After parting ways with John, I hurried ahead with Peiyu and Ivy in tow.
With my two servants carrying the baggage, we made our way down the highway.
Not only Peiyu, but even Ivy—whom I had assumed to be rather frail—turned out to be surprisingly strong. She showed no signs of distress as she walked with the load on her back.
Since this was our first stretch together, I had considered slowing down if she couldn't keep up, but it seemed there was no need to worry.
I walked on at an ordinary pace, leading the two of them.
"Um..."
Suddenly, Ivy spoke up timidly from behind me.
"Hmm? What is it?"
I turned my head back toward her.
"E-Emperor... sir, is—"
"You must not call him that."
Seeing how clearly unfamiliar Ivy was with court etiquette, Peiyu stepped in to correct her, putting on the airs of a senior servant.
"There is no such title as 'Emperor, sir.' You must address him as 'Your Majesty.'"
"Y-Yes. 'Your Majesty,' then."
"That's right. And since we are traveling incognito right now so as not to reveal his identity, call him 'Master.' When we return to the capital, that is when you will call him 'Your Majesty.'"
"Y-Yes... um... yes."
Ivy looked thoroughly bewildered.
She was already out of her depth, and having so much thrown at her all at once clearly left her flustered.
"Don't overcomplicate things. For the time being, 'Master' will do for everything. Addressing me as 'Your Majesty' will come naturally once you get used to it."
"I-I understand."
"So, what were you going to say?"
"Ah. Um, Master, is the water... going to be all right?"
"Water?"
"If we keep going this way, we'll enter the desert..."
"Ah."
I gave a small nod.
Entering the desert—that had been our plan from the start.
Ivy was carrying luggage alongside Peiyu, and she was a native of this region.
She was likely concerned that there was an extraordinarily small amount of water among our supplies.
"You don't need to worry about that."
"B-But without water in the desert, well... people die."
Ivy put it bluntly: "die."
I had never stepped foot in a desert myself; I only knew of them from books.
However, the flip side was that I did at least possess that knowledge.
I knew that a desert was entirely devoid of water sources, and that having water or going without was no joke—it was truly a matter of life and death.
That was what Ivy was worried about.
In my case, that knowledge was more than enough.
"Just telling you it's fine doesn't put your mind at ease, does it?"
"Uh, no..."
"Hey! That is disrespectful to Master!"
"I-I'm sorry!"
"It's fine. She has only just entered my service; it's completely understandable. Allow me to ease that anxiety right now."
Saying so, I drew Leviathan.
Able to alter her size at will, Leviathan was usually kept smaller than a needle and concealed inside my bracelet.
I brought her out and restored her to her original size.
"Wh-Where did that come from...?"
Ivy looked astonished.
I offered a faint smile, as if to say, It's too early to be surprised.
Since the stunned girl had stopped in her tracks, I halted as well, turned around, and held Leviathan out horizontally.
"Can you do it, Leviathan?"
『It is child's play.』
As Leviathan replied, water began to trickle drop by drop from the horizontally extended tip of her blade.
It was only a slight trickle, like a small roadside spring, but even so, water flowing endlessly from an object that was unmistakably a "sword" was an astonishing sight to anyone unaware of the circumstances.
Sure enough, Ivy was struck with amazement.
Her jaw dropped in absolute shock.
"Th-This is..."
"Water evaporates and escapes into the air. Leviathan can freely condense the moisture present in the atmosphere into water."
"S-Something like that is possible?!"
"Indeed."
"Incredible..."
Ivy was struck speechless in sheer admiration.
Without seeing a demonstration, it would have sounded like utter nonsense, but watching a sword continuously produce water right before her eyes left her with no choice but to believe it.
"So you see, there's no need to carry water. I've only read about it in books, but even a desert isn't entirely devoid of moisture. There are methods to extract even a small amount of water, aren't there?"
"Y-Yes."
That, too, was something I had read in literature, but guessing that a local would know, I asked for Ivy's confirmation.
As expected, Ivy was familiar with them, allowing the conversation to flow smoothly.
