East Road Quest

Chapter 7: Pompeii’s Tomb

They should have realized they were heading towards Pompeii from the pier. However, Jade had been lost in thought and only noticed they were approaching Pompeii when the path became visible.

It was now too late to tell Daniel that he didn’t want to come here.

“Weren’t we going straight to Rome?” Jade asked indirectly.

“We have a place to stop by. But since it’s late, let’s go tomorrow. We can stay at the Zuphea Cathedral here,” Daniel replied.

Although it had been three years since he last visited, the city felt as familiar as if he had been there just a week ago. He quickly remembered that it would take about half an hour to reach Zuphea Cathedral if they rode their horses slowly. However, as soon as they entered Pompeii, Daniel dismounted.

Jade, still on his horse, asked, “Why?”

Daniel took the reins and walked towards a wine shop.

“We need to have a glass of wine. Coming to Pompeii and not drinking Pompeian wine is like going to the Port of Hasta and not eating crab.”

“I’d rather go straight to Zuphea Cathedral. You can drink alone,” Jade replied.

“You’re still officially exiled from Pompeii and should be locked up in the Zerba Monastery. Where do you think you can go alone without me?”

Daniel spoke teasingly and handed his reins to the wine shop clerk. The clerk naturally extended his hand to Jade as well. Reluctantly, Jade dismounted and handed over his reins.

Typically, wine shops are divided into places that sell bottled wine, places that fill customers’ bottles, and places that have bars where you can drink by the glass. This shop did all three. Despite it being past 10 PM, the shop was full of customers.

The fruit store across the road, where carriages and horses passed, was closed. Jade remembered buying foreign peaches from that store.

‘If the store were open, I would have bought one now. Ah, maybe it’s out of season? Who knows, in another country, there might be fruit even in spring.’

Jade sat down, immersed in his few pleasant memories from the past.

The wine and snacks Daniel whimsically ordered were placed in front of him. The snacks were bread and cheese, neatly cut on a brown earthen plate, reminding him that they were close to Rome. Even in Zerba, bread or cheese were not served on plates but just laid out on the table.

Daniel tore the bread with his hands and chatted idly with the wine shop owner.

“The Pompeii mayor hasn’t been elected yet, has he?”

“He has. Mayor Garus from last time was re-elected.”

“Really? I saw election posters of both Garus and Vibius on the walls as I came in.”

“That’s because Mayor Garus was so proud of defeating Vibius that he had them painted. Honestly, I thought Vibius would be the mayor this time. Last month, the bread and cheese he distributed in Pompeii were rolling around the streets like horse dung.”

The shop owner giggled, and Daniel responded with a hearty laugh. As Jade listened to their conversation, he noticed an engraved warning on the stone bar.

‘Shop Rules:

Do not harass other customers.
Do not seduce other customers’ wives.
Do not vomit inside the shop.’

Next to the warning, someone had scratched a note with a nail.

‘There were maggots in the bread here.’

The shop owner couldn’t have neglected this, so it was probably a recent graffiti.

Unperturbed, Jade ate the bread. Finding a couple of maggots in the bread was common in the monastery.

Suddenly, Jade felt someone staring at him and turned around. A young black man, clutching a hard salt bread to his chest, was looking at Jade with surprised eyes.

Jade recognized him too. He was a slave owned by Leopold Browne, the lord of Pompeii.

If one traced Pompeii’s history back two hundred years, the land was originally inhabited by black-skinned people called the Boai. Later, it was conquered by the Roman Empire and became what is now known as Pompeii. Since then, the Boai had become the slave class in Pompeii.

When the Boai youth met Jade’s eyes, he hurriedly lowered his head and continued on his way. Jade quietly warned Daniel, who was still busy chatting with the tavern owner.

“Someone recognized me.”

“Oh, who?”

“I don’t know his name. He’s a slave of Lord Browne.”

“If he’s still a slave after three years, he must be very loyal to his master. That’s not good for you.”

“It’s not necessarily bad for me either.”

“You could die.”

“That’s right. I’d be fine dying here.”

“Look at you.”

“I thought about it a lot in the monastery. I wondered if it was right to hide like this after committing murder.”

“You weren’t hiding; you were being protected. Officially, you were excommunicated for unauthorized use of the church’s authority, not for murder.”

“That’s not for us to decide.”

“Then who decides?”

“The person most hurt by it.”

“Are you talking about Lord Browne? If every victim’s father could punish the suspect directly, the world would be full of unjust justice.”

“I’m not talking about justice.”

“Kid, you’ve been thinking too much for the past three years. I shouldn’t have suggested drinking wine. Drinking at night only makes you think more. Let’s go.”

Daniel placed a silver coin on the bar and stood up. But Jade had already risen and walked into the darkness.

“Wait, Jade! We need to go together.”

