Chapter 16: The Man Known as Gibeon
With the culprit apprehended and the sacred beast returned to the forest, the case came to a close, and everyone lived happily ever after—only things hadn’t ended that easily. The head noble’s second wife and their daughter had not only been involved in the recent kidnapping, but they’d also instigated the poisoning incident as well; the effects were immeasurable. The House of Morgan was going to be in a very awkward position. Then again, that was none of Ruri and the others’ concern since they were from another nation.
The Spirit King wouldn’t explain the nation’s inner workings in much detail, but that was where Kotaro, the supreme-level Spirit of Wind, came into play. According to the information Kotaro had gathered, Spinel and her mother had been interrogated after their arrest. The mother was apparently making an unabashed ruckus despite being in custody, but Spinel was obediently answering their questions. Ruri thought that she’d been a little too harsh on Spinel, but there were some things that you should and shouldn’t do, so Ruri had no regrets.
From Spinel and her mother’s accounts, Ruri got the general idea of the series of events. It had all started when the sacred beast was poisoned. Spinel’s mother had triggered that incident to set Jade up to marry Spinel. Her plan had been to marry off her daughter, whom she considered beautiful, to a man of high social standing in order to gain more say in the House of Morga.
Originally, it had been Lapis who caught her eye. She’d thought that Lapis, given his lovesick disposition, would jump at the chance as soon as she introduced her daughter to him. Once the two exchanged vows, it would be in the bag. After all, Spinel was still young, and she was the daughter of the House of Morga. Figuring that Lapis wouldn’t break a promise with the head noble’s daughter, the mother had planned to make Spinel his first wife. Lapis, however, was not the least bit interested in a child like Spinel and had begun to run from the mother’s forceful advances.
Realizing that her plans with Lapis were a bust, the mother had shifted to her next target—Jade. She’d convinced Spinel to believe in a promise that Jade had never made in order to make Spinel fall in love with Jade. It was safe to say that it was outright brainwashing. The mother proceeded to try and set up a meeting for Spinel and Jade to meet, but that proved very difficult. At the time, Jade was fed up with Agate and the other elders pestering him about a wife, so he wasn’t letting any unmarried girls, or parents with unmarried daughters, near him.
As Spinel’s mother ground her teeth in frustration, she just so happened to learn about the elixir. She’d dug around in her husband’s room, which was always vacant since he rarely came back home, and learned how to make it. With this knowledge in hand, she’d used Spinel to cajole the sacred beast’s caretaker into cooperating. Spinel had easily won over the earnest young man, and he’d done exactly as Spinel had instructed. To their dismay, though, the body of the sacred beast they’d managed to kill had been offered to Kotaro before they could get their hands on it. Also, the beast’s caretaker had been arrested, prompting Spinel’s mother to hire an assassin to kill him so he couldn’t snitch.
Everyone was baffled about how the assassin had managed to kill the caretaker right under the Spirit of Trees’s nose, but just as Kotaro had feared, the assassin was capable of hexing sorcery. It was still a surprise that Spinel’s mother had managed to conveniently find one such person, but it seemed to be just a coincidence. Unfortunately, the assassin was nowhere to be found, and the Nation of the Spirit King was currently searching for them. They did find the contract made with said assassin, though. The words “Request to Assassinate via Sorcery” were prudently written on the paper and even sealed with blood.
After eliminating the caretaker, Spinel’s mother heard that another sacred beast had been born recently. She turned to crime again because, in her mind, stealing a small pup would be even easier. The person she’d hired to carry out the kidnapping was Gibeon.
Ruri and the others decided to ask Gibeon about the kidnapping. Jade and Ruri were allowed to sit in on the interrogation as Gibeon himself claimed that the Spirit of Light was a participant. Gibeon, still wrapped in rope, struggled against his bonds as he sat on the floor, looking disgruntled. Ruri and the others sat down in chairs, and the interrogation began.
“That outfit of yours. That belongs to the Nation of Iolite, doesn’t it?” Awain questioned.
Gibeon looked away from him and pouted.
Seeing his response, Lapis ordered the spirits, “Sic him.”
“Okay!”
“We’ll get ’em!”
The spirits delightfully surrounded Gibeon and began to tickle every nook and cranny of his body.
“Gaaaah!” Gibeon screamed.
While the young man suffered his punishment, Ruri asked Jade, “Jade-sama, wasn’t the Nation of Iolite destroyed not too long ago?”
“Yes, it was,” Jade replied.
“If he’s dressed in those clothes, does that mean he’s from that nation?”
“Well?” Jade asked Gibeon, throwing the question to the young man.
Gibeon replied in between labored breaths, “That’s...right...”
“You broke into a restricted area and kidnapped a sacred beast at the request of the House of Morga’s second wife and his daughter. That is indeed what you’ve done, is it not?” Awain questioned, reading off of a thoroughly written document he held in one hand.
Gibeon didn’t respond.
“If you don’t reply, you’re gonna get it again,” Lapis threatened.
Gibeon twitched in fear.
“I normally would have conducted a more proper torture,” began Awain, “but I’ll let you go with this since there’s a lady present. Although, I’m more than willing to oblige if you would prefer something more intense.”
Awain smirked deviously along with Lapis, which only heightened the sense of dread when coupled with the already scary glint in the pair’s eyes. They were a duo with looks that could kill—quite literally.
Gibeon went pale.
“Yeah! That’s right! You shouldn’t be complaining at all!” Lapis commented.
“I still have more questions too. How exactly did you kidnap the sacred beast?” Awain asked with a sharp, pensive glare. “The Spirit of Trees protects the castle and the forest. You kidnapped the pup without the Spirit of Trees even noticing. How did you do that?”
