As Arman went about his work as usual, neither caring about nor interested in a war with a very obvious result, one of his retainers ran up to him in a panic.
“Your Majesty, terrible news!”
“What is it?” Arman stopped what he was doing in surprise upon seeing his retainer’s panicked state.
“The troops that we sent to fight Furgal the other day have been wiped out,” the retainer said, out of breath.
“What do you mean?!” Arman asked, unable to wrap his head around it. He slammed his hands on his desk, stood up, and leaned forward. “Our troops lost? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?!”
“I am positive. Our troops were crushed. I heard it straight from the mouth of a soldier who somehow made it back from the battlefield, so it is no lie.”
“What...did you say?” Arman stammered, struggling to produce the words out of sheer shock.
The result should have been a given. Furgal’s ten thousand troops versus the Nation of the Beast King’s thirty thousand... Although Furgal was a nation with a large populace of demi-humans like the Nation of the Beast King, there was so much of a difference in forces that the Nation of the Beast King should have easily won. That was why Arman had taken such a nonchalant stance and had been in the middle of talking about throwing a party to reward the troops after they came back home victorious. Yet that wasn’t the case.
“Quit joking around. How did those Furgal bastards do it?” Arman asked, pale and still in disbelief.
“Well...” the retainer started, “according to intel from the troops, there was a Beloved on the Furgal front lines.”
“What did you say? Which Beloved? The only Beloveds in this world right now should be Celestine, Ruri, Lapis, and the Queen of Yadacain.” There had been one other Beloved in the past, but that person had inflicted harm upon Ruri and incurred Kotaro’s wrath, so he had taken away her power as a Beloved. And now, Beryl and Riccia had been added to the mix from the other world. All together, there were currently six Beloveds in the world.
There was no way that a Beloved of an allied nation would cooperate with Furgal, even the Queen of Yadacain. Not only did she not have diplomatic relations with Furgal, but since Quartz, the previous Dragon King, was in Yadacain, she would never lend a hand to them. And even if she were to lend a hand to Furgal, Jade would have informed Arman, which was why none of this made any sense.
“They said that it was a different Beloved, not from among the current pool,” the retainer explained.
“A different Beloved? I’ve never heard anything about that,” Arman shot back.
“They said it was a young girl with dark hair and dark eyes. When I heard that, I recalled getting word of a few humans suddenly appearing at Furgal’s castle not too long ago. And they said all of them had dark eyes and dark hair.”
“Transmigrators?” Arman wasn’t familiar with the other world, but he knew that Ruri had come from there. He also knew that the two worlds would occasionally link and people would fall into this world. He had initially doubted that such a thing was possible, but the various machines that Ruri’s mother had brought with her couldn’t be found anywhere in this world. Once he had been shown the pictures of the other world in a camera, he was convinced that it was true. The spirits asserting this truth had also been a huge factor. After all, spirits never lied.
“If a Beloved is taking part in the war, then it’s no wonder we lost. Dammit!” Arman said, regretting that he had neglected to gather information, assuming the opposition was too weak to bother with. He scratched his head furiously and then forced himself to calm down. “Where are the Furgal troops moving?”
“They are heading straight for the royal capital. They should reach us in a day or two. Since the spirits are one their side, we haven’t been receiving any intel and didn’t realize they were so close. We assume they plan on keeping that momentum to assault the palace.”
“That’d be a disaster.”
“What do we do, Your Majesty?”
“If we’re up against a Beloved, then no matter how much more mana we have, we’re fighting a losing battle...” Arman said, a shade of despair falling over the room.
That was when Celestine entered without knocking. “Master Arman, I will go to the front line.”
“Are you stupid?! No way would I expose a Beloved to danger.”
“But the only one who can stop a Beloved is another one,” Celestine argued.
Arman’s face contorted in frustration. He knew as well as she did that without her help, they would surely lose. There was no hope of a mortal triumphing over the spirits.
“Master Arman.” Celestine called out his name once more, as if urging him to make a decision.
“But if they’re a higher rank, then you’ll be at risk,” he reminded her. Beloveds had rankings and whoever was beloved more by the spirits was considered superior. If the other Beloved was higher in rank, then the spirits would obey them instead. And if that happened, Celestine would be in danger.
“It’s better than doing nothing, isn’t it? I simply cannot sit idly by while this nation is decimated,” Celestine said, her eyes steely.
