Chapter 22: Post-War Cleanup
Several birdcages big enough to easily fit a human inside were lined up in front of Ruri. “What are these?” she asked.
“They’re for transporting the King, the Head Priest, and all the rest back to the royal capital,” Joshua explained.
Just then, they were all brought out with their hands tied behind their backs, and each was escorted to a birdcage of their own. The soldiers transformed into dragon form, grabbed the cages with their feet, and flew in the direction of the Nation of the Dragon King. According to Joshua, it was faster to carry them in dragon form than transport them via land. If the King or any of the others had acrophobia, it was bound to be a terrifying ride—something Ruri secretly hoped to be the case.
“Oh, Ruri, we collected all the belongings from the people summoned to this world, so give them a check,” Joshua said, pointing to the cargo ready for transport to the royal capital.
Among that haul was a wooden box which held Ruri, Asahi, and her classmates’ things. The King had informed Joshua and his men that Asahi had taken custody of Ruri’s belongings, but since they didn’t know what in Asahi’s room belonged to whom, they gathered everything into one container. It didn’t just contain the bag she was carrying to campus; it contained a bunch of other things thrown in because they weren’t sure of the owner.
Even so, there wasn’t a lot of extra stuff, so Ruri quickly found her bag among the other things. She opened it and checked the contents, taking a trip down memory lane. Inside were her textbooks and notebooks that she barely got to use, along with the pocket watch her parents gave her to commemorate her getting into college. They all filled her with joyful yet bittersweet memories of days past. It had only been two years and some change, but it felt even longer since she’d experienced the excitement of being accepted into college. She had come so very far from all she knew.
As she shut her eyes tight and let these unfocused emotions pass, she felt a soft sensation against her cheek. When she opened her eyes, she was met with Kotaro’s face, who once again nuzzled against her forehead.
“Are you sad, Ruri?” Kotaro asked with a concerned look in his eyes.
Realizing she accidentally made him worry, she petted Kotaro’s head as if to convey she was just fine.
“Don’t fret. Rin and I are here for you.”
“Thank you, Kotaro. I just got a little sentimental for a second,” Ruri said as Kotaro laid down in place and wrapped his fluffy body around her. His warmth helped to soothe her nerves.
She was brought to this world against her will, but she never would’ve imagined she’d meet people who cared for her so much. Meeting them caused her to think differently about her experience—it made her more grateful that she was brought to this world.
Regaining her composure, Ruri resumed checking the contents of her bag. Her textbooks, notebooks, writing utensils—all of these seemed fine, but she grimaced as she pulled out the pouch that held her makeup products and over-the-counter medicine. (Makeup products... I guess usable? Depends on the item. Medicine, on the other hand... Yeah, not going to fly.)
She then pulled out her smartphone, the item she’d been looking for—and immediately slumped her shoulders in disappointment. “I figured as much. No way it would hold a charge this long... Sigh...” Her pocket watch was fine since it was a windup model, but her smartphone couldn’t possibly still have power after years on end. And there was no way to charge it in this world since electrical appliances didn’t exist.
Holding her smartphone with the pitch black screen in one hand, she breathed a sigh, accepting defeat... or so she thought.
One of the spirits that had been around Ruri the longest called out to her, “Ruri! I can charge that for ya.”
“Huh? Oh, right. Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment,” Ruri said as a courtesy, not believing the spirit at all.
“No, I can really do it!” the spirit asserted, unwilling to accept no for an answer. He put his hand on her phone and after a moment said with an accomplished smile, “You can turn it on now.”
Ruri then turned on the power, half in disbelief, and to her great surprise, it successfully powered on. “It turned on! How?!” she exclaimed with eyes wide.
“Eheh, coz I’m a lightning spirit. I practiced a lot so I could do this. Give me praise~” the spirit bragged, hands triumphantly on his hips.
Ruri was going to praise him, but she was still absolutely floored. “‘Practiced’? But this world doesn’t have electrical appliances, right?”
“I’m a spirit from the world you originally lived in, so I know about cell phones and computers too!”
This was a shocking revelation. “Wait, what do you mean?!” Ruri asked.
