Beastmen Love-Chapter 223: Spiritual Masters

Seiryuu is walking fast through the halls, his father and the guard on his tail.

"How are you sure it’s this female, Seiryuu?" His father asks.

"She’s the only female who ever gave me a painting as a gift. And it’s the only gift from a female that I ever kept, too." Seiryuu answers.

They arrive at the front gate, Seiryuu and his father saw all those males and sensed that their energies were different. They look at Claud, sensing that his energy is pure like Nature. They open the space, and that’s when they see Astri. Her energy was a hit on their face, as it was Nature itself purifying their souls.

"Astri.." Seiryuu softly says, looking at her, impressed.

"Hello, old friend. I told you I would come visit once I was complete." Astri smiles.

"Oh Nature...Goddess of Nature, I’m not worthy enough to be in your presence.." Seiryuu’s father falls to his knees and bows his head on the ground.

Seiryuu feels the need to do the same. When he met her, he could sense that she was special, but now he’s sure that she is what she said she was. Her very presence is glorifying. Seeing their lords bowing to Astri made all of the guards bow to her, too. They were ashamed that they didn’t sense anything.

"Please, stand up, my friends. I thought we were past this, Lord Seiryuu." Astri says.

"Your energy... It’s a great honor for me to be in your presence. Before your energy was already a blessing, now it’s too much even to feel I’m worthy of looking at your face.." Seiryuu answers.

"You’re Mizuryuus. Sacred beasts like Unicorns. And I consider you my friend. You’re more than worthy to look at me. Please, treat me the way you treated me before." Astri says.

Seiryuu looked up to her again.

"As you wish, milady."

"You too, Mighty Shogun. Please, if you’re Lord Seiryuu’s father, you’re my friend, too."

His father deepens the bow before standing up with his son, too.

"Thank you, Goddess of Nature. It’s the greatest honor to hear your voice and words." His father says.

"And I’m happy to see you’re fine. I have promised you to bring back your ship, Seiryuu, but I asked the Aquaterrans to make it a better ship. It will be more resistant. Capable of sailing under the water. I hope you don’t mind. I just wanted to thank you for your help." Astri says.

"No. I gifted you my ship. It’s yours." Seiryuu says.

"Then it’s ours. I normally don’t need a ship, but you need one. Please take care of it and use it as you wish. If I ever need it, I’ll ask you. How’s that?"

He smiles and nods.

"I can see you found your family. I’m happy for you." Seiryuu says, looking at everyone.

"Yes. Thanks to you. I’ll be eternally grateful. You made things way easier. I spent years in the darkness before my body was formed at the Spirit Tree Shrine. You chose someone amazing to take care of that Shrine, making it pure to pull my soul." Astri says.

"Years?.." Seiryuu asks, confused.

"Yes... I also didn’t know. I learned after that I was away from my family for almost 8 years."

"That’s horrible.. Your pure soul in the darkness.. It’s amazing you weren’t corrupted."

"I have the love of an amazing family to keep my soul protected." Astri says and then presents everyone to them.

"Unicorns are extinct around these lands. It’s an honor to meet two." Seiryuu’s father says to Claud and Atlas.

"Actually, there are rare beasts among you. A Quimera, a Hydra. I’ve never heard of Dinosaurs before." Seiryuu says.

"Lord Renzai, right?" Astri talks to Seiryuu’s father.

"Yes! I apologize for my rudeness, milady. My name is Renzai, Shogun of these lands." Renzai says, bowing his head.

"Your castle has great energies, too. Why does that side have a more disturbed energy?" Astri says, pointing to the left side of the castle.

"Oh... That’s a normal behavior of energies since that’s where the chosen females to be our spouses stay. We try to find the best, but...with all due respect, females are selfish and hard to keep balanced. You’re not like them, of course."

"I understand. I agree with you. I hope that if you have daughters, you can take the lead to raise them differently."

Seiryuu and Renzai can sense that Yuki and Aurora, even being children, have balanced energies.

"Females are not selfish by nature. They are raised to be that way."

"I’ll remember that if we ever have a female dragon." Renzai says, bowing again slightly.

"Well! I don’t want to bother you. I know you must be busy. I came to fulfill a promise to a dear friend." Astri says and walks forward to stand in front of them.

"You are not bothering, milady. Let us bring you inside and serve you a worthy feast." Renzai says.

"Erm.. I don’t think the food we eat is to her taste. I tried her food and it is the best in the world." Seiryuu says to his father.

"Oh.. We need to serve something."

"Tea is just fine. Sweets, too, if possible." Astri says.

"Anything, milady. Please, grant us the honor to have you in our castle."

The front gates are open and everyone walks inside.

They see a stone path to the castle, and also see that the river that goes through the village flows not only beside the castle. Lanterns shaped like falling droplets of water hung at perfect intervals on their way to the castle. They pass a bridge over the river, made of dark wood, and then meet the stone path again.

They look to their left and see a walled garden.

"There’s the Himeya. Where the females stay." Seiryuu says, pointing behind the green walls.

"And this is the Sacred Castle of the Mizuryuus." Renzai says, pointing to the castle.

The castle has thick stone walls, with multi-storied towers, creating beautiful layers of roofs with the corners lightly elevated. Like a royal Japanese castle. When they get into the interior, they are mostly divided using sliding fusuma panels with beautiful adornments of nature paintings.

There are several verandas, similar