Chapter 148
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Ivan left the room to get back to his work. Alone once more, Ruby didn’t let the chance slip by. Inside the room, she quietly called the Guardian Spirit.
The Guardian Spirit was, of course, not a being bound by her barrier. After all, it was the very being that lent power to her ability.
‘Child, did you call?’
“Yes, Guardian Spirit. I have something I’d like to ask.”
‘Ask whatever you like.’
“Do you by any chance know an ancestor of mine named Agatha?”
She asked first about what she was most curious about: whether the dream she’d had was real.
‘Hmm, yes. Of course I remember.’
“So there really was someone named Agatha among my ancestors?”
‘There was. A very kind child who came to me and greeted me politely.’
“She did?”
‘Yes, she asked me whether her people might settle in the Rabbit Tribe village where you used to live.’
“Then… you mean the ancestor who led our tribe away was Agatha?”
The ancestor who, one day, suddenly claimed a prophecy had come down and led the whole tribe in search of a remote land, was Agatha.
“Why didn’t I know about this? I never heard it from Grandmother.”
‘Well. Agatha was an unusual child in many ways. But more than anything, what I remember is…’
The Guardian Spirit, as if reminiscing, gazed into the air for a moment, then murmured:
‘Her face looked very sad.’
“…So what I saw in the dream was real?”
If she truly was the one who had fallen in love with Louis, then why had she left his curse alone? Surely she could have stopped it.
Concluding that it would be better to pry more out of Louis, she asked her second question. She thought that a Guardian Spirit who had passed nearly a thousand years would surely know everything.
“The Serpent Tribe attacked me, didn’t they, Guardian Spirit?”
‘It seemed less an attack than a test. The nerve.’
The Guardian Spirit’s voice turned chilling, but Ruby wasn’t frightened in the least. Even within such a voice she could feel its affection for her.
The Guardian Spirit of the Ash Tree cherished her and her alone. The affection that had at first only amazed her, she now accepted as a matter of course. Ruby let out a “hehe” of laughter and said:
“What’s the difference between the Serpent Tribe’s sorcery and our tribe’s spirit power? I thought it’d be good to know in advance so I can respond well.”
By the common knowledge she had, the sorcery the Serpent Tribe wielded was thoroughly wicked, so she was curious about its price.
Just as her yin energy temporarily grew stronger after she used her ability, the Serpent Tribe too would surely face side effects after working their sorcery.
‘I don’t know that much, though. I saw the Serpent Tribe long, long ago, but I couldn’t learn their methods of sorcery, or its side effects.’
“I see…”
The Guardian Spirit, gently stroking the crown of Ruby’s head as she failed to hide her disappointment, added:
‘But it’s certain they’re a cunning tribe, so you must take great care.’
“Yes, of course. And you’ll protect me, Guardian Spirit. I’m not worried, not me.”
‘Hoho…’
The Guardian Spirit gazed at Ruby with a warm look, as though watching something very dear.
‘I should strengthen the barrier a little more.’
“Hm? Why?”
‘I’m getting a rather bad feeling about this.’
“Yes, please do.”
Strengthening the barrier didn’t require much of her power, so she closed her eyes at once and felt the Guardian Spirit’s strength. The barrier, stretching across the whole manor and beneath it, took an even firmer shape.
‘My poor child.’
“Yes, Guardian Spirit.”
Ruby answered without making much of it. Now and then, like now, the Guardian Spirit would look at her as if she were very pitiable.
‘Fate is a truly cruel thing. I hope that, even later on, you won’t resent me.’
“There’s no way I’d ever resent you, Guardian Spirit. That will never happen.”
‘Hoho, know that I cherish you a great deal too.’
“Yes, Guardian Spirit.”
Ruby knelt where she was and bowed politely toward the Guardian Spirit. Only after the faintly glowing feet had vanished did she lift her head.
The search for her tribe, which had felt so hopeless, was slowly beginning to take shape, step by step. To calm her trembling heart, she decided to offer a prayer for a while.
Pleading for help so that none of her tribe would fall ill or be harmed.
She prayed thus to the Guardian Spirit and to all the gods dwelling in nature. Until the sun set and darkness fell.
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