East Road Quest

Chapter 34: The Desert’s Ruler

“I am the ruler of the desert.”

Pendale was the deputy leader of the Karp bandits, and the Red Desert was in the palm of his hand.

Although he was second-in-command to Karp, he believed himself to be the greatest in the desert.

Karp, the leader, was afraid of the desert and rarely ventured into it, preferring to raid only the villages on its outskirts. Occasionally, he would enter the desert to elevate his status, but he targeted only the convenient spots. In truth, these paths were well-traveled by many, yielding high profits. Karp considered this a testament to his skill.

“I am different from Karp. I know no fear, I am smarter, and I don’t shirk the hard tasks onto my subordinates. Once I become the leader, our band will grow. It will no longer be Karp’s bandits but the Red Desert Bandits. And I will unite all the bandit groups within the desert.”

Karp had visited the heretic temple more than thirty times.

Initially, he searched for treasures that grave robbers might have missed, and later, he used it to escape the scorching desert sun or as a meeting place with other bandit groups. Thus, he knew the temple’s layout well, including the fact that there were no secret entrances. But just now, ‘that guy’ had opened a wall at a dead end and entered.

“Did you see that? The wall just opened like a door,” Pendale asked, touching the spot where the wall had parted. The stones were so tightly interlocked that not even a thin blade could slip through.

“Yes, as if by magic,” one of the subordinates muttered from behind.

“Don’t be foolish!”

To Pendale, it seemed like magic too. But he had to deny it to keep his men from fearing such powers, especially since they were already wary of such forces.

“It’s all because of Yol. That man, performing magic-like feats in broad daylight for all to see, killing a few, and leaving me to clean up the mess.”

Pendale pointed to two of his men and commanded.

“You and you, go report to Boss Karp.”

“What should we report?”

“Tell him that…

Pendale stopped mid-sentence.

“No, this could be a tremendous opportunity.”

He remembered the monstrous rat that had visited their camp the day before.

Yol gave orders in various ways. Sometimes he would come in person, other times he would send a letter, and like yesterday, he would send a monster to deliver the message. The subordinates were so terrified of Yol that even the monster, merely a rat the size of a fist, caused an uproar.

“A priest will come to the Red Desert. Kill him. It’s enough to bring back just his head. Bring it to Saint Santirimo Monastery.”

After delivering the message, the rat collapsed and decayed as if it had been dead for months.

The creatures that carried Yol’s commands always differed. After delivering their messages, they all died in this manner.

Coincidentally, Boss Karp was out ‘hunting for women.’ So Pendale had taken his men out without reporting to the boss.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time Yol has directly targeted a single person.”

Pendale felt like he had caught the scent of money.

“There’s no need to report to the boss yet.”

He retracted his order.

The two subordinates who were about to run off stopped in their tracks.

“Yol used some kind of magic to open that wall. He downplayed it, but he must be someone significant.”

Yol’s orders were always carried out without payment. In return for their free service, the Red Desert was spared from attacks by demons.

Indeed, Karp’s bandits had never been attacked by monsters. Once, when one of the subordinates was caught by a terrifying creature hiding under the sand, it released him upon hearing the name of Karp’s bandits.

Pendale was always curious about Yol’s identity.

Simply put, if he commands demons, is he a demon himself? But if he were truly a demon, that would be problematic. Killing people could be absolved later through confession, but working for a demon meant no absolution.

At least, that’s what Pendale believed.

“I can’t stay under Boss Karp at this age. Moreover, taking orders from a demon to do their bidding is despicable. I must break away someday. If I can’t create the Red Desert Bandits by removing Boss Karp, then I should make a big score and flee to another place altogether.”

Pendale continued to ponder, leaving his men standing there.

It was Pendale who chose the heretic temple as the location, not Yol. He had his reasons.

First, even for Karp’s bandits, who were familiar with the desert, it was impossible to catch a single person crossing such a vast space. There was no need to scour the entire desert.

Second, if Yol knew which village the priest was passing through, he would have specified it. Since he didn’t, it meant Yol also didn’t know where the target was headed.

Third, the only place in the Red Desert suitable for sheltering from the sun was the Albito Valley, and within it, the heretic temple was the best hiding spot.

In truth, these three reasons were justifications he had attached afterward. As soon as Pendale heard the target was a ‘priest,’ he thought of the heretic temple. And it turned out to be the right choice!

