The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap - Volume 6 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Arrival at the Nation of the Spirit King

Ruri and the others had finally arrived at the Nation of the Spirit King’s harbor.

“We’re here~!” Ruri exclaimed. Once she set foot on steady ground, she energetically stretched and took a big whiff of the foreign nation’s air. Beside her, the tiny spirits mimicked her movements.

“It’s spirits.”

“You’re right. And so many of them.”

“It’s a Beloved.”

“That flag is from the Nation of the Dragon King.”

The moment Ruri had stepped off the ship, the people around her had seen the gaggle of spirits serving her and immediately suspected that she was a Beloved. She was drawing quite a lot of attention, but she’d been called a Beloved for a long time now, so she had gotten pretty used to people gazing at her. And since they were all gazing with affection, not a disdainful look in the crowd, it was even less of a problem.

The Nation of the Spirit King’s people were much more accustomed to Beloveds than other nations. And it wasn’t just because they had a Beloved of their own either. It was because Lapis, the Beloved in question, would stroll around town without bodyguards. That would have been considered outrageous in the Nation of the Beast King, but here it was an everyday occurrence.

The people had accepted Lapis as a part of town life, even more so than the Nation of the Dragon King’s people—all of whom Ruri thought were relatively amicable—had accepted her. That might have been because of the easygoing nature prevalent among the nation’s citizens. In fact, they were so accustomed to Beloveds that the people who’d initially watched Ruri’s arrival with surprise and curiosity began to lose interest and return to their tasks one by one.

Ruri and her group were getting set to head to the castle where the Spirit King was waiting. Envoys representing the nation had come to greet them. Jade, Claus, and the rest of the court began discussing what to do with the pirates they’d caught.

Ruri found herself with some free time on her hands, so she started to wander over to the open market at the harbor.

Jade noticed her doing so and called out, “Ruri, don’t go too far.”

“Yes sir, I know,” replied Ruri.

“Ewan, escort Ruri.”

“Very well, sire.”

Ewan was still pale from his nasty bout of seasickness, but he seemed to have improved slightly after reaching dry land. That said, Ruri was highly concerned whether he would be able to serve as anyone’s bodyguard looking as weary as he did. Although, she did have Kotaro and Rin by her side, two supreme-level spirits, so she had nothing to worry about. If anything were to happen to her, it would probably be something as benign as getting lost. Now that she was a little more conscious of her status as a Beloved, she wasn’t going to worry Jade by moving out of his sight.

Ruri began to browse the open market. The fish and shellfish on display were somewhat different from that of the Nation of the Dragon King. The marine life for sale were so strangely colored that it raised the question of whether they were even edible, but they drew Ruri’s interest.

Perhaps the market people were used to Beloveds because of Lapis, because none of them were perturbed when Ruri came to their stalls. In fact, they addressed her like a neighbor. It also helped that her companion, Kotaro, was using the body of their nation’s sacred beast.

“Lady Beloved, please come and try some of this. I assure you that it’s delicious. This fruit is adored by Lord Lapis,” said a female shopkeep.

“You don’t say,” replied Ruri.

“And how about you, O great sacred beast?”

“I’m not a sacred beast. I am the Spirit of Wind.”

“Oh, dear. But you bear a resemblance to one. Well, care to partake?”

“Indeed, I will,” Kotaro obliged.

They would stop at one shop, only for the neighboring shop to address them, prompting them to taste their goods as well—they were getting fed like animals at a petting zoo.

“Are you going to eat some too, Ewan?” Ruri offered.

“No thanks,” Ewan said, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief. He was apparently still recovering from being seasick. The smell of the food was too intense for him right now.

Since he was still feeling unwell, they left Ewan alone and thoroughly perused all the stalls. Though the Nation of the Dragon King’s capital had a harbor with a wide variety of products, the Nation of the Spirit King had its own assortment of uncommon delicacies. Ruri bought one thing after another that piqued her interest for souvenirs to take back to the Nation of the Dragon King.

