The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 5 - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Dispatching the Troops

The troops were quickly readied to be dispatched. Many dragonkin were participating in the expedition. Dragonkin had a strong sense of camaraderie, and plenty of them were so livid about the kidnappings that they were shoving each other out of the way to offer their services. Yadacain had completely incurred the dragonkin’s wrath.

However, the kingdom couldn’t bring every available person on hand as it would thin out its domestic defenses too much. Therefore, a mass lottery had been held. While it seemed a silly thing to do for such a dire situation, this was the most peaceful solution, all things considered. Even some who weren’t soldiers and who normally wouldn’t participate in battle added themselves to the mix, which caused a handful of soldiers to fly into an uproar. Nevertheless, their anger toward the enemy was just as strong. And though they weren’t soldiers, they were still dragonkin. It was well known that even civilian dragonkin had exceptional fighting prowess, which was why they were allowed to enter the lottery in the first place.

Preparations were proceeding at a blinding pace. The only issue left to square away was Heat. Ruri hesitantly visited him to find his entourage of women waiting on him, despite the impending war. She gave Heat a rundown of the situation and asked him for his cooperation.

In the past, she had been forced to offer some sort of woman-related prize in order to lure Heat into doing what she wanted—whether it was arranging a banquet with a hundred beauties or taking him to a night out at Knies. What kind of conditions would he force upon her this time? Ruri had a certain level of foresight and was already slightly prepared. Certainly, she could assemble a hundred women if need be. She braced herself for the absolute worst he could dish out. However...

“Very well. I will help you,” Heat replied, most unexpectedly.

“Huh?” Ruri was literally stunned speechless. She couldn’t believe that Heat would accept her offer with no strings attached. “You mean you’ll go?” she asked, in case her ears were deceiving her.

Heat glared at her and responded, “I just told you that I would, didn’t I? Are you going deaf, brat?”

“No, it’s just that there’s usually some kind of catch. Are you not feeling well? Should I call the doctor?” Ruri asked him. She wasn’t joking either; she was absolutely serious.

“Okay, brat, just what do you think I am?”

She was about to say “an insatiable womanizer,” but she caught herself just in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have guessed what she was going to say, and he humphed in dissatisfaction. “I am a spirit as well. A supreme-level one, at that. If the lesser spirits face danger, then I can’t afford not to act. Besides, I’ve always hated that blasted Spirit Slayer, and this is a perfect chance. I’ll get rid of it once and for all.”

“Wow, so cool!”

“You’re giving me shivers~!”

The little spirits praised Heat with great enthusiasm. This pleased Heat so much that he stuck out his chest with pride.

“Heh, heh. This is only natural. I am a supreme-level spirit, after all.”

“I thought I would need to lure you in, so I had already contacted all the girls in the castle, but it looks like I didn’t need to do that.”

Heat’s ears picked up on what Ruri had said, and his eyes lit up. “Well, you’re certainly prepared. In that case, I’ll have a banquet upon my return. Get things ready.”

“So I did need to do that after all...”

This should have been the moment where Heat confirmed he didn’t need anything in return, but Heat wasn’t about to fix his womanizing ways.

Preparations had managed to proceed, but with little time to rest. If they were to rescue their dragonkin comrades, they had to use their time effectively. The soldiers’ desire to rescue their kinsfolk paid off, though, as things were ready ahead of schedule. It was now time to ship out.

The naval ships all lined up in a row at the capital’s port was a magnificent sight to behold. Ruri would have been excited if the situation were different, but the only thing stirring in her chest was anxiety. Since the Spirit of Darkness was involved, no one expected this to be a straightforward affair. And Jade would be joining the deployment and leading the troops on this operation. It was his intense desire to do so, but that only exacerbated Ruri’s fears.

