We ducked behind the edge of a crumbling wall, the desert wind whispering secrets we probably didn't want to hear. Cyno raised a hand, signaling us to stop, and pointed toward the two shady dudes chatting it up near the rocks like they were making a drug deal, or worse, discussing philosophy.
"Listen," Cyno muttered, voice sharp and low. "See if you can make out what they're saying."
Naturally, I whispered the first thing that popped into my gremlin brain. "Ooooh, maybe they're negotiating a black market trade deal. You know, like underground cacti... or bootleg Akasha terminals."
Lumine whacked me on the back of the head without hesitation. "Shut up and focus."
Nilou leaned close, whispering, "You really have an overactive imagination."
Greg, perched on my shoulder, tilted his head. I could feel the disappointment radiating from his tiny reptile soul. It hurt.
I shut my mouth. But not my brain? It was already writing a desert soap opera.
We all crouched lower as the two men spoke.
"Have you heard?" one of them whispered, voice dripping with reverence like he was narrating a religious conspiracy theory podcast. "The mighty King Deshret, the sovereign of our faith, will soon return to this world."
The other dude nodded like he just got confirmation his fantasy football team was making a comeback. "Yeah, of course I have. King Deshret is the one and only true ruler of this land. I've never believed in any other gods!"
Lumine gave me a side-eye. "That sounds familiar."
I whispered back, "What? I'm very monogamous in my worship of chaos."
Greg flicked his tail. A clear sign of disagreement. Betrayal, even.
The first guy kept going, totally unaware of his audience of eavesdroppers and emotionally exhausted travelers.
"Haven't you noticed? The village has been getting more deranged scholars than ever. Delavar was saying a bunch of people went nuts before King Deshret's civilization fell. Seems like there's a connection."
"So what you're saying," the second guy replied slowly, "is that mass insanity... is a good sign?"
"Exactly! All the mad scholars disappearing? That's gotta be the final sacrifice. It's happening. King Deshret's coming back!"
Nilou leaned in, whispering, "They really believe this, don't they?"
I nodded. "It's either a resurrection or a secret desert rave."
"A... rave?" she blinked.
"A sacred rave," I clarified.
Greg did a little hop and scuttled closer to get a better look. Respect.
Back at the gossiping duo, guy two said, "That... does make some sense. Maybe our lives are finally gonna improve."
"Exactly! Those city folks will get what's coming to them!"
Right at that moment, Cyno, who'd been waiting for the perfect dramatic entrance like a justice-themed ninja, just appeared in front of them. Silent. Intense. The wind even swirled a little.
"Hey!" I yelled, springing up. "I wanted a dramatic entrance too!"
I leapt forward, determined to make my own cool debut.
And tripped.
Face met sand. Sand met dignity. Dignity left the chat.
Everyone stared.
Nilou rushed over, sighing like a disappointed older sister. She gently wiped the sand off my face. "Are you okay?"
"No... But also yes... But mostly no..."
Lumine muttered from behind, "This idiot..."
Paimon floated upward with zero hesitation. "Paimon doesn't know this man."
Greg climbed up to sit on my back like I was a fallen log. A useless log.
Cyno didn't even blink. Man of steel. He stared at the two men, voice like thunder under control. "Repeat everything you've just said. From the beginning."
One of the guys – I think Sharkan? – stumbled backward. "Huh!?"
The other – Makan, apparently – freaked. "Wh-Who are you!? Where did you come from?!"
"My patience is running thin," Cyno said. His eyes practically glowed. "You heard what I asked."
Sharkan looked like he was about to pee. "B-Bro, this guy's something else... Just look at his eyes... One wrong move and he's gonna flay us alive..."
"Let's not get on his bad side!" Makan hissed. "I'm no match for this guy!"
"We mean no offense, good sir!" Sharkan stammered. "What would you like to know?"
"Tell me about King Deshret's resurrection."
Sharkan swallowed hard. "I only know a few things... I heard it from some other folks while drinking. About how the madmen would vanish, and King Deshret would return. I swear I'm not making it up...!"
Cyno said nothing. The silence was louder than thunder.
"Go on," Makan urged. "Keep talking!"
"It's true! We desert folks have had enough of the Akademiya shoving mad scholars at us! Can't even live a peaceful life! Would you want to live like this? The Radicals are even more excited than I am. We're all praying for Deshret's return."
