Faced with Isis's wounded look, Francesca promptly turned on Altaïr, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "Yeah, what's wrong with you? You gave us your word. How can you back out now?"
Altaïr could only raise his hands in surrender. "My fault. It slipped my mind. We'll go. Besides, the Sandship we rented in Sun Worship Town needs to be returned anyway."
Isis brightened at once. "Didn't Francesca rent a Sandship too? Let's all go together. Serl can come too!"
The corner of Francesca's mouth twitched twice. "I bought mine. I didn't rent it, so it doesn't need to be returned." That was no lie. At the time, she had thought it would be useful to keep an extra small Sandship aboard the Knowledge Seeker, since they could use it on future trips to the desert.
"But we can't walk all the way back from there, can we?" Isis's mind was working unusually fast today. "We can take both Sandships there, then squeeze onto one for the trip back!"
"...All right, fine." Her logic was so airtight that Francesca could not think of an excuse to refuse, and Isis's expectant look made it impossible for her to say no.
Serl spoke up with a smile. "I'll stay here. That Black Diablos may be badly wounded, but it isn't completely harmless. We still need a High Rank Hunter here to protect the scholars." His reasoning was equally sound, and Isis had no choice but to abandon her matchmaking scheme.
Francesca pointed both index fingers at Serl, her eyes sending an unmistakable message: "Good man!"
Standing nearby, Brandley clicked his tongue and muttered, "Tsk. We really should have finished off that Black Diablos. What a nuisance..."
Altaïr remembered to ask Morgan as well. He had assumed Morgan would have no interest in sightseeing, but to his surprise, Morgan agreed to come along.
"You want to see the black market too?" Francesca asked, looking at him in surprise.
Morgan's expression barely changed. He shifted slightly to indicate the Bowgun on his back. "I overloaded it with volatile gunpowder earlier, and the mechanism developed a few faults. The town where you're returning the Sandship is Sun Worship Town, right? I remember Sajji mentioning that they produce high-quality heat-resistant metal there. I want to buy some to reinforce the barrel and the mechanical components."
"That's... surprisingly sensible."
The itinerary and party for the "Black Market Expedition" were thus settled. Isis hurried Altaïr back aboard the Knowledge Seeker to help them put together outfits that suited their "roles."
There was one thing Altaïr had not mentioned. In the northern Great Desert, where the ecosystem was richer and the population denser, the hidden black markets were more numerous, larger, and closer. But Isis only wanted the novelty, so there was no need to take her to one of those full-fledged operations. The little market he had visited with Lady Lania would suit them perfectly. It was a long journey, but it was safe, and they could treat it as a shopping trip.
As for robbing Sand Raiders... better to avoid that if possible. They were no match for Hunters in a fight, but they were ruthless people, and many had blood on their hands. The less contact, the better.
—--
Once back aboard the Knowledge Seeker, Isis was like a child preparing for an outing. She swiftly removed every piece of armor and set aside her weapon. There was no sign that she had just completed a grueling Hunt; she was brimming with unusual excitement.
"So how should we dress? Like Lady Lania, disguised as Sand Raiders?" Isis asked, her eyes sparkling.
Altaïr spread his hands. "Lady Lania was at least born in the Great Desert. Her appearance and dialect both fit the part, and she had the fierce, murderous air needed to pass for a Sand Raider. As for the three of you, do you really think that would work?"
Isis and Francesca exchanged glances, then both looked at the expressionless Morgan.
One of the three had a silly, guileless look and was obviously a good kid incapable of wrongdoing; another was fair-skinned and pampered, with "young lady from a major city" practically written on her face; the last one's features were simply too refined.
By every measure, they could not have looked less like those loathsome rats of the desert.
"Th-then what do we do?"
Altaïr thought for a moment, pointed at Francesca, and said, "You're a historian from the Royal Academy of Dundorma, here specifically to investigate those ruins."
