Early in the morning, Isha crawled out of her tent, rubbing her eyes, and let out a long stretch.
She had slept quite soundly. Although she had only been covered by a few thin blankets, it was already a wonderful luxury for a merchant who had been traveling for days.
But immediately after, she noticed something was amiss.
In the open space of the camp in the distance, Her Highness the Princess was standing there. Before her stood a dozen guards and attendants lined up in two neat rows, their expressions so solemn they looked as if they were heading into battle.
The last traces of sleep vanished instantly. Isha hurriedly scanned her surroundings, thinking some major crisis had occurred.
But she quickly realized something was off, as the objects in their hands were not weapons, but digging tools and various containers.
How strange. They weren't going to war?
“Isha!”
Just as Isha was feeling puzzled, Lena appeared behind her, holding a waterskin in her arms, her gaze also fixed on the group before the princess.
Isha took the waterskin from Lena, took a sip, and asked, “Lena, what's going on? Why such a massive turnout so early in the morning?”
Lena leaned in closer and lowered her voice, recounting the situation about the quicksand she had just gathered.
Hearing this, Isha's brow furrowed, a sense of foreboding rising in her chest. “Are you saying the oasis is going to be destroyed?”
Lena shook her head. “It's hard to say. I only heard that after the necromancer returned last night, he spoke with Her Highness for a long time. It seems he's already come up with a solution.”
“That's why the princess mobilized everyone first thing this morning, just to help him put his plan into action.”
So that's how it is. Isha relaxed slightly. Since the necromancer had a solution, it was highly likely genuine.
Recalling her observations of the necromancer yesterday and the rumors she had heard about him last night, she found herself placing immense trust in him for some reason.
Because of this, Isha now felt that this might not be a crisis, but rather an opportunity.
She looked up at Lena and gave a decisive order, “Go wake up the hands. Put the installation of the drip irrigation pipes on hold for now. Everyone is going to help.”
“You want to help?”
In the face of Lena's question, Isha didn't deny it. The corners of her mouth curved upward, a faint light glimmering in her eyes. “Since Her Highness's forces are taking action, as her friend, I can't just stand by and watch.”
Lena immediately understood Isha's intentions. Nodding right away, she turned and headed toward the caravan's tents.
Soon, Isha found the princess, who was preparing to set out.
“Your Highness.”
Alicia turned at the sound. Seeing it was Isha, a smile immediately graced her face. “Miss Val, did you rest well?”
“Thanks to your blessing, Your Highness.”
Isha curtsied slightly, then straightened up to face the princess, her tone earnest. “Your Highness, I heard about the quicksand. If you don't mind, my men and I would like to help.”
“We might not have combat experience, but we're quite good at digging and hauling.”
Alicia looked at the young woman before her, a trace of appreciation flashing in her violet eyes. “Miss Val, you are certainly proactive.”
Isha offered a polite smile and said without hesitation, “When a friend is in trouble, one can't simply stand by and watch.”
Alicia let out a soft chuckle and said no more, merely nodding. “Then I will trouble you. Instructor Elon and Mr. Leynas are already waiting at the dunes ahead. You can head straight over.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Isha turned, gestured to Lena in the distance, and then walked out of the camp.
When she arrived at the sandy slope with her men, the sight before her made her halt in her tracks.
The sandy slope was located about five hundred meters outside the pool, with only this single dune standing tall. Crossing it meant directly facing the quicksand threat. In other words, this was the final line of defense before the quicksand reached the oasis.
But the reason Isha stopped was not the dune's strategic importance, but rather the numerous newly sprouted plants she saw planted across it.
They were mostly the Red Willows she had brought, along with recently sprouted Suosuo that had just broken through the soil. Densely packed, there seemed to be five or six hundred of them.
The sight left her mouth hanging open. She had just heard from Lena that Shane had only come up with a strategy last night, and when she had passed by here earlier, it had been nothing but barren yellow sand.
Yet now, green vegetation covered nearly the entire dune.
Had he really accomplished this in a single night?
If the noble lords of the Empire ever learned of this level of efficiency, they would likely go mad with envy.
But soon, she realized that the changes to the dune weren't the only thing to be astonished by.
Looking down from the crest of the dune, she discovered that a large pit—thirty-five meters long, five meters wide, and already dozens of centimeters deep—had been dug slightly further below.
A few tribesmen and skeletal hounds were digging inside. The leading tribesman was exceptionally tall, shoveling dirt like an tireless machine.
Clearly, this massive pit was also the result of a single night's work.
This caused Isha to gasp in complete shock. She suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that keeping Shane in a place like this just to plant trees was an absolute waste. If it were up to her, she would definitely make Shane work twenty-four hours a day without stop...
“Isha, Mr. Leynas is over there.”
Lena's voice interrupted Isha's daydreaming. The latter wiped away the trace of drool at the corner of her mouth and looked toward the other end of the dune.
There, Shane was crouching beside a newly planted Red Willow, his fingers resting near its roots as he closed his eyes to sense something.
Elon stood by his side, holding the Living Soil Pouch. His face bore clear signs of exhaustion, yet he could not hide the excitement in his eyes as his gaze swept across the densely packed plants covering the dune.
“With so many planted, this slope should be stabilized, right?”
Shane opened his eyes, glanced at the surrounding plants, and nodded. “The roots have taken hold, and the surrounding sand has been consolidated. It should have no trouble handling the weakened quicksand.”
Elon let out a long sigh of relief, looking as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He couldn't help but marvel, “To be honest, even in my dreams, I never imagined we could plant so many things in a single night.”
“Perhaps, within my lifetime, I really will see the Golden Sea turn green.”
Shane didn't reply after hearing this, merely twitching the corner of his mouth in what passed for a smile.
Then, he stood up and looked at the pit below the slope. “With just this amount of labor, we can only dig out a rough outline. We'll need to wait for Her Highness's forces to arrive. Ideally, we should dig the pit to a depth of at least three meters.”
In Shane's view, this pit was the most critical bottleneck to weaken the quicksand. Otherwise, relying solely on the newly planted Red Willow and Suosuo, they would still be no match for the shifting sands.
But before he could think further, a panicked shout from a sand scaler echoed from below the slope. Shane's eye twitched as he spotted an earth stinger, which had appeared out of nowhere, locked in a struggle with the sand scaler.
What made Shane's brow furrow even deeper was that he could clearly see this earth stinger was missing a foreleg—undoubtedly the very one that had been driven off by the princess earlier.
Instantly, a thought surfaced from the depths of Shane's mind:
This earth stinger had come for revenge.
Rate on N.U.
