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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: A Promise and a Purge
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“Yes. I’ll help you learn to control your supernatural ability. You got so sick last time because Anash’s power is immense, but your vessel to contain it is small, which caused problems. I can help with that as well. Magic can solve it.”
“How can you?”
“We may be mages, but we’ve been researching supernatural abilities in various ways ever since the first emperor because of the Dark Divine Beast.”
“Mages?”
Jusielia’s eyes widened.
Ekiel had inherited secret texts from long ago, detailing research on how to use magic to amplify a beastman’s supernatural ability or to heal them when problems arose.
And when Jusielia, the reincarnation of Anash, was born, Ekiel anticipated the problems she would face being born as a beastman after being a divine beast, so he dedicated himself even more to the research.
Jusielia nodded as she listened to Ekiel’s explanation.
She finally understood why Ritain had so readily sent her to the Rilberg Empire and nodded.
There was the matter of dealing with the followers of the Dark Divine Beast, but he was also worried that if she got sick again from her supernatural ability like last time, he wouldn’t be able to help her.
After all, Ekiel, the emperor of another nation, couldn’t always stay by her side.
“Yes. So it’s right for you to come study abroad, Princess. Let’s train hard, shall we?”
Ekiel smiled softly.
Jusielia stared at the gently smiling boy before speaking.
“Wait a minute. You haven’t told me the important part. How does the Rilberg Empire know more about the Dark Divine Beast than we do? And how did you get into my dream? This isn’t an ordinary dream.”
“That’s…”
Ekiel trailed off, his gaze dropping to the floor before lifting again.
He looked up at the star-filled night sky, pondering, before finally speaking.
“It’s a bit long.”
And so, the boy emperor told her about the events that had occurred in the Rilberg Empire after he was born.
Calmly, devoid of all emotion, in a straightforward manner.
But Jusielia, listening beside him, couldn’t believe it. She frowned, then eventually clamped her mouth shut and trembled.
She was dumbfounded. So incredibly angry!
*That Dark Divine Beast, that Black Snake bastard! Because of that fiend I shoved into the Rosark River, people who didn’t have to be sacrificed gave their lives. Thanks to that noble sacrifice…*
Her chest felt heavy.
She felt like she could burst into tears at any moment, so she clenched her front paws tightly to hold them back.
Once again, precious lives were lost because of that fiend, their souls scattered.
Her heart ached.
I should have been born sooner.
I should have saved you all. I’m sorry…
“Jusielia, are you okay?”
As Jusielia kept her head bowed low, Ekiel looked at her with worried eyes and asked.
In that moment, Jusielia felt a surge of emotion.
*What is this?*
In the end, tears welled up in her eyes.
The one who should be asking if you’re okay right now isn’t you, it’s me.
Seeing the mature and composed young Ekiel made her even sadder.
Wasn’t it because you had to protect the Rilberg Empire from the Dark Divine Beast that you became such a strong emperor, that you became like this?
At an age when you should be laughing and playing like a child. How pitiful.
“Ekiel.”
Jusielia impulsively leaped from the chair onto Ekiel’s lap and hugged him.
“Jusielia?”
Ekiel’s eyes widened.
Jusielia hugged the young emperor’s collar and shoulders tightly and made a promise.
“I will definitely kill that goddamn bastard for you.”
Ekiel, who had been awkwardly reaching out to hug the little white tiger in his arms, froze stiff.
Ah, that is.
Jusielia continued.
“So, don’t cry, Ekiel.”
Reassured by Jusielia’s gentle, comforting voice, Ekiel unknowingly closed his eyes and nodded.
Of course, Ekiel doesn’t cry.
But whenever he remembered that day, he would invariably weep in his heart.
Had Jusielia somehow seen that part of him?
She was a strange child.
Was it because she was the reincarnation of Anash, because she was a special princess?
Jusielia’s promise became the greatest comfort he had ever received.
And he did not think the promise made by this great white tiger was empty.
Because she was the reincarnation of the divine beast Anash.
*So, I will protect you, too.*
My world’s only hope.
A dream, a noble light.
Until you’ve grown, I will stop anything filthy from ever approaching you.
