Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Rose and Tribulation
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Ruby slung the cloth pouch filled with bread and cheese over his shoulder and headed back out to the chapel.
Jade followed him along with Saph.
"Just to be sure, the people surrounding the village and heading our way right now—are they really coming to kill us?"
"Not necessarily. They could be the so-called Akilia Patrol that Deolron’s bringing as guides, or maybe just travelers passing by who ran into Deolron and are coming along together for no particular reason.
Ruby continued, ambling across the chapel toward the main gate.
"They might be carrying swords, but that doesn’t make everyone with a sword a murderer—and sneaking in through the broken section of the wall to avoid the gate sentries doesn’t automatically make them assassins either. The guards at this gate are pretty much for show anyway.”
Ruby pushed open the chapel door, stepped out of the village first, and wrapped up.
“But it’s better to move on the assumption that they are, rather than hoping they might not be.”
The village was nearly deserted.
Cities like Rom or Bompei still had people milling about even at midnight, but most villages wrapped themselves in the stillness of darkness as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon.
“You’re moving pretty leisurely for someone acting on that assumption.”
Ruby whipped the chain from his wrist toward Jade, just like he would in a desert storm.
Jade grabbed the chain, and Saph took hold of Jade’s hand as they walked.
“I am relaxed, actually. What’s wrong with that?”
“I had about twenty questions lined up, but you just answered them all.”
Jade recalled those moments of terror back in Rom, constantly glancing over his shoulder for pursuers he couldn’t even see, and the worries and fears that gripped him with the red desert stretching ahead.
Even now, when there was no reason for such anxiety, he couldn’t shake it.
Ruby asked as he walked through the darkness.
“By the way, seeing Deolron’s chalice jogged my memory—assuming we head to the Eastern Kingdom, can you even find it?”
“Honestly, no idea. When we set out, I figured Father Danel would take care of everything.”
Jade glanced at Saph, who shook her head in the same boat.
“So you might not even recognize it if it was right in front of your face?”
Ruby nailed it.
“Even if no one’s around to hear, better not throw that word around lightly.”
Jade cautioned.
Ruby proposed.
“Fine then. From now on, let’s call it the rose.”
“Why a rose?”
“Cornflower better?”
“I meant why a flower at all.”
“Mushroom then? Matsutake.”
“No, rose works. So if we go with that, it’d be phrased like this?”
Jade recalled the tale the monks at Jerba Monastery had told.
“A woman in the Eastern Kingdom found a rose in one of their wells but didn’t realize it was a rose and kept it for a while. Then one day, she poured water on it, saw it overflowing, and was so amazed she took it to the kingdom. The royals argued for ages over whether it was really a rose... Uh, it’s turning into a weird story.”
“I got the whole thing. Point is, the rose looks so ordinary you wouldn’t know it was the rose even if you saw it.”
Ruby pressed on in that smug tone for some reason.
“So how do you plan to find it? March up to the Eastern Kingdom’s royals, ask what it looks like, then pour water on every rose you see? That’ll take longer than me tracking down the angels’ land.”
Jade fell silent, at a loss for words, when Saph suddenly chimed in.
“Clerics don’t warm themselves by the fire in winter or strip off their robes because it’s hot in summer.”
Ruby turned to look at her, and Saph rushed on like she was making excuses.
“Even with plenty of food, they don’t feast.”
“That explains why you’re so scrawny. I barely feel your weight when I carry you.”
Ruby threw in a tangent.
Saph waved her hands.
“It means things gained without hardship aren’t the real deal. Human souls are frail—they weaken with laziness. You could argue otherwise since you’re an angel.”
Surprisingly, Ruby conceded.
“True. Elves, orcs, humans, mages—they’ll manufacture their own suffering if none comes naturally. Just look at how messed up Jade is.”
“Why’s the blame landing on me?”
Jade lowered his voice, wondering if someone might be listening from the shadows. But even if there was, they probably couldn’t make sense of the conversation.
“Jade, you’ve barely suffered at all. That’s why your light magic’s so weak.”
“I wouldn’t know what you mean by a mage’s suffering, so I can’t exactly claim I’ve had my share.”
“You wouldn’t get it even if I spelled out how brutal it is.”
Ruby dismissed him.
Saph spoke up again.
“I mean, if God wanted to bestow the rose on us, why leave it in some empty Lotican Garden instead of a little rural well in the Eastern Kingdom?”
“Then God gave it to the Eastern Kingdom. That scripture we read didn’t exactly say ‘the rose goes to the west’ or pick sides.”
“Not quite. It appeared to the Easterners, but they lost it in the end.”
