The day after the mission with Logan—confronting the bandits who had been using their names, along with Haru’s, to rob tourists and keep people away from the cave where they’d hunted a desert worm—everything should’ve been pretty straightforward.

The start of the mission had actually been routine.

Track down the two kids. Scare them enough to make them wet their pants. Make it clear that playing bandit and using Logan’s name wasn’t exactly the brightest idea.

Nothing more to it.

Child’s play.

Piece of cake.

The problem was what came next.

They couldn’t just walk away knowing that whatever creature those two idiots had been trying to catch might still be inside the cave. Especially not if there was a chance it could pose a danger to Sandrock.

So, the Builder and the monster hunter ventured deeper into the darkness.

At first, even that had been fun.

You dismantled a few traps as you went, picked up the occasional bit of treasure, and took every opportunity to tease Logan along the way.

A glance here.

A mocking smile there.

A provocative little remark after hitting a target before he did.

The usual stuff.

The little game the two of you always played.

Until you found the giant sand worm.

And the fun stopped.

The creature burst from the rocks with such violence that you were forced to react instantly. The traps the bandits had scattered throughout the cave only made things worse, forcing the two of you to dodge and shift positions constantly.

Until, in one split second, you were left exposed.

The arrow flew through the air.

Logan stepped in front of you.

The projectile buried itself in his shoulder.

“LOGAN!”

The scream tore from your throat.

Fear barely had time to take hold before it turned into fury. You drew your gun and fired, making sure to deliver the final blow to the monster.

When it finally went down, you ran to Logan.

He still had enough strength left to laugh.

A weak, relieved laugh.

“Thanks, Builder...” he murmured. “You saved my life.”

And then he collapsed.

That was the end of the fun.

The long—or short—of it was that you’d had to haul Logan all the way back to Sandrock on Rambo, his ram, praying the poison hadn’t spread too far.

By some stroke of pure luck, you ran into Fang.

The doctor didn’t need much explanation to understand the situation and ended up accompanying the two of you back to Yakero’s place.

And there you were.

Logan, unconscious.

Fang, extracting the poison from the arrow wound and treating the injury.

And you...

Well.

You were standing in the corner, biting your nails and clutching the fabric of your clothes so tightly between your fingers that you barely realized what you were doing.