Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Saf's Misfortune
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Postrum Village was all red. Roofs, walls, pillars—everything.
There were no signs of life anywhere.
Saf led her horse down the central road of Postrum. The occasional passersby stared curiously at her appearance and her mount.
*I've really made it all the way to Postrum Village.*
More than a sense of accomplishment or excitement, fear weighed on Saf.
*Next up is the Red Desert. Is it really okay to head into the desert like this, with no preparation at all?*
She had been scared even before arriving, but now that the space filled with red sand loomed right before her eyes, her confidence plummeted even further.
At the edge of the village stood a cathedral. Instinctively, Saf guided her horse toward it.
It was an old cathedral with a star cross hanging precariously, as if it might shatter at any moment. Saf dismounted and pushed open the cathedral door. The hinges must have been broken, as it creaked loudly and barely opened.
The floor was covered in sand and dust, as if it hadn't been cleaned in months. Almost no chairs remained intact.
Saf knelt before the statue of the saintess. As she prayed silently for a moment, footsteps echoed from behind.
Through the door Saf had struggled to open, an old woman shuffled in slowly. She was short and slight in build, but Saf stood warily.
"Is someone inside?"
The old woman asked even from fifteen paces away.
"Yes. I'm here."
Saf replied.
"My eyes aren't what they used to be... May I come closer?"
"I'll come to you."
Saf walked toward the old woman. The old woman took a few steps forward as well. She moved like a blind person, groping along broken chairs and pillars with her hands.
"You didn't even tie up the horse outside. Is that alright?"
"Should I have? She's a gentle girl, so I didn't think she'd run off."
"From the look of the saddle and reins, it seems like a warhorse... Ah, my husband was a horse trader, so even with my poor eyesight, I can tell right away."
Only when she was two paces from Saf did the old woman recognize her.
"Oh my, I didn't realize you were such a young lady."
Seeing the white film and pus in her eyes, Saf asked,
"Grandma, do your eyes... not see well?"
"That's right. So, could you guide me to the saintess statue? There's something I really want to pray for today."
Saf placed the old woman's hand on her forearm and walked slowly ahead.
"Why didn't you come with your husband?"
"He was exhausted from some hard work yesterday and is sleeping soundly now. When he was young, he could ride for four days and nights and still head out the next day, but at his age, half a day in the desert wears him out. But what brings such a young woman to this remote village?"
"I'm going to the Red Desert."
"Alone?"
The old woman asked in surprise.
"Have you been there before?"
"No. It's my first time. I've only heard stories about deserts."
"Good heavens, you're going into a desert for the first time, all by yourself? What big thing could make you attempt something so dangerous?"
"I have a priest who's like a father to me. He always told me that if something bad happens to him, I should go to another priest. That other priest is someone I trust like a big brother. But he's gone to the Red Desert now."
"So that young priest told you to come find him in the Red Desert alone?"
"Not exactly. It might just be my own delusion."
The old woman sat, supported by Saf, on the chair closest to the saintess statue.
"Maybe it's my age, but I can't quite follow if you tell it so briefly."
"I'm sorry. It's just that the full story is so long."
"If it's alright with you, I'd love to hear the details. I might even be able to help... Even with my bad eyes, I've lived my whole life near the desert, so I know all sorts of stories. But if it's a secret, you don't have to say. A young lady traveling alone must have her reasons."
Saf sat beside the old woman.
"It's a secret, but I'm worried that telling you might put you in danger. I'm scared that staying by my side might spread my misfortune to you."
"What do you mean by misfortune spreading?"
As Saf hesitated to answer, the old woman urged her on.
"At my age, with these eyes, how much more unfortunate could I get? Tell me."
Saf began her tale.
"I come from the convent in Rom."
"Were you a nun?"
The old woman was surprised again.
"No. Precisely, I was a student training to become a nun."
"From what I know, nuns rarely go outside."
"That's not always true, but it was for me. I've lived there my whole life, so I didn't even know the roads out of Rom, let alone Postrum Village."
"Then how did you get here?"
"With help from a boy named Marty..."
Saf had been suffocating under the weight of her misfortunes and pains over the past few days. Without calculating what to hide or what was safe to reveal, she poured it all out.
Some beggars Saf met in Rom helped Marty rent a wagon heading to Postrum. The wagon owner took her aboard for a single silver coin.
Saf exchanged brief goodbyes with Marty and left Rom.
Aside from the gate guards eyeing her suspiciously as she passed through, nothing happened. Up to that point, Saf thought she could reach Postrum easily.
The wagon owner, named 'Cisco,' would sometimes giggle when looking at Saf.
*Why do you laugh every time you look at me?*
*I'm just the type who laughs for no reason.*
It was a bit scary, but he didn't do anything particularly suspicious.
Cisco explained the route to Postrum and the time it would take, assuring her that in all his years doing this, he'd never encountered any danger. But not even half a day after leaving the city, they ran into bandits.
The bandits dragged Cisco and Saf out immediately. Then, as if on cue, Rom's guards appeared.