Then he pointed at himself and Isis. "The two of us are the Hunters you hired as escorts. Isis and I can wear our armor and carry our weapons as usual. As for you, Senior Francesca, the Scholar Set is perfect. Add a couple more books to your pack. And Morgan... did you bring that professional-looking outfit of yours? You could play the scholar's assistant."
Morgan: "?"
Under Morgan's murderous glare, Altaïr hurriedly amended his suggestion. "Better yet, borrow some clothes from one of the Scriveners and pose as a young Scrivener traveling with her. That works, right?"
Isis looked bewildered. "Uh... aside from Morgan, can we even call this a disguise?"
Altaïr replied with complete seriousness, "Of course. The best disguise is an identity that matches the truth. We might just about pass for bandits, but what would Senior Francesca and Morgan be? Our hostages?"
Isis had to admit that Altaïr made sense, but she still could not help feeling disappointed. Over the past few days, she had often imagined herself disguised as a Sand Raider and had even secretly prepared an eyepatch to cover one eye.
Francesca rolled her eyes. She could tell exactly what Altaïr was doing. This so-called "disguise" was only meant to placate Isis. It had no practical value, and dressed like this, they would never blend into a black-market crowd. But from their perspective, that did not really matter. Unlike Lady Lania, they were not going there to gather intelligence. To put it plainly, the entire trip was for Isis's amusement. Since that was the case, blending in was irrelevant. Safety came first. An official identity as a Royal Academy scholar, backed by two heavily armed Hunters who looked anything but easy prey, would keep most trouble well away.
If Alma could pilot a Sandship, she would have been the ideal person to go instead of Francesca.
Her field was history and the humanities. She could have faked it without faking a thing.
Seeing Isis's conflicted, disappointed expression, Altaïr gave a dry cough. "There's nothing interesting about Sand Raiders anyway. They're nothing but desert thugs who prey on the weak, cower before the strong, and extort people.
"All those stories about Sand Raider chiefs' treasure, treasure maps, and so on are complete nonsense. You saw the axe I brought back last time. It was the best weapon those Sand Raiders owned, and it was still only an ordinary woodcutting axe you could buy at any smithy.
"I had to break the arms and legs of several Sand Raiders just to get it. If that interests you, I can take you along and let you break a few."
Altaïr deliberately made it sound gruesome and even raised one knee to mime snapping a limb across it, making Isis shudder.
She had long since grown accustomed to blood and flying flesh when hunting Monsters. Breaking human arms and legs, however, was too much for someone who had been a good kid all her life. The thought had never even occurred to her.
Seeing her expression change, Altaïr pressed his advantage. "All right, here's what we'll do. We'll present Senior Francesca as a tourist on holiday, then let the black-market crowd conclude for themselves that she's actually an archaeologist from the Academy.
"That way, we'll get to see all kinds of things, genuine or fake. We'll treat it like treasure hunting. Who knows? We might find something worthwhile.
"If we pose as Sand Raiders, the Nomads won't want much to do with us. We need to look like easy marks instead."
Altaïr's pitch won Isis over. She promptly discarded every idea about posing as Sand Raiders and robbing the robbers, then threw herself into fleshing out their roles.
"How about this? Francesca is both an archaeologist and a young noblewoman, while I'm not only a Hunter, but also her family guard and childhood companion!
"Altaïr, you aren't part of our group. You're a guide we hired through a connection after reaching the Great Desert!
"As for Morgan... hmm... Morgan is a young female scholar traveling disguised as a man because she knows how dangerous people can be! That's a secret backstory. We don't need to tell anyone, because everyone will guess anyway!"
Morgan: "???"
Altaïr and Francesca exchanged glances.
Clearly, Isis had taken Altaïr's line about a disguise matching reality firmly to heart. The roles she had given them hardly required any acting at all, considering how little they differed from the truth.
—--
After spending the night aboard the Knowledge Seeker to recover from their fatigue, the four of them set out early the next morning in two Sandships, bound for the western reaches of the Great Desert.