Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Assassins
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Deolon galloped across the southern plains of Fairbank.
After riding aimlessly, unsure how far he needed to go to meet them, he came to a stop.
At that moment, a suspicious figure wearing a hood and robe appeared on horseback.
"I'm Deolon from Akilia Cathedral. I've come to see Alisa."
Deolon said, forcing a smile.
When the other man simply stared without replying, Deolon added an explanation.
"The group you asked about seems to have shown up at my cathedral."
Only then did the man nod.
"Wait here."
He galloped off and vanished.
Deolon dismounted and waited anxiously.
Alisa appeared about an hour later.
"Tell me the situation."
"A man named Jayden just showed up at my cathedral. I couldn't believe it when Duke Drake said the group searching for the Holy Grail had appeared."
Deolon gave her a brief summary of what had happened at the cathedral.
After hearing him out, Alisa nodded slightly.
"You've upheld your end of the deal, so I'll prepare the reward as promised. The priest 'Jayden' is still at the cathedral, right?"
"Unless he's done something unexpected, he shouldn't have gone anywhere."
Alisa signaled her subordinates with a hand gesture. Nearly ten men mounted their horses in perfect unison, moving as one.
Alisa mounted her horse as well.
"You should come with us, Father."
"Ah, of course."
As Deolon mounted, she urged her horse closer.
"But the priest Jayden didn't mention the Holy Grail at all, it seems. How did you realize he was part of the group searching for it?"
Deolon hesitated for a moment.
'Damn, I let it slip without thinking.'
The fact that Jade was searching for the Holy Grail came from the letter he'd received from Lorenzo. But with letters arriving one after another, he'd gotten his facts mixed up.
'Should I just say Jade mentioned the Holy Grail himself and I forgot to include it? No. I described the goat milk part in too much detail for that. Plus, it would seem unnatural for Jade to volunteer that information.'
Deolon panicked inwardly but replied nonchalantly.
"It's simple. I could tell from his eyes that his soul was lying."
Deolon continued slowly.
"And I have my own methods of deduction. I don't need to explain every step. It's just a hunch, after all, so you'll have to confirm for yourselves if Jayden and his group are really after the Holy Grail. If I'm wrong, I won't take the reward."
"Understood."
Alisa nodded and spurred her horse onward.
'I need to watch my words. That woman's sharper than she looks.'
Deolon followed behind her.
"By the way, there's an innocent woman in Jayden's group. Could you perhaps show her mercy and spare her life?"
"We're not going there to kill them."
"With the bloodthirsty momentum you're building, I had to ask."
". . . Is there something else you want to say?"
"If you're not going to kill her, then hand her over to me. From the circumstances, it seems she doesn't even realize what crime she's committing and is just blindly following Jayden. She could pass for a nun. As a fellow cleric, I feel a duty to save her from the path of evil."
Alisa, riding ahead, turned to look at Deolon.
Deolon waited with the innocent gaze of a selfless priest.
"We'll decide that after we capture the three of them."
She replied curtly and turned her eyes forward again.
"Of course."
Deolon answered as if it were natural, though his heart was burning inside.
'If these bastards try to drag that woman off and kill her too, I'll have no choice but to treat them to a nice hot cup of tea.'
"All done."
Ruby closed the scripture with a satisfied smile.
"How was it?"
Saf asked.
"I've read it before."
Ruby replied matter-of-factly,
and Saf "blankly" looked flustered.
"You've read the scripture before?"
Jade already knew the answer before Ruby could speak.
"You saw it at the Roxandria Library, right?"
"It was even more heavily edited than the version I saw."
Ruby poked her forehead with her finger as she continued.
"But I'm glad I read it. Thanks to that, I figured out how to recover my lost memories."
"How?"
Jade asked impatiently.
"It happened before."
Ruby stood and walked to the window as she spoke.
"It was some small village—Heyton or Payton or something. For some reason, old folks were pouring in from out of town. It was unusual, so I went to check it out. The cathedral where they gathered was off-limits to non-essential personnel, of course, but I could sit on the ceiling beams and watch everything they were doing."
Ruby cracked open the wooden window and peered outside.
Jade joined her at the window and looked out, but there was nothing unusual—just the dark village landscape.
