Chapter 12: The Case of the Sacred Beast Kidnapping
Ruri had taken Kotaro, Rin, and the other spirits to the forest at the back of the castle where the sacred beasts lived. No bodyguards accompanied her. The forest was sacred ground and off-limits to anyone but a select group of individuals. However, Ruri had said that she wanted to thank the sacred beasts for letting Kotaro have one of their kin’s bodies, and since Awain couldn’t refuse a Beloved’s request, he’d given her permission to do so.
She should have actually visited them when she came to the Nation of the Spirit King on her honeymoon, but it had completely slipped her mind, and she had only remembered it once she was already on her way back home. She made it a point to go see the sacred beasts the next time she visited the nation.
After Awain granted her entry into the forest, Ruri had grabbed Kotaro and the others and happily headed there. Jade had been reluctant to let her go without security detail, but she pushed through anyway, saying that Kotaro and Rin would protect her instead. Jade had nothing to refute back with since she had the greatest form of security around—supreme-level spirits—so he very reluctantly saw her off.
Ruri entered the forest in high spirits. It was a regular fluffy, cuddly paradise.
“There are so many big Kotaros here,” Ruri commented.
There were versions of Kotaro everywhere, all of them one or two sizes bigger than him. Some were resting underneath trees, tussling with each other in packs. It was a cuddly wuddly paradise. Ruri thought that maybe she should’ve brought Jade after all, but Jade liked smaller animals like cats and wasn’t all that smitten by bigger creatures, even if they were just as soft and fluffy as Kotaro. She thought it was such a shame since she herself welcomed any and all cuddly creatures, regardless of size.
Suppressing her urge to glomp the furry beasts, Ruri slowly approached them. According to Awain, the sacred beasts were highly intelligent and fully capable of understanding human speech. These were not your run-of-the-mill animals, which was why, rather than treat them as such, Ruri decided to give them proper courtesy as an equal being.
“Very nice to meet you. My name is Ruri!” she greeted with a bow.
The sacred beasts in the vicinity turned toward Ruri and gathered around her in droves. She’d heard that they were docile creatures, but the overwhelming pressure they exuded almost made her fall back. Thankfully, she managed to get a grip on herself.
Among the sacred beasts that had huddled over to her, a very big one sat in front of Ruri and pushed its nose against her hand. It sniffed her scent a few times before it suddenly looked up at the sky and howled. The other sacred beasts followed suit and howled as well.
“Huh? Huh?” Ruri asked, puzzled.
Kotaro came to her side and explained, “He says Ruri is welcome among them.”
Relieved to know that she hadn’t done anything wrong, Ruri thanked the sacred beasts once they were finished with their cries. “Thank you very much for giving that body to Kotaro. I know he was still just a pup... But rest assured, Kotaro will take good care of him.”
The biggest sacred beast stared into Ruri’s eyes. Then he nuzzled his nose against hers. Ruri responded to the rather sweet gesture by timidly patting its head. Its fur was just a little coarser than Kotaro’s, and it had enough of it to engulf her entire hand.
“It’s so soft and fluffy...” Ruri said, her expression naturally softening.
“It seems that they’ve accepted Ruri,” Rin chimed in.
“Y-Yes, indeed...” Kotaro stammered, somewhat bothered that Ruri was enjoying petting anyone other than himself. Ruri hadn’t noticed it, but Rin did, and she gave a small chuckle.
The sacred beasts then took turns giving Ruri a nose nuzzle greeting. Ruri petted each head that was presented to her and, in the process, noticed something.
“Everyone here is bigger than Kotaro, and I don’t see any smaller pups.”
“No, there is a pup that was recently born here, but they’re off playing somewhere else in the forest,” Kotaro noted.
“Is it safe to leave a baby alone?” Ruri wondered.
“Newborn as they may be, they are still a wild animal. They don’t need adults to hold their hands when they walk, like human children do. Also, there are no natural predators who prey on sacred beasts in this forest. They should face no danger even if they wander freely around. It also looks like Trees is keeping an eye on the area as well. That wasn’t the case the last time I came here, so it seems something happened.”
“Something like?”
“Remember, my body is that of a child. And yet that child died...here, in a forest where no natural predators dwell. Some sort of problem must have arisen in that area. That has nothing to do with me, though.”
“Well, technically, yes, but...” Ruri mumbled. She sometimes found it hard to keep up with the spirits’ dry behavior. They would try to protect her to the point of excess, but then they’d show disinterest to the point of being cold-blooded toward others. But that was how spirits operated, and the only ones who held their interest were Beloveds. In that sense, being a Beloved was like being born with a very unique feature.
