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.