“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.