"Leviathan can gather water far more effectively than any of those methods. If we so wished, we could even take a full bath in the desert."
I chuckled softly.
"A-A bath, too?! But... if this is possible..."
Though still amazed, Ivy found the water continuously flowing from Leviathan entirely convincing.
While still wide-eyed with wonder, her expression shifted to one of complete acceptance.
Beside her, Peiyu wore a proud, triumphant look.
☆
Once we entered the desert, Peiyu's exhaustion became visibly pronounced.
She frequently lost her footing in the sand, and her walking pace slowed to a crawl.
Perhaps because she was native to this region, Ivy showed no noticeable signs of fatigue.
"Let's rest for a bit."
"Y-Yes."
When I suggested a break, an unmistakable look of relief washed over Peiyu's face.
I surveyed our surroundings.
There were no obstacles anywhere, and the sky was completely clear.
I raised my hand.
Transforming the ring still worn on my thumb, I erected a large wall in the direction of the sun.
Acting as a barrier, it cast a broad expanse of shade over the ground.
"So cool..."
"Set down your luggage and rest for a while. You too, Ivy."
"I-I understand."
"Be sure to drink some water as well."
Both girls nodded at my words.
Peiyu set down her load and slumped straight onto the ground, but Ivy, still having some energy to spare, walked up to me.
"Is there anything you need done, Master?"
"Nothing for now. More importantly, get some proper rest."
"Is that all right?"
"Yes."
"Master... you're a lot like Lord John."
"Hmm? In what way?"
Intrigued by the comparison to John, I smiled and asked for clarification.
Ivy answered timidly.
"Um... in how you tell us we can rest once our work is done."
"Oh?"
I thought about it for a moment.
After a brief pause, I understood.
"Ah, the matter of 'getting one's money's worth'?"
"Getting one's money's worth?"
Hearing the phrase, Ivy tilted her head in confusion.
"Did you work for a stingy employer before John?"
"Y-Yes. For just a little while, before I was sold."
"I see."
I gave a small nod.
I knew that such employers existed.
Their mentality went something like this: if the person they hired and paid wasn't constantly working, they felt the wages they paid were going to waste.
Therefore, they demanded that their hired hands work without rest.
A form of pettiness, in essence.
To put it another way, they were obsessed with "getting their money's worth."
Naturally, I held no such mindset.
To a certain extent, that sense was essential for merchants, so I wouldn't condemn it outright, but I had no intention of operating that way myself.
"John likely observed my methods and learned from them."
"I-I see..."
"Then you may rest easy with that understanding. I will never demand that you work endlessly. When you can rest, ensure your body recovers properly."
"Understood..."
Ivy stepped back for a moment, but she didn't seem entirely convinced.
"Hmm, is there something else on your mind?"
"Huh?"
"You don't seem convinced by my methods, do you?"
"Th-That's..."
"Whatever is bothering you, speak your mind."
"..."
Ivy stared at me.
Her face clearly questioned whether it was truly acceptable to speak freely.
I glanced over at Peiyu.
She was still completely exhausted, resting in the shade I had created with her eyes lightly closed.
I decided I could listen patiently to Ivy until Peiyu recovered.
And so, I waited quietly.
Perhaps because I didn't rush her, Ivy eventually parted her lips with hesitation.
"M-Master... are you truly the Emperor—I mean, Your Majesty?"
"Hmm."
I gave a small nod.
"Did I differ from the image of an emperor you had in your mind?" I asked with an amused chuckle.
"Yes..."
"What sort of image was it? The image of an emperor inside your head."
"Um..."
"You may speak without reserve. I am the one asking, after all."
"Y-Yes. Well... wearing incredibly glittering robes, attended by an enormous crowd of people, eating terribly extravagant meals..."
"Extravagant, you say. In what manner?"
"Lining up around a hundred dishes, taking only a single bite of each, and throwing the rest away, and things like that."
"Ahaha!"
I burst into hearty laughter.
It was such a textbook stereotype held by commoners that it came full circle and became genuinely hilarious.
