Chapter 5: Time to Infiltrate
The retainers gathered in the royal office were all stone-faced. None of them had expected the Nation of the Beast King to fall to invaders.
“That blasted Furgal; I can’t believe they’re doing something so foolish. They must know that our nation and the Nation of the Spirit King will not take them overthrowing the Nation of the Beast King sitting down,” Euclase stated, pressing their temples. “The Nation of the Spirit King has the supreme-level spirit of the trees, and we have Ruri, who has the supreme-level spirits of wind and water under her control. A tiny nation like Furgal stands no chance.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Nothing Euclase says is wrong. Finn, get ready to send reinforcements to the Nation of the Beast King at once,” Jade commanded.
“Right away, sire,” Finn replied before rushing out of the office.
“I can only hope that Arman hasn’t been killed by then...” Jade muttered, causing Ruri great concern. That was when Agate entered the room, and Jade immediately asked, “How is Celestine?”
“She is free of wounds due to the dragon medicine. But I’m afraid mentally it’s a different story...” he replied, frowning. “She is a Beloved who has always been under careful guard. She has most likely never been injured so badly or felt her life to be in danger while being chased and attacked. Not only that, but she was attacked by the spirits—the entities she thought were her allies—so she seems to have been terrified. Despite that, she managed to keep Padparadscha safe until they arrived, so she really is quite strong.”
“Yes, right...” Jade trailed off.
As a heavy and somber air fell over the room, Ruri said what had been on her mind the whole time. “I will go.”
All eyes focused on Ruri—all of them reproachful. Although she felt overwhelmed by their stares, she had no intention of changing her mind.
“Ruri, what do you mean you’ll go?”
Ruri faced Jade’s disapproving gaze head-on and replied, “Only a Beloved can oppose another Beloved. Isn’t that why Celestine joined the fight in the first place?”
“I won’t allow it,” Jade replied, trying to shut the idea down.
Ruri wasn’t necessarily surprised by this, since it was obvious he would be opposed to her getting involved, being his mate and a Beloved. Ruri had been prone to act out of impulse so far, but she was so collected right now that it was surprising even her.
“This is urgent. If we don’t go save him soon, the Beast King’s life will be in jeopardy. The same goes for the other people of the kingdom.”
“I know that. But we can’t afford to let you go there.”
“Jade-sama, even if you’re opposed, I’m still going,” Ruri said, shooting him a glare.
“Ruri!” he shouted. He rarely ever yelled so loudly.
However, Ruri did not back down. Her determination was probably a huge shock to Jade’s system. But the spirits had mercilessly attacked and inflicted so much pain upon Celestine. Feeling the unprecedented aura from Ruri, not even Euclase was able to interject.
Amid this tense atmosphere, Kotaro spoke up. “I can just give them orders. Either Rin or I will do. If either of us give them orders, we can stop the spirits far away in the Nation of the Beast King. Spirits prioritize the words of a supreme-level spirit over a Beloved.”
Kotaro’s words brought a look of relief to Jade’s face, but Ruri’s remained grim.
“That would be the fastest option, so I would like you to do that, but how effective will your orders be?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Kotaro replied, tilting his head in confusion.
“I’ve been in this world for a few years now, and I’ve learned a bit about the spirits in my time here. You and the other supreme-level spirits have your own will and thoughts and, in human terms, a more adult way of thinking, but lower-level spirits aren’t the same, are they? Just as they attacked Celestine-san earlier, if they are asked to do something by a Beloved of higher rank, they’ll do it. No particular meaning or malice behind it—they act on their whims, just like small children.”
Jade and the others must have felt the same, because not a soul in the room denied what she was saying.
“You can’t give them any difficult orders, right? If you don’t give them simple orders like ‘stop siding with Furgal’ or ‘don’t attack people from the Nation of the Beast King,’ they’ll end up getting confused, won’t they?”
“You have a point...” Rin replied, convinced. Kotaro couldn’t deny it either.
That was the answer.
“This has happened so many times in the past. The spirits will obey any request that Kotaro, Rin, or I ask of them, without any question, but if you take your eyes off them for a second, they get distracted and forget their objective.”
“Well, I can’t deny that. Some of those spirits just don’t listen sometimes,” Rin added.
The lower the level of the spirit, the weaker their will. They had the mind of children and were easily swept up in the heat of the moment. Hence, they would do things that seemed terrible from Ruri’s perspective without giving it much thought.
“Don’t help the Beloveds of Furgal, save the people imprisoned by Furgal, including the Beast King, help the Beast King, and apprehend the forces of Furgal. Do you think the spirits could carry out such complicated orders?”
“Nope. The spirits don’t care about anything but Beloveds anyway. They’d soon get bored and start doing something else entirely,” Rin answered immediately.
“That’s true. It’d be nice if there was someone there to give orders on the spot, but since we’re so far away, we can’t give them any minute instructions with no idea of the situation. It would be easy to order them to destroy everyone in the palace, but it’d likely be difficult for them to work on the fly to identify people,” Kotaro elaborated.
They knew how the lower-level spirits operated because they were spirits themselves.
If there was an upper-level spirit like the one who’d made a contract with Sango, it would be a different story since they would have a stronger sense of individuality, but most upper-level or higher spirits rarely showed themselves in public. In fact, there being this many supreme-level spirits in the Nation of the Dragon King was an oddity, to say the least.
“I could get them to obey if I just told them not to lend those people a hand, but...” Kotaro trailed off.
“If the palace has fallen with the Beast King and troops imprisoned and you just make the spirits back off, the Furgal troops will inflict harm on the Beast King. That’s why I will go and order the spirits directly,” Ruri said, her resolute eyes looking at each and every person who was against her idea.
“What if...you gave them the order to kick out the Furgal troops? They should be able to manage without the troops there, right?” Euclase suggested.
Rin shook her head. “They might not be able to tell the difference, and they might even drive out the wrong people from the Nation of the Beast King.”
“To the spirits, they can’t tell the people of the nations apart,” Kotaro clarified.
“Urgh... Well, that’s an issue,” Euclase groaned, their idea quickly rejected by the two spirits.
“Going there is the best way to mitigate damage,” Ruri desperately pleaded with Jade.
He seemed indecisive. Barely any time had passed since the death of the emperor and Arman was in dire straits. There was no way Jade didn’t want to help his longtime friend. However, Ruri was his number one concern. And for the Nation of the Dragon King, the safety of Beloveds was the number one priority.
Jade wavered in his decision, not wanting to expose Ruri to danger. After a short silence, he said in a hoarse voice, “But the Nation of the Beast King is considerably far from here. By the time you arrive, it could already be too late, Ruri.”
“Yes. You might wind up witnessing some gruesome sights,” Euclase said, also trying to stop her in a desperate attempt.
However, Ruri, being who she was, had a trick up her sleeve. “That won’t be a problem. I can be in the Nation of the Beast King in less than a minute.”
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
“How? Even if you had Lord Kotaro use his wind powers to send you there, it would take you several days,” Jade protested.
“That is right, Ruri,” Euclase added.
“Jade-sama, Euclase-san, you’re both forgetting something. I’m Lydia’s contract-bearer. Don’t you remember that I had a tea party with Seraphie-san, who’s far away in Yadacain, just the other day?”
“Oh!” gasped everyone as if they had either forgotten or not realized.
