The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 2 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Kotaro Arrives

The men and women who were summoned to this world, including Asahi, were brought to a room in sector six of the castle. Everyone aside from Asahi was being compliant... or rather, they seemed to be watching how the situation would play out, afraid of what would become of them.

In front of them stood Jade, his expression stern. By his side were his main aides—Euclase, Finn, Claus, and Agate.

Jade was actually close to tearing his hair out. Although Joshua had told him the details behind their summoning, he wanted to hear the story from Asahi and her friends’ perspective and attempted to establish a dialogue. But no matter what he asked, he was met with the same replies.

“Where’s Ruri-chan? Give back Ruri-chan.”

Due to that, the conversation went absolutely nowhere.

Only one of them knew that the “Ruri” Asahi referred to was the feline Ruri. Neither Jade nor anyone else assumed they were actually one and the same, simply thinking they shared the same name. Because of that, all Jade could do was deny Asahi’s claims. Considering that the nation never kidnapped anyone, Jade probably would have denied her claims even if he did know about Ruri.

Despite politely explaining to her that they didn’t know who she was talking about and that they hadn’t kidnapped or brainwashed anyone, Asahi wouldn’t believe them. She apparently was treated with the utmost hospitality in Nadasha, which made her reluctance to believe somewhat understandable, but even with that in consideration, Asahi’s inability to comprehend was utterly atrocious. The other four were also skeptical, but they seemed to have their doubts about Nadasha. Asahi, however, was the only one to remain firm in her disbelief. She was convinced that Nadasha wouldn’t possibly do anything to put themselves at a disadvantage.

Asahi wouldn’t listen to what Jade had to say, but she wanted them to listen to what she had to say. Suffice to say, this only made Jade tense his brows more and more. The aides in attendance were equally exasperated, even if their expressions didn’t reflect it.

“...I believe that is enough, don’t you, Your Majesty?” advised Euclase, sounding annoyed.

“Yes, I agree. I feel any more of this would be pointless. We’ve already applied a magic seal in place for the time being, so why don’t we try resuming this conversation when the effects of Bewitch magic have worn off on the other four?” Claus said, agreeing with Euclase.

“Good point. Finn, take them away,” Jade said, deciding that he had run out of patience for this discussion.

Finn breathed a sigh, possibly out of relief, and immediately complied to Jade’s orders. He approached Asahi and her crew, but as soon as he did...

“Wait, what about Ruri-chan?!”

“You don’t believe what we’re telling you, correct? In your mind, dragonkin are the villains. So why do you think the villains would comply with any demands you might have?” Euclase retorted in a snarky manner.

Taken aback, anger filled Asahi’s eyes as she snapped back, “Then you do admit that you brainwashed her!”

The king and his aides all let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.

Euclase simply put their palm to their face and shook their head, fed up and exhausted.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

The Nation of the Dragon King managed to safely repel the Nadashian invasion, and now Jade and his aides were busy with cleaning up the aftermath. They were so busy, in fact, that they needed all the help they could get, be it man, woman, or even cat—not that a cat would provide much help, all things considered.

Ruri, the resident feline, wanted to be in Jade’s office so she could gain some information about Asahi and the others. She was extremely curious about their fate going forward, but the royal office was far too hectic. She decided to do some sunbathing with Rin and the spirits instead, so as not to disturb their business.

Suddenly, a shadow descended over Ruri. Considering she was in the garden in the first sector of the castle, there shouldn’t have been anything higher to cast a shadow. She looked up, perplexed. There, she saw the belly of a creature with white fur—a creature that was dropping straight at her.

“Unyaaah!” Ruri screamed in a panic. It was going to slam right into her! Or so she thought. Despite the fact that the white creature was falling from high in the sky, it gently landed in the garden without so much as a sound or crash.

The being in question was a wolf with long, snow-white fur. Ruri was caught breathless by the giant wolf, who was bigger than Ruri even in human form.

Several questions ran through her mind. What was a wolf doing here, of all places? Why did it have a big bag tied around its neck? And more importantly—would she end up in this creature’s belly?

Ruri started to back away slowly, but the wolf tilted its canine head in a perplexed manner. For a second, she thought it was a cute gesture, but then she remembered she was dealing with a wolf and refocused herself. If she showed any weakness, it would come attacking her.

However, unlike the wary Ruri, Rin fluttered her way over to the wolf unafraid.

“Rin, don’t!”

“Oh? But it’s fine. It’s just Kotaro.”