Rin and Heat were also going along, so Ruri asked both of them to take care of Jade. They couldn’t just care for him alone, though. There were other soldiers going, and the two of them would have to face the Spirit of Darkness. If something were to happen to Jade, they might not be in a position to help. Besides, Jade was the Dragon King, the man who’d displayed his awesome strength for all to see in the last tournament. That being said, it wasn’t enough to quell Ruri’s worries.

Ruri came to the port to see Jade off. It was almost time to set sail. She said her goodbyes to him as he gave the sign to depart to the other men. She looked extremely worried and glum as she stood before him.

Jade looked at her and smiled wryly. He reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll just be out for a bit. I assure you, I’ll be back soon.”

“Please, please be careful out there,” Ruri said.

Ruri had been born and raised in a land of peace and security. In this world, so different from her own, war and strife were commonplace. Nevertheless, it wasn’t something she could get used to—especially if people she held dear were going into the thick of it. She was going to worry even if told not to.

In contrast to herself, Ruri didn’t sense any kind of tension or anxiety coming from Jade, even though he was heading into battle. His face was exactly the same as always. Did experience make that big of a difference?

“It’ll be fine. I’m the same person who won the tournament—the Dragon King. I’ll have both Lord Rin and Lord Spirit of Fire by my side, so there’s nothing to fear. If I had to worry about something, it’d be trying to contain the other dragonkin since they’re so fired up.”

Since they wouldn’t be able to use magic due to the Spirit Slayer in Yadacain, the soldiers had a large stockpile of armaments ready. Droves of dragonkin stood around them, brandishing weapons. Their bloodthirstiness was understandable; their kinsmen had been captured. Looking out at all of them, raring to go, the future of Yadacain seemed bleak. They were liable to ground the whole nation underneath their dragonkin heels. It would take an inordinate amount of effort just to hold them all back.

Keeping any eye on his men to make sure they didn’t go overboard would probably be more difficult for Jade than the battle with Yadacain itself. Jade was participating in this operation partly because they needed someone to keep them in check.

“Your Majesty, the preparations are in order,” said a soldier, who had come over to address Jade.

Jade’s face straightened. “Very well.” He turned his attention back to Ruri. He pulled her toward his chest and braced his arms around her. The embrace was short-lived, though, as he soon released her and said, “I’ll be off now. You should be fine with Lord Kotaro by your side, but considering the off chance that Yadacain might try something, you should keep a watchful eye on your surroundings.”

“Yes, I understand,” Ruri replied with a nod.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here too,” Quartz said, as he put his hand on Ruri’s shoulder and gave a reassuring smile to Jade.

“Master Quartz, I leave Ruri in your capable hands.”

“Right. Just leave her to me.”

Jade had nothing but unwavering trust in Quartz. He was sure she would be fine with Quartz around.

Jade turned around and boarded the ship. Once everyone was aboard, the boats slowly started to sail away.

“See you later!” Rin said, flapping her little wings from the deck of the boat.

“Be careful, Rin! Heat-sama, take care of everyone!” Ruri called back, shouting her lungs off.

As she held onto the hope that they’d all come back home safely, Ruri watched the boats disappear into the horizon.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

The Nation of the Dragon King’s warships, packed with an excessive amount of soldiers, borrowed Rin’s water-based powers to zip across the sea at speeds unthinkable for a sailboat. It was a race against the clock. Even as they sailed, no one knew what was befalling the dragonkin in captivity. Dragonkin had strong and sturdy bodies, which was a bit of relief, but since the reasons for their capture were unclear, none of them could imagine what those dragonkin could be facing right now.

There was also something else concerning. Joshua and the other reconnaissance agents who’d gone to Yadacain hadn’t been relaying their regularly scheduled reports. Since not much time had passed between the kidnapping and their departure, it was possible that Joshua had contacted them as they were going. Nonetheless, the lack of communication was pretty concerning. They could only pray that nothing had happened to them.

They also had to consider Ruri’s parents. It was entirely possible that they would find Ruri’s parents in Yadacain, meaning they would need to sweep the island for them before leaving.

