Volume 4 Chapter 5: The rising one

Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Ryunakama”

Just before noon.

Leaving the base, we walked on the main road, at the center of Eniado.

The archeology guild should be near the end of the street.

That’s where we were heading, but something curious was going on.

「There is strangely few people for this hour.」

Usually, during this time on the day, there would be open stalls along the road, with merchants cheerfully calling out to customers.

…There are even fewer people than what I saw during the morning……?

Or rather, those still walking around right now are half-running, and peddlers that had stalls on carts are packing their stuff in a hurry.

Everyone seems in quite a rush.

「Hmm. You are right. I wonder if it’s about to rain.」

Berzelia said, looking up at the sky.

「Aah… The sky indeed looks clouded like it’s about to rain, but…」

Following her gaze, I also looked to the sky, which turned out to be covered in strangely dark clouds.

A mix of purple and black colors, the likes of clouds that you’ll see before a thunderstorm.

「Hmm, it was cloudy all the time since we came to this city, but now it turned even worse……」

Saki muttered a bit absentmindedly.

Just as they said, since we came to this city, we’ve barely seen clear skies at all.

……Because the sky was covered in thin clouds all the time.

Even so, it almost never turned completely dark, giving off enough light to easily discern day from night, so it didn’t really bother me.

…After all, it didn’t rain.

However, the sky never got as clouded as this. The purple and black kept mixing even further, turning into an, even more, nastier cloud.

Then, I remember what I heard about those clouds from the guild’s personnel during these few days.

「……Which reminds me, receptionists at the merchants guild were saying that we should be careful if purple clouds appear. That if I have anything to do, I should get it done fast.」

「Heeh. Is that some kind of omen to a change of weather, special to this town?」

In that case, we should hurry up as well, I thought and was about to increase the pace, when it happened.

*Whiz!*

A strong wind blew. And not just the wind.

「Uwaa, there is sand in it. Master, it’s crunchy inside my mouth.」

「Yeah. It carries plenty of sand. 」

Just as Berzelia said while crying, small pieces of sand were in the wind.
Being showered with sand like this is quite annoying. And we weren’t alone in the situation.

「Crap! The sandstorm is already here!」

「Ye-yeah. Phew…… Haah… Let’s pack the stuff faster and hurry home!」

The people around us were the same.

They now were rushing even harder. And it seems one of the peddlers packing a cart noticed us.

Still packing his luggage he called out to us.

「ーーHey, you, over there! You guys should find shelter before the sandstorm gets really bad!」

「Phew… Phew… It’s just as he says. In ten minutes a really awful sandstorm will arrive, so you…… Should hurry… Up!」

Out of breath, they called out to us.

「Yes, got it. Thank you, old-timers.」

「Don’t mind it. …Haah… Done. We should get moving as well! Pack as much of your fruits as you can and get out of there!」

「Yeah!」

The peddlers got back to packing their stuff.

After giving a small bow to the two for their consideration I turn to Berzelia and others.

「To think it would be a sandstorm instead of rain.」

「Uuuh. The wind is getting stronger too, soon it will get even more gritty…」

「Just rinse your mouth later, Hydra. …But, at this rate, the visibility will suffer as well.」

「Yeah. It would be a pain, and we already were told to evacuate. ーLet’s hurry.」

Rather than return to the base, at this point, it would be faster to just go to the archeology guild.

The other three seem to agree with me, so nodding, they hastened their step.

And a few dozen seconds of going against sand blowing into our faces.

Just as we expected, getting to the entrance of the archeology guild proved to be a lot faster than returning.