Chapter 55: 55: It's dangerous
It took Moonie no time to take care of the intruders. Not only was the moon dragon fast, but it was also accurate in its killing.
That display of natural cruelty reminded Amane of the first lesson she had learned as a beast tamer. Her master had insisted that Amane bury the important lesson deep in her heart.
"No matter how much love and tame a wild beast, their true nature cannot be changed, huh? I guess things have been too quiet recently that I forgot this truth. It was about time I was reminded of this face."
Amane held her hand out and Moony landed on her feet. Moony's fire had managed to burn the attacker's skin and even bones. It was the most painful death one could have gotten.
"You did good, Moony. Now rest on my shoulder. I will take you back to the ship."
Ideally, Amane should have captured these people alive to interrogate them. But she could tell that these people did not have any idea what was going on. They were just low-level grunts stuck to do the clean-up work for their boss.
Soon, the ship came back into focus and Amane climbed up the ship. It was Aqua's familiar face that she saw first.
"So, are you done with your outing? Your face has a red spot on it. You might want to clean it up before someone sees it."
Aqua pointed out with a calm voice. Her uninterested voice told Amane which personality was in control of her body.
Amane quickly swiped her thumb across her face, only to notice the wet line of red on her face.
"Ah, I must have been careless when I allowed Moony to climb up my shoulder. I guess I should go and take a bath now."
Amane quickly closed the door to her room and then it was time for her to think.
It seemed like there was an organization out in the world that was trying to hunt and gather previous beasts. Whatever its goal did not matter to Amane.
What did matter was that they were trying to step into her territory and take away her business. Amane could not allow this to happen if she wanted to lead a calm and lazy life in the future.
She needed to secure her family's place on the top of the food chain.
"Hive, huh? I guess it is something I will need to look more into later."
Amane had gotten this information by looking around Charlie's room before. But she was not going to ask Clair about it. She would need to investigate things on her own.
...
The time on the ship passed rather quietly. Amane was surprised when she was not woken up by anyone in the morning. The crew had collectively decided to allow her to sleep in.
When she did come out of the room, the shore of her city was visible.
"Yoko, what perfect timing you have. Look, we are finally back here home. Will you be returning to your estate now?"
Charlie sounded regretful to let Amane go. But the playful light in her eyes told Amane that she was not serious.
Of course, knowing Charlie's nature, it would not take Charlie long to drag Amane and everyone else into another outing.
"Ugh, can we decline your invitation next time? Somehow, being with you feel like a natural disaster for us all."
Aqua declined as she dragged herself out. Her condition was not decent now and her face also looked greener than before.
Before anyone could reply to Aqua, she quickly made her way toward the sea and proceeded to empty her stomach.
"Ugh, be careful and take care of yourself. Anyway, I agree with Aqua. Next time you want to go on a trip, go yourself. Do not offer me or Yoko any of your hospitality."
Sakura spoke up before Charlie could intervene. Sakura also took hold of Amane's hand and dragged her away. Amane had no time to react before she was yanked out by Sakura.
Even Moony gave a startled yelp at the sudden action before settling down at Amane's shoulder.
"Well, you cannot tell me what to do. See you in a few days, Yoko Tsurugi. Be ready because you will not be able to decline my invitation."
Of course, Charlie did not allow Sakura to part without saying words of her own. When Amane turned around to look at Charlie, she was not surprised to see a satisfied expression on Charlie's face.
It was amusing to see Sakura trying to battle her jealousy and failing but Amane's wrist was beginning to scream in pain now. Sakura's grip was getting uncomfortable.
"You can let me go now, Sakura. I think you have dragged me far enough from Charlie."
Amane's reminder caused Sakura to abruptly let go of her. She had not realized how hard she had been gripping Amane's hand until now.
"Ah, sorry. I guess I got a little riled by Lady Suzuki. I promise I will be more careful in the future."
Sakura promised this as she finally let Amane go. She had not meant to grip her cousin's hand so tightly. But she had been unable to help herself as well.
The sight of her cousin's attention on the current divine leader was annoying. It made Sakura want to rip the divine leader's head off.
'But not now. I need to gain more power and influence if I want to compete against the divine leader. I refuse to put Amane in danger due to my negligence.'
This was what Sakura promised herself as she tightly gripped her fist. She was going to face this challenge head-on.
Of course, Amane noticed what Sakura was thinking. How could she not know with the expression Sakura was making on her face?
They both returned to the Tsurugi estate soon. But as soon as they did, there was an air of disturbance around them.
And it took Amane a minute to figure out what was wrong.
"It is too quiet right now. There are no animal cries around the mansion. We need to hurry up and check on the situation."
Amane did not have a lot of beasts right now, but she did have a few rowdy ones. And those beasts made a lot of noise as a result of their nature.
But the current Tsurugi mansion was quiet as a mouse.
"Hmm, let us see. Sakura, go inside and wait for Eclipse. Tell him about the situation and have him be on standby. I will go and check the situation inside."
There was only quietness around a beast tamer's home on two occasions - all the beasts were dead or there was an even bigger predator in the mix.
And since Amane had yet to introduce Moony to her other beast, she doubted that was the reason it was so quiet.
"Looks like the elders decided to present me with a little gift, Moony. I wonder what kind of trick they decided to pull this time. Shall we go out, and see?"
Moony stretched her body out and leaped into the air. The moon dragon led the way around the mansion and somehow Amane was not surprised to see that Moony was able to find the way to the back.
As soon as Moony landed on the ground, it growled while looking toward the big hall at the end. There must be something inside that was putting its senses on the edge.
Amane did not delay further and opened the door. She did not see anything at first. All she noticed was that everyone inside the room was asleep.
"What is going on here? I told you people to take good care of the beasts, not to let them sense danger. Now look at them all. They are all in a deep sleep, pretending like they are dead. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Amane asked as she glared everyone down. None of her workers could look at her face once she was finished scolding them.
But then all their fear of Amane was forgotten once they heard a loud cry coming from the inside room.
It sounded familiar to Amane as well, but she was not able to place where she had heard that cry before. But her mind was having a hard time today.
"Oh no, the poison drake is out of control again. At this rate, it will kill us all before we can transport it to its new owner."
One of the workers cried out as the cry continued. Now that Amane knew what the creature was, she could suddenly remember what the creature was.
A poison drake is a sub-species of dragon and is highly contagious. It was one of the hardest species to co-exist with and it would kill anyone who tried to get too close.
"E-Everyone, run away. The drake is about to break free. We need to get away from it if we do not want to die by its poison."
The workers cried out as they ran left and right.
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