Chapter 7: Journey to the Nation of the Spirit King
Ruri was at the harbor, ready to travel to the meeting of the four nations. Before her was a massive luxury liner, already docked. Ruri’s mouth was agape at the sight of it.
“Whoa, incredible.”
“It’s a recently developed, state-of-the-art ship,” explained Jade, standing next to her.
“We’re not going to fly this time?” Ruri asked. The last time they went to the Nation of the Spirit King, Jade and the guards had transformed into dragons and flown there.
“We’re not,” Jade answered. “It’s so that we can unveil this.”
“You mean the ship?”
“It’s a magic tool in the form of a ship based off of Lady Seraphie’s witch knowledge. Using mana as its energy source, it can travel at speeds much faster than any conventional sailboat.”
That reminded Ruri that Seraphie had asked her for a large quantity of magic stones not long ago. Ruri had given her a bucket full of them from the humongous pile in her pocket space, but she never would have guessed that Seraphie had made something this big and lavish out of them.
“This is going to revolutionize the ship industry,” Jade declared. “Its speed is in a league all its own and will make it easier to travel between nations. I want to show this to the people of the Imperial Nation and the Nation of the Spirit King. Both nations have harbors that are invaluable trade points, and they possess their own naval fleets.”
“You’re going to sell them?” asked Ruri.
“To make a long story short, yes,” Jade replied with a wicked face. He seemed to be implying that they would sell especially well with the Imperial Nation.
The Imperial Nation was mostly inhabited by humans. Few people there were capable of using magic, and they couldn’t fly to the Nation of the Spirit King. They instead opted for long boat rides, which meant that traveling to the Nation of the Spirit King each year was an arduous process for them. Jade explained that if the Nation of the Dragon King had faster ships, the Imperial Nation would likely jump at the chance to buy them no matter how high the price.
While Ruri understood the logic, she thought it was rare for Jade to display a calculating, Amarna-esque fixation on money. But then Claus, who was also in attendance, whispered into her ear.
“Since that one time, we have received several letters from the Imperial Nation’s nobles asking for a meeting with our Beloveds. Even His Majesty, who is usually so mild-mannered, is losing his patience with their persistent advances. That is why he plans to negotiate with them using this ship.”
Jade’s plan was to gouge the nobles at first, and once they faltered at the high price, he would offer to knock it down a little if they promised not to ask for a meeting with their nation’s Beloveds ever again. He was positively fed up with the Imperial Nation’s nobles by this point. The Beloveds in question were part of his family. This included Ruri, so she felt partially responsible.
It wasn’t long before preparations were complete and Ruri boarded the boat—with Kotaro and Rin in tow, of course. Once she reached the deck, she realized that some sort of dispute was taking place in front of the stairs leading to the boat. She looked down to find Heat trying to board the ship, but Riccia, Ruri’s mother, stopped him with a smile.
“I’m coming along too!” Heat yelled.
“Nuh-uh. You’ve got to be my model for my new clothes, Heat-chan.”
“I said no!”
“Oh, come now, don’t be so selfish,” Riccia said, dragging Heat away from the ship.
Ruri pretended that she hadn’t seen anything.
Riccia had started up a clothing business in a store Jade had graciously provided, and she’d been releasing design after design—all of them fresh and new for this world. Perhaps it was because she wore her own merchandise, but since she was a Beloved, her clothes were slowly starting to gain traction from a certain sect who loved new things.
While things were developing on that front, Riccia had apparently recruited Heat as the model for her menswear designs. It became clear why Riccia had taken Heat along with her when she left the castle. To Riccia’s credit, though, she had great taste, so there was probably no one better to advertise her clothes than Heat. And considering that he could advertise the clothes and hit on every woman who entered the shop, it might have actually been his life’s calling.
Riccia was satisfied with the situation, but Heat clearly did not like Riccia, hence his failed attempt to board the ship in order to get away from her. Ruri thought it was terrifying, even by her mother’s standards, that she had Heat dancing in the palm of her hand.