“We had it in Quartz-sama’s pocket space. I can enter other people’s pocket spaces. Which means that I can also exit from that person’s pocket space. If I cross one space into another and enter the Beast King’s room, all I have to do is exit from there and I’ll be right in the Nation of the Beast King,” Ruri said with confidence.
“But that would mean only you could go since you have a contract with Lydia. That’s too dangerous!” Jade pointed out.
“If there are spirits over there, we’ll be fine.”
“But...” Jade was not easily convinced. Or maybe “belligerent” was a more accurate description.
“Jade-sama, we have no time to debate. People are in mortal peril as we speak.”
“Urk!” He had no counterargument.
“Say, Kotaro. The Beast King is still alive, right?” asked Ruri.
“Indeed. He’s imprisoned in a cell with magic-sealing shackles, but he is alive.”
“Then could you order them not to listen to the Furgal’s Beloveds’ requests beforehand? And then tell them to follow my instructions. That way the Furgal forces won’t be able to use magic and we can save the Beast King and the others with the spirits’ help.”
Kotaro grimaced, resigned, and reluctantly agreed to help. “Fine, then...”
That left just one issue left.
“Jade-sama, there’s no time to be picky. You should understand, right, Jade-sama? There’s a baby involved. We can’t let them be born without knowing their father’s face!” Ruri told him as if to land the finishing blow. “Plus, would you let Celestine-san’s efforts go in vain? She risked her life to save that mother and her child’s life. She turned to me, bruised and battered, because she thought I was the one person who could help her. I can’t just betray the trust she has in me!” Ruri exclaimed, seeing Jade react with a tiny twitch.
“Fine, then... Just try not to overdo it,” Jade warned.
“Of course,” Ruri replied, aware of the danger.
Jade took a number of vials from his pocket space and left them in front of Ruri. Following suit, Euclase, Claus, and Agate put bottles of the red liquid in front of Ruri as well.
It was the dragon medicine. This was the secret medicine of the dragonkins that could heal any wound or illness.
“Take these with you. Who knows how many people are injured over there,” said Jade.
“Thank you so much!” Ruri said, bowing her head to everyone who had provided the medicine. She put the bottles into the pocket space first and then stepped in herself.
Kotaro and Rin called out from behind her.
“We will tell the spirits to protect you and follow your orders,” said Kotaro.
“Make sure to be careful. Come back as soon as you’re done,” added Rin.
Wind and water mana wrapped around Ruri’s body, as if added for good measure. Kotaro and Rin seemed satisfied with the build of their barriers, so even without having a spirit to protect her, it was impossible for anyone to lay a finger on her.
With a feeling of reassurance in her heart, Ruri plunged into the pocket space. Once she left, the royal office became as dour as a wake, with Jade being the most depressed of them all.
“Is my only option to rely on Ruri?” he asked, distressed.
Kotaro growled at him. “You just do what you need to as the Dragon King. That will benefit Ruri too.” After saying that, he and Rin left the office.
Jade wiped the pained expression off his face, lifted his head, and returned to looking like a king before giving Euclase and the others orders.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Ruri found Lydia waiting for her after diving into the pocket space.
“Lydia, I need a favor,” Ruri said, cutting to the chase, looking more serious than usual.
Lydia simply smiled. “It’s okay. No need to explain.”
She snapped her fingers, transporting them to the world behind the pocket space where only she and her contract-bearers were allowed. A spiral staircase with countless rows of doors appeared, and they teleported to the front of one door in the blink of an eye.
“This is the Beast King’s room.”
Ruri knew Lydia was the Spirit of Time and Space, but she was amazed that she had found a specific room out of the countless number of rooms in here.
“Thank you, Lydia.” The fact that Ruri didn’t have to give her any detailed explanations was extremely helpful, since she was pressed for time, and wasting that time could cost Arman his life. She had never felt more grateful for the spirits’ ability to share information even from far away.
She opened the door in front of her and stepped inside without a moment of hesitation—there was no time to do otherwise. Every part of the room’s interior was covered in precious metals. It was a dazzling sight worthy of the space of a major nation’s king, but the space itself was smaller than Quartz’s room, where Ruri had dropped by for a visit the other day—and it was much smaller by far. Then again, it was definitely more than accommodating when compared to a normal person’s pocket space. That was how big Arman’s mana reserves were.
However, now was not the time to worry about the space of the room or the items inside of it.
“Lydia, make an exit to the outside,” Ruri asked, urging her to hurry.
Lydia didn’t act immediately. She paused, eyebrows slanted into a disappointed look. “Personally, I’d rather you not go off into danger.”
“I’m the only one who can do this. You know that deep inside, don’t you?”
Spirits who had existed since the world began were not to be underestimated just because they were lower level. Even lower-level spirits could easily destroy a whole country if they joined forces. The only people who could stop them were Beloveds. And if a Beloved went rogue, then one of a higher rank would have to deal with them.
Since Celestine had been defeated, Ruri had no choice but to go. It had to be her, since she had contracts with supreme-level spirits. Perhaps the supreme-level spirit of the trees in the Nation of the Spirit King was aware of the situation and Spirit King Awain and his Beloved son, Lapis, were on the move, but it was going to take time before they reached the Nation of the Beast King.
Ruri was the fastest to go into action, since she could use the rule-breaking technique of crossing time and space. It’s not that she wasn’t afraid, since she was going there in the middle of a war, but what she felt more than fear was anger. They had hurt Celestine so badly and, even worse, used spirits to do it—that was what enraged Ruri the most.
Even though Celestine was a Beloved, she never took advantage of her position and always remembered to respect the spirits. Maybe that was because she was from the Nation of the Beast King, a highly spirit-worshipping nation. However, siccing those same spirits on Celestine, who had such strong faith in them, was despicable. Even if those spirits turned on her and attacked her, she wouldn’t fight back against them because that would be like drawing a blade on God from her perspective.
“I am really pissed off right now. At those Beloveds who ordered the spirits to attack Celestine-san and at the people who used those Beloveds from the other world to incite a war.”
“I swear, you are so reckless.” Lydia looked exasperated, but she wasn’t going to stop her. In fact, she created an exit to the outside with her power—an exit with Arman on the other side. “It looks like a dungeon out there. It seems Wind ordered the spirits to move and there are no guards in sight.”
“Ah, good.” Kotaro’s aid instilled Ruri with courage. “Beast King, I hope you’re safe...”
Just thinking about the treatment the king of a defeated nation would receive was terrifying. However, considering the fact that Lydia had not said anything about him, he was still alive. As long as he was alive, at worst, he could be saved with the dragon’s blood she had received from Jade and the others.
Ruri slapped herself on both cheeks to psych herself up, gritted her teeth, and proceeded toward the exit.
“Be careful, Ruri.”
“Yeah. Thank you, Lydia,” Ruri replied before jumping outside.
The exit led out into a dungeon, just as Lydia had said. It was dim, cold, and heavy with stagnant air. Three sides were surrounded by stone walls, while one was lined with iron bars. The construction was sturdy—she would have no chance of breaking the bars without using magic.
Ruri grimaced at the piercing iron smell in the air. She looked around through the bars and could see soldiers in other cages. There were enough people stuffed into cages that she had to assume all of the nation’s soldiers were being imprisoned in this basement. Everyone’s faces were painted in despair and no small number of people were lying limp on the floor. When one of them noticed Ruri, he looked astonished.
“Lady Beloved?”