It wasn’t unreasonable that the nobles of the Imperial Nation wanted a Beloved, but Ruri fortunately never came across any of them. That was apparently because Finn and Claus had worked behind the scenes to keep it that way. Ruri spent her short time in the forest thinking that she should thank them when everything was over.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning, after breakfast, Ruri strolled around the castle with Jade and the spirits. Not long after they began, they noticed that the soldiers were running to and fro, causing a commotion.
“I wonder what’s going on?” Ruri asked.
“Maybe something happened?” Jade speculated.
The two of them curiously walked along until they found Awain and Lapis. Awain was barking orders at his soldiers.
“Search outside the castle walls just in case! And search every corner of the forest again! They might be in a hole somewhere! Lapis, what about your end?”
“I’m having them search right now, but they still haven’t found anything.”
Awain and Lapis wore grim expressions that looked so similar when they stood side by side that it made it abundantly clear that the two were father and son. Be that as it may, it seemed that a problem had arisen.
Ruri went with Jade to address Awain. The soldiers realized Jade was there and opened a path for him.
“Awain, is there a problem?” Jade asked.
“Oh, it’s you, Jade. Well, a small problem, yes...” Awain said in an intentionally vague manner. He noticed Kotaro standing next to Ruri and stared straight at him. Then Awain knelt in front of Kotaro and asked, “O Lord Spirit of Wind, could you please lend me a helping hand?”
“I have no reason to lend you any help,” Kotaro curtly refused.
Awain looked disappointed, but he didn’t say anything more. He most likely knew that it would be a waste of time to try to convince a spirit to do something they had no interest in. Ruri, on the other hand, couldn’t just pretend not to care after seeing how stressed Awain was.
“Spirit King, what happened? Is it something Kotaro could help with?”
Awain looked indecisive. He looked at Ruri, then at Kotaro, and slowly started explaining.
“The thing is, we’ve lost sight of a sacred beast cub. And that’s causing an uproar from the sacred beasts.”
“Wha?! That’s terrible news, then! Oh, is that why you want Kotaro to search?”
“Indeed.”
Ruri looked at Kotaro. “Kotaro?” she said with a pleading look in her eyes. She gave him that look because she knew he would help if it was her asking, but Kotaro didn’t agree right away.
“What about Trees? I felt the presence of his power over there. Trees could find out where they are without having to go through the trouble of asking me, could he not?”
“Well, it seems that not even the Spirit of Trees knows where they are,” Awain stated.
“What? Really?” Kotaro replied, sounding surprised.
Just then, a voice descended from out of nowhere. “Wind, I’m asking you personally. Find the sacred beast child.”
“Oh, it’s the Spirit of Trees!” cried voices from all around.
“You’re not able to track them down?” Kotaro asked.
“I am not. Sacred beasts never leave the forest. Essentially, though I don’t know how they did it, it seems that someone slipped past my eyes and kidnapped the pup.”
“But it’s nigh impossible for anyone to slip past your eyes, Trees,” Kotaro noted.
“Yes, I am aware, but the sacred beast is no longer in the forest. I need the power of wind to search for them.”
“I suppose I’ll do it, then...” Kotaro agreed with a sigh.
“It’s appreciated,” the Spirit of Trees said before his voice faded away.
Kotaro then summoned wind around him and dispersed it across the area.
“The range is wide. It will take a while.”
“Many thanks,” Awain replied, giving Kotaro his nation’s highest form of salute.
“Anyway, when did the pup go missing?” Ruri asked, unable to contribute since she hadn’t seen any pups when she went to the forest yesterday.
“It seems they noticed this morning,” Awain explained with a weary sigh. “The sacred beasts let the child run free because they figured that the forest was safe, but the pup didn’t show up when the caretakers went to feed them this morning. We’ve had the Spirit of Trees search the area, but it turns out that they cannot find them.” Awain went on to explain that the other sacred beasts, with their strong camaraderie, had been in an uproar and that pacifying them had been a huge struggle.
That was when they all heard it.
“I saw the Beloved of the Nation of the Dragon King go into the forest yesterday.”
The intruding voice belonged to Spinel, who had been present for an indeterminate amount of time and listening in on the conversation.
