Sixteen talented knights, they were the top-tier soldiers of the 'twelve legions', an army commanded by Knight Commander Idvil. From an average background, they were scouted, drilled hard, and eventually got to receive direct tutoring under Idvil as his beloved disciples.
When the Knight Commander Idvil told them of the crown prince's, now Emperor's plan, they happily volunteered despite his constant opposition.
The Wild, a place no Kingdom could set foot into, the knights wanted to be the ones to tell tales about how they navigated through this very place. They weren't stupid enough to dismiss the past multiple failed attempts but as long as their job was to simply find MM they believed their strengths would prevail and rightfully so.
"He woke up!" Thud, one of the knights cried out.
An unconscious boy who they had found hidden in their supply wagon suddenly woke up. It wasn't weird for them to be startled.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Yeshu asked. As much as he enjoyed the scenery before his eyes, he had to get back to his family.
At the cute and soft voice of the young boy, the soldiers lowered their guard and began to question him.
"I am Phen, Knight under the Command of the Great Emperor Darius and disciple, only to the brilliant Western Dragon." the assumed leader of the expedition team introduced herself.
"I am who I say I am, so I ask, who are you?" she said in a stern voice.
A proud and assertive introduction was a common way to introduce yourself to a stranger who was of a lower class than you, especially in the army. Phen wasn't being rude or arrogant, it was merely a way to exercise her well-deserved dominance.
Yeshu was a bit frightened of not only Phen's tone but of her gallant appearance or so he thought...
Clad in typical Azorian upper body armor but with the twelve legions' distinctive shoulder cloak, Phen's height boasted a huge 6'7 that complemented her well-built calves, curvy buttocks, stern but pretty face, and short brown hair.
Even with her beautiful muscle mummy features, the glowing silver rings hanging down her ear and the huge unsheathed sword by her waist were her most distinctive feature to naive little Yeshu.
"I..am...Ye..sh" Stammering, the terrified Yeshu tried to introduce himself.
Noticing the young boy's fear. Phen tried to soften up and reach for him when...suddenly something sprung up from the white desert's sand and obstructed her view.
A Shamir, a colossal worm with six limbs and six eyes, three on each side of it's circular-shaped head. It's body constantly produces a sticky brown liquid that was extremely aggravating to look at. It was one of the named monsters of the many monsters that existed in the Wild and according to the improvised ranking system of many Kingdoms, it was ¶¶¶ rated.
Phen reacted first and the rest of the knights followed, they unsheathed their swords, prepared to slay this beast and secure Yeshu's safety.
"Grrrrruuuuuuuu!!!" the Shamir roared producing a heavy gust of wind.
To avoid getting thrown back by the raging wind, the knights shoved their swords into the sand, tightened their grip, and held their ground with nothing but their swords and pure strength.
By the time the heavy gust passed, they noticed their armor corroding. It was a result of the Shamir's bodily fluid accumulating on their armor.
Not minding this, Phen sprung up into the air where she met the massive head of the Shamir. She grabbed her huge sword with both hands and dug her blade onto the top of the monster's head.
"Ahhhh!!" Phen yelled out a battle cry while applying more pressure on the grip of her sword, piercing deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into the monster's large head.
"Gyahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" the monster screamed in excruciating pain. It fluttered its huge body around causing the ground to tremble, it did this to alleviate the pain and shake Phen off.
But Phen, a woman who had fought hard to reach her current position refused to let go, her expression hardened as she let out another battle cry and slowly began to pull her embedded sword downward revealing the disgusting inner organs of the Shamir.
While all this was going on, the knights didn't simply sit still. Thud, a dazzling young knight sprinted toward the supply wagon all the while avoiding the monster's fluttering body. Without getting a single speck of sand on him, he grabbed Yeshu from the now-destroyed wagon and waved his hands to his fellow knights.
Thud's wave was a signal to the other knights that the boy was safe. Seeing this, Leah, a knight with a particularly handsome face and a blue neck tattoo made his move to join the battle.