Jade had given Ruri a large sum of money during their voyage—payment for all of the magic stones she’d provided so Seraphie could construct the ship. Originally, she’d given them to Seraphie so that she could make beast-transforming bracelets, but after Euclase forbade their production, the remainder of the magic stones and some extra Ruri had thrown in were put toward making the vessel. Ruri didn’t mind how Seraphie used them since they were a gift anyway. She didn’t feel any payment was necessary, but the magic stones had been invaluable in creating the ship-shaped magic tool, and they weren’t easy to come by. She had practically been forced to accept the money, seeing as how the stones were far too valuable not to pay anything in return. Therefore, Ruri’s pockets were now bursting at the seams.

The merchants witnessing Ruri’s shopping spree suddenly perked up and frantically tried to get her to come to their stalls. It became a routine—taste and buy, taste and buy. She continued this pattern at every stall she visited.

As Ruri made her way through the market, she suddenly collided with someone. “Oh! Excuse me!” she immediately said. She’d been too focused on her food to pay attention to her surroundings.

The person she’d bumped into was a young man, slightly younger than Ruri, with brown skin and blond hair. His outfit was a tad different from the clothing of this nation. The Nation of the Spirit King’s people wore East Asian garments—a mix between Japanese and Chinese designs—but the young man in front of her was clothed in Arabian-style garb. It immediately tipped her off to the fact that he was not from around here.

Despite Ruri’s prompt apology, the man neither apologized nor responded. He just stared straight at her face. “Erm... Can I help you?” she asked.

The man gave her a friendly smile, flashing his pearly whites. Seeing his somewhat adorable smile, Ruri felt her heart skip a beat. The young man took her hand with both of his hands and squeezed.

“Huh?! U-Um...” Ruri stammered.

“What is your name?” he asked.

“Erm...”

“I’m Gibeon. And what is your name, beautiful?”

Feeling pressured by the sudden advances of this young man, Ruri blurted out in confusion, “R-Ruri.”

“Ruri! What a beautiful name. It’s almost like it was made for me. It’s really cute.”

Gibeon’s flattery was reaching the point of exaggeration, but Ruri wasn’t displeased. He was very suspicious, but she found herself charmed by his compliments. She blushed, feeling bashful, but Gibeon did not relent.

“How lucky I must be to meet such a lovely person here in a foreign land! Well, would you like to join me for a bite to eat?”

“I’m sorry. I have someone waiting.”

Ruri peeked at Ewan. Gibeon looked at him as well—for all of a second—before he resumed staring at her.

“I can show you a better time than that boring-looking guy.”

Ruri showed some resistance, moving away from Gibeon to give herself some much-needed space, but he quickly moved in and closed the distance.

“Or maybe I’m just not in the running for someone as cute as you?” Gibeon said, sounding suddenly sad and dejected.

Ruri panicked. “Huh? No, that’s not it...”

Gibeon’s face brightened. “Really? That fills my heart with joy,” he said, his frown turning upside down so fast that he looked like a dog perking his ears and wagging his tail.

The display overwhelmed Ruri, filling her with emotions that she just couldn’t put into words. However, Rin started shouting to bring her back to reality.

“Oh, king! Ruri is cheating on you~!”

“She’s what?!” Jade exclaimed.

Although her group was within Jade’s sight, they were standing a considerable distance away. Nevertheless, Jade’s incredibly keen ears caught those words. He made his way over, glaring at Gibeon like his eyes could emit a death ray.

“Whoops, so that guy wasn’t your boyfriend, but that guy way over there?” Gibeon, possibly realizing he stood little chance, took Ruri’s hand, pecked the back of it, and walked off. “See you later, Ruri, my dear.”

“Ruri!” Jade rushed over, scrubbing the back of her hand with a handkerchief. “Ewan, what were you even doing?! Weren’t you standing by her side?!”

“Huh? My apologies, sire!”

Ruri felt a bit sorry for Ewan since he was still dealing with the aftereffects of his seasickness, but he had been assigned to be her bodyguard, and that was a fact.

Jade next directed his anger at Ruri. “And as for you, why didn’t you offer more resistance?!”

“Aha ha... I’m sorry about that,” Ruri replied, even though she’d been helpless in that situation. “It looks like I’m a sucker for puppy dog types. I made that discovery just now.”

