Chapter 27
Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Franco
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jade hurriedly turned his horse's head and ended up falling off. The horse stumbled on the sandy ground, managing to regain its balance, but Jade couldn't hold on.
Franco, who had been chasing him, seized the opportunity to spur his horse forward and block the path. Jade spat out the sand that had gotten into his mouth. His saliva had dried up, making it hard even to spit.
Looking around, all he could see were tall sand dunes, large boulders carved by the sand winds, and a bit of flat ground with dry grass.
The village had long vanished from sight, and no other person's shadow was visible besides the two of them.
Franco dismounted and drew a knife from his bosom.
Jade's horse approached Franco's horse. They sniffed each other with their noses close, as if they recognized one another—likely both horses raised by Rendel.
"I heard it all, you heretic scum."
Jade had imagined countless things Franco might say or do, but he never dreamed this would be the first thing out of his mouth.
"What......?"
He couldn't even respond, not understanding what it meant.
"Prayers have form and rules. Prayers begging for salvation, prayers confessing sins, prayers invoking God's glory and seeking His will...... All prayers require utmost sincerity and must follow the forms and phrases established by the Rotican. You got every single one wrong! All of them!"
Franco's bellow continued.
"Your prayers are like a child whining to its parents for cookies, like a sinner making excuses to a judge that he's innocent. The gravest sin of all is that you taught them to others. Spreading false beliefs is a sin greater than worshiping other gods or outright disbelief."
Franco's voice was hoarse, his lips pale, dark circles under his eyes, and his eyeballs bloodshot. Jade had suffered plenty getting here, but Franco looked like he'd endured three times the hardship.
"Where did you learn such prayers and beliefs, Jade? At the seminary? From Father Danel? Or from the Boaians of Bompei? Or did you learn demonic prayers from the eastern heretics? That must be it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have killed that young girl."
When Jade remained silent, Franco pressed him.
"Why aren't you speaking?"
"If you heard the prayer, you must have come to the stable too, and since that horse was bought from Rendel, why follow us all the way into the desert?"
Jade asked.
"It's easier to handle things without witnesses."
Franco explained in an exhausted voice.
"I could only guard one of the three villages that serve as gateways to the Red Desert. I might have missed you. But you came straight to this village. Doesn't that tell you everything?"
"What does it tell me?"
"From the moment I took this job, everything has aligned too perfectly to be coincidence—even this. What else could it be? It's God's will. He's indirectly telling me my actions are right and yours are wrong."
Jade couldn't comprehend his words at all. So he cut to the chase.
"What do you want, Franco?"
"The Fourth Crusade."
"There is no such thing."
"Shut up and hand over the scripture you have."
Jade pulled the book from his bosom.
"Toss it here."
Jade did as instructed and threw the book.
It landed at Franco's feet. Without lowering his guard, Franco gripped his reins and slowly bent down to pick it up.
Jade pondered briefly. Could he escape if he bolted now?
No need for long thought. Both horses were on Franco's side, and even if he had one, Franco rode better. Plus, he held a knife, and his grip showed he knew how to use it.
"You still haven't answered."
Franco said while brushing sand off the book.
"Answered what?"
"Where you learned those prayers."
He flipped through the scripture.
Sand dust scattered like smoke in the wind with each page turn.
"You said you only attended the seminary for eight months? Why was that?"
"I was expelled."
"For what?"
"Prayer refusal."
Franco burst into laughter.
"It's just confirming I'm right more and more. A guy expelled for refusing to pray becomes a priest, kills someone and gets excommunicated! And then such a man embarks on the Holy Grail expedition by imperial order? No need to ask what tricks Father Danel pulled. Everything around you is tainted with falsehood."
Franco closed the scripture again and thrust the knife tip forward.
"So? Where'd you learn that prayer you sold for five hass?"
"I didn't learn it."
"You made it up?"
Jade nodded.
"We should create a new profession for you. Prayer maker or something. Five hass per prayer—if you teach ten a day, you'd make a fortune."
Franco laughed heartily, then suddenly grew serious and asked,
"How do I read this book?"
"If you have it in your hands, just look at it. Why ask something like that?"
Franco irritably kicked at the sand and approached Jade.
"I'm asking if it's encoded or enchanted. It was clearly an ordinary scripture when I saw it in the underground tomb. It still looks that way now. But when you killed Autis, this book shone brightly. How did you do it?"
"You weren't passed out then."
"Answer the question. What method unleashes that power? Is there a code? A special way to hold it or press the pages? Or do you sprinkle alchemical potion to reveal the text?"
Franco spun a fairly sharp deduction.
"And what power did that light wield? What force did you use to burn away Autis, with all his immense power? Tell me everything, without omission."
"By your logic, if a heretic believer like me—who sells unauthorized Rotican prayers for five hass—wields such power, it's demonic, and this is a demonic object. So why seek to know or take it? You should kill me here and burn the book."
Jade spoke calmly, but Franco didn't yield.
"The very first line of the Religious Inquisition Manual says: Do not debate doctrine with heretics, unbelievers, witches, or devils!"
'Convenient phrase.'
Jade sneered inwardly but didn't show it. He wasn't bold enough to smirk with a blade in front of him.
"I'll make the judgment. Jade, just answer my questions." Franco finally reached Jade and pressed the knife tip to his chin. The blade pricked his skin slightly.
Jade wasn't used to such threats. He tried to act unfazed, but his body wouldn't obey, and he couldn't stop his voice from trembling.
"There's no trick. If you open the book and see it as scripture, you're someone who can't read it."
Jade spoke only the truth. Franco didn't believe him.
"Interesting theory. Guess I'll have to experiment now on what kind of pain makes you tell the truth."
