Since Anastacia had to be carried until she woke up again, Gilbert had decided that they should make a camp as soon as they found any suitable fuel for a fire instead of trying to make it to the edge of the desert. They still had water for at least a day, so stopping a bit earlier wasn’t going to be a problem - though it would set them even further behind the planned schedule. They would be at least a day late now and that meant Rosie would start to get worried. Delays weren’t exactly rare in their line of work, but they had left without any real information about what they would find, so them not getting back in time could mean anything from unfortunate weather to the death of the whole party. The fact that the party consisted of one of the most experienced adventurers of the northern Valor, the most powerful necromancer in the world, a simulacrum with more or less limitless endurance and a priestess with a direct connection to a god, didn’t make them invincible. Sure, on a good day, it would be enough to overcome nearly any situation, but by the fifth day of the trip, the priestess had almost been killed twice and the necromancer was out cold because of a nosebleed. If anything, they were doing kind of badly and would most likely be dead by now if even one of them was just some average adventurer.

“I think we should stick to some shorter quests for a while longer.” Gilbert broke the silence. “Or at least stick to traveling by road with a merchant or something.”

“That bad, huh?” Emilia asked and laughed. “Babysitting us for so many days without a break must be pretty taxing for you.”

Gilbert stopped to take a sip of water and made sure they were still walking in the right direction. “It’s not that. Looking after you guys makes me feel like my old ass is contributing in some way to this party…” He admitted and made sure all of Anastacia’s gear were still on him and he hadn’t dropped anything.

Emilia looked slightly worried hearing Gilbert say that. “Don’t tell me you took my joke so seriously? You’re like the most important member we have! If it was just us three without you, we’d burn down half a village, cause some sort of natural disaster and die horribly while trying to just get some water from a well or something.” She explained. “I’m technically the head of an entire religion, but honestly I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. I think Anna might actually be just a tiny bit insane already and shouldn’t be given any more burdens or responsibilities than she already has on her. And then there’s King who is kind of reliable when it comes to keeping us alive, but will go with anything our little dumbass comes up with. So you don’t get to retire for the next twenty years, at least.”

Gilbert laughed. “Point taken. But I’m just saying that running around with you three can make a man feel… insufficient.”

“Aww… Do we have to stop by a brothel to get your mood back up?” The priestess joked.

It would have probably worked, but Gilbert ignored the remark and continued to scan the horizon for dead trees or even some larger bushes. The dry grass had become much more abundant and the desert started to slowly turn back into a grassy plain. Though still treeless, some of the bushes in the area started to look promising and would probably fuel a fire for a night, if it was absolutely needed.

“Oh! Can we not mention the part where I almost got killed twice to Rosie? I’d like to be allowed to go outside in the future too.” Emilia pointed out. “She said that I’ll be grounded if I die. I know that my soul is supposed to join Lady Sylvia when I die, but I’ve seen Rosie angry and feel like she might be able to claw my spirit from the afterlife just to ground me.”

“Aye, I know exactly what you mean.” Gilbert agreed. Suddenly his eyes fixed to something in the distance. “Say, is that a tree over there?” He asked and pointed into the horizon.

Emilia squinted and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand. “It might be. It might also be anything else. Your age sure hasn’t gotten to your eyes yet. I can barely see it.”

“Yeah, I think it is a dead tree. We’ll camp there for the night.” Gilbert decided and headed towards it.

The tree they had found stood alone in the middle of the wasteland, with no other points of interest anywhere to be seen. Beaten by sand storms and stunted by the drought, the tree was a pathetic sight and tipping it over could be considered a favor. When Gilbert leaned on it slightly, the dry roots immediately gave in and the tree toppled. Breaking it down to firewood would be equally effortless, especially for the simulacrum, who could just kick the pitiful thing into pieces. As Gilbert and Emilia began to prepare the camp, King gently put Anastacia down and rested her against her backpack.

As soon as the simulacrum let go of her, the necromancer opened her eyes. “Well that was fun.” She said and stretched her back. Being carried was easy on her feet but it sure wasn’t the most ergonomic way to travel.

“You were awake?!” Emilia yelled in surprise. “Since when?!”

Anastacia got up and made sure she wasn’t covered in blood. Luckily there were only a couple of drops on her bosom - enough to make her feel a bit woozy but as long as she didn’t look at them, she’d be fine. “I think I was only out for like an hour. Came to well in time to hear a certain someone call me insane and irresponsible behind my back.” She revealed and glared at the priestess. “Looks like that shitty dwelf was right about this being a handy way to learn some interesting things.”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that…” Emilia tried to explain but was stopped by the necromancer.