“This opportunity might be now. Think about it. He entered a temple through a secret passage that no one else has ever seen. Yol must be after something there.”

Many believed there was treasure beneath the temple. Hence, despite appearances, they thought there must be a secret passage somewhere.

The Holy Grail was the first thing that came to Pendale’s mind. He had never been to a church in his life, had no faith in religion, didn’t know where the Holy Land of the Crusades was, nor understood why the Holy Grail was so significant. He only knew from rumors among thieves that the Holy Grail, made of very precious jewels, could make one’s family wealthy for generations.

“He will come up from the temple with its treasure.

I’ll snatch it and flee with my men to the Duchy of Luna. It’s a country where criminals can hide indefinitely. I’ll promise my men ten times their current earnings. They’ll follow me. And later, I can eliminate them one by one.”

Pendale was already stepping through his next plan in his mind.

Poe pondered a drastic escape. “Perhaps I should cross the Mediterranean and head east. If I convert to their religion, they’ll surely accept me. Wait, why bother with such a cumbersome plan? What about fleeing north to the Dark Forest? It’s said to be impenetrable by man, but to someone who has survived the Red Desert, the forest would be paradise. I could hide there for about five years, then emerge and be free. And it would be easier to dispose of my followers in the forest.”

Having made up his mind, Pendale summoned his subordinates.

“There’s no need to bother the boss with such trivial matters. We’ll handle it ourselves. If he exits through this door, capture him immediately. Do not kill him.”

‘…If we kill him, we might not recognize the value of the treasure he brings out!’

Pendale kept these thoughts to himself.

“Damn it! Another strange incident has occurred.” After entering the Red Desert, Poe retraced the path he had taken so far.

The village of Postlum was as desolate and quiet as ever. The fact that an old horse trader’s wife had her eyesight restored was big news here, a place where nothing ever happened.

Poe asked the villagers if any outsiders had passed through, but most were indifferent. At best, he learned a useless piece of information about a very beautiful woman riding a large horse passing by.

What Poe found strange was the situation before arriving at Postlum.

On his way, he encountered a single bloodied guard from Rome returning from patrol. The guard informed him that it seemed a clergyman had escaped, and he and four others had pursued, only to unfortunately encounter thieves and suffer a mishap. The guard didn’t know which clergyman it was.

Upon reaching the scene, Poe found the guard’s story to be true. A notorious band of thieves and Rome’s guards lay exactly in the numbers the guard had mentioned.

The interesting part was the death of a carriage driver caught in the incident. A deliveryman named Sisco, who transported various goods to Postlum, occasionally ferried travelers for a fee. If a wealthy person rode with him, he would unhesitatingly kill them, steal even their shoes, and bury the body in the hidden ground. If it was a woman, especially one traveling alone, he would indulge his carnal desires before killing her in the same manner.

Sisco had been doing this for years without getting caught.

Poe caught him in the act of burying a body.

Amused, Poe encouraged him to continue his deeds, and Sisco, as if granted permission, repeated the same acts with even more gusto.

‘The luck that had protected him for years had finally deserted him. And this time, he was caught up in a matter completely unrelated to his own crimes.’

The thieves were equally unlucky. They were mere pickpockets, accustomed to robbing carriages, but this time they had encountered Rome’s official army.

It was an interesting turn of events, but it had nothing to do with Poe. Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it did. It was like having an itch but not knowing exactly where, scratching aimlessly.

Poe left the village of Postlum and raced across the desert. Upon reaching a specific point, he dismounted and commanded the ground.

“Come out.”

Poe had divided the Red Desert into several territories to prevent demons from fighting over domains.

Two creatures lived in this territory. Nameless lower demons, Poe had nicknamed them ‘Bigfoot’ and ‘Big Hand.’ They disliked the names, but they had no choice but to come when Poe called.

“Bigfoot! Big Hand! Why won’t you come out?” Poe shouted threateningly. But they didn’t appear. Instead, the vibration from horse hooves approached first.

It was a band of thieves from the Red Desert. They spotted Poe and immediately galloped towards him, skillfully surrounding him to prevent escape.

‘The ones I called for didn’t show up, but these unrelated ones did.’

Poe waited, holding the reins.

One of the thieves dismounted and brandished a knife at Poe.

“Don’t move.”

Poe examined their appearance and muttered to himself.