The ship was proceeding toward Yadacain at a brisk pace. The weather was fine, and nothing impeded their progress.

“Your Majesty! Yadacain spotted!”

Their island destination was in sight off the starboard bow. In one fell swoop, everyone on the ship was overcome with a mix of tension and excitement for the forthcoming battle.

“Prepare to land,” Jade declared, ordering his armada.

Normally, magic would have stopped working by this point, but it seemed that Rin’s supreme-level powers were unaffected, so they maintained their speed. However, everyone aboard the ships was hindered by the Spirit Slayer magic all the same. The soldiers tried to use their magic as a test, but it failed to activate.

Now that they couldn’t rely on their magic, weapons would be essential. They all took up arms and eagerly awaited to dock. But while they were brimming with bloodlust, they still hadn’t lost control of their rationale.

The crews on each ship began to worry about their speed, which hadn’t dropped despite being so close to land. They scrambled to grab onto something as they quickly approached the beaches. The ships proceeded to run straight up onto the shores, practically at full speed. It almost seemed as though they would die before they got a chance to take down Yadacain, but everyone came out of the bumpy landing unscathed.

Jade and his men swiftly enacted their next course of action. Jade left a few men aboard the ships as lookouts, and the rest moved further into the island. They were somewhat familiar with the lay of the land due to Joshua’s earlier reports. The report had also detailed that while normal magic was unavailable, they could still utilize their pocket spaces. This meant that they were spared having to carry their extensive load of things.

Jade led the extremely motivated dragonkin toward the castle. Their eyes were bloodshot with rage, and they looked more like invaders than rescuers. After moving through the trees past the beach, they spotted the city. The people came outside their houses to see what the commotion was, but Jade and his men had no intention of doing anything to the nonresistant townspeople. Their objective was to rescue the abducted dragonkin and to eliminate the Spirit Slayer magic.

The residents could only watch from a distance, terrified by the armed strangers of the Nation of the Dragon King. But before long, a slew of people, presumably Yadacain’s soldiers, arrived and confronted them.

“Wh-Who are all of you?!” a Yadacain soldier asked. They pointed their weapons at the Nation of the Dragon King’s soldiers, who also primed their weapons in return. They were seething with rage, but Jade managed to keep things from escalating.

“We are from the Nation of the Dragon King. Our kinsmen were captured by your nation’s people the other day. We’ve only come to reclaim them. Let us have an audience with your king.”

“If you think we’re just going to usher you to our leader just because you tell us to, then think again!” the soldier said.

His response was predictable. There was no way the Yadacain soldiers would take a group of armed people to their king. At the same time, Jade couldn’t just compliantly turn back home either.

“We’d rather you comply,” Jade said, “but if you stand to oppose us, then we will make our way through by force!”

Jade’s words acted as a sign for the Nation of the Dragon King’s soldiers to start moving ahead. Although Yadacain’s forces faltered, they were determined not to just freely let them pass, and they swung their weapons in defiance. However, these were soldiers of a sleepy island nation. Their only strife came from occasional drunken quarrels and marital spats—nothing close to warfare. Not only that, but they were all humans. They stood no chance against the battle-hardened dragonkin. The dragonkin might have been stripped of their magic, but they were strong enough with just their raw strength.

Just as it looked like the Yadacain soldiers would have no choice but to allow them to pass, another Yadacain soldier came up from the rear and tossed a round object at the dragonkin soldiers. Rin recognized what it was and immediately cast a wall of water around them. The orb exploded viciously over their heads. Rin shielded everyone from harm, but the Yadacain soldiers kept tossing more and more orbs at them. The dragonkin had to halt in their tracks. The upside—if you could call it that—was that their orbs weren’t as strong as the ones Nadasha had used, so there was no major damage to the surrounding houses.

