Chapter 23: Details of the Incident
It took a while, but Ruri finally cleared up Jade’s misunderstanding. Once that was out of the way, she launched her anger toward the now-awake Heat. He was sitting with just the bedsheet thrown over his naked body, yawning, with not an ounce of shame.
“Why were you sleeping with me naked, Heat-sama?! You’ve caused a huge misunderstanding!”
“Did you expect me to dive into the mouth of a volcano and come back with my clothes intact?”
“Wait, you walked all the way back here from the volcano stark naked?!”
“Of course I didn’t. I borrowed some of the sheets that so happened to be in the Church of God’s Light’s hideout.”
Ruri was relieved to hear that at least he wasn’t running around committing indecent exposure. It seemed even Heat had the good sense not to walk around outside in his birthday suit.
“So, how did you end up sleeping next to me?” she asked.
“When I returned, I saw that you were sleeping quite peacefully. I had grown tired myself, so I slept right on the spot. I would have preferred a beautiful woman beside me, but my fatigue proved too much. Consider it an honor to share a bed with me.”
“I don’t consider it anything but a nuisance since it only gave Jade-sama the wrong idea. I’m just lucky I was able to straighten things out.”
It had been hard work trying to clear the air on that little mishap. Seeing Ruri in the naked arms of another man was bound to set Jade off. Ruri wouldn’t be so easily trusting if she were in Jade’s shoes either.
Even now, though the misunderstanding was resolved, Jade definitely seemed wary of Heat. He held Ruri in his lap with his arms around her this entire time, and he wasn’t showing any signs of letting go. It wouldn’t have been an issue had Heat been in an animal form like Kotaro and the others, but the fact that he looked like a human affected his opinion greatly.
“So is he your lover? How very strange. To think he would pick a whelp like you out of all the beauties in the world makes me not only commend his valor but question his tastes. You’re quite the lucky one, girl. You’d best hold on to this one. Otherwise, you’ll never find another man in your lifetime.”
“Thanks but no thanks for the life advice. You’re always running off at the mouth way more than you should, Heat-sama! Jade-sama doesn’t do that!” Ruri said, mumbling that last part under her breath.
Ruri had been fretting over how to face Jade the next time they met due to their circumstances, but thanks to this mishap, none of that even crossed her mind. The fact that she was able to interact with him far more normally than she expected was a lucky break. Nevertheless, Ruri still wondered if Heat was acting oddly arrogant toward her or if it was a figment of her imagination.
“Anyway, what are you doing here, Jade-sama? Is the Nation of the Dragon King all right?”
“Yes, we’re done cleaning up the aftermath, and the repairs to the castle are finished, so I’ve come to pick you up. Oh, I’ve also heard that the Church of God’s Light has been apprehended, so I came to talk with Arman while I was at it.”
“I think you’ve got your priorities backward there...” Ruri quipped.
“What are you talking about? There’s no priority higher than you, Ruri,” Jade said without even a hint of embarrassment.
Jade had always been forthright with her, but now that Ruri knew how he felt about her, she couldn’t just pass these statements off as affection for a pet like in the past. Her cheeks were starting to blush.
“Quit your flirting, brat. Anyway, what about my beautiful women? I take it you haven’t forgotten our deal, correct?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got everything set up.” She had already told Arman about the promise she made—a banquet with beautiful women. It seemed Arman couldn’t turn her down if it helped prevent a potential eruption from taking place.
“I see. Good. In that case,” Heat said, his lips stretching into a slovenly grin. He was probably picturing himself surrounded by the bevy of beauties.
“Heat-sama, hurry and do something about your clothes. People will start thinking you’re just a streaker.”
“Hmm, yes, I suppose I can’t very well meet with a room full of beauties in the buff, now can I? Very well, I’ll take my other form until I prepare a new outfit.”
“Other form?” Ruri questioned.
Before she could process what he said, Heat suddenly vanished into thin air. Ruri jumped. That was when she noticed something rustling under the sheet he’d been using. Out from the linen popped a figure—a penguin.
“Huh? A penguin...?”
“Hmm, yes, I can’t say I’m a fan of this merry little body.”
“Is that you, Heat-sama?”
