

Yulian shouted as he turned his head back to the quicksand river.

Although he could not be sure because it was dark, there were only two potential options. If it is something moving across the quicksand river, it was either a monster or the Desert Runner.

What Yulian managed to see was the moonlight shining off of the white sails as the Desert Runner made its way toward the group.

With the night wind blowing strongly across the desert, the sails were flapping wildly and bouncing the moonlight around.

The Desert Runner that instantly closed in on Yulian and the group came to a stop and rope ladders started to come down on all sides.

“Captain Thriger!”

Yulian shouted loudly toward the first person coming down the rope ladder and started to run toward him.

Once Thriger landed on the ground, rather than greeting the Glow who was running toward him, he kneeled on one knee.

“Captain Thriger?”

“We have come to make our home here as the Glow mentioned, which means that we are now the Glow’s people. Since that is the case, we must show our respect.”

“I have made it so that the greatest warriors and chiefs of our tribe cannot kneel in front of me. I did not become the Glow to lead on my own. We will all work together to lead Pareia forward. I am planning on treating captain like our greatest warriors, so please do not go overboard like this to show your respect.”

“I will say this before everyone disembarks, but the decision of our Desert Runner was made after a lot of serious contemplation. Everybody has gathered here to live like people. Please do not ever throw us away.”

Yulian reached his hand out to Thriger and tightly grabbed Thriger’s hand.

“I do not know why people from outside the desert flowed all the way here, but be part of our Pareia from here on. I will help you dream until I am satisfied. Be a proud member of our tribe. I will help you achieve dreams that other people can’t even think about.”

“Thank you, Glow.”

The second month of year 254 on the continental calendar.

Yulian was able to take control of the quicksand river. Yulian was able to take control of the center of the desert.

Appendix

Configuration of Red Storm

I will shortly answer some of the questions tha readers have had about Red Storm.

• Greatest Warrior?

Each oasis has a single Greatest Warrior. Although there can be quite the difference in strength between each Greatest Warrior, as the system is set that way, each oasis has one Greatest Warrior.

The strength of these warriors are not comparable to that of a young warrior who just became an adult, veteran warriors, or even the lead warriors.

This is what the continent calls the master level, but the level of the desert warriors who fight for survival every day is much stronger than that of the continent. To compare, the veteran warriors of the desert are as strong as the knights of the continent. So it is no wonder that the ratio of master level warriors are much greater in the desert.

• Black water? Burning water?

I presume you already anticipated this, but it is talking about oil. The specialties of the desert are oil and Monster’s souls. Other than these two items, there really isn’t much else in the desert. Although they have the pirmas that are stronger than horses, the pirmas are specialized for the desert that the continent does not really need to import them.

In war, oil is used a lot for sieges and fire arrows.

• The existence of Chun Myung Hoon?

This is the question that I received the most, but because I am dreaming of a chronicle of novels, many of the characters in my different works may cross over. Please pay close attention to the supporting cast. ^^;

• Comparison between Venersis and Yulian’s strength?

I want to say it is still in favor of Venersis for now. His role is that of a War God born under the mandate of heaven, and a War God is not an existence that falls so easily.

• Prisoner?

The entire desert is one tribe and everybody knows what happens when you lose a war. Until their tribe pays the ransom for their bodies, everybody knows of their situation.

Because of this knowledge that they are all one tribe, the majority of the prisoners end up being absorbed into the tribe that made them prisoner. They might have some longing for their old tribe, but it is not enough to bother them.

• The direction of Volume 3?

I personally believe that this novel is about war + territory development + growth. Finding the balance has been the hardest part. Once I determine which direction is the most entertaining, I will put more weight in that direction. Novels are supposed to be fun. ^^;;

• The publication cycle you are eyeing?

Other than because of natural disasters or decision of the publication company or the market, at the earliest one volume a month, and at the latest two volumes in three months is my promise to you.

That is it for now.

If you have other things you are curious about, please send me an e-mail or leave a message on the publisher’s website or the series’ notice board. I will diligently respond.

Now we are running toward volume 3. I hope that you continue to read along and have fun.

END OF VOLUME 2

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Translator Note: Volume 3 has somewhat of a slow start, but the middle of the volume is packed with action. All I have to say about it is HOLY CRAP. I can’t wait for all of you to read it. I will continue to translate with diligence to get us there.