Chapter 14: The Elixir
Ruri had thought that the rumors would die down, but they had spread further than anyone had expected. Walking around the castle was uncomfortable, to say the least.
“I can’t believe she can strut around so calmly.”
“Never thought there would be a Beloved wild enough to kill a sacred beast.”
“Isn’t His Majesty going to punish her?”
They might have been trying to keep their voices down, but Ruri could hear them perfectly fine. The majority of them sounded dubious, but there was an extremely small number of people who truly believed the rumors and were speaking ill of her. Since her reputation was directly linked to that of the Nation of the Dragon King, she needed to clear her good name as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that was to locate the sacred beast pup.
One night, Ruri stalked about the castle in cat form, figuring that she could gain intel she couldn’t gain in human form. Walking around with the spirits in tow just put people on alert, and Kotaro’s sacred beast body was notably conspicuous, so she’d brought only Run along and left the other spirits behind in her room. Kotaro and the other spirits had opposed the idea at first, but with Kotaro’s barrier around her at all times and Rin accompanying her, Ruri had managed to convince them.
As Ruri walked around, the wind would occasionally caress her body. It coiled around her as if protecting her, proof that Kotaro was watching over her from afar. Having him by her side without him actually being by her side was extremely reassuring.
Ruri wandered around, passing by the occasional soldier, until she started seeing fewer and fewer people. Just when she contemplated turning back because she’d gone a little too far out, a familiar individual crossed in front of her.
“Huh? Spinel?” Ruri murmured.
“Seems so. I could never forget such an annoying face,” replied Rin.
Ruri and Rin chased after her, curious as to what Spinel was up to this late at night. She was heading somewhere while keeping a careful eye on her surroundings.
“Suspicious... That girl is definitely suspicious,” Rin stated.
“Isn’t that just how it looks to you because you hate her, Rin?” Ruri countered.
“Okay, but don’t you find it strange that a young girl like her is walking around at this hour?”
“Well, I can’t really speak about others here. I’m in the same boat.”
“Uh, yes, which is why it’s suspicious!”
“Rin, be quiet. She’ll find us out,” Ruri said with a gasp. Much to her relief, Spinel hadn’t noticed either of them. “Anyway, I wonder where she’s going?”
Spinel exited the building in secret, heading toward the gardens. In the dark of night, Ruri followed her and walked through the barely visible garden until she saw a small shed-like building, one that the gardeners used as a storehouse.
Going toward the back of the shed, Spinel suddenly stopped and asked, “Are you here?”
Ruri heard a rustling sound and figured someone else was there, but she couldn’t see who it was from where she stood. Still, she hesitated to get any closer for fear Spinel would spot them.
“Rin, ask Kotaro to make out the face of the person she’s talking to.”
“Got it,” Rin replied.
It wasn’t long before Ruri felt the wind wafting around her, perhaps spurred by Rin.
“If you’re here, then come out immediately!” Spinel demanded.
“Sorry. I’m struggling to keep myself hidden, you see,” said the person talking to Spinel, who, judging from the voice, was male. His voice didn’t sound very old either, so it belonged to a young man.
“In any case, I ask that you show yourself,” Spinel insisted. “It’s hard to talk to someone I cannot see.”
“Hey, I’m the cautious type. We can chat just like this, can’t we?”
“Well, whatever. So where is the thing I requested?”
“I’ve got it nice and stashed away,” the young man answered. “In a place no one’ll find, that is.”
“Where is it? Please hand it over.”
“Whoa there, not yet. I need you to pay me if we’re going to do business.”
“I...do not have it right now.”
“Then this deal is a bust. I’ll return the sacred beast to the forest.”
Ruri almost gasped hearing the words “sacred beast,” but she kept it inside as best she could. She couldn’t allow herself to be discovered right now.
“Wait! I will get your payment ready,” Spinel asserted. “So give me the pup first. I need the elixir.”
“You mean that elixir drawn from sacred beasts, eh? I never knew that you could extract an elixir like that from them, but I can’t wrap my head around why you’d be willing to risk so much to get it.”
“Even if you don’t, I need it. I couldn’t get the other sacred beast before, even though I convinced its caretaker to come to my side and had him poison it. If I let this chance slip by, then I will be at the end of my rope.”