“Who else would it be? You’re too young to be going senile, you know.”
His appearance was adorable, but his tone was just as uppity as ever. That was how she knew for sure it was him.
“Well? No problems should arise if I’m in this form.”
“Um, well, you raise a good point, but... Huh, I guess your body was a demi-human’s.”
Ruri had been convinced that his body belonged to a regular human, but now that she really thought about it, this was the Nation of the Beast King—a nation of demi-humans. It was likely easier to obtain a demi-human’s body than a human’s, hence this adorable penguin. But it was beyond weird seeing him in his animal form after interacting with him as a human for so long. A cute penguin with big, round eyes and Heat were two concepts that didn’t match at all.
“I’m fine with the human form, but this form is far too merry-looking and goes against my image, so I’m not the biggest fan of it.”
“Yeah, but I feel it’d be a hit with girls.”
“What? This is what girls like?”
“Well, I think most girls like cute things.”
“Hmm, is that so? Then I’ll check for myself!”
Heat jumped from the bed. He then took little adorable, tottering steps right out the door, probably off to venture for women.
Ruri said he’d be a “hit with the girls,” but she couldn’t really say for certain here in a kingdom where demi-humans were a more familiar sight. However, dragonkin were popular among men as well as women. Dragonkin like Jade couldn’t be any more different from animals of Heat’s sort. If Heat were to parade his stubby little legs around in the Nation of the Dragon King’s castle, the ladies who worked there would undoubtedly shower him with shrill cries.
Finn walked into the room, passing by Heat on the way out.
“Oh, you’re here too, Finn-san.”
“Yes, I arrived here this morning with His Majesty. Good to see you again, Ruri. Your Majesty, the Beast King is requesting to partake in breakfast.”
“I see. Very well, then.”
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
After dressing and tidying up, Ruri headed down with Jade for breakfast. While it was framed as a meal, its true purpose was to discuss matters of the Church of God’s Light. Three days had passed since they apprehended the leader and his members. Arman’s preparations for a discussion like this probably meant he managed to pull some degree of new information from the members.
Once their meals were served, they started off by eating. The Nation of the Beast King’s style forewent chairs, and instead people sat atop tapestries laid out on the floor. Ruri had grown accustomed to this way of eating during her stay, but she was surprised to see Jade sit cross-legged without hesitation. In fact, it felt a little off to her.
Perhaps in consideration for their meal, they avoided heavy topics and only exchanged light banter. It was possible they never brought up a single gory, appetite-spoiling subject out of consideration for Ruri as well. However, once they finished eating, the two kings’ faces looked as serious as could be.
“How’s the Nation of the Dragon King holding up?”
“No problems on our end. The castle is fixed, and everything has been the picture of peace after apprehending the raider. Everything aside from the lost soldier, that is. I’ve heard you’ve been having more issues here.”
“Sure have. I never would have imagined that the Church of God’s Light was operating in the shadows here in the Nation of the Beast King. And for years now, to boot.”
“What was their end goal?” Jade asked.
That was the thing Ruri was most curious about. Plotting to kill Beloveds, kidnapping a soldier, animating the dead—these were only a small smattering of their deeds, but there might be many more.
“The leader of the church and a handful of his senior members were pulling the strings. They caused all that grief, but once we got a little rough in our interrogation, they spilled everything.”
Ruri didn’t know how much “a little rough” was, but after seeing the amused smirk on Arman’s face, she was too afraid to ask. Since they’d assaulted Beloveds, “little” to the rest of the world and “little” to Arman was bound to have different connotations.
“Their end goal was the restoration of the Church of God’s Light. After losing members and falling into disarray, they were trying to increase their numbers and revitalize the church. The Beloved assassination plots, reviving the dead, kidnapping the soldier—it was all for that.”
“That was their reason...?” Ruri questioned, a mixture of exasperation and anger. That was why they tried to kill her? It made her question why they hadn’t just attracted new members instead of involving innocent lives if they wanted to restore their church so bad.