Nilou looked concerned. "They really do hate the Akademiya."
Lumine crossed her arms. "They're more angry at the institution than the Archon herself."
Greg licked his eye.
"Delavar said when Deshret comes back, it won't be long before we conquer the land past the Wall," Sharkan added proudly.
Cyno finally spoke. "Is that so."
Makan nudged Sharkan. "He's not done asking. Talk!"
"Right! I thought it was just the booze! But then... the mad scholars vanished! Exactly like the rumors! P-Please don't beat me up! I-I'm just repeating what others said! I'm not guilty alone, okay?! It's communal guilt!"
Paimon floated closer. "The people here really like King Deshret, but hate the Dendro Archon..."
Lumine nodded slowly. "But the Akademiya is the real target."
"Where is this Radical you mentioned?" Cyno asked.
"I haven't seen him lately," Sharkan stammered. "He hasn't been around. What about you, man?"
Makan shook his head furiously. "No! Not at all! He's not here, swear it!"
"So you're not close to the Radicals."
"No! Just names, that's it!"
Cyno stepped closer, gaze sharp enough to slice sandstone. "I have many ways to stop you from talking. And many more to stop you from warning others."
My blood froze.
Sharkan went pale.
"Stay home. Don't do anything suspicious. If I find out you tried to send a message... not even Candace will save you."
"YES, YES! Understood! Totally fine! Staying home forever! Never leaving again!"
Paimon exhaled. "Whew... That scared Paimon half to death! Cyno is terrifying..."
Lumine muttered, "Good thing we're not his enemies."
"Mhm," Cyno responded.
Paimon whispered to me, Lumine, and Nilou, "He didn't even deny it. It's like he hears this stuff all the time..."
"All the more reason not to tick him off," Lumine muttered back.
"Heard that," Cyno said.
Paimon shrieked, "AHH! Sorry!!"
"S-Sorry," I added, hands up in surrender. "Please don't legally execute me. I have girlfriends."
Nilou smiled apologetically. "We're all very sorry."
"It's part of being a matra," Cyno said casually, like it wasn't a threat disguised as a fact.
"So... what now?" I asked, brushing sand off my face and soul.
"The rumor we heard seems like a strong lead," Cyno said. "But we need to investigate a few more places."
"Maybe we could check the scholars' homes," Lumine suggested. "There might be clues."
Cyno nodded. "Very well."
Greg twitched his tail with intent. Like he was already thinking of how to raid someone's house.
And so, the next phase began. We had a lead, a squad, a lizard, and zero chill.
Time to crack open some dusty houses and pray there wasn't another faceplant waiting for me.
***
We had barely dusted ourselves off from the last lore bomb when we spotted Isak running toward us like a kid who just realized he left his homework at home.
"Isak!" Paimon called out, floating toward him.
"Ah, I'm here!" he waved, looking excited and a little sweaty.
Cyno stepped forward, serious as ever. "Where's your grandpa's house?"
"I can take you there. Just follow me!"
And so we did.
I was still kind of straddling the line between emotional whiplash and sand in my everything when I felt a gentle tug on my sleeve. Nilou had slowed her steps to walk beside me, her expression soft.
"Shigeru," she said quietly, "do you think there's really a way to help those unfortunate scholars?"
My brain paused.
Unfortunate scholars.
Not mad. Not crazy. Not lost causes.
Just... unfortunate.
Man, she's really out here being too sweet for this world.
I cleared my throat, very aware I sounded like someone pretending not to be choked up. "There's a chance, yeah. First, we figure out the mumbo jumbo happening in this desert, beat the living daylight out of Scaramouche and his high-voltage Gundam cosplay, then we help Nahida deal with the rest."
Nilou smiled and nodded, her hands gently folded in front of her. "I hope I can be of help to you all."
Then she walked ahead with Isak and Paimon, the sun catching in her hair like she was walking straight out of a painting.
Lumine slowed down to my pace, smirking. "That's why she's the only girl I'd approve sharing you with."
I blinked. "Huh?"
She glanced at me from the side, her tone casual but sincere. "She's too good... even for an idiot like you."
"I know, right?" I said, nodding. "And I didn't even use a love potion on her. Not even once."
We both fist bumped in silence. Champions of accidental polygamy.
