East Road Quest

Chapter 5: The Book

“The door isn’t even locked. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Jade opened the large iron door and entered the fortress.

It was nighttime, but neither torches nor oil lamps were lit, making the corridor extremely dark. However, having grown accustomed to darkness through his time in prison and the monastery, Jade stepped forward without hesitation.

Daniel soon followed behind.

Apart from the faint rustling sound made by their cloth shoes, no other noise could be heard.

Throughout their journey to this point, not a single guard had attempted to stop Jade. He pushed the heavy wooden door leading to the lord’s conference room with all his might.

The large conference room, which had been clean and dignified when Father Daniel met Baltian just moments ago, was now in complete disarray.

The banners that should have been hanging on the walls were torn and strewn across the floor, the guards lay collapsed on the ground, and only broken fragments of tables and chairs remained.

Lord Baltian was kneeling, his neck gripped by an old woman’s hand.

Though her arm looked frail enough that she couldn’t lift even a single sword, Baltian couldn’t resist at all.

Baltian’s wife, Anna, was hanging on the wall with her arms spread out like a cross, as if bound by invisible ropes. Her face was deathly pale, and she struggled to scream but couldn’t produce a sound.

Ricardo, Baltian’s son and young lord, sat immobile in a chair.

Though nothing seemed to be holding him, he couldn’t move. If not for the fact that his eyes were open, he would have appeared unconscious.

When Jade opened the door and entered, all four of them turned their gazes towards him simultaneously. Ignoring them, Jade began checking the fallen soldiers on the floor.

Feeling for their pulses, he found they were still alive.

“It seems you didn’t intend to kill them.”

At Jade’s words, the old woman released her grip on Baltian’s neck. The once imposing Lord of Jerba looked utterly diminished in front of this decrepit old woman.

“This poor, powerless old woman plans to abandon her useless body and take over the flesh of Lord Baltian. Then I will become a strong and mighty lord, ruling over Jerba for decades to come. These soldiers will soon serve me, the great lord, so I can’t kill them. In times like these, soldiers who work well for low pay, like those of Jerba, are hard to find.”

The old woman spoke.

Baltian tried to crawl away, but the old woman kicked him in the buttocks, causing him to fall forward and hit his nose.

Bleeding from his nose, Baltian crawled towards Jade.

“Pl-Please help me.”

Jade, still looking at the immobilized Ricardo, asked.

“What did you do to Ricardo?”

“I was still deciding. Should I take Baltian’s body or Ricardo’s? If Ricardo were at least fifteen, I would have chosen the younger one without hesitation. But now… he’s too young.”

“If you had the power to take over a human’s body, couldn’t you have done it long ago? Why now?”

“If Baltian had just listened to me, it wouldn’t have come to this. But he didn’t. He ignored the precious advice of his subjects right beside him and obediently followed the orders of the Emperor of the Rom Empire, hundreds of miles away! So I decided to kill him myself and take his strong body!”

Jade walked towards the old woman, speaking as he did.

“Sometimes I can’t understand ‘you people.’ If you wanted to kill me, you could have done it back in the prison. Why go through all this trouble? It must be because such actions cause innocent people to suffer. Killing me alone isn’t a big deal, but destroying a family is a huge tragedy.”

The old woman raised a finger.

“I didn’t fail to try. My brother went to kill you but couldn’t. Until now, I didn’t realize it, but seeing you earlier

“Scripture? Just with that?”

The old woman spoke, as if in disbelief.

“I’ve killed more than ten Catholic priests, all of whom carried scriptures, but they were useless. Even priests with relics from Rotican and monks called saints couldn’t put up any resistance.”

Jade approached, ignoring the old woman’s words. She raised one hand, and a beast’s claw, which hadn’t been visible before, grew long from her hand.

“I was wondering if you were a high-ranking demon with a name. But you revealed yourself. You said Duor is your brother. If you were a high-ranking demon, you would have said Duor is your subordinate.”

“Why does that matter?”

“It means you have no name. In other words, there’s no need to think hard or put much effort into killing you.”

Jade opened the book with one hand. The book’s pages turned by themselves until they stopped in the middle. At that moment, Jade grabbed the old woman’s face. There was a sizzling sound, as if touching hot metal, and white steam rose from her face.

The old woman screamed and clawed at Jade’s forearm, but instead, her nails shattered.

Jade spoke to the old woman in a voice filled with anger.

“This is my answer to your earlier confession. Be annihilated!”

White flames began from the old woman’s face, burning her skin, then moved down her neck, chest, and arms. The same flames arose from the bones where the skin was burnt away, consuming her skull and neck bones.

While the skin burned, her clothes remained unscathed and fell from her body. The flames continued, burning her spine, pelvis, thigh bones, and shin bones.

In an instant, only a handful of gray ash and her old clothes remained.

Jade closed the book. Nothing was in the hand that had grabbed the old woman’s face. He clenched and unclenched his hand. The tips of his fingers trembled.

Looking toward the wall, he saw Father Daniel carefully laying Anna on the floor.

“I’ll take care of her.”

Jade gave a slight nod to Daniel and then approached Ricardo.

