Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Northward
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A long rumble echoed not long after Kraukus vanished. Ruby, who had been rubbing her hands together, immediately dropped into a fighting stance as if preparing for battle.
"It's the Hellgate. What if it doesn't vanish when the master dies, but opens instead?"
Ruby uttered an ominous thought.
The Hellgate was shaking. The vibrations were so intense that the entire black rocky mountain seemed to tremble.
The gate's shaking continued for a while, and Jade's unease grew stronger by the second. Then, with a sudden massive boom, the gate folded vertically in half, like closing an open book.
The vibrations persisted for another stretch, and this time it folded horizontally. Then vertically again, then horizontally once more. As if it would go on forever, the gate kept folding in half endlessly, shrinking smaller and smaller.
Soon, the Hellgate disappeared entirely from everyone's sight.
Ruby approached the spot and ran her hand over the ground where the gate had been.
"It's gone. This must be how the gate vanishes."
Ruby brushed the dirt off her hands with a few sharp claps, then asked Jade,
"How's the hand? Is it okay? Should we cut it off now?"
Saf shouted in place of the exhausted Jade, who was too tired to reply.
"No!"
"It was a joke! Can't you even tell that, you flower boy?"
"It didn't sound like a joke."
"Well, it was a bit serious. You really don't need to cut it off?"
"I said no!"
Saf screamed.
"Why did you say to cut off the hand if something went wrong?"
Saf asked while tending to Jade's hand.
A healing light illuminated Jade's hand brightly, lighting up the surroundings as well.
"The Light of Annihilation destroys a demon's soul, ending everything. But with the Light of Capture, I didn't know what happens after capturing it. I'd never tried it before. So, if it transferred into my body after capture, the idea was to cut it off beforehand."
"You did something that dangerous without even practicing once?"
"Something like that."
"Don't do it again. Use safe methods instead of risky ones. If we share what I know and the priest's knowledge, we'll come up with better ways."
Saf gripped Jade's hand tightly with both of hers. She repeated the same words once more.
"So, don't ever do that again..."
Jade had nothing to say, so he gently stroked Saf's head.
Ruby looked up at the sky and said,
"It's dawn—the wind has stopped. But it'll pick up again by tonight. If we don't move now, we'll be caught in a sandstorm in the middle of the desert again. Let's go."
"That sounds good."
Jade nodded and stood up. But Saf couldn't.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just... my legs feel weak."
Ruby approached and said,
"Those legs of yours are such a hassle. Want me to carry you again?"
"No. I'll stand on my own. Wait."
"If you're not up in ten seconds, I'm carrying you?"
"Wait!"
"Siiiiip... guuuu..."
"I said wait!"
"...Paaal, chiiiil..."
"Hey!"
"...Yugosasamil!"
"Argh!"
Saf clung to Jade's arm and stood up with all her strength. Even after standing, her legs were still trembling.
"Ha! You stood up just fine! It was all exaggeration after all. If it was that bad, why not use healing light on your own legs?"
Ruby said as she led the way.
"I can't use it on my own injuries."
Saf replied glumly.
"Oh? Then be careful not to get hurt."
Saf whispered to Jade,
"I can't tell if she's encouraging me or threatening me."
Jade burst out laughing and said,
"Ruby."
"What?"
"Thanks."
"What?"
"You saved me again. And Saf too."
"Does saving us like this even count? How many more times are you gonna thank me? You're annoying."
"Thanks are thanks. It's not annoying."
"It's annoying to me."
"Anyway, thanks."
"I said stop it, you flower-field honeybee! You trying to make me cry again?"
Ruby yelled suddenly.
Saf whispered to Jade in surprise,
"Make her cry? Has Ruby ever cried?"
"There was a reason."
Jade replied with a faint smile.
"I'll kill you if you tell."
Ruby threatened. It somehow felt like she meant it.
♦
As the dawn light brightened, the wind came to a complete stop.
Jade, not yet fully recovered, leaned against a rock to rest. Saf, exhausted from the night, fell asleep leaning on his shoulder. Jade was tired too, but couldn't sleep.
Naturally, Ruby was full of energy. Just before sunrise, he left to gather food for breakfast and returned in under ten minutes with four desert rabbits. With practiced skill, he built a fire, skinned and prepared them.
"Why'd you put those back on?"
Jade pointed to the shackles binding Ruby's wrists and ankles.
"Umparuton is valuable material. Can't just discard it. You can unlock them when needed."
Ruby skewered the prepared rabbits on sticks over the fire and even cracked a stone by hand to make bowls.
"It's been binding you for 500 years. Aren't you sick of it...? Even if you don't throw it away, you don't have to wear it."
"Surprisingly, I don't mind. And wearing it helps me remember the past. Memories are starting to come back bit by bit. If I take it off, I feel like they'll fly away again."