Greg watched the whole exchange from my shoulder. I think he blinked in approval. Or disapproval. It's honestly hard to tell. Lizard faces are ambiguous.
Eventually, Isak stopped near a shaded spot by a broken stone wall.
"This is where Grandpa usually stays," he said.
We all glanced around.
Paimon hovered forward. "There sure isn't much here..."
Lumine narrowed her eyes. "Hm? What's that smell... Cyno, did you catch a faint whiff of incense?"
Cyno inhaled. "No."
Paimon gasped. "Incense? Ahh! Please don't say it's that same one as before!"
Lumine's eyes sharpened. "It's definitely that one."
"But are you okay!?" Paimon flailed toward her. "Are you getting dizzy or need to lie down? Should we throw sand at your face? That's what people do in the desert, right?"
"What? No," Lumine said flatly.
Cyno turned toward her, finally sniffing again. "There's a scent that you can sense, but I can't...?"
"A certain Traveler here once passed out from that smell," Paimon explained helpfully. "Thankfully, Tighnari saved the day. And then he gave us the longest lecture ever about incense chemistry, neurotoxins, and the importance of not licking mysterious powders."
Cyno's expression didn't change. "So you know Tighnari."
"Huh? You know him too?" Paimon tilted her head. "Are you two friends?"
"Yes."
There was a pause.
"Wait... did Tighnari also lecture you?" Paimon asked.
"No. No need."
Greg crawled halfway down my arm and flicked his tongue.
"He's built different," I whispered to him.
Lumine pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't handle this scent very well..."
Cyno eyed her. "Did you first encounter this scent at Tighnari's house?"
She shook her head. "No. It was in the forest. A scholar was meditating."
"In the forest... from a scholar," Cyno repeated, half to himself.
Nilou wandered a bit around the area, her expression pensive. "It's odd. It feels like there's something here, but not. Like a... fading presence."
Greg crawled down and started digging in the sand.
I followed suit. "He's onto something. If there's a bomb under here, I'm blaming Sumeru's urban planning."
Lumine stepped beside me, eyeing the ground. "Let's keep looking for clues."
Cyno nodded. "It'd be more efficient if we split up."
"Right," I said, standing up and dusting off my pants. "Team Lore, assemble. Let's go find some incense-scented truths."
Nilou gave a soft giggle. "Let's try not to inhale too deeply, though. I'd rather not fall asleep in a pile of sand."
"Or worse," I added, pointing at Greg. "Wake up with Greg building a sandcastle on your face."
Greg stared at me. Unapologetic.
And so, with nothing but weird incense, one dramatic Matra, two concerned girlfriends, a sassy floating potato, and a lizard that may or may not be more qualified than all of us—we began the next stage of our investigation.
Desert lore waits for no one.
***
Split up, they said.
"We might find some clues," they said.
What did we find?
Nothing.
No ancient scroll. No lost tome. Not even a suspicious pile of sand with a conveniently glowing aura. We found a mushroom, two mora, and—somehow—a Dendroculus that Greg immediately tried to swallow.
"Bummer," I sighed, hands on hips, gazing around the empty rocky tented area like I was gonna suddenly will a plot twist into existence. "Let's try to find more! Maybe there's a secret passage! Or an invisible puzzle! Or a sentient cactus that gives lore!"
"Shigeru," Lumine muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You are the only person who could believe in a sentient cactus."
"Hey, it's not impossible," I replied, very reasonably. "We've met a tree. And a bird. And whatever Timmie's bird's ghost counts as."
Nilou giggled, kneeling beside a few footprints in the sand. Greg was trying to dig a hole with his face.
"Still no sign of anything... Are we even close to something important?" she asked gently.
"We're close to character development," I declared, placing a dramatic hand on my chest. "And probably more sand in my pants."
"You had that when we started," Lumine shot back.
We regrouped with the others shortly after that enlightening detour into 'absolutely nothingness.' Cyno was staring at the ground like it personally offended him.
He didn't say anything.
So, naturally, I had to say something.
"Whatcha looking for, detective? Buried treasure? A scroll of forbidden knowledge? A coupon for free Darshan lessons?"
"Here it is," Cyno said instead, completely ignoring me (rude). He pointed at a patch of sand that looked like every other patch of sand.
Paimon floated closer and squinted. "Erm... Paimon doesn't see anything."
