East Road Quest

Chapter 42: Tracking the Scent

“I’ve lost the scent,” Ruby declared.

It wasn’t an admission of fault, but rather a tone of wonder, as if pondering, ‘How could a being as grand as I make such a mistake?’

Jade asked with concern, “So we’ve lost him?”

“It’s just that the air has stilled. The scent remains, but its direction has vanished. If he suddenly changed course from this spot, we might truly lose him. But if he continues in the same direction, we can still pursue.”

Ruby glanced back the way they had come and continued, “A sandstorm is brewing. It’s going to be strong at this time of year.”

Indeed, the southwestern sky was darker than elsewhere.

“This time of year?”

“The very moment spring begins.”

“How would you know that, being underground all the time?”

“The trembling of the earth can be felt even below. There are storms every year around this time, and now is that time. Let’s hurry.”

Ruby grasped the reins and quickened his pace.

Though not mounted, Ruby’s stride did not falter. In fact, it was Jade, on horseback, who slowed them down. She had fallen once already. Even now, any rough movement from the horse brought pain from a cut she received in the temple the day before or from where demons had bitten her.

As Ruby had said, the wind grew stronger, and the surroundings darkened rapidly.

“The likelihood of losing him is increasing. The more he moves, the fainter his scent will become, making it harder to distinguish. If he enters a village with people, even with my keen sense of smell, I won’t be able to find him.”

Ruby pointed to a distant place as he trotted along.

“Ah, there’s a village. It seems he went that way.”

Without Ruby, Jade would have passed by without noticing the village, so well it blended with the desert. Whether originally that color or stained by the sand, the walls, floors, and roofs were all uniformly red.

A few people were wandering around the village. Ruby stopped upon seeing them.

“Why?” Jade inquired.

“How odd. This is an abandoned village. Yet, there are people living here?”

“It may be old, but…

Jade’s vision was still too poor to make out the faces of the people.

“…if people live here, it’s not abandoned. What about his scent?”

“It’s faded. Instead, I smell other people.”

Ruby gestured towards the village.

“He’s already here somewhere, having taken another human’s body.”

“We must catch him before there are more victims,” Jade recalled the moment she failed to recognize Autis as a demon.

“Will you be able to recognize him even if he’s changed bodies?”

“Perhaps.”

With a brief answer, Ruby entered the village.

The villagers looked at Ruby and Jade with expressionless faces. Some stopped in their tracks to stare, while others walked on indifferently. Some peered out from windows.

Jade chalked it up to the typical impassiveness of desert dwellers.

“Stay still on the horse, Jade,” Ruby commanded, then swung the chain he held. Like a blade, the chain bisected a woman walking with flowers. She screamed, and others screamed and fled as well.

Ruby hurled the chain towards the fleeing people. The elongated chain pierced through their chests, stringing them together in a line.

“Stop it, Ruby! Stop!”

Jade shouted in alarm.

“Quiet!”

Ruby yelled back, pulling the chain. Blood splattered from the retracting chain, hitting Jade’s face.

“My God, what are you doing? Stop it!”

Jade kept shouting, but Ruby threw the chain into a house, decapitating someone inside. An old man smoking a pipe had his head severed and rolled under Jade’s horse.

Jade opened a book and recited a verse of light that tightened the shackles around Ruby’s neck.

“You’re doing…

Ruby noticed immediately and turned his head, but Jade’s hand was quicker. Reacting to the light from his hand, the shackles on Ruby’s wrists and ankles shone brightly and fell off. The shackle around his neck darkened and tightened.

Ruby clutched the shackle with both hands and fell to his knees.

“Don’t, it hurts!” Ruby gasped.

“What are you doing?” Jade yelled.

“Ah… the demon…”

Jade looked back at the dead. Black smoke rose from the bodies like steam, and in their place were small monsters. They were the minions of Baipel that Jade had seen in the cave, cackling and boasting.

Jade quickly withdrew the light and recited the opposite verse. The shackle around Ruby’s neck returned to its original color, and the ones on his wrists and ankles were restored.

Ruby managed to breathe and propped himself up on the ground.

“I’m sorry. I thought you’d lost your mind and were killing people…

Before Ruby could rise, he leaped onto the horse and grabbed Jade by the neck, pinning her to the ground.

Jade fell back first, letting out a choked scream from the impact.

“I told you not to use it!”

Ruby, eyes glowing red, admonished.

“Don’t use it!”

“I understand. But next time, tell me when you’re going to do something like this. I could have easily misunderstood the situation just now…

Ruby tightened his grip on her neck, forcing Jade to stop speaking.

Her vision whitened. It was only when she felt suffocated to death that Ruby released his hand.