With his eyes closed, Ekiel tried to pat Jusielia as he held her.
But when he felt not the soft fur of a little white tiger, but a human back and long hair, his eyes flew open.
“So, let’s do our best, Ekiel!”
“…Huh? Oh.”
Deep blue eyes.
What met Ekiel’s eyes when he opened them was not a person, but the blue-eyed little white tiger, Jusielia.
For a moment, was he bewitched by something?
Ekiel stared blankly at Jusielia’s long tail and pure white fur, then looked back and forth at his own hands.
No, it wasn’t a delusion.
Ekiel clenched his long fingers into a tight fist.
***
Meanwhile, in the Penterin Empire.
Immediately after Princess Jusielia left with the delegation from the Rilberg Empire, the Penterin Empire launched a massive subjugation campaign.
The targets were the followers of the Dark Divine Beast.
At first, they used the reagent provided by the Rilberg Empire to search for disguised followers, but eventually, the reagent wasn’t even necessary.
Those found in regions far from the imperial palace were so bold they didn’t even hide their identities.
“O, Dark Divine Beast!”
They were consumed by madness. Claiming they had to offer the princess, the reincarnation of the White Tiger Anash, to the Dark Divine Beast, they had even built altars and worshipped the fiend.
“These crazy bastards.”
The more they searched the lairs of these fiends hidden throughout the empire, the more appalling it became.
Once this fact came to light, the Emperor and the Crown Prince personally set out to eradicate the groups of the Dark Divine Beast’s followers.
As Crown Prince Ijeten’s sword cut through a follower, a death scream rang out.
“Kuaaack!”
Blood splattered.
This was already the ninth group of the Dark Divine Beast’s followers discovered in the southern city of Kailo.
The man hanging limply from the tip of Ijeten’s sword was the leader of this cult.
“Search everything!”
Ijeten shouted sharply at his men.
Though they would likely only find useless things.
Spotting a black, snake-shaped altar behind the dead cult leader’s corpse, Ijeten scowled and destroyed it in a single strike, imbuing his sword with energy.
It was a sudden thought, but while he missed Jusielia dearly, he was certain that his sister would be in danger if she were in this country.
*Father’s judgment was correct.*
Ijeten’s grip on his sword hilt tightened.
To think there were so many fiends targeting you.
Ijeten’s golden eyes flashed as he scanned the building where the followers had stayed.
The ancient battle.
The war that had driven this world to the brink of apocalypse.
A crazy cult that worshipped the mad Dark Divine Beast who had caused that tragedy actually existed.
Honestly, Ijeten had thought it was a ploy by the kid emperor of Rilberg to separate him from Jusielia because he didn’t trust them.
But that wasn’t it.
Searching through their things revealed an even more appalling situation.
In the thousand years that had passed since the end of the ancient battle.
These insane beastmen all over the Penterin Empire had apparently been worshipping the Dark Divine Beast as a folk belief.
Then, as soon as the Dark Divine Beast was recently resurrected, a few of them appeared, claiming to have received its revelation, and distributed its power. Those who received this power became the leaders of their respective branches.
Thanks to that, their influence had suddenly exploded.
*Crazy bastards.*
Ijeten gritted his teeth.
*To think I didn’t know it had gotten this bad.*
Honestly, he had thought one or two of these religious groups wouldn’t be a big deal.
He figured he could just crush them quickly and bring Jusielia back.
But Ijeten alone had already rooted out and dealt with nine groups.
Each group of followers had at least a hundred members.
If the Dark Divine Beast were to lead its followers from across the empire and target Jusielia in Rilberg…
Even if their abilities were nothing special, their sheer numbers would be a major threat.
Jusielia was still too young to handle such a danger.
*Absolutely not.*
A chill running down his spine, Ijeten thought of Emperor Ritain, who had personally gone to deal with the western and northern regions.
*He must be handling it well and quickly.*
And Ijeten admitted it.
Because they had sent Jusielia to the Rilberg Empire, he and his father could leave the Penterin imperial palace without worry and deal with these fiends.
*I’ll clean up these fiends as quickly as possible and bring Jusielia back from that place.*
Ijeten resolved firmly.
