Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Boy Decides to Become a Demon Instead of an Angel (2) Jerba's Monastery
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Jade woke to the clamor starting at dawn.
'It's cold again today. This really is a chilly place.'
This was the third winter he had spent in the monastery since arriving, and Jade had only just recovered from his third cold. Even though spring had arrived with flower buds beginning to form, the dawn air was still biting.
'Why is it so noisy already? Did I oversleep?'
Jade looked up at the narrow window less than two handspans wide. Dawn light was faintly brightening, but not enough to suggest he had violated the wake-up time. And the monks here were not the type to chatter about rising early.
An untimely visitor... Jade had a premonition that the source of this commotion was connected to him.
Jade did not hurry. He straightened his bed first and washed his face with the water he had prepared in advance. The other monks washed unflinchingly even in water with broken dawn ice, but he simply could not bring himself to do that. So he kept a basin of cold water ready at night and used it this way.
Abbot Thomas disapproved of Jade's habits. Monks were supposed to make asceticism their way of life and embrace suffering, yet here he was, mastering only tricks to avoid asceticism effectively.
The abbot was right. For the three years Jade had lived here, he had researched only how to make hard tasks easier.
Even after Jade finished washing, the noise outside persisted. Amid the voices of several people, he faintly heard his own name.
'It must be about me after all. What could it be? There are so many possibilities...'
Jade lit a candle and sat down.
The abbot always pointed out Jade's wastefulness. Knowing argument would lead nowhere, he said nothing. In any case, the abbot never confiscated the candle. Nor did he hand it over willingly.
'This is the last candle. He won't give me another even if I ask, so where do I get more?'
The shouting outside grew close enough to distinguish words.
"Hand over that Jade right now, or we'll burn this place down!"
Jade gazed at the flickering candle.
'No need to worry about candles anymore. From the looks of things, I won't have a chance to read tonight.'
Jade opened the last page of his book.
He had already memorized every passage. Not just the table of contents and chapter summaries, but exactly which words were on which page and line. There was no need to read more. He simply planned to review it once more in a few days—and he wanted to complete that plan.
A knock came from outside, followed by Abbot Thomas's voice.
"Father Jade."
"Just a moment."
Jade kept reading.
The abbot rapped on the door, urging him.
"It's urgent."
Jade set the book down and sighed.
'Half an hour later would have been nice.'
Jade opened the door and stepped out.
Abbot Thomas, over sixty this year, waited with an anxious face. He usually wore a serene expression, but it crumbled uncontrollably at the slightest danger. His face during last month's wolf sighting near the vineyard had been a sight. This was even worse.
Jade offered a reassuring smile before asking,
"Who has come?"
"The Lord of Valtion."
Jade understood the abbot's frightened look.
'A fiercer beast than the vineyard wolf.'
Abbot Thomas asked gravely,
"Do you have any idea why?"
"Not sure."
"It doesn't seem minor, Father Jade. He brought lance riders. They surrounded the area to prevent anyone from escaping before entering."
"If it's that serious..., it must be about Ricardo."
"Ricardo? You mean the young Lord of Valtion?"
The abbot's face twisted more severely.
Jade smiled and said,
"Don't worry too much, Abbot. He's probably just here to warn me to stop filling his son's head with strange stories."
Jade patted the abbot's shoulder and walked on.
'Even I don't believe my own words. This won't end with a warning.'
As the abbot said, Lord Valtion had indeed brought two lance riders, storming into the monastery refectory. Who knew how many more soldiers waited outside.
Lord Valtion knew a single sword would suffice to terrify the monks here. Yet he positioned the lance riders' massive lances behind him and seemed pleased with the menacing atmosphere he had created.
The other monks hadn't even entered the refectory, huddling beyond the door. They held baskets with bread, fruit, and cheese for breakfast but couldn't set them down inside.
It was as if an invisible barrier blocked the entrance.
Come to think of it, the morning bell hadn't rung, nor were there signs of preparing morning prayers. Lord Ricardo Valtion had disrupted the monastery's routine.
As the two entered the refectory, Valtion glared at Jade with eyes full of menace.
Jade bowed politely before the lord who ruled Jerba and five nearby villages, lost in thought. For a smooth resolution, should he show fear, or the opposite?
'I should act servile. He's famous for favoring flatterers.'
The problem was Jade didn't know how to make such a face. All he managed was an awkward smile.
Abbot Thomas sat first, and Jade followed beside him.
Across the table, with only a lone worn reed basket, Lord Valtion sat within five paces, hands clasped, glaring. He wore oiled leather gloves, chainmail under his clothes, and hadn't unbelted his sword.
'Even if every monk here took up arms, Lord Valtion wouldn't need to call the lance riders outside.'
Jade waited for the lord to speak.
"Do you know why I've come, Father Jade?"
Fortunately, the lord didn't swing a fist right away.
