Interlude 4: Ele and Bearsley

Ele, in his kitten form, hadn’t moved an inch from his spot on the wooden box since the group had left Chronowize. Inside said box was the branch to be used for the cutting, on which Ele had to constantly use magic to keep fresh. Because of that, he was getting more and more fatigued, and was nearing his limit. Really, he wanted it planted ASAP...but he never said a word, staying patient.

Even after the group was brought to Radzuel’s capital by dragon-form Royz, the box, and by extension, Ele himself, was carried by the guardian knights. They had also been carrying him and the box while Royz defeated Bearsley and retook his seat as Emperor. It was just when they were about to follow him and the others to the castle...

“You guys’ve got somethin’ good, don’t ya? Gimme.”

The former Emperor, Bearsley the bearman, stood before them. The group of knights stayed silent, trying to ignore him as they passed, but they were soon surrounded by imperial citizens.

Bearsley was aware that his own actions had brought chaos to the empire and caused the famine. He had planned to leave before he was made to take responsibility, but...the fortune teller who had stuck with him until the end had said:

“If you stay in the empire, all that will be left for you is a life of crawling in the dirt. The wooden box that those knights are carrying holds a very large Spirit Tree shard. The fact that they are unaffected by the miasma around us is proof. With that, you would receive a warm welcome in any foreign country.”

Having been born in a very poor village, Bearsley had lived like that once before and wasn’t about to live like it again. Couple this with the added temptation of special treatment in whatever country he ran to...

“I know you’ve got some Spirit Tree in that box. You should hand it over if you value your lives.”

The bearman’s words put the citizens into predator mode.

“Did he just say Spirit Tree?!”

“If we had that, our fields...”

“I could give it to the newly born kids...”

Thanks to all of the Spirit Trees being chopped down, the fields and mountains were withered due to the flood of miasma. Each empire citizen was given a very tiny shard, but there weren’t any for newborn children. To these people fraught with fear for the unknown future, of course they’d go mad at any mention of Spirit Trees.

One beastman swayed unsteadily to the guards, clinging to them. “If I had that, I could give it to my daughter! Please, give it to me!”

It was only a second before others joined in. All of the citizens grabbed and clung to the knights. But not a single one tried to take it by force. They all just cried, begging.

Because none of the citizens were carrying weapons or attacking, the knights couldn’t lift a hand against them. As they stood there paralyzed, the sky suddenly turned dark. It was Bearsley, transformed into a massive bear, leaning over them and plucking the box from their hands. Though they tried to take it back, the clinging citizens stopped them in their tracks.

For better or worse, Ele was still on top of the box in his kitten form. «Of all the times, this had to happen while I can’t use my powers...!» he muttered. Since he was using all of his mana to preserve the cutting, he was completely unable to do anything else.

As Bearsley walked away, he gradually shrunk. “Huh? What’s with this kitten?”

«You were the one that carried me away...»

“Can’t be a catperson, since I don’t understand what it’s sayin’. Doesn’t really matter if it’s a normal cat.”

It seemed that Bearsley didn’t understand the exhausted Spirit’s words. Finally regaining full humanoid form, he disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the imperial capital.