“Those are the same things that Nadasha used in the past,” Rin said, identifying them as the same items that Asahi had thrown during the war with Nadasha and that the priest had thrown while infiltrating their castle. It was a troublesome little trinket that absorbed mana from the area and exploded. “I guess that means Nadasha was involved with Yadacain,” she added.

As Rin pondered whether they should stay put until they ran out of orbs, a red-haired man stepped forward.

“Truly wretched magic,” Heat said, furrowing his brow. He stretched out his arm and a surge of roaring flames assaulted the Yadacain soldiers.

The soldiers ran to get out of the way of the encircling blaze, so they couldn’t throw more of the exploding orbs. And the sparks from the fire didn’t just fly at the soldiers, but the surrounding houses as well, causing a huge uproar. The townspeople panicked and tried to extinguish the flames, but they spread too fast.

If Rin had felt so inclined, she could have easily used her powers to douse the flames. She wasn’t so inclined, however. She didn’t know why these people lived in this nation, but they lived under the blessings of Spirit Slayer magic, a magic that threatened the lives of spirits everywhere. As a spirit herself, she couldn’t dream of helping them. Heat most likely felt the same way, which was why he was letting his flames run amok without any regard for the surroundings.

“Come. We’re moving on. Now,” Heat proclaimed as he gazed icily at the Yadacain soldiers that had dispersed, leading the dragonkin forces onward. He was a one-man army, mowing down every Yadacain soldier in his path as he marched himself and the others straight up to the castle’s front doors.

Jade and the others positioned themselves in front of the castle. Even more soldiers came out to threaten them, but Heat made sure that none of them tried to make a move. All they did was menacingly glare at Jade and his men.

“Let me see your king. We’re going to retrieve our kinsmen.”

They didn’t know who had kidnapped the dragonkin or for what purpose, but this was an awful lot of men that had come to intercept them. Given that, there was no way the king was oblivious. Even if the king didn’t know, Jade needed to talk to them and ask for their cooperation.

None of their adversaries showed any signs of budging. Jade had never thought they would just let them pass in the first place, but he considered employing some rather forceful measures before this stalemate persisted. Perhaps that went without saying. He wasn’t sure he could hold the dragonkin back for much longer. They were geared for battle and seemed ready to charge at any moment. They were worried about their comrades. Jade didn’t want to do anything too drastic, but it was a little too late now that Heat was on his rampage.

Just as Jade was about to give the order to charge, several women appeared from the back.

“Back down, all of you,” said one of the women. From how the soldiers immediately obeyed, they seemed to hold relatively high positions.

Jade stepped forward, hoping to be able to have some sort of discourse.

“I am Jade, the Dragon King of the Nation of the Dragon King. You have taken our kinsmen. Don’t tell me you have no clue either. We have your soldiers captive as well. If you will return our men, we will do the same. But first, I want you to take me to your king.”

The women stared back at Jade, unfazed. One of them answered, “We understand your terms. We’ll take you to see the king. However, we request that you bring only a few of your representatives.”

After a short pause, Jade replied, “Very well, then.”

Jade went with Rin, Heat, and a few soldiers in tow. He ordered the rest of the soldiers to remain on standby and followed behind the women into the castle.

As they walked down the corridor, one of the women said, “We are terribly sorry for what happened. We have no intention of resisting, so we implore you not to attack our citizens.”

“That all depends on your actions. We don’t wish for any unnecessary bloodshed either. Are our people safe? Who ordered this to begin with?”

They all wore grim expressions as one of the women started to awkwardly explain. “This is the order of our ruler. We believe that your companions are still safe. They will most likely not kill them. It would hurt their objective.”

“What do you mean? What is your king plotting?!” Jade asked, infuriated. The women shuddered in fear, but Jade showed no compassion. He wanted them to return his men quickly; that was all.

The women stopped, turned around, and bowed their heads vigorously.

“Not even we wanted to send troops to the Nation of the Dragon King. We are terribly sorry for that. We realize that this is wrong for us to request of you all, but please...please stop our ruler. They will no longer listen to our attempts at reasoning.”