“Ha ha ha, you’re one scary girl,” the young man remarked. “Not even I’m crazy enough to want a girl like you in my life.”
Spinel sniffed. “Your sentiment matters not to me. For I have Master Jade.”
“Right, right. Knock yourself out with that. Anyway, just bring my payment. Then we can talk business. We’ll meet again in three days’ time. If you can’t get my payment by then, the deal’s off, and I return this little guy to the forest.”
“Yes...very well.”
Ruri and Rin waited until the two had left the area before finally moving.
“This is terrible,” Ruri said, rushing for dear life to Jade.
When she returned to their room, Jade was waiting for her with a furrowed brow. His face was a bit flushed because he’d been drinking with Awain and Arman, but he didn’t appear to be too drunk. Once he returned to the room, he’d noticed that Ruri was missing, so it was only natural that he would be displeased.
Now was not the time for a lecture, however. After Ruri had Jade remove her bracelet and she reverted back to human form, she desperately tried to tell him the news.
“It’s terrible, Jade-sama! We need to go to the Spirit King right now!”
“It’s the dead of night. You should hold off until tomorrow. And besides, where were you off to at this hour in cat form? You shouldn’t go out without securit—”
“I know who kidnapped the sacred beast!”
Jade’s brows instantly shifted. “You do?”
“I do, which is why I need to speak with the Spirit King.”
“Okay, then. I’ll request a meeting,” Jade replied and asked a soldier outside the room to contact Awain.
In the meantime, Ruri asked Kotaro, “Kotaro, did you see his face?”
After some silence, Kotaro shook his head.
“Huh? How come?”
“I couldn’t see it for some reason. My powers were rejected, as if they bounced off of something. I wasn’t able to track him down either.”
“Wha? What do you mean?” Rin pressed. She found Kotaro’s answer unexpected as well.
“I do not know myself. It might be related to why I’m unable to find the sacred beast. But it’s almost like...”
“‘Almost like’?” Ruri prodded.
“Well, it feels like when I bounced off of Light’s power,” Kotaro explained.
“But the Spirit of Light is in the Nation of the Dragon King and doesn’t know anything, right?”
“Indeed. She said so, and she was telling no lie.”
This was begging more and more questions, but at least they knew that the kidnapper was a man and that some sort of power was in effect.
As they contemplated the peculiarities, they went to meet with the Spirit King. Ruri had thought only Awain would be in the room, but when they arrived, there sat Lapis. Awain prompted them to take a seat, and Ruri began speaking without a second’s delay.
“I saw Spinel when I went walking around the castle just now.”
“Ruri, this isn’t the Nation of the Dragon King, so you can’t act so rashly...” Jade chided.
“Oh, come on, Jade-sama. Please don’t interrupt me while I’m speaking. Stay quiet, will you?” Ruri said, ignoring Jade as she continued to speak. “Anyway, she went to an unpopulated part of the gardens and met up with someone there.”
“Who is this ‘someone’?” asked Awain.
“Well, I couldn’t see his face, but he was a young man going by his voice. I listened in on their conversation and the man said he kidnapped the sacred beast.”
“What?!” Awain exclaimed, leaning forward.
“He said that he hid it somewhere, but he didn’t mention where. He was there to carry out some sort of deal with Spinel, and Spinel had ordered him to kidnap the beast in the first place. However, the negotiations broke down because Spinel couldn’t pay him. He said they would try again in three days, and if she can’t pay him by then, he would return the pup to the forest.”
“Essentially meaning that Spinel was the orchestrator,” Awain surmised, placing his hand on his forehead. He was unable to hide his shock.
“Not only that, but Spinel is connected with the murder of the sacred beast from last time. She said she partnered with the caretaker and poisoned it.”
“Why in the world would Spinel do such a thing?”
“She mentioned something about an elixir,” Ruri added.
Jade looked confused, but Awain and Lapis looked completely flabbergasted.
“Spinel said that? About an elixir?” Awain questioned.
“Yes. Right, Rin?” Ruri asked, looking at Rin, who nodded in confirmation.
“This is unbelievable. How does Spinel know about the elixir?”
“Well, she is the daughter of the head noble, despite appearances,” Lapis said, calmly admonishing his father. “Her family still holds pertinent documents, so there’s a chance she learned it from those, right?”
