Magi: The Adventure to the Southeast [REMASTERED]

✩3. Encounter in the Desert

"You know, you are like Sinbad of the Seven Seas himself, Sin."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Ardhi and Sinbad were currently sitting inside the caravan, along with other goods Ardhi had bought from Qishan. Meanwhile, Ja'far sat on the front of the caravan with Shafa. The caravan went to the east on average speed.

"Well, it's not like I know him or anything. I only read his story from his books after all," Ardhi rubbed the back of his head. "But you know, just from reading that book I know that he must have a very strong will and also a crazy amount of curiosity. After all he had been going all around the world, and I believe one cannot achieve that without those two qualities."

Ardhi smiled at Sinbad. "You have those qualities, Sin."

Sinbad stared at the man. "...Heh, you think so?" He looked down, a wistful smile on his lips.

"Sin? What's wrong?"

Sinbad looked back at the green-haired man, who looked at him in concern, and smiled back. "Nah, nothing important. By the way, this caravan does load an awful amount of goods, huh?"

Ardhi laughed awkwardly as Sinbad tried to flex his numb muscle. "Sorry, this caravan isn't designed for people to sit inside of it. Also, these stuff are very important for the villagers. I can't afford to toss even just one of them away just to fit us inside it."

Sinbad smiled again and nodded. "Can't be helped, then. Let's just ignore them and chat!"

"Yeah. Just be thankful we're close to Qadar; we don't have to sit like this for two weeks!"

"Haha, I'm actually really glad for that!"

Meanwhile, Shafa and Ja'far just sat outside without exchanging words. Shafa sat next to Ja'far's right to give him directions while Ja'far led the camels. Both of them had something on their mind, but they couldn't find the right moment to speak.

"So... Shafa-san," Ja'far decided to be the gentleman and spoke first.

Shafa glanced at him. "...Just Shafa is fine."

"Right, Shafa... so, when do you think will we arrive?" Ja'far somehow asked something completely different from what he had planned earlier.

Shafa thought for a moment. "...with our current pace, we should arrive there in three or four hours, I think..."

"Is that so? That's good."

They soon fell silent again. Even the intense sunlight couldn't melt the ice around them. "...ry..."

"Did you say something?"

"I said... Sorry..." She talked louder this time. Her head bowed a little as she corrected, "I mean, sorry for blindly attacking you back then."

Ja'far blinked once, then smiled softly at her. "It's okay, you just want to protect Ardhi-san, didn't you?" He said, looking back at the way. "And besides, I also attacked you. So I guess we're even." He chuckled. Shafa was surprised to hear that.

Suddenly Ja'far felt like his energy was replenishing. His body felt much more better than before, and then he realized the purplish glow that surrounded his entire body. He turned to Shafa and saw her wand was being pointed at him. That wand was the source of that purplish glow.

"This is my token of apology," Shafa said sheepishly after she finished her spell. "I hope that was enough to cure your fatigue."

This time it was Ja'far who got surprised. "Is it okay to do that?"

She nodded. "After all..." she looked at the wand in her palm. "...I have the power to cure sickness. I should use it properly." She gripped her wand tighter, her face and eyes looked serious. Ja'far stared at her, and slowly a smile was forming on his lips.