The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 5 - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Collaborator

Gentle memories came to mind.

“Hey, dear? There’s something I want you to listen to.”

“What’d that be, Seraphie?”

“I wrote a song. I put a lot into writing it.”

“Oh, did you now? Well, this should be a treat. Take it away.”

A captivatingly soft and oh-so-gentle singing voice lived on in Quartz memory, remaining just as vivid as the day he’d heard it.

“That’s a beautiful song,” said Quartz.

“Of course it is. I wrote it with you in mind,” Seraphie admitted.

“How flattering. Then will you sing that song only for me? Don’t sing it in front of anyone else. Sing it only for me.”

“That’s fine by me. I’m singing for you with you in mind, so keep by my side and listen to it always.”

Always by her side, for now and forever.

Unfortunately, his farewell with Seraphie had come sooner than he’d expected.

Normally, once the wedding had been held and the dragonheart had been introduced into a mate’s body, it would align their lifespan to a dragonkin. That was how it was supposed to work, but Seraphie was stricken with an illness—an incurable disease that neither dragonheart nor dragon’s blood could cure.

Rocked with sickness, even though she had accepted the dragonheart and gained a long lifespan, her body couldn’t hold. Though the dragonheart expanded her lifespan, it wouldn’t cure the illness. Seraphie was going to die—a fact that was too much to bear.

Quartz lived his days in dread. He hated watching his beloved mate’s body wither away. Day after day, he would check to see if she was still breathing. The experience started to whittle away at his mind.

That was when Seraphie had said something to him—a cruel declaration.

“Listen, dear? Even if I die, don’t follow after me.”

“You’re asking the impossible, Seraphie. I can’t live in a world without you. If you die, then I die with you. You said we’d be together forever, didn’t you?”

“Don’t. Don’t you dare do that. If you do, I’ll never forgive you.”

“But I can’t live alone. It’d be simply unbearable!”

Yes, the mere thought of living in a world without Seraphie was unthinkable.

Seraphie then smiled at Quartz. “Say, did you know? When people die, we become souls, and we are reborn into the world again.”

“I know that, but why are you bringing this up?”

“If I die, I’ll be reborn again. When that happens, dear...I want you to find me,” Seraphie said, uttering a ridiculous wish. “I won’t forget you even if I am reincarnated. And even if I do, I swear that I’ll remember you. So, please, find me. A certain person told me it’s not impossible. Will you grant this last wish of mine?”

“Yes, I will. If that is what you want, I’ll find you in this world, no matter how long it takes.”

With that cruel wish as her last words, Seraphie left this world right before Quartz’s eyes.

For a while afterward, Quartz couldn’t bring himself to do anything, and he barely remembered how he even passed the days. However, something happened that poured salt on Quartz’s already open wounds—a grave robbing.

Quartz had laid Seraphie to rest along with a few of her favorite pieces of jewelry. Some foolish people had caught wind of that information from somewhere and had ransacked her grave. Fortunately, Seraphie’s body was safe, but the jewelry she’d loved to wear while she was alive was gone.

Quartz was practically seeing red as a fierce rage swelled within him. He soon found the grave robber, beat him so badly that he was better off dead, and handed him off to his troops. He had really wanted to kill him right then and there, but Finn and Agate had stopped him before he could.

They recovered all of the jewelry the man stole—except Seraphie’s treasured ring. The grave robber had had an accomplice, but he’d ended up killing them in a fight over the loot. The ring had been left behind in the pocket space of his dead partner, and now that he was dead, it couldn’t be retrieved.

This shocked Quartz so much that he decided to place Seraphie’s remains in his own pocket space, so as to never expose her to the public ever again.

Quartz had mentally hit rock bottom, but there was one thing that brought him back to his senses—the promise he shared with Seraphie.

(This isn’t the time to dawdle. I have to find you. I promised you I would.)

In order to search for Seraphie, Quartz gave up his throne, his kingdom—everything to grant his beloved mate’s wish. He then traveled the world in search of his one and only. He didn’t know where she would be reborn, or the color of her hair, skin, or eyes. He didn’t even know if she would be a human or demi-human, but he searched all over. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Everyone said it couldn’t be done, but someone had told Quartz that it wasn’t necessarily impossible. If it was possible, there was still a chance that he could see Seraphie again. Quartz clung to that sliver of miraculous hope, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself sane.

He searched, and searched, and searched—for years, for decades. Still, Seraphie was nowhere to be found.

(Can I really find her? No, I will find her.)

The fact that Quartz hadn’t found Seraphie after all these years was starting to make his weak side rear its head. Would he just never find her again? Would he die without ever meeting her? The world without Seraphie was devoid of color and filled with sadness. He couldn’t bear to continue living in a world where she was gone. He’d lost count of how many times he’d contemplated taking his own life.

