Chapter 7
Chapter 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Bompe's Grave
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The two of them were heading toward a place called Bompe, something Jade should have realized back at the relay station.
But Jade had been lost in other thoughts the whole time, only realizing the fact when they reached the point where Bompe came into view.
It was hard to tell Nel now that she didn't want to come here after all.
"We're not going straight to Rom?"
Jade asked indirectly.
"There's a place we need to stop. But it's late, so let's go tomorrow. We can stay at the Juphea Cathedral here."
Danell said.
It was a city she was visiting after three years, but it felt as familiar as the place they'd been just a week ago.
She immediately recalled that if they kept riding slowly like this, it would take half an hour to reach Juphea Cathedral.
But the moment they entered Bompe's city streets, Danell dismounted.
Jade didn't get off her horse and asked,
"Why?"
Danell took the reins and walked toward the wine shop.
"Got to have a glass of wine. Coming to Bompe and not drinking Bompe wine is like going to Hasta Harbor and not eating crab."
"I'll just head straight to Juphea Cathedral. You go ahead and drink alone."
"You're still officially exiled from Bompe and supposed to be locked up in Jerba Monastery. Where do you think you're going without me?"
Danell teased as he handed the reins to the wine shop clerk.
The clerk naturally reached out toward Jade as well.
With no choice, Jade dismounted and handed over her reins.
Ordinary wine shops were divided into those selling bottled wine, those filling customers' own bottles, and those with a bar for drinks by the glass, but this one did all three.
And even though it was past 10 p.m., it was packed with customers.
Across the street, where carriages and horses passed, the fruit shop was closed.
Jade remembered buying foreign peaches there.
'If the shop were open, I'd buy one now. Oh, wrong season? Who knows. Maybe they have fruit even in spring where it came from.'
Jade sank into her scant pleasant memories from the past and sat in a chair.
Danell ordered wine and snacks on his own.
The snacks were bread and cheese, and just seeing them neatly sliced on a brown earthen plate made her feel how close they were to Rom.
Even in Jerba, they didn't serve bread or cheese in dishes—they just laid it out on the table.
Danell tore the bread with his hands and chatted idly with the shop owner.
"The mayor of Bompe still hasn't been elected?"
"He has. Mayor Garus was reelected, same as last time."
"Really? On the way in, I saw election posters on the walls with Garus and Vibius."
"That's because Mayor Garus is so proud of beating Vibius that he had them put up. Honestly, I thought Vibius would win this time too. The bread and cheese he handed out last month were rolling around the streets like manure."
The shop owner giggled, and Danell responded with a big laugh.
While listening to them, Jade spotted a warning engraved into the stone bar.
'Shop Rules:
Do not harass other customers.
Do not seduce other customers' wives.
Do not vomit inside the shop.'
Next to the warning, someone had scratched a graffiti with a nail.
'Maggots came out of the bread here.'
No way the owner would leave that, so it must have been recent.
Jade ignored it and ate the bread.
A maggot or two in the bread was everyday stuff at the monastery.
Jade suddenly felt eyes on her and turned.
A black youth clutching a hard salt bread to his chest was staring at Jade in surprise.
Jade recognized him too. He was a slave owned by Bompe's lord, Leopold Browne.
If you traced Bompe's history back two hundred years, this land was originally home to the black-skinned Boai people, but it was conquered by the Rom Empire and became the current Bompe.
After that, the Boai became the slave class in Bompe.
The Boai youth hurriedly bowed his head when their eyes met and went on his way.
Jade quietly warned Danell, who was still busy chatting with the shop owner.
"Someone recognized me."
"Oh dear. Who?"
"I don't know his name. He's Lord Browne's slave."
"If he's still slaving away after three years, he must be loyal to his master. Not good for you."
"Not necessarily bad for me."
"You could die."
"That's it. Dying here would be fine."
"You see this guy?"
"I've thought about it a lot in the monastery. Whether it's right to commit murder and hide like this."
"You weren't hiding—you were being protected. Officially, you were excommunicated for unauthorized use of cathedral authority, not murder."
"That's not for us to judge."
"Then who does?"
"The person who was hurt the most by it."
"You mean Lord Browne? If every victim's father personally punished the suspect, the world would be filled with unjust justice."
"I'm not talking about justice."
"Kid, you've thought too much these three years. Shouldn't have suggested wine. Drinking at night brings on stray thoughts. Let's go."
Danell set down a silver coin on the bar and stood.
But before he could, Jade was already up and walking into the darkness.
"Wait, Jade! We go together."
Danell flailed around looking for their horses.