“What are you talking about? Lady Celestine wouldn’t be in this hellhole.”
“No, not that one. Lady Beloved from the Nation of the Dragon King!” a soldier whose eyes locked with Ruri shouted in surprise.
“Say what? Are you finally starting to hallucinate?” said another with an exhausted tone and an annoyed sneer.
“No, look,” the first soldier said, pointing at Ruri. The annoyed soldier, along with several others spotted her in the dark, and their eyes opened wide.
“Am... Am I hallucinating too?” asked one.
“No, I can see her. Am I hallucinating? Dreaming? Someone, hit me,” said another soldier, prompting his neighbor to sock him hard. The punch made a painful thwack, and tears started to stream from the soldier’s face—whether it was from getting hit or the joy he felt was unclear. “Ouch... So this isn’t a hallucination or dream?”
“It’s the real Lady Beloved...”
Those words caused the soldiers’ forlorn moods to completely flip on their heads.
“Lady Beloveeed!”
“Are we saved?!”
“Yes! Yes!”
The soldiers’ cries conveyed a combination of joy and relief.
However, Ruri panicked at the noise and warned them, “Shh! Quiet. We don’t want the guards to come!”
Their clamor stopped immediately. But soon, a few started to speak up again, their voices impatient.
“Lady Beloved, please help Master Arman!”
“He can’t take any more. At this rate, even His Majesty won’t survive!” Seeing the soldiers show unanimous concern made Ruri feel that Arman was truly adored.
“That’s what I came to do, but where is he?” she asked. She had exited Arman’s pocket space, so he should have been nearby.
“Behind you, miss! Look behind you!”
Ruri turned to see Arman with his arms and legs affixed to the stone wall in the back with restraints in a crucifix position. It would have been better if he had only been restrained, but his clothes resembled old rags, shredded in places and with blood pouring out from between the pieces. He was the definition of beat up. It was so bad that the soldiers were desperately pleading for Ruri to help him. The mere sight of Arman conveyed the unthinkable treatment he had endured whether she wanted to imagine it or not, leaving Ruri speechless and pale.
“Beast King?” Ruri whispered to him, timidly.
Arman was unresponsive. He appeared to be unconscious while restrained upright. Ruri couldn’t put an optimistic spin on this and say he was just sleeping. It was more accurate to say that he had completely blacked out.
“It’s Ruri!”
“We were told to follow your orders!”
“What should we all do?”
Spirits came out of nowhere, and their innocent tone snapped her back to her senses. She remembered what she had come to do. There was no time to space out.
“Lift up the Beast King’s head. I’m going to give him this medicine.”
“Okaaay!”
“Right on it!”
The spirits shuffled over to Arman’s hung head and propped it up. Ruri was looking at him anxiously, but he showed no sign of waking up from the treatment he had received.
She hurried to pull out some dragon’s blood from her pocket space, pried open Arman’s mouth, and shoved the opening of the bottle into his mouth for him to drink. All of the contents disappeared down his gullet. It was only after she saw this happening that Ruri’s eyes shot wide open.
“Oh, I think Joshua said before that dragon’s blood is too potent and too much of it could be toxic...”
However, it was too late. The bottle was already empty.
“Oh no! What should I do? Should I make him spit it out?!” Ruri was panicking. She had been briefed on this before, but it had been a long time ago. She had been rushing to get there, and Jade and the others, perhaps in a hurry to help as soon as well, had not reminded her. Everyone must have felt so pressed for time that they’d forgotten to warn her.
Despite Ruri being shaken up, the scars started to disappear from Arman’s body and his eyelids slowly opened.
“Urk... Did I pass out? Those bastards, doing whatever the hell they want...” Arman woke up complaining, still crucified on the wall. He froze upon seeing Ruri standing before him. After a pause, a confused gasp escaped his mouth, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost. “Huh? Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to save you, of course!” Ruri said with a smug look, her chest puffed out.
Arman couldn’t wrap his head around any of this. “No, I meant how did you get here?”
“Have you forgotten when I smuggled the evidence from the pocket space of the fourth prince of the Imperial Nation? I went through your space and exited here.”
“I forgot that was an option...” Arman murmured, shocked, finally realizing the condition of his own body. “No scars?”
“I had you drink the dragon’s blood. Um...does anything feel off?”
“I see. I appreciate it. My physical condition is fine. In fact, I feel like I’ve become young again,” Arman replied.
“That’s good to hear.”
The production method for the dragon’s blood was kept secret, and Arman knew that it couldn’t be immediately shared. That was why he was so grateful. However, he hadn’t noticed that Ruri was secretly relieved that he hadn’t overdosed.
Someone of the Beast King’s position was nothing to scoff at. It seemed that downing a bottle of the dragon’s blood—which one normally only needed a few drops of to take effect—did not affect him negatively at all.
“Your Majestyyy!”
“We’re so glad you’re safe!”
“Thank you so much, Lady Beloved!”
The soldiers were sobbing in joy over Arman being safe. Arman himself looked on with a raised eyebrow.
“Beast King, can you remove those shackles?”
“No, these are magic-sealing shackles. I can’t muster any strength, so I can’t break them myself.”
“Really?” Ruri asked, touching them to see.
Not only were they magic-sealing devices, but they were also very sturdy shackles, and breaking them with human strength seemed impossible. Or rather, if it had been Ruri before tuning with Jade, that would have been the case. But when Ruri pulled with all of her might, the shackles embedded in the wall made snapping noises and shattered.
Ruri wasn’t the only one who was surprised by what she had done. Arman was surprised too, albeit only slightly.
“I’ve heard that even humans can become physically strong when in tune with dragonkins, but that much?” he said, genuinely impressed.
“I’m surprised I pulled it off myself.”
“Well, in your case, your mana is already as strong as Jade’s for a human. That’s probably playing a part too. Anyway, go ahead and break the rest of these shackles for me.”
“Yes,” Ruri replied, snapping the magic-sealing shackles restraining Arman as she was told.
With his limbs freed, he rubbed his wrists with a renewed look on his face.
“Still, I’m surprised that they managed to restrain a person as strong as the Beast King,” Ruri commented.
“It’s because they have a Beloved using spirits. I couldn’t use magic; they threatened me with taking soldiers hostage, so I had no choice but to let them restrain me. Then those Furgal bastards started torturing me. I think they wanted to demean me and demoralize the soldiers by making them watch the torture,” replied Arman.
Ruri looked at the soldiers to see that they were all in magic-sealing shackles.
“It’s revolting, isn’t it?”
“You said it,” Arman agreed, extremely exasperated. He then hesitantly tried to change the subject. “Anyway, I’d like to ask... Aah, you know...”
Despite Arman saying he wanted to ask Ruri something, he couldn’t quite spit it out. However, Ruri quickly guessed what was on his mind and shot him a smile.
“They’re both fine. Celestine-san reached the castle seriously injured, but the dragon’s blood completely healed her. Padparadscha-san was protected by Celestine-san the entire way, so your wife and child are safe and sound. They were terribly worried about you, Beast King. Please reclaim the palace and let them see you in good health.”
“Oh, great,” Arman said, the tension melting away; he was also concerned. “Still, I’m surprised Jade allowed you to come alone.”
Perhaps relieved to know that Celestine and Padparadscha were safe, he finally had the mental leeway to focus on other things and had realized that Ruri was alone.
