Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Chaos of Memories
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A massive bug crawled past Saf.
Saf reflexively leaped backward. And of all places, she tripped over a tree root growing right there, lost her balance, and fell. The spot where she landed had a pit dug out, and her lower body sank deep into the hole filled with fallen leaves.
Saf stared blankly down at the embarrassing and absurd incident that had just happened to her.
Ruby, watching Saf's comedic flailing from up in the tree, stopped himself from laughing. If he laughed at her deliberate attempt to be funny, it might make her feel like she'd lost.
So he asked in a serious tone.
"Did you just fall on purpose to make me laugh?"
"No!"
Saf tried to climb out on her own, but every place she put her hands sank deep into the leaves, and she couldn't get any leverage.
It wasn't a dangerous situation at all, and watching her struggle alone was amusing, so Ruby just watched without helping.
"You're supposed to be a child of luck, but up close, you seem ridiculously unlucky."
Ruby asked.
"Now that you mention it, it reminds me—I think something similar happened not long ago. I dodged a carriage, but landed right in a puddle of mud."
"Ooh, tell me the details. Sounds fun."
"No way. It's not a good memory, and you'd just use it to tease me."
Saf planted her hands again, only for them to sink in, and she flailed in frustration.
Meruld spotted the scene but was already twenty steps ahead and didn't bother turning back. He seemed to judge it wasn't dangerous either.
"Grab my hand."
Jade stood carefully at the edge of the pit and extended his hand.
Ruby anticipated the two of them holding hands, only to fall in together, and braced himself not to laugh. But when it didn't happen, he was disappointed.
Jade barely managed to pull Saf out and asked.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
She brushed the dirt and leaves off her pants while eyeing the pit she'd fallen into.
Saf seemed more upset about her dirty pants than almost getting hurt.
"That was close. The leaves hid it completely."
Saf pulled her hood back up to cover her horns and said.
"We should only step where Meruld stepped."
"I was trying to, but that thing..."
Jade finally noticed the bug belatedly and jumped in surprise.
Ruby figured that if Jade had spotted the bug first instead of Saf, he'd have done the exact same ridiculous dance.
"Never mind the weirdness—it's huge."
Jade said.
It was the size of a large dog, but slender and long, making it hard to distinguish legs from body.
The bug moved slowly, then stabbed its needle-like mouth into a tree root. It stayed fixed there as if it would never move again. If you hadn't seen it moving, you'd mistake it for part of the tree.
"That's the 'Phasmaki Beetle,' and it's a plant."
Meruld waited for Jade and Saf to catch up and explained.
"A plant? You just called it a bug."
Jade asked.
"It's just got 'beetle' in the name—it's a plant. A parasitic one that sucks sap from other trees."
"But it moves—how's that a plant?"
Saf asked, giving the Phasmaki Beetle a wide berth.
"If you cut it in half, you see vascular tissue, not organs."
At Meruld's answer, Jade said dubiously.
"Still doesn't make sense. It moves, that's a fact. That pointy proboscis could stab a person."
"Ah, good eye. Elves have stabbed sleeping ones, mistaking them for trees."
"So it's dangerous?"
"It doesn't usually happen, so no need to worry. If you chew the branches, they taste quite sweet, so they're used in candy a lot. Want me to cut some off?"
Meruld drew his dagger and asked.
"I'm all for trying new things on the road, but not this!"
Jade refused firmly. He glanced at Saf, who shook her head vigorously, nearly dislodging her hood again.
Ruby had already spotted another Phasmaki Beetle sucking sap on a different tree, snapped off one of its 'legs,' and popped it in his mouth to chew—before Meruld even offered.
"Tastes real enough."
The Phasmaki Beetle didn't flee even with its leg severed; it just stayed put.
Jade watched with interest and said.
"If it doesn't move even then, it does seem like a plant."
"I remember reading about it in a plant compendium."
Ruby mumbled around his chewing mouth.
"The scholar who wrote it had the same question. If a plant moves, is it an animal or a plant? If plants start eating animals, aren't they beyond the plant realm?"
"So what's the conclusion?"
"Don't remember that far."
"Huh."
Jade muttered insincerely.
Meruld, ten steps ahead, spoke up.
"I didn't expect Saf to freak out that much over something like this. From now on, I'll warn you ahead about scary plants, so don't panic over anything I don't point out. Just follow my path."
