Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 187

The first thing Ainz felt the moment his feet touched the ground of this Singularity was fine sand shifting beneath his feet. Then next came the bright midday sun, mercilessly roasting everyone who caught its eye. And then lastly were the hot, dry wind, its breeze barely cooling his skin.

"This is the desert," Ainz made a simple, if obvious, inference before looking around.

Unlike the last Singularity, where he had also stumbled upon a desert, if one created with nuclear weapons and therefore with its own set of unique characteristics. This time the desert he had found himself in was a natural one, the sand under his feet, the most ordinary sand, gathering in slowly crawling waves of dunes as far as the eye could see.

In his past life, Ainz had never seen anything like this – in person, at least, excluding his experiences in YGGDRASIL. But, in that past Singularity, when he took a tour of Earth's famous landmarks, he had already been in a place similar to this when he visited the Egyptian pyramids.

"Hmm, are the Egyptian pyramids related to the Crusades?" Ainz shook his head, not really knowing the answer to that. "I don't know, but I'll keep that in mind for the future... "

"Senpai?" Mashu's voice distracted Ainz from his thoughts, causing him to turn to his Servants, who had appeared at the same time as him in the Singularity.

From the looks of it, the only one who had any trouble with the heat, which Ainz could ignore due to his nature and passive protection, was Mashu herself. She was trying to shield her eyes with her hand, creating a little shade. Besides, hmm, she was wearing heavy metal armor, though Arthuria, wearing the same armor, didn't show her displeasure in any way.

Then again, Arthuria always maintained the same expression on her face, so it was quite difficult to tell from her face if she really wasn't experiencing any discomfort.

Chasing the thought away, Ainz thought about their plans for a moment, once again they had found themselves in a desert with no landmarks. In the last Singularity, his plan for general exploration had worked well – in that case, should he do it again?

"I sense something," Medusa spoke suddenly, interrupting Ainz's thoughts.

"A Servant?" Ainz asked the question that interested him. If he was lucky enough to meet a Servant of this Singularity, it was obviously a good omen – usually Servants were the ones who always had information about what was going on in the Singularity.

Medusa shook her head slightly, though.

Hmm, humans aren't bad either... At least the humans must have some information about what was going on, even if it was incomplete.

"How many?" Ainz asked the next question that interested him.

"At least thirty," Medusa pondered for a moment, "They seemed to be traveling in a convoy, with some beasts – it might well be a caravan."

"A caravan, hmm, probably either a traveling one or a trading one." Ainz thought for a moment.

If it was a matter of communicating with ordinary people – and even more so with small-time traders, then Ainz was confident in his abilities. He had the right mentality and skills for such a thing, but for the other people in his entourage...

Mashu was suitable, and at least he trusted Medusa enough not to do anything stupid. Though, on the other hand – Medusa's appearance might be too eye-catching, her manner of dress would also look out of place in a desert, never mind for the current era. Then again, Ainz himself might look strange for the current era as well, so he saw no other option than just trying to meet new people himself.