After that little episode, Jade, Claus, and Finn boarded the ship. While Jade was away from the kingdom, the Nation of the Dragon King would be in the hands of the former king, Quartz, and the chancellor, Euclase. Both of them, as well as Seraphie and the Spirit of Light, had come to see everyone off.
Ruri waved to the crowd onshore as the ship started to set sail. Just as Jade has said, the ship was indeed faster than conventional sailboats. In addition to that, by hoisting the sails like a sailboat, it could go even faster with the added wind power. Ruri marveled at how storybook fantasy-like it was to have a boat powered by magic—a delayed observation given Ruri’s time in this world.
Despite her awe, Ruri also worried if it was okay that Seraphie had shared Yadacain knowledge with the outside world. After all, the Yadacain witches had caused all sorts of problems with their Spirit Slayer magic. Ruri didn’t have a stellar impression of them—Seraphie excluded, of course.
Fortunately, Claus helped dispel her doubts. “It is fine. Not a single trace of Spirit Slayer magic was used in the making of this.”
That much was clear. Kotaro and the other spirits would never have allowed that to happen.
“The witches did not always use Spirit Slayer magic. The knowledge that Lady Seraphie provided was of the magic the original witches had used, free of any Spirit Slayer influences.”
Basically, since the witches had used a different magic up until Spirit Slayer was created, they could make magic tools without it too.
“Ah, right,” Ruri said, nodding. “Lydia told me that the second queen created Spirit Slayer, and the first queen was opposed to its creation, if memory serves.”
Claus, who was hearing this detail for the first time, looked surprised. “Is that so?” he asked.
“According to Lydia, the first queen was killed by the next in line, the witch who created the Spirit Slayer magic. The first queen didn’t want Spirit Slayer spreading to the outside world.”
“Oh, so is that what happened?”
“Yes. Seraphie-san didn’t know that either,” Ruri explained, impressed at how spirits were essentially walking encyclopedias. “Apparently, she was a great witch, so maybe she would have even been able to make an airplane.”
“An air...plane?” Claus inquired.
“It’s a vehicle from my world that zips through the skies.”
“Oho, such useful innovations exist in your world, do they?”
Claus’s jaw probably would have hit the floor if he saw one in real life. On the other hand, if anyone from Ruri’s world were to see a dragonkin flying in the sky, their jaw would have undoubtedly fallen clean off.
Though airplanes were common in her world, traveling by boat wasn’t particularly novel to Ruri. She was familiar with modern ships powered by engines, so she quickly became bored. The crew, on the other hand, only knew about sailboats. They all were curious about how this new ship moved.
Ruri knew that it moved by channeling mana through the magic stones acting as the power source, but only Seraphie knew the exact process. It was witch-exclusive knowledge. However, in the room where the magic stones were located, there was a giant magick ring—Ruri thought it was “magic,” but according to Seraphie, it was actually called “magick”—carved out. The ship was running based on the writing on the magick circle, which was only decipherable by witches.
There were people suggesting that if this ship made a safe voyage, they should restore diplomatic relations with Yadacain and ask them for their witches’ knowledge. Of course, it wouldn’t be a one-sided deal. The Nation of the Dragon King would have to give something in return. That was what Jade and his aides were currently discussing, at least. None of it had anything to do with Ruri, and she wasn’t supposed to interfere in political matters anyway, so she quietly left the room so as to not disturb them.
As Ruri stepped out onto the deck, the sea breeze pleasantly played with her hair.
“Mmm, that feels so good,” she commented. Then she noticed someone squatting, their face pale. “Ewan, what’s wrong? Not feeling well?”
“D-Don’t worry about it. Just a little seasick... Urp!” Ewan moaned before holding his hands over his mouth.
“Are you all right?! Did you take any medicine?” Ruri asked, panicking.
“If I drink anything now, it’s all coming out...”
Ruri gently rubbed Ewan’s back. “Maybe you should lie down in your room, then?”
“I’m on lookout duty...”
