Chapter 343 - Word Sharman Convoy

"What's this..?"

"My, oh my~"

Marie and Julia had just emerged from their tent and watched the cycle of Mercury petting Asma's head, then her looking lonely and then him resuming petting her head as she lit up, Marie sighed and asked Julia

"When do you think he'll notice?"

Julia thought for a few moments before she tilted her head slightly and answered

"...Never?"

Marie sighed before she agreed

"I think you're right, our man sure is a dense one… We got to help her out…"

"No, not yet"

"Why not?"

"We can't be sure if we can trust her yet…Besides she is so cute when she struggles like this~"

Marie sighed before she glanced at Julia's slightly sadistic smile and mumbled

"Alright… But we have to help her at some point, right?"

"Sure~"

Dawn eventually broke and the camp was swiftly packed up before the group continued moving, as they moved Mercury told them about what Light had told him about the Draconix race, which wasn't very much, Jey spoke softly

"A weapon huh… that's why there I felt this sharp feeling around you..."

Meanwhile, Julia was in deep thought for a bit before she seemed to remember something and spoke

"Right, a phoenix… They were the ancient rivals of the dragons, they been extinct since the beginning of the age of dragons…"

Marie then wondered out loud

"Then how can Mercury be a mix between the two?"

The group wondered about the birth of Mercury's vessel for a moment before Mercury himself spoke

"That's easy, like 1st grade easy, it or I am a crossbreed clone made with the leftover genetic material of a dead phoenix"

The others wondered what a clone was until Asma asked

"Clone?"

"Yep… It's an artificial person made from the genetic material of one or more people, in this case from a dragon and a phoenix, though why I appear like a human I have no idea..."

Asma spoke

"Dragon seal"

Mercury thought for a moment before he nodded

"I see… so that means there's more to the dragon seal than I thought…"

"Mmn, complex"

"But you have studied it for a long time, right Asma?"

"Mmn…"

"I see then I'll ask you about it later"

"Mmn!"

Even though Asma basically answered the same way Mercury could feel that she wanted very much to teach him about the dragon seal from the last answer alone, Mercury showed a slight smile as his hand found its way to the top of her head as he patted her a few times, Asma's long fox-like ears stood at attention but gradually flopped down as Mercury petted her on the top of the head, though her expression remained the same, the group continued their walk through the desert all the while they chatted and soon it was around noon where the sun was at its highest, so they took a break and put up some sunblocking open tents, Jey and Ben began a using a water spell, they both were able to use water magic and under their combined spell they drew down water from the upper atmosphere and condensed it into the big waterskin that was on the back of the Model: Grizzly, from there the group filled their own waterskins and took a palace in the shade where they relaxed for a couple of hours until the sun was done with its dayly noon tempertantrum, all of htem relaxed, well almost all of them, Asma insisted standing guard

"Doesn't she get heatstroke..?"

Mercury felt the urge to slap himself when he heard what Marie said and agreed with her

"You're right Marie…."

Then he stood up and walked out onto the hot sand and walked over to Asma that stood and kept watch before he spoke with a slightly apologetic smile

"I'll take over here Asma… Why don't you take my spot in the shade?"

"No"

"No?"

"No, can't… Savoir"

Mercury thought for a moment, it seemed like she didn't want him to stand guard because he was the 'savior' then his smile widened slightly before he decided to be a little mean

"So… you are refusing my orders"

"...Fine"

Asma turned away from Mercury and walked over and took a seat where he had been sitting in between Marie and Julia, she was slightly displeased and glared at his back, Marie that sat next to her sighed before she patted Asma on the shoulder to get her attention before she spoke

"He's just worried about you"

Asma tilted her head slightly before she repeated

"Worried? Why?"

Marie showed a sweet smile and spoke

"Because you are our friend, right Julia?"

"Yep~"

Asma lowered her head slightly before she spoke

"Friends… Never had friends…."

While Julia felt she was melting from a source other than the sunlight Marie reached out and carefully patted Asma on the head, Asma slowly leaned over against her, and after a bit, she was completely pacified with closed eyes leaning against Marie and her fox-like ears flopped down, Mercury glanced over at them for a bit before he resumed standing guard with a smile on his face, then he tapped his foot a few times, activating an earth spell that impaled a few critters that were approaching the camp with ill intentions with compressed sand spikes…

A few days later the group noticed a convoy approaching from ahead, Mercury gave a signal to the rest once he spotted the convoy in the distance, who knew who they were, they might as well be bandits or slavers so it was better to be prepared in advance, Mercury wore his aluminum gauntlets, Julia retrieved her crossbow from the Model: grizzly and Marie also retrieved her viper spear from the back of the Model: grizzly, Asma was the only one that didn't do anything as she kept on walking with her fox-like ears perked up as she scanned the horizon, soon however she seemed to have heard something and looked in the direction of the convoy, then she spoke

"Family…"

Mercury looked ahead and with his vision, he was able to make out that it was a convoy of Word Sharmans ahead, this didn't make him lower his guard however, just because Asma was friendly would her entire tribe be? Not necessarily

'With that group, they would be able to capture or kill us all without much sweat… I should go ahead with some of the golems and Asma…'

Mercury quickly conveyed his plan to the rest of the group and soon he went ahead with Asma and some of the Model: hounds, after a few minutes they met with the convoy of Word Sharmans that looked at Mercury with alert eyes when they spotted Asma however thor alertness melted away and some of the younger children ran ahead while calling out to her

"Asma!"

"Princess Asma!"

Soon Mercury and Asma were surrounded by children aged 7 to 14, they all crowded around them and asked them questions, Asma's question sounded quite respectful, but the questions Mercury received were more… Direct

"Who are you?"

"Why are you with the princess?"

"What's this metal dog?"

Mercury looked at the children that were tattooed with words all over their skin like the adults before he sighed and sent a Model: Sparrow back to the others to tell them it was safe before he began talking with the children, by the time the others arrived the convoy of Word Sharman's had also arrived, they were a little more skeptical than their children especially around the golems that while they looked cute-ish they were obviously made for killing and war, if not for the fact that Asma was around they would have pulled their children away, some of them were even gathering mana in case of a clash between the two sides, soon an old woman arrived, she was obviously a Word Sharman too from the black words that were tattoed all over her skin, her face lit up when she saw Asma and called out to her

"Asma"

Asma's ears twitched before hse looked over and saw the old woman, then she walked over and showed a smile as she greeted the old woman

"Matriarch"

"How are you dear Asma?"

"Fine"

"And did you find the savior?

"Mmn, Mercury"

"And this Mercury is?"

Asma pointed over at Mercury that was swinging some of the children around in his hands as the two lucky children screamed in excitement, soon he noticed that the eyes of almost all the Word Sharman's had gathered on him and so he stopped spinning the children around and looked back at the matriarch before he tilted his head slightly and asked

"What is it?"

"Mercury was it?"

"Yeah, that's me?"

"Excuse me for a moment… [Judgment]"

Mercury felt a heavy pressure descend over him as if the eye of heaven started at him from the sky, then a moment later the gaze disappeared as the matriarch trembled slightly before she knelled down and spoke

"He is… The savior"