Chapter 59 - Green Miracle

Rohan. Son of a count. Rank 5 Beginner Warrior. Rank 1 Beginner Wizard. Has standing in front of the crackling fire with a large skewer in his hand and a sword at his hip.

What was he even doing? Even he himself had some difficulties finding an answer to this question.

On the skewer he was holding near the gigantesque fire, was different kinds of meat seasoned by the nomads. The aroma of the meat being cooked by the flame made Rohan intoxicated in the middle of this fragrance.

With a blissful expression on his face, he was standing there, cooking his meat alongside the whole clan.

The night had fallen some time ago, and for a reason which Rohan didn't really understand, they were all here, doing a sort of feast.

All the clan members were chatting around him, filling the area with their burst of voice. A lot of them were like him, just near the fire to cook the meat in their skewers.

A distance away, he could even see the Chief Clan talking leisurely with some of his clan's members.

It was a party so different from what he was used to. He couldn't help but observe them all and compare them to the noble.

Children were playing around and running everywhere. One of them bumps into an adult. Instead of reprimanding him, this one simply stroked his hair before sending the boy away, taking back his discussion with a smile on his face.

Old people were sitting on the ground, tasting their meat while reminiscing and telling each other some stories.

It was moving all around, some were sitting, some were running, some were standing. All in all, the mood was one of the happiest that Rohan had ever seen.

There weren't the sophisticated manners of the noble, none of their hypocrisy. There wasn't this norm of creating bounds with another noble, in the only purpose to have anything in return.

It was a simple night, maybe even a naive one. It was maybe wild, but Rohan felt that he would remember this night for a very long time.

He was looking around at the show taking place inside the camp, as a spectator of this great scene. He was an outsider, watching all the Blackwolf members having fun.

A shadow stretched on him, and a young man appeared at his side. It was Deidros, with a smile on his smile.

"It seemed to be the first time you see people having fun, warrior Rohan." He had a soft voice as always, resembling his weak appearance. But Rohan wouldn't let himself be tricked by him.

"Maybe. The parties that I have participated in weren't as lively as this one."

That was undeniably true, and he felt for a second that he probably would be happier if he had lived as a clan member since his childhood.

"Haha, it's true that we are lively when he feast! After all, life in the Barren Lands is not an easy one. If we couldn't even unleash all our stress, the Blackwolf clan wouldn't have survived until this day."

A smile was on his face when he talked about this clan. A smile that Rohan would never be able to make.

"Why are you whole doing the feast?" He was curious about this point. Why suddenly do they all want to play around? Did they just want to do so for no reason?

Sensing a gaze resting on him, he looked to his left to cross the eyes with Deidros, who was with a slightly strange expression.

"Well, my father doesn't like to explain anything, but still, it should be easy to guess!" He patted the shoulder of the young warrior. "Tell me, Rohan, I can call you Rohan right? Do you really think that the nomads of the Barren Lands are just strolling around all their lives?"

Rohan didn't answer and just looked at this easy-going man. He would never admit it, but that was exactly what he had thought all this time.

"Hahaha!" The son of the chief clan couldn't restrain himself anymore and burst into laughter. His whole body was shaking as he looked at the calm expression of Rohan. "You are so easy to read. Come, I'll show you why we are so happy to find this region!"

With the huge fire lighting their backs, the duo walked away toward the frontier of the camp. The laughs and the discussions turned indistinct the more they approached the fence, and soon, Deidros stopped at a random place. Or at least, it was random for Rohan.

"If you look at the ground, what do you see?"

"Rocks." Rohan answered by reflex, without even having the time to lower his gaze.

"Wrong, slightly better rocks!" He crouched on himself and pointed the soil in front of him. "Look carefully, and you'll see the reason why we are happy to be here."

These words had successfully planted curiosity inside his body, and in no time, he had his face against the ground, looking at whatever there was here.

"Life in the Barren Lands is hard. We can't even leave as we want, because the countries of the other side wouldn't allow us to do so."

While Rohan was searching through the ground in front of his eyes, he listened to the young man at his side, who was watching the starry sky.

The moonlight was giving a white gleam at the body of this skinny person, further enhancing his ill appearance. His bright eyes were looking at the sky, longing for something.

"We are forced to live in this prison, forced to walk in the hotter desert. In a zone without mana. Becoming a warrior in those lands is tough, tougher than everywhere else. We traveled around, searching for a good spot on which he can live for a few months."

Rohan touched the rocks with his hand. What the hell was he supposed to find here?

"But we can't live too long on these small spots, otherwise we would destroy it forever. So we walk, again and again. And once we saw these small regions, then it meant we are on the good track. What you have before your eyes is simply telling us which way to go."

Rock. Rock. Sand. Dust. It was all Rohan could discern in this darkness, either with his eyes or his hands. Abruptly, he stopped his hand. There. He had felt something tickle him. He approached his face to look at what was under the moonlight.

"This is the way we live in this place, Rohan. And as they give us hope, the clans of the Barren Lands have named what you have in front of your eyes a Green Miracle."

Rohan widened his eyes when he saw this 'Green Miracle'. In reality, it was nothing. He had already seen that countless times, and this everywhere. But that wasn't a sight he expected to encounter there.

It was so small, that it wasn't a wonder why he had missed it. In front of his eyes, stood simply a green herb.

A single strand of grass was showing its head in the middle of a desert.