“You can’t carry out your duty like that. I’ll ask the spirits to go on lookout for you, so go rest in your room,” Ruri suggested.
After some slight hesitation, Ewan concluded that he was useless in his current condition and stumbled back to his room.
Once he was gone, Ruri asked the spirits for their help.
“Hey, guys? Tell me as soon as you see something happen.”
The spirits gleefully replied.
“Okay!”
“Got it!”
Ruri had requested they keep a lookout, but she figured there’d be nothing to look out for on the open seas. Be that as it may, that all changed a few days later. At the time, Ruri was relaxing in her room.
It was going to take several days to reach the Nation of the Spirit King, no matter how fast the vessel went. No problems had occurred in the meantime, except a few people getting seasick. Other than that, the cruise was going swimmingly.
When they entered the waters of the Nation of the Spirit King, the ship switched to using wind power instead of mana. Mana was required to operate magic tools, but everyone would run dry of it in no time if they used it nonstop. They were distributing it in shifts, but operating a huge ship consumed a considerable amount of mana. Because of that, they would take breaks and operate it as a regular sailboat.
The voyage was going better than expected because operations had continued without a hitch, albeit at a leisurely pace. But just as everyone was resting easy and expecting to hit the Nation of the Spirit King’s shores any moment, the sound of cannon fire suddenly echoed, nearly knocking Ruri out of her chair.
“W-What was that noise?!” Ruri asked, hearing a clamor outside her room.
“Ruri~! There are weird guys here~!” one of the spirits said.
“Huh? What weird guys?”
“Guys with dirty beards~!”
“They’re all scraggly~!”
“A whole bunch of them!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ruri went outside to see what was happening and saw a large boat moored alongside their own.
“Huh? What? What?!” Ruri exclaimed.
As she panicked, people from the other ship started to march onto theirs. Just as the spirits had said, they were a bunch of men with unkempt, scraggly beards.
“Yeah, they definitely are scraggly,” Ruri remarked.
“Told you!”
The weapon-wielding men ran amok on the ship’s deck. As Ruri stood dumbfounded at the sight, Claus ran up to her. Despite what was happening, he wasn’t panicking in the slightest.
“Ruri, please return to your room. It is not safe here,” Claus said with an extremely calm—almost carefree—smile. He seemed almost detached from the battle ensuing around him.
“What is going on here?!” Ruri questioned, clearly the only one worrying.
“Oh, just a little pirate attack,” Claus explained as though he were talking about a passing rain cloud instead of a ship raid.
Ruri’s eyes were wide with shock. Once she heard that they were pirates, she looked up to see the big national flag of the Nation of the Dragon King hoisted high on their own mast.
She looked back to Claus, and with a grim expression, she said, “Pirates?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“And they’re attacking this ship?”
“Yes.”
“This ship with loads of dragonkin aboard it?”
“Yes, this ship, indeed.”
“So are they demi-humans with strength equal to dragonkin?”
“No, they seem to be regular humans.”
After a moment, Ruri muttered, “Huh?! Are they idiots?”
Claus didn’t refute it. In fact, his silence spoke volumes.
This ship was flying a flag with the crest of the Dragon King drawn on it, visible from even far away. It was pretty much declaring that the Dragon King was riding on this ship. The Dragon King, the world’s mightiest dragonkin. Picking a fight with the strongest dragonkin around was nothing short of suicidal. Anyone who didn’t know that was either just a moron or they had some sort of plan. Ruri wasn’t sure which one this was, but judging by all the pirates laid out on the floor already, she had a feeling it was the former.
When she looked closer, she saw that Jade was at the front of the pack. He was knocking out pirate after pirate at a rate faster than the other dragonkin.
“No, I mean, they have to be idiots if they’re attacking a dragonkin ship,” Ruri asserted, unfazed now that she could tell from Claus’s demeanor that everything was fine. Actually, she was starting to pity the pirates.
When the majority of the pirates were taken care of, Claus walked away to help with tying them up with rope.
“Oh, Ruri!”
“Huh?”
