Sylvia and Felix were walking across the vast expanse of sand. The wind-blown sand moved like rippling waves.
The two stopped for a moment to gaze at the endless desert.
“This is the first time I’ve been to a place like this. Have you been here before?”
“Hmm, I think I followed my dad on a business trip here when I was little. I barely remember it, but it’s amazing that I was able to recreate it.”
Sylvia muttered in a self-deprecating voice. Felix, knowing about Sylvia’s parents, simply held her close and gently patted her arm.
“Oh? There’s an oasis over there.”
“What’s an oasis?”
“It means water in the middle of a desert. Let’s go.”
“Sure.”
The two hurriedly flew towards the oasis. But as they approached, Sylvia’s eyes widened in surprise as the oasis seemed to move further away.
“Wow. This is my first time seeing a mirage.”
“What’s a mirage?”
“It’s like a fake oasis.”
“There’s a real and a fake oasis? Why?”
“That’s just how it is in the desert. Honestly, I don’t really know either.”
She had only visited the desert once as a child and had seen it on TV, so it was hard to explain.
Sylvia simply descended to the ground. Felix followed her down, and after walking for a while, she took out some barley tea she had prepared from her subspace bracelet.
“Here, drink this.”
“It’s been a while.”
The cool barley tea quenched their thirst.
“Right? I should take some sand with me.”
Sylvia began to collect the fine sand into her subspace bag.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“Hmm, maybe sell it?”
“…Sand?”
Nodding, Sylvia used wind magic to gather the sand into the subspace. Then she added,
“Relocating people is important, but I also think it’s important to turn this place into a tourist destination.”
“We’ve had meetings about that topic too. But can this place really become a tourist spot with just sand?”
“You can make it into one.”
“How?”
Sylvia chuckled as she saw him widen his eyes in surprise.
In moments like this, he really looked like a child. But she knew how intense and rough he could become, and how coldly rational he could be.
Knowing that she was the only one who truly saw this side of him filled her with contentment.
“You just have to create something that people are interested in.”
She thought it was the perfect time to show off the know-how she had gained from running a souvenir shop and the experience she had as Seo Yujeong in the past.
“Something that people are interested in…”
“If you grant people’s wishes, for example?”
“…Huh? What do you mean?”
“For instance, sand that grants wishes, or a rumor that if you find an oasis with your loved one, you’ll live happily together forever…”
It might also be nice to color the sand and make hourglasses, Sylvia mused aloud.
At that moment, Felix took her hand. As she instinctively held onto his hand, her body suddenly floated up.
The sand that was being sucked into the subspace fell to the ground, and the two of them moved at a tremendous speed.
To be precise, Sylvia was being pulled along by Felix, who was flying at high speed.
“…Darling?”
“Wait, I’ll find it for sure this time.”
“What, what are you talking about?”
“The oasis! Oh, it looks like it’s over there.”
“No! That’s….”
Sylvia tried to say it was just a made-up story, but Felix suddenly began to descend.
Sylvia looked down in surprise. Below them was the same oasis they had seen earlier as a mirage.
This time, the oasis didn’t disappear. After landing, the two of them peered into the clear blue oasis.
The oasis wasn’t deep or wide, but it was surrounded by palm trees and looked as if it was made from melted sapphire—beautiful and pristine.
“Wow… palm trees.”
“These trees?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmmm.”
Sylvia looked up at the palm trees and spotted dates hanging from them.
“Wow, dates.”
“Huh?”
Felix, following her gaze, frowned as if displeased.
“They’re hanging there so creepily.”
“Pfft.”
Indeed, as he said, there were quite a lot of them. Sylvia used wind magic to pick some dates and washed them with water.
She handed one to Felix and said, “Want to try it?”
“…Sure.”
Dates are usually eaten dried, but they can be eaten fresh too. Depending on the variety, they might taste a bit astringent, but there are types that are sweet even when fresh.
Since it could be either sweet or astringent, Sylvia felt a bit nervous as well.
She took a small bite to taste it, but Felix put the whole thing in his mouth. After chewing for a moment, his face gradually brightened.
“…It’s sweet.”
“Yeah… it’s really sweet.”
The sweetness was so intense that it almost made their mouths pucker. Sylvia, who had been thinking of the taste of Korean dates, felt a slight tinge of disappointment, but this was delicious in its own way, so she quickly popped the rest into her mouth.