“He didn’t actually allow me. It was more like I kept bugging him until he had no other choice but to give in because there was no better option.”
“What if something had happened to you, coming right in the middle of an enemy occupation? You need to be more aware as a Beloved! You’re way too willy-nilly. I’m starting to feel bad for Jade,” Arman scolded her.
Ruri, on the other hand, felt she’d done nothing wrong at all. “Then who else could have alleviated the situation? A king is usually the first one killed if taken captive! Celestine-san and Padparadscha would have been so sad. Is that what you want?”
Arman couldn’t disagree with Ruri’s biting, annoyed statement.
“You shouldn’t worry an already stressed-out pregnant woman!” she continued.
“Yeah, I get it. I was in the wrong,” Arman said, raising his hands in surrender. “It sort of feels like I’m being scolded by Celestine.”
In the Nation of the Beast King, where there were clear divides in status and the Beast King stood at the top of the nation, the only ones who could scold him were Beloveds like Ruri and Celestine.
“Because I’m speaking for how Celestine-san feels,” Ruri huffed, knowing that Celestine would have said the same thing if she had been there. “I am well aware of the risks. I comprehended that and figured that it was best if I took action. I have no regrets about it. Jade-sama thought it was the best course of action as well, which is why he ultimately did not oppose me going.”
Then again, Ruri had no intention of bending to others’ wills even if she was going to be met by either Jade or Euclase lecturing her about being reckless.
“Well, I kind of feel bad for Jade not being able to object because that was actually the situation,” Arman said with a sour face. He then looked at all of the spirits around Ruri and breathed a sigh of relief. “Looks like the spirits are obeying you too.”
“Yes, Kotaro and Rin ordered them to follow my instructions,” Ruri explained.
“No better aid than help from supreme-level spirits, huh?” Arman replied.
“Apparently, they prioritize supreme-level spirits over Beloved rank. With Kotaro and Rin on our side, defeat won’t be an option!” Ruri said, clenching her fist with vigor. “They should follow my instructions over the Furgal Beloveds’, so don’t you worry!”
“I know this is long overdue, but I feel like I’m starting to realize that you’re not a normal Beloved,” Arman said, his face conveying that Ruri’s comment was reassuring but he just couldn’t bring himself to rejoice.
“Well, it may seem that way since I have technically subjugated a couple of supreme-level spirits, but I believe Lapis could do something similar. The supreme-level spirit of the trees is in the Nation of the Spirit King, after all,” Ruri mentioned. Although Lapis couldn’t take interdimensional shortcuts like she could, he could strip the authority of Furgal’s Beloveds.
“True. Come to think of it, it seems like our nation is the one that gets the least amount of blessings. I mean, I’m not trying to blame Celestine or anything, of course.”
“That sounds like an envious dilemma to have considering the Imperial Nation doesn’t even have a Beloved. If the people of the Imperial Nation heard that, they would say, ‘Well, in that case, hand Celestine over to us!”
“Aah, yeah. From their point of view, I guess so.”
The Imperial Nation, the only one of the Four Great Nations without a Beloved, had made a rather roundabout request to the Nation of the Dragon King to share as many Beloveds as they could with them since the Nation of the Dragon King had Ruri, Liccia, Beryl, and a great number of supreme-level spirits in their midst.
The fuss over sharing didn’t come from the nation’s leader, the emperor, but from the Imperial Nation’s nobles. However, upon learning about that, Beryl had decided to go off on an adventure with Chi and Andal.
Even without the incident in the Imperial Capital, Beryl leaving for a journey wasn’t much of a problem since it was pretty much a given based on how he operated, but it did act as a deterrent for the Imperial Nation and their unreasonable requests.
Also, now that the Imperial Nation had lost Emperor Adularia, there was a dispute over who would succeed the throne, so they had their hands too full to meddle with the Nation of the Dragon King’s affairs.
“Let’s leave the chatting for later. Reclaiming the palace comes first,” Ruri said.
“You’re right. This isn’t something I should be asking you, but please, O Beloved of the Nation of the Dragon King, provide your assistance for the sake of my people,” Arman said, taking a knee in front of Ruri and lowering his head.
He was making a formal request to a Beloved as the Beast King. There was no reason for Ruri to refuse such a request from an allied nation.
“Of course! I can’t let the people who hurt Celestine-san that badly go unpunished!” Ruri was brimming with motivation, wanting to end everything and give Celestine peace of mind before she woke up. “To do that, we’ll have to get out of here first.”
“Right,” Arman agreed.
That was when a surge of voices came from the cells.
“Take us with you, please!”
“Give us a chance to redeem ourselves!”
“We can’t just let those Furgal bastards keep us down like this!”
“We must avenge Lady Beloved!”
The soldiers pleaded with them, grasping the iron bars as if vying with one another.
“Right, we’ll need the soldiers. But they’re bound with magic-sealing shackles, so we need to do something about those first...” Arman stated, glancing at Ruri meaningfully.
Ruri immediately caught on. That was Arman’s idea of a plea to have her help out.
“Yes, yes. I just have to break the shackles, right? Still, I’d appreciate it if you helped too, Beast King,” Ruri answered, sounding exasperated.
“Leave it to me,” Arman said heartily with a grin.
Freed from the magic-sealing shackles, he could easily break those same shackles on his soldiers. Although they’d decided on what to do, Ruri and Arman looked at the slew of soldiers inside several cells.
“We have our work cut out for us if we have to remove everyone’s shackles,” Ruri commented.
“I have to agree.”
As they pondered, the spirits gathered around them. Arman flinched reflexively. Since the palace had been taken down by spirits, he couldn’t act like nothing had happened, especially considering how much the people of the Nation of the Beast King revered the spirits. It was no surprise that he felt betrayed.
“Ruri, we’ll help you!”
“We’re gonna help! We’re gonna help!”
“Yippie!”
Seeing the spirits looking so cheerful, Arman and his men grimaced as though smelling spoiled milk. Then, something happened.
“No, you were the ones who put those magic-sealing shackles on us!”
“Hey, they can hear you!”
“What’s the point of pissing off the spirits, you dumbass?!”
“Shut him up!”
The one outspoken soldier’s comrades tried to cover his mouth and smack him to keep him quiet. Ruri watched the exchange and turned to the spirits, but there seemed to be no problem since they were totally indifferent to the comment.
“We need to get out of this cell to do anything.”
“That’s right. I’ll bust it down, so stand back,” replied Arman.
“Okay,” Ruri said, stepping back a little from the bars.
Even if debris were to fly at her, Kotaro and Rin were meticulously protecting her, so it would likely bounce right off her, but better safe than sorry.
Arman looked at his hand and wrapped it in fire magic, feeling a wave of relief come over him upon confirming it had worked.
“I can use magic again. All thanks to Ruri, huh?” he muttered to himself, glaring at the bars. As if to wipe out all of his frustration, he punched the bars at full strength. The fire instantly blazed and started melting them.
The soldiers in the cells across the way felt the heat and started to scramble to the back, screaming about the heat in a panic, but Ruri didn’t feel warm in the least despite standing right next to Arman, likely because Kotaro and Rin were protecting her.
Once Arman melted the bars and made an opening large enough for people to pass through in the blink of an eye, the captive soldiers waltzed out. Even in tattered clothes, he still had the dignity of a champion.