“The forest is off-limits to but a handful of people. In which case, the Beloved would be the only one with a chance to abduct the pup, would she not?” Spinel said, shaking the crowd. “After all, the only outsider who entered the forest was the Nation of the Dragon King’s Beloved. Plus, she already has a sacred beast serving by her side. Is it not likely that she wanted another one?”
“I didn’t see the sacred beast pup when I visited the forest yesterday,” Ruri hastily refuted, afraid that at this rate she might be misconstrued as the culprit.
“Those words mean nothing. You did not take any bodyguards with you into the forest, did you? No one else was watching you.”
“I had the spirits with me.”
“Spirits? Something you can’t even see is no witness.”
“That’s only because you can’t see them. They were right by my side the entire time,” Ruri insisted, gradually getting more annoyed at Spinel and her spirit-denying attitude.
“Spirits don’t—”
“That is enough!” Awain shouted, cutting off Spinel before she had a chance to argue anymore. If he’d let her continue, she would have uttered something that would’ve been completely irreversible.
Oblivious to the fact that Awain had actually helped her, Spinel furrowed her brow.
At first, Ruri had thought that Spinel was a well-mannered aristocrat’s daughter, but she was actually a walking landmine. Kotaro and the other spirits were on the verge of exploding at Spinel, who was denying their existence and treating Ruri like the culprit. However, Spinel was the only one in the room who didn’t see any of this. The soldiers around her all went deathly pale.
“You need to watch your tongue, Spinel. She is not only a Beloved, but the Dragon Queen of the Nation of the Dragon King,” Awain warned her.
Kotaro, a spirit with a physical body, should be visible to Spinel. Did that not register with her? And didn’t she realize that denying spirits existed, right in front of a fully visible spirit named Kotaro, was a very problematic action for the head noble’s daughter in the Nation of the Spirit King? Judging from Spinel’s attitude, she probably didn’t comprehend that. She didn’t appear to understand what she’d done wrong for the Spirit King to scold her.
“I wish to ask the spirits something,” Awain declared. “Did Ruri kidnap the sacred beast pup?”
“That is impossible,” Kotaro answered.
Rin nodded. “Yes, there is no way. We can testify.”
After the two supreme-level spirits gave their word, the other lesser spirits unanimously testified as well.
“Ruri didn’t do anything like that!”
“That’s right! That’s right!”
“Ruri didn’t do anything bad!”
“And there you have it. The rest of you should not be misled by such foolish statements,” Awain said after going through the hassle of asking Kotaro and Rin to testify on Ruri’s behalf.
Spirits did not lie, not even for a Beloved. Everyone other than Spinel knew this to be so and, satisfied with the answer, decided to go about their business. Spinel then disappeared, mingling into the dispersing crowd.
After that, Ruri had to deal with another problem.
“She is such a jerk~!”
“Should we put her out of commission?”
“Let’s make it so she never comes near Ruri ever again~!”
“No, no! Absolutely not!”
“Aww~!” the spirits cried with disappointment in unison, almost as if they were asking why she was stopping them.
Ruri was about to ask Kotaro and Rin for assistance, but...
“Ruri, let’s get her,” Kotaro suggested.
“Fully agree. Let’s crush that wench,” Rin demanded.
Both spirits were absolutely serious. Ruri could do nothing but slump in response.
“My apologies,” Awain interjected, “but she is one of my nation’s own. I would like to deal with her, if possible.” He knew he was dealing with two supreme-level spirits, so he requested this with modesty so as to avoid the worst-case scenario.
“But that wench is annoying,” Rin retorted, circling around Kotaro.
“Agreed,” Kotaro added.
Rin began to vent, saying, “It’s whatever that she doesn’t believe in spirits, but to use that as a reason to pick a fight with Ruri? Is she an idiot? There is a Beloved in this very nation, for crying out loud. Was she given any semblance of a proper education?”
“I have no words to offer,” Awain replied apologetically. But according to Lapis, the way in which the House of Morgan had educated her was to blame. “I will give the House of Morga another warning.”
“I can’t imagine that fixing things, though,” Rin grumbled. “Oh well. I’d rather Ruri not be accused of being the culprit again, so I’ll pitch in to help search for the real perpetrator too.”
“I’ll help!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Oh yeah!”
Jade looked at the clamoring spirits with extreme dread. “Ruri, you’re going to have to act as the stopper here.”
“Well, I’m not too sure that I can stop them, but I will try,” Ruri replied.
Afraid that the spirits would go berserk and bring disaster to the Nation of the Spirit King, Ruri reluctantly decided to take part in the investigation.
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