East Road Quest

Chapter 81: Komora

Saph’s voice echoed faintly.

Jade opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a ceiling that seemed to be made of leather, but upon closer inspection, it was actually tree bark. It wasn’t a structure made of several pieces of bark joined together; it was one continuous piece, even forming a rounded dome shape.

Small oil lamps hung from the ceiling. Looking closely, it wasn’t oil that was burning, but rather a powder-like substance floating inside a glass bottle, emitting an orange glow.

The bed she lay on was unlike any she had experienced before—unusually soft. Wondering how such softness could be achieved with straw, she touched it and found it was just a square wooden plank. It was a soft, pliable wood.

Jade sat up in bed, and though the pain made her want to collapse back down, she resisted, fearing she might never get up again if she did.

Hearing Jade’s groan, Saph opened the door shaped like a leaf.

“Are you awake?”

Saph was dressed in clean white clothes with a headscarf that lightly covered only the top of her head. The clothes were slightly large but fit well without any strings or buttons—a unique and luxurious garment.

In contrast, Jade wore brown trousers and a brown shirt, which looked like they were mass-produced for a cloth doll.

“Where is this..?”

“The home of the Sage of the Dark Forest.”

“Sage?”

As Jade murmured, a young woman’s voice came from beyond the door.

“If you can walk, come out. We’ve been talking about you for a while.”

Jade mustered the strength to rise.

Saph supported her.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“About an hour.”

“Only that long? It felt like ten days…

Jade checked the bandage wrapped around her side. It was made of leaves, but it was tougher and tighter than any linen bandage she knew.

“You’ll have to eat bland porridge for a while. It will hurt every time you move. It’s the best we could do for your internal injuries.”

Saph spoke as if it were her own fault.

“How long is ‘a while’?” Jade asked.

“Maybe three days?”

“That’s it? I thought I’d be eating porridge for at least three years after a branch pierced my belly.”

The living room had three more lamps than the bedroom and was three times brighter. Although it was already night outside, it was as bright as day here.

At the wooden table in the living room sat an orc with dark skin and an elf with pale skin. Next to the large orc, the elf looked as thin as a stick and was exceedingly beautiful.

“If it weren’t for Saph’s treatment, you might have had to live like that for life, not just three years.”

Sage pointed to the seat next to her with a smile.

“Sit down. You have a lot to tell us.” Jade staggered to her seat, startled by the softness she felt beneath her. She had thought it was a chair carved from a round log, but it was as soft as the bed.

“What is this?”

“It’s a chair.”

Sage replied as if it were obvious.

“It feels like it’s made of cotton.”

“It’s carved from the branches of a Lerbong tree. Only the branches of an aged, dead Lerbong tree can give this texture. Lucky, isn’t it? If young Lerbong trees had this texture, even the elves who cherish the forest’s trees would have driven them to extinction.”

Sage poured tea from a brown teapot into a brown cup and offered it to Jade.

“Drink. It will soothe your stomach.”

Jade took a careful sip and was amazed.

“It smells wonderful.”

“It’s good for your body too. It helps remove toxins.”

At the mention of poison, Jade immediately thought of Ruby.

“Is Ruby alright?”

“We’ve treated her. But whether she’ll wake up, I’m not sure.”

At Sage’s response, Saph added,

“Hohm has stabilized. But Ducuboia’s poison can suddenly worsen and lead to death, even in such a peaceful state. So we can’t be sure yet.”

Jade wanted to check on Ruby immediately, but Sage preempted her.

“Now, shall we start the conversation? Heldra is probably advancing towards Taimon as we speak.”

“What should I talk about?”

Jade asked, slightly wary.

“We’ve been discussing what happened in the Kuman Plains.”

Saph said.

Jade asked sharply without realizing,

“How far did you get?”

Saph hesitated to answer, so Sage quickly said,

“Saph told us you’re a cleric of Caitlic who can wield the Light of Annihilation, Ruby is an angel who was trapped in the Red Desert for 500 years, and she herself is a priestess who can use the Light of Healing. You were on your way ‘somewhere’ for ‘something,’ and on the Kuman Plains, you eliminated a demon named Ramatus, known as the Goth King, and chased a tyrant to the Dark Forest. But she didn’t say why you were going ‘somewhere.'”

Jade nodded in acknowledgment.

“I may have been a bit harsh. Please forgive me. It’s not something to boast about,” said Merald in a deep and indifferent voice.

“It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do.”

Merald had been sipping tea since Jade entered the living room. His hands were so large that the cup he held looked twice the size of Jade’s, yet it seemed as if he was holding a cup meant for playing house.

“Your strength is needed, Jade. I must ask for your help.”

“I want to know exactly what situation we’re in, what we’ve gotten ourselves into.”

“Do I need to explain more than saving your life?”

Merald’s cold response was met with Sage’s laughter as she glared at him.

“Are you ordering me to blindly jump into some potentially fatal task just because you saved me?”