After leaving his own cage, Arman destroyed the bars of the other cages one after another until all of the soldiers were free. Ruri and the spirits then split up and started busting the soldiers’ shackles.
“Thank you very much!”
“We will never forget this kindness, Lady Beloved!”
The soldiers were fatigued, not having been given enough food and water during their imprisonment, but their eyes were alive.
Ruri left breaking the shackles to the spirits and passed out food that she’d stored in her pocket space to the men. They were able to provide their own water since they could employ the power of the spirits again.
“Hmmm...I might not have enough food for all of these people,” Ruri said, taking advantage of the large space she had to herself, where she put more food than she could ever eat by herself. She’d figured that Lydia would eat it but wasn’t sure if she could pass out all that food to the hungry soldiers. They needed to fight against the troops from Furgal, so they had to build up their strength.
“Do not fret, Lady Beloved. Now that the shackles are off, we can open our own pocket spaces. There are some of us who have food stored in there,” said one soldier. “Being a soldier means physical work, so a good number of us keep supplies on hand.”
“I see. I’m glad to hear it,” Ruri said in relief, checking on Arman’s situation now that the matter of sustenance had been resolved.
Arman seemed to be having issues with the sheer number of cells.
“Are you all right, Beast King? You must be using a lot of mana.”
“Yeah, I am, but I don’t see myself running out anytime soon. In fact, my body is heating up like I’ve got too much mana in me. Pretty weird, huh?”
Ruri stood there, unable to utter a word. In her mind, she was sweating bullets over his vigor being a result of her giving him a whole bottle of dragon’s blood. However, he seemed to be as fit as a fiddle, so she decided not to ask him about it.
As she continued to free the soldiers, an angry yell could be heard echoing throughout the basement out of nowhere. “What is this?! Why are the prisoners out of their cells?!”
Ruri looked in the direction of the voice to find a middle-aged man in a military uniform unlike that of the Nation of the Beast King’s usual garb. From his outfit, she could tell that the man who was red in the face from shouting was high status.
“Huh? Who’s that?” she asked, knowing full well it wasn’t a member of the Nation of the Beast King.
“The general leading this war,” Arman replied. “The highest-ranking soldier among the Furgal forces and the one who put me through all that hell.” A smile came over his face that would make the most hardened of criminals flee, and his devious snicker made Ruri’s expression tighten at the sound of it.
The resentful gazes of the soldiers were just as piercing. She even started to feel sorry for the enemy for a brief second. But as the thought crossed her mind, she noticed the boy and girl behind the man, probably around Sango’s age. They had young features—almost grown but not fully reaching adulthood, their dark hair and eyes a combination very familiar to Ruri.
They were decked out in garb that was fine but not too glitzy. Ruri could tell that they were good-quality clothes from her time receiving the highest grade of treatment as a Beloved.
“Beast King, are those two in the back...who I think they are?”
“Yeah. They’re the Beloveds.”
“I knew it.”
They were the transmigrators from Beryl’s letter. It was quite the twist of fate that there were two Beloveds among them.
“Hey! Don’t leave your cells! What are the guards doing here?!” the girl exclaimed in a shrill and grating tone.
“They’re incompetent to the extreme. Fire all of them,” the boy said in a languid voice.
Ruri could instantly sense that they weren’t the kind of people she would get along with. Their every word was rife with arrogance.
“You fiend! How did you escape?! We put you in magic-sealing shackles!” the enemy general shouted hard enough to burst a blood vessel as he looked at Arman standing before him without a scratch.
Arman wasn’t perturbed. In fact, he chuckled mockingly. “Ha, what a pity. You shouldn’t have thought you could keep me tied down with those little trinkets. Don’t ever underestimate the Beast King.”
“I’m the one who broke the shackles, though,” Ruri murmured under her breath.
Arman heard her hushed jab and momentarily froze, the corners of his mouth flattening, but he immediately recovered. “I’m going to be sure to pay you back for what you’ve done,” he threatened the enemy.
The general’s tantrum was being overridden by Arman’s mounting pressure. “What do you think you can do?! We have Beloveds higher in rank than yours!” he said, almost as if gloating over something he’d done himself before looking back at the pair behind him. “Hey, put these guys back into their cells.”
The pair furrowed their brows at the pompous instruction. Then the girl spoke up. “You seem to have the wrong idea, don’t you? Don’t give me orders.”
“Hey, what did you say?!”
“Who do you think helped you win? If you want me to do something, bow your head and ask for it.”
“Bow?! I’m the one in charge of this war!” the general snapped, dissatisfied.
The boy glared at him, as condescending as his companion. “So what? That’s got nothin’ to do with us. If you want us to lend our help, you better ask nicely, old man.”
“Old man?!” the general repeated in shock.
Ruri had assumed they would be on amicable terms since they’d helped Furgal incite the war, but it seemed they were very much not—or maybe they just didn’t get along with this particular soldier.
“Well, what will it be, old man?” the boy asked.
“C’mon, c’mon. Lower that head,” said the girl.
Faced with the duo who had a total grasp on their own superiority, the general clenched his fists in frustration so tight that they were shaking. Even Ruri was uncomfortable with their attitude as she watched from afar with a furrowed brow.
As the general of an army, the man must have had a certain amount of pride, but he obediently bowed his head to the boy and girl who seemed younger than his own children.
“I beg of you, lend us your help.”
“Lend us your help please, right? You’re an adult, but you don’t know how to use your words?” said the boy.
“Grk... Please lend us your help...”
“That’s more like it. You should have done that from the start, but your pride was just too big.”
“Seriously. You know you couldn’t do a thing without us around,” the girl added.
As the pair scoffed at him, the general pursed his lips and desperately contained his humiliation.
“To think that these cretins ravaged our nation makes me sick to my stomach,” Arman commented.
“I agree,” Ruri replied, relieved that she wasn’t alone in the discomfort she felt. Tolerant as she was, she was so angry now that even she felt that holding back was unnecessary.
“Now then, let’s get this over with,” said the boy.
“Right,” his companion agreed.
The two walked forward, pushing the general out of the way. The soldiers of the Nation of the Beast King tried to cover Arman and Ruri, but Arman waved his hand to halt them.
“What? You think you can beat us?” the boy stated. “We’re Beloveds. You weaklings should bow your heads in reverence.”
“You wretched brats. I’ll show you how harsh the world can be. Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve caused?” Arman snapped.
“Nope! I’m the human chosen by the world. I’m not like any other rando. Do you understand that?” the boy replied.
“That’s right. We are special. If you weaklings do as we say, we’ll spare your lives,” the girl added.
Ruri groaned as she looked at the two. “So, this is what they call a chuunibyou...”
She was taken aback by their arrogant and childish line of thinking and gave them both a dirty look. She knew that in a decade or so, they would be writhing on the ground in shame at their behavior. The pair was trying to mark a page in their dark chuuni histories.
The boy from the embarrassing pair instructed the spirits around him, “Hey, nab those guys and put them back in their cages.”
Seeing the way he ordered the spirits around like a power-hungry boss was hard for Ruri to accept. To her, the spirits were friends. Celestine respected the spirits like gods and Lapis had similar feelings about them as Ruri, interacting with them as friends or family. Because of that, she had never seen anyone try to operate them like tools. She didn’t even think the former Beloved of Cerulanda had treated them that badly. If Celestine had been here, she probably would have yelled at them for their impudent language toward the spirits. Even Ruri wanted to give them a good dressing down.