Jade asked calmly,
"Is it because of young Lord Ricardo Valtion?"
"Does he know what he did wrong?"
"No."
The lord narrowed his eyes.
"Didn't you just say you knew?"
"I meant I guessed why you've come. And if it's for that, I don't think it was wrong."
The lord snorted roughly. It was anger expressed as 'restraining his rage.' Abbot Thomas sensed it and fidgeted anxiously.
"Perhaps you're mistaken, Father. Let's pinpoint it. Did you tell my son strange stories?"
"I told young Lord Ricardo so many stories that I don't know which one you mean as strange. Most were just old tales anyway."
"And those old tales are all irreverent, even containing heretical ideas denying Kaitlik?"
"I didn't think so. If young Lord Ricardo reported what I said to you accurately...
"My son is already nine. Not too young to relay a fairy tale properly!"
The lord turned his furrowed face to the abbot.
"Father Jade here corrupted my son's pure faith as a devout Kaitlik believer with all sorts of filthy stories and injected him with strange ideas. You can't say the abbot bears no responsibility for harboring such a man."
Abbot Thomas was fearless in doctrinal debates and ruthless collecting tithes from poor fishermen, but he grew infinitely timid against someone like Lord Valtion who pushed with force.
"My lord, please calm down and listen. First, Brother Jade isn't even part of my order, nor a novice under me, so he's not my responsibility."
The abbot coughed deliberately to show his physical frailty before continuing.
"Above all, I have no idea what wrong Father Jade committed or how. I've been trying to hear since earlier, but you haven't explained, leaving me utterly frustrated. Please, just tell me a bit about this story...
"Tell us about the holy bridge built by Saint Antones, Father Jade!"
Lord Valtion shouted, cutting off the abbot.
'As expected.'
Jade nodded and said,
"You're talking about the Devil's Bridge, I suppose. I told the facts as they are."
Valtion clenched his clasped hands tightly then released.
"Tell us that absurd tale you believe to be the facts, Father."
It was the legend of the bridge in a deep valley east of Jerba.
During construction, the harsh terrain stalled progress, so laborers grumbled, 'To build a bridge here, we'll need the devil's power.' Then a real devil appeared.
The devil proposed, 'I'll build the bridge in three days. In return, I claim the soul of the first to cross it.'
The laborers agreed. The devil built it in three days as promised.
Once complete, they panicked and slyly sent a goat instead of a person. The devil had to take the goat's soul.
Enraged, the devil returned to destroy the bridge. Then a monk named Antones appeared, subdued the devil, and had a monastery built there instead. The devil built it unwillingly but, out of pride, slyly oriented it north.
That was this monastery. People called Jerba's bridge the Devil's Bridge or Saint Antones Bridge, and the monastery Jerba Monastery or Saint Antones Monastery.
Jade considered telling the full story but stopped. Anyone in Jerba had heard it hundreds of times; no need to recount it to these two.
He gave the lord only the conclusion.
"I told him Jerba's bridge is a structure built by humans, not the devil."
Abbot Thomas let out a faint sigh, drowned by Valtion's rough snorts.
"You're denying the tale every person in Jerba knows?"
"If Ricardo were an ordinary boy, I would have said the same. But he's not just any boy—he's the young Lord of Valtion. I thought he needed to know how many laborers were mobilized, how many died due to the harsh mountains, and how much time and money it took."
"That's not for you to decide and teach. The only one to teach Ricardo is me, and if you can teach anything, it's only God's words in scripture and Kaitlik doctrine."
"Yes, you're right. I overstepped."
As Jade apologized, Valtion softened slightly.
"And Saint Antones Bridge was built by the devil—no one died building it!"
Valtion shouted.
Jade shook his head.
"According to the construction annals kept here, Jerba's bridge was built 250 years ago under Mayor Hetior of Jerba, before Monk Antones was even born. It wasn't built in three days, and construction began after this monastery was already underway. It faces north because winds from the south are so fierce, intentionally...
Jade stopped explaining. Valtion's face was contorted in fury, and Abbot Thomas gripped his shoulder.
"Enough, Father Jade."
"I'm sorry."
As Jade began a long apology in regret, Valtion interrupted,
"Then what about the wingless angel story?"
"Angel story?"
Abbot Thomas tilted his head.
"You know, the one where some dwarf bets and captures an angel. I've never heard such outrageous, irreverent, pagan nonsense!"
Valtion shouted.
Jade smiled awkwardly.
"Is it that evil a story? I thought it was just a fun fairy tale."
"Fun fairy tale? An angel mobilizing an army to catch one kid and betting with a dwarf? Blasphemy!"
The door opened, and one of Valtion's soldiers entered.
Valtion paused and turned to him. The soldier approached behind the lord and whispered.
'If what that soldier's whispering is about my past, there's nothing more to see.'
As the whispering man stepped back, the lord looked at Jade with a hardened face. He seemed oddly calmed.