"The people there started unrolling stacks of scrolls like mountains and reading them aloud one by one. It was pretty boring. After reading one scroll, they'd debate for ages, then vote yes or no. Then they'd read another, debate again, and vote."
"What were they voting on?"
"Whether to include the contents of those scrolls in the scripture."
Jade asked in shock.
"My God, Ruby, you were at the Eiton Council?"
"Who cares what the village was called?"
"You say that a lot."
"I've wandered too many places to remember every single village name. Anyway!"
Ruby continued in a slightly louder voice, as if telling him not to interrupt.
"Since I'd read all the books myself, I voted along in my head every time. I mostly voted yes, but the actual council mostly voted no, which pissed me off. Especially when they voted to discard the scripture that said 'pigs are unclean animals and should not be eaten'—I couldn't help booing from the ceiling! Boo, fraud, scam! The meeting halted for a bit while they wondered, 'Who dares make rude noises during this sacred council?' Haha."
Ruby laughed with an expression that wasn't particularly funny, then continued.
"Of course, I'm not a fan of the 'don't eat pork' line. But throwing out an entire book with lots of good lines just because of that one sentence is too much!"
Jade nodded.
"That's a famous story. It's the scripture written by Saint Kaisan, and it's still controversial. Some argued they could just delete the pork part, but the prevailing view back then was that a single person's writing is an indivisible whole—you include it all or leave it all out."
"But some scriptures got massively rewritten and still passed, right? That was toward the end of the council when I got bored and tuned out . . ."
"That's why the current scriptures contain contradictions, and the books written to explain those became the Holy Writ. But the Holy Writ itself sparked more controversy and got tangled in all sorts of conspiracies. That's why this book of light magic is called the Fourth Holy Writ."
Jade patted the book tucked in his robe.
Ruby stepped away from the window.
"If I'd had a vote, the scripture would be way more fun now."
Jade concluded.
"Yeah, yeah. But we don't need to carry on the Kaitelic controversies that have raged for centuries. Let's drop it."
"You think I'd stir up controversy, knowing how many people died over ones like this? You know that when I was young, reading this book was heresy punishable by burning. Now, not reading it is heresy punishable by burning? What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Ruby tossed the scripture to Saf, who barely caught it. In truth, she'd snatched it out of the air with astonishing reflexes, then pretended to fumble in surprise.
"But why'd you look out the window just now?"
Jade asked.
Ruby replied casually.
"The village is surrounded."
Jade flinched.
"Bandits again?"
"Not sure, but it's a small group. They're just guarding the entrance. And about ten are heading this way. I think Deolon is leading them. I'd have to go out to confirm, but for the reason I mentioned earlier, I don't feel like it."
Ruby crossed her arms and asked.
"What do you want to do? Two options. One, wait here and I'll smash them when they come. Or two, escape before they arrive."
"Are they human?"
Jade asked.
"Have to clash to find out. They feel human right now, but demons like Beishuper can disguise themselves as humans easily."
"What's their goal?"
"Have to ask to know."
Ruby waited, arms crossed. Jade asked again.
"If we decide to run, can we get away?"
"Yeah."
"Then let's run."
"Got it."
Ruby headed to the vestry where Deolon had brought the bread earlier.
Jade trailed after her.
"You're okay with running? I figured you'd insist on fighting."
"Why?"
"You like fighting."
"After a few high-stakes gambles, games with fake chips aren't fun anymore."
". . . What does that mean?"
"After facing someone like Krawks, fighting humans isn't interesting. Plus, you can't even kill humans."
Ruby pulled at the vestry door. It was locked. Without hesitation, he yanked it open with force.
The doorknob shattered, and the door swung wide.
"Didn't you say you'd respect propriety?"
Jade asked.
"I said I'd respect it when it's efficient. Against bad guys, this is more efficient."
"I have no idea what 'efficient' means to you. But why here?"
The vestry was neatly organized with worship utensils, books, rolled-up documents, and the like.
Ruby rummaged through some priestly robes hanging on a rack and pulled one out.
"Give this to Saf."
"Hmm, technically it's stolen goods. Not sure if Saf will wear it."
"Tell her to weigh her shame against her morals. Whichever way the scale tips, it's not my problem."