But every time Quartz felt like giving up, he recalled Seraphie’s face in her final moments. That alone motivated him. Be that as it may, he was nearing his limits. He grew weary of living without her. He was granting her last wish, but a part of him wanted to shed blood and scream his desire to just end it all.

Quartz thought he had lasted long enough. He’d spent decades in this world without Seraphie. He’d said that he came to the Nation of the Dragon King in order to see Ruri, but that wasn’t his actual reason. His actual reason was...

Ruri had been restlessly pacing around in her room, unable to quell her worries about Jade.

“Calm yourself, Ruri,” Chelsie said, sick of her antsy behavior.

“But Chelsie-san, they should already be in Yadacain by now. I’m worried something happened.”

“I’m sure they’ll contact us sooner or later, so just wait till then. You making a fuss right now isn’t gonna do much of anything,” Chelsie replied.

“Ungh... I know that, but still~!” Ruri whined.

“Why don’t we have some tea?” Quartz suggested to calm Ruri’s nerves. “I’ll brew up a pot of my special tea to help settle you down.”

“Thank you, Quartz-sama,” Ruri said in honest delight.

Quartz turned his back on Ruri and headed toward the kitchen to brew the tea. He pulled out a small vial from his breast pocket, one that contained a blood-red liquid. He put a few drops of it into the cup.

“Seraphie, would you rebuke me for this? But I’m so very tired...” Quartz murmured.

No one was around to answer his question.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Meanwhile, in Yadacain, Jade was shown to a guest room.

The fire that Joshua and his men had set was fortunately not big enough to engulf the entire castle, but the room where the fire had started had been completely burned.

According to Joshua, there was a hidden room in the basement where the queen had been conducting research. But since they’d set fire to it, it was unlikely that anything inside of it had survived the blaze.

The queen, who’d been stunned that her research had gone up in smoke, had allowed the Spirit of Darkness to take her off somewhere.

Jade and his men from the Nation of the Dragon King were technically invaders, but they were being treated surprisingly well—as guests of the island nation. The invasion and abduction of dragonkin had been the queen’s sole decision. Her aides hadn’t had time to stop her. Yadacain’s general consensus was that they didn’t want to oppose the Nation of the Dragon King due to the overwhelming power they possessed as a nation.

As for Jade, his men were safe. Yadacain had no intention of launching any more attacks against the kingdom either.

The soldiers that Jade had left outside the castle had been ushered in and were currently resting. They were disappointed they hadn’t been able to go on a warpath, but they were glad their comrades were safe. Granted, if they hadn’t been safe, that warpath would have undoubtedly taken place.

Though everyone else in Yadacain was being hospitable, it was up in the air whether the queen would comply to be non-hostile. Jade wanted to speak to her in person, but she most likely couldn’t in her condition. Instead, he listened to Joshua give his report.

“I don’t know what her connection is with the Church of God’s Light, but the resurrection magic was created with the queen’s research,” Joshua explained.

“I see,” Jade replied.

“There might be connections to Nadasha as well.”

“What?”

“I found this in the queen’s lab,” Joshua said, presenting some documents to Jade. They chronicled the results of the resurrection research, and they contained details about how to summon people from other worlds.

“So, this is the summoning Nadasha performed, huh?” asked Jade. “The one that brought Ruri to this world?”

“Yes. It seems she was conducting research into that too. When we did our investigation of Nadasha, we didn’t find anything this detailed. Maybe it was the queen who created it,” Joshua conjectured.

“So they had a link to Nadasha after all,” Jade surmised.

“Looks like Ruri is going to be mad,” quipped Joshua.

“Yes, I’d say so.”

Nadasha was responsible for summoning Ruri to this world. Ruri had gotten extremely upset about that and had plotted revenge against the king and high priest, the two who’d conducted the summoning. But if she knew that it was someone else who had created it in the first place, she would let them know her wrath as well. After all, if it hadn’t been for that, she wouldn’t have been summoned. Jade wanted to thank them for bringing Ruri into his life, but Ruri would certainly have the opposite reaction.

“Why did she target dragonkin?” Jade asked.

“I don’t know any of the details,” Joshua said, “but I overheard them talking about running short on blood. The Church of God’s Light’s revival method utilized dragon blood as well. My guess is that they kidnapped the dragonkin because they were running out.”

“But where did they get their blood supply in the first place?”

“Well, Sire, I recall she said she had a collaborator.”

“The collaborator got them that blood?” Jade asked.

“I’m afraid that is about as much as I know.”

Some amount of the story was starting to come to light, but there were still many things left unknown.