The guy ordered the spirits as he had done so far, but not one of them budged this time. After receiving direct orders from Kotaro and Rin, there was no way they would. However, for the pair who couldn’t possibly know that inside fact, it was mystifying that the spirits were ignoring their orders.
“Hey, hurry up!” the boy prompted them.
“Yes, hurry and do what you’re told,” the girl agreed.
Despite their yelping like untrained dogs, the spirits ignored them.
The general, not the Beloveds, seemed to be the most perturbed. “What are you doing?! Hurry and move the spirits!”
“We know already. Quit shouting!” the girl said, her voice rising higher in turn.
However, as soon as Ruri stepped forward and asked the spirits for a favor, they did a complete about-face.
“Guys, free the soldiers still in cells and remove their shackles.”
“Okay!”
“Got it!”
“We’ve gotta do what Ruri says, after all!”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh! Lady Lydia was real mad!”
“Because Ruri got wrapped up in this. She was super-duper mad!”
From the chattering spirits, Lydia had apparently been giving them orders as well. The spirits immediately responded to Ruri’s instructions and acted.
It was then that the general’s group finally realized Ruri was there. Since she was next to Arman and his large frame, it was no wonder why she’d gone unnoticed all this time.
“Who are you?!” the general asked in a threatening tone, pointing a finger at her.
Since she had the protection of two supreme-level spirits, she was invincible. Knowing that not even Jade could hurt her, Ruri took a confident stance, folding her arms and holding her head high.
“I am the Beloved of the Nation of the Dragon King.”
“Beloved...of the Nation of the Dragon King...” The general instantly turned pale before uttering, “How did you get here so quickly?”
It seemed that he had expected the Nation of the Dragon King and Spirit King to intervene. So why had they even started this war in the first place?
Unlike the general, the transmigrating Beloveds didn’t seem to realize the severity of the situation from Ruri saying she was the Beloved of the Nation of the Dragon King. Not much time had passed since they’d come to this world, so they probably lacked the knowledge. That was understandable considering there was a lot that even Ruri still didn’t know about this world.
“Who is this woman?” asked the girl.
“Oh, she looks like my type. A little old, but still,” the boy commented.
“A little old?!” Ruri repeated, a vein popping up on her temple. “I’m only in my twenties! Guys, catch that older man and the two Beloveds! No need to hold back at all!”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
“We just have to catch ’em, right?”
“Lady Lydia told us to eliminate anyone who harms Ruri.”
“Let’s focus on catching them first!”
“Yeah!”
With a somewhat ominous conversation, the spirits charged at the Beloveds they’d been obeying up until then. Ruri and Arman looked on nonchalantly, figuring that the spirits would easily capture the group, but the general pulled out a dagger from his breast pocket and drew it from its scabbard. The moment the dagger was pointed at the spirits, they turned tail and ran.
“Eeek!”
“Weeeh! It’s Spirit Slayer!”
“Run!”
“Spirit Slayer?!” said Ruri, aghast.
“Are you serious?!” Arman exclaimed. They were both shocked that it still existed.
The general smiled deviously at the spirits’ flight and laughed. “You think I didn’t plan ahead for something like this?”
In response to the spirits distancing themselves from the haughtily grinning general, Ruri swiftly plunged her hand into her pocket space and pulled out the first thing she randomly grabbed—a ball small enough to be gripped in her hand.
“Of all things, I grabbed this?!” she cried, recalling some bad memories. However, there was no time to second-guess. Knowing it should be doubly effective on a demi-human, she chucked it at the general.
“What is that paltry toy?” he scoffed. However, his disdain was short-lived, as in the next moment, the ball dropped to the ground, split, and erupted in smoke and light. Knowing the smoke’s effects, Ruri had deployed a wind barrier to surround the general and the duo at the same time she’d thrown the ball. As a result, she and her group were unharmed, but agonizing screams could be heard from inside of the bundle of smoke.
“Eek! This smells terrible! What is this?!” the girl yelled.
“Augh!” heaved the boy.
“Gaaaah!” the general screamed.
Ruri let out a dry laugh, feeling slightly bad for them since she had experienced the smoke firsthand before. She’d thrown a tool that released an intense odor from a bunch of street thugs when she’d first come to the Nation of the Dragon King from Chelsie’s forest. Their enemies were likely in agony from the unthinkably foul odor. Furgal was said to be a nation with a large demi-human populace, just like the Nation of the Beast King, so chances were high that the general was also demi-human. To a demi-human with impeccable senses, the odor released by this ball would be utterly unbearable. Even a mere human like Ruri had almost been knocked out by the intense stench.
Unable to hear the general’s voice anymore, she bundled up the smoke tighter in her barrier of wind. There, on the ground, was the general, lying unconscious.
“Whoa...” Ruri grimaced as she was reminded of the power this ball’s odor held.
Arman and his men, however, looked on with blank stares, clueless as to what the ball even did or why the general had passed out.
“Ruri, what did you do?”
“I just used a pretty dangerous tool that Lydia recommended to me. I think it’s better if you don’t know,” Ruri explained, worried that Arman, also a demi-human, would faint in the same way. They were about to reclaim the palace, so that would just muddy things.
With the general unconscious, Ruri released the barrier and let the Spirit Slayer dagger fall to the ground. She retrieved it and put it into her pocket space, figuring she would have to put it in a room slated to be erased later, where it would be disposed of along with the rest of the room’s contents.
“Hey, guys. I took care of the dagger, so you’re good to go,” Ruri called to the spirits, causing them to poke their heads out of hiding one by one.
“Is it safe now?”
“Really?”
They gathered around her timidly. Once they knew it was safe, the rage could be seen in their eyes.
“These guys have to pay.”
“Yeah, they gotta.”
“Charge!”
Enraged after being threatened with Spirit Slayer, they mercilessly captured the three.
“What are you doing?!” yelled the girl.
“Let go!” said the boy.
The two rampaging Beloveds and the unconscious general were thrown into a cell with the help of the spirits and the liberated Nation of the Beast King troops. Despite the enemy’s yelling and screaming, Ruri told the spirits not to lend them any help, so neither could use their magic. They also placed an extra set of magic-sealing shackles on them just to be sure.
“Keep an eye on them. Don’t listen to what they say, no matter what, okay?” Ruri instructed them.
“Okaaay!” replied the spirits in unison, raising their hands.
Arman put a few of his soldiers on guard duty in addition to the spirits. The soldiers who’d been ordered to keep watch looked envious of their comrades gearing up to reclaim the palace.
“Grrr... I wanted to go too...” said one soldier.
“Yeah, same here. But we drew the short straws, so not much we can do about it. Just accept it,” said another.
“Aaaargh! This was supposed to be my chance at payback!”
As a few of the soldiers lamented their luck, Ruri’s group rushed out of the dungeon.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The palace was completely under Furgal’s control. Seeing the Furgal troops walk around as if they owned the place, the Nation of the Beast King troops’ faces started to scrunch and contort in rage, resembling hannya demons.
Arman and the others were not sneaking around. They charged from the front, gallantly. And the only reason they could was because Ruri was with them. The Nation of the Beast King had a clear strength advantage, and they normally wouldn’t have lost the war. They’d ended up being decimated because of the irregular element of the otherworldly Beloveds being on their side.
“Go! All of you go north! I’ll take the east side!”
“As you wish!”
