East Road Quest

Chapter 39 Flower

“Why is ‘flower’ considered a curse?”

Jade asked while flipping through the book.

Ruby, with a look of wonder, observed the book closely. Her face was still close enough to touch it, unchanged even after her recent bout of crying. She had recovered quickly, and aside from the tear stains, there was no sign she had cried at all. Her behavior remained the same as before the tears.

“Could it be that ‘flower’ is a curse among the angels?”

“No. For angels, the most insulting curse is ‘demon.’ If you say, ‘You demon!’ you better be prepared to die. It’s the opposite for demons. ‘Live in the dung heap of heaven!’ is one of their worst insults. Well, that’s as far as I know.”

“So, ‘dung’ is a curse for demons too.”

“Everyone poops.”

Ruby giggled like a child.

After scanning several pages, Jade shook her head.

“This isn’t it.”

“Hurry up and find it. My neck is killing me.”

Ruby scratched at her neck where the shackle was attached.

“I’ve waited five hundred years. Just wait a little longer. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since I started using this book’s passages for something other than demon annihilation.”

As Jade turned another page, she asked,

“So why do you curse with ‘flower’? Don’t you remember that either?”

“Hey, do you even analyze the etymology when you curse? Just find it!”

Jade shrugged and opened another page.

“I think I found it. But I’m not sure if this will release the shackles.”

Ruby scanned the page Jade held out.

Jade asked out of curiosity,

“Does this look like a bible to you, or a book of magic?”

“Obviously, it looks like a book of magic.”

“I thought so. Can you read it?”

“I can’t pronounce it, but I can read it. However, reading it doesn’t cast any magic. I once heard from the wizard who wrote this book that it’s something you’re born with, not something you learn.”

Ruby looked away from the book and said,

“Can all angels use this book of magic?”

Now, Jade didn’t feel awkward calling it a book of magic anymore.

“Quite a few angels use the magic of light, but not all can use it. Though, angels don’t need to read from a book like you or other human wizards when they cast light magic.”

Ruby, scratching under the skin where the wrist shackle was, suggested,

“Anyway, give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we can try another passage, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll keep trying more. It’s inefficient, but if you’re not familiar with it, that’s the only way.”

“Stretch out your hand.”

After Jade read the passage, she extended her hand, glowing with light. The light was absorbed by the shackles on her wrists, ankles, and neck without direct contact. First, the wrist shackles released with a clanking sound, followed by the ankle shackles.

“Ah, it seems to work. That was easy!”

Jade exclaimed with joy.

However, the neck shackle, unlike the wrist and ankle shackles, turned black as it absorbed the light.

The neck shackle didn’t release; instead, it began to tighten.

“Uh, what, what is this, what’s happening…”

Ruby pushed Jade away and retreated.

Jade fell backward, hitting her head hard, but she got up immediately without feeling any pain. The light had vanished from Jade’s hand, but Ruby’s shackles continued to tighten around her neck.

“Why is this happening?”

Jade checked the passage again.

‘Did I read it wrong? No, the wrist and ankle shackles released. So, the neck shackle tightening must also be part of the process.’

The black shackle kept tightening around Ruby’s neck.

“Uh, this, this… stop…”

Ruby weakly knelt, unable to struggle.

“Wait a moment. There must be a passage to cancel this…”

Though she said that, nothing came to mind. She was confident she had memorized every passage and page of the book since she had it, but application was a completely different realm.

Ruby, unable to bear the pain, lay face down on the ground. Drool dripped from her open mouth, and her face turned pale.

Inside, Jade repeated to herself, ‘Stay calm,’ while she kept thinking.

‘I read the opening passage backward to close the temple’s door.’

Hoping the same formula would work, Jade read the passage she had used to unlock the shackles backward. Light formed in her palm again.

Once more, without touching them, the shackles absorbed the light. The neck shackle changed from black back to silver and returned to its original size.

Ruby, who had been clutching at the shackles and writhing, finally exhaled. Then, the four shackles that had fallen to the ground snapped back onto Ruby’s wrists and ankles with a clanking sound.

‘The five shackles operate with one passage. If the wrist and ankle shackles release, the neck tightens, and if the neck returns to normal, the wrist and ankle shackles lock again… there’s no way to release them!’

Jade approached Ruby with concern and asked,

“Are you okay…?”

At that moment, Ruby lunged at Jade, knocking her down and raising her fist above her chest. The small fist, capable of breaking rocks, struck powerfully next to Jade’s face.

The red sandy ground crumbled, covering Jade’s face. It was as if a landslide had occurred right beside her cheek.

“1키.그.”