“Erm... What is the elixir from sacred beasts?” Ruri asked.
Awain and Lapis quickly clammed up. They most likely didn’t want to divulge the secret if at all possible. That didn’t matter to the spirits, though.
“You can gather a special material from a sacred beast’s corpse and use it as an ingredient for a medicine,” Rin explained.
Awain and Lapis, who’d been hesitating, were stunned. Regardless, Rin didn’t stop.
“This nation protected sacred beasts, which were on the brink of extinction because of this, from overhunting.”
“What kind of medicine can you make from it?” Ruri asked.
“Ah, please wait!” Awain pleaded in a panic, but Rin didn’t even give him a passing look.
“A medicine that controls people.”
Awain covered his face as if saying, “Oh, brother.”
“It allows you to bend whoever drinks it to your will.”
“Wait, isn’t that really bad?” Ruri asked.
“Of course it’s bad. That’s why the elixir is kept under wraps, and only a select handful of people in this nation know of it. So Awain is saying it’s strange that Spinel would know of it in spite of that.”
“Oh, I see now.” Once Rin finished with her explanation, Ruri turned her attention from Rin to Awain. That was when she noticed the weird tension in the air. “Is there something the matter?”
“As Lady Spirit of Water detailed, the elixir is only known to a very small group of people. That’s why I wanted to abstain from telling you, if possible...” Awain admitted as he looked at Rin bitterly.
“Oh my, it’s fine. Ruri’s lips aren’t loose enough to blab secrets to others,” Rin said in an aloof manner.
Awain slumped. “Ruri, Jade, this is a top secret issue, so please don’t tell anyone else.”
“R-Right,” replied Jade.
“Yes, sire...” echoed Ruri.
Ruri and Jade, taking pity on Awain, responded earnestly as they resumed their conversation.
“So why would Spinel want that elixir?” Jade asked.
Rin snorted. “Isn’t it obvious? To make you drink it, king.”
All eyes turned to Jade, and a grimace formed on his lips.
Just then, Awain remembered something. “Come to think of it, you did come to the Nation of the Spirit King for a meeting after the last sacred beast was killed, didn’t you, Jade? Perhaps that was when she was going to make you drink it.”
Fortunately, Kotaro had gotten to the body before Spinel could.
“A very close call,” Ruri remarked. “Jade-sama, you should thank Kotaro.”
“Yes... You’re right...” Jade uttered, looking very pale. Although, considering that he’d just heard that he might have been a target of this drug, it was only natural.
“Well, what do we do?” Ruri asked. “We may know that Spinel is the culprit, but not even Kotaro could track down the perpetrator, so we have no idea where the pup is.”
“Not even Lord Spirit of Wind could track him down?” Awain said, surprised.
“Nope.”
Awain and Jade both furrowed their brows. Although Jade still looked fine, Awain’s tense visage made him look extremely scary. Ruri kept that to herself, however, and waited for the two men to gather their thoughts.
Awain gathered his first and said, “Since we can’t find the sacred beast’s location, we should probably let Spinel swim for a bit longer instead of arresting her. You said the next deal would be in three days, correct?”
“Yes, Spirit King. I’m sure that is what the man said,” Ruri answered.
“In that case, we’ll apprehend Spinel and the perpetrator then. In the meantime, I’ll collect all the evidence and get everything in order.”
“I’ll help as well!” Ruri volunteered, brimming with enthusiasm.
Awain smiled wryly at her. “While I appreciate the offer, I must decline.”
“Huh?!”
“This is a matter for the Nation of the Spirit King. I cannot allow a Beloved—another nation’s Beloved, at that—to get wrapped up in anything dangerous.”
“Aww, wha?” Ruri said, her overwhelming excitement starting to deflate.
Jade chimed in, “Ruri, what Awain says is right.”
“Come on. Not you too, Jade-sama.”
“I agree as well,” Rin stated. “You don’t know what would happen seeing as how even Kotaro can’t track our guy down.”
Kotaro added, “Yes, I am also in agreement.”
Ruri slumped in disappointment. Nevertheless, because she would feel sorry if she were to inconvenience the Nation of the Spirit King by being part of an incident, she decided to obediently pull back.
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