Jade passed the robe from Ruby to Saf.
"Ruby thinks that, but I say you should wear it, Saf."
Saf pondered as if on trial, then nodded.
"Ruby, let's step out so Saf can change."
Jade said.
"Can't you see I'm busy? The one who's embarrassed should leave."
The shelves held dry bread, hard biscuits, cheese, and such. Ruby started stuffing them into a cloth pouch nearby.
"You're stealing food too?"
Saf asked, clutching the robe.
"Let's see, doesn't the scripture say 'Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's goods'?"
Ruby pretended to think deeply before continuing.
"But is the guy bringing assassins to kill us my neighbor? In the broad sense, all humans are neighbors, so stealing this would violate the scripture too. Fine, then I'll defy the scripture from now on! So mind your own business and get dressed."
Jade shook his head.
"The scripture. Shouldn't have let you read it."
Saf glanced around and opened the door to the adjacent room.
"I can change in here . . ."
Saf started to enter but froze mid-step.
Jade peered into the open door. Inside, a five-shelf cabinet was fixed to the wall, displaying various odds and ends neatly.
Jade observed and said.
"This is the reliquary."
"Oho, this stirs up another memory."
Ruby slung the food pouch over his shoulder and stepped inside. His chains and shackles naturally illuminated the room, revealing the shelves' contents in more detail.
Jade followed and closed the door.
"Saf, we'll wait here, so change in there."
Saf replied from outside the door.
"Yes, Father."
On the reliquary shelves sat a few golden chalices, human bones, what looked like centuries-old parchment, a pewter star cross, and the like.
Ruby picked up a two-handspan bone.
"Haha, check this out."
Jade checked the label in front of the bone.
"'Bone of Saint Theodomar.' First time I've heard the name."
Jade tilted his head.
"Don't saintly bones 'exude holiness' or something?"
Ruby held up another bone—it looked like a hip bone—and asked.
"Hmm, that's controversial. Whether we should consider these holy or not."
"Either way, they need to be authentic to have value, right? Back in some Eastern Continent country, I saw a 'holy bones specialist merchant' selling like a hundred thigh bones from the same saint in one day. String 'em together, and you'd have a giant thirty paces tall."
Ruby burst into laughter.
Jade gave a hollow chuckle.
Ruby stomped the wooden floor, then wedged his fingers into a crack.
"Huh? Something's here."
He opened a hidden panel in the floor.
Beneath the panel was a secret compartment with two wooden boxes and two jewel cases.
Ruby pried open a locked jewel case without a second thought. It was stuffed with gold coins and gems.
"Aw, and I thought it was something amazing."
Ruby sounded disappointed.
Jade grew more uneasy.
"This is more wealth than one priest should have."
Ruby tossed a gold coin from the case to Jade.
"Keep it for emergencies."
It was a gold hass from Rom. Jade caught it reflexively but shook his head.
"The bread and cheese might fall under your 'efficiency' excuse, but not this."
"Oho, still thinking like that? Then look at this."
The second box held a glass vial.
Ruby sniffed it, then immediately grimaced and set it down.
"It's poison. Humans can't smell it, but I can. I don't know why they didn't put it in that goat milk earlier, but if they had, you two would be corpses lying side by side under Akilia Cathedral's star cross right now. You gonna hold onto your moral values against scum like that?"
Just then, Saf called from outside.
"I'm dressed."
They stepped out to find Saf in pristine white priestly robes, hands clasped in a proper pose. The robe came with a hood, concealing her hair.
"Let's go, Ruby."
Jade set the gold hass on a nearby table and urged Ruby along.
Ruby was still prying open the second jewel case.
"Look at this. It's the Holy Grail. Guess we don't need to go to the Eastern Continent after all. Hahaha."
Ruby pulled out a golden chalice from the case and continued.
"Wonder how much offerings this cup has fleeced from the faithful?"
Jade stared silently, so Ruby glared back.
"Staring daggers over a joke? Who knows? Maybe when we get to the Eastern Continent, the priests there say, 'The Holy Grail you're looking for is in Akilia Cathedral's secret box!' Then you'll regret it big time."
Ruby put the chalice back, slammed the secret panel shut with a bang.