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.