Chapter 16: The Decision
Joshua returned from his work outside looking positively exhausted, holding his shoulder and cracking his neck as he made his way to the royal office. When he knocked on the door, a voice granted him permission, but it didn’t belong to the Dragon King—it was Euclase.
As he entered, he saw it was indeed Euclase there instead of the king—as well as Ewan, who was supposed to have had his privileges to enter sector one revoked because of his mishap with Ruri.
“Huh? His Majesty hasn’t returned yet? Also, what are you doing here, Ewan? Did you reconcile with Ruri or something? You look to be in an awful mood, if you did.”
After glaring at Joshua, Ewan turned his eyes away, seemingly in a foul mood.
“I’m having him deliver some work I assigned to him while Finn is away. Since Ruri isn’t here now, I figured there wouldn’t be any harm and gave him clearance,” Euclase explained.
“Oh, Ruri went out, too?”
“Ruri is at Ms. Chelsie’s. His Majesty sent correspondence that he shall be going to pick her up.”
“Aah, makes sense,” Joshua said in understanding, turning his attention to Ewan. The king’s detour meant that Finn, his bodyguard, was naturally with him. The resident brother-complex boy was probably waiting with bated breath for his older brother’s return only to be denied that chance. His bad mood most likely stemmed from that.
“Listen, it’s fine if you love your big brother, but don’t take your jealous frustrations out on Ruri, alright?” Joshua warned, somewhat jokingly.
His tone was lighthearted, but the intent of his message was serious—he wanted to dispel any misgivings. Ewan had already earned the ire of the spirits on two separate occasions. The king and the others saw to it that he wouldn’t be allowed to see Ruri, but it was impossible to bar him from ever running into her. Ruri often went off on explorations, and Ewan’s high rank meant that his basic area of activity was in the upper sectors of the castle. Therefore, Joshua was keeping an eye on him since he had a skill for being narrow-minded when Finn was involved.
Taking the documents from Euclase, Ewan remained silent as he exited the royal office without a single glance Joshua’s way.
“Hey, this ain’t looking too pretty, is it?” Joshua said. “I get the feeling he’s gonna blow up at Ruri if he runs into her.”
“I swear... It’s a shame considering he’s such a good kid—he’s a hard worker, and he’s patient. Plus, he shows great consideration for his subordinates—so long as Finn is involved. Also, not to nitpick, but couldn’t you have made your warning seem a little more serious?”
“That’s more up Dad’s alley, not mine. I can’t help the way I am, after all.”
Euclase simply sighed in resignation.
“Backtracking a bit, but Ruri went to Grandma to give her a rundown?”
“Yes, I presume she went with the intention of telling her about the girl and her friends being sent to Idocrase.”
“Don’tcha think it’s about high time we tell His Majesty and the others that Ruri’s one of the humans summoned to Nadasha?”
“Quite. We’ll talk it over with Ruri once she makes her return.”
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
As Ruri enjoyed her casual visit to Chelsie’s house, she suddenly remembered what she wanted to discuss with her. “Chelsie-san, I’ve been living in the castle in cat form and hiding that I’m a human.”
“And why in the world are you doing that?”
She hadn’t told Chelsie about living as a cat. Judging from Chelsie’s reaction, Joshua hadn’t relayed that information either.
“No, you see, I didn’t do it because I was out to deceive anyone. The thing is...” Ruri gave a detailed account of when she first arrived at the royal capital and met Claus and what Claus said shortly thereafter. “...and after that happened, I started living as a cat. Joshua and Euclase-san know I’m actually a human, but they’re keeping it a secret for my sake. Although, I’m starting to think it’s time I come clean.”
“If you think so, then you should,” replied Chelsie as frankly as she could.
“Uh, well, you’re certainly right, but I’m kind of afraid of the reaction I’ll get.”
“You’ll never know unless you actually tell them and see their reactions firsthand. After all, I can’t speak for Claus.”
“Valid point.”
“If you keep thinking about the ‘what-ifs’ beforehand and don’t take any action, then you’re never going to make any progress ever. This isn’t something you can keep under wraps forever either, so do your thinking after you see how they react and not a second before.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Chelsie’s advice was right. Seeing as how it was already hard enough to come out with the truth, there was nothing to Ruri’s advantage by overthinking things any longer.
“Well, speaking as someone who knows more than a little about how Claus, the king, and his aides operate, they aren’t the type of people who would suddenly change their tune, be you cat or human, so you can rest easy knowing that.”
“Right, I’ll try my best to come clean once I return to the capital.”
“That’s for the best, child.”
As they basked in the kind and nurturing atmosphere, Chelsie suddenly paused. Ruri sat in confusion for a moment before realizing that someone had entered Chelsie’s periphery barrier. However, since Ruri and Chelsie both knew that the only people or animals permitted to enter were ones that Chelsie allowed, they were calm about it.
“It seems we have company.”
“Aye,” said Chelsie as she got up from her seat. “Quite a lot of visitors today... Hm? That mana...”
As Chelsie froze in place, seemingly befuddled, a knock came from the front door. This spurred her to move, and she rushed to open the door.
“My, what a surprise. I am humbled by your visit.”
Ruri could faintly hear Chelsie’s polite tone coming from the entryway, and she wondered who their visitor could be. She casually sipped at her tea, but the next thing she heard made her hands stop in place.
“Chelsie, where is Ruri?”
The all-too-familiar voice that Ruri heard clearly from the next room made her eyes bulge in shock. “Wait, what? Why is Jade-sama here?!”
“Is Ruri inside?”
“Why, yes, she is here.”
Ruri couldn’t help but be baffled. “Why is Jade-sama here of all places?”
