"Wake up, Rafik!"

...

Rafik's first action upon waking up was to check whether his Ruby Greatsword was still beside him.

"What's wrong? Tahir, Why did you wake me up?"

The person who woke him up was Tahir. At this moment, the old mage was so angry that his beard was curled up and static electricity was coursing through it.

While digging his magic staff into the ground, he shouted, "The camels you dimwit! Where are the camels that I told you to keep an eye on?"

"Ah..."

Upon observing his surroundings, Rafik noticed there was an alarming lack of camels around him. Instead, for as far as his eyes could see, there was only a vast and empty desert.

The camels were gone..

Rafik jolted up violently and had instantly sobered up. In order to cross the desert, the kind-hearted natives had provided them with twenty camels as their ride. 

However, as they needed to sleep during the night, Rafik, who had lost a raffle, had been assigned to keep watch of the campsite as well as the camels.

Unfortunately, Rafik had fallen asleep while standing and he had forgotten to tie the camels.

The fault was entirely his.

"Idiot! You nincompoop!"

At this moment, the party's archer that had been stirred awake by the ruckus, had also arrived on scene. It did not take long for Carvella to realize that the stupid oaf, Rafik, had once again lost something of great value. Worse still, the dingus had lost the camels this time, which were of even greater importance than their belongings.

Even though they were the top adventurers of the kingdom, without the camels, they would still face great difficulty within the desert.

Bang! Bang!

Tahir hit Rafik's head twice with his staff. "Hurry and pack up! Those camels shouldn't have gone far!"

Rafik was not the kind of person who would obediently lower his head when he made a mistake. After being hit on the head, rage soared within his heart. He gripped his greatsword tightly and stared down at Tahir.

"You dare hit me!?"

"Of course I do! Unless we manage to track down the camels, you'll be my mount instead!"

Realizing that a fight was about to break out, Carvella quickly retreated from the scene and found herself a comfortable spot to enjoy the ensuing entertainment. She had long wanted to know how strong, Tahir, who was known as the strongest mage among humans, was.

Throughout all their adventures, Tahir had not once used his full strength to deal with his enemies. As such, Carvella had never been able to determine Tahir's true strength.

However, the ensuing battle would pit him against Rafik, who was known as the strongest swordsman in the kingdom. Rafik had many honors. For example, he had once cut off a dragon's claw with a single swing of his greatsword. Nevertheless, he also carried some notoriety, as some would claim that he had exchanged his intelligence for his brute strength.

Rafik raised his sword and hacked downwards.

Halfway through his swing, however, blue electric currents had already wrapped around his body. The electric currents had triggered his muscles, and they had caused his huge body to twitch non-stop. Soon after, his greatsword had dropped onto the ground with a clang.

It was not until Tahir withdrew his lightning spell that Rafik got up from the ground.

'What a powerful lightning spell!'

Carvella mentally praised.

Despite being a spectator to the fight, Carvella did not even realize when Tahir had started to cast his spell.

'As expected of the former court magician! His spellcasting was so fast that I didn't even notice it. Or perhaps... He does not even need to chant?'

Regardless, it proved that Tahir was indeed worthy of his honor. Throughout the history of mankind, there was not a single person who had come close to Tahir when it came to using lightning magic.

However, a part of Carvella was also disappointed by how one-sided the battle was.

After all, if they were to grievously wound one another, Carvella would emerge as the final winner!

She thought to herself, 'Rafik's Ruby Greatsword would definitely fetch a good price. After all, it was a weapon that had once killed a dragon. The ruby that it was made from was the favorite item of Red Dragons, and it was stolen from a Red Dragon's nest. I could definitely make a killing off of it.'

'On the other hand, the old man's corpse could also be sold for a good price. Anyone who studies magic in this continent would definitely be interested in the corpse of the legendary mage.'

Tahir's eyes were wide open, and electricity flowed through them. "Let's go! We must get the camels back before dawn!"

"Alright, alright. You're the boss, old man. Just give the order."

Carvella said perfunctorily. After a while of searching, they had located the runaway camels.

However, the ones they found had already become corpses.

None of the camels were spared. They had been reduced to minced meat. Their body parts were scattered all over the ground, and their blood had seeped deep into the sand. Only a bloody red desert stretched ahead of them.

There were also strange bite marks on the camels' body. A large piece of their flesh had been gnawed away.

"What on earth happened here?!"

Tahir was extremely furious. He used the tip of his staff to continuously hit Rafik's head. He vented all his anger on Rafik. However, now that Rafik knew that he could not beat him, he silently endured Tahir's beatings.

"Good, our plan is ruined." Carvella looked at the camel's body and sighed in disappointment. "There goes our money. Why did we come all this way for nothing?"

Without the camels, it was impossible to traverse the desert.

It was still not too late to turn back. They could go to the village to recuperate and apologize for the deaths of the camels.

Should the villagers voice any objections, they would kill the villagers and snatch their camels. By doing so, perhaps their adventure could continue.

Rafik covered his head as the staff struck his head rhythmically.

Due to his lowered head, however, Rafik noticed a small item on the ground.

"What is this?"

Rafik picked up a sharp tooth from the ground. Obviously, this was not the tooth of an ordinary beast.

Carvella made her way over and noticed that the tooth looked rather familiar.

"It's a dragon tooth!"

A moment later, the three of them reacted in unison.

Rafik had spotted a dragon tooth!

The three of them were adventurers with rich experience and had participated in several battles with evil dragons.

Tahir's road to fame began when he used lightning magic against a Red Dragon. In the end, he had managed to beat it, a Red Dragon, which was famous for its lightning magic!

The Sapphire Greatsword was also famous as its owner, Rafik. It was a divine weapon that had cut off a dragon's claws and head with a single slash!

As for Carvella, she often carried a dismantled dragon-slaying ballista in her travelling pouch.

The three of them had no relationship at all. They had only heard of each other's names and had never seen each other in person.

They had formed a team to cross the desert to the north of the kingdom to hunt dragons.

This was due to a piece of news that had spread throughout the kingdom the previous month. The Northern Lord had written a letter to the King, saying that there were dragons in the snowy mountains in the north. It was said that the dragons had caused great casualties, and their actions had also dealt a huge blow to the locals' finances.

Much to their pleasure, the rumored dragon was within the desert!

"It's still a baby dragon."

Tahir caressed the dragon's teeth as if he was weighing a heavy bag of gold coins.