“It’s still too early to get the story straight from the horse’s mouth,” Jade said. He had thought to ask the women who’d brought him here, but he figured they wouldn’t be very cooperative with the queen in that state.

Joshua continued to give his other reports, and after a little while, someone opened the door without knocking and came in. It was the Spirit of Darkness.

“Would you mind if we talk?” he asked.

“Not at all. Please, take a seat,” replied Jade. He politely offered the spirit a seat even though it wasn’t a custom of Yadacain to do so. He then said, “I would like to speak with the queen. Is that possible?”

The Spirit of Darkness looked sad as he shook his head. “No, not for a while. I told her...I told her that she couldn’t bring back the dead no matter the means. She is in severe shock and is in no condition to talk.”

“So I see.”

“It’s all my fault,” the Spirit of darkness said with deep regret. “She held on to hope while she was conducting her research. As I watched her so desperately clinging to it, I couldn’t find it in myself to tell her the harsh reality of the situation. As a result, I wound up hurting her even more.”

“What did you want to speak about?” Jade asked.

“You want to know how things turned out this way, I presume,” the Spirit of Darkness offered.

“Indeed.”

“I’ll tell you, but on the condition that you not touch her. I’ll make her stop the research, so just don’t.”

“I understand,” Jade said, nodding.

The Spirit of Darkness looked surprised. “Are you sure about that?”

“I came here to rescue my men and eliminate the Spirit Slayer magic. My men have been returned safely. If she’ll comply with the matter of the Spirit Slayer as well, then I have no further intention of interfering in Yadacain’s affairs.”

“I see. I’ll help you with the Spirit Slayer as well.”

“You know, if you had just done that from the start, things wouldn’t have gotten so complicated,” Heat quipped, sounding arrogant and smarmy. He was sitting in a chair beside Jade.

The Spirit of Darkness brushed it off with an awkward grin. “It all started with the death of her fiancé. She had withered away so badly that she couldn’t even pass food down her throat. I was so worried about her, but the only thing I could do was remain by her side. Some time passed, and she suddenly had the idea to conduct magic research. I was overjoyed to see that she was finally getting past things, but I found out that her research was for resurrecting the dead. She wanted to use magic to bring her dead fiancé back to life.”

“And you didn’t tell her then and there? That what she was doing was impossible?” Heat asked with a stern glare.

“I just couldn’t do it. I knew it was impossible, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. She’d finally found the strength within her to stand up, so I was afraid she would relapse if I said anything.”

Heat offered nothing in reply other than a rather bemused “humph.”

“I couldn’t tell her the truth after seeing the joy on her face when she brought a dead body back to life. I did try to tell her indirectly that without a soul, you couldn’t say they were ‘alive,’ but once I did, her research became even more extreme. There was seemingly no end to it.”

“Did that lead to creating a method for summoning people from other worlds?” asked Jade.

“Yes. When I told her that his soul might’ve gone to that world, she said that all she needed to do in that case was to bring it over. Granted, it’s still not complete.”

Jade then asked, “Why did she tell the method to Nadasha?”

“Nadasha? What are you talking about?” the Spirit of Darkness replied.

“You taught it to the land of Nadasha, didn’t you? The summoning magic along with the Spirit Slayer magic and the magic circle.”

“By Nadasha, you mean the nation neighboring the Nation of the Dragon King? If so, then no. She doesn’t have a single tie to Nadasha.”

The Spirit of the Darkness didn’t seem to be lying. Jade tilted his head in confusion. So it wasn’t the queen?

“Then what about the organization known as the Church of God’s Light? She taught those people the resurrection method, didn’t she? She handed them several of her items as well.”

“No, she did nothing of the sort. She’s never left the nation to begin with. She wouldn’t have ties to any outsiders.”

“What do you mean?”

Rin then flapped her wings over to the Spirit of Darkness and asked, “Darkness, you’ve cut off communication with the other spirits for a while now, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, the smaller spirits clamor too much. I’ve had my hands full with her anyway.”

“Read me and Fire’s memories from a few days ago,” Rin suggested. Spirits could share their memories with one another.

After a short silence, the Spirit of Darkness put his hand to his temple. “What is this...?” he asked.

“You don’t know anything?”

“No, I didn’t know this was happening. It wasn’t her who taught them, and it naturally wasn’t me. After all, I haven’t left this land since she was born. And those people have never come here before.”

“Then who was it? If it wasn’t you, then it must have been someone else who knew about it.”

“The details of the research have never been disclosed to anyone—not even her aides. Not even I know the exact details behind it. Mostly because I was never interested in knowing, that is. The only other person who’d know is... No, but he wouldn’t...”

“Do you have a hunch?” Jade asked, his face grim. He had been hoping that all this would end with the queen.