“Are you okay, young lord?”

Ricardo still sat in the chair, watching everything that had happened.

Jade knelt on one knee and brushed the cold sweat from the boy’s forehead. Ricardo mumbled something with trembling lips, then suddenly stood up from the chair and hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry, Father. I opposed it. I desperately opposed it. I said over and over that Father Jade wasn’t that kind of person. But the more I did, the more your sins seemed to increase. And I was also branded a wicked child who received heretical teachings. I was scared and couldn’t defend you any longer.”

“Ricardo…”

“I’m a bad child. Please punish me. Even now, I was so scared of that old woman that I couldn’t move from this spot. I couldn’t stop her from casting magic on my mother, I did nothing. I’m a coward. Please punish me.”

Jade patted the boy’s back and then gently pulled him away. Having been too scared to cry until now, the boy began to weep with relief.

Jade wiped the boy’s tears and said,

“You don’t deserve punishment. Because everyone would be scared in a situation like this. True courage comes after experiencing something really frightening. Now you have a chance to show your courage.”

“A chance?”

“Go take care of your mother. Being able to worry about your mother even when you’re so scared is true courage.”

Ricardo nodded firmly and ran to Anna.

Jade looked at the fallen Lord Baltian. He was panting with fear in his eyes. Jade said nothing and stood up.

Ricardo sat next to Anna, who Daniel had laid down. Daniel let the boy hold his mother’s hand and said,

“Your mother will be fine. She’ll wake up in about an hour, so stay with her until then.”

Ricardo nodded. Daniel smiled, patted the boy’s head, and stood up.

After confirming that Daniel had risen, Jade slowly returned to the entrance.

Baltian called out to him, “Did I just witness the power of a demon, or the power of an angel?”

Jade paused for a moment and replied, “You saw nothing.”

Without stopping, he exited the castle.

As he left the castle, Jade alternately massaged his hands. They still felt numb and trembled from burning the old woman.

“Is there an aftereffect? Haven’t you gotten used to it?” Daniel, who had followed him, asked.

“It seems to be getting worse rather than better. Honestly, it hurt so much that I wanted to scream as loudly as that thing did.”

“This is serious. If you experience such pain dealing with a low-level demon, what will you do against a stronger one? And why did you approach so directly? Watching from behind, I felt dizzy with fear.”

Daniel spoke in a reprimanding tone.

“I can only use direct contact methods. And…”

Jade shrugged his shoulders and continued, “I’m not fit to handle this anyway. To me, the old woman’s death looked like that of an ordinary old lady, not the annihilation of a demon.”

“That wasn’t a human.”

“I know. But it still looked that way.”

Jade passed through the castle gate, which was unguarded.

He handed the book to Daniel. “I’ll return this book to you now.”

“Leaving the priesthood is your choice, but I can’t take back the book. Keep it.”

“Why?”

“You have work to do with that book.”

Jade closed his mouth. Daniel also walked in silence.

Instead of heading to the village, the two walked towards the river. There, an old boatman was waiting.

“It wouldn’t be good for the boatman to see your face,” Daniel said.

Jade pulled his hood down low, hiding his face.

The boatman stood up as he noticed Daniel approaching.

“You waited for us.”

Daniel greeted him warmly.

“I was having second thoughts,” the boatman replied, glancing anxiously over Daniel and Jade’s shoulders. “In a world where people use tricks for even the simplest transactions, I wondered if there was really someone foolish enough to pay in advance for the next trip. I even thought about running away.”

“But you didn’t leave?”

“Would I leave after getting 5 hass and never be able to do business here again? I might get an extra 2 hass…”

The boatman subtly reminded them of the additional fee.

“You kept your promise, so I should keep mine.”

Daniel paid the silver coins and boarded the boat. Jade followed him.

The boatman seemed to make an effort not to show interest in Jade, whose face was hidden.

The boat cut through the darkness, crossing the river. Neither of them spoke during the ride. Only after they disembarked and sent the boatman away did Jade speak.

“Arranging a boatman for a night like this, what were you worried about?”

“I thought there might be pursuers. They could be waiting at the port where the big ships dock, or on the main road where I first came here. Or we might just happen to run into them on the way. So, I chose a different route.”

“Did you bring bad news?”

“Bad news? That depends on one’s perspective.”

“What kind of perspective?”

“For some, it will be a holy destiny; for others, a risky but profitable business; and for yet others, an annoying errand that has to be done.”

“So, you didn’t come to save me but to hand over that annoying errand to me?”

“That’s not it. I came to save you and assign you the task. It just so happens that the Emperor made a request.”

“I can’t trust anything when Father Daniel says ‘just so happens’ or ‘coincidentally.'”

Jade had a feeling that it might be better to throw the book he carried into the river right now. Or maybe it would be better to go back to the monastery of Saint Anthony or return to the lord’s prison. But the boat had already left, and Jade couldn’t overcome his curiosity.

“What kind of errand is it?”

Daniel replied, “It’s about going to find the Holy Grail.”

Jade let out a deep sigh.

“I guess I shouldn’t have asked.”