“They spread word of raising the dead to gain members and persuaded people who believed their stories to join in exchange for reviving their loved ones. The majority of their following in the cave were people in that very situation. There were some who honestly believed and devoted themselves to the leader, but there were also a lot who were on the fence. Still, the common factor between all of them was that they’d lost their loved ones and were at the end of their ropes.”
“And they manipulated their hopes? That’s despicable,” said Ruri. She thought of Noah, who only wanted the church to bring back his parents. They undoubtedly manipulated other people in similar fashion. She was beside herself, hating how the leader and his crew exploited people’s vulnerabilities.
“As for the kidnapped soldier, they needed dragon blood for their revival method, so they used the confusion of the Beloved assassination to abduct a drugged and weakened soldier. The assassination plots against our Beloved and Cerulanda’s Beloved were some sort of purge against heretics, but the assault on the Nation of the Dragon King’s Beloved and the other issues were a diversion to abduct the soldier.”
The fires in town, the explosion in the castle, the poisoning of the food—they basically did anything they could to cause confusion. Gaining a dragonkin was their goal. Noah and the Reapers were nothing more than decoys to accomplish this.
“What was this whole ‘raising the dead’ business?” Jade asked. “They apparently needed dragonkin blood, but how do they know of that usage? Did they talk about that?” Jade was particularly interested in that facet since one of his soldiers was kidnapped because of it. It was also an issue for dragonkin as a whole.
“They were processing a certain medicine by infusing dragonkin blood with the power from Mt. Ulawoon. The medicine has the ability to revitalize cells, even dead ones. And using that, they created moving corpses devoid of souls. However, the product was incomplete. They conducted their test to confirm the medicine’s effects in the wiped-out village, among other places.”
“So does that mean it really could’ve resurrected the dead if they’d completed it?” asked Ruri.
“Don’t know the answer to that, but the spirits said it was impossible, didn’t they?” Arman replied.
“Yes, they did.”
“If they say so, then it must be impossible.”
You couldn’t call them “revived” without a soul. And a soul couldn’t be brought back even with the power of a supreme-level spirit.
“How did the Church of God’s Light know of that way of making medicine?” Jade asked. “Also, according to what I was told, they’ve been raising the dead even before the soldier went missing. If they needed dragonkin blood, then where were they getting their supply?”
Jade’s doubt was reasonable. The people of that village were wiped away several years ago. If the Church of God’s Light was already setting their plans in motion back then, that didn’t explain whose blood they used and how they learned to make medicine from dragon blood. Making medicine out of dragonkin blood was a secret technique. It was a processing method only a select few dragonkin knew, so it wasn’t something anyone could simply do.
“They said it was a witch.”
“A witch?” repeated Jade.
“The person who taught the leader and his followers how to make the medicine called themselves a witch.”
“Witches again, eh?”
“They were wearing a hood to obscure their face, but from their voice and height, they seemed to be a man. That man gave them the blood, the recipe for the medicine, and our mystery bracelets.” By “mystery bracelets” he meant the bracelet that transformed the wearer into a rat, like the ones Noah and the fake Reapers used.
“So there are more bracelets?” asked Ruri.
“Yeah, but we’ve collected all of them,” Arman assured.
“Well, that’s a relief. Oh, but if that witch has even more of them, there is always the possibility they would circulate them to other people up to no good. Wait a second... You said the witch is a man?”
Jade answered Ruri’s question, explaining, “Men who use sorcery are referred to as ‘witches’ as well. Regardless of whether that person was actually a witch or not, there are plenty of witches who live in secret, not belonging to any one nation. They’re called ‘Rogue Witches.’ Either way, it might be hard identifying the specific witch that reached out to the Church of God’s Light.”
“Yes,” Arman replied, nodding. “Plus, the witch only gave them blood, some bracelets, and a recipe for medicine. They didn’t actually commit any crime. The Church of God’s Light was the one who abused all of those things. We have no reason to arrest them.”
The blame was solely on the Church of God’s Light for this incident. The witch served as nothing more than the catalyst.
“What will happen to the church now?” asked Ruri.
“The majority of the members we apprehended simply joined the church; they have neither connections nor knowledge of any of the church’s actions. Since none of them committed any crimes, we released them to their respective families after questioning.”