O T그 .

Ruby, panting heavily, asked,

“…What have you done?”

“It wasn’t intentional!”

Jade, brushing the sand off her face, replied hastily.

Ruby aimed her fist at Jade’s face.

“I almost died just now!”

“I didn’t know that would happen.”

Ruby, still holding her fist up, took deep breaths.

Jade looked up into his eyes and said,

“I’m sorry.”

“Shut up, you flower.”

Ruby stroked her neck and stood up.

Jade also stood, shaking off the remaining dirt from her face.

“These five shackles seem to be linked by one passage. With the wrist and ankle ones…

“I can see that much without an explanation. That’s enough. Don’t do it again.”

“Why? If we try a few times, we might find a way to unlock just the wrists and ankles. If it doesn’t work, we can immediately read the reverse passage…

“No. It’s too risky. You weren’t even sure if you could cancel the magic midway just now.”

“But still…”

“Who on earth taught you magic? A teacher is more important than anything else in magic!”

“It was Father Daniel.”

“What a flowery name without substance! Who is he? I’ll give him a piece of my mind when I meet him!”

“He is… someone you cannot meet.” Jade did not want to say that he was dead. He didn’t want to believe it either.

Jade didn’t want to dwell on the topic, so he picked up a book and said, “There’s another passage here with a similar meaning. It might also unravel something…”

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to experience that pain for even one more second. Wait a minute!”

Ruby suddenly stepped back a few paces, then glared at Jade with eyes full of wariness, no, filled with murderous intent.

“Come to think of it, you could kill me anytime with that magic, couldn’t you?”

“There’s no need for that. By that logic, you could kill me anytime too.”

“That’s obvious.”

“And the opposite isn’t?”

“Does that make any sense? That you, of all people, could kill me?”

Jade asked with a smirk.

“Are you scared of me right now?”

“I’m not scared, you sprouting seed!”

“Then shall we try again? Reading the passage backward just now loosened the constriction, so doing it one more time might loosen the shackles around the neck, right?”

Ruby did not let go of her suspicious gaze.

“I won’t do it. There’s no guarantee it will work, and who knows what side effects there might be. For example, this time the shackles might tighten around my wrists or ankles!”

“That’s possible. We won’t know until we try. But you were the one who said we have no choice but to try, even if it’s inefficient.”

“Forget it, you flowerhead! I’ll stay like this. It’s not particularly uncomfortable. I’d rather ask a dwarf to undo it later than ask you.”

Jade examined Ruby’s neck and said, “The shackles you wear weaken you. That was the stake when the dwarf made the bet, remember?”

“Didn’t you see me fight well earlier? I’m not bothered by it.”

“You fainted in front of the temple once. That could be an aftereffect of the shackles.”

“That was just dizziness from suddenly waking up after 500 years.”

“You said wearing shackles is humiliating, didn’t you?”

Ruby, as if to show off, made all the shackles and chains transparent.

“If you can’t see them, it’s fine!”

Jade wondered if this too was a kind of magic.

“Just try this passage…

“Stop it! If I say I won’t, I won’t!”

“You’re so stubborn.”

“Now you get it, you flowerhead!”

Ruby was about to hurl more insults but turned around.

“Huh? Was there one still alive?”

About a hundred steps away from where they stood, a monster that looked like a half-buried frog in the sand was rising to its feet.

The creature had a tail, uncharacteristic of a frog, which was regenerating back to its original state, while its half-destroyed head was also healing.

Opening its mouth wide, the creature let out a sound akin to a trumpet blast, echoing loudly enough to be heard miles away.

“They’re summoning their comrades. So, the one that just appeared isn’t the only one? Since when did the Red Desert become overrun with demons?”

“I only realized the extent of the situation upon arriving here myself.”

“Is this related to someone named Poe? Do you truly have no idea who that is?”

“Until this ordeal began, I hadn’t even heard the name.”

Just like before, the sand exploded, and six monstrous demons, similar in size and grotesque form, burst from the ground, surrounding Jade and Ruby. They shook off the dirt and stones heavily laden on their heads as they looked around.

“Where are you, where?”

“Hey, Sand Frog. Why have you ended up like this?”

“The foolish Sand Frog has met a foolish end.”

Each demon mocked the frog-like monster, which had been bested by Ruby. The creature known as Sand Frog burst out in anger.

“Don’t let your guard down. Beware of the red-haired one. He alone has killed more than ten of us. He’s the one who turned me into this, and you could be next.”

Ruby asked with a tone of delight, as if pleased to be able to fight again, “Why does that big-mouthed one repeat everything twice? Is he unsure about his own pronunciation?”