“Hey, Ruri, are you okay like this?” Rin asked, her wording a bit vague.
Ruri tilted her head. “Like what?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be hiding the fact that you’re human?”
“...Gasp! Oh no!” Ruri exclaimed after a brief pause, remembering what form she was in. If she just kept sitting around like she didn’t care, she was going to be found out.
She began to panic. “The bracelet! Where did the bracelet go?!” She rummaged around in her pocket space but nothing came out.
As she tried to remember where she put her bracelet, she could hear the sounds of footsteps approaching the room. This was bad. This was extremely bad.
“Ruri, His Majesty is here,” Chelsie announced, her voice practically right next to her.
“Wait, wait, where’s the bracelet?!” Ruri asked, her panic levels reaching their max. “Why isn’t it coming out?!” She dug her arm deeper into her pocket space but still to no avail.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not in your pocket space, but your regular pocket~”
“Oh, duh! My pocket!” Ruri exclaimed, the spirit’s reminder helping to jog her memory. She hid behind some furniture to look for the bracelet without being detected.
Almost as soon as she did, Chelsie walked into the room with Jade right behind her. Behind Jade was Claus and Finn, both out of breath from trying desperately to keep up with Jade’s flight speed before.
“Where is Ruri?” Jade asked.
Chelsie looked around the room, but when she didn’t see Ruri in the chair she was in a moment ago, she scratched her head.
After a second or two, Ruri peeked out from behind the furniture—in her feline form.
“Ruri, weren’t you going to talk about this? Why go back to cat—”
“Nyaaaa-uhh nyaaaa!”
Before Chelsie could finish asking why Ruri went back to cat form, Ruri quickly let out a holler to cut her question short. Chelsie looked at Ruri with a tinge of disappointment, but she smirked and kept her mouth shut.
(J-Just in the nick of time...) Ruri thought to herself, barely making it back to cat form. She covered up the fact that she was sweating cold bullets on the inside and let out a sigh of relief.
Thanks to Chelsie, Ruri was able to prepare herself to speak about her situation soon, but she never imagined the chance would come right now. Since she hadn’t given the matter the priority it deserved, the abrupt visit caught her severely off guard. If she was going to talk to Jade, she wanted to do it in a composed manner and with her points neatly laid out in her mind. This push might have been exactly what she needed, but she sincerely wished that she had just a little time to mentally prepare herself.
Ruri looked back at Jade. “Jade-sama, why are you here? Didn’t you say you’d be in the Nation of the Spirit King?”
Jade looked at Ruri and his face melted into a smile as he answered, “I wanted to see you, so I came to pick you up.”
Behind him, Claus slumped his shoulders and added in an exhausted tone, “We didn’t have to be in such a rush. Ruri wasn’t going to run away, after all.”
Finn didn’t verbally express his frustrations, but he seemed just as tired as Claus, nonetheless.
With an inkling that the two needed a breather, Chelsie got started on tea. Once the tea was prepared and she returned, she saw the Dragon King in absolute delight with Ruri placed on her now usual location right on his lap. As they enjoyed their tea, Claus and Finn paid the familiar sight no mind, but Chelsie viewed it with a somewhat awkward expression.
By the time Claus and Finn recharged from their short break, they were all ready to head back to the royal capital.
“Alright, I’ll be off now.”
“Yes, come back any time you’d like, child,” Chelsie said in a similar fashion as last time, as if she were her mother.
She then turned her attention toward her actual son. “Claus, I’ve heard you said something off-putting to Ruri.”
“What might that be?” Claus asked back, dumbfounded.
“Apparently, before you went to the castle, you said you were glad she wasn’t a human Beloved.”
Claus pondered, seemingly unable to remember what he even said at that time.
“I thought I told you that Ruri doesn’t know the ways of the world. Don’t go confusing her by saying things that make dragonkin out to be some kind of elitists,” Chelsie scolded in an attempt to clear Ruri’s worries now that she knew why Ruri was staying as a cat.
In contrast to Ruri, who had been bogged down by the matter this entire time, Claus struggled to even remember it. He looked as though he was questioning whether he said that aloud, but with a little concentration, he seemed to finally remember.
“Now that I recall, I had just received Joshua’s report of Nadasha around that same time, so maybe that is to blame. When I said I was grateful you weren’t a human, I think I meant I was grateful in the context that you weren’t a lump of avarice like that King and his Head Priest.”
(Argh, those two agaaain!) It seemed that the King of Nadasha and the Head Priest were the cause of yet another mishap. For the first time ever, Ruri felt the urge to kill—directed solely at them.
“Has that cleared up any misunderstandings?” Chelsie asked Ruri, coming up to her and speaking in a hushed voice.
“Yes, it has. Thank you very much,” Ruri said in gratitude. She owed almost everything to Chelsie at this point. Ruri made up her mind that she would secretly buy Chelsie a thank-you gift when she got back to the royal capital.
En route back to the capital, while Ruri traveled on Kotaro’s back, she called out to Jade, who was next to them in his dragon form.
“Jade-sama?”
“What is it?”
This was the first time she heard Jade telepathically communicate, and hearing his voice practically echo directly through her head caused her to feel a tad timid.
“When we return, would you mind if I talked to you about something I’ve been keeping a secret?”
“Secret? You can’t just tell me now?”
“I also have something that I want Joshua to explain, and I wouldn’t want you to fall out of the sky in shock.”
“What? Even Joshua knows?” Jade said in a somewhat sulky tone. But shortly after, a low and gravely chuckle resonated from his draconic body. “I look forward to how big of a surprise it may be.”
(I think this surprise is a little too big.) Ruri quipped, thinking to herself.
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