Jade looked at them suspiciously. “What is the meaning of this?”

“We don’t know the details either. All we can say is that our king was betrothed to someone, but that person fell ill and passed away. Our ruler became weak and emaciated. Shortly thereafter, they began to dabble in some rather questionable research. They’ve never been the same since. They said that they were sending troops to the Nation of the Dragon King for that very purpose. We tried to stop them, but nothing we said would convince them otherwise.”

The woman spoke with tears in her eyes. She didn’t seem to be lying. So if what she said was true, then this incident was the king’s personal decision. That was why they wanted dragonkin? For some questionable research?

“I wish to speak to them directly. Will you let me have an audience with your king?”

“Yes, please. Right this way.”

The women led Jade and his crew to a large hall. Toward the very back, a throne-like chair sat atop a raised platform. Someone was sitting on it—a woman. She seemed to be slightly older than Ruri. Her face was very pale and haggard, but her eyes were strong and determined.

Behind her, a man dressed in black was leaning against her like her shadow. He was slender and appeared to be in his early twenties. His hair, eyes, and clothes were all jet black. His appearance didn’t feel out of place at all, though. Black suited him quite well. It was almost as if instead of being clad in black, he was the very shade itself.

Rin and Heat both reacted upon seeing the man.

“Darkness,” Rin stated.

“Well, it really was you after all, Darkness,” Heat commented.

“It’s been quite a while, Water, Fire,” he replied without even a twitch of his brow. His eyes, silently staring at his brethren, were black as the darkness.

“What are you doing there?” asked Heat.

“Nothing in particular,” the Spirit of Darkness replied.

“It’s absolutely not ‘nothing’! You took away those dragonkin!” said Rin.

“I was just granting my beloved one’s wish.”

“‘Just’? You can’t be...” Rin started, about to argue his point.

That was when Heat looked over at the Yadacain king, or rather queen, sitting still on her throne and muttered, “So, she’s a Beloved, is she?”

Jade turned and looked at Heat. “A Beloved?” he repeated.

“Yes, she’s a Beloved, just like the brat.”

Jade looked at the queen in surprise. “A Beloved just like Ruri...”

There were said to be five Beloveds in the world. One in the Nation of the Beast King, one in the Nation of the Spirit King, one in the Nation of the Dragon King, one in Cerulanda, and one in Yadacain. However, the Beloved of Yadacain had never actually been confirmed; it was always just a rumor based on the accounts of those who had washed ashore from Yadacain. Considering that Yadacain was devoid of spirits, there was no possible way to know if someone beloved by the spirits dwelled here, which was why many people had assumed it was mere hearsay. Plus, searching Yadacain was difficult when its borders were closed to begin with. No one had been able to check, even if they had wanted to, and certainly no one expected the Beloved to be the queen of Yadacain.

Jade, on the other hand, couldn’t care less if the queen was a Beloved. That wasn’t why he was here. He took a step forward and said, “Oh King of Yadacain, you took my kinsmen, and I want you to give them back.”

But the queen simply replied, “I can’t do that. They are essential. For both my sake and that person’s.”

“I don’t care what it is you’re trying to do. It has nothing to do with any of us. Give back my people now, or we take them back by force.”

The queen, who looked pale enough to collapse at any moment, threw a sharp glare at Jade. “I cannot allow you to do that. I need your dragonkin blood. You taking them back would hinder my plans.”

“Your plans do not concern us. I will turn over every stone in this castle to find them if I have to.”

“You shall not! I will not allow it!” the queen cried. Part of the ceiling quickly dropped down, revealing that it was swarming with the same zombies that the Church of God’s Light had created back in the Nation of the Beast King—except these held weapons in their hands. They were similar to the zombies from back then, but they weren’t quite the same. Those zombies only reacted to blood, but these set their sights on Jade and his men regardless.