“Everyone loses stuff. Doesn’t mean divine will decided the rose was for the west.”
“That’s exactly it. God gave us tribulation.”
“With just some overflowing rose? Flowers sure are holy.”
Jade cut in before another argument could brew.
“Enough already. Let’s focus on getting to the Eastern Kingdom first. We can hash out the rose once we’re there.”
“What happened to that earlier Rose Expedition? The... Round Table Knights?”
Ruby asked.
Jade picked right up.
“...and the Holy Knights. Far as I know, both went silent.”
“And the rose hunt got banned after that?”
By the time they finished talking, they’d reached the north gate of Fairbank Village.
“Even before then, some died in the Holy Land Recovery War, turning it into a touchy subject.”
“If it’s that touchy, one little decree could shutter every Mediterranean harbor. Which makes the elf port via the Dark Forest the smart route.”
Ruby concluded, and Jade nodded.
“Without you, I’d have known better and still headed for St. Paul or Pisa—endlessly fretting over assassins and stalkers the whole way. Probably bribed customs or slipped through some pirate cove.”
“Put a little girl like Saph on a pirate ship? Ha ha ha. The sea dogs’d give her a manicure and ferry her comfy to the eastern ports.”
“That rubs me the wrong way somehow.”
Saph said.
“Then you heard right. It was a jab. Pretty girls like you shouldn’t show their faces on the road! Cover up more!”
Ruby mimed tugging down Saph’s cleric hood.
Jade was caught off guard by that.
“Ruby, you think Saph’s pretty too?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Weird?”
“I figured your tastes ran different.”
“Even by those standards, she’s pretty. Eastern Kingdomers would agree. Elves too. Orcs, who knows—their sense of beauty’s totally alien. They called me cute every time they saw me. Cute? Ridiculous orc idiots!”
Jade fought the urge to point out the orcs might have a point.
Ruby hoisted the massive latch on the north gate—thick enough for three grown men—and cracked it open just wide enough for one.
“You two, out first.”
Jade and Saph slipped through, and Ruby slammed it shut behind them. For a moment, they were alone together.
The clank of the bar dropping back into place echoed from inside.
“What’re you doing, Ruby?”
Jade called.
“Making it look like we never left. Guards here slack off hard—not even watching us. Latch it up like this, they won’t know we slipped out. If we’re being tracked later, better they don’t know which gate.”
Just holding Ruby’s chain for those few seconds had Jade on edge. He felt like a frightened pup whose owner ditched the leash—even though Ruby was the one shackled!
Beyond the gate stretched vast open plains. No mountains or hills in sight, just endless grass—as bleak in its own way as the red desert.
*This must be where the Kuman Plains begin.*
Maps never quite captured it. Deserts overwhelmed one way, plains another.
Saph peered up at the ramparts.
“Ruby’s not coming down?”
Jade looked up belatedly and spotted Ruby atop the wall, three times a man’s height.
“Ruby?”
Jade called.
In that instant, Ruby vanished into the dark.
“Huh?”
Ruby’s steady voice cut through as Jade let out the half-word.
“Both of you—stay put.”
A sharp metallic whine sliced the air. Something thudded to the ground behind them.
Ruby landed lightly right after.
Heeding the warning, Jade didn’t dare move, just craned his neck to peek back.
A black-clad figure lay sprawled at Ruby’s feet. The iron chain bound his ankle.
“Who are you?”
Ruby bellowed.
A dagger materialized in the man’s empty hand like magic. He slashed for Ruby’s face.
Ruby sidestepped back, and the man shook free of the chain, bolting away.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Ruby lashed out with the chain.
The intruder sprinted for the wall; the chain tracked him perfectly. Then his body melted into the stone like mist.
The chain smashed into empty masonry, shattering chunks of rock.
“Huh?”
Ruby muttered, stunned, then vaulted up to the ramparts. He scanned the far side and yelped again.
“Huh? Where’d he go?”
“W-what just happened?”
Saph stammered, shock hitting her late.
Ruby dropped back down and answered.
“Encirclement came faster than expected. Too cocky?”
He shot a lingering glance up at the wall.
“One of the stalkers?”
Jade asked.
“Looks like. Didn’t sense him even at that range. If I’d known he was that tough, I wouldn’t have pulled punches reeling him in.”
Ruby smacked his lips.
“If he’s alive, he’ll fetch his pals?”
Jade asked.
“Obviously. Tough to scrap with those freakish tricksters while babysitting you two. Move.”
Ruby took point.
No more leisurely pace this time. Jade and Saph had to jog to keep up.