“...Huh? It’s Kotaro?” Ruri asked, looking over in disbelief at the white wolf, gleefully wagging its tail.

“Uh-huh, I am Kotaro. I’m finally here to see you, Ruri.”

“He talked!” Ruri exclaimed in surprise.

“Well, of course he talks,” Rin quipped in reply. “And, in fact, him not being able to talk was what was odd. I explained it to you, didn’t I?”

“Because he was using a body that was outside his own elemental attribute, right? I do remember. I really do, but it’s still a really big shock to the system...” When Ruri had last seen him, Kotaro was only capable of bmooing. It made it difficult to communicate, so seeing him suddenly speak to her in intelligible language threw her off guard.

Since their heights were now on opposite ends of the spectrum, Ruri had to look up at Kotaro to speak to him. “Erm, well, welcome back, Kotaro,” Ruri greeted, no longer afraid since she knew it was Kotaro.

Kotaro ended up dropping to his stomach in order to match Ruri’s eye level. “Good to be back, Ruri. Well? I searched the entire world to find a soft and fluffy body. Is it to your liking?”

Ruri circled around Kotaro, getting a look at him while thinking about how refreshing it was to have a conversation directly instead of using the spirits as an intermediary like before. His long, snow-white fur looked fluffy and extremely comfortable. When she actually laid paws on it, it was soft and smooth.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Ruri glomped Kotaro’s body and fell into a coat of fluffy fur. Kotaro’s body was pretty meaty, so she didn’t hit any bones. Instead, she was met with a soft and indescribable sense of comfort.

Ruri would love to make this the bed for her afternoon naps. Kotaro’s body temperature felt so warm through his coat. She felt as if she would conk out if she were to lie down against him.

“This is heaven...”

Realizing that Ruri was happy, Kotaro’s emotions swelled to the max and he wagged his tail without any hesitation.

“It seems you were able to meet Ruri, too, Water.”

“I’m not Water anymore. I’m Rin,” Rin said, declaring her name, loud and proud.

“Rin, is it? That’s a fine name.”

“I know, isn’t it? ...By the way, what is that you’ve been lugging around?” Rin asked.

Ruri had been wondering the same thing for a while now. She walked away from Kotaro and turned her attention to the cloth-wrapped bundle around his neck.

“A present for Ruri,” said Kotaro, using his wind power to take the package from his back and set it on the ground.

This finally convinced Ruri that Kotaro really was a wind spirit. She didn’t necessarily doubt Rin, but she had been somewhat skeptical because she’d never had a chance to see him use his powers up until now.

Inside the giant cloth package was a bevy of different things—foodstuffs, clothing, jewelry...

“Kotaro, you had the money to buy all this?” This haul looked like it cost a considerable amount, which made Ruri ponder whether he got the money from Chelsie.

“No, when I flew into a town, the townspeople brought it all to me, saying it was tribute. They gave me so much, so I only picked the things that would make a good gift for you. Do you like them?”

“Yes, thank you. Next time, I’ll make sure to get you a gift.”

Kotaro wagged his tail in glee. He had come back to Ruri with tribute in tow like a faithful dog. And now that he’d changed his body, he was fitting the bill even more so than ever.

“By the way, what did you do with your old body?”

“I left it behind because I didn’t need it anymore.”

“Which means it wasn’t eaten, right...?”

Because magic beasts were a delicacy in this world, Ruri was concerned for Kotaro’s body since it looked large enough for a sizable meal. Even though it was originally just a regular magic beast, Ruri couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable thinking about what used to be Kotaro being eaten up. Granted, it was probably too late to concern herself with that...

Ruri then proceeded to play around with Kotaro afterward, but it wasn’t long before Joshua showed up.

“Heya, Ruri.”

“What’s going on, Joshua? Aren’t you supposed to be busy right now? Are you skipping work?”

“If I did something like that right now, Dad would murder me. Even though I’d love to, personally speaking. But wait, what’s that? Isn’t that the Nation of the Spirit King’s sacred beast?!” Joshua looked at Kotaro in wide-eyed shock.

“Nation of the Spirit King’s sacred beast? What’s that?”

“Basically, it’s a sanctified animal that only exists in the Nation of the Spirit King.”

Completely surprised, Ruri looked at Kotaro. She couldn’t believe this was the body he came with.

“His name is Kotaro and he’s a spirit just like Rin. He lived with me back in the forest, but apparently he followed after me. Kotaro, this is Joshua, Chelsie-san’s grandson.”

