East Road Quest

Chapter 3 Father Daniel

The mountains and fields were lush with the full vigor of spring, turning green, but the river wind was still cold. Father Daniel had to put back on the coat he had taken off due to sweating earlier.

“I will give you 5 Has.”

Father Daniel spoke to the old boatman who was sitting idly in front of the ferry, smoking a pipe.

The old boatman turned to him with a look that seemed to fend off a nasty prank. However, upon realizing that the person in front of him was a priest of similar age, wearing a necklace with the Catholic symbol of the star cross around his neck, he stood up.

“What did you say, Father?”

“I said I will give you 5 Has,” Father Daniel repeated.

Has was the common currency of the Rom Empire, more valuable than the silver coins of the Kingdom of Parens, Glitten, or the Republic of Litua. Rumors had recently begun to spread that the silver coins issued by the Kingdom of Parens were mixed with bronze, so even in the border regions of Parens, Rom’s Has was valued higher.

“If you’re talking about the ferry fare, 1 Has is enough.”

The old boatman spoke cautiously.

Daniel knew well that 1 Has was enough to make this small ferry go back and forth about three times.

“I am talking about tonight’s fare.”

Daniel continued, taking out five silver coins from his pocket.

“It might be past midnight. It could even be early tomorrow morning. Will you wait here until then? This is a reward in advance for your waiting.”

The boatman looked at Daniel with a suspicious glance once again.

To signify there was nothing to doubt, Daniel removed the hood he was wearing, revealing his white hair. The bald spot in the middle of his head looked like it had been intentionally shaved, just like other monks.

The boatman asked, “Why do you want to cross the river at such a late hour?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Surely you don’t believe the rumor that crossing the Devil’s Bridge at night brings a curse, do you?”

“Of course not. It’s just that going that way is too roundabout.”

Daniel added with a smile, “If you don’t want to, please introduce me to another boatman.”

The old boatman extended his hand. “I didn’t mean I didn’t want to.”

Daniel dropped the five silver coins into the calloused hand of the old man.

“If you wait as promised, I will give you two more silver coins.”

“Will you be coming alone?”

“I am expecting one companion.”

“Very well.”

After confirming the boatman’s nod, Daniel turned around.

The road from the river to the Zerba Monastery was over 2 miles long and had many winding mountain paths.

Daniel pulled his hood deeply to hide his appearance. Anyone would find it strange to see an old man with white hair briskly walking up a mountain path that even young people would struggle to climb in one go.

“Pardon me.”

Near the entrance of the monastery, Daniel greeted a young man carrying a heavy cloth bag on his shoulders. He looked just over twenty years old and his eyes did not focus on Daniel. From his attire, it was clear he was a novice monk.

He put down the cloth bag, which was full of fruits, and greeted Daniel politely.

“Where have you come from?”

“I have come from the Rom Priesthood. I am here to see Abbot Thomas.”

“My name is Poi. Ah, from the Rom Priesthood, are you perhaps…?”

The young novice spoke with a worried face.

“Are you Father Daniel?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If you came because of the letter, you’re already too late. Father Jade’s execution is set for tomorrow.”

Poe said, his face on the verge of tears.

Though Daniel already knew, he spoke in a shocked voice as if hearing it for the first time.

“My goodness, I am very late. Then I must hurry even more. Quickly, call for the abbot.”

“Yes.”

Poe tried to lift the two bags again but staggered under their weight.

Daniel took the bags from him. Poe looked astonished to see the old man lift with one hand a bag he himself could barely carry.

Daniel urged him, “Hurry, hurry!”

Poe, though his speech was awkward, moved quickly. He soon brought Abbot Thomas before Daniel.

“Go fetch some wine.”

Thomas told Poe and then led Daniel to the dining hall.

Daniel looked up at the cracked ceiling and said, “The ceiling is very old. It will collapse if a storm hits.”

“We are in desperate need of the Church’s help.”

Thomas launched into a lengthy explanation, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.