Franco seemed to pull the knife from his throat, then smashed the hilt end into Jade's head.
His vision flashed white for an instant, and Jade toppled backward. The sandy ground spared his skull much damage from the fall, but the impact left him unable to rise for a moment.
'Was the prayer displeasing? You wouldn't grant the one I begged for, but you make sure to collect on this.'
Jade tried to flee, crawling if need be. But his body wouldn't move as willed, leaving him flailing face-down in the red sand.
Franco grabbed his hair and lifted his head, then pressed the blade to his throat.
"First, an ear. Then I'll pull your teeth one by one, and if needed, your eyes. Truth is, I'm good at pulling teeth, but not eyes. So it'll hurt more. Might even kill you by mistake. That'd be trouble for me, losing the scripture's secret, and worse for you."
Franco threatened with practiced ease.
"Speak!"
Jade, hands pressed to the hot sand, said,
"There's no activation method. The book is made to be readable only by those who can read it from the start. The overlaid text might indeed be the wicked sorcery you imagine. Those words could have been a cookbook or diary, but since I wanted to be a priest, it became scripture. Better than carrying a blank book."
"What nonsense is that?"
Franco hurled the book in front of Jade and shouted.
"Then dispel the sorcery, you heretic! Right here, in front of me!"
Jade picked up the book and shook his head.
"It's not something I can dispel! It was always like that. I don't know the principle. I'm just repeating what I heard."
"Explain so I understand!"
"It means certain people are predetermined to read it. Maybe one in ten thousand...
"Shut up! So what? You're the chosen one?"
"It's just probability. One in ten thousand could be a great saint. Or an illiterate farmer. If that farmer holds the book, it doesn't matter if it's scripture, a magic tome, or cookbook to him. Because he can't read anyway."
Jade raised his voice, hoping he'd understand.
"Take your case, Franco. Even if you're one in ten thousand who can read it, it's useless to you. Because you've never learned the script it's written in."
"I speak the languages of five countries and read and write seven scripts."
"Doesn't matter if you know fifty. This isn't human script."
"Which country's?"
"Not a country."
"Then what?"
"Angelic script."
Franco burst into laughter again.
"You. If you're saying that to live even a little longer, it worked. I've lost the urge to kill you now. Fine. I'll take you with me. If you say the same after two days and nights of interrogation, I'll believe you."
Franco moved the knife from Jade's throat to his ear.
"But I have to take one ear. If you try to escape, you'll bleed out and die in the desert. Better not move, even if it hurts. Might slice your cheek too."
Jade gave up and stayed still.
'One ear is better than my life. Hope it doesn't hurt much.'
Then the sand beneath his hand began to writhe and move. The blade tickled his ear, but he stared at the ground and said,
"Franco? Here...
"Quiet! Haven't done this in a while; the blade might slip....... Wait, what is that?"
Something snakelike burst from the sand. Looking closer, it wasn't a snake but thick, rigid ropes.
One rope whipped across Franco's face like a lash. He dropped the knife and staggered back.
"Ugh, what the...
Other ropes erupted from the sand, wrapping Jade's waist and strangling his neck. Not just one or two. Third and fourth ropes pierced the sand and bound Franco.
From where the two horses stood, sand exploded as a monster burst from underground. This time, not ropes but a pillar with four sharp metal plow-like blades attached.
Jade's horse bolted in fright. But Franco's horse unluckily missed its chance and got caught.
As the red sand covering its body slid off downward, the monster's full form slowly revealed itself. The beast stood on two legs like a man, with an elongated horn on its head.
The head itself seemed like a horn, or the horn like a head. It was red like the Red Desert sand, camouflaging it perfectly while buried.
It stood three times a man's height, with disproportionately large hands. What Jade mistook for plows were its thick, clawed hands.
Franco's horse thrashed pitifully in the monster's huge grip but couldn't break free.
Another monster rose from the sand near Jade. Bound by its rope-like fingers, Jade and Franco were hoisted up together.
The second monster was nearly three times an adult man's height. The one holding the horse was even taller, by the height of its five-cubit horn.
"Fresh ones. But I heard there was only one. Why'd we catch two?"
The horned monster said.
The pressure of the rope around Jade's waist was so tight he couldn't breathe or speak.
Franco struggled desperately to escape the ropes but couldn't budge them.
The horse resisted fiercely, shaking the monster holding it each time. Even for such a huge creature, enduring the horse's resistance seemed tough.
"Ah, stay still."
The monster lifted the horse slightly and slammed it to the ground. Bones cracked, and the horse went limp.
The monster said in a slightly surprised voice,
"Huh? It's dead?"
Franco clutched the star cross around his neck and shouted,
"Begone, devil! In God's name, I command you—release me and return to the earth at once!"
"This one's got a funny mouth. We were going underground anyway. Can't release you, though."
The horse-holding monster sneered.
The monsters gripping Franco and Jade—one in each hand—asked the horse-holder in a grating metallic voice,
"Which one's the one we're s'posed to capture?"
The horse-holder replied in a thick voice,
"Didn't say the face, so I dunno."
"Could be both."
"Then what? Let 'em go?"
"No need to let go, obviously. If both are wanted, perfect. Eat both."
"If one's the target, eat the other. Either way, we take 'em. Quit yappin' and let's go."
The horse-holding monster burrowed into the sand. It sank in as naturally as diving into water.
"If both are wanted, great for us!"
The monster holding Jade and Franco grumbled as it burrowed into the sand.
Franco screamed the moment sand covered his face. It sounded like being sucked into hell.
Jade was just as scared but calmly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hot sand engulfed his face.
Jade clutched only the book in his bosom.
The two men and two monsters vanished from the sand without a trace.