Meruld pointed to a cluster of spotted mushrooms growing five steps away.
"Oh, steer clear of those. Touch them, and your skin turns black and you die in about four days."
Saf shuddered, her face expressionless.
Ruby analyzed Meruld's words and said.
"Don't panic over things I don't point out...? Hmm, looks like Meruld tried a joke and no one laughed."
"Which part was the joke?"
Jade asked, looking up at Ruby hanging from the tree.
Saf looked clueless too.
Ruby pondered while dangling, then gave up explaining.
"I've realized over the last few days—your sense of humor doesn't match mine."
Ruby was traversing branches about five steps up.
Sometimes swinging like a monkey between them.
It was easier to protect the two this way.
Just now, he could've helped Saf when she tripped. If it'd been a cliff, he'd have thrown his chain without hesitation. He just didn't because it wasn't dangerous.
"Have you ever even joked with me enough to figure out our humor doesn't match?"
Jade asked as he followed Meruld.
"Want one now? This was passing through a village—500 years ago, of course."
Ruby dangled upside down, propelling himself toes-only between trees.
"The village had a greedy lord who overcharged travelers tolls. I didn't know, stepped onto the bridge. The guard says, 'You pay toll for every step you take crossing this bridge!'"
"Strange system."
"So I confirm if it's 'foot' steps, he says yes, so I handstand across using my hands. Guard chases, says now it's per hand placement. I argue I said foot-steps, why change to 'hand-steps'? He says foot-steps just means any unit you use to cross, doesn't matter how. Horse? Count hooves. Cart? Multiply wheel turns."
"Getting complicated. So what'd you do? You didn't pay quietly."
"Smashed the bridge, leaped the river in one step. Then yelled, 'How much for that?'"
As soon as Ruby finished, Saf said.
"You destroyed the village's precious bridge? The people must've suffered years rebuilding it."
"That's not the point!"
Ruby eyed Jade's reaction hopefully.
"The guard ran off, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then he wasn't shocked by your idea—just your strength."
"...Ugh, flowerbeds! You really think different."
Ruby flipped upright and climbed back onto the tree.
Jade shrugged and walked to where Meruld stood.
Meruld glanced up at Ruby with an odd expression, cleared his throat a few times, and hurried on.
'Huh? That guy held back a laugh at my story!'
The ones he wanted to laugh didn't, and the one he didn't care about did—Ruby felt weird.
*
Ruby knew from experience and knowledge how short human lifespans were.
Unlike angels who scorned finite lives amid their infinity, Ruby had lived rubbing shoulders with humans. So he knew well how staggeringly long 500 years was to them.
To humans, 500 years ago was 'history.' To Ruby, it was 'memory.'
Some memories lingered no matter the time; others yielded to new ones and faded.
Ruby was now confused by the clash between 'lingering memories' and 'new experiences.'
A century was long for him; 500 years, even more.
To stop recent adventures with Jade overwriting old ones, Ruby consciously recalled 500-year-old memories. Now they were overwriting the recent ones instead.
The turning point was waking from Ducuboa's poison stupor.
He confused whether Jade freeing him from the red desert's Baifel Temple came before or after rising from Sage's cabin bed to scold Buffalo tormenting Saf...
Time orders mixed up like that weren't just one or two.
For Ruby, replaying memories was as precise as time-traveling back. That made it worse.
For example, the 'bridge-smashing toll' story from earlier felt like yesterday—so recent it seemed more so than chasing the tyrant across Kuman Plains guided by Kun nomads.
Recent memories pushed back made meeting Sage feel centuries ago, not recent.
Muddled chronology made past reflections feel like future predictions.
Like this.
He recalls two days ago.
Recalling too vividly, Ruby unwittingly returns to that 'two days ago.'
That situation becomes 'now' in the delusion.
Then he can predict tomorrow perfectly. Of course—he'd already experienced that 'tomorrow' as 'yesterday.'
Thus, reconstructing future events as past turned his Kaulking encounter from 'plan' or 'fantasy' into 'memory.'
In the memory, Ruby clashes with Kaulking in some gloomy ancient city.
He endlessly punches bare-fisted, chains and batters the neck. But attacks give Kaulking no shock.
Kaulking's fists and axe hit every swing; each lands huge impact on Ruby.