The Shamir, distracted by the pain it was dealing with didn't notice Leah slowly approaching it. Without making any Leah got behind the Shamir.1
"In the name of 'God, the Messiah', I CUT YOU." Leah said as he took a wide swing and cleaved the colossal worm in half. He did this with a simple but powerful downward cleave.
"Grrrr" the monster groaned in agony as it took its final breath.
It's spilled guts and thick blood rained down, dyeing the white sand red.
The expedition team had just taken down a grade 3 monster possessing the strength of 30 soldiers with only two knights.
Yeshu, whose mind had gone blank when the Shamir appeared was terrified and disgusted with the sight that was before him. He forced himself out of Thud's arms and...
*Bleurghhh* this was the sound Yeshu made as he threw up. The gory scene he had witnessed wasn't meant for a 9-year-old.
.....
Night had come to the Wild and so did the abrupt change in weather. It wasn't freezing but the weather was a lot more cool now, the expedition team started a fire with the wood they had brought along.
The white desert was vast and plain leaving no proper camping site, to be able to properly respond to sudden attacks, six knights stood guard while the other ten along with Yeshu sat around the fire and cooked the meat of the Shamir.
"...." Yeshu looked at the cooked Shamir in disgust. His family hadn't always been the richest but they weren't so poor for him to eat a monster without hesitation.
"Don't worry, fire erodes any inedible attribute of a Shamir." Thud said with a warm smile while holding his portion of Shamir's meat.
Yeshu, still doubtful, took a courageous bite of the meat. His thought?
'Not too bad.'
"See, doesn't hurt, does it?" Thud said with a subtle laugh.
"By the war, you haven't told us your name?" Hager, a short black-haired knight asked while chewing his food.
"Ye..." Yeshu was about to mention his name only to come to pause. He was now aware of the fact that he was a Miracle Worker, he shouldn't be revealing his name so easily.
"Ye?" Hagar asked with a confused expression.
"Yes, Ye." Yeshu replied.
"....i am torn between the fact that it is either a very unique name or your parents were probably too lazy to nam-" Hagar was cut off mid-sentence.
Leah had smacked Hagar by the head telling him to shut up and not let out such offensive words. In response, Hagar simply twisted his lips and gnawed on his meat almost like a child. He was the youngest in the team.
"So, Ye do you know how you ended up in our supply wagon?" Leah asked, continuing the conversation.
"I don't remember."
"Family?"
"Yes, back at the Capital."
"...." at Yeshu's words, the atmosphere became completely quiet. The knights stared at Yeshu with pitiful eyes, they had all come to the conclusion that he was probably abandoned by his family. It would be a wealthy and influential family since they were able to place him in the expedition's wagon.
'Maybe he lacked talent in the sword?' they thought.
Yeshu didn't know why they were staring at him like that but he decided to not ponder on it too much. Ignoring their pitiful stare, he asked.
"What are powerful and respectable knights like you doing in the Wild?"
"..." No one responded. Their mission to find MM was top secret as his location couldn't land in the hands of anyone both within or outside the Empire.
"We are looking for someone." The muscle mommy Phen broke the silence. She gave a simple answer leaving out all the major details.
"Can you take me with you?" Yeshu asked. He also didn't care for the details, all he wanted was to get back to his father and sister.
'He seems to have gotten over his fear.' Phen thought to herself.
"That was the plan when we saved you. Right, leader?" Thud said.
Phen gazed intently at Yeshu for a while before replying...
"Yes, that is the plan." Phen got up and grabbed her sword which had been corroded by the blood of the Shamir.
It wasn't only her sword, the knights' armors and swords were also corroded and the worst victim of this was Leah who dealt the final blow to the monster. His sword was completely corroded and unusable.
The supply wagon that carried all their essentials had also been destroyed by the Shamir during the battle.
They were left in a tight spot, they had to leave the white desert that lacked wood, clothing, water, and many other essentials.
"Get some rest, we wake by sunset." Phen commanded.
It was going to be a long journey.