The blood dripping from the black dagger in Vir's hand dripped while Vir stared at the corpse of the second man with hatred.
Aira emerged from hiding, ran up to Vir, and hugged the man tightly from behind.
Vir didn't move at all. However, he knew quite well what kind of fear the little girl was feeling right now, even though she wasn't crying at all.
He decided to bury the two bodies of the poachers in a spot a little distance from the oasis. He dug deeper into the sand while Aira stood by the hole he had dug.
Once he felt it was deep enough, Vir threw the two bodies into the hole, then backfilled it.
"I have to get rid of all this bad luck!" he said as he walked away, leaving the hole completely covered.
Aira was still standing there, while Vir stripped down to his underwear, and dove into the pool.
While Vir bathed in the pool to perform his rituals to remove his bad luck, Aira sat waiting by the campfire, which was still burning and was enough to keep her warm. After all, there was still plenty of dried meat left to serve as breakfast for both of them.
Vir finally finished bathing and put his clothes back on then approached the campfire, and sat simply to the right of the little girl.
"Tell me," he said then. "What is your real purpose in following me?"
But for a while, Aira remained silent, ignoring Vir's question. She preferred to open her thick book again.
Vir could only sigh deeply, shaking his head, and eating some grilled meat to keep his temper from exploding.
"Whatever!" he snorted. "I'd better tell you," he glanced back at the nine-year-old girl. "Don't follow me anymore! Do you hear me?"
Again, Aira said nothing.
"Tch!" Vir let out a long, heavy sigh. "If you follow me, then that kind of thing just now is bound to happen again. You know what that means, huh?"
And the little girl didn't seem to take his words at all to heart, which made Vir grumpy and annoyed.
"Oh my!" he snorted. "You're a real pain in the ass! Curse me with your presence near me!"
"You're overreacting!"
"Overreacting?" repeated Vir with dilated eyes. "I'm overreacting? You don't realize that just a moment ago, you were almost treated very badly by those bastards, huh?!"
"I'm just fine!"
"You!" Vir pointed at the little girl with a look of disbelief at what she said. "Tch!" He slammed his hands together in such a way. "This is so annoying! You're really pissing me off, damn little brat!"
But in truth, Aira had already realized in advance what Vir was worried about. With her always stalking the man, it meant she was giving him a new problem. And of course, her being around him would put him in danger as well.
Let's say something like that happened again, there's no way Vir would be able to save her a second time, or even save himself.
In other words, Aira would only hinder Vir's path.
However, Aira had nowhere else to go. Her instincts told her that she should always be near the last Vulcher man.
"Ever since I found that Bald Wyvern, I've had no other goal but to find you, and stay by your side."
Vir frowned, taking a long look at the little girl who still looked indifferent as she flipped through the pages of the thick book on her lap.
"What do you mean by that?"
Aira shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."
"Oh my God..." Vir let out a long sigh.
He simply did not understand the mindset of the little girl who was the last descendant of the Asurry race.
"It's up to you. I'm warning you once again," he said. "I won't always be able to save you. Do you understand?"
Again, Vir received silence in return for his words from the nine-year-old girl.
Although he didn't know Aira's ultimate goal in following him around, Vir could only resign himself to it. After all, looking at Aira was just like Vir looked at himself when he was a child.
Yes, that little girl had no one to protect her or to lean on from the cruel world.
Vir didn't have the heart to send Aira away, that's all.
Early that morning, after packing his belongings into his cart and getting a supply of drinking water, Vir pulled his cart away, leaving the oasis.
The oasis was safe from beasts and dragons, but not safe at all from humans.
How annoying! He thought.
And Aira stepped casually beside the cart pulled by Vir. Sometimes she looked like she was humming with her cheerful steps, typical of someone her age. The bundle on her back did not interfere with her movements at all, sometimes she was silent as if thinking about one thing or another.
Vir could only sigh and shake his head in response to the little girl's behavior.
After all, Aira had been quite good at her disguise so far.
Vir didn't come up with any far-fetched conclusions. Perhaps the little girl was taking advantage of her physical features with those bright blue eyes in the midst of the people of the South Country where most of them also had the same physical appearance.
So, those people must have assumed Aira was just a neglected child of the South or a child of infidelity who was later abandoned by her mother. Or a thousand and one other reasons.
Either way, Aira had managed to hide her identity as the only remaining Asurry so far.
They crossed the vast desert to the north, following the hard parts of the land to avoid a thing or two they didn't want.
But actually, Vir thought that his journey this time was made safer by the last of the Asurry descendants herself.
Well, she must have whispered something to the beasts hiding behind the dunes, or the creatures in the sand not to attack the two of them.
In any case, the incident in the dead forest yesterday had made Vir realize that Aira, even though she was only nine years old, but her special ability had emerged and she could use it well.
Vir smiled to himself. What an asshole, he thought. What was I thinking?
But Vir didn't realize one thing about himself, it was also what made Aira always want to follow him, and Aira herself understood this very well.
That unique black dagger on Vir's waist. It was no ordinary weapon. It was not the shape of the weapon itself but the material the dagger was made of that was the main focus, the solid bone of the Black Dracael.
The man probably didn't realize that the Black Dracael was a type of dragon that had been deemed extinct, a dragon that was believed to be a mystical dragon with many advantages, and Aira was well aware of this.
This was also the reason why Vir never experienced any interference from the dragons after he took possession of the unique dagger.
In other words, the black dagger actually emitted an aura or something that made the dragons near them stay away. It wouldn't be seen, smelled, or felt by humans, but not by the dragons.
However, Aira was quite curious about how Vir was able to obtain the legendary dragon bone.
Where did he find Black Dracael's bones? She thought.
Sand bursts were visible at several points, on the left side, and on the right side. But Vir was calmer with Aira with him on the journey.
Those sand dragons wouldn't dare to show up, he thought. Vir grinned. At least, this might be one privilege he would continue to have as long as the last Asurry descendant was with him. Although, the real reason was the black dagger at his waist itself.
He smiled as he looked at Aira, and Aira furrowed her brow in response to Vir's gaze and smile which she found both strange and annoying.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"Not bad," Vir replied and laughed softly. "Not bad at all!"
Aira could only guess what the last Vulcher had meant by that.
"What a freak!" she snorted.
Vir laughed even harder. "Look who's talking!"
***