“Puppy dog types?” Jade asked, perplexed.

“Well, you know, cute guys who tickle my motherly instincts?” Ruri explained, referring to the exact vibe the young man had emanated. It was the same sort of soft spot she held for the spirits around her. She could never be firm with them if they looked at her with any hint of sadness.

“I see... I get it,” said Jade.

“You get ‘what,’ now?” asked Ruri.

“You’re essentially saying that you want a child as soon as possible. Leave it to me.” Jade put his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

“No, wait, wait. I can’t leave anything to you. How did you jump to that conclusion?!”

“You want to feel motherly, correct? Having children can solve that problem.”

“I never said one thing about anything like that.”

“I’ll make sure that no other man ever lays their eyes on you again, so don’t worry and give yourself to me,” Jade said, holding onto her.

“Whoa! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won’t say another word! I just lost myself a little bit back there!” Ruri asserted, flailing around in a panic. Nevertheless, Jade refused to let go and made her accompany him, putting her marketplace tour on hold.

Ruri knew what she’d said, but she’d been careless to say it in front of a dragonkin—the group that prided itself on mate supremacy. What she had meant as a light joke had not gotten through to Jade at all. She regretted saying it, and she vowed to never joke like that ever again.

All jokes aside, Ruri was a bit curious about the young man from before. Telling Jade seemed like a recipe for disaster, so she whispered it to Rin and Kotaro, who were both by her side.

“Hey, wasn’t there something strange about that person?” Ruri asked.

“Oh my, you thought the same, Ruri?”

“You too, Rin? What about you, Kotaro?”

“Indeed. I too was quite curious.”

“I’m not sure how to put it. It was like he had no presence,” Ruri elaborated. “I didn’t realize that he was near me until I bumped into him. Also, Ewan and the other bodyguards were around, but no one came to help.”

No one by Ruri’s side had come to intervene even though a suspicious character was getting so close to her. Ewan was definitely out of sorts, but he wasn’t incompetent enough to let that slip by. Given how surprised Ewan had looked, it was like he’d only noticed Gibeon’s existence after Jade came over.

“We noticed him, but no one else did. It was like everyone finally noticed only after I called out to the king. I feel like I’ve seen something similar to that in the past...” Rin said, tilting her head. She looked like she was trying to remember but failing to do so.

Kotaro seemed similarly troubled. “I am stymied myself. It might be good to tread carefully, just in case. Neither of us sensed any hostility from him, so we left him alone at first, but I’m still slightly concerned.”

Kotaro then ordered several of the nearby spirits to chase after the young man. The spirits did as they were told, but they returned not even a few minutes later.

“What happened?” Ruri asked.

“We lost sight of him!”

“He went somewhere~!”

“Huh?”

Ruri looked at Kotaro, as if to ask if a spirit could even lose sight of someone. Both Kotaro and Rin grimaced.

Rin commented, “My, he is getting more suspicious by the minute.”

“If he can escape the eyes of a wind spirit, then he’s no ordinary fellow,” added Kotaro.

“This calls for some serious investigation, don’t you think?”

“Indeed. If we wait until something happens to Ruri, we’ll be too late.” Kotaro was as much of a worrywart as Jade.

“But I should be fine since you have your barrier around me at all times, right?” Ruri asked.

“No, it’d be too late if we wait until something arises. I’ll mobilize all the spirits in the Nation of the Spirit King’s capital.”

“Huh? Are you sure about making such a big move?”

This wasn’t the Nation of the Dragon King; it was the Nation of the Spirit King. Ruri was worried about acting without permission on someone else’s land, but spirits weren’t bound by man’s national borders in the first place. Kotaro had already finished giving out the order before she even had a chance to stop him.

“You sure are overprotective, Kotaro.”

“I cannot fall behind the curve and allow you to face peril like with the Church of God’s Light. I will protect you.”

Not only was Kotaro a faithful canine, but he acted like a stud. If Ruri wasn’t married to Jade, her heart probably would’ve started fluttering. She hugged Kotaro’s soft and fluffy body with all of her might, thanking him for his efforts.