Daniel hurried to retrieve their horses. While the clerk slowly brought out the horses, he lost sight of where Jade had gone. However, he could roughly guess.

Jade had gone to the cemetery. It was not the public cemetery of Pompeii but a private burial ground for nobles like the Browne family.

Jade easily found Mitchel Browne’s tombstone.

“Who goes there? Visiting a grave at this hour… Oh?”

The caretaker, holding a torch, approached and, recognizing Jade’s face, was startled.

“You, you are…?”

He stepped back a few paces before sprinting away into the darkness.

Jade let him go. It was better this way.

The Boai slave could only tell his master he saw Jade at the wine shop, but the caretaker would inform Lord Browne of his exact location.

Until quite recently, the people of Pompeii preferred cremation over burial. Then, after Lothican declared cremation a pagan practice, burial became the norm.

However, many still believed that one could only ascend to heaven through cremation, so a mix of cremating ashes and burying them was practiced.

Jade wondered if the boy’s ashes were buried here or if it was just an empty grave with a headstone. After ‘that incident,’ Jade had not been in his right mind and had no idea how things had progressed.

“This is an empty grave. There’s only a headstone.”

Daniel, standing beside him, seemed to read Jade’s thoughts.

“Let’s go. If Lord Browne sees you here, he’ll tear up the emperor’s pardon and take you away.”

“Does he need to take me away? If Lord Browne beheaded me right here, Mayor Garus wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

The mayor was elected by the citizens and had the authority to govern the city, but for large constructions or significant matters, he needed the lord’s permission.

If a mayor served the city well, he could be recommended by the lord to become a noble, so mayors had to stay in the lords’ good graces.

It was the same way the Roman Empire dealt with other regions under its control.

“You speak as if you came here hoping for that.”

“Half of me does.”

“And the other half?”

“I’ve wondered if I had any other choice back then. I’ve thought about it for three years, but there wasn’t. So I came here hoping to recall something by visiting the grave.”

“Did you remember anything?”

“Not yet.”

“You never will, because you made the best choice at the time.”

Daniel nervously looked around and asked, “Are you really not leaving?”

Jade remained still.

Soon, a group carrying torches and spears approached the grave. Lord Browne led them. The atmosphere was as if they were hunting a lion just freed from its cage.

Daniel stepped back a little, but Jade did not move from his spot. Lord Browne extended his hand, halting the soldiers, and approached Jade alone.

As far as Jade remembered, Browne was not yet fifty. However, the man illuminated by the torchlight looked as though he had aged thirty years in the past three. It seemed he had come straight from bed, dressed in his nightclothes with only military boots on.

With bloodshot eyes, Browne glared at Jade. Despite the lord’s command to stay back, the soldiers slowly edged closer, stopping about ten steps away from Jade.

Five Boai slaves, five soldiers with spears, ten people in total.

‘There must be about three times as many soldiers surrounding the grave.’

Browne spoke, “What right do you have to come here?”

His voice lacked any strength, so much so that the sound of insects around the grave was louder. Seeing him like that, Jade felt pity.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t need your apologies!”

As Browne stepped closer, one of the soldiers said, “Lord, don’t approach him. He knows the devil’s magic.”

“Silence!”

Browne raised his hand to keep them at bay. He then glared at Father Daniel.

“Step back too, Father Daniel. Don’t think of protecting this man this time. Even if it means a bloodbath in Pompeii for killing a renowned Roman priest, I will cut your throat if you interfere.”

“I understand.”

Daniel stepped back without resistance, disappearing into the darkness like he had melted away.

Now, only Jade and Browne stood in front of Mitchel’s grave.

“I want the truth, Jade.”

Jade met the eyes of the aged lord without flinching.

“You won’t believe it. You might not even be able to handle it.”

“For the past three years, I’ve hated you. But the more I did, the more my heart was torn apart. If you had been a bloodthirsty killer or truly a demon, I wouldn’t feel this way. I don’t know how to accept this chaos. Neither do I nor my wife!”

Browne grabbed Jade’s collar with both hands. There was no force in it. It seemed more like a cry or plea.

“I need to know the truth. I need to know exactly how my daughter died! Please, tell me.”

Jade looked up at the night sky and spoke.

“This may put you in danger, my lord.”

“Danger? What danger? Do you mean I could die? That doesn’t scare me. The only thing I fear is that my daughter might be burning in the fires of hell!”

“Mitchel is dead.”

“I know! Tell me how she died, how you killed her.”

“Mitchel did not die the way you think. In fact, it was quite ordinary, perhaps even without suffering.”

Jade spoke slowly.

“When I met Mitchel, she was already dead.”

Browne gasped.

“Tell me… in detail.”

“Yes.”

Jade poured out the truth that Browne had wanted to know for the past three years.

The old lord seemed to barely breathe as he listened.