“Though I haven’t mentioned it, the financial situation of Saint Antones Monastery is dire. People are not following the doctrine, abandoning their faith, and we are unable to do anything but watch.”

Poe returned with a black bottle and two glasses, placing them on the table.

“Go finish what you were doing.”

Poe seemed reluctant to leave, but he had no choice but to withdraw at Thomas’s nod.

Thomas poured wine for Daniel and said, “This is wine freshly taken from the oak barrel. Please try it.”

Daniel took a sip and nodded.

“It’s very good. I heard the grape harvest was excellent two years ago. This must be that wine.”

Thomas smiled brightly and said, “I believe this is the best wine we’ve made at the monastery. I am considering giving a few bottles as a gift to Bishop David. What do you think, Father?”

“He will love it. I’ll mention it, so send it right away. But where is Jade now?”

Daniel shifted the subject awkwardly. Thomas immediately took an uncomfortable sip of wine.

Daniel waited impatiently for him to speak on his own.

“Jade’s dangerous ideas have brought this trouble upon himself. I warned him several times, but he didn’t stop.”

Daniel had received about three letters from Abbot Thomas recently.

They begged him to send Jade to another monastery. Some even suggested it might be better to send him to prison, adding that he would introduce a prison with better conditions than monastic life.

Though Daniel had some idea of the reason, he feigned ignorance.

“Dangerous ideas?”

“Jade distorts the teachings of the Catholic Church and spreads those ideas to the common people.”

“For example?”

“Once, a fisherman from the market came. He said he had come to ask God’s forgiveness for hitting his wife. He thought his wife had been unfaithful, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding. Hitting his wife over such a misunderstanding is something anyone could do and move past, yet he came to seek God’s forgiveness. What a devout man he must be.”

Thomas sighed and continued.

“Then Jade suddenly said, ‘Have you apologized to your wife?’ The fisherman replied, ‘Isn’t apologizing to God the same as apologizing to my wife?’ How could a fisherman be more faithful to the doctrine than a priest? But then Jade said, ‘Go and apologize to your wife first and ask for her forgiveness. That will be like apologizing to God. If you’re still uneasy, come back and see me again.’ Goodness, is that something a priest should say?”

Daniel suppressed a laugh internally but nodded seriously with a grave expression.

Thomas’s lament didn’t stop there.

“That wasn’t the only time. If I were to list everything, it would never end. Two years ago, he even dug trenches in the vineyard to create a waterway.”

“Hmm? Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Father Daniel, how can you say such a thing? A monastery seeks the purification of the soul through physical penance. We should carry water ten times a day to grow the grapevines, but he solved it with just one press of a foot pedal. When I pointed out the lack of sincerity, Jade replied that it was ‘efficient.'”

“Perhaps making it efficient improved the taste of the wine.”

Thomas frowned.

“Abbot Thomas, you don’t need to worry about Jade anymore.”

Daniel said, rising from his seat.

“Oh, and could you send me a couple of bottles of wine as well? It would be a shame to give it only to Bishop David.”

“A shame?”

“Bishop David knows nothing about the taste of wine; he only knows how to get drunk.”

Thomas looked shocked, as if he had heard another sacrilege.

“Calling wine a mere alcoholic drink is something I’ve never heard in my life. People get intoxicated by the sacred power in wine, not by alcohol. Could it be…”

Thomas asked with a suspicious look.

“…Was it you, Father Daniel, who taught Jade those strange ideas?”

“I never taught him any ideas. I just told him a few old stories.”

Without looking back, Daniel hurried out of the dining hall.

As he was about to leave the monastery gate, the novice monk Poe followed him.

“Father Daniel.”

Daniel, thinking he was short on time, guessed what Poe was going to say and responded preemptively.

“Don’t worry about Jade. I’ll find a way to make sure he doesn’t stand trial.”

Poe looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected that at all. He seemed to have already given up hope.

Daniel smiled and asked, “Wasn’t that what you were going to ask?”

Poe nodded once, then quickly shook his head multiple times.

