Chapter 14: Drinking Party
The plan was to put the caged zombies into the pocket space. That, however, caused a slight dispute to break out. No one wanted to put something like that into their precious pocket space. That made sense. Who would willingly want to put these bizarrely howling zombies anywhere near them?
Everyone bickered and tried to pass the buck to one another. Finally, they decided that since the cage belonged to Ruri and she possessed the largest pocket space out of everyone, the zombies would be placed in her pocket space. Ruri was vehemently against the decision, but she was met with deaf ears. Though she was on the verge of tears, she reluctantly complied and placed the zombie cage into her pocket space.
“Let’s get out of here so I can hurry and get rid of them! I so don’t want to keep them in here!” The very thought of the zombies squirming around in her pocket space was enough to send shivers down her spine. She was also concerned about how it would affect Lydia.
“Right, let’s hit the road, then.” Joshua and the other dragonkin turned into their draconic forms and then took off to the skies.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Lydia was monitoring the domain of space as usual. She had been sorting through things in different pocket spaces to leave in Ruri’s own pocket space ever since she did so for her first contract-bearer, Weidt. She would also place anything she wasn’t familiar with into random rooms. Needless to say, she had grown accustomed to the process.
As she kept up her work, Lydia could tell that something had entered Ruri’s room. She knew everything that happened in this domain, including when new objects came into it. However, since she couldn’t mind every single one of the countless rooms present in the space, she mainly focused her attention on Ruri’s room.
Something had entered her room—something big.
Lydia decided to go and check what it was since Ruri would sometimes send her presents from the outside world. She went into the room to determine whether it was for her or not. However, what awaited her there was a gigantic cage. The cage itself wasn’t the problem since it belonged in the room—it was what was inside of it.
“Hngaaaah!!”
“Aaaaaaah!!”
“Eep! Eeek!”
Inside the cage were people—at least, they looked like people, but it was hard to actually tell—letting out bizarre cries. Some were just headless bodies with what was presumably their heads at their feet.
“Ruriii, what in the world are you putting in here?!”
Ruri soon received Lydia’s protest by way of the spirits, telling her not to put “whatever these are” inside her pocket space. Apparently, their presence had scared Lydia to tears.
Anyone would be reduced to tears if they found themselves in the same space with those things, but seeing how it was too late to bring them out now, Ruri clasped her hands and apologized to Lydia in her mind.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Once Ruri and her crew arrived back at the castle, they went straight to Arman to report. He couldn’t contain his utter shock at the cage packed full of zombies. Meanwhile, Celestine stood from a good distance away and watched the events transpire from afar.
“Who...what are these...?” Arman stammered.
“Zombies, Sire. According to Kotaro, they’re animated corpses without souls,” Ruri explained.
“Is this the Church of God’s Light’s handiwork?”
“We can’t be certain of that yet, but we are sure there are villagers the church brought back to life. It seems that not even Kotaro knows how they’re actually making the corpses move, however.”
Arman placed his hand on his chin. He was no doubt thinking about the next course of action. Ruri’s group silently waited, never once interjecting.
There was word of people being revived in other villages as well, albeit not an entire village’s worth. Given that, it was possible the church could create similar zombies in the future. So long as the fact remained that Ruri was attacked by these unknown creatures, Arman had a responsibility as a ruler to stop the Church of God’s Light from making them—not just for Ruri but for the safety of his own people too. It would be one thing if they were harmless, but they reacted to blood and attacked. Arman needed to investigate this matter immediately before they attacked someone else.
“You said they react to blood, right? If you don’t mind, we’ll take over these things and investigate them. Is that okay?” asked Arman.
“Absolutely,” Ruri swiftly replied. She unloaded the zombies off to Arman as if she couldn’t wait for him to take them off her hands.
As Arman and his aides thought up their next course of action, Ruri and her group parted ways. Now that Ruri was free of the zombies, she breathed a sigh of relief. She decided to head down to the hot springs to refresh her weary mind and body.
“That reminds me, I wonder if Lydia is all right,” Ruri said to herself.
After enjoying her bath, Lydia was the first thing on Ruri’s mind as she exited the spring. She did put that gaggle of zombies in the pocket space, after all. Lydia probably had some huge mental scars as a result.
Figuring it would be a good idea to check in on her, Ruri entered her pocket space. As soon as she stepped in, there was Lydia waiting on the other side, standing with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. She was clearly upset, and tears were welling up in her eyes.
Ruri wanted to turn right back around and get out while she still could, but Lydia wasn’t about to let that happen. Before Ruri could even move, the entrance blipped out of existence. Lydia had cut off her escape route.
“Oh...” Ruri blurted out in vain.
