Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Bread
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Ruby walked toward the fallen sand burrower but stopped.
"Huh? It's dead? No, this thing didn't die even after half its head was blown off, but it dies from a hole in its forehead?"
Jade followed behind Ruby and asked back.
"That's exactly what I want to know. I was taught that demons only die to the light of dissolution..."
Ruby poked at the sand burrower's corpse with his foot to check. Jade stared down at the hole in the demon's forehead where the chain had pierced it and thought.
'If they can be killed with physical attacks like this, then humans could kill demons with their weapons too. But if each one has different weaknesses, it might take hundreds of sacrifices to figure them out.'
A moment later, the sand burrower seemed to rot rapidly, then crumbled like a poorly made sandcastle. The other monsters evaporated in the same way, one after another.
The black blood on Ruby's forearm also evaporated into black smoke.
"Let's go. If we stay here, we'll just have to keep fighting the same battles."
Jade said.
"I'd be fine with that."
Ruby said.
"I wouldn't."
"Fine then. Guess we can wipe out this last one too before we leave."
Ruby tossed the chain into the nearby sand. It burrowed in like an arrow, then yanked back out, dragging a monster with a snake-like head and an insect-armored body.
The monster shrieked and struggled like a pig being dragged to slaughter.
Ruby dragged over the massive beast—twice an adult's height and five times the weight—and smashed it down with his fist. The monster's face, protected by hard scales, shattered, splattering black blood everywhere.
"Were you pretending not to notice on purpose, hoping it'd call more friends?"
Jade asked in horror.
"Yeah. But look at this. It's still alive even like that."
Ruby pointed at the monster, which was still alive despite its shattered face.
It tried to flee with quick feet, but the chain held it back.
"Why?"
Ruby asked in wonder.
"We'll have to figure it out someday, but I don't want to know right now."
Jade recited the incantation for dispelling dark demons. He pressed his glowing palm to the monster's head, sticky with blood. The monster burned away in the light, and the demon blood on his hand vanished too.
'Is demon blood okay to get on human skin?'
Even though nothing was left, Jade wiped the hand that had touched it on his pants. He also rubbed the spot on his face where blood had splattered earlier with his sleeve, just to be safe.
"We need to find Pendale."
Jade said.
"Who?"
"The thief from in front of the temple earlier. The demon inside the temple possessed his body."
"Oh, that guy. I've got some business with him too. Fine. Let's deal with him first."
Jade asked.
"You say that like you can actually find him."
Ruby tapped his own nose.
"My sense of smell is sharper than a wolf's. Of course, the desert's making it fade fast."
"Then let's hurry before the scent disappears!"
"Your legs won't cut it. He's moving really fast right now."
"Then you go alone?"
Ruby crossed his arms and shook his head.
"I said I'd bottle you up, but it's not that easy. Needs a special jar. Can't beat something without a form either."
"You'll need my light of dissolution then."
"Yep. And even if I could handle it, I'd have to leave you here. Those demons we just took out aren't all the demons in this desert."
Ruby explained calmly. Jade panicked.
"Th-then what do we do?"
Ruby thought for a moment, then said.
"Wait here a sec."
Ruby pressed his ear to the ground, then bolted toward Albito Valley before Jade could say anything. His speed kicked up dust, faster than a horse.
In under three minutes, he came racing back, leading a horse.
It looked like one of the horses the thieves had left behind.
"Get on."
Ruby ordered.
Jade mounted as instructed. Luckily, there was water in the saddlebag.
"Let's go."
Ruby grabbed the reins and took the lead.
"Aren't your bare feet burning?"
Jade took a sip of water and asked.
"Not at all."
Ruby replied as he strode forward with wide steps. The horse had to trot to keep up.
"By the way, where'd you get those clothes? Come to think of it, you had bread when you first showed up too?"
"I did. Want more now. Starved for 500 years—I could eat a whole whale."
"Where'd the bread come from?"
"Got it as a gift."
Ruby answered proudly.
Jade had a bad feeling and asked.
"You didn't do something bad while I was passed out for that short time, did you?"
"Nope."
Ruby answered proudly again, then changed his tune.
"Hmm, might be bad by your standards."
Jade's heart sank. This was the guy who'd declared he'd destroy the world the moment he got free.
"What did you do?"
Ruby shrugged and said.
"Nothing much."