Ruri tried to turn around, but an arm reached out from behind her, restricting her movements. Another arm pointed a glinting dagger at her neck. She finally realized that one of the remnant pirates had apprehended her.
The homely bearded man shouted, “All right, listen up! If you don’t want me to do anything to this girl, do what I say!”
He sounded like he was reciting tired lines from some two-bit performance, oblivious to the fact that everyone on the ship wanted him dead now. Jade’s face was especially fearsome—enough to send a shiver down Ruri’s spine, and she was on his side.
“Hey, mister, not to offend, but you might consider giving up now,” Ruri suggested. She knew that Jade likely wouldn’t forgive him now, but the sooner the bearded man gave up, the better. Judging by the anger-fueled, demon-esque Japanese hannya expression on Jade’s face, she was not confident that the man would make it out alive.
Ruri then realized that the spirits were awfully quiet. She timidly looked to her side and, as she expected, she caught a glimpse of Rin and Kotaro scowling.
“Mister, you really ought to beg for your life...fast...”
“Say what?! Shut the hell up, ya li’l hussy! I’ll kill you dead!”
“You try to give someone a friendly warning and this is what you get...” Ruri mumbled. Her kindness had been lost on the pirate.
Jade stood in front of them with his sword in hand and a face that would send grown men running for the hills. Even the rather dimwitted pirate was steadily turning paler in the face of Jade’s intimidating aura.
“You scum. Touching Ruri is grounds for death. I’ll cut those arms right off your pathetic body.”
“Jade-sama, time out! Time out! Please calm yourself!” Ruri pleaded, attempting to stop Jade.
Jade then directed his anger at her as well. “Why are you stopping me?! I’m going to cut off that man’s limbs, chop them up into fine strips, and chuck them into the sea for the fishes to eat.”
“Yes, which is why I’m stopping you! I don’t want front row seats to a splatter show!” Ruri desperately contested. She wasn’t partial to getting drenched with blood.
“Enough of your goddamn yappin’! Shut the hell up!” the pirate said, bringing his dagger down on Ruri. However, since Ruri was constantly under Kotaro’s protection, his dagger bounced off Kotaro’s barrier and flew off into the distance.
As the pirate faltered, Ruri silently made her way to Jade’s side. Jade hugged her tightly in relief. Meanwhile, the lesser spirits clung all over the bearded man.
“W-What the— I can’t move my body!” he shouted. Evidently, he couldn’t see spirits.
Rin followed up by making the seawater gush up like a pillar and swallow the man like a snake. The man choked, desperately struggling to breathe as the seawater enveloped his body. After a few seconds, he limply fell to the ground, unconscious. The water returned to the sea as if nothing had ever happened.
“You didn’t k-kill him, did you?” asked Ruri.
“Don’t worry. I just made him lose consciousness,” Rin replied, breathing heavily.
Kotaro, slightly unsatisfied with this punishment, casually stomped on the man’s face with his front paw. Simply knocking someone out for attacking a Beloved was letting them off too lightly.
The rest of the pirates immediately lost their will to fight, and the dragonkin apprehended them one after another. Perhaps it was safe to say that this anticlimactic pirate raid had served as an excellent way for the dragonkin to kill some of their overabundant time.
Once everything was said and done, Ewan showed up looking as pale as a ghost. “What happened here?” he asked.
“Pirates attacked us. It’s over now, though,” Ruri stated.
“Oh, I see. Then I’m gonna go to sleep,” Ewan declared. He wasn’t fazed at all that there were pirates aboard the ship—a testament to the strength and trust of dragonkin.
“Yes, take care,” Ruri said, smiling awkwardly.
After everything was squared away, the dragonkin wrangled the pirates into one spot so that they could hand them off to the Nation of the Spirit King later. The dragonkin seemed somewhat livelier thanks to that little bit of light exercise. Ruri couldn’t help but feel sorry for the would-be bandits. Raiding a dragonkin boat, of all things, just showed that luck wasn’t on their side.
One thing led to another, and eventually the ship hit the shores of the Nation of the Spirit King.
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