While the clerk slowly brought them out, he lost track of where Jade had gone.
But he could guess.
Jade had gone to the graveyard.
It wasn't Bompe's public cemetery but a private plot where nobles like the Browne family were buried.
Jade easily found Michelle Browne's tombstone.
"Who's there? Visiting a grave at this hour...? Huh?"
The graveyard keeper approached with a torch and startled upon recognizing Jade's face.
"Y-You're...?"
He backed away a few steps, then sprinted full speed into the darkness.
Jade let him go. Better that way.
That Boai slave would only tell his master he'd been spotted at the wine shop, but the keeper would give Lord Browne the exact location.
Until recently, Bompe people preferred cremation over burial.
Then Rotican declared cremation a pagan custom, so they switched to burial.
But many still believed you needed cremation to ascend to heaven, so they mixed both—cremating ashes and burying them.
Jade wondered if even the girl's ashes were buried here, or if it was an empty tomb with just a stone.
After 'that incident,' Jade hadn't been in her right mind and knew nothing about what followed.
"It's an empty tomb. Just the marker."
Danell, standing beside her, explained as if reading her mind.
"Come on, let's go. If Lord Browne sees you here, he'll tear up the emperor's pardon and drag you off."
"Does he need to drag me? Even if Lord Browne cuts my throat right here, Mayor Garus can't do a thing."
The mayor was elected by citizens' votes and had authority to implement city policies, but for big projects or major issues, he needed the lord's permission.
And if a mayor served the city diligently, he could become a noble on the lord's recommendation, so mayors had to stay on lords' good sides.
It was the same way the Rom Empire handled all its governed territories.
"You're talking like you came here hoping for that."
"Halfway, yeah."
"And the other half?"
"I've been thinking if there really was no other choice back then. Thought about it for three years, but no. So I came to the grave thinking maybe it'd come to me."
"Did it?"
"Not yet."
"It won't in the future either. Because you made the best choice back then."
Danell anxiously scanned the surroundings and asked,
"You really won't go?"
Jade didn't move.
Soon, a group with torches and spears appeared from the grave side.
Lord Browne led them.
The mood was ferocious, like hunting a lion escaped from a cage.
Danell stepped back a bit, but Jade didn't budge from her spot.
Lord Browne held out a hand to stop the soldiers and approached Jade alone.
As Jade remembered, Browne wasn't yet fifty.
But in the torchlight, he looked thirty years older from the past three years.
He must have rushed straight from bed—pajamas, with only military boots.
Browne glared at Jade with bloodshot eyes as he approached.
Despite the lord's order not to approach, the soldiers crept forward and stopped about ten paces from Jade.
Five Boai slaves, five spearmen—ten in all.
'Probably three times that surrounding the graveyard.'
Browne said,
"What face do you show coming here?"
His voice held no strength; the chirping crickets around the graves nearly drowned it out.
Seeing that, Jade felt pity.
"I'm sorry."
"No need for apologies!"
As Browne drew near, one soldier said,
"My lord, don't approach. He's a demon mage."
"Quiet!"
Browne held out a hand to stop them.
Then he glared at Priest Danell.
"You too, step back, Priest Danell. Don't try protecting him this time. Even if it means killing a renowned priest of the Rom Priesthood and bringing a blood wind to Bompe, I'll cut your throat if you interfere."
"Understood."
Danell meekly retreated, vanishing into the graveyard shadows like he'd melted away.
Now only Jade and Browne remained before Michelle's grave.
"I want the truth, Jade."
Jade met the aged lord's eyes without flinching and said,
"You won't believe it. Might not even be able to handle it."
"For three years, I've hated you. But the more I did, the more my heart tore apart. If you were a bloodthirsty evil murderer or really a demon, it wouldn't be like this. I don't know how to accept this chaos. Neither do I, nor my wife!"
Browne grabbed Jade's collar with both hands.
It wasn't forceful—more like a cry or plea.
"I need the truth. How exactly my daughter died! Please, tell me."
Jade looked up at the night sky and said,
"It might put you in danger, my lord."
"Danger? What's danger? That I could die? That doesn't scare me. I fear only one thing. That my daughter might be burning in hellfire!"
"Michelle is dead."
"I know! That's why I'm asking how she died, how you killed her."
"Michelle didn't die the way you think. It was ordinary, maybe even painless."
Jade continued slowly.
"When I found Michelle, she was already dead."
Browne gasped.
"Tell me... in detail."
"Yes."
Jade spilled the truth that Browne had not wanted to know for the past three years, without holding back.
The old lord seemed to hold his breath the entire time.