“And where do you think you’re going, Ruri?”
“Oh, erm, well... Ahaha!” Ruri stammered her way into a dry, awkward chuckle, hoping to smooth over the mood, but Lydia just stared at her. “You wouldn’t happen to be mad, would you?”
“Of course I’m mad! What were you thinking putting those disgusting things inside of this space?!”
Lydia’s anger was entirely justified; those things popping into here out of nowhere had to be a huge shock. It didn’t help that Lydia was all by herself in here, which probably made the whole thing that much scarier.
“But I really had no choice. There was no other place to put them in.”
“Well and good, but I was terrified!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to put those things in here either, you see. Everyone kind of strong-armed me into it.” Ruri clasped her hands together and bowed apologetically to Lydia, but it wasn’t nearly enough to improve Lydia’s mood. “I’ll bring you some local treats from the Nation of the Beast King to make it up to you,” she bargained.
“...One or two treats won’t cut it. I want you to come with enough that you’re lugging them under both arms,” Lydia replied.
“You got it.”
It seemed that Lydia had yelled off enough steam to calm down a bit, and she agreed to the offer of an apology gift.
“Anyway, what were those things?” Lydia asked.
“You don’t know anything either?”
“Aside from them not having souls, no.” It seemed that Lydia knew the same thing Kotaro knew. “But, yes, if I recall correctly...”
“What is it?” Ruri prompted.
“Long ago, Weidt told me about how the witches had been researching ways of reviving the dead. Even though that’s impossible, that is. Not even spirits can return a soul to its body once it’s left.”
“Witches... Reviving the dead...”
Including the details behind the bracelet, Ruri felt like she was hearing “witches” mentioned an awful lot lately. It seemed unlikely, but could it be that the Church of God’s Light had ties with these witches? As the thought crossed Ruri’s mind, she hoped that this matter wouldn’t get more complicated than it needed to be.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Ruri had returned from Lydia’s place and was sharing dinner with Arman and Celestine.
Since the stories of people being revived were from the villages around Mt. Ulawoon, Arman deployed soldiers to those villages to conduct an investigation. They were also searching the capital since believers of the Church of God’s Light solicited there as well, but since they’d done such a good job of conducting themselves in secret, it was probably going to be a while before they learned anything.
The three of them discussed their plans moving forward and exchanged some light banter over dinner, but Ruri and Celestine were eating their meals in an odd manner. It didn’t seem to be a lack of appetite, but they were moving their hands awfully slow—almost as if they were intentionally taking up time.
Arman, however, had long since finished eating, and he reached for some liquor to cap off his meal. He quickly gulped down his drink and turned to check on Ruri and Celestine—only to find that they were both still picking at their food.
Since he had a mountain of obligations to square away, Arman tried to stand up from his seat on the floor and take his exit. He tried, at least, but he was soon stopped by a flustered Celestine.
“Master Arman, we have yet to finish our meal,” she protested.
“Yes, leaving your seat in the middle of a meal is bad manners,” added Ruri.
“You’re taking an eternity. How long do you plan on eating? Eat your food and go to bed.”
“This is a perfectly normal pace. I dare say that you simply eat far too fast, Master Arman. So don’t be so hasty and stay with us longer,” Celestine said.
Ruri backed her up by saying, “She’s right. It’s too early for bed. Let’s stay and keep chatting some more.”
Arman felt that the both of them were trying to stall him for whatever reason. He quizzically stared at them, wondering why they deemed that necessary.
“Aah, you’re both scared, right?” Rin asked, throwing a somewhat disappointed gaze their way. “You’re scared to go to your rooms after what happened with those things earlier, aren’t you?”
Ruri and Celestine both looked away without an ounce of subtlety. It seemed Rin hit the nail right on the head.
Ruri doubled down and pleaded her case. “But, but, but! How do you expect me not to be scared?! I need to be in a place with a lot of people. If I’m someplace quiet, I’ll start remembering it again. I can’t go to sleep like this. I’ll definitely have night terrors. I mean, forget sleep; I can barely turn the lights off at this point.”
Celestine vigorously nodded her head in agreement. “So, please, stay with us a little while longer!”
“How long is a ‘little while’? Don’t tell me you two plan to stay up till daybreak, do you?” Arman asked.
“We’ll stay up until we can’t anymore,” replied Ruri. “Oh right, Celestine-san! You said you had some liquor you’ve been saving, if I recall?”
“Yes, I’ll send for it right away,” Celestine replied.
“Let’s drink our troubles away! If we drink, then maybe the sandman will pay a visit and we can go to sleep.”
“An excellent idea!” Celestine said. She then requested that her favorite liquor be brought in. As soon as she did, the servants lined up a massive stock of bottles before them.