“Not the Karp bandits. Bad luck indeed.”

The thief heard him and responded.

“Yeah, bad luck for you. You seem smart enough not to resist foolishly. If you hand over everything you have, maybe your life…

Poe drew a dagger and plunged it into the thief’s chest. He then snatched the thief’s sword and threw it at the face of another nearby, bringing both down as red blood scattered across the sand.

Poe, pulling the sword from the fallen thief’s face, addressed the remaining ten or so.

“It was your bad luck I was talking about. Who’s the boss?”

The response should have been a realization and retreat, but these dim-witted fellows seemed determined to see it through.

“The first one to die was our boss. This is for the boss’s revenge!”

Several of them charged.

Poe swung his dagger, slashing the throats of all who approached. Finally, the remaining five fled.

Poe whistled. A hundred paces away, a large-mouthed monster burst from beneath the sand, swallowing the fleeing thieves and their horses whole. It struggled to swallow the horses, spitting them out and only consuming the men. But the horses were already dead.

“Come here, Sandfrog.”

That name, too, was a fabrication of Poe’s.

The frog-like, large-mouthed monster sank into the sand as if it were water, then leaped out, repeating the process as it hopped towards him.

“Did you call for me? Did you call for me?” Sandfrog asked twice.

“Swallow those bodies as well.”

Poe pointed with his sword at the dead thieves’ bodies.

“I’m full. So full. I just ate five of them. Five!”

Sandfrog protested.

“Then swallow them and spit them out in the sand. Just make sure the bodies aren’t visible.”

“Oh, I can do that. I can do that. But weren’t we not supposed to eat the Red Desert’s bandits?”

“Karp bandits are the exception. But you seem too foolish to distinguish, so just avoid bandits altogether.”

“Do not capture prey on a whim. Of course, as I have commanded now, whether it’s the Karp bandits or anything else, consume them.”

“Understood. Understood.”

The Sand Frog had cleaned up the surroundings by swallowing corpses and repeatedly diving into and spitting them out from the sand.

“But where did the one with the large hands and large feet originally here go?” Poe asked, kicking the sandy floor a few times.

“I do not know, do not know. I have not left my designated area as you commanded. This time, I came because Duor called.

Called me.”

The Sand Frog answered faithfully.

“Go inside and check. If there are any bodies, bring them out.”

“Yes, yes.”

The Sand Frog disappeared back into the sand.

‘I need to think differently. The tasks I thought would be easily resolved are becoming increasingly difficult.’

Cardinal Lorenzo was the first to come to Poe’s mind.

‘I don’t want to be dismissed by that man for not handling even this.’

The Sand Frog emerged from the sand and replied.

“Both are gone, gone.”

“The burrow?”

“It has collapsed, collapsed.” If the burrow had collapsed, it wasn’t just a simple matter of their absence.

Poe had given the magic power to maintain the sand burrow to the one with the large hands, so if the burrow had collapsed, it meant that the one with the large hands had died. It was hard to believe that the one with the large feet was still alive.

‘With those two, I thought they could wipe out three battalions of Rome’s army,

What killed them?’

Poe recalled the incident Jade had caused in Pompeii three years ago.

‘There were rumors that the girl was a demon. I didn’t believe it, but if it’s true? Does it mean he has the power to exterminate demons? And Brother Autis has been out of contact too…

Two days ago, Poe had sent an errand runner in advance to instruct the Karp bandits to kill Jade. It was merely a precautionary measure, but now he had to trust their ability to handle the task.

“What command did I give to all of you?” Poe asked the Sand Frog.

“Yes. You ordered us to capture a man named Jade if we find him, find him.”

“Follow the new command.”

“Yes, yes.”

Poe sent a message not only to the Sand Frog but to all the demons of the Red Desert. Originally, he was not a being high enough to rule the entire Red Desert. But one day, he became such a being.

‘…I will entrust this place to you. From now on, you will be the ruler of the Red Desert, and even after everything is over, you will remain its ruler…

All he had to do was close his eyes, envision the demons inhabiting the desert, and issue a command. There was no need for the cumbersome process like when he gave instructions to the Karp bandits.

“Revoke the command to capture Jade if found.”

Poe changed the command to the same one he had given to the Karp bandits.

“He might have a weapon that can annihilate demons. If you find him, kill him immediately before he uses it.”