Jade gasped for air and rolled to the side. She retched, but only saliva dripped out instead of vomit.

“Does it hurt? You delicate flower! But I suffered a hundred times more. You should know that I’ve been lenient!” Ruby fumed, rubbing his neck.

Jade coughed and stood up.

“Right. You’ve been quite lenient. If you had dropped me headfirst from the horse, you wouldn’t have had to bother strangling me.”

“It was only 0.1 seconds before your head hit the ground that I changed my mind. Don’t use it again!”

“Who knows? If you really try to kill someone, I might have to.”

“If you do, I’ll cut off your tongue and…

“…stick it in your nostril. I’ve got your pattern of insults down.”

“…No, I was going to say I’d stick it in your ear.”

“Don’t make me laugh. You were about to say nose.”

Jade watched as Ruby walked past the bodies of the little demons. Moments later, the demons turned to ash and vanished.

Holding the reins, Jade followed and asked, “How did you know they were not humans but demons?”

“Their pupils,” Ruby replied, her voice still tinged with unresolved anger.

“Pupils?”

“Living humans have pupils that move very rapidly.”

Ruby continued, “You might think you’re focusing on one thing, but unconsciously, you’re checking everything around you. For instance, when you talk to me, you always look at my hair and my shackles.”

“Can you see that?”

“To me, it’s visible.”

“So, the people here didn’t have that kind of pupil movement?”

“They were fixed. As if they were only pretending to look. If it were just one person, you might think they have a vision problem, but it was all of them. Besides, this village has clearly been abandoned. Even someone as dull as you could see that! And yet, there are people living in the village? That’s not the case.”

“How can you tell just by looking?”

“At my level, such deception is child’s play. To deceive someone, you need to be this good.”

Mid-stride, Ruby suddenly flipped backward and faced Jade, who almost fainted in shock.

Instead of Ruby, there stood Jade. Only the attire was Ruby’s; the face, hair color, and height were identical.

“What… what is that?”

“Transformation magic! Only with this can you truly fool someone.”

“The voice is different, though.”

“No, it’s the same.”

“What do you mean? It’s different!”

“Your own voice always sounds different to yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s just how it is. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”

“Well, it’s unsettling.”

“Is it? I thought you’d find it amusing.” Ruby, still in Jade’s form, replied nonchalantly and flipped back again, returning to her original appearance.

“It’s quite useful against the angels. Heh heh heh.”

Ruby laughed mischievously and continued walking.

Jade pondered aloud, “Could it be his doing, transforming his minions into human forms and setting them up like this? Maybe he set a trap and then fled…”

“He hasn’t fled. From experience, such magic needs to be cast nearby. He probably intended to distract us with fake humans and then ambush us. To think he could take me on!”

Ruby chuckled again.

“You sound like a villain.”

“I used to be a villain, didn’t I?”

“But not anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Just because.”

“That’s your opinion.”

Ruby snorted, whether in laughter or derision, and pointed towards a partially destroyed cathedral at the end of the village.

“There’s a smell coming from over there. But it’s strange. It’s the smell of blood.”

Ruby kicked open the door of the half-ruined cathedral. As the door fell inward, a cloud of dust rose from the accumulated sand on the floor.

The windows of the nave were all cracked, the walls were draped in cobwebs, and a musty odor filled the air. Chairs, untouched for years and covered in a layer of dust, filled the hall. Red sand was piled up like graves around the spots where the ceiling had collapsed.

“Ugh.”

Jade covered his mouth and groaned as he stepped inside.

Scattered throughout the nave were dismembered and broken bodies.

“Interesting,” Ruby murmured.

“You find the sight of human bodies interesting?”

Jade asked, his voice tinged with anger.

“These fellows, they have faces. They’re the same ones who were robbing the merchants earlier.”

“The Karp bandits?”

“Yes. But the leader is nowhere to be seen.”

Ruby kicked a severed arm and head as she walked towards the center of the nave.

Jade pressed his hand harder against his mouth, feeling nauseous.

“Ah, look at this. This one’s stiff as a dried herring.”

Ruby pointed to a body that had hardened like it had been left in the desert for a century.

“Do you recognize this one too?”

Jade asked.

“Can’t you tell? This is Pendale.”

“Gasp!”

Jade gasped for air, and a cloud of dust rushed into his mouth.

While he coughed out the dust, Ruby wandered around the nave, searching for something.

Jade watched her movements and asked, “So, if only Pendale’s body is left and the Karp leader’s body is missing, does that mean he’s switched bodies?”

“That’s part of it. But he also tried to erase his scent. That’s what I find amusing.”

“I don’t see what’s amusing about it.”