"What's this 'nothing much'?"
Jade pressed.
"I pulled you out of the temple, and that's when I smelled bread."
Ruby explained in an annoyed tone.
♦
Jade only knew that Ruby had 'pulled him out' of Byfell's temple—he didn't know 'how.'
Ruby hadn't retraced the dark path Jade had crawled through for hours. He'd punched straight through the ceiling right there. The impact collapsed the tunnel.
Of course, he'd brought Jade out too. He needed to know what 'sorry' meant, and if he was going to kill him, it had to be by his own hand...
That's when he smelled bread somewhere.
'Those demons probably got crushed in the tunnel? One worry down.'
Ruby figured leaving Jade in front of the temple for a bit wasn't dangerous. So he followed the bread scent a full mile.
At the source was a wagon. Merchants crossing the desert, it seemed. But the situation was a bit off.
About five merchants were tied up, while around twenty mounted thieves were unloading goods from the wagon.
Ruby approached them, chains clanking.
"Hand over the bread."
Ruby held out his hand and said.
A mounted thief asked with a baffled look.
"What's this bald kid?"
"I know you have bread. Smells like a lot! Gimme some."
Ruby demanded again.
A middle-aged thief with a fine black beard asked the captured merchants.
"Who's this guy?"
The merchants just shook their heads.
"Lost kid, huh. What's your name?"
The bearded man asked.
Ruby still hadn't remembered his own name at that point.
Even if he had, he wouldn't tell these guys.
"Bread or no?"
The man smirked and pulled a lump of cheese from his pocket, tossing it at Ruby.
The cheese fell at Ruby's feet and rolled across the red sand. Moldy beyond eating.
"Pick it up and eat. Finish it, and I'll toss you some bread. Bark like a dog while you eat, get two."
The other thieves burst out laughing at that.
Ruby laughed too.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. First time out in 500 years, and people treat me the same. Fine, entertaining enough—watch this. You eat that crap. Now hand over the bread."
The man chuckled and ordered the two men beside him.
"Desert sun brings out all the crazies. Deal with him and bury him in the sand."
"Pretty face though, boss. Grab him and make him a slave?"
One suggested.
"Got a long way to go—don't wanna add baggage."
The boss waved him off lazily.
"Got it."
The two men drew their swords and approached Ruby.
Ruby warned them.
"I know you won't listen anyway, so it's pointless, but for my conscience—come any closer, and you go in the sand, not me."
The two sneered and kept coming.
"Go ahead, try it."
"Sure."
Ruby buried the two men upside down in the sand.
It happened in the instant the thief boss said 'Huh?'
Ruby picked up the fallen cheese, leaped onto the boss's horse, wrapped his arm around the man's neck, and shoved the cheese into his mouth.
Ruby whispered in the boss's ear.
"Temper says I should yank out your guts through your ass, then stuff 'em back in your nostrils. Never tried it, but you'd probably live three days like that."
The boss just chewed with his mouth full of moldy cheese.
Ruby's grip on his jaw kept him from spitting it out.
"Know why I'm not? Got one guy I decided to kill first. No one dies till then. Of course, those two in the sand might suffocate soon, so go ahead and dig 'em out."
Only after Ruby permitted it did the other thieves rush over and pull their two comrades free. The pair spat sand and dry-heaved.
Ruby released his hand, and the boss spat out the cheese, yelling.
"You bastard, do you know who I am? If you're a desert demon, you picked the wrong guy. I'm Kaf of the Kaf Bandits—granted everything by the ruler of this desert!"
Ruby, still sitting behind the boss, said.
"Shut it! Didn't ask your name, flower boy!"
Kaf couldn't even turn around.
"Fl-flower? L-look, I'm Kaf. Who the hell are you? Touch me and you won't survive!"
One thief threw a dagger at Ruby's head to rescue their captured boss. Ruby caught it without looking back.
"Hmm, this the one your underling just gave me to use? If you give it to use, I should use it. How though?"
Ruby pinched the blade tip and hilt tip with thumb and forefinger, snapping it like a toothpick.
Kaf panicked.
"D-don't."
"You told me to bark like a dog?"
"My bad."
"You told me to eat that shitty cheese?"
"I just..."
"Then eat this."
Ruby forced his mouth open, shoved in a two-finger-length shard of the broken blade, and clamped his jaw shut. The thief boss Kaf, with the jagged shard in his mouth, bulged his eyes and groaned, but Ruby held firm.
