Chapter 5: A Stroll Around the Royal Capital
Ruri walked along with her crowd of spirits, and the people of the royal capital stopped dead in their tracks and gazed in astonishment. Even though they didn’t have a grasp on the situation, people naturally made way for her like some sort of imperial procession. Despite it being close to dinner time, the most crowded time of the day, Ruri walked down the road without bumping into a single person along the way.
The populated town was overcome with an odd silence, but once people started to realize that Ruri was a Beloved, chatter started to form among the crowd.
“By the way, what am I supposed to be doing exactly, Finn-san?”
“You can do anything you please, Ruri. If there’s something in specific you desire, go ahead and buy it. I’ve received funds from His Majesty himself,” Finn said, pulling out a money pouch from his breast pocket and lifting it up for Ruri to see.
“In that case, I will gladly accept Jade-sama’s treat,” replied Ruri with a chuckle.
Ruri and her crew moved toward the district housing the capital’s shops and stalls. Being a port city, the royal capital had a host of sailors and merchants who would bring in all sorts of goods from other lands. In addition, since the nation was home to races of all creeds, the shops and marketplace were stocked with special products. Even a single loaf of bread had its own unique flavor and shape depending on the nation and race. There was a large variety of fruits and vegetables as well. Apparently, no other nation had such a diverse assortment of goods as the Nation of the Dragon King.
If it were any other nation, they would have given way to interspecies conflict, prejudice, and discrimination. But for thousands of years, the First Dragon King accepted both human and demi-human alike, which served as a foundation for many years to come. Because of that, compared to other nations, discrimination was overwhelmingly low, with humans and demi-humans finding it easy to co-exist. Also, as a result, it allowed many to flock to the royal capital to buy those very goods.
Although some spats of varying degrees of intensity would break out on a daily basis, the nation was still ruled by dragonkin, the top of the biological hierarchy. One glance from a dragonkin soldier was enough to make people involved in even the rowdiest quarrel shake in their boots and lose their will to fight. Even now, there were those who tried to approach Ruri to speak to her, but once they caught a glimpse of Finn and Ewan by her side, they slinked away. Joshua was casually dressed, but Finn and Ewan were in soldier regalia. Their uniforms not only denoted a high rank, but since dragonkin wore a different design from other soldiers, one look was all anyone needed to tell they were dragonkin. Even if they couldn’t tell from that, a demi-human would realize they were a dragonkin from the strong mana overflowing from their bodies.
Surrounded by three of the most qualified bodyguards ever, capable of threatening others with their presence alone, Ruri started to feel a bit uncomfortable—like some sideshow animal on display—as she wandered around town.
As she window-shopped and browsed the selection of never-before-seen products, a young boy, barely ten years old, timidly approached her. Seeing as how it was a child, Finn and the others didn’t try to stop him, though they remained on guard. The young boy was Ruri’s favorite—a beast child with a fluffy tail and pointy ears. From the shape of his tail, she assumed that he was part fox, and she was head over heels in love with his cuteness.
“Um, Ms. Beloved?”
“Yes, little boy?” Ruri replied with a soft smile, trying not to scare him as she stooped down to his eye level.
The boy was slightly nervous, but he calmed down upon seeing Ruri’s smile.
Ruri’s devious desire was to touch the boy’s ears, tail, ears, and, last but not least, his ears. However, the boy couldn’t hear Ruri’s obsessive thoughts, so she just came across as a kind young lady. It was a saving grace, because the boy would’ve undoubtedly freaked out otherwise.
“Um, my place has really yummy skewered meat. I’m sure you’d like them, Ms. Beloved.”
“I see. If it’s as yummy as you say, then I’d like to try. Where are you located?”
How could anyone, Ruri included, refuse such a cute child’s offer? The answer: they couldn’t. While she wasn’t in the mood for loads of meat, Ruri decided to go to the young boy’s place to eat.
“Over there,” the boy said, pointing to a food stall. There, an older gentleman who seemed to be the child’s father had a huge congratulatory smile on his face as he quickly pumped his fist in celebration.
At the same time, the cheeky child’s trick caused the other business owners to clamor around her. Some looked toward the heavens in frustration, saying, “Gah, why didn’t I think of that?!” Others clutched their heads and screamed, “Gah, I don’t have a kid t’use like that!”
The stall owner, who had a similar set of ears and tail as the child, cheerfully greeted her. “Welcome, Lady Beloved! Please, partake in our establishment’s famous skewered meat!” He presented her with some skewers and followed by giving Finn and the others a share as well.
Finn tried to pay the man with the money Jade entrusted to him, but...