Ruby gazed into the fire as he spoke. The firelight on his face gave him the expression of an adult deep in thought.
"Does anything come to mind about Baifell appearing as a beautiful woman?"
"Nope."
Ruby replied curtly, then continued as if making excuses.
"While imprisoned, I was bored, so I kept sleeping and waking. Doesn't everyone do that? You forget things you hear half-asleep. You wake up suddenly to meet someone and forget you even met them."
Jade recalled the space mirror and asked,
"Baifell said he used Beishuper to detect the moment you awoke. Isn't that weird? If he went to such lengths, why not just kill you? You were bound."
"Weird stuff isn't just one or two things. If we nitpick like that, the Baifell we saw in the mirror was a 'man'! But Kraukus saw a woman. One of them could be lying, or neither could be Baifell."
"It's hard to tell gender just from a silhouette."
"Don't ask anymore. I feel like a newborn just two days old right now. Tell me about you instead. The history of the last 500 years."
"All of it?"
"You're going to the eastern continent, right? We've got time."
"True enough."
"And why we need to find that Holy Grail you keep talking about. And why Baifell is throwing a fit to claim it himself."
"I don't know that either. But I'll tell you everything I do know. Maybe you have the answer."
"Don't expect much. So, where are we headed now?"
Ruby asked.
"North. The Dark Forest."
"Did the continent get all mixed up while I was locked away? We need to go to the eastern kingdoms—why north? Oh, because Kraukus said the Hellgate is north?"
"That's part of it, but there's more. I'll explain when Saf wakes up. She probably knows too."
Jade looked at Saf leaning on his shoulder. Her face, streaked with colorful sand dust, looked incredibly lovely.
"I always imagined adventure partners as burly, rugged men."
Jade muttered to himself.
"Don't like traveling with women? Then I'll turn into one too."
Ruby said playfully.
"You can turn into a woman too? Do it."
Jade suggested, but Ruby shook his head vigorously.
"Nah. Turning into a woman is humiliating."
"Hm? Humiliating enough to say that? Why?"
"No dick."
"Hmm, that's compellingly persuasive. Can you transform into animals too?"
"Anything about the same size. How did it go...? Can't quite remember. Like this or that? No. That way then this, and it reversed or something... Yeah, forgot."
Ruby gave an incomprehensible explanation and gave up.
"Anyway, at my best, my transformation magic was a cut above the angels'."
"Handy for escaping?"
"It was killer."
Ruby laughed loudly.
The noise woke Saf.
"Ah, sorry. I dozed off."
Saf covered her face, a bit embarrassed.
"No need to apologize for a short nap."
Jade said.
"No, it is something to apologize for!"
Ruby placed the fully cooked rabbit in a stone bowl and continued,
"How many times have I said we need to hurry? At your pace, we have to leave now to barely reach the next village before tonight."
"How do you know that?"
Jade asked, impressed.
"Memorized the map in the abbey's headmaster's office."
"You memorized that? You've gotten motivated, Ruby."
"I don't do things halfway. But once I decide, I get it done quick. You're in for it now. Following me will make you sweat bullets. Eat up."
Saf pushed the bowl of rabbit meat toward Jade and pointed out,
"Watch your language, Ruby! And I don't eat meat."
"Get used to it! If you hate meat, go graze like a herbivore."
Ruby shoved the entire piece of rabbit from Saf's bowl into his mouth. Then Saf pointed out again,
"You should pray thanks before eating."
Ruby pulled the half-eaten meat from his mouth and snapped,
"This is why I can't even eat in peace? You pray if you want."
"If you're an angel, prove it with prayer."
"Fakes are the ones who try to prove they're real. If I told you to prove you're a woman, would you lift your skirt? No. I don't need to prove I'm an angel either."
"Enough."
Jade intervened between them and said to Saf,
"Saf, pray for us."
Saf immediately clasped her hands and recited the prayer.
"We pray. We praise your name today as well, may your will brightly illuminate this land... "
Ruby quietly interjected,
"Praise my name instead."
Saf steadfastly continued the prayer.
"...We give thanks for the sustenance to live this day..."
"I caught it."
"...Forgive the sins committed today..."
"The sun hasn't even risen, and you've already sinned today?"
"...Grant us strength not to fall into trials of evil..."
"I'll lend you strength if needed."
"...All glory and power be in your name. We pray in your name."
Saf sped through the end of the prayer to prevent more interruptions from Ruby. She lowered her hands and stared at him.
Saf's blank stare was, by others' standards, a murderous glare. But Ruby met her eyes as if to say "bring it," and shoved rabbit meat into his mouth, chewing bone and all.
'I was worried bringing Saf would make things tough between Ruby and me, stuck in the middle...'
Jade looked up at the clear, lie-like blue sky, lost in thought.
'...But maybe I'll be the one stuck between Saf and Ruby.'