Published: January 4, 2026
After parting ways with John, I hurried ahead with Peiyu and Ivy.
I had the two servants carry the luggage as we traveled along the road.
Not only Peiyu, but Ivy, whom I had thought was slender, turned out to be surprisingly strong. Neither of them showed signs of struggle despite carrying the baggage.
At first, I considered slowing the pace if their stamina couldn’t keep up, but it seemed there was no need to worry about that.
I walked at a normal pace, leading the two of them.
“Um…”
Suddenly, Ivy timidly spoke from behind.
“Hmm? What is it?”
I turned my head to look at her and asked.
“Y-Your Majesty… I mean—”
“That way of addressing is no good.”
Peiyu, acting like a senior, pointed out Ivy’s obvious unfamiliarity.
“There’s no such thing as ‘Your Majesty.’ You should say ‘Your Majesty’ properly.”
“Y-Yes. ‘Your Majesty,’ understood.”
“That’s right. Also, since we’re incognito now, to avoid revealing our identity, call me ‘Master.’ When we return to the Imperial Capital, then it’s ‘Your Majesty.’”
“Y-Yes… um… understood.”
Ivy looked confused. She was already struggling to understand, and being told all this at once seemed to overwhelm her.
“Don’t think too hard about it. For now, everything can just be ‘Master.’ You’ll naturally get used to ‘Your Majesty’ over time.”
“U-understood.”
“So, what were you trying to say?”
“Ah. Um, Master, about water… are we… okay?”
“Water?”
“If we keep going like this, we’ll enter the desert…”
“Ah.”
I nodded slightly.
Entering the desert—that was the original plan.
Ivy and Peiyu were carrying the luggage, and they were both from this region.
Ivy must have noticed that the amount of water we had among our supplies was extremely low.
“It’s fine regarding that.”
“But the desert, without water… well… we’ll die.”
Ivy spoke bluntly, saying “die.”
I’ve never been in a desert; I only knew about it from knowledge.
But that meant I understood the facts: deserts basically lack water sources, and water—or the lack thereof—seriously affects life and death.
Ivy was worried about this.
For me, that knowledge alone was enough.
“Just saying it’s okay might not be reassuring.”
“Y-Yes…”
“Hey, that’s rude to say to your Master.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. You just started serving, so it’s understandable. Now, I’ll dispel that anxiety.”
I said that and took out Leviathan.
Leviathan, the demonic sword, can change size freely. Normally, I shrink it to smaller than a needle and hide it inside my bracelet.
I took it out and restored it to its original size.
“W-Where did that come from…?”
Ivy was surprised.
I smiled gently. “It’s too soon to be surprised.”
When Ivy stopped in her tracks, I also stopped, turned around, and pointed Leviathan forward.
“Can you do it, Leviathan?”
“Easily.”
Leviathan responded, and from the tip of the horizontally extended blade, small droplets of water started dripping.
Though it looked like just a small amount of spring water, the sight of water endlessly flowing from a “sword” was strange to anyone who didn’t know.
As expected, Ivy was astonished.
Her mouth hung open in amazement.
“Th-This is…”
“Water evaporates and escapes into the air. Leviathan can freely convert moisture from the air into water.”
“Th-That’s possible!?”
“Yes.”
“Amazing…”
Ivy was speechless, overwhelmed with awe.
It would be hard to believe without seeing it, but seeing “a sword continuously producing water” right in front of her left Ivy no choice but to trust it.
“With that said, there’s no need to carry water. I only read about this in documents, but even deserts aren’t completely devoid of moisture. There must be some way to create water, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
That was also from documents, but I asked Ivy, thinking locals would know.
As expected, Ivy knew about it, so the conversation went smoothly.
“Leviathan can gather water even better than any other method. You could even take a bath in the desert if you wanted.”