Kaf shook his head desperately, groaning.
"Hurts? Don't make a sound, or I add another piece."
Ruby warned.
Kaf stopped groaning and nodded. Only then did Ruby release his jaw. Kaf barely opened his bloody mouth but couldn't properly spit out the shard—it was already lodged in his tongue and palate.
As Ruby dismounted, the thieves all aimed swords at the captured merchants.
"Don't move! Move and these guys die!"
One warned.
Ruby shrugged.
"Kill 'em or not. Don't know 'em."
The thieves glanced at each other.
"But if someone dies because of me, it'd sour my mood."
Ruby continued, raising his index finger.
"If even one of those merchants dies, I'll do to your bellybuttons what I did to your boss! Think your navel won't stretch mouth-sized? Shove my left thumb and right thumb in, then yank both ways! Opens wide. Tried it? Of course. I'll shove the blade your boss can't spit out right in there. Get it?"
The thieves aiming at the merchants went pale. Some had already dropped their swords and backed away, but Ruby didn't stop.
"And before that guy dies, I'll pull the blade back out of his navel. Then one by one, shove it in and out of your bellybuttons in turn. Once it's been in all of you, straight back in your boss's mouth. Big mouth—room for two."
Ruby eyed each face carefully as he spoke.
"Best part? I can keep everyone alive through it all."
The thieves shut their mouths in horror, and Kaf, blood dripping from his shard-filled mouth, trembled without a sound.
"Now scram. If you wanna stand on pride and charge, now's your last chance, you pollen puffs."
Kaf, covering his bloody mouth, slunk away on his horse. The other thieves followed their boss in flight.
Once they started running, they tripped over each other or glanced back and fell in a chaotic mess.
Ruby watched, bursting into cheerful laughter. Then he turned to the merchants tied by the wagon.
"Now your turn! I know what you've got. Still smells. Lie and I'll do to you exactly what I told those runners."
The merchants shrank in fear.
Ruby held out his hand toward them and said.
"Hand over the bread."
♦
"...That's how I got it."
Ruby said.
"The clothes they gave willingly. Tried giving me some fancy uncomfortable stuff, so I took comfy ones off one of them. They even offered everything on the wagon. But I didn't need it. Counts as a gift, right?"
Jade asked in shock at the absurd story.
"For real?"
"What? Oh, that. Lie. Can't actually stretch a navel that big. Never tried. Who knows, maybe."
"No, not that part... Never mind. Fine. Drop it. No one died, so that's good."
Jade glanced at the setting sun and checked their position.
"But why north?"
"'Cause Pendale's scent trail leads north."
Ruby said, a bit suspiciously.
"And other humans' scents too. Like you said, he's heading to others."
"All the evil spirits I knew stuck to one body till death once they possessed it. Only dead bodies too. But this one can take living ones. If he hides in a big city, might not find him."
"Don't worry. We can catch him before he leaves the desert."
Jade trusted Ruby as he said it. But it also felt strange.
"I figured you'd say 'who cares' about Pendale."
"I did at first. But thinking it over, can't just leave it. He was with me a hundred years. Thought he just wandered in by chance. But look at him today—free and immediately snatching bodies and bolting!"
Jade had the same belated question.
"Not chance—he was imprisoned like you?"
"He called himself Byfell's strike captain. Don't care who he is—would've said 'who cares.' But who sent him? That's Byfell. Gotta find out!"
Jade opened the book and found the passage with Byfell's name.
"According to this, Byfell's one of the top existences among demons."
"Top how top? World-top?"
Ruby asked.
"Dunno. High rank, not necessarily strongest."
Jade suddenly recalled childhood jokes like 'If Rom's Emperor fought Rotikan's Holy Emperor, who wins?'
"Angels had archangels above you, but you weren't always under them. Demons?"
Ruby pressed.
"Demons don't seem that structured. But this book's classification lists ten demons at the very top of all demons, and he's in it."
"Haha, perfect. Couldn't go all-out with archangels, but demons are fair game. Next time, polite intro, then beat him to pollen."
Ruby said confidently.
Even judging from his short half-day experience, he wasn't bluffing. More than reliable, it felt unreal to Jade.
'This morning I was scared of a demon half my height. Now I've got a companion looking forward to fighting a top demon.'