Meanwhile, Jade was too engrossed in opening a book to pay attention.

Sand Frog shouted, “It’s Poe’s command. That blond one is Jade! Jade! Kill all but his head, we need it as proof for Poe.”

Like children rushing to the cafeteria at mealtime…

Monsters swarmed in all at once.

Ruby chuckled, swinging the chains that hung from her wrists with force.

“Hey, Jade, just like we did before. Got it?”

Jade lay flat on the ground. In that moment, a whooshing sound of wind passed over his head. The chains ensnared a monster on each side. The boy then wrapped the monsters with the chains and flung them away. The creatures toppled over, swept up by the body of their comrade.

“Ah, that’s right!”

Ruby exclaimed out of nowhere.

“What is?”

Jade asked, wondering if something dangerous had happened.

“I remembered why I curse with flowers.”

Ruby yanked one creature closer with the chain and then smashed its face with her fist. The monster’s face shattered with a sound as loud as a cannon, and flesh splattered around Jade.

“What does that have to do with anything right now?”

Jade cursed.

“You’re the one who asked?”

As Ruby whipped the chain, it sliced through the waist of an oncoming monster. The severed upper body fell to the ground, but the lower half kept charging. Ruby swung the chain again, severing the legs in two.

“I met a girl. She was incredibly delicate and frail, a noble child with a terminal illness. But unluckily, she was captured by a demon. So, when I caught the demon to save her, it cursed at me like this. ‘You shithead, you reek of shit, so I’ll smear my shit on your head!’”

The chains continued to move as if alive, decapitating two more monsters. One of the severed heads landed in front of Jade.

Looking up, he saw black blood spread everywhere, with flesh strewn about.

‘It’s not any less shocking the second time around.’

Jade felt like vomiting.

Ruby kept talking.

“So I said, ‘Then I’ll—”

After snapping the reed, Ruby shoved it down the creature’s throat, ensuring it couldn’t reach the stomach by strangling it. “I’ll make it go in and out of your throat!” she retorted fiercely. And she did just that, returning the insult with action.

The remaining two monsters, seeing their comrades fall so effortlessly, hesitated to advance. Seizing the moment, Ruby ensnared both with her chains and yanked them towards her.

Despite their resistance, the monsters were no match for Ruby’s strength. Amidst the struggle, Ruby continued her tale.

“But can you believe this ungrateful brat had the nerve to curse at me?” she fumed. “Does it make sense? I saved his life, and he’s worried about curses? After that, the girl doggedly followed me, vowing to reform me from cursing. You know how persistent she was? Claiming she had only a year to live, she survived until she grew taller than me and became the village’s beauty—all to stop me from cursing! Such determination. Makes me wonder if she was ever sick in the first place.”

With a swift motion, Ruby pounded the two subdued monsters with her fists, their heads now a crumpled mess, twitching in futile resistance. She then struck their chests with equal force.

When one still showed signs of life, she hit again, and finally, both lay still.

“But one day, out of the blue, the kid died,” Ruby recounted, her voice tinged with mockery. “Not from some incurable disease, but a cold. Ridiculous! I gave her animal skins and enough firewood to fill a hundred carts so she wouldn’t catch a cold, but she didn’t use them. Why? Because she was foolish!”

Ruby’s voice broke into a sniffle as she continued.

“Before she died, she cast aside her family and called only for me, leaving a will. You know what it said? ‘Don’t curse.’ That’s all. Talk about persistence.”

With the new monsters slain, only the sand frog that had summoned its comrades remained.

“I told her I couldn’t give up cursing, even if it was her dying wish,” Ruby said. “So she suggested I say ‘flowers’ instead of curses. And then she died. Cowardly! What could I do? I had to honor her wish. At that moment, I became entirely ‘flowers.’”

Ruby hurled her chain at the sand frog. It flew like an arrow, piercing the creature’s forehead, through its belly, and out the other side.

“At first, it felt strange, but I got used to it and even became thankful to her. Because now, my curses have become more creative.”

As Ruby retracted the chain, it swiftly coiled around her wrist, stained with the demon’s black blood.

From the sand frog’s punctured head, black blood spurted out. It collapsed slowly to the ground, motionless.

“See? A trivial story,” Ruby said, wiping her nose.

Jade rose from her seat, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah. Trivial.”

“She was indeed persistent.”

“Definitely persistent.”

“I tell you! I felt so relieved when she died. If I had known, I wouldn’t have bothered getting her medicine.”

Ruby spoke with a hint of regret.

Jade decided to ignore the tears welling up in Ruby’s eyes.