"I do no such thing. In the first place..."
"Huh?"
"Even taking a single bite of everything would mean a hundred mouthfuls. Unless one were an extraordinary glutton, it wouldn't even fit in their stomach."
"Th-That's true, isn't it?"
"What else?"
"Um... gathering beautiful women from all over, and, well..."
"Ahaha, is that so, is that so."
This was another classic stereotype, and I laughed out loud again.
"That part isn't entirely wrong. My father, the Late Emperor, kept dozens of consorts and hundreds of palace women in his service. An emperor must produce an heir; relying on sheer numbers is the only way to ensure the succession."
"Then, Your Majesty as well...?"
"Let's see. I have about three myself."
"Huh? Only that many?"
Ivy looked astonished.
Apparently, that was far fewer than she had anticipated.
Well, it was few, indeed.
I was well aware of that.
I was probably the emperor with the loneliest inner palace in the entire history of the Empire.
"..."
Ivy stared at me blankly, her mouth slightly open.
I could tell exactly what surprised her.
Even a local merchant around here would probably keep more concubines than that.
"Heh, I suppose I truly am a bit different from the emperor you envisioned. You will see whether I am truly the Emperor once we return to the imperial capital. Until then, place your trust in John."
"Y-Yes."
Flustered, Ivy nodded obediently.
Telling her to trust John seemed to have done the trick.
"Now then..."
With our conversation reaching a natural pause, I looked toward Peiyu.
I wanted to check the extent of her recovery and see if we could set off.
"Hm?"
"Master?"
Peiyu seemed to have recovered adequately.
Consequently, she noticed the change in my expression.
Looking past Peiyu, beyond her back—I gazed out into the distance.
From across the endlessly sprawling sands, past the shimmering horizon warped by heat, a group was approaching us, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Horses, are they?"
"Huh?"
Startled, Peiyu whipped around.
Ivy followed our gaze in the same direction.
The ones stirring up the dust were horses carrying riders.
Their build was different from the horses I usually saw—they were neither military steeds, packhorses, nor the beautifully bred horses used for equestrian arts.
"Are there horses unique to this region?" I asked Ivy.
"U-Unique, you say?"
"Yes....As in, exceptionally skilled at running across the desert, or something of that nature."
"Yes, there are, but..."
"I see."
I nodded and returned my gaze to the cloud of dust.
In the meantime, the mounted group reached us, surrounding our perimeter before uttering a single word.
Their numbers were... twenty horses, with roughly thirty men riding them.
All of them were dressed like ruffians.
I looked over the lot of them.
Among them was a single man who gave off a somewhat formidable aura.
He was blind in one eye, with a massive scar running diagonally across his face over that ruined eye.
"Some pampered rich boy, are ya?"
The man looked at us and sneered.
"Who are you?"
"Nothin' much, just hopin' you'd share a little drinkin' money with us."
"I see. Bandits, then."
I gave a small nod.
They were exactly what they looked like.
"Now don't go makin' it sound so scandalous."
"And if I refuse to stop?"
"There'll just be one more piece of dried meat in this vast desert."
"Is that so."
"Y-M-Master..."
Trembling, Ivy clung to me with frightened eyes.
"Do not worry."
"B-But..."
"Just watch."
I smiled faintly and turned toward the men—specifically, the bandit leader.
"Leviathan."
Without drawing the magic sword, I simply called out her name.
『At your command.』
"Do not kill them."
『Understood.』
The moment Leviathan responded—
Pillars of water erupted from around my body—from all over my form.
Each stream was only about the thickness of a child's toy water gun, but the force behind them was on an entirely different scale.
Like needles of water—more than a hundred of them burst forth at once, piercing the limbs of every single bandit in an instant.
"GRAAAAH!"
"GYAAAH!"
Struck by the water needles, every single man fell from his horse.
Just as I had commanded, Leviathan had held back with precision, not killing a single one of them.
While some suffered wounds severe enough that they might have preferred death, not one had actually lost their life.
"Incredible..."
Witnessing the instantaneous display, Ivy let those words slip from her lips.