"Now I understand everything, Jade."
He no longer used the title Father.
"You're no priest. Three years ago, you were excommunicated for murder and hid here instead of prison. Anything to say?"
"Nothing, my lord."
"They say you murdered a girl of only fourteen in broad daylight on the street. True?"
Precisely thirteen, but he didn't correct it.
"True."
Valtion's gaze turned to the abbot.
"You hid such a sinner in your monastery, Abbot Thomas?"
"We didn't hide him. Above all, it wasn't judged a murder...
"I don't want to hear it! I donated vast expedition costs and troops to this monastery during the Holy Land Recovery War and devoted my life to the Jerba parish. Is this the repayment—letting my son meet an excommunicated priest filled with pagan ideas?"
The abbot defended desperately.
"I know. How could I not know your achievements, my lord? But this was Father Jade's personal action, not something I ordered or our monastery's policy. I don't even know what the angel story is. Please, quell your anger."
The lord stood. His belted sword clanged against the table, and the abbot shrank like a turtle.
"There's one way to quell it. Through proper procedure, hand him over from this monastery. I can't commit murder here!"
'He sounds like he'll behead me in broad daylight on the street.'
Jade looked bitterly at the hesitant Abbot Thomas and said,
"I'll just go with you, my lord."
The lord nodded as if expecting it.
"You lack faith but have conscience, it seems. Then I'll grant minimal mercy: a chance at religious trial."
Jade regretted it.
'Better to just be beheaded?'
As far as Jade knew, Jerba had never held a religious trial. It was that peaceful religiously—and showed how furious Lord Valtion was now.
Jade knew religious trials well from experience and theory.
The accused endured endless torture under interrogation for weeks or months until 'confessing.' He'd heard of sinners dying under torture but never of acquittal after.
Usually, after confession, the sinner marched ahead of the judge reading it aloud to the village street or city square, ending at a stake piled with firewood.
While the verdict was solemnly read, the sinner was bound, and burning executed. As they screamed in flames, onlookers were gripped by fear, clinging to doctrine, or swept in religious ecstasy.
To Jade, the executors seemed to taste intense spiritual exaltation. Perhaps Lord Valtion craved that too.
"Then let me pack briefly."
"Pack?"
His look said, 'Why would a wretch like you need belongings?'
"Just one book, please."
"The only things you may carry are the Kaitlik star cross or scripture."
"Scripture."
Valtion glared suspiciously for a long time before saying,
"Don't think of running."
"I can't run."
Jade returned straight to his room.
He heard footsteps following and turned to see 'Poy.' The seventeen-year-old, six years Jade's junior, was the only novice friendly to him amid the sneers and fear here.
Poy looked about to cry.
"R-religious trial? D-did I hear right, Father Jade?"
"My mistake seems bigger than I thought."
As Jade entered, Poy followed.
"That can't be. I was there while you told the angel and Devil's Bridge stories."
Poy sniffled and wiped with his sleeve.
"The kids' joy and village women's smiles made even me happy watching. You taught me new faith beyond fasting, mortification, rote doctrine, and prayer alone. And now this? I'll testify. I'll prove your innocence."
Poy spoke resolutely, as if staking his life.
"No. You'd be in danger too."
"I don't care!"
"Don't. Do something else instead."
"Anything."
"Please deliver a letter to Father Danel of the Rom Priest Council. You know him?"
"I know the name. What message?"
Jade picked up the book on the table.
Poy watched intently.
"'Jade is to face religious trial.' That's it. No more sentences. It could turn back on you. It must seem just a brief fact."
"Understood."
Poy nodded, then asked,
"You talk like someone will rip open the letter."
"It's possible."
"One question?"
Poy asked with the tone of this being the last chance.
"Anything."
"That scripture."
Poy nodded at the book in Jade's hand.
"What's with it?"
"I've wanted to ask. What paper and ink let it stay intact even when wet?"
Jade was surprised.
"How did you know?"
"I saw young Lord Ricardo drop it in water by accident. He cried apologizing. But you dried it in the sun casually and carried it. Curious, I glanced—paper stiff and smooth. First time seeing such thin, sleek paper. So small too."
Jade held up the scripture, barely a handspan.
"I inherited it, so I don't know where it's from. Maybe fairies made it."
Jade bluffed, and Poy nodded perfunctorily, not fully believing.
"Farewell. Without you, monastery life would have been much harder."
"We'll meet again, right?"
"Not sure. Probably no chance."
Jade spoke honestly and left the room.
A lance rider already waited at the door.
'He thought I'd run.'
Jade had expected it and wasn't surprised, but Poy froze in shock.
"This is all I'm taking."
Jade showed the scripture to the lance rider.
The rider nodded curtly.
"Follow this way."
As Jade followed, he signaled Poy once more with his eyes. Poy nodded slowly several times.