While the sudden fight broke out,
Saf hid under the wagon. The clash of weapons and screams continued for a long time.
Once the noises stopped, Saf cautiously emerged.
The wagon owner, the bandits, and Rom's guards—all were dead. Terrified, Saf still checked around for any survivors. One man lay beside the wagon, alive with a sword wound in his stomach.
Saf pulled out the sword and enveloped the wound in healing light. First, he looked at her with surprise, then with fear.
*I'm a Rom guard sent to capture you.*
Apparently, the gate guards had been ordered to detain any cleric trying to leave Rom. Of course, Saf looked like the wagon owner's wife or daughter in her shabby clothes and hadn't acted suspiciously as a cleric. But one soldier had seen her blue hair, and he happened to know the rumor of a blue-haired nun at Athena Convent. So a few had followed to confirm, only to run into the bandits.
Because of Saf alone, the guards, wagon owner, and bandits had all died.
As Saf finished healing and tried to stand, the soldier she had treated held a knife to her throat.
*Are you a saintess or a witch?*
*If I'm the one who brought all this misfortune, maybe I'm a witch.*
The soldier pondered for a long time with the knife at her throat, then just left.
*I won't report this to my superiors. I don't want to be the one who let a witch escape or the one who killed a saintess. So keep your mouth shut about this too.*
Left alone, Saf had no idea where to go. She had no choice but to continue along the road.
It was strange. Saf thought she would tire quickly. But surprisingly, after walking all day, she wasn't that exhausted.
In the evening, she spotted a farmhouse. Hoping for water, she approached. But she heard a woman's scream. Following the sound to a small shed-like building, she found a woman lying on the floor.
She was in labor!
In her haste, Saf helped deliver the baby. She had seen Dean Julia do it occasionally, but this was her first time. Still, Saf managed to deliver the child.
The reason the woman had gone into labor alone in the shed was that her husband had been injured trying to avoid a horse charging into his field. That horse was one from Rom's guards that had fled all the way here.
The husband had gone to the village chief's house far away to treat his sprained leg. In the meantime, while trying to stable the horse her husband had caught, the woman had fallen due to its bucking. The shock had triggered her sudden labor...
That evening, her husband returned.
Saf confessed in self-reproach.
*That horse came here because of me.*
Saf expected to be chased away immediately, but instead, the couple offered her a meal and a place to sleep.
The woman holding her newborn shed tears.
*We'd tried for ten years to have a child.*
The next day, they gave her the horse. It was too wild for farm work, being a military mount.
Saf, who doubted she could walk to Postrum, thought she shouldn't accept but did anyway.
"So, you rode Rom's warhorse straight here to this village?"
"Yes, that's right."
Saf said gloomily.
"Your name's Saf? What a strange story from such a girl."
"Strange how?"
"Of course it's strange! Anyone would think so."
"Is that so?"
The old woman shook her head.
"But from this, I still don't quite get why you're going to the Red Desert."
"I've lived hearing many stories from the priest who's like a father to me since I was little. One was about an angel trapped beneath a heretic temple in the Red Desert. He told me to follow the priest I see as a brother if something happened to him, and if something happened to that one too, to find that angel right away."
Even as she said it, Saf sounded foolish to herself.
"Lately, bad things have happened. He won't know I'm following, so he won't wait and has probably already headed to the heretic temple. If he heard the same story, he'd take the same route."
Saf wanted to cry again. But as always, no tears came.
"So, knowing it's dangerous, knowing our paths might not cross, not even sure if he really went to the temple, that's why I set out like this. I know exactly how reckless I am..."
"By any chance, is the brother-like priest you mentioned named Jade?"
The old woman said, and Saf stopped. She reflected if she'd ever once slipped up and mentioned his name.
"How did you know?"
The old woman gaped for a moment, then spoke.
"Good heavens. Too convincing to be a lie, too unbelievable to be true. I have a story for you too."
The old woman took Saf's hand. Saf listened, gripping the wrinkled hand tightly.
It started from a young man coming to buy a horse, praying, and leaving—but his riderless horse with saddlebags returned, so her husband Rendle went looking, met him again, and heard the name Jade then.
"Did Priest Jade say he was going to find the angel?"
Saf asked.
"That's what my husband said."
"That was last night? Then we're only a day apart. I can catch up if I go now! I have to hurry."
For the first time since starting her journey, Saf felt hope.
"Why not wait for my husband to wake and go together?"
"No. Being with me spreads misfortune."
"You keep saying strange things—why call it misfortune? The bandits, I can't say, but that farm couple got a child because of you..."
"If I hadn't been there, the bandits and guards wouldn't have clashed, and without that, the warhorse wouldn't have charged into the farm."
"You make it sound that way, so I have nothing to say... Then, do you know the way to the temple?"
"No."
The old woman rummaged in her clothes and magically produced a worn parchment.
"Here's a desert map. Folks in our village carry it like a talisman."
"I can't take such a precious thing."
"Take it."
The old woman pressed the parchment scrap into Saf's hand and smiled with pus-dripping eyes.