“I tracked Pendale’s scent, but also the scent of the evil spirit itself. He tried to erase that. With his abilities, he didn’t need to destroy the bodies like this.”

“So, he intentionally filled this cathedral with the smell of blood?”

“And he brought out his demon minions, transforming them into humans to place in front of the village.”

Jade recalled the moment the evil spirit tried to take over his body.

“So, he was trying to buy time here! But why? He had enough time to escape, so why stay?”

Ruby continued to inspect the nave, picked up a piece of clothing from the floor, and sniffed it.

“There’s one still alive. Looks like he took her.”

“How do you know?”

“This scent doesn’t belong to someone who’s lived in the desert for long. And it’s a woman’s. But there are no female bodies here.”

“A woman?”

“Yes. Probably young.”

“You can tell she’s young?”

“Ah, young by my standards. Not a grandmother, that’s for sure.”

Ruby sniffed the torn clothing a few more times, then looked around again.

“After taking over Karp’s body, he’s got a young girl with him, and the cathedral…

Was he trying to buy time inside? Something didn’t add up.

“It seems he needed a spare body to use. He can’t stay in one body for too long,” Ruby nodded in agreement.

“A clever theory. But where did he flee to? There was no sign of him escaping outside the cathedral…”

Suddenly, Ruby pointed to the star cross hanging on the chapel wall.

“What’s that? You’re wearing one around your neck too.”

“It’s a symbol of God. Haven’t you seen it before, five hundred years ago? It should have been around then.”

“I might have… What of it?” Ruby strode across the chapel, passing through the door leading to the backyard.

“I’ve found it. He escaped this way.”

“Did you find Cap’s footsteps?”

“No. It’s the marks of a girl being dragged. The footsteps are irregular; she must have been forced to walk. She’s definitely alive.” In the backyard, there was a small rectory and a storage building, and beyond that, a communal cemetery for the villagers.

Jade suddenly felt a pain in his neck and touched it, feeling a sticky sap. Ruby turned around.

“Is that wound festering?”

“Is it?”

“Wounds inflicted by demons are dangerous. I’ve seen many humans die from mere scratches.”

“Later. We don’t have any medicine right now anyway.”

Ruby opened the door to the rectory. He peered inside the empty interior and tilted his head in confusion.

“Huh? No one’s here? But the trail leads to this place.”

“If he’s hiding there, shouldn’t you have opened it more carefully? Or maybe flung it open suddenly for a surprise attack?” Jade suggested.

“Why bother? I can catch him without a surprise attack, and even if he tries one, I can handle it… Ah, is this it?”

Ruby pulled on a rope on the rectory floor. A heavy, thick wooden plank, which should have required two grown men to lift, rose as lightly as if it were a tray.

A dark hole with a ladder leading down appeared.

Jade said, “I’ve heard that houses in the desert have underground shelters to protect against sandstorms.”

“This isn’t a cellar; it’s a passage. He escaped through here.”

“Both of them? Cap and the girl?”

“Yes. I’ll go handle it. Why don’t you wait here?”

“Why?”

“Well, there’s no longer a major threat to this village, and I can move faster without you… Besides, you’re injured right now. Wounds from demons are like snake venom. It’s better not to move.”

“You can’t kill that evil spirit! You’ll need my light magic.”

“I’ll capture Cap and bring him before you.”

“What if Cap transfers to the girl with him?”

“Then Cap dies, and the girl becomes the evil spirit… I’ll just have to capture her and bring her back.”

“No! I must catch him before he claims any more victims.”

“You’re worried you’ll never find a way to remove these shackles if you die.”

“Then go find the specialist dwarf blacksmith in Umparuton!”

“Having thought about it…”

Without using the ladder, Ruby jumped down.

In the meantime, Jade untied his horse’s reins and dropped the saddle. There wasn’t much to carry.

“It would be too cruel to leave you to live alone in such a place, but right now, this is the only way.”

Jade dropped the gear down to Ruby below, then climbed down the ladder. The pain in his neck had spread to his shoulders, paralyzing him.

‘I must endure at least until I catch him.’

Jade walked along the dark passage.

Ruby was already far ahead.

“Just follow the straight path. There are no forks, so just walk without bumping into anything.”

Only Ruby’s voice could be heard in the darkness.

“Don’t worry about me. Go ahead and stop him.”

“How can I not worry about a weakling like you?”

Ruby grumbled and then asked.

“So, shall I go ahead and catch him?”

“Yes. That would be best.”

The sound of Ruby running echoed in the darkness.

‘With Ruby’s skills, he should be able to catch him. But I don’t know his name. That means I can’t kill him with my annihilation verse…’

Jade was worried, but he couldn’t think of anything at the moment.