Chapter 24: Noah’s Reason
It was the night after Ruri met with Noah. She lay in bed and clutched at a throw pillow, unable to shake this uncomfortable feeling eating away at her. Noah was the only thing occupying her mind.
Not only was the member of the Church of God’s Light a child, but he was a child that Ruri knew. Yet he was involved in a failed murder attempt on her life. These facts were such a heavy blow to Ruri that it stopped her from thinking straight. However, after a little time, she regained her calm and was able to think properly again.
Seeing how distraught Ruri was, Jade smiled awkwardly and sat on the bed. “It’s bothering you, isn’t it?” he asked.
“...What is going to happen to Noah-kun now?” asked Ruri. “He’s just a child.”
“Child or not, he has committed a serious crime.”
“But, there is a reason behind it. He said that he wanted to see his mom and dad.”
“Be that as it may, I can’t let him get by with a lighter punishment.”
Ruri knew that. So long as he was in a lawful nation, he had no choice but to accept the appropriate punishment. However, Noah was still young enough to depend on his parents, which was the concerning part.
“Why are you so worried over that child? He tried to kill you.”
“Yes, that is very true, but... he is still a small child...” Ruri said. She still found it hard to believe that the same Noah with the innocent smile back in town was plotting to take her life. It just wasn’t sinking in that the same child would want her dead. “Jade-sama, I want to talk to Noah-kun one more time.”
Ultimately, no one was able to get a detailed account from Noah after his outburst. Ruri was confused as to why he would incite this outrageous plot and why he found it necessary in the first place. Ruri figured that she had the right to know considering she was almost killed because of it.
“Either way, we’ll need to question that child until we finish investigating the details of the incident. You can ask whatever you need by my side. However, no matter what reasons he has, or even if you sympathize with them, I will not lighten his sentence,” Jade said with a sharp glance.
Once Ruri saw that Jade was pressing back a swell of emotions, her eyes widened as she asked, “Jade-sama, are you really that upset?” She’d only now noticed that he seemed considerably unsettled.
“Of course I am. Honestly speaking, I’m upset that you’re even worried about him. I want to make it known to both the child and those fake Reapers just how beside myself with rage I am. However, since he’s a child and I’m a king, I’m trying my damnedest to keep myself under control. If I were to let these emotions run free, I don’t think I would stop until all three of them were dead. However, as a king, I cannot kill them before they’re tried by the law,” Jade explained, his eyes burning in anger.
Ruri hadn’t noticed at all because he had been acting normal up until that point, but he seemed absolutely livid. Seeing how Jade was the mightiest of the dragonkin, there would be no one to contain him if he were to go on a rampage. That was why he was desperately trying to keep his rampant emotions in check.
Ruri sat up and wrapped her arms around Jade as if to comfort him in his conflict between his rationale and his impulses.
“If something had happened to you, I would have surely lost control. I’ve been able to keep up the appearance of being levelheaded because you’re safe.”
“I’m sorry for making you worry.”
“I am so glad you’re okay...” Jade said, embracing Ruri, overjoyed that she was safe and sound.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The following day, Ruri headed for Noah’s cell.
“Still, I gotta say, I can’t believe that kid is an underling for the Church of God’s Light. Makes you wonder what they’re even thinking over there,” Joshua said, showing dissatisfaction. He had accompanied Ruri on her walk through town when she met the skewer vendor’s son, so he remembered him. He followed along now out of curiosity. “This isn’t something a kid would cook up. There’s probably someone behind the scenes pulling his strings.”
Ruri agreed, but there was no point in saying anything now. What was done was already done.
In the back of the dungeon, they came upon Euclase standing in front of Noah’s cell, in the middle of interrogating the boy. While it felt weird to have Euclase, the chancellor, take time out of their busy schedule post-incident to conduct an interrogation, it seemed Euclase was picked on the basis that Noah might find it easier to talk to someone more feminine. However, despite several attempts, all Euclase received in return was dead silence. They had just about given up. Were they interrogating the pair posing as Reapers, then Euclase might have employed some more harsh interrogation methods, but their hands were tied since they were dealing with a child instead.
Ruri walked up to Noah’s cell, where he was refusing to even make eye contact.
“Hey, Noah-kun?” Ruri addressed him. He lifted his head and looked her in the face. “There had to be some reason why a little kid like you would do something like this, right? Talk to me. I might be able to help you.”
There was no way that a child could perpetrate these sorts of acts unless there was some sort of outrageous circumstance fueling his decision. While Noah was the person who had tried to kill her, the heart-wrenching sight of him apologizing to his parents yesterday flashed in Ruri’s mind, filling her more with sympathy than anger.