As Sage refilled Merald’s empty cup, she continued,

“Coercing help won’t get you sincere assistance. And a mage’s true power can’t be unleashed unless it comes from the heart.”

“I am not a mage,” Jade stated.

“Then let’s say you’re a warrior who wields the weapon of light,” Sage replied with a soft laugh, pressing Merald with a smile once more.

“Merald. Explain.”

“Just do it,” Merald grumbled before taking a sip of his tea. His manner of drinking tea was as elegant as a noble from Rome sipping wine, which made it all the more comical.

“We don’t have much time, so let’s get to the explanation. The Dark Forest has been peaceful for centuries.”

“Wasn’t it about three hundred years ago that the Roman Empire invaded?”

Jade inquired.

Merald snorted.

“That incident didn’t even reach Elforest. It was only Sage here and I who stopped them.”

“I didn’t do much back then. Don’t drag me into this,” Sage added, waving her hand dismissively.

“And the elves of Elforest aren’t completely unaware of it. After that incident, humans became fearful of the Dark Forest, cutting off all interaction. But the elves actually preferred it that way. They found it rather bothersome. Humans always brought trivial items, insisting on trading them for valuable goods.”

Jade wanted to ask more about the trade, but Merald quickly moved on to the next topic.

“The peace of the forest was shattered three years ago when Buffalord appeared. At first, we thought he was just a strange fellow. So, to figure him out, we lightly lodged a couple of arrows in his leg and arm.”

Merald’s hand came down forcefully as if to shatter the teacup, but when he placed it on the table, it hardly made a sound.

“He fled in that state. I had no choice but to drive an arrow into the back of his head, and even that didn’t kill him. Looking back, that was probably the last chance to kill him. Since then, he has never faced me directly. Not once in three years!”

Despite his large build and fierce appearance, his gestures and movements were gentle and dignified. His voice would occasionally rise, but it quickly calmed, returning to a low, steady tone.

It had been at least three years since Jade had heard the ancient language, Elvish, from Father Daniel. Suddenly digesting a long story wasn’t easy.

However, Merald’s pronunciation was as clear as a linguist’s, and his grammar was so precise that it could be featured in a textbook, which greatly helped Jade.

Sap seemed to agree, complimenting Merald during his speech.

“Merald’s voice and pronunciation are truly pleasant to listen to.”

Merald responded nonchalantly.

“Thank you,” said Sage with a chuckle. “Be careful. Merald has been quite the charmer, known to sway the hearts of many elves. Human hearts are likely no different, especially the young ladies. Once Merald befriends someone, he becomes incredibly affectionate.”

“I have several points I’d like to argue, but there’s no time, so let’s move on,” Merald glanced at Sage before continuing. “Since then, those very monsters you’ve seen began appearing throughout the forest. They started destroying the woods and killing the animals indiscriminately. Normally, I do not interfere with events in the Dark Forest as long as the ecosystem sustains itself. The natural law dictates that predators hunt prey, diseased animals become weaker and are consumed by rats, and corpses fertilize the forest. The souls of animals that die today will be purified and reborn in the future, possibly as herbivores or carnivores, or even insects…”

As Merald began to recite a lengthy philosophy, Sage interrupted him. “You say you don’t have time to refute my truth reveal, yet you have time to spout your uninteresting philosophy?”

Merald returned to the main topic. “But these creatures killed other animals without eating them and destroyed trees and ponds without purpose. They were not part of the forest. I began hunting them, but there was a problem.”

“They don’t die?” Jade asked.

“Exactly. I tried various methods. Some would die when beheaded, but others wouldn’t. Some survived even with arrows stuck in them like porcupines, while others died from mere strangulation…”

Merald crossed his arms and continued, his thick forearms imposing enough to intimidate Jade every time they moved.

“It would be one thing if there were only a few, but there were too many to experiment on individually. I had to find a common method to kill them. That’s why I sought help from Sage.”

Merald passed the conversation to Sage.

“The elves of Teymon also realized the gravity of the situation and came to me. They called these monsters ‘Komora’ and asked how to fight them.”

Sage continued at a frustratingly slow pace. “Ah, Teymon is an elven city about 90 ‘Shiphons’ from here. Just so you know, a Shiphon is the distance of 12 ‘Duors.’ A Duor is then 12 ‘Pons.'”

Merald retorted, “That explanation makes no sense to humans, old woman.”

“Then you explain it.”

“One Shiphon is about the distance a Champion can run in an hour.”

“That’s even more confusing. How would Jade and Saph know the distance a Champion runs in an hour if they’ve ridden one? Besides, they’re new to the Dark Forest, so they wouldn’t have a sense of distance.”

“There’s no need to know the exact unit!” Jade intervened as the two began to argue again.

“I should ask,” said Sage, crossing her arms and pointing at Merald with her chin.

“Ask him. If I explain, he’ll just criticize.”

“Criticize!”

Merald narrowed his eyes and glared. Jade found his expression frightening, but Sage seemed amused.