"Although the traces have been completely buried, there are footprints here," Cyno explained, all Matra mode activated. "From the size and shape, they belong to an adult male. Local shoes. Most likely someone from the village."
"Wait, wait," I held up a hand. "You can tell what shoes a guy wears just from this sand smudge?"
Lumine crossed her arms. "He is the General Mahamatra."
"Still feels like magic."
Greg flicked sand at me. Betrayal.
"The scent is faint, but it's here," Cyno continued. "The footprints lead in that direction."
Lumine leaned in. "So someone else was here."
Isak tugged at Cyno's sleeve. "But... who would come looking for Grandpa? He doesn't have any friends."
"We'd have to ask whoever lured him away," Cyno said. "With incense."
I smacked one fist into my palm. "Lured him away! So that's what happened!"
Paimon floated up, blinking. "Wait, you can lure someone with just a scent?"
I pointed dramatically. "You get lured away by food all the time."
Lumine nodded. "True."
Nilou covered her mouth to hide a chuckle.
Paimon puffed up. "Hey! What's wrong with loving good food?! Everyone's got something they love!"
I pointed at Lumine. Then Nilou. "Yeah. Same, honestly."
Greg climbed onto Nilou's shoulder for some reason. Clearly switching sides.
"Exactly," Cyno added, ever the lore encyclopedia. "Most scholars are fond of incense. The scent is said to help them clear their minds and discover new knowledge. Even in madness, they're drawn to it—hoping to relive their days of clarity."
Isak's face crumpled a little. "No... Grandpa..."
Paimon lowered her voice. "So someone's taking advantage of their weakness... But why? Why abduct all the scholars?"
Lumine's tone dropped to serious mode. "Is it to resurrect King Deshret?"
Paimon spun in mid-air. "Are the rumors actually true?"
"It's the only lead we have so far," Lumine said quietly.
"Could the Radicals really be behind this?" Paimon asked.
"It's highly likely," Cyno confirmed.
Isak suddenly stepped forward, clutching his hands together. "Please! You have to save Grandpa! He's never hurt anyone! Please help him!"
Paimon nodded with determination. "Don't worry, Isak! We'll get him back. No one's getting away with this while we're around!"
Cyno turned back toward the village. "We'll inform Candace about what we found. Then we set off to track down the scholars."
Nilou gave Isak a comforting pat. "We'll do everything we can."
Greg climbed onto my head again, as if claiming his battlefield position.
I sighed, raising a finger. "Alright, Greg, squad assemble. It's time to kick some plot into motion."
And with that, we marched. Team Chaos. Team Sweetheart. Team Serious. And one emotionally damaged lizard.
Let's find ourselves a Grandpa and maybe uncover some ancient desert god conspiracy along the way.
You know. Tuesday things.
____________________
End of Chapter 117
Quests Completed:
*Eavesdrop on suspicious figures discussing King Deshret's rumored return
*Make a dramatic entrance alongside Cyno.
*Support Nilou as she seeks to help the afflicted scholars.
*Survive being glared at by Cyno.
*rack the missing scholars through clues left behind.
* Investigate the strange incense affecting scholars.
Rewards:
*Isak's Trust Token (Lv. 2)
*Cyno's Passive Trust (Unlocked)
*Village Keepers Lore Fragment II – (You've unlocked a critical piece of tragic desert backstory. Now with more incense, sand, and heartbreak.)
*Nilou's Emotional Affection Buff
*Lumine's Approved Wife Approval (Lv. 1) – (She's not even mad anymore. She's invested. Your relationship status just hit "Poly-light, Chaos-infused.")
*Greg's Tactical Dig Mode (Awakened)
*1x Sand-Logged Dendroculus
*1x Half-Burned Incense Cone (Suspicious)
*3x Clay-Encrusted Mushrooms (Again?)
*1x Ancient Mora Pouch (2,000 Mora) – (Found under Greg's butt. Cleaned thoroughly. Probably.)
*1x Torn Page from a Scholar's Diary
*2x Jerky Strips (Definitely Not Rat... probably)
*"That Time Cyno Didn't Kill You" Badge – (Wear it proudly. You survived sarcasm, interrogation, and awkward silence.)
Achievement Unlocked:
"Desert Faceplant"
– You leapt for drama. You got gravity.