“Hngaaaah!” screamed the zombies as they came charging their way.

Jade unleashed his blade. While his sword technique was befitting his title of Dragon King, there were just so many of them.

Jade clicked his tongue at the overwhelming number of zombies and proceeded to slash through them. This was Jade’s personal battlefield. While there were a few other soldiers with him, Jade was moving at such a tremendous speed that they would only get in the way, so they held back. It didn’t take long before all of the zombies hit the ground, a sight that reminded the troops that their king was indeed incredible.

“Seize him! I’ll use him as fodder as well!” the queen commanded.

The Spirit of Darkness’s pitch-black eyes locked on to Jade, and the same black sphere that had captured the dragonkin before came flying toward Jade. Jade’s singular focus on the queen made him slow to react. He seemed to be as good as caught, but one of Jade’s soldiers pushed him out of the way and became trapped in the spherical prison instead. Jade watched in shock, but he quickly came back to his senses and shot a piercing glare at the queen.

The sphere came flying at Jade once again, but he dodged its advances and tossed a dagger toward the queen. Of course, before it could reach the queen, the Spirit of Darkness swatted it out of the air, but Jade had done that knowing Darkness would stop it. With his focus on the queen, the Spirit of Darkness’s attack let up.

“What the hell are you trying to do?! Why are you targeting dragonkin?! Does this have to do with your dead fiancé?!” Jade yelled. The queen had supposedly changed after the person she was betrothed to had died.

The queen’s eyes wavered hesitantly. “I...just want to get them back. I just want to be with my beloved! What’s so wrong with that?!” she shouted, clutching her head in a deranged manner.

The Spirit of Darkness then took her into his embrace. His eyes were tinged with sadness, unlike before.

Rin and Heat stood in front of the Spirit of Darkness.

“Darkness, I don’t know your reasons, but you’ll be crossing the line if you use Spirit Slayer magic any longer,” Rin said. Her hair would have been standing on end if she’d had any. “We have decided to eliminate Spirit Slayer—to keep the other spirits safe. You will not get in our way.”

“So, what will you do?” Heat asked to confirm his intentions. He didn’t need to hear his response, however. As a fellow spirit, he already knew the answer. Spirits did not fight one another. The Spirit of Darkness was by himself against two other spirits of the same class. He had no chance of winning, even considering the numbers.

The Spirit of Darkness didn’t oppose and sorrowfully looked down at the queen.

“What are you doing? We must deal with these cretins!” she protested.

But the Spirit of Darkness remained still, staring at her and nothing more. “I’m sorry, beloved one. It seems that I can no longer help you.” The spheres cracked, and the captured dragonkin soldier was released.

“Are you...betraying me? Are you going to leave me as well?” she muttered in disbelief.

“I’m not leaving you. I’ll always be with you. But this is the end. That one isn’t coming back. You will just have to accept that,” he replied.

The queen looked absolutely floored, as if the words that had come from his mouth sounded unreal. Her voice quivered. “What are you talking about? Are you saying that everything I’ve done so far was for naught? You’ve been helping me, haven’t you? They will come back. Soon enough. I just need to make a little more progress in my research and I can get them back! Isn’t that right?!”

“The dead can’t be brought back to life,” Heat said, telling her the cold, hard reality of it. “No matter the means, not even with a spirit’s power. It’s impossible.”

While Jade couldn’t piece together all the threads of her story, he was able to predict that the queen had someone that she wanted to bring back to life and that was the reason why she was conducting her research. He remembered how the Church of God’s Light had brought back the dead. Did that mean that the queen had conducted that magic—that research? The spirits were confident that it was an impossible feat. So why hadn’t the Spirit of Darkness made that clear to her?

“That’s not true! I’ve actually managed to bring the dead back to life!” the queen argued.

“Are you talking about those corpses?” Heat asked. “Those are simply animated vessels. Soulless puppets. Saying that they’re ‘alive’ is a misnomer.”