“I wanted to ask about Father Jade.”

“Go ahead.”

“Is he really human?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“He always talks about angels, and as a priest, he shares thoughts that don’t align with the doctrine…”

Poe’s voice grew softer.

“Honestly, I think he doesn’t so much speak against the doctrine as he transcends it. Other monks say his thoughts are demonic, but I often think he might actually be an angel. Or perhaps a saint resurrected…”

Daniel grabbed his shoulder to stop him from speaking further.

“Poe! Don’t ever say such things out loud. Jade often talks about things that don’t align with the doctrine because he wasn’t good at his studies and didn’t graduate properly from theological school. He talks about angels a lot because he likes fairy tales.”

“But there was one incident.”

Poe looked around the monastery.

Though there was no one nearby, he lowered his voice.

“About a year or two ago, there was an incident in Zerba where five people were killed. The victims were all dismembered and hung in various places around the town. Some people thought those were not human organs but rather the bodies of pigs or other animals. They even said that the five victims had not been murdered but had all run away because they were all prostitutes.”

“It was a case known even in Rom. I heard the culprit was never caught. What does this have to do with Jade?”

“This part is something only I know.”

Poe lowered his voice further.

Daniel had to lean in closer to hear him.

“It was a rainy night. A strange man came to the monastery. I happened to be guarding the door, and he insisted on making a confession. I told him we were a monastery and didn’t do that sort of thing. But Jade told me to let him into his room.”

“Jade heard his confession?”

“He normally didn’t. People from Zerba liked Father Jade and often came to confess, but he always refused. But that night, he accepted the request. It was strange. Confessions are not done that way.”

Poe was visibly scared.

Daniel felt he knew the rest of the story even without hearing it. He also understood why Jade hadn’t reported such a big event to him.

“Given the murders and the eerie atmosphere that night… I knew it was wrong, but I eavesdropped from beyond Jade’s door. I heard the voices of Father Jade and the man. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I heard the man laugh. It was definitely the laugh of a murderer.”

Poe clutched at his chest, grasping his clothing.

“I was sure. The serial killer had come to our monastery! But since it was a confession, I couldn’t just barge in. I waited, holding a club, ready to fight if anything happened.”

Poe was so engrossed in his story that he mimicked holding a club.

“Then suddenly, it went quiet. I thought something had happened, so I burst through the door without thinking. I raised the club, but only Father Jade was there. The man was gone. Father Jade looked slightly surprised. I asked him where the man had gone. He said the man had finished his confession and left.”

Daniel clicked his tongue.

‘Jade, I told you to be careful, but still…’

Poe’s excitement made his voice rise.

“I had never seen Father Jade lie, but at that moment, I knew he was lying. I had been guarding the door; where could that man have gone? The window was too small for a person to pass through. Moreover, on the chair in front of Father Jade… there was a pile of grey ash.”

Poe’s voice was terrified, as if he could still see the scene.

“Someone had been sitting there just moments ago and had burned up. I know that spontaneous human combustion is a miraculous act of God. Whether it was a divine miracle or devil’s magic, I’m not sure. But it was definitely something like that.”

Poe fumbled for the right words.

Daniel wanted to hear him out, but he feared Poe might actually cry if he continued, so he stopped him.

“Let’s leave it at that. You said you haven’t told anyone about this, right, Poe?”

“Yes. I haven’t told anyone. I’ll take this secret to my grave.”

“Good. Telling me was already a dangerous thing to do. So from now on, don’t tell anyone, and try to forget about it. It would be best if you could forget Jade altogether. He seems to be a bad influence on you.”

Daniel felt guilty about leaving Poe, so he added a word of comfort.

“If you can’t forget about it despite the monastery’s penance and you have nightmares every night, come find me at the Rom Priesthood. I’ll help you.”

Poe quietly nodded.

Daniel turned and hurried down the hill he had come up earlier. The evening sun was already setting.

‘Jade, I left you at the monastery to prevent trouble, but you still managed to cause a commotion even there?’