Being forced to make a decision as king, Arman desperately tried to come up with another plan, but nothing came to mind. Upon considering that the Furgal troops were approaching even as they spoke, he had no time to waver. It was a painful decision for both Arman and the Nation of the Beast King.
“Fine...but if they’re higher rank, then I’m bringing you right back,” he relented.
“Of course.”
“Just in case, make preparations to extract Celestine and Padparadscha,” Arman ordered his retainers.
“Sire!” they replied, then burst into movement in a hectic rush.
Less than two days later, the Furgal troops had formed outside of the royal capital’s walls. Among them were dark-haired individuals who stuck out like sore thumbs with several spirits attending them. It seemed to be a young man and woman.
“Hey! No one told me there were two Beloveds,” Arman said, unable to stay still while danger was afoot, looking down at the situation from above. He had heard about a Beloved but received no information that there were two.
“Please calm down, Master Arman. This is not all that strange. Lady Ruri’s family has two Beloveds as well,” Celestine reminded him.
“Ugh...well, you’re not wrong,” he reluctantly agreed, unable to claim that it was unprecedented in light of Ruri’s family. That said, he had never heard of three generations of Beloveds before, so Ruri’s family was definitely unusual no matter how you sliced it.
Amid this tense touch-and-go situation where combat could break out at any time, the two presumed Beloveds stepped forward.
“Evil beasts tyrants who control this land, drop your arms and surrender now. Do that and we will not do anything bad to you!” one said.
“We do not want any pointless bloodshed. If you do as we say, we will speak to the higher-ups to forgive your past atrocities,” said the other.
Arman, Celestine, and the other soldiers all looked at each other, unable to hide their confusion. They had no idea what the strangers were talking about.
“Tyrants?! This land has always belonged to the Nation of the Beast King! You are the ones invading us, so cease this and leave now!” Arman shouted in a booming voice.
“It seems that it’s difficult for beasts to understand human speech,” said the young man.
“And here we were trying to show you mercy, you ingrates!” the young girl cried.
The dark-haired duo were saying whatever they wanted, unfiltered.
“You’re the ones trying to spark a war, and you call us ingrates?” Arman replied, exasperated and at a loss.
As Celestine stood next to him, a thought suddenly popped into her mind. “If those two are transmigrators, there is a chance that the people of Furgal have given them false information. I seem to recall there being a previous incident with the person who came with Lady Ruri becoming the ‘Priestess Princess’ and being fed lies in a similar fashion to help spearhead a war.”
“That’s true. You’ve got a point,” Arman said, recalling that incident as well. It had been a situation that had later made the kings of the Alliance of Four Nations tremble in fear at the idea that Ruri might have waged war with the Nation of the Dragon King. But thanks to Ruri’s calm and rational mind, she hadn’t participated in the war. In fact, she had been exiled to the forest instead, where she had been taken in by Chelsie. It was a good story in retrospect, but at the time, it had been a terrifying incident that could have resulted in the downfall of the Nation of the Dragon King.
While Arman and Celestine conversed, the dark-haired duo prattled on incessantly. They were kicking up a fuss, convinced that the Nation of the Beast King was evil, like they were a couple of heroes who had come to vanquish some insidious demon king.
“It’s almost like they’ve been brainwashed,” noted Celestine.
“There’s no ‘almost.’ That’s exactly what happened. Furgal probably took advantage of their ignorance and spun a story that worked in their favor. I wouldn’t put it past them,” Arman replied, his loathing for Furgal permeating each and every word.
“Prepare for battle!” cried the Furgal troops as they finally started to move their troops forward to engage. “We are counting on you, Lord and Lady Beloveds!”
Upon hearing that from the troops, the dark-haired duo looked forlorn.
“I wish we could have settled this without fighting,” the girl said.
“They leave us with no choice. This is our mission,” the boy answered, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Their exchange felt like two actors on a stage, making Arman and Celestine question their grip on reality.
“Everyone, please go forth,” the dark-haired girl said, clasping her hands together as though in prayer. The spirits that were around her started to make their way forward.
“They’re coming, Celestine,” said Arman nervously.
“Yes.” Celestine’s face tensed as she gazed at the spirits making their move.
Hoping that she could avoid the worst-case scenario, she took a step forward. And then...