“Leave it to us!” the soldiers said before dispersing under Arman’s orders.
The Furgal troops were in shock and started to panic at the sight of Arman and his soldiers out of their cells.
“How did the prisoners get out of their cells?!”
“They should’ve had magic-sealing shackles on!”
Despite being slightly shaken up, many of the Furgal forces tried to intercept the escaped Beast King’s men based on their confidence in having won a one-sided battle before. However, there was one problem.
“Why?! I can’t use magic!”
“Me neither!”
“What’s going on here?! Where did the Beloveds go?!”
The soldiers fell into mass chaos as they realized they couldn’t utilize magic. Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Beast Kingdom wiped out Furgal’s soldiers with a bang using their own magic. Arman stood at the head of the group, mowing down more Furgal troops than anyone else.
The spirits, who were only heeding Ruri’s wishes, took away the magic from Furgal’s forces, and the Nation of the Beast King’s men were using magic via the spirits instead. The balance of power had done a one-eighty.
The soldiers of the Nation of the Beast King, led by Arman, were recapturing more and more of the occupied palace. In the process, they were also rescuing civilians who worked at the palace, who had been rounded up and confined to a room. Some had been seriously injured as a result of resisting, but Ruri used Jade’s dragon’s blood to heal them right away. Unable to handle it all by herself, she handed bottles of the medicine to the spirits and ordered them to tend to the injured. The people of the Nation of the Beast King took priority, of course.
It might have been a soft way of thinking, but Ruri was repulsed by the concept of people dying, even if they were enemies. Therefore, she used the medicine on anyone with serious injuries, even those from Furgal, though she restrained them first so they wouldn’t run amok after they recovered. Nearby, Arman seemed like he wanted to say something, but she ignored him.
Arman did not complain about Ruri’s actions, but it was easy to imagine that he was exploding in frustration on the inside. Of course, Ruri had not forgotten that Celestine had been badly injured by these people either, so there was a part of her that whispered to just leave them be. Even so, there were some things that not even she wanted to yield on.
The recapture of the palace went bafflingly smoothly. There was no shortage of soldiers who were terribly wounded and extremely exhausted due to lack of food and water, but their morale was abnormally high. This was likely because Ruri had told them about Celestine’s condition. The people of this nation absolutely cherished their Beloved. Their attack on the Furgal forces was so intense from their desire to get revenge that Ruri feared they would overdo it and kill all their enemies.
Worst-case scenario, the dragon’s blood would take effect if the patient was still drawing breath, so Ruri tried to subtly suggest that the soldiers beat their enemies but not kill them, though it was doubtful if they were even listening.
Ruri didn’t know if it was the effect of downing a whole bottle of medicine, but thanks to Arman, who showed no sign of running out of mana, they succeeded in reclaiming the palace with frightening speed. And when they entered the throne room, a royal member of Furgal sat atop the throne as if he owned it, leaving Arman looking dumbfounded. A vein then popped in his temple.
“Who gave you permission to sit on that throne, you bastard?” Arman demanded in a low, gravely tone.
The Furgal royal’s legs shook like a newborn fawn, and he cried for help, but his soldiers had already been eliminated.
“Get off—now,” Arman said, grabbing the collar of the man who was too afraid to resist. He dragged him off and tossed him away.
“Yeeeeek!” the invader screamed. He was acting so cowardly, you would never have expected him to be a royal of an entire—albeit small—nation. Then again, most people would react the same way if faced with Arman pissed off to the max. The exhilaration of battle caused an overflow in raw vigor that was so intense that Ruri didn’t want to face it head-on even though she was protected by Kotaro and Rin.
Arman tied the foreign royal with rope from head to toe, sat on his throne, used him as a footrest, and let out a long sigh.
“Good work,” Ruri said, handing a cup of hot tea to the still-excited Arman. Even the soldiers of the Nation of the Beast King were afraid of what they saw, despite being allies, so Ruri wanted him to calm down as quickly as possible.
“I’d rather have booze, but oh well,” Arman grumbled as he chugged the tea down, oblivious to Ruri’s concerns. “Sheesh, losing to such a minor nation will be a dark part of this kingdom’s history,” Arman said, grinding his heel into the man-turned-footrest.
“Yeek! Please spare my life!” the royal said.
“Footstools don’t freakin’ talk,” snapped Arman.
“Sorryyy!”
Arman ground his heel into him again to shut him up. The sight made it hard to tell who the invader was in this situation.
“Ruri, we’re going to go clean up the soldiers in the royal capital. There are Furgal troops occupying there too. We need to sweep them out and give peace of mind to the civilians.”
“Was there much harm done to the civilians?” Ruri asked, remembering her time in the royal capital before. Everyone there loved and revered the spirits and cherished the Beloved. She couldn’t really shop comfortably because she was a Beloved and the townspeople were so very religious, but it was a nice town that was lively and filled with kindness.
“I’ve heard little harm came to the citizens. It proved fortunate that they didn’t openly oppose due to the Beloveds of Furgal having spirits in attendance.”
“I see. We have their deep faith in the spirits to thank, then.”
“True. Even so, it’s best if we get them back as quickly as possible. Could you tell the spirits to continue shunning Furgal, Ruri?”
“Understood,” Ruri replied as she proceeded to tell the spirits the characteristics of the Furgal soldiers and instruct them not to lend their help.
After seeing that the deed had been done, Arman and the soldiers headed for town. Ruri wanted to go along with them, but there were two Beloveds in the palace’s dungeon at the moment. Arman asked her to keep an eye on them, since there was no telling what they might do. He was also probably reluctant to take a Beloved like Ruri onto a battlefield filled with danger. It was no problem for her to come along, but Arman wouldn’t approve of it even if she did plead her case.
As a result, Ruri stayed put and waited at the palace with the soldiers that Arman assigned to guard her. He returned around sunset without any major issues having occurred.
The people of the royal capital had spent their time worrying about what would happen, with only a surface-level understanding of the situation, but relief started to spread once Arman and his forces began to apprehend the invaders. It seemed that a distrust of Arman was beginning to grow among some people in the capital—they worshipped the spirits so much that they thought it was wrong to keep a Beast King without the favor of the spirits around as their ruler. However, now the spirits were on Arman’s side and the Furgal troops were being ignored by the spirits no matter what magic they used, which helped restore their confidence in Arman. It was a terribly self-centered state of affairs, but that probably showed just how anxious the people were about all of this.
Upon hearing that the harm to the people was minimal, Ruri was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
It had been a day since the palace was reclaimed. Though traces of the invasion remained, Arman had taken everything back, so it was a satisfying outcome.
Every Furgal soldier was arrested and thrown into the dungeon, restrained with magic-sealing shackles.
Arman had a scary look in his eyes as he planned to torture the generals just as they’d done to him, but Ruri stopped him. Dissatisfied though he was, she adamantly refused torture, as the mere thought of it was painful to her. Seeing as Ruri was the linchpin of the entire operation and was so opposed to the idea, Arman reluctantly agreed to drop it.
He clicked his tongue loudly in disappointment, but Ruri was relieved that the matter had been resolved peacefully. She had no intention of butting in on how Arman dealt with things as king. Not only was Ruri from another nation, but she was also a Beloved. She wasn’t about to involve herself in political matters between nations.
The people of the palace were breathing easier now that it had been reclaimed from Furgal and their fortunes had completely turned around. Slowly but surely, they would resume their duties.