“Dragonkin blood is quintessential for the resurrection research...” the Spirit of Darkness said.

“Yes, I heard from Joshua. How did the queen get the blood to start with? It isn’t something you can just obtain easily. Especially if the queen has never ventured outside of Yadacain.”

“She received it from her collaborator.”

Jade wasn’t too surprised to hear that since Joshua had filled him in beforehand. Nevertheless, that begged the question of how the collaborator had obtained the blood. Since dragonkin were aware of the danger their blood contained, they wouldn’t give it to others unless it was a serious emergency. And it would be very difficult to get it, especially from someone as strong as a dragonkin.

“He had also lost someone dear to him, and he hoped that her research would bring them back to life. The blood came from him. He helped her for a while, so I’m sure he’d be able to teach others.”

“Who is this person? How did he get dragon blood?” asked Jade.

“I believe that you would know them better than I would,” the Spirit of Darkness said, shooting a look at Jade.

“Me?” Jade repeated, puzzled. It was someone he knew? What did he mean by that?

“The one who had been collaborating with her and providing her with blood was a dragonkin.”

“A dragonkin?!” Jade exclaimed, leaning forward in his seat.

Jade was surprised, but at the same time, this made sense. There was no need to get it from somewhere else if they were providing it themselves. But who in the world would do such a thing? If it was a dragonkin, then it was possible that Jade was familiar with them, as the Spirit of Darkness had said. No one came to mind, however.

As Jade contemplated who it could be, the Spirit of Darkness added some even more shocking information.

“I heard that he was the previous Dragon King. Seeing as how you’re the current Dragon King, you must know him, correct?”

Jade’s heart uncomfortably skipped a beat, like someone had grabbed it and squeezed.

“Quark, Rortz... No, Quartz, I think it was? Some name like that.”

“W-What did he look like? Can you describe his appearance?” Jade asked, tightly clenching his fists. He was afraid to hear Darkness’s response.

“A kind-looking man with silver-white hair and purple eyes.”

Jade refused to believe it, but the Spirit of Darkness’s description fit the bill for Quartz. A horrible dryness filled Jade’s mouth.

“Master Quartz? That just...can’t be...”

“He must have placed his hope into resurrecting the dead once he lost his mate.”

It was true that Quartz had lost his mate, which would make him someone who would wish more than anyone to resurrect the dead, but how the queen and Quartz had met made no sense. They were both rulers, but the Nation of the Dragon King and Yadacain had no history of diplomatic relations.

“How did he connect with the queen in the first place?” asked Jade.

“Didn’t you know? That man’s mate was a witch of Yadacain.”

The surprises kept coming, leaving Jade speechless.

“Seraphie, right? I’m pretty sure that was her name. My beloved one’s mother and Seraphie were old friends. Apparently, he came to Yadacain for some sort of purpose, and when he found out that she had also lost someone important to her and was researching resurrection, he decided to become her collaborator.”

The Spirit of Darkness also mentioned that Quartz had accepted all sorts of items from the queen as well.

In stark contrast to the Spirit of Darkness, who was nonplussed, Jade’s expression was rife with tension.

“That man’s eyes were horribly dark; they didn’t fit his appearance at all. Even Light seemed worried about him...” Darkness said.

“Light? Why are you bringing up Light? You do mean the same Light I’m thinking of, right?” Rin asked, thinking of none other than their supreme-level spirit brethren, the Spirit of Light.

“It was because the Spirit of Light was conducting himself with Quartz. Apparently, Light formed a contract with Seraphie while she was still alive.”

“But Light wasn’t around that man. Fire, did you see him?”

“No, I didn’t,” Heat replied.

“Do you think they’ve gone their separate ways now?” Rin wondered, concerned about the Spirit of Light.

Jade, however, was more concerned about Quartz. “Why would Master Quartz do that...?” he asked, still unable to believe it. He told himself that it wasn’t necessarily set in stone that it was Quartz, but the more he heard from the Spirit of Darkness, the more it seemed it couldn’t have been anyone but Quartz.

“Since my beloved one wouldn’t know, he is the only other individual I can think of who would be able to teach people about Spirit Slayer, and the methods for resurrecting the dead and for summoning. Although I’m clueless as to his reasoning.”

If that was so, then just how far involved was Quartz? Was he behind Nadasha’s raid on the Nation of the Dragon King? Was he behind the Church of God’s Light’s plot to assassinate Ruri? Was he behind the kidnapping of the dragonkin and the attack on the castle? If he had been involved in any of these things, Jade couldn’t just let Quartz roam free.

The worst-case scenario was that Jade had ordered Quartz to...

Before Jade could finish the thought, he clenched his fists tightly in frustration.