The Beloved One!

Chapter 29

That same night, because Ray and Ashnah had made several upgrades to the contract that had been made between them by the First King, when Maria had appeared, the magical beast wolf had been also able to see and communicate with her as well.

This all had happened after Maria had suddenly appeared out of no where again, Ashnah almost having another heart attack due to fright, Ray sternly castigating the teen and Maria apologizing in sobs.

Maria's large curious gray eyes studied Ray. "....This is the first time I have seen such a powerful magical beast tamed.... I think." She commented.

Hearing the word 'tame' caused Ray to exclaim. "I am not tamed! I was given the esteem honor of being Princess' protector!"

Noting that she had utilized the wrong word, Maria instantly apologized, rambling. "My deepest apologies!!! I am so sorry Sir Ray!!! It is just from since I have been dead, I have never seen a high level magical beast be so friendly towards a human!! And one so small and adorable as you!!" When she had first laid eyes on him, the first thing she wanted to do was hug him, but she had held that urge back. It would have been unmannerly for her to do so,

Humans and magical beasts did not get along. That had been unless a human had skillfully and diligently raised and trained a magical beast from since it it had been born. Even with that, this hardly worked on even lowest levels of magical beasts so imagine higher level magical beasts.

From what Maria had felt from Ray, even though he was hiding it, he was stronger than even the rare level S magical beasts so, he had to be one the legendary noble or royal magical beast that had been said to never visit human lands, forever staying within the hidden Kingdom of magical beasts.

"As long as you understand! And thank you for the compliment!" He had chosen this small and cute form because he had read human children were easily scared of normal fierce beasts so imagine a magical beast like him, trying to be around an infant. He desired for anything but his Princess to be afraid of him so he chose a form that had appealed to mostly children and females- small and cute. Seeing how Maria had complimented him gave him more confidence that when his Princess goes through her teenage years she would not ignore, grow tired of him or hate him. He had also read of how that was the most difficult years for most humans.

Ashnah patted Ray's head. "Yes, Ray is not tamed by me. More than a knight, he is like family." She cuddled him closer to her.

'....Princess.'

Then the child pointed out, "but you said "I think"."

".....Oh that." Maria wryly smiled. "It's just that I don't remember my memories from when I was alive."

Ashnah's amethyst eyes widened. This was the first she had heard of the spirit's condition.

Ray's violet eyes too grew in magnitude. Even though all the  factual books on spirits or ghosts could no longer be found on the human lands, Behemoth Kingdom Royal Library possessed a whole section on them. Even though one becoming a ghost or spirit was extremely rare after death, it was even rarer that the spirit did recall his/her live while he/she had been alive.

She asked. "Have you never tried to find out about your memories? My grandmother did not help you?"

Maria weakly shook her head. ".....No." She balled her hands tightly clenching them. ".... I-It's just .... that I do not wish to find out about my memories. And yes, Alice did offer to help before. I turned her down. For some reason-" Her once bright gray eyes started to dim, becoming moist.

Placing Ray on the side, Ashnah got up and embraced Maria. "Sorry, Sister Mari. I did not k-"

In that moment, the spirit was instantly shocked, feeling sudden warmth spread through all parts of her body. This was the first time someone had been able to touch her. Not even Alice could. Her tears dropped. "-Ash.... you can touch me. I can feel your warmth."

'.....As I thought Princess' Ghost Communication ability, it's...' The words died down within Ray's mind.

••••

The moonlight glistened on the deep dark waters of the calm sea as the gentle breeze and current carried a large wooden ship.

Peeking up from the book, gazing up at the starry night sky, she noticed how late it had gotten. 'When did it become night?' Putting the book in her black leather satchel, she got up stretching out her upper limbs. A yawn then escaped her lips. "I guess, I should head to my room." She said in a tired tone.

As she neared her room, she heard a commotion.

"What do you mean you do not know, doctor?! You said it was just a stomachache!! She took your medicine, you quack!!!" A man with dirty blond hair threw the bottle of pills, but it missed the so call quack, it now rolling to the woman's foot.

"Sir.... I myself-"

"That's Viscount to you!!!"

"V-V-Viscount, please allow me to check your wife once again."

"Not after the medicine you gave her. It made her worse!!"

The woman could clearly see the meek doctor was a newbie. She sighed. 'With this drama going on I will not be able to get some shut eye.' She picked up the bottle of pills, distinguishing what kind of medication it was. 'This strong? How bad was this mongoose's wife pain?' She thought. "Oi, Mongoose, you missed." She threw the bottle of pills with a mana empowered hand back at the yelling husband almost taking off his head if he had not dodged it at the last second.

"Who is the bastard that dares attempt to hurt this Lord?!!" He turned more reddish brown in face, ready to continue yell at the person who had dared to call him a mongoose and had tried to assault him.... a Viscount.

The female raised her hand nonchalantly. "I guess the bastard who dares to attempt to hurt  you is me."

Seeing that there was only one person that it could be and hearing the person's tone, he opened his mouth again, but instantly swallowed his words when he saw the sight of the woman when the moonlight had hit her.

She was a beauty that was even rare to find among nobles in the capital of Emphraim. Her shiny silver hair was cut extremely short to the nape of her neck in a male hairstyle and was framing either side of her face, a little below her temples. The silver head also wore men's attire with a simple white button down shirt, black fitted trousers and brown leather boots that reached under her knees. Anyone would have mistaken her for a very feminine handsome man if it was not for her protruding chest.

The crest on the pocket of her shirt was of the Morley Family.

The Viscount gulped down his saliva. 'Why is a person of the Morley Family on this kind of ship!?!'

"We will settle matters of your attempted assault later. But first let me check on your wife, mongoose."

"Y-You..."

"My name is Cannenta. A doctor. If anything goes wrong you can just take it up with my baby cousin, Anzor Morley."