East Road Quest

Chapter 56 Heading North

Not long after Kraukus was extinguished, a rumbling echo filled the air. Ruby, who had been rubbing her hands together, immediately lowered her stance as if preparing for a fight.

“It’s the Hellgate. Could it be that instead of vanishing when its master dies, it opens?” Ruby voiced an ominous thought.

The Hellgate was vibrating intensely, so much so that it seemed the black rocky mountains themselves were resonating.

The trembling of the gate persisted, and Jade’s anxiety grew. Suddenly, with a loud bang, the gate folded in half vertically, reminiscent of closing an open book.

The vibrations continued for a while before the gate folded horizontally. Then vertically again, and horizontally once more. The gate kept folding endlessly in half, shrinking each time.

Soon, the Hellgate vanished from everyone’s sight.

Ruby approached the spot where the gate had been and swept her hand over the ground.

“It’s gone. This must be how the gate disappears.”

Ruby dusted off her dirt-covered hands with a clap and then turned to Jade.

“How’s your hand? Is it okay? Should I cut it off now?”

Before the weary Jade could respond, Sapp shouted.

“No!”

“It was a joke! Can’t you take a joke, you flower bud?”

“It didn’t sound like one.”

“Well, it was partly serious. So, do I really not need to cut it?”

“No, you don’t!”

Sapp was furious.

“Why did you say to cut off the hand if something happened?”

Sapp asked while examining Jade’s hand.

The light of healing brightly illuminated Jade’s hand, casting a glow around them.

“The light of extinction ends everything by obliterating a demon’s soul, but I didn’t know what would happen after capturing something with the light of capture. I’ve never tried it before. That’s why I said to cut it off before it could possibly transfer to my body.”

“You did such a dangerous thing without even practicing first?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t do that again. Use safer methods from now on. If we share what I know with the priests’ knowledge, we can find better ways.”

Sapp held Jade’s hands tightly and repeated the same words.

“So, don’t do that again…”

Jade had no words and simply patted Sapp’s head gently.

Ruby looked up at the sky and said.

“It’s dawn, and the wind has stopped. But it will blow again by evening. We need to move quickly, or we’ll be caught in a sandstorm in the middle of the desert.”

“That sounds wise.”

Jade nodded and got up from his spot. However, Sapp couldn’t stand.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just… my legs have gone weak.”

Ruby approached and offered.

“Those darn legs, always causing trouble. Should I carry you again?”

“No. I’ll stand on my own. Just wait.”

“If you don’t get up in 10 seconds, I’ll carry you.”

“Wait!”

“Shhhhh, nineeee…”

“Wait, I said!”

“…Eighhhht, sevennnn…”

“Hey!”

“…Sixxxxx, fiveeee…”

“Argh!”

Sapp clung to Jade’s arm and mustered all his strength to stand. Even after standing, his legs were still shaking.

“Ha! You stood up just fine! It was all an act. If it’s so hard, why not use the light of healing on your own legs?”

Ruby led the way as she spoke.

“I can’t use it on my own injuries.”

Sapp replied gloomily.

“Really? Then be careful not to get hurt.”

Sapp whispered to Jade.

“I can never tell if she’s encouraging or threatening.”

Jade burst into laughter and said.

“Ruby.”

“What?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“You saved me again. And you saved Sapp too.”

“Does this even count as saving? How many times are you going to thank me? It’s annoying.”

“Being thankful is being thankful. It’s not annoying.”

“I’m the one who’s annoyed.”

“Still, thank you.”

“Stop it already, you honeybee in a flower garden! Are you trying to make me cry?”

Ruby yelled out loud.

Saph whispered in surprise to Jade.

“Ruby cried? Has Ruby ever cried?”

“There was a reason for it,” Jade replied with a weak smile.

“I’ll kill you if you speak of it,” Ruby threatened. The threat seemed genuine somehow.

♦

As dawn broke, the wind ceased completely.

Jade, still not fully recovered, leaned against a rock to rest. Saph, too, had fallen asleep on Jade’s shoulder after a night of hardship. Jade was tired but could not sleep.

Ruby, of course, was lively. He had left just before sunrise to gather food for breakfast and returned in less than ten minutes with four desert rabbits. With skilled hands, he started a fire, skinned, and prepared the rabbits.

“Why did you put that back on?” Jade asked, pointing to the shackles on Ruby’s wrists and ankles.

“Umparuton is a precious material. I couldn’t just leave it behind. You can unlock it when needed.”

Ruby hung the prepared rabbits on a branch over the fire and broke stones with his hands to make bowls.

“That thing has bound you for 500 years. It must be tiresome… Why wear it at all?”

“Surprisingly, I don’t mind. Wearing it seems to help me remember my past. Memories are starting to come back, and I fear losing them if I take it off,” Ruby said, looking into the fire. His face, lit by the flames, bore an adult’s expression of worry.

“Doesn’t anything come to mind when you think of Baipel appearing as a beautiful woman?”

