Desert as far as the eye can see. Of course it is...



　In order to get a job, I was heading to Water City on a sand drift boat from the Kingdom of Bart, but I was attacked by a group of sandworms that I hadn't expected, and I was the only one who had to flee for my life.

　Oh, the ship's captain and some of the crew had escaped....
　If only they had escaped and were still alive and not captured by the sandworms.

　Suddenly, in the real world, I had successfully launched and maneuvered a small sand flow ship for escape, and I was moving through the desert while looking at the map that I had misplaced from the ship.
　Apparently, there is no compass and compass in this world.
　I can't use it anyway, even if there was one...I can use a compass, so I'm glad I had one so I could figure out the direction....
　To be honest, I have no idea where we are.
　North of the capital. I know we're south of the Central Sea, but if the ship had changed directions when it was attacked by sandworms, we'd be completely screwed.

　

''What shall I do?''

　We've lost water and food in large quantities, so I don't think we're going to starve to death, but the question is whether we'll be able to get to wherever humans live.

'But is it dangerous to move around too much at will?

　If I entered a mass habitat of sandworms like a sunken ship, I would be devoured before I could starve to death.
　Even though my level had increased in the battle earlier, I wasn't confident enough in my fighting ability to be proud of myself that I could take on a swarm of sandworms by myself.

''Really, what's going on?''

　In the meantime, it's dangerous to head towards the sand drift ship, which has been attacked again and even its hull has begun to be eaten by the sandworms.
　The opposite direction ... which direction is it really?
　At times like this, I still wish I had a compass........

'We'll just have to move carefully...'

　I move the small sand drift ship, which I've become somewhat accustomed to maneuvering, and begin to look for a human location.
　Even the towns........At first I thought there was no such thing as a village in the desert where sand beasts were leaping over the desert, but according to Major Thunder, most of the oases scattered around the desert are ruled by nobles.

　Since it would be difficult for all the countries in the Great Desert, not just the Burt Kingdom, to send deputies in sand drift ships at the risk of being attacked by sand beasts, the nobles who rule the oases scattered in the desert are given the autonomy of almost a half-independent country on the condition that they come to their home country once every few years with tribute.

　From the country's point of view, if they were to rebel by strangling the oasis nobles, they would have to defeat them due to the problem of mens rea, but it's easy to imagine that it would be difficult to send an army to the distant oasis surrounded by the desert.
　On the contrary, it seems that the army on the move will be sniffed out by the sand beasts and will have to fight them before the rebellious noble armies.

　For such reasons, the countries had practically neglected the oases that dotted the desert.
　It's said that they greet each other once every few years, but most of the nobles don't even do that.

''It would be nice if we could reach such an oasis, but...''

　I said, 'Here!' I drive the ship in the direction I've decided to go.
　If they found the oasis, they would survive for a while, but if they didn't find it, they would have to die alone.
　Looking at the map and counting, the number of confirmed oases in the Kingdom of Bart was one hundred and eight.
　

　Also, he said there are some uninhabited oases.
　He doesn't know how many of these are really there.
　He said that if this was found, he would use it as a favor to the nobles, and there were currently zero uninhabited oases that the Baat Kingdom had identified.

''Even if it's an undiscovered oasis, it's fine.

　If we can get to the oasis while the water is still in stock, we can survive.
　If we don't make it there, we'll die in a day if the water runs out, since it's this hot.

'I guess the dirty part of my life is that I don't think I can die or anything. Maybe it's because I have a promise to Kana...''

"I hope you live long enough. I hope you live long enough to remarry someone else.

　I'm not going to rush to death because I have an appointment with my girlfriend who died too young.
　Besides, it's been a month or so since I've been living a mundane office job.
　It even seems to be quite a thrilling life.

　I've met some good people, like Baron Stein and Major Sander.
　I wonder if Kana would call me 'pathetic' for not having a single woman in my life?
　As I drove the boat around with that in mind, to my surprise, the oasis I was looking for came into view.

'Is it uninhabited?　No, we have a house!

　There was only one large tent-like dwelling in sight, so we could confirm that it was not an uninhabited oasis.
　But a tent with only one house in an oasis in the middle of a desert like this, and one that could be blown away if there was a strong wind....

　Could it be that he was a stranded person like me?

We should be able to get to that place and get some water at least. I'd like to hear from the people in the tent.

　I pointed the ship toward that oasis.