Arthur And The Desert People

“So that’s the prince of Britannia…?”

“What business does he have here?”

“I heard Lady Miranda was the one who brought him here…”

While the people of the village murmured and buzzed, Arthur followed after Miranda, bringing Morgan and the others along behind him.

Of course, he did not forget to strut with a smug look on his face; he knew that once they learned he had brought back the Fruit of Plenty, they would all be shocked. It was, frankly, obnoxious.

“Lord Arthur, this way, please.”

Miranda stopped in front of one particularly lavish tent among those lined up near the oasis.

When she called out to the people inside, the flap opened. They were probably the Desert People’s leaders: several elderly men with stern faces, and at the very back, the man who had attacked Arthur.

“I am Karim, chieftain. Is it true that you obtained the Fruit of Plenty?”

“Brother!!”

“…Before that, isn’t there something you ought to say to us first?”

Miranda and Morgan both shot Karim a cold glare as he seemed ready to rush at them in excitement, but he paid them no mind and came straight up to Arthur.

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

Arthur held out several rainbow-colored fruits, and Karim’s eyes went wide; tears welled up and spilled from them.

“Ah… this is just like in the legends… Thank heavens… With this, the Desert People will be saved…”

He had picked a fight with them, and Arthur had never actually said he would give them anything… but this was hardly the mood where he could point that out. Arthur did not intend to be petty about it either—but the man had attacked him out of nowhere.

In truth, Arthur did not have a very good impression of the man standing before him.

“Brother, before that, there is something you need to say to Lord Arthur.”

Miranda heaved a sigh and glared at her brother, and he answered with a guilty look.

“Yeah… I know…”

“Hm? What’s going on? Whoa!?”

“I’m sorry!! I truly am!! I attacked you because I mistakenly thought you had come to destroy us. Do whatever you want with me. But please, I beg you, share the Fruit of Plenty with the Desert People!”

Karim suddenly dropped to his knees, planted both hands on the ground, and bowed so deeply that his forehead touched the dirt as he apologized.

Arthur could not see his expression, but he could feel the desperation in it. It was the most extreme form of apology in their culture—a full prostration—but of course Arthur did not know that term; still, even he understood that there was no hostility in it.

Seeing her brother, Miranda likewise knelt and bowed her head.

“Lord Arthur… I beg you as well. The Desert People now stand on the brink of annihilation. If we had only this much Fruit of Plenty, we would not have to worry about food in a few years’ time. We need hope. We will repay this debt without fail. Please, would you grant us the Fruit of Plenty?”

“What… The proud Desert People, bowing their heads to a man of Britannia…”

“Idiot, this isn’t the time to say things like that. If anything, we should be bowing our heads too.”

The chieftain’s sudden full prostration—and that of his sister—sent a ripple of agitation through the tent, and gradually the elders also began to bow their heads. In the midst of all this, Arthur…

‘Uh, what is this? I just wanted to look a little cool, and now it’s turned into something huge…’

He was panicking. He glanced at Morgan for help, but she only watched him with a creepy little smile and nodded.

What was that supposed to mean, kill them? There was no way he could ever do that, he grumbled inwardly, then finally spoke to the two in front of him.

“Raise your heads. It’s hard to talk like this… Besides, we only managed to get the Fruit of Plenty thanks to Miranda’s help. There was never any chance we’d try to keep it all for ourselves. We only need enough to convince Hervé.”

“Ohh… Thank you.”

The Desert People let out sighs of relief at Arthur’s words, and he looked at them with a slightly exasperated expression as he continued.

“However, even if I hand over this fruit, it won’t solve your current food shortage, will it? What exactly do you plan to do?”

“We… intend to scrape by by hunting monsters somehow. Even if it’s harsh now, in a few years…”

Arthur gave a long sigh at Karim’s slightly awkward answer; the face of that girl who had turned to pickpocketing out of hunger floated up in his mind.

He had known that pain himself, having suffered from hunger in his previous life.

“That’s not good enough. What about the children who are suffering in poverty right now? I can’t just hand this over to you. So I’ll be the one to use it.”

“Wh-what, please wait. Lord Arthur, I apologize for attacking you. So somehow, please—”

Karim scrambled to his feet and tried to grab Arthur as he turned on his heel and headed for the tent’s exit, but Miranda stopped him.

“Brother… it’s all right. Lord Arthur is not a cruel person.”

“Miranda. Can you show me a good place to plant a tree?”

“Yes!!”

Seeing Miranda respond brightly and Karim’s baffled expression, Morgan let out a wry smile as if exasperated.

Yet in her eyes, there was a strong trust in him.

“Honestly, you never use enough words… You just invite weird misunderstandings.”

“Ohh, that ‘Only I truly understand Lord Arthur’ first-wife bragging is excellent.”

“…Shut up.”

Ignoring Morgan’s burning red face, Arthur followed Miranda, and they arrived at a nearly dried-up oasis and a patch of land where a little greenery still grew.

“…This is the place. We used to grow plants here, but the Army of the Dead…”

“I see…”

Arthur felt as if his own mistake were being dragged into the light and grew a little flustered; then, as the Desert People watched to see what would happen, he buried a Fruit of Plenty in the ground and released his healing magic.

Light poured from Arthur’s hand—but nothing happened…

“Lord Arthur…”

Miranda’s anxious voice made him think, Uh oh, after acting all high and mighty, if this fails it’ll be really bad—when it happened.

Grass slowly began to sprout from the ground, growing taller and taller until it became a great tree; it bore a huge number of rainbow-colored fruits.

It looked like they would not have to worry about food for quite some time.

“Whoaaa, amazing, a miracle!”

As the Desert People cried out, Miranda also wore an expression of overwhelming joy as she voiced her thanks to Arthur.

“Thank you… Thanks to you, the Desert People have been saved.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I only wanted to try eating the Fruit of Plenty myself.”

As Arthur tried to hide his embarrassment with those words, Miranda looked up at him with eyes full of respect.

And none of them yet knew that the sight they witnessed that day would long be passed down among the Desert People in the tale called The Savior and His Priestess.