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chapter 55
“Kerenians are a kind of small bat-shaped monster. They’re small, they don’t harm people, and they live off fruit and seeds in the forest, so they’re not targets for monster hunts. Their main trait is that they can emit a pheromone that contains a sleeping-agent.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And in the case of Kerenians, unlike many other monsters, although they have magic, beastfolk can’t detect that magic.”
“Can’t… detect it?”
I nodded.
“Yes. Scholars say Kerenians release pheromones either to call for help from their own kind or to escape predators. Unusually, though, the pheromone has both a sedative component and a sweet scent that only those with magic can smell.”
I said that and glanced at Rudels’s face for a moment. He was listening closely but his pupils trembled in tiny movements.
“I didn’t… know that.”
“No. There were actual attempts to weaponize Kerenians in combat as well.”
“Huh…”
Hearing my unspoken ‘of course they failed,’ Rudels looked at me with a startled expression.
“I was doubtful too… I forgot that the smell Kerenians give off is sweet… I’m sorry.”
When I bowed and apologized, Rudels waved his hand.
“No. Thanks to your help, I got more substantial evidence. This means someone meticulous enough to use an unfamiliar monster among the beastfolk to sneak in has appeared.”
Rudels ground his teeth and gave a long sigh.
“Eriel. Do you know how many people know about this monster?”
“I don’t think many do. Among witches, only the older ones know much about it.”
“I see.”
Rudels said that, snapped his fingers, and the white barrier that had been enclosing us vanished.
Pyuuy?
Silf cocked his head and looked puzzled.
“Silf, would you like more spirit stones?”
Pyu! Pyu, pyu, pyuu!
At the word “spirit stone,” Silf vigorously nodded and looked at him with shimmering eyes.
“Then please help once more. Let them know about this.”
Pyuuy? Pyu! Pyu!
Silf smiled broadly, nodded, and vanished into the air.
“Um… hey…”
“Ah! There are many things to report. I’m not as sociable as my mother, you see.”
Rudels smiled widely at me and explained what had happened earlier.
“But what is this spirit stone…? Do you carry them?”
Those expensive things? I swallowed the rest of my words and stared at him. If you were to pick the most valuable minerals in this world, of course it would be mana stones and spirit stones. Among them, spirit stones were the rarest of the rare.
The reason was that spirit stones form by absorbing natural energy in places where people don’t tread. In the human world it’s joked that even one gram of spirit stone would let you live without money worries until you die. With humans living to about a hundred, the value would be whatever you could name.
He saw my face go pale and laughed lightly.
“Spirit stones? Of course I carry them. Even though I seem like this, spirits lend power to people in exchange for affinity, and for someone like me who’s utterly lacking in affinity, these are essential.”
He said that and pulled from his inner pouch a bag bulging with something.
“Ugh!”
Inside were clear, crystal-like stones brimming with natural energy. They were formed into many tiny beads, and seeing so many spirit stones left me speechless.
I felt my mind go numb. How could this man possibly have so many spirit stones, which are so hard to find? The answer was simple — Rudels kindly explained.
“Oh! I forgot to tell you — these small stones were washed out from the northern territory after the flood this time. It saved me the trouble of searching.”
I forced a bright smile as Rudels chuckled about his luck, but goosebumps crawled over my whole body. What on earth had happened to this man — or this family — to be so lucky?
‘Did some ancestor receive a blessing from a god?’
It wasn’t like he had golden touch in everything he touched. I calmed my astonishment at the wealth of the Ipin family and stared at the glittering spirit stones until my eyes ached.
After parting from Eriel, Rudels had been on his way to his room by the emperor’s command to come to him, but he paused. He looked at the little mouse beastfolk that led him and went forward. The mouse beastfolk, a deputy head of the household, bowed his head and stepped forward under Rudels Ipin’s gaze. He swallowed, recalling the warnings not to offend the four great noble families that uphold the beastfolk nation.
He remembered the faces gathered at this secret conference: the red fox Bolepino, the golden lion Radiance, the black wolf Ipin, and the last-arrived white tiger family’s representative, Taires. Though they were said to have made great contributions to building this beastfolk nation, the ones he dreaded meeting most were not the foxes or tigers but the wolf and the lion.
‘Because you can’t read their thoughts,’ he thought.
Both families were emblematic of noblesse oblige in the beastfolk nation, but no beastfolk could approach those two men easily. Both had an aspect that chilled a person’s heart. Rudels Ipin, eldest of the Ipin family, had a blank expression that kept most people at bay, while Akin Radiance, the acting head of the Radiance family, smiled but his eyes that did not smile instilled fear in the weaker beastfolk.
“Here.”
The mouse beastfolk spoke softly before a door. Rudels nodded briefly and the mouse beastfolk bowed lower and stepped back. As Rudels stood before the door, a voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
At the permission, Rudels opened the door without hesitation and entered. Closing the door gently so it did not creak, he looked up into the room. The king of the beastfolk nation, Melford Dian Hires, greeted him, holding a teacup with composure. Rudels bowed politely.
“I greet you, His Majesty, King of the beastfolk, Melford.”
“No more formalities; sit down.”
At that, Rudels sat without hesitation. The king chuckled and closed his eyes.
“What do you have to say?”
Rudels slightly opened his vest. From inside, Silf cautiously popped out and yawned.
Puaaah.
Silf blinked and peered at Rudels’s face. As Rudels bowed his head to the spirit, Silf beamed and spread his arms. He began to make the space that earlier Eriel and Rudels had occupied into a rounded sphere.
Puaa!
“Thank you, Silf.”
Rudels thanked him proudly. Silf, hearing Rudels, spun around him like an excited child and then disappeared into the air.
“It’s always wondrous to see, isn’t it?”
The king watched Rudels without surprise, with a calm expression.
“So, what were the results?”
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t confirm who the culprit is, but we did find evidence that either a terror suspect or their associates are inside.”
“Evidence?”
“Yes. We discovered that the person who injured Kels Bolepino used a sleep-fragrance that only someone with magic can perceive.”
“Only someone with magic…”
“Yes. We think they used pheromones or blood from a bat-like monster called a Kerenian.”
A magically gifted human committed the terror. Anyone could see that the core of this incident pointed to that ‘race’. Melford pressed his fingers to his aching temples and frowned.
“Is the one who found that evidence of the same race as the culprit?”
Rudels could not answer boldly to that. But before the king he had to force his lips open and reply.
“I cannot be certain.”
Melford sighed and looked at Rudels. It was truly a headache. No matter that the Ipin family belonged to the pro-king faction among the four families that supported the beastfolk nation, the thought that a witch stood beside that heir was exasperating.
“However, what I’ve heard is that even in that ‘race,’ only a minority know about it, Your Majesty.”
Melford rebuked Rudels even as he spoke. “Rudels. Why did you do something so reckless?”
“As I told you then, this matter couldn’t be resolved without her. Also… I’m protecting her.”
“If anything happens later, you say this matter has nothing to do with her, yet the healer will suffer just because of that race.”
At Melford’s words Rudels said nothing. Only firm resolve remained in his eyes. Melford, seeing that Rudels would not be moved, sighed again.
“If she suffers, I will not leave those who hurt her unpunished, uncle. I will make them pay. They will learn how grave it is to speak carelessly.”