With the leader apprehended and his followers finally returned to their homes, the Church of God’s Light was completely wiped out—a far cry from their plans of restoration.
“But among the handful that did believe in reviving the dead and dedicated themselves to the leader, there were some that lent a hand in his designs. They will be tried along with the leader and his senior members. That’s a decision I wanted to talk over with you, Jade. Are you okay with us trying them? The church attacked all of you as well.”
The Church of God’s Light committed crimes against the Nation of the Dragon King as well as the Nation of the Beast King. It was necessary to figure out which laws they would be tried by.
“I’m fine either way. The Nation of the Beast King can punish them even more severely than the Nation of the Dragon King, after all.”
“Oh, is that so?” Ruri asked, clueless to either nation’s laws. She had made enough progress in her studies to finally get the hang of this world’s written language, but she hadn’t progressed far enough to delve into law yet. Even so, there was no way she would know the differences between the two nations.
Jade elaborated, “In the Nation of the Beast King, plots to kill a Beloved are grounds for death, no exceptions. Other crimes have more severe punishments here than in the Nation of the Dragon King. In fact, in light of what happened to you, Ruri, the Nation of the Dragon King will also be enacting the death penalty for any plot to kill a Beloved—be it instigated, executed, failed, or otherwise.”
Ruri was surprised by that fact, but Arman seemed to agree with it.
“Actually, you should’ve put that into place far earlier,” Arman commented. “If you had finalized that law quicker, you could have tried that group from before by now.”
“Unlike this nation, the Nation of the Dragon King had no Beloved for quite some time. It only stands to reason why the laws haven’t been overhauled,” Jade explained.
A Beloved would be born in the Nation of the Beast King every so often, but it was said that the Nation of the Dragon King hadn’t seen a Beloved in their kingdom since the first Dragon King. Weidt, the First Dragon King, was not only the mightiest of Dragon Kings but a Beloved himself. There wasn’t anyone foolish enough to pick a fight with someone of his caliber, which explained why there wasn’t a law in the case harm befell a Beloved. Weidt’s haphazard way of doing things might have also been a factor.
Arman said it should have been done earlier, but if Jade had instilled that law any sooner, Noah would have been sentenced to death. Ruri was secretly glad it was coming after the fact.
“Well, maybe we should make them parade around town, telling people they plotted to assassinate Beloveds, then? Hahaha!”
Arman chuckled heartily, but for the leader and his followers, that would be no laughing matter. The people of the Nation of the Beast King took worshiping spirits very seriously. They would never show anyone who dared touch a Beloved any mercy. They would start stoning the church members or even worse. The Church of God’s Light would be ingrained in the public’s mind as heinous fiends who tried to kill Beloveds. The townspeople’s search for the church would likely come to an end as well.
“So, that’s about it for the Church of God’s Light,” Arman concluded.
“Right. I’d appreciate it if you handled the aftermath. Now that the castle is repaired, would you mind if I took Ruri back home with me?”
“Not at all. In fact, hurry up and take her back. Her presence is more troublesome than Celestine’s. Supreme-level spirits are sacred beings, but I don’t want them so close all the time. It stresses me out.”
Jade smiled wryly, as if he understood how he felt, but Ruri objected to his phrasing.
“How rude. Kotaro and Rin are cute, aren’t they? Okay, Chi may have a mean look to him, but still.” They were her dear friends, so she didn’t want anyone treating them unkindly.
“Getting threatened every time something happens isn’t something I can stand. I can’t just interact with them as casually as you do. They’re supreme-level spirits, after all. Not even Celestine, a Beloved herself, can stop them if something arises.”
“They don’t make any unreasonable demands. They’re free spirits and just filled with a little curiosity; that’s all.”
“A ‘little’ is the issue here... But whatever. If you’re going back, I’ll prepare a lavish banquet.”
“Oh, please don’t forget Heat-sama’s request,” Ruri said, reminding Arman since it would be a huge mess if he forgot. If they were short by even one girl, they would probably never hear the end of Heat’s complaining. They had to make sure everything was in order, no matter what.
“Yes, I know. I have preparations in order,” Arman replied.
As such, the turmoil incited by the Church of God’s Light tentatively came to a close.
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