Chapter 72

Roah was having a nightmare.

She was captured by a bad person, restrained, cursed, and corrupted. It was painful, agonizing, and suffocating. Why would someone do such a terrible thing? Even though she did nothing wrong, she apologized, cried, and begged for forgiveness, but was not forgiven.

This was something Roah had actually experienced.

"Rya..."

Roah, who was moaning, woke up. It was midnight, so it was pitch dark.

"Kyu?"

For some reason, Carol, who was already awake, gently stroked her head. Then, she moved Roah to lie next to Ruria.

Apparently, during her moaning, Roah had moved away from Ruria.

"Ryu..."

Roah buried her head in Ruria's hair. It was warm and smelled nice. It was very comforting.

"......Rya..."

Roah felt at ease and began to doze off. At that moment, she sensed the presence of someone else who was suffering just like her.

It was the presence of someone she had always felt nearby while she was cursed. Roah prayed that this person would also be saved, and then fell asleep.

◇◇◇◇

Sara was having a dream.

A dream where she was being hugged by her beloved mother, Marion.

Her mother spoke kind words, stroked her head, and hugged her tightly.

Sara was so happy that she talked a lot. Her mother listened to her with a gentle "mm-hmm."

◇

When Sara woke up with a happy feeling, she saw:

"Hehe... hehe"

Ruria, who was hugging her and mumbling in her sleep.

"...Ruria-chan"

Ruria was very warm.

It had been a long time since she had slept so soundly and peacefully. It must have been thanks to Ruria.

She felt that she was able to dream about her mother because Ruria had been holding her all night. Sara couldn't help but feel that way.

With gratitude, Sara stroked Ruria's head.

"Eh?"

For some reason, Ruria was only in her underwear.

Yesterday, she had taken a bath, changed into her pajamas, and gone to bed immediately. Sara couldn't understand why Ruria was only in her underwear.

"Maybe she took off her clothes in her sleep?"

Trying not to worry about it, Sara stroked Ruria's head while saying,

"Carol, good morning"

"Kyu"

She greeted Carol, who was standing on the headboard,

"Koruko, good morning"

"Ko"

And Koruko, who was patrolling the room.

"Cro, good morning"

She stroked Cro, the fluffy spirit who was emitting a particularly strong light.

"Everyone, good morning"

She greeted the spirits floating nearby. When she greeted them, the spirits flew around in a figure-eight pattern in the air.

Although she couldn't hear the spirits' voices, they must have been saying "good morning."

"...Daru"

"...Suu... suu... au"

Next to Ruria, Daru was sleeping soundly and comfortably.

Daru was lying outside the blanket, upside down. Her head was near Ruria's feet, and her bottom was near Ruria's face.

"...Daru, did you thrash around in your sleep?"

Just as Sara said this, Daru mumbled "au" and moved her four legs quite quickly. It was as if she was running in her dream.

The reason Daru wasn't covered by the blanket was due to this movement. She must have kicked it off with her legs.

"You'll catch a cold"

Sara covered Daru's stomach with the blanket.

"...Eh?"

At that moment, Sara noticed something red under Daru's tail, near Ruria's face.

"T, this is bad, Ruria-chan, Ruria-chan"

Sara hurriedly tried to wake Ruria up.

"Munyu... nyu"

Ruria, still with her eyes closed, grabbed the red tail and put it in her mouth.

"Y, you'll get a tummy ache!"

Sara panicked, but Ruria, still asleep, sucked on the tail with a "mokyu mokyu."

◇◇◇◇

Ruria was having a happy dream.

There was a lot of delicious food in front of her.

Cookies, delicious bread, cakes, steaks, and stews were all there.

"Can I eat all of this?"

---You can eat it

A voice came from somewhere. Ruria didn't care whose voice it was because it was a dream.

"Delicious, delicious, Roa, is it delicious?"

"It's delicious! It's delicious!"

For some reason, Roa, the spirit king from her previous life, a small red dragon, was next to Ruria. She didn't question it because it was a dream.

"Daru should eat too"

"Wafu"

Everyone was there somehow. Since it was a dream, Ruria didn't question when they had appeared.

"Carol and Koruko should eat too"

"Kyu""Ko~"

"Sara-chan, there's meat! You like meat, don't you?"

"Yup! It's delicious!"

In the dream, Ruria kept eating the delicious food. Everyone else was also eating a lot and looked happy.

Seeing everyone like this, Ruria felt very happy too.

Ruria was hungrier than usual. That's why she was having a dream about a feast.

The reason Ruria was hungrier than usual was that she had used magic before going to sleep.

Neither Ruria nor the current spirit king, Cro, knew that using magic made her hungry. Especially Ruria, who was not just a human but a spirit with a physical body, almost like a guardian beast, a special spirit king.

In addition to the food needed to move her human body, Ruria also needed food to power the spirit's magic circuits. Even without using magic, she would get hungry, and using magic would make her even hungrier. That's why, with poor fuel efficiency, Ruria always ate several times more than an average five-year-old.