“Oh, no, no. I wouldn’t dream of accepting money from someone as illustrious as a Beloved.”
Just like when Ruri went to town for the first time with Chelsie, her attempts to pay were rebuffed. It took several trips for them to finally start accepting her money, but they would always throw in extras that were more than the price of her purchase. It was all so Ruri would spend even a little time in town and spread the spirits’ blessings upon them. She figured that this man had the same idea in mind.
However, she would quickly learn that the salesmen of the royal capital weren’t like the ones in a laid-back town far away—they were far more shrewd in their business tactics.
“Then again, in place of monetary payment, if you were to just state how good these are, that alone would be enough.”
“That’s all you want?”
“Why, yes. In a loud voice, if you could,” whispered the stall owner as he leaned in with a shrewd smile.
Just as she was instructed, Ruri took a bite of the skewered meat and, in a slightly exaggerated voice, exclaimed, “Oh wow! This is so delicious!!”
Exaggerated as it was, the meat was indeed delicious. Joshua shamelessly accepted a second serving despite just having finished a full meal back at the diner, which made Ruri wonder about the workings of his stomach. That was definitely a clear difference between humans and dragonkin.
The stall owner was overjoyed and started stuffing a ridiculous amount of skewers into a bag, presenting it to Ruri.
“Huh? I couldn’t possibly take that many.”
“Oh, I insist! This is the very least I can do to thank you for contributing to the sales of my humble establishment, Lady Beloved.”
“Contributing to the sales?” Ruri pondered as she threw the large amount of skewered meat into her pocket space.
After that, Ruri and the others left the stall. The man’s words were still a mystery, but once she turned back around...
“Give me ten of the skewered meat that the Beloved just ate!”
“I’ll take twenty!”
Ruri grimaced as she watched a fierce battle unfold that resembled a crowd of customers ganging up on each other for a bargain sale. “What... is that all about...?”
“That’s the effect of a Beloved. Beloveds are an object of adoration no matter what the nation. Any food a Beloved eats, any clothes they wear, any jewelry they own, there’ll be people who want to copy it. Why, the Nation of the Beast King labels things with ‘Beloved-endorsed product’ all the time and brings in droves of tourists with the Beloved’s name alone. This is gonna give him customers for sure,” Joshua said, answering Ruri’s question.
“That makes sense. Same mentality as people wanting a specific item used by their favorite celebrity or model, right?”
Watching the meat vendor being rushed with customers, the other vendors found themselves motivated and started a shouting war to get Ruri’s attention.
“Lady Beloved, our food is delicious too!”
“You dumbass, ours is way better!”
“Lady Beloved, would you care for a refreshing drink after your meal?”
A bevy of solicitations flew to and fro around Ruri. With every shop she looked at, she received free food, stuffing her belly in a matter of no time. While her large-bodied entourage could still make room for more, Ruri wasn’t such a big eater and couldn’t pack in any more. It didn’t help that she had eaten a whole meal at the diner not too long ago, so this was a natural outcome.
Though she was well past full, the onslaught of food was relentless. After a certain point, Ruri decided to conclude her eating spree, apologizing to the vendors and placing their food in her pocket space. The inside of her pocket space was probably overflowing with the aroma of different good foods right about now. Ruri asked the nearby spirits to tell Lydia that she could eat any of the items she wished, and after relaying the message, Lydia thanked Ruri via the spirits on the outside.
As the group proceeded to walk around, being careful to avoid any food vendors, a single stall caught Ruri’s eye. There, she saw a collection of marble-sized glass beads the same color as her own eyes—a vibrant shade of lapis blue—which were processed into a variety of jewelry that lined the stall’s shelves.
Curious as to whether this was the latest trend, Ruri went closer. This surprised the lady standing at the stall for a second, but she smiled sweetly and greeted her. “Hello and welcome!”
“Excuse me, but what are these? Does this color have some sort of significance?”
“These are good-luck charms. If you adorn yourself in the same color as the Beloved’s eyes, the spirits will protect you... or so they say,” the vendor said, explaining the opportunistic goods in front of the very Beloved in question with a broad smile.
However, it made Ruri wonder how she found out about her eye color in the first place. Ruri had stayed in the top level of the castle ever since she first arrived in the royal capital, which meant that the only people who knew of her identity were the dragonkin of the castle. Her name and appearance had been hidden until there was a formal announcement. Her only other guess was that she caught word from someone who saw her in human form at the victory celebration, but the victory celebration only happened a short while ago. Ruri was shocked and amazed at the shrewdness of the merchant; she was impressed there was already merchandise based off of her.