Jade said, “Let’s start with what ‘Komora’ is.”

Merald replied, “It’s not a name I gave. I just called them monsters. The mages of Teymon named them after they concluded that the creatures were transformed from existing animals, and now I use the same term.”

“Transformed from other animals… like the wild animals of the Kuman Plains.”

“It’s like feeding an ordinary animal some sort of bead to turn it into a monster. I discovered a Komora factory of sorts in one corner of the Dark Forest and destroyed it a month ago. But it was already too late. By then, Heldra had been completed. That factory was essentially a Heldra production lab from the start.”

Jade nodded and continued to inquire.

“What’s a Shiphon?”

“A Shiphon is the range of the roots of a Shiphon tree. The Shiphon tree is a tree in the north of Elforest, so ancient and large that there are myths about its existence since the beginning of time.”

Merald scratched his chin and elaborated.

“Let’s see, in human distance units, it’s probably about a third of a mile. Yes, that’s the right explanation. One Shiphon is a third of a mile.”

“And a Duor?”

“The diameter of a Shiphon tree. Twelve Duors make one Shiphon.”

“So one Pon is one-twelfth of a Duor?”

“Correct.”

Merald nodded emphatically.

Sage interjected with an explanation.

“In ancient times, one Shiphon was the height of a Shiphon tree, about four Duors. However, after mathematicians of the time discovered that the tree’s diameter precisely matched one-twelfth of the range of its roots, the unit was changed.”

Merald quietly fumed.

“That’s too much information for someone just learning. The old woman always expands the story!”

“There’s no such thing as precise information in the world. And although the Shiphon tree has stopped growing, its size does change slightly over time, growing or shrinking.”

“A unit is ultimately a social agreement. If that’s what’s been decided, then just follow it. And unless Jade had lived in elven society for years, getting into the minutiae like the old woman will only lead to frustration before even learning. It’s like studying grammar before even learning to listen to a foreign language.”

“Oh, look at this one. If I talked about the ecology and myths of the Shiphon tree, he’d probably strangle me!”

Sage turned away in a huff, and Jade asked again.

“Seeing that ‘Campion runs for an hour,’ does that mean time is measured in the same units as ours? Base 12 and base 60?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Ancient human traders always used base 12 when dealing with elves. Even then, time was divided into 12 hours twice a day, and an hour into 60 minutes, just as currency was. It’s actually strange that you, who use base 10, still measure time in base 12.”

“As you said, it’s a social convention. Now I understand it all.”

Jade nodded, indicating for the story to continue.

Merald asked in a moment of confusion.

“How far did I get in the story?”

“You were asking Sage about how to kill a Komora.”

Jade chimed in.

Merald reflected for a moment and then said.

“…Even Sage couldn’t find anything in the end.”

At that, Sage burst out angrily.

“To summarize my many efforts and concerns so briefly! You talked about how many arrows you shot while fighting the Buffalord!”

Merald also became angry.

“What do you want me to do? Explain the process of experimenting with the principle of a Komora rabbit’s head and neck moving separately by cutting and reattaching them, all while covered in blood?”

“At least you should mention that other mages from Taimon couldn’t find a way either and came to me, and if I don’t know, then no one in the elf world does. Otherwise, these kids will think I’ve done nothing.”

“You actually did nothing.”

“That’s not true! The fact that it can’t be killed is a significant experimental result. It means it’s not a normal life form! But someone like you, who only knows fighting, wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”

Jade sided with Sage.

“It’s quite simple from a human perspective. It’s a demon, so it’s not a normal life form… like this.” At Jade’s words, Sage laughed brightly.

“Yes. That’s what I wanted to say.”

Merald ignored them and concluded.

“Demons, Komoras, whatever! It’s just a difference in the names we call them. Our conclusion was one and the same. Burning. If completely incinerated, all Komoras died. At least none have resurrected from the ashes so far.”

“Poison was also possible.”

Sage pointed towards the bedroom where Ruby lay and said.

“If Ruby’s wound from the Dukuboas’ poison is soaked for about an hour, it could dissolve a Komora frog.”

“The problem is the size of the Komoras. If it’s the size of a rabbit or a wolf, my magic arrows can burn them to some extent. But as you’ve experienced, even something the size of a Rhinodon is difficult with just one arrow.”

At Merald’s words, Jade asked.

“Didn’t you burn the tyrant?”

“Several arrows were needed. And there’s a limit to how many arrows one can carry. They also take a long time to make. But the problem is that there aren’t just one or two Komoras the size of a Rhinodon. We needed a different weapon.”

Sage took over the conversation.

“After I discovered that Komoras are ‘demons,’ I found one method. According to ancient documents, a demon’s weapon can kill another demon.”

Saph asked cautiously.

“If it’s a weapon used by demons… like the scythe that Buffalord carries?”

“I don’t know. He had more than just a chain scythe, and not all of them seemed to be the ‘demon’s weapons’ that Granny mentioned.”