In addition to the lightning spirit, all the other long-time spirit companions who had hung around her since she was first able to see spirits started to raise their hands one after another, saying “me too” in various tones of tiny voices.
“Yeah,we’ve been by your side the whole time, so we followed you along when you got summoned, Ruri,” one of them explained.
“Yup!” said another spirit.
“Huh?! The whole time?”
“Yup, the whole time.”
“From the moment you were born~”
Ruri looked at the spirit, her mouth agape, unable to form words.
As she was reeling from this news, Joshua interjected from the sidelines. “If you were with her when she was summoned, couldn’t you have made sure she never came here to begin with?”
Ruri heard those words and quickly shot her gaze back up at the spirits.
“Yeah, but, Riccia always said never to spoil Ruri when it came to her education. That we should only help her when her life was in danger. At least, until she was able to see us, that is.”
“Riccia?” Joshua asked, looking to Ruri for answers.
Ruri covered her face with her hands and awkwardly said, “...My mother.”
This proved Ruri’s hypothesis of whether or not her mother was able to see spirits. However, because she had hypothesized that to a certain degree already, it wasn’t nearly as shocking as the last revelation.
“Why didn’t you tell me something before?”
“Because you never asked.”
“Yup!”
Ruri’s shoulders slumped. She cursed the fact that she didn’t ask sooner. She knew ever since she became able to see the spirits that they were indulgent with her. They would try to grant any wish she had within their power. Asahi had been fawned over by everyone around her, getting anything her heart desired. As a result, she was spoiled, which ended up warping her personality to an unrepairable degree. Ruri’s mother probably saw that, feared for Ruri going down the same path, and told the spirits not to help her. In that regard, Ruri was thankful. Although, her mother probably didn’t imagine that Ruri would be summoned to a different world. Because of that, she wound up here because the spirits deemed that her life wasn’t in danger and never intervened.
It was just plain bad luck. Being summoned to another world despite having individuals by your side with the power to prevent it from happening was bad luck incarnate.
“I don’t get it, but hang in there, alright?” Joshua said in an attempt to console the downtrodden Ruri.
“Grr, that’s not going to help me now! Let’s just say I’m grateful I’m getting to experience life in a fantasy world and leave it at that!” If she were still in her world, she never would’ve been able to use magic or see people who could transform into dragons. This was all an invaluable experience. That was her positive spin on it, at least.
“Alright, that’s the spirit!” Joshua added.
After regaining her composure yet again, she did a complete check of her bag and placed it into her pocket space. Joshua also placed the cargo set for the royal kingdom into his pocket space. Then he transformed into dragon form and took to the skies.
Ruri, still in human form, saddled herself on Kotaro’s back, and they followed after Joshua in the air.
“Sigh... So fluffy. It’s so healing~”
“Don’t fall off, now.”
“Don’t worry; I’m clinging on tight,” Ruri said, leaning forward and holding on as she nuzzled her cheeks up against his comfy fur. It seemed to be healing the shock she took a few moments ago.
Joshua chuckled at the sight, and after flying for a while, he expressed his gratitude as if he’d forgotten to do so earlier. “Oh right, Ruri. Thanks a lot.”
“For what?”
“For this time and last time during the war. It’s thanks to you that everyone managed to come out safe and sound even though they busted out that Spirit Slayer on us. If it weren’t for you, a whole lot of us would have gotten wiped out back on the battlefield.”
“But I didn’t really do anything. Rin was the one who saved Finn-san and the others, and Kotaro saved us all this time around. If Asahi had never heard that the King and Head Priest were dangerous, then she wouldn’t have had any incentive to participate. Luck just worked in our favor.”
“But if you weren’t around, then we wouldn’t have high-level spirits allied with the Nation of the Dragon King, right? Spirits are usually neutral and don’t take sides for anyone. Plus, that Spirit Slayer magic put us in a situation where the spirits wouldn’t lend us their aid. It’s definitely thanks to you that when all the other spirits wouldn’t help us, we had a supreme-level spirit step in. So yeah, you may have never wanted to come to this world, but I’m personally glad we met you. Well, I think His Majesty probably thinks that the most. He does dote after you a ton, after all. But I share the same sentiment for sure.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. I appreciate the thanks, but you should be thanking Rin and Kotaro since they put in the most work.”