“Which is why I am doing research! With just a little more time, returning the person I love back to how they were when alive will be—”

“Useless. You can’t bring someone back to life unless you bring back their soul. And a soul that’s left its body can never return. They’re probably floating around the circle of reincarnation by now. In fact, I’d venture they’ve already been reborn as someone else. What you’re doing is utterly pointless,” Heat said, telling her the reality of the situation as bluntly as possible.

The queen started to get agitated. “No. No, no. That can’t be. It simply can’t...”

That was when Jade’s sensitive dragonkin nose caught a whiff of a peculiar smell. “I smell something burnt. It almost smells like something is on fire.”

They heard a large commotion coming from outside. Then, with a loud clatter, the women who had escorted Jade’s group barged in.

“Your Majesty, we need to evacuate immediately!” said one of the women. “The room you always seclude yourself in has caught fire!”

The queen stood so fast it rattled her throne. Her pale face turned even paler and she started running.

“Ah, Your Majesty, where are you off to?!” the woman cried.

Jade and his men pursued the fleeing queen.

As soon as she’d left the room, the queen ran down the corridor at top speed. The closer she got to where she was heading, the stronger the smell of smoke became. Then she finally came upon the room, engulfed in furious flames, and stopped in front of it.

She tried to enter the burning room in a panic, but this was absolutely not the right time to enter. The Spirit of Darkness grabbed her from behind.

“Unhand me! All of my research is inside there!”

“You can’t, beloved one. The fire is burning too greatly; you must abandon what is inside.”

“I won’t! Unhand me! Let me go!” the queen screamed, thrashing like a spoiled child while the Spirit of Darkness clutched both of her arms from underneath.

The castle attendants were running all over the place, trying to extinguish the flames, but the fire couldn’t be contained.

Jade suddenly saw something move out of the corner of his eye—a person on the other side of the corridor moving as if to avoid detection. Upon closer examination, he recognized the face and exclaimed, “Joshua?!”

Noticing Jade from his call, Joshua stopped in his tracks, looking surprised. “Whoa, Your Majesty?!” he exclaimed.

He was followed by a few others whom Jade also recognized. They were the reconnaissance agents that had come with Joshua and also the dragonkin captured by the Spirit of Darkness.

“What are you doing, Sire?” Joshua asked in an awfully lighthearted tone. Despite the situation, he wasn’t feeling the stress at all.

“That’s my line. What are you doing over there? You didn’t give your regular reports, and you’ve got the kidnapped soldiers with you.”

“Well, y’see, I infiltrated the castle, but I screwed up and ended up getting caught,” Joshua reported with a jovial grin. “Then, much to my surprise, they brought some other folks from back home here. I managed to bust out of jail with the help of my partners. I set fire to the laboratory in order to provide a distraction till we could make our escape. You caught us right in the middle of said escape.”

Jade sighed deeply. “So this commotion is your handiwork, eh?”

Jade had been worried sick, but Joshua was as casual as could be. Plus, it seemed they didn’t even need to come rescue Joshua seeing as how he was escaping on his own.

“Well, I’m just glad you’re all right,” Jade said.

“Oh, did you, by any chance, come to rescue me? Thank you very much, nonetheless,” Joshua replied.

Jade was also relieved to see that the kidnapped dragonkin were safe and uninjured. When he expressed as much, they all thanked him in unison.

Although Jade hadn’t needed to come to their rescue, he still had things to do. Who better to talk to a ruler about the Spirit Slayer magic than a fellow ruler?

Jade looked over at the queen. She had been flailing about trying to get into the blazing room, but now she sat on the floor, her spirit broken. She was slumped over as if she didn’t have the willpower to even stand up. She watched in a daze as the room went up in flames before her eyes. The Spirit of Darkness rubbed her back, but the queen was too numb to care.

“I don’t think she’s in any condition to talk at the moment,” Jade commented.

It seemed that they would need to play wait and see.