"Since Priest Jade came, I want to live longer. To do more meaningful things, and such a chance comes so soon—I'm grateful."
The old woman gripped Saf's hand tightly and continued.
"I wanted to pray to the saintess today, but now I have someone to pray for—lucky. Now, listen to the prayer Priest Jade taught me."
The old woman closed her clouded eyes tightly and prayed.
"I earnestly pray this child stays safe in the desert. If I have good fortune, I yield it to her. If danger comes to her, send it to me instead. In the name of God. If my voice is too soft to hear, please relay it, angel."
The old woman opened her eyes and smiled after the prayer.
Saf said in shock,
"You can't pray like that. I'm not worthy of such fortune."
"I don't know that. Whether you're worthy or not. If not, the angel will make sure the prayer doesn't reach. I just hope you're a good girl, and if you are, that you live long."
Saf had learned countless doctrines and scripture interpretations, but not how to counter such logic. She had no choice but to accept it.
"Since you've already prayed that for me, I won't repeat it. Instead, I can ease your eye pain, Grandma."
Saf knelt before the old woman's seat.
"It's fine. I'm used to the pain now."
The old woman shook her head, but Saf ignored her, bringing her hands to the pus-oozing eyes. She covered both with her palms. Wet pus touched her skin. Saf closed her eyes and said to the old woman,
"Hold my wrists."
Bewildered, the old woman weakly gripped her wrists as instructed.
"Grandma, if it hurts, squeeze my wrists hard."
"Squeeze how...?"
As the old woman started to ask, brilliant light burst from Saf's hands. Simultaneously, the old woman let out a pained scream. It was a feeble, heartbreaking cry that echoed through the chapel, as she lacked the strength for more. She gripped Saf's wrists but couldn't hold long.
The light faded from Saf's body. Panting, she removed her hands from the old woman's eyes.
Saf staggered back two steps and collapsed onto her rear. The old woman in the chair slowly slumped sideways.
Moments later, the old woman groaned and opened her eyes. Blinking a few times, she rubbed them.
"Good heavens. What... what is this...? I can see... everything so clearly...
The old woman soon turned to Saf.
Saf asked,
"Can you see my face?"
"Faintly... but not blurry..."
Overcome with shock, the old woman breathed harder than when her eyes hurt.
Saf stood and backed away another couple of steps.
"Can you see me from here?"
"Yes."
Saf retreated further.
"Yes... yes...
Even when Saf reached the saintess statue six paces away, the old woman said she could still see.
Saf approached again. Now tears flowed from the old woman's eyes instead of pus. Saf always wanted to cry along at times like this, but she couldn't.
"I imagined the world's most beautiful woman from your voice alone, but you're even prettier."
The old woman gently embraced Saf.
"Thank you. Thank you so much..."
"No. This is all I can do for you."
Saf was still short of breath, struggling to speak properly. Healing the eyes had exhausted her more than walking half a day.
"Your eyes had a torn inner part that I reconnected. But I couldn't clear the hazy vision. I'm sorry."
The old woman didn't understand, and Saf couldn't explain further.
♦
Saf stood before the horse. Though a Rom guard's mount, it had treated her like a lifelong companion from first sight.
"Sorry. Now we're going into the desert. It'll be tough, but bear with me a little."
Saf spoke to the horse, then lightly hugged its neck. From there, she jumped, dangling at its side, swung one leg over the opposite stirrup, and settled into the saddle. Only then did she place her feet in the stirrups.
The old woman watching from beside gasped.
"What was that?"
"Huh? What?"
"I've never seen anyone mount a horse like that in my life."
"Was it wrong?"
"Not wrong, just... You only lived in the convent? Not from the army? You've ridden a lot?"
"First time."
"That horse?"
"No, riding at all is my first time. I didn't know how, so I thought this way might be comfortable..."
The old woman shook her head.
"I'll have plenty to tell my husband when I get home."
Saf didn't grip the reins tightly. A light hold and a nudge with her thighs in the desired direction, and the horse went obediently. She figured it was because it was army-trained and followed orders well.
"By the way, I never asked your name, Grandma."
"Julie."
"It's similar to our dean's name, Julia. Well then, Grandma Julie, goodbye."
"I don't know how many years it's been since someone called me by name."
Blushing shyly, Grandma Julie waved to Saf as she departed. She kept waving until Saf was nearly out of sight beyond the village. Saf could barely see her, so even with healed eyes, she must have vanished long ago to Julie, but she didn't stop.
As soon as Saf entered the desert, she unfolded the map Grandma Julie gave her. To her, it looked almost like code.
*Can I find a temple I've never seen just by looking at this?*
Saf didn't know top from bottom, turned it, and dropped it. At that exact moment, wind blew. The map vanished from sight in a blink.
It happened so fast she didn't even think to retrieve it.
Saf stared blankly at the red sand expanse.
"The one Grandma gave me..."
The hope that had briefly welled up from meeting Julie vanished.
Saf stroked the horse's neck.
"You know the way? No, you don't. The desert's new to you too, like me."
Saf had no choice but to press on. Everything in sight was still red.