“Well, of course. Still... those two were real low-life pieces of work.”
Quickly realizing he was talking about the King and Head Priest, Ruri nodded.
The King and his attempted invasion on the Nation of the Dragon King wasn’t without consideration. They conducted it under the presumption that the Spirit Slayer magic would allow them to fight toe-to-toe with dragonkin. The Nation of the Dragon King’s forces would have taken a huge hit in the last conflict if Rin hadn’t been there, so their plans weren’t half-cocked by any means. However, their methods were the worst. The majority of the soldiers who invaded the Nation of the Dragon King were peasant farmers, powerless moderates, and nobles related to them. The King and Head Priest had given them stones as good luck charms without informing them of Spirit Slayer’s potency, setting them up to activate in a chain reaction once Asahi’s stone was activated.
No one who held a stone could have possibly imagined what would happen. Asahi’s stone meant they could penetrate the very core of the Nation of the Dragon King’s forces. Their plan was to set off those explosions to deal damage to the dragonkin, using their own men as disposable pawns—from the nobles earnestly hoping to do well enough in the war to restore their houses to the impoverished citizens conscripted as soldiers—as well as the Prince and Asahi. Then, with the current Priestess Princess deceased, the priests would evoke their summoning magic to conjure up a suitable replacement. This seemed to be the reason why the inside people shifted positions and took some unplanned measures. However, due to Ruri’s presence and the supreme-level spirit’s work, all their designs went belly-up. From the King and Head Priest’s perspective, it was probably the biggest form of retribution anyone had ever taken against them.
The party soon returned to the castle, landing on the large terrace. There stood the large birdcages holding the King, his cohorts, and a mass of the nation’s soldiers.
The awaiting dragonkin soldiers began clearing out the cages, but once they caught sight of Ruri, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of her. Every one of their faces was asking, “Who is this?”
Though it was well-known by now that Ruri was a human, how she looked in human form wasn’t common knowledge yet. So when the dragonkin soldiers just back from Nadasha whispered who she was, the awaiting soldiers all looked at Ruri in shock.
“I’m starting to feel like some mythical beast,” remarked Ruri.
“Well, a Beloved is way rarer than any mythical beast, that’s for sure,” Joshua counter-remarked. Considering she was standing right next to the sacred beast of the Nation of the Spirit King, that was probably doubly true.
“Alrighty, shall we give our report?” Joshua suggested.
“Sure thing,” Ruri said, and together they headed toward the royal office.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
In Jade’s office stood the main members of Jade’s court along with Finn and Rin, who had returned before Ruri and the others. Once Rin saw Ruri enter the room, she flew from Finn’s shoulder over to her.
“Thank you, Rin.”
“You’re very much welcome,” she said as she perched herself atop Kotaro’s head.
“So, how did it go, Ruri? I presume you scratched a lasting scar on the King and his cronies?” asked Euclase with a smirk on their face.
Ruri flashed a complacent smile and replied, “But of course. I really made them weep. They didn’t ever guess I’d be back, so it left their stupid jaws right on the floor.”
“I see. Well done, Ruri. Come here and tell me the whole story,” Jade said, beckoning Ruri over with a wave of his hand.
Ruri put on her bracelet, shifted into her cat form, and jumped up onto Jade’s lap as he sat in his chair.
Jade furrowed his brow in clear displeasure. “...Why did you turn into a cat?”
“Force of habit?”
Jade was right, however. Now that her human form was public knowledge, there was no need to take the extra effort to turn back into a cat. But old habits die hard. She had put on her bracelet without even thinking about it.
“Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with this, is there? My cat form is lighter anyway.”
Jade seemed slightly miffed, but Ruri had already settled down in his lap.
After that, Ruri, Joshua, and Finn each gave their own account of what happened during the operation.
“So they still had magic items imbued with Spirit Slayer after all, eh?”
“We collected all records pertaining to the Spirit Slayer magic, Your Majesty,” Joshua stated. Since the spirits helped them conduct such a widespread search, they found a majority of the records, but there was still one avenue they hadn’t checked as of yet. “Just to be sure, I believe it would be best to interrogate the priests in custody and collect and investigate all written records from the shrine.”