“Ya don’t say. So he followed you, huh?”

“Hmm, Chelsie’s grandson? I’ve heard of you from the other spirits. You made sure Ruri stayed safe in Nadasha. You can call me Kotaro.”

“Much obliged... So you’re kind of like Ruri’s protector, huh?”

“By the way,” Ruri said, “if you’re not skipping work, then what did you come here for?”

“Oh, right. Almost forgot,” said Joshua, carefully scanning around the garden for some reason.

Ruri watched him scope the area in confusion. “Joshua?”

“Hm? Oh, right. I’ve got to check to see if anyone is around or else we’ll have another Euclase-eavesdropping situation on our hands,” Joshua said before he squatted down to talk to Ruri. “So, you know that the Priestess Princess and the other four summoned with you were apprehended in the war, right?”

“I do.”

“I came here to give you a little status update. I already knew because I had my eye peeled on her in Nadasha, but that Priestess Princess was pretty darn ardent, if I do say so myself.”

“I appreciate the news; I was pretty concerned about Asahi and the others. You say ‘ardent,’ but did Asahi do something specific?”

“She was yelling up a storm the entire time. ‘Give back Ruri-chan, let me see her, undo your brainwashing!’ At first, she talked about how another person was summoned to their world, so it piqued His Majesty’s interest. But when he kept telling her that the other person wasn’t here, she wouldn’t listen. She didn’t doubt what she believed for a second. Even when he tried to politely explain things, she kept on making the same claims. So at this point, everything is gonna go in one ear and out the other with her. Still, I’m going to be searching for a missing refugee either way.”

That sounded exactly like Asahi. Ruri felt sorry for Jade; he was being forced to endure an audience with such a noncompliant person.

“No one thought it was me?”

“Nope. At the moment, there’s no one who’s connected the cat Ruri with the person Ruri summoned with the Priestess Princess.”

Ruri breathed a sigh of relief.

“As for the Priestess Princess, they put a magic seal up because of her Bewitch magic and put the Prince and the other four on house arrest in separate rooms.”

“A magic seal? That exists?”

“Yeah, more or less. And now that the Prince and the other four are away from that Bewitch magic, they should be coming back to their right minds soon.”

“So their abnormal attachment for Asahi will go away, then,” Ruri surmised, a tad curious about how they would feel after being free of Asahi’s magic.

“Well, do you wanna see them?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve already given my report on the people that Nadasha summoned against their will. They’re being treated like prisoners of war now, but it doesn’t seem like His Majesty intends to punish them since they’re technically victims. I assume he’ll be making arrangements for them to live in a territory away from the royal capital. My guess would be somewhere ’round Idocrase.”

“Idocrase?”

“It’s a territory of the Nation of the Dragon King, on the opposite side from Nadasha if you go from the royal capital. It has a vast amount of farmland, and it’s always looking for extra manpower. But if they end up away from the royal capital, you’re not going to be able to see them, right? So why don’t you at least see Asahi before that goes down? If you want to see them, I can arrange a visit in secret.”

“Hmm...” Ruri paused to think about it.

While she didn’t want to see Asahi, she did want to try talking to her former classmates. Because of all the harm that’d been done to her in the past, Ruri was extremely curious about a number of different things. She wanted to learn how it felt to be under Asahi’s Bewitchment, what their mindset was when they held all that animosity toward her, and how their feelings for Asahi had changed since the magic wore off.

“I don’t want to see Asahi, but I might want to speak with the other four.”

“Okay, you got it.”

“But is that possible? I’ll naturally have to be in human form when I see them, but I still haven’t told anyone that I’m a human. I’ll get found out. Even if no one thinks that the ‘cat Ruri’ is the same, if they were to tell that the ‘missing Ruri’ that came along with them was in the castle, it would raise a huge scene, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t worry. I can find a way to fudge that. Just leave it to me.”

“Well then, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“You got it.”

Just as they had come to an agreement, they noticed a commotion coming from inside the castle.

“Wonder if something’s up.”

As Joshua said that, they spotted Finn rushing through the hallway.

“Hey, is something wrong, Finn?!” Joshua yelled out to Finn, making him halt in place.

“Oh, it’s you, Joshua! Our prisoner, the Priestess Princess, has disappeared!”

Ruri’s eyes opened wide as she locked sights with Joshua.

“What did you just say?!” Ruri’s shrill exclamation echoed throughout the garden.