“Save it. I know what WE are like... Let’s just get the camp done. We only have a couple of hours before it gets dark and cold. Plus, we’ll probably have some asshole creature on our asses soon enough anyway.” Anastacia said with a sour tone in her voice and left to gather stones for the campfire.

Gilbert followed the fight from the sidelines and decided to stay out of it for now. He was pretty sure Anastacia would calm down soon enough and forgive Emilia, who was now visibly upset too. Obviously she hadn’t meant that Anastacia was insane in the typical necromancer manner, just that the girl was a bit zany and unpredictable. During his fairly long life, he had learned that fights between women weren’t a place for him and that this would either end with them being closer friends than ever or with at least one of them dead, but that was a scenario he had only witnessed once and didn’t think it was at all likely. “Just keep working… Do not interfere. It’s not worth it…” He muttered to himself and dug out the remaining pieces of jerky he had.

Anastacia wandered away from the camp and collected whatever rocks she could find. Still with the camp well in sight but out of earshot, she sat down and started drawing in the sand with her finger while thinking aloud. “So apparently I’m insane. And here I thought I was doing pretty well… I mean I am talking to myself, but this is purely a monologue to help me think and not a crazy rant or anything. She probably didn’t mean anything bad by it, she’s my friend after all… Best friend even! And I’m totally not jealous that Rosie is her best friend! Even if I’ve know Rosie longer… Anyway, she and Gil didn’t seem to be too worried when I told them I had killed Alice, so I guess they don’t think I’m dangerous at least. Unless they’re just scared of me and don’t want to startle me in case I might kill them too.” She prattled on while writing down the names of all the people she considered to be her friends and what was the first thing that came to her mind when she thought about them. When she was finished, she went over her work again and realized that the number of friends she now had was quite a bit higher than the zero she had before moving to Valor and that she really couldn’t find it in herself to be mad at one of them, over what probably was just a badly worded comment. “But there’s an easy way to figure out the truth, isn’t there?” She said to herself and started going through her pockets.

Gilbert had managed to keep his mouth shut about the whole affair while watching the priestess pace back and forth in the camp. She went over multiple worst-case scenarios about how Anastacia would be mad at her forever and how the party would have to be disbanded. Every now and then, she glanced at the necromancer and looked like she might go and apologize, but in the end, she couldn’t do it. He found it slightly amusing how Emilia’s confidence would immediately be in shambles when something didn’t go her way. Some alcohol would have probably helped, but Gilbert didn’t feel like opening that can of worms yet. Emilia hadn’t been sober for that long after all.

“What if she’s so angry that she’ll leave Valor?” The overly worried priestess asked and kept pacing.

“And go where?” Gilbert grunted. The pointless drama had started to get to him and it was about time for dinner. Eating was something that a party should do together and in good spirits to keep the morale high, so he had to step in despite his earlier conviction to stay out of it. “You’re overthinking it, she’s probably half-forgotten it already and is now drawing dicks in the sand while laughing like an idiot. It’s like you haven’t had a fight with a friend before!”

“I haven’t! I just sort of cave in immediately, so there wouldn’t be a fight…” Emilia sniffled and slumped down next to her backpack. “If it’s not fixable by hitting or spouting seemingly meaningful religious wank, I have no solutions for it!”

“Well you have about a minute to work on your confidence. She’s coming back.” Gilbert chuckled.

Anastacia had gotten back up and was carrying a decent haul of fist-sized stones towards the camp. Emilia did the only thing that came to her naturally and started praying, hoping it would somehow solve the problem.

The necromancer glared at her friends before sitting down next to the unlit campfire and starting to place the rocks she had found around it. “Alright then… First of all, Gil, shut up. I can’t have you ruining this.” She explained, took something from her pocket and hid her hands behind her back. Clumsily imitating the aura of authority Coquelicot usually gave off, she turned to Emilia. “What am I?” She asked and stared down the priestess.

Confused by the abstract question Emilia stuttered out an answer. “I… uh… You’re Anna? Who is totally not insane, just a bit… weird…”

The necromancer smiled and put the topaz ring back into her pocket. “That’ll do. You are forgiven.”

“What? That easily?” The priestess asked, thinking her answer was basically worthless. “I didn’t even apologize…”

“You said quite a lot actually. Now, do we have anything besides jerky? All this bleeding and getting carried around made me hungry.” Anastacia switched the subject, ignoring Emilia’s confusion completely.