Before Gibeon could answer, the Spirit of Light interrupted him. “I’ll elaborate on that. After all, it seems I’m involved in it all.”
“Come to mention it, you did say that earlier. What did you mean by that?” Rin inquired, flapping her wings and flying around the Spirit of Light.
“It was twenty-some years ago. I was in the Nation of Iolite before its collapse. I’d been following Quartz, who was looking for Seraphie’s reincarnation at the time, and we visited Iolite. The queen of the nation took us in for a stint. When I asked her what I could do to thank her, she said that she wanted a blessing for her child. The queen was with child, it seemed. It was an easy request, so I obliged and blessed the unborn baby.”
Ruri tilted her head, unsure of what that had to do with Gibeon, while Jade and Awain looked at Gibeon in shock.
“Don’t tell me that the child from then is...” Jade started.
“Yes, it’s the man sitting right there,” replied the Spirit of Light.
That was enough for Ruri to understand as well. “Huh? So does that mean he’s a prince?”
“Yes, indeedy!” Gibeon replied in a chipper tone, an unfitting one given the tense stares he drew from everyone in the room.
“I never would have guessed that the same child I blessed would come to abuse it. In fact, I had completely forgotten I’d done that until I actually saw him,” said the Spirit of Light with a slightly exasperated sigh.
“Erm, what is a ‘blessing’?” Ruri asked unassumingly. “Is it different from the contract I have with Kotaro and Rin?”
Rin answered, “I assume you already know how a contract works at this point. A blessing differs from a contract in that a spirit loans a portion of their powers. Those who receive a spirit’s blessing can use the spirit’s powers. There are also many other benefits, such as it being easier to use powers of that element.”
“Oh wow,” replied Ruri.
“Still, I see now. It’s no wonder that Trees couldn’t find him, much less Kotaro. With a barrier deployed using Light’s powers, he could hide himself and infiltrate the castle without being detected by anyone, the spirits included.”
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Gibeon said proudly with his chest puffed out.
Lapis, irritated with Gibeon’s behavior, slapped Gibeon across the head—an act that most likely spoke for everyone present.
Awain pressed his fingers against his temples as if he felt a headache coming on. “I see. Well, that explains how he did it. But why would the prince of Iolite do such a thing in the first place?” he asked. Even though the nation was defunct, there had to be a reason the former prince would commit such a crime.
“My homeland was destroyed a while back, and the neighboring nation executed the royal family—including my parents. I was the only one who managed to escape, but up until that point, I’d been a sheltered and pampered little boy. I had to get my hands dirty in order to survive. I did everything I could. I was part of a pirate crew not too long ago, but I remember hearing that those same pirates were taken out trying to raid the Nation of the Dragon King’s ship just recently. I’m pretty darn lucky, don’tcha think?”
Gibeon seemed to be referring to the pirates whom Ruri’s crew had encountered on the way to the Nation of the Spirit King. Ruri looked at Jade to confirm this, but he wasn’t sure either.
“I still can’t believe a former prince would turn to being a pirate,” Awain said, looking disappointed.
“I’m all too aware that it’s quite random. But what other choice did I have? I was taught how to be a king, but never how to be a commoner. What should I have done?” Gibeon replied, staring at Awain with innocent eyes.
“Yes, you’re right. That was a tad thoughtless of me,” Awain admitted.
No one present could ever understand Gibeon’s suffering. No one could comprehend the feelings of being forced to sully their hands in order to survive.
It was common sense that criminal acts were wrong. Even so, words like that seemed entirely hypocritical to Gibeon. No matter what he heard from people who lived without needing to worry about the bare necessities, it wouldn’t touch him in the slightest. Still, while there were reasons to sympathize with Gibeon’s situation, it didn’t erase the fact that he’d kidnapped a sacred beast.
Awain seemed to be at a loss for what to do. “In the Nation of the Spirit King, sacred beasts are just as important a symbol as spirits. Kidnapping one is a serious crime. Therefore, you will be banished from the country and never allowed to set foot in this nation again.”
Gibeon was surprised. “Are you serious? That’s pretty much like acquitting me,” he said. Since he wasn’t originally from this nation, banishment was barely a slap on the wrist.
“I will send out an official decree later. Until then, you will remain confined and reflect on your actions. Take him away,” Awain ordered.
“Sire!” replied the soldiers as they dragged Gibeon, who looked to be in disbelief, away.
Once Gibeon was gone, Awain heaved a heavy, exhausted sigh.
“Are you sure about this?” Jade asked him.
“Yes, because no one got hurt this time around. If he’d been involved in the previous poisoning incident or damage had accrued during this incident, then it would have been a different story. However, it seems the abducted pup was treated with care—so much care that it’s begged to play with Gibeon sometime again. My head hurts just thinking of how to handle that situation.
“Plus,” Awain continued, “if he is the prince of the Nation of Iolite, that’s even more reason to be careful how I punish him. The country itself is gone now, but the Iolitians are still alive and well. If the Nation of the Spirit King were to severely punish the prince of Iolite, then the former Iolitians might lash back. That nation already has enough pent-up resentment from its downfall. I would say that deporting him is a fitting compromise.”
“Ah, I see,” replied Jade.
“I’m sorry that I embroiled you all in this nation’s affairs,” Awain apologized. “I’m especially sorry for the trouble we’ve caused you, Ruri.”
Ruri waved her hand and said, “Oh, no worries. It was just a few rumors spread about me.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. Allow me to make it up to you by treating you all to as much food and drink as you please.”
“I’m humbled, but might I suggest that you keep Celestine-san’s alcohol consumption to a minimum?” Ruri quipped, causing everyone who knew of Celestine’s drinking habits to chuckle heartily.
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