“It’s strange but tasty.”
Thankfully, it seemed to suit his palate. They picked a few more and ate them.
Sylvia then grew a Korean jujube tree right next to them. The tree quickly sprouted, and green jujubes began to ripen.
“They look similar, don’t they?”
“But the taste will be different. Try it.”
Sylvia picked a jujube, washed it, and was about to hand it to him when he opened his mouth.
She quickly placed it in his mouth, and as he chewed, his eyes widened.
“It’s crunchy. The texture is just like an apple.”
“Right? I prefer this one. But the dates we had earlier taste better when they’re dried. You can even make syrup out of them.”
There were many ways to use them. Sylvia popped a few Korean jujubes into her mouth and chewed.
The jujube she hadn’t had in a long time tasted like honey.
“This is a real oasis, right?”
Felix asked as he looked at Sylvia lovingly, still chewing on his jujube.
“…Yeah.”
The oasis was real, but…
“Then, we’ll live happily ever after, right?”
Seeing his bright smile, Sylvia thought there was no need to correct him. Whether it was a lie or the truth, if a simple rumor like this could bring happiness, it was a pretty wonderful thing.
“Thanks to you, we’ll never part and live happily ever after.”
“Haha.”
It felt as if a gentle, tickling breeze was blowing near her heart. Unable to resist, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
His lips parted naturally, meeting hers with even more fervor. Under the scorching sun and in the dry desert winds, the two shared a long, passionate kiss.
◆
They had thought about staying in the desert, but it wasn’t possible.
Just like how it was difficult to grow plants during winter, it was hard to build a makeshift vine house in the desert.
While they could create one if they tried, it didn’t turn out as they hoped. Even the jujube tree they had grown quickly withered away.
“I’ve learned something new.”
“Since it’s an elemental power, it must be influenced by the weather and environment.”
Nodding at Felix’s words, Sylvia looked down.
The two of them were now heading away from the desert. Though they weren’t far from it, below them was a lush green forest.
A deep gorge with rapidly flowing water cut through the landscape, surrounded by green grass, trees, and an abundance of flowers.
“I didn’t expect the desert to end so abruptly.”
It was as if the desert had been sliced away, revealing a dense forest right beside it.
They found the contrast so fascinating and mystical that they stood in the middle for a long time, just observing.
“Shall we sleep there?”
They saw a clearing amidst the dense trees. The two of them descended onto the grassy area, filled with wildflowers, and quickly set up a makeshift vine house.
The sun had already set, and they were both very hungry.
Sylvia hurriedly took out ingredients from her subspace bag. Tonight, she planned to cook something that would be perfect for camping.
A string of sausages, which she had made in the palace when she was bored, began to emerge.
She skewered the plump sausages on wooden sticks and placed them around the campfire that Felix had started.
Sylvia then took out a newly made grill plate.
She recalled the taste of cooking on an old cauldron lid, so she had shown her hand-drawn blueprint to the palace blacksmith, and after several trials and errors, it was completed.
Using wind magic, she placed the cauldron lid over the campfire and took out thick slices of pork belly.
“Hehe, pork belly.”
Pork belly is always delicious, no matter when you eat it.
She placed the large, tender pink slices of fresh meat on the cauldron lid, which had heated up nicely.
The sound of sizzling filled the air.
Since both of them had hearty appetites, more slices of pork belly kept piling onto the wide cauldron lid.
She also sliced onions, green onions, potatoes, and sweet pumpkins thinly, laying them in the inner part of the lid where the fat would collect.
Once she figured the meat was ready, she flipped it to the other side. With each ‘sizzle,’ Felix swallowed repeatedly.
Everything she made was delicious, but nothing could beat the grilled meat.
Once you become addicted to the taste of meat grilled this way, steaks start to lose their appeal.
Of course, he still wasn’t particularly fond of steak.
Sylvia shifted around eagerly, waiting for the oil to pool in the center of the cauldron lid.
“Darling, the oil is collecting here. Why are you gathering it like this?”
It was Felix’s first time cooking with a cauldron lid, so he was curious about the reason.
“If you grill the meat on the convex side of the lid, the fat drips off, which makes it taste great, right? But flipping it over and grilling on the concave side, that’s got two reasons.”
As Sylvia explained excitedly, Felix watched her with eyes full of adoration.
Being out here with her like this brought back fond memories, making him feel joyful.
Leave a Reply