There was enough there to get drunk for sure. However, leaving a couple of Beloveds to get drunk as skunks wasn’t a wise decision. Arman was probably the only one capable of stopping a Beloved if something should go awry. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Arman once again sat down.
“Lady Ruri, do you partake in liquor?” asked Celestine.
“Not really, actually. I can count the number of times I’ve drank. All small amounts each time too.” Ruri was underage until she came to this world and Chelsie never drank, so she’d never had a drop of alcohol in her world or the entire time she lived out in the woods. When she started living in the castle back in the Nation of the Dragon King, she had a few sips here and there at parties and whatnot, but it was always so strong and dry that she could barely down any of it.
When Ruri told Celestine that, Celestine sympathized with her. “Yes, the Nation of the Dragon King tends to favor strong, dry liquors. Our nation is the same, but I’m just as averse to it as you are. That being said, this is a fruit wine made in the Nation of the Spirit King. It’s made for light drinkers and is very popular among women. I think this will be right up your alley, Lady Ruri.”
Ruri took a sip of the wine, encouraged by Celestine’s remarks. The wine was very sweet and she could practically chug it down like juice.
“Wow, this is sweet and goes down so smooth. It’s delicious!”
“Please, drink as much as you’d like,” Celestine offered.
Off to the side, Arman prepared to drink as well, pouring wine into his glass. It wasn’t the sweet concoction that Celestine brought out, however. It was the bitter and dry swill made in the Nation of the Beast King.
He watched Ruri and Celestine both guzzle down the smooth beverage. “Hey, pace yourselves with that stuff. It may be smooth going down and easy on the palate, but it packs more of a wallop than you expect. That goes especially for you, Celestine.”
“Yes, you needn’t nag; I get the picture, Sire,” Celestine replied.
“Why are you singling out Celestine, if I may ask?” Ruri inquired.
“Because she’s a pain in the rear when she gets drunk. You should be careful yourself. She’ll come bugging you too.”
One hour later...
“Why, oh why doesn’t Master Jade accept my feelings for him?! Tell meee!!” Celestine shouted.
Arman’s warning ended up being wasted on Celestine and Ruri—both were positively plastered.
“Nyahahahaha! Jade-sama is head over heels for me! Jade-sama loves soft and cuddly things! So he’s head over heels for me. Cat me, that is... Pft, heh-heh-heh-heh!” Ruri cackled, pounding on the table.
Celestine apparently wasn’t fond of Ruri’s utterance. Her brows tensed in anger and she grabbed Ruri by the collar, shaking her back and forth.
“But why when I’m right heeere?!”
“Nyahahaha!” Ruri chortled loudly, her head violently shaking back and forth.
“I told you not to overdrink like that...” Arman said, rubbing his temple as he looked at the two dead-drunk Beloveds.
“To think, losing to a brat like...you!” Celestine said, her face beet-red and her heart filled with disgrace.
“Grr, ‘like you’?! What do you mean ‘like you’?!”
“My pride will simply not allow myself to lose to an underdeveloped brat,” Celestine said.
“Where do you get off calling me underdeveloped?! I am not!” Ruri replied.
Celestine looked up and down Ruri’s body, stopping at her breasts. She then let out a patronizing and haughty laugh.
“You’re mocking meee! Waaaah!” Ruri whined. Tears welled in her eyes as she started to cry. Since she was drunk, her emotions went from one extreme to another—one moment she was laughing her head off, the next she was bawling her eyes out.
“You have quite the nerve standing next to Master Jade with such a pathetic build.”
Celestine was thin, but she had mass where it counted. She was so shapely that her extremely revealing outfit only complimented her figure, not deterred from it. Meanwhile, Ruri’s breasts did somewhat suffer in comparison to Celestine’s and that was a fact.
“I’ve just got a slender build; that’s all. Don’t get all cocky just because you’ve got a big chest. You can keep those clumps of blubber to yourself!” quipped Ruri.
“Hmph! Grumbling like a dog with its tail between its legs, I see. If you’re going to be Master Jade’s mate, then you should look the part. Do you think that your unshapely figure will cure what ails him?”
“It can cure whatever just fine! Jade-sama loves the soft and fluffy. He is always telling me that my cat form is ‘so cute’ or ‘so healing’...so there!”
“My oh my, doesn’t that mean any cat will do, not necessarily you? If I become a cat, I can be the healing comfort that Master Jade needs. Hand over your bracelet immediately!”
“No way, no how! Comforting Jade-sama is my job!”
Perhaps because of all the alcohol in their systems, neither of them were holding back. Off to the side, Arman sipped away at his wine, looking on in silence. The night was still very much young.
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