Noah, however, treated her to a simple, callous reply. “You can help by dying.”
Ruri gasped, unable to even respond.
“If I kill the Beloved, then Leader will grant my wish! He will bring my mom and dad back to life!!”
“Bring them back to life? Your parents passed away? Isn’t your father the older gentleman that runs the skewer stall I met before? He seemed in perfect health last I saw,” Ruri replied, suspecting some sort of accident. Actually, she started to suspect if anyone really could be brought back from the dead in the first place—notwithstanding her essentially being in a world of fantasy.
“No, that person isn’t my dad. He’s an authority of the Church of God’s Light and the person who took me in and cared for me. My mom and dad were killed a year ago. He told me that our leader could bring them back to life. And our leader said they would bring them back from the dead if I helped in killing the Beloved.”
“Is that possible?” Ruri asked Kotaro, who was sitting near her legs; being a spirit, he would definitely know the truth.
“Not even spirits are omnipotent. There is no way to resurrect the dead,” he replied. There was apparently no way to bring back the dead, magic or otherwise.
“So, they deceived him,” Euclase said with pity.
“I-It’s not a lie,” Noah shot back. “Leader can really raise people from the dead!”
“In that case, let me ask you this,” said Euclase. “What were you planning to do after you were caught? You’re by yourself in this jail, and you’ll never see the light of day for the rest of your life. So, how, pray tell, do you plan on reuniting with your resurrected parents? In fact, how would you even be able to confirm that they were resurrected in the first place?”
“Well...” Noah stammered, his eyes wavering in uncertainty.
“Where did the man who took you in go off to? Did they make a small child such as yourself incite this plot while he watched on from afar?”
“Leader gave him orders and he’s on a separate task. It had to be done this way...”
“And just what was he tasked with that he would have a child carry out something with such a high probability of arrest?” Euclase asked, curious.
“I don’t know... I was just doing what my caretaker told me to do,” Noah admitted. The once tight-lipped boy was so shaken up now that he was oblivious to the fact that he was answering Euclase’s questions.
“See, there you have it. He didn’t tell you a single thing, did he? Given that, can you safely say he’s someone you can actually trust? Witlessly following his instructions even though he made you a far-fetched promise of raising the dead, one he could go back on at any time, is foolishness,” Euclase rebuked in an exasperated tone.
Noah was speechless for a second, but he quickly snapped back. “That’s not true! The dead really do come back to life! I’ve seen it with my own eyes!!” Noah looked at Ruri with an imploring look. “So, please. I’ll do anything. Ms. Beloved said that she’d help, right?”
“You’re asking Ruri to die?” Euclase asked, their tone gravelly with rage as they glared right at Noah with a mighty scowl.
“If she does, then Leader will grant my wish. Please. Save my mom and dad!!” Noah desperately pleaded.
Despite his pleas, seeing Noah so casually ask someone to die for some unknown cause made the sympathy Ruri once shared dilute into disappointment. She wanted to do anything she could to help him, but she wasn’t about to give up her life in order to do so.
Ruri declared to Noah in a stern voice, “That won’t be happening, Noah-kun. Just like how your parents are important to you, I have people important to me as well. I can’t—nor do I want to—make any of those people sad,” Ruri explained. She sympathized with Noah’s sentiments of caring for your parents so much that you would be willing to sacrifice the lives of others to save them. However, no one would allow for something so selfish to transpire. “You must know that I would never agree to dying just because you told me so, right? You wouldn’t agree to it if someone told you to do so to save a loved one, would you? While I feel sorry for your situation with your parents, do you really think they would be happy if you had to commit murder to resurrect them?”
“Well...” Noah stammered.
Noah cared an awful lot about his parents, which probably meant they raised him with an immense amount of love. There would be no way they wouldn’t be sad over learning that their own son tried to murder someone for their sakes. Even the spirits, wise to all in the world, said that resurrecting the dead was an impossible undertaking. Everything Noah was doing was essentially pointless.
“But, there’s no other choice. It’s the only choice I have to see my parents. But...” Teardrops started to fall from his eyes. Then, as if the floodgates had burst, he broke down in sobs and yelled at the top of his tiny lungs.
It was his first display of a childlike reaction since being imprisoned. He was probably so desperate. He obediently carried out what he was told, unable to discern right from wrong because of his intense desire to see his parents. The price, however, was all too steep.
Ruri looked at Noah stooped over, overcome with an indescribable feeling in her heart.
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