“They have been selling incredibly well, and I have you to thank!”
“Y-Yes, that is good news, indeed...”
“Please, take one, if you’d like~” the vendor said, handing over one of the items on display. It was a thin, looped strap with glass beads around it and a small bell attached to it.
She thanked the vendor and lifted the strap to eye level, watching as the sun’s reflection glistened through the lapis blue glass. The spirits around her gathered in, brimming with curiosity.
“So pretty!”
Spirits didn’t share the same standards of value as humans. Whether it be a rare gemstone or a cheap glass bead, they appraised anything pretty as pretty. In fact, even if it were a priceless gemstone, they would treat it as a pebble on the side of the road if they had no interest in it. In light of those facts, the spirits had nothing but high praise for the glass beads.
“Hey, Ruri? This is a good-luck charm, right?”
“Well, it’s supposed to be, for the most part...” Ruri replied, knowing that it was only a good-luck charm in name and a bunch of glass beads in reality.
“But it’s got no power.”
“Yeah, right?”
The spirits all looked on in confusion because they couldn’t feel any power coming from it. It made sense that they wouldn’t, however. They were just a bunch of commonplace glass beads, after all.
Since the spirits didn’t comprehend the concept of human desire, they also didn’t comprehend the concept of a good-luck charm. Ruri couldn’t provide an explanation to the pure and innocent spirits’ questions, so she smiled and tried to gloss over the matter instead.
“In that case, I’ll make it be a good-luck charm!” said one male spirit, touching a glass bead and making it glow for a second.
“Then, me too!” said another doing the same.
After a while, one spirit after another swarmed around the beads and touched them, making some rather unsettling declarations all the while.
“Complete elimination~”
“Utter decimation!”
“No commiseration!”
It wasn’t long before they all had triumphant looks on their faces. The fake good-luck charm had turned into a real one, loaded with alms from the spirits. Judging from Finn and Joshua’s tensed faces, Ruri figured that the strap in her hand underwent a stunning metamorphosis. Ewan, on the other hand, who couldn’t see spirits, was the only one left wondering what had happened.
“What should I do with this now?” asked Ruri.
“I mean, you should just take it. A good-luck charm infused with a spirit’s protection isn’t somethin’ you just come across, after all,” Joshua stated. “Though, we’d appreciate it if you put it inside your pocket space, if ya could,” he added, taking a step back from Ruri.
“Now that it’s loaded with so much protection, we have absolutely no idea what force it will unleash if something were to happen to the owner,” added Finn.
As both of the men looked at the trinket like they were looking at a ticking bomb, a cold sweat started to form on Ruri’s brow. Ruri then proceeded to take that ticking bomb back to the castle.
Parting ways with Finn, Joshua, and Ewan, Ruri went to Jade’s office, where she found Jade sitting by himself.
“I’m back, Jade-sama,” Ruri greeted.
Upon seeing her face, he paused from his task and gave her a soft smile. “Yes, welcome back. Did you have fun?”
“Yes! I managed to talk to the people from the diner!”
“Ah, did you now?”
“And, well, I learned something quite shocking.”
“Shocking? Did something happen?”
“It’s about Jet, the boy I tried to go on a date with a while ago.”
Jade’s brow furrowed the instant he heard Jet’s name. “Did you see him?” Jade asked, unable to contain his displeasure.
Oblivious to his sudden sour tone, Ruri replied, “No, I didn’t see him.”
Jade’s expression relaxed once he heard that.
“I only heard about Jet from one of the diner workers. It seems he was trying to two-time... no three-time me the entire time.”
“Care to explain?” Jade asked.
Ruri gave him the entire story she heard at the diner. Not only was Jet already a married man when she met him, but he had another wife in addition and was trying to make Ruri the third.
“I see. There are more polygamist races than you’d expect, so these things do happen. Makes no sense to us dragonkin, but that’s neither here nor there.”
Ruri nodded her head in fierce agreement. “I’m not a fan of that either. If he was already married, then he should have said something to begin with. I would have never said yes to a date if he did. Also, he ended up dumping me out of the blue, which only adds to my dissatisfaction.” Fuming with anger, Ruri renewed her resolve by stating, “Next time, I have to find a boyfriend who isn’t from a polygamist race.”
Seeing Ruri’s reaction, Jade asked, “Were you not romantically involved with anyone in your world? I would assume it’s not surprising to see girls your age already married.” The average marriageable age for humans in this world was sixteen to early twenties. It wasn’t uncommon for girls to already have several children at Ruri’s age—an age much earlier than in Ruri’s world.