Walking through the palace, Ruri was praised with tears in the eyes of every person she passed, which made her feel a little uncomfortable, but they wouldn’t stop even if she asked. To the people of the Nation of the Beast King, she was literally their savior.
Ruri was talking with Arman in the throne room, which was in pristine condition.
“Ruri, you really saved us this time. On behalf of the nation, I thank you,” Arman formally announced.
“Oh, you don’t have to do all that,” Ruri replied bashfully.
“However,” Arman started, causing her to look at him with a startled stare, “a Beloved plunging into a dangerous area right in the middle of a war is beyond asinine. You need to learn to have more concern for yourself. If a Beloved were to ever get wrapped up in a situation where they wound up dead, the Nation of the Beast King itself would be wiped off the map. Especially since you have so many supreme-level spirits attending you,” Arman elaborated, going into sermon mode for some reason and leaving Ruri unable to catch up.
“But... But...you couldn’t have stopped them without me, right? Did you forget the shape you were in when I arrived?”
Arman was in clean, good-quality clothes now, but when Ruri first got to the palace, his body and clothes had been in shreds. Anything could have happened to him at any time back then. In fact, in the middle of freeing all the soldiers from their cells, the general had come to the dungeon with the two Beloveds in tow. They had undoubtedly visited to inflict harm on Arman. If Ruri had arrived any later, something terrible might have been in store for him. She felt sort of slighted, being on the receiving end of a sermon after all she’d contributed.
“Be that as it may, don’t be too overconfident in yourself. For Jade’s sake as well,” Arman continued.
For Jade’s sake... That hit Ruri’s weak spot. She thought it was unfair bringing him into it, but she obediently nodded. “Okay...”
She didn’t think that her actions were wrong in regard to the incident, but it was a fact that she’d made Jade worry. Not only Jade, but Kotaro and Rin too. Considering all of that, it became harder for her to loudly proclaim that she was right with any confidence.
Arman awkwardly smiled at Ruri, who was visibly down on herself. “I’m not attacking you for coming to save us. Against a Beloved, I’m nothing more than an ordinary person. Only one Beloved can take on another. No one is arguing that, but just keep the people who really care for you more in mind.”
Ruri understood his argument but was miffed. “Is that something you should say, Beast King? You were the one who stayed behind so that Celestine-san and Padparadscha-san could run away. I feel like what you did was no different from what I did,” said Ruri, realizing that they were no better than each other in terms of making people worry.
Arman’s eyes started darting around the room. “Uh, okay, Ruri; it’s about time for you to head back home, isn’t it? Jade is probably worried sick.”
Ruri squinted at Arman in response to his blatant attempt to switch topics.
“Things will be hectic here for a while, so may I ask you to take care of Celestine and Padparadscha?” he continued.
Ruri was reminded of Padparadscha’s stomach. “Yes, Padparadscha-san’s belly was quite big when I saw her. It would probably be hard for a pregnant woman to travel a long distance in that condition, so how about you let her stay in the Nation of the Dragon King until she delivers the child?”
“Right, that might be a good idea. I’ll send Jade a letter later.”
“Yes, please do so,” Ruri said before something suddenly sprang to mind. “What about the Beloveds in the dungeon right now? Strictly speaking, they’re transmigrators, so they aren’t citizens of the Nation of Furgal.”
“Yeah, I’ve got the Furgal royal in custody, tied head to toe, so I’d like to talk that issue over with Jade, if I could. Personally, I can’t send those two back to Furgal, but I can’t keep them here either. The girl is one thing, but the boy is a higher rank of Beloved than Celestine, so we’d be flat out of luck if something were to happen.”
“Indeed.”
“I feel like it would be safest to have either the Nation of the Dragon or Spirit King take them since there are supreme-level spirits in both of those kingdoms.”
Even Ruri thought that being arrogant enough to consider yourself invulnerable was dangerous. It was only natural that Arman was wary.
“But we’ll have to keep them here until I’m finished talking things over with Jade, so could you hold back the spirits for us again?” he asked.
“Yes, it would be a disaster if those Beloved got out of their cell by making the spirits obey them as soon as I left,” Ruri said, giggling and turning to those by her side. “Don’t listen to any orders the Beloveds in the dungeon give you. For any reason. And if anything happens, make sure to contact Kotaro and Rin before doing anything, okay?”
“Got it!”
“We were told to only listen to you, Ruri, so don’t worry!”
“We’ll do it because you asked, Ruri!”
The spirits obediently followed her orders. Kotaro and Rin had a lot of authority. While that was what you should expect of supreme-level spirits, those same two supreme spirits had both been named and subjugated by Ruri, so that would likely grind the gears of the nobles of the Imperial Nation.
“Okay, I’ll be going back now. I know everyone is worried.”
“Right. Give Jade my regards.”
“I will. See you again.”
Ruri entered her pocket space in the same way as when she’d come to the Nation of the Beast King and found Lydia waiting there. She used her power to move her in front of Jade’s pocket space instead this time around. She’d always wondered what kind of space Jade had, and once she opened the door, she found it far tidier than she’d imagined.
It might have been a given that it was so vast since he had so much mana, but it was totally different from Ruri’s room, awash with treasure. Jade likely sorted his things regularly. The room reflected Jade’s diligent personality well.
Since staring too long would be an invasion of privacy, Ruri had Lydia exit and go outside. Before her body was all the way out, Ruri could feel herself being pulled into an embrace. From the familiar warmth and scent, she could instantly recognize that she was in Jade’s arms.
“I’m home, Jade-sama,” she said in greeting.
“Yes. Welcome back, Ruri,” he replied, hugging her tight as if to confirm she was in one piece. Ruri didn’t even stop him. “You’re not hurt?”
“There was not a single iota of danger this time around,” she replied.
“Lies are easy to catch, you know.”
“How would I be lying?”
“Think back about everything until now.”
Ruri thought back as she was told and smiled, leading to a very dry chuckle. Since she generally encountered some kind of problem every time she went somewhere dangerous, it was an accomplishment to have gone off on her own and not found herself in any peril. For once, she felt like she didn’t have to complain to Ewan.
Then again, there was a dangerous moment when the Spirit Slayer dagger had come out, but Ruri had responded immediately, so there was no need for her to intentionally bring up a subject that would upset Jade. She had already asked Lydia to dispose of that dagger, so it had long since been deleted along with a space on the chopping block.
“What happened to the Nation of the Beast King? And Arman?”
“He’s safe...” Ruri said, averting her eyes.
“What happened in between?” asked Jade.
“Erm, well...by the time I got there, I was shocked to see that he was pretty hurt. I gave him a bottle of the medicine you and the others gave me...”
“The whole bottle?” Jade asked, his brows lifting. From the look of it, that had been way too much.
Ruri nodded awkwardly in response.
“What is Arman’s condition?”
“He’s doing fine—too fine, in fact. That means he’ll be okay, right?” Ruri asked, having no choice but to ask Jade, since she had no idea what the medicine was capable of.
“If he was all right when you left, then he’ll be fine,” Jade replied somewhat half-heartedly.
Ruri instantly worried. “Whuuh?! Please give me a more definite yes.”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“Oh no. What do we do, then?”
Ruri racked her brain for a while before asking Kotaro to observe Arman’s condition. She was relieved when he did not report any change in Arman’s condition after a few days’ time.
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