An extremely skinny, naked man suddenly popped out of the sand after grabbing Mila's hand.
"Is he dead?" Mila asked herself while trying to observe the man in the distance.
The man is like a human skeleton, as if he doesn't have any flesh and is only made of skin and bones. He didn't have hair, and he looked small even though he had long legs.
"Fuck this weird novel!" she commented. She hates the sadistic creator of this world because the characters seem to only suffer. She guessed that this person was already forgotten by the author and doomed to die alone in the desert if Mila hadn't come here.
"H-help!" The boney human attempted to ask for Mila's help just as Mila was about to turn around and leave the strange being. Mila couldn't think of any benefit to helping out the skinny being, but of course, her conscience would not let her go.
"What is your name?" She asked without approaching the strange being.
Mila needs to know first if the person she is going to save is part of the novel's plot, because if he is, Mila will not help him.
"Lu~."
Mila has no choice but to approach the skinny man who can't speak well and is having a hard time getting up.
"Lu?"
"Luther," the skinny man said finally.
"Surname?"
"Apterus." Luther had a dry cough while working hard to answer Mila.
"Do you have a code name or a nickname?
Mila continues to interrogate him to make sure she's safe.
Mila is meticulously making sure she will not miss anything that may get her in trouble later.
"None."
"You're not some sort of prince? Are you not a hidden child? Conflict over a throne or a lover? mystical being?" Mila asked about all the possible plots the author may think of, making sure she wouldn't be an accessory to one again.
"N-no. m-mercenary. Ambushed Soldier!" Luther still has a hard time speaking as his mouth and throat are dry, but Mila still gets what the man said.
"Your mercenary group was ambushed, and you are a soldier left behind here. Are you sure?"
"Y-yes. Please help! "
"Okay, one last thing. What's the name of your group?"
Mila ensures that Luther's name, origin, job, and situation have nothing to do with the current plot, leading her to conclude that Luther was not part of the novel's plot.
She inserts her hand into the gap between her boobs and takes out the healing potion she saved for herself. It's a potion that can only replenish energy and heal minor injuries. She only has two of them and keeps them hidden on her chest.
"Avenger!"
"What? Avenger? What the fuck?" Mila can't believe how lazy the mercenary group's name was, but it convinces Mila that the group was unimportant as well.
Mila helps the man drink the potion and watches him slowly recover from being low on energy, starving, and thirsty. However, it didn't change that he is still bones and skin, but at least he is not nearing his death door.
"T-thank you." The man bowed down to thank Mila.
"Your welcome."
Skkkrrrrrr!
Mila ripped off her long skirt and threw the black cloth at Luther.
She wondered why Luther was completely naked. She thought maybe the people who ambushed them robbed them off as well.
"Cover yourself. bye." Mila pointed at the black cloth from her skirt, then ordered Luther to wrap himself.
Luther hurriedly took the cloth and wrapped his lower body.
It was the first time Mila saw a dried-up chorizo and balls.
Mila begins to walk again after seeing that Luther can now move on his own.
"I had to find another location." Mila doesn't plan to share space with a stranger, and the desert is too vast for her to easily find a new place to settle.
Mila keeps walking for hours and still feels fine, but the skinny man who chooses to follow Mila falls on to the sand again and can't keep up with Mila.
Mila keeps walking and ignores Luther, who has now become silent after falling and being buried by the sand again.
"Ignore her, Mila." she started mumbling to herself.
"He is not important. Ugh, that is why I am bothered! Because he is not important! aaaah! " Mila grumbled to herself, stomping her feet on the ground and twirling her black hair in frustration.
Mila was contemplating whether she should rescue Luther or not.
It's clear to Mila that Luther was not an important character, and that makes her want to help him more, because unimportant characters are free to live their lives. Unlike characters like her, they have their fate set in stone, and if they want to change, it would be a real struggle.
She wanted to tell Luther not to give up because he is the one who is holding on to his own life, which makes Luther more like a living person than other characters.
"But I am in no place to take care of others now! I have to worry about myself!" Mila thought while walking forward again.
Mila can actually run fast like she did before she came into the desert, but she still keeps walking instead.
She kept Luther in check while denying her concern for the stranger.
"Ugh! Whatever!" Mila messed up her hair once more before turning around to return to Luther's location.
"Hey, if you keep lying there, you will be buried again. This time you'll die." Mila said, after digging Luther in the sand again.
Luther looked like a withered plant as he planked down to the sand.
"Madam, I might be baggage now, but I will make sure to be of use once my health is back." Luther pleaded with Mila to take him.
Luther looked pathetic as he crawled and hugged Mila's legs.
Mila heaved a long sigh while she took out the second healing potion from her chest.
"This is my last potion. I am fucking giving this to you."