Ruby falls, can't rise. Kaulking approaches, axe raised.
Ruby knows but can't dodge.
Final downward strike splits Ruby's body in two.
Ruby dies...
After experiencing death, Ruby awoke in the memory.
He was still hanging from the tree; below, Saf and Jade walked the forest path, discussing seriously which part of Ruby's 'recent' bridge story was funny.
'Hmm, daydreaming again.'
Even replaying the Kaulking fight 'memory,' Ruby scanned surroundings, guarding Jade and Saf.
'Can't get confused. That death to Kaulking was just timid imagination contagion from those two. I can't see the future.'
After the Phasmaki Beetle, they passed more ambiguous plant-bug creatures, but Jade and Saf didn't ask.
Ruby, walking treetops, spotted more but ignored them.
To shake useless worries, Ruby tried not thinking of dying to Kaulking. Instead, he focused on fretting over Jade and Saf.
'No flat ground worth calling a path. Those two'll tire.'
Rocks were mountain-sized; oaks gripped them with roots making pebbles look tiny. Trees so huge one root crossing felt like mountaineering for Jade and Saf.
They preferred breezing through most things but accepted Ruby's forest help.
'Without Meruld, even with my aid, 10 schiphons (Author's note: roughly 5 kilometers) would've taken a day each.'
Meruld never faltered, always choosing paths easy for Saf and Jade. Still, Jade struggled.
After a while, Ruby's mind wandered again.
Ruby gave up, letting 90% of focus battle memory chaos, using 10% to guard Jade and Saf.
Meruld handled the rest anyway.
Even at night rests, Meruld always stood watch.
Ruby assisting from trees sufficed.
"I could watch for a bit—how about it? Ruby's here too."
Jade's voice rose from below the tree.
Ruby wandered his fifth 'death' to Kaulking before snapping to present. Realizing 'now' took a few seconds.
"Two days since leaving the cabin, and I haven't seen you sleep once. You okay?"
Jade asked.
"Don't think a Darkwood Warden job is done sleeping."
Meruld refused in cold tone.
"Never thought that. But even Wardens sleep, right? Battles take huge energy—better non-fighter like me watches."
Jade matched Meruld's chill.
"Watching isn't just staying awake. You know zero about forest threats. Proper response to sudden events? Impossible for you."
Meruld pointed treetops.
"Incidents need me and Ruby above moving together. You watching? No."
Ruby silently agreed.
"Waste of breath. Got it."
Jade nodded curtly, icy.
Truthfully, Ruby could've solo-watched even if Meruld slept. Normally he'd snap, 'Sleep or not, don't care—I'll handle anything!' But he let it go.
Ruby couldn't focus 100%. Sleepiness was real. But he didn't sleep—too much prior rest made it tedious.
"Sleep deep. You're my precious..."
Meruld chose words carefully, then continued.
"...mage."
Jade caught the hesitation.
"Did you just say 'precious tool'?"
Jade's sharp glare was visible even to distant Ruby.
"...Was gonna say 'precious weapon.' Skipped the bad phrasing, but you nailed it. Ruthless on jokes too..."
"Huh? Jokes?"
"After the Phasmaki Beetle... Never mind. Arm okay? Seems to bother you moving."
"No hindrance, but feels off—like a tooth not hurting but something stuck between."
"No other pains? Can't move at crucial moment—that's disaster."
Jade smirked.
"Precious treatment."
"Because you are. Now sleep. Don't worry me."
Jade reluctantly returned, lay by Saf.
"Yep, Meruld's earlier line was a joke."
Jade whispered to Saf.
"Good to try understanding elf-orc culture, but drop the joke talk now."
Saf's sleepy voice melted into the forest quiet.
Ruby replayed dying to Kaulking once more. Died again.
'Impossible. Kaulking? Die to that flowery-named punk? Not memory. Not foresight. Just my pollen-dropping timid delusion.'
Ruby flung drowsy gaze east. His vision—farther than human, elf, hawk—spotted slow night wind carrying creepy fog.
'Perfect night for ambush. Need more focus. Before I die to Kaulking, those two dying to small-fry demons? More embarrassing?'
Unconsciously, Ruby's eyes blazed red.
'I'm an angel. Angels can't be embarrassed. Angels can't die to demons. If dying, it's Kaulking!'