“Nothing,” Ruby replied curtly, then added as if making excuses, “I was bored while trapped, so I kept waking and sleeping. Isn’t it normal to forget what you hear in your sleep? You might even forget meeting someone if you wake up suddenly.”

Jade pondered the space mirror and asked, “Baipel said he used the Beishupher to sense the moment you would awaken. Isn’t that strange? Why go through such effort and not just kill you? You were bound, after all.”

“There are many odd things. If we start questioning, the Baipel we saw in the mirror was a ‘man,’ while Kraukus saw a woman. One of them could be an impostor, or neither could be Baipel at all.”

“It’s hard to distinguish gender just by form.”

“Stop asking. I feel like a newborn, only two days old. Instead, tell me the history of the last 500 years.”

“All of it?”

“We’re heading to the eastern continent, right? We have time.”

“That’s true.”

“And you need to tell me why we’re searching for that damned Holy Grail, and why Baipel is so desperate to have it.”

“I don’t know either. But I’ll tell you everything I know. Maybe you hold the answer.”

“Don’t get your hopes up. So, where do we go from here?” Ruby asked.

“North. To the Dark Forest.”

“Has the continent been shuffled while I was trapped? We’re supposed to go to the eastern kingdom, so why north? Oh, because Kraukus said the gates of hell are there?”

“There’s that, but there’s another reason. I’ll tell you when Saph wakes up. She probably knows, too.”

Jade looked at Saph, who was leaning on his shoulder. Her face, stained with sand and dust, was incredibly beautiful.

“I always imagined more rugged men as partners in adventure,” Jade muttered to himself.

“Do you dislike traveling with a woman? Then I should transform into a woman too,” Ruby joked.

“You can transform into a woman? Try it.”

Jade suggested, but Ruby shook his head vigorously.

“No. Transforming into a woman is humiliating.”

“Humiliating? Why?”

“Because I’d lose my… you know.”

“Hmm, that’s a compelling argument. Can you transform into animals too?”

“I can manage similar sizes. But how did I do it… I can’t quite remember. Was it this way or that? No, it was the other way around… I’ve forgotten.”

Ruby gave up after a confusing explanation.

“Anyway, my transformation magic was superior to the angels’ at its best.”

“Convenient for escaping?”

“It was perfect.”

Ruby laughed loudly.

At that sound, Saph woke up.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I must have dozed off,” Saph said, slightly embarrassed, covering her face.

“There’s no need to apologize for a little sleep,” Jade said.

“No, I should apologize!” Ruby interjected, placing the cooked rabbit in a stone bowl.

“How many times have I said we need to hurry? If we leave now, we might just reach the next village before evening.”

“How do you know that?”

Jade asked in wonder.

“I memorized the map hanging in the monastery’s director’s office.”

“To memorize that, you’ve become quite ambitious, Ruby.”

“I don’t do what I don’t want to. But once I set my mind to something, I get it done quickly. You’re all in trouble now. If you try to follow me, you’ll be in over your heads. Now eat up.”

Sapph pushed the bowl of rabbit meat towards Jade as he pointed out.

“Don’t use such harsh words, Ruby! And I don’t eat meat.”

“You’ll get used to it! And if you don’t like meat, go graze on some grass, you herbivore.”

Ruby grabbed the rabbit meat from Sapph’s bowl and stuffed it into his mouth whole. At that, Sapph pointed out again.

“You should say grace before eating.” Ruby spat out the half-eaten meat and retorted angrily.

“Can’t even eat in peace? You say the prayer.”

“If you’re an angel, prove it with a prayer.”

“Only fakes try to prove they’re real. If I asked you to prove you’re a woman, would you lift your skirt? Of course not. I won’t prove I’m an angel either.”

“Enough already.”

Jade intervened between the two and then said to Sapph.

“Sapph, please say the prayer.”

Sapph immediately clasped his hands together and recited the prayer.

“We pray. Today, too, we praise the name of God, and may Your will brightly illuminate this land… Ruby quietly interjected. “Praise my name instead.” Sapph continued his prayer steadfastly.

“…We give thanks for our daily bread…

“It’s the rabbit I caught, you know?”

“…and forgive us our sins…

“Have you already sinned today before the sun even rose?”

“…and lead us not into temptation…

“If there’s any heavy lifting to do, I’ll handle it.”

“…for all glory and power belong to the name of God. We pray in God’s name.”

Sapph sped up the latter part of the prayer to prevent Ruby from interrupting further. Then he lowered his hands and looked at Ruby.

For the expressionless Sapph to look at someone like that, by anyone else’s standards, it would be almost a death glare. But Ruby, as if to say ‘bring it on,’ met Sapph’s gaze while continuing to chew on the rabbit meat, bones and all.

‘I was worried that bringing Sapph along would cause trouble between Ruby and me…

Jade looked up at the sky, which had cleared up as if by a lie, lost in thought.

‘…Maybe I’ll be the one caught in the middle between Sapph and Ruby.’