Jade nodded in agreement, saying, “Yes, let’s employ the Nadashians as well.”
Many of the written records of the shrine were historical documentation about Nadasha. While they had talked to the man in charge and brought back anything that could remotely pertain to Spirit Slayer magic, Joshua and the others hadn’t scanned over all of it. The rest of the work was being handled by the troops still in Nadasha, but checking all the written records there would take some time. And even if they found anything, they couldn’t just take another nation’s possessions back without permission, so they needed to cooperate with Nadasha.
However, the only people currently running Nadasha were the conservative nobles who had been expelled from the kingdom, picked up by Chelsie in the forest, and put under Jade’s care. Jade had lent his aid to these people who wanted to be free of the clutches of their king, a king selfish enough to incite a war with no regard for his own nation.
Since Nadasha was usually the nation to incite war first, there were even talks at the Alliance of Four conference that Nadasha should be absorbed into the Nation of the Dragon King. It made perfect sense. There were a large number of refugees in the Nation of the Dragon King already, and with a King and Head Priest who continuously used politics to line their own pockets, the nation wasn’t being properly run.
Despite that, Jade denied that proposal and made an executive decision that after winning the war he would give back Nadasha to the Nadashian people. Not only that, he promised the moderate nobles that he would even help fund the post-war restoration efforts. Since they owed the Nation of the Dragon King and Jade so much, the Nadashians would likely happily cooperate.
“I’d like you to incinerate the records recovered,” Jade ordered.
“Very well,” replied Joshua.
“What should we do about the Spirit Slayer stones?” asked Ruri. The stones collected from Nadasha were temporarily in her pocket space. On top of that, they still had the stones recovered from the battlefield stored in Finn’s portion of pocket space. “If they aren’t necessary, then should I dispose of them?”
“Can you?” Jade questioned.
“Yes, I can. I’ll toss them into the part of my pocket space for unneeded items and have Lydia erase them along with the entire room.”
“I’m not sure I follow, but if you can safely dispose of them, would you mind doing so?”
“Not at all. In that case, I’ll dispose of them all, including what we collected during the war the last time.”
“Please do,” Jade said, nodding. He turned to Finn and Joshua. “You went to battle with the Nadashian forces, but I assume you didn’t produce any more casualties than necessary?”
They both nodded, and Finn answered, “Yes, Sire. We engaged them outside of the royal capital, but I instructed the soldiers to hold back, so we managed to keep any damage to a minimum.” Finn’s main job was to distract the soldiers, not defeat them, so there wasn’t much damage to be had.
“The troops infiltrating the castle ran into a few scuffles themselves, but once we apprehended the King and his priests, the people of the castle peacefully complied—meaning no serious damage.”
“Were you able to sort things out with the moderate nobles?”
“They were originally the largest faction and the ones responsible for keeping the King, the priests, and all of his war-hungry cohorts at bay. Even the nobles who were for the war have lost their say in the nation now that the King has been apprehended, so right now, Nadasha is starting to get back on track with the moderates running things.” There were still dragonkin troops stationed in Nadasha, so there were few to oppose the moderates now that they had a huge backing from the Nation of the Dragon King in place.
“Good. However, it’s going to be tough to rebuild all on their own. Euclase, start preparing aid for them at once.”
“As you command.”
Hearing the word “aid” reminded Ruri of the town in the midst of a food shortage due to all their male workers being stolen away. “Jade-sama, please send them plenty of food! There are so many people going hungry in the towns and villages away from the royal capital,” Ruri strongly suggested.
Jade simply smirked and petted Ruri’s head. “You’re right. Be sure to send food post haste. Nadasha is likely lacking in other provisions aside from food as well. Also, manpower... They probably have a number of people injured, so deploy doctors over there, too, right away.”
“At once, Your Majesty,” Euclase replied.
Once Jade finished listing off some other things that seemed essential for rebuilding Nadasha, Euclase took a short bow and exited the office. The other aides all returned to their individual work.
(So it’s finally over...) It had been a little over two years since Ruri had been summoned to this world. The scheming King and Head Priest had been arrested, Asahi and the others were starting their new lives elsewhere, and the method that summoned them all here in the first place had been eliminated.
At last, one chapter had come to a close.
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