“The average age for getting married where I’m from is much older. But I’ve had my fair share of boyfriends in the past. Granted, none of them lasted long since Asahi would always get in the way,” Ruri said, taking a short yet annoying trip down memory lane that caused her to scowl.
It was the same story time and time again. Every time she dated a guy, Asahi would stick to her like birdlime, which would end the relationship. In many cases, the boy ended up liking Asahi more than Ruri. That was probably a result of Asahi’s Bewitchment power, but since neither had any knowledge of that at the time, Ruri would anguish over Asahi stealing her boyfriend with nary a clue as to why.
“I see. That girl, eh? Honestly speaking, she’s not the type I’d like to interact with, but since she eliminated your past boyfriends, I need to give her my thanks,” said Jade. He had only had one or two interactions with Asahi, at best, but you would think it was even more given his apparent distaste for her in his tone.
Ruri understood that sentiment, but there was something else there that Ruri didn’t understand. “Why would you want to thank her, Jade-sama?”
“You will not have any partner without my approval first,” Jade said, this time, clearly trying to interfere with Ruri’s boyfriend search.
“Oh, I see...” Ruri said with a dry laugh. That was when she remembered what she came for. “Oh, right. Someone gave this to me as a gift, but you can have it, Jade-sama,” Ruri said, handing over the strap she’d received in the capital. “It’s apparently a good-luck charm, so I think you should wear it on you.”
“Thank you, Ruri,” Jade said with a big smile as he gratefully accepted the gift.
Joshua had told her that she should put it in her pocket space, but thinking it would just go to waste if it wasn’t actively being worn by someone, she came up with the idea to give it to Jade. Jade was the Dragon King, the strongest of all the dragonkin. It was no exaggeration to say that the safest place in the world for such an item was with Jade, considering he was never in dangerous situations and was guarded at all times. That meant that if there ever was a situation in which the charm’s effects manifested, there would be no need for restraint—it would serve its function.
Ruri felt proud of her brilliant idea. However...
“That’s no fair!”
“Yes, no fair.”
They both heard the nearby voices of two others in the supposedly empty office. Ruri swiftly turned around to find Rin and Kotaro staring holes into them.
“Rin? Kotaro?”
Rin circled around the office overhead, screaming, “Unfair! Unfair!”
“Wait, what’s unfair?” Ruri asked, perplexed.
“You went to the diner, did you not?” Kotaro said, stepping in to explain. “Well, we waited back here patiently since we didn’t want to cause a commotion by going with you.”
Just as Kotaro mentioned, since everyone had told her that bringing a supreme-level spirit in the body of the Nation of the Spirit King’s sacred beast would out her as a Beloved, she asked Kotaro to stay back at the castle with Rin.
“So, why do you tell us to stay here while you have fun little shopping trips with the other spirits?” asked Kotaro. His bushy tail, usually wagging intensely when in front of Ruri, was now drooping sadly.
Meanwhile, Rin was upset for the same reason. “It’s not fair! We wanted to go shopping with you, but we got left out. Also, you gave the king a gift, but where’s ours?!”
Based on their remarks, Ruri wondered how long they had been listening in. It must have been boggling their minds as to why they were being left behind in spite of wanting to come along while the other spirits were free to accompany her as they wished.
“I’m sorry. I had planned on going in secret at first, but there was a change in plans halfway through. Why don’t you two come along the next time?”
“Tomorrow it is!” Kotaro prompted.
“Yes, tomorrow we go!” Rin added.
“Huh? Tomorrow?” Ruri repeated, thinking it a little sudden considering she just got back home, but neither of them looked inclined to hearing otherwise.
“I’m going to need to ask Finn-san to guard me again. I wonder if he’s okay with work...” Ruri thought aloud. Her walk around the capital today served as a good lesson on how a bodyguard was necessary to deter scenes from breaking out if she was going to be stepping out as a Beloved from now on. However, Finn wasn’t the only person on security detail today; he was just the only one visible. There were actually other bodyguards hidden in the crowd, out of plain sight. Ruri wasn’t sure if they’d be able to exhaust that level of manpower again. It would be a lot to ask of Finn since he was busy with being a high-ranking military official.
“In that case, I’ll go ask him,” Rin said, whizzing out of the office.
“As will I,” Kotaro added, chasing after.
“Rin, Kotaro, wait!”
A supreme-level spirit’s request was equal to a threat. It would be detrimental to Finn’s mental health if they asked him that.
Ruri finally managed to chase both of the animal-inhabiting spirits down. Jade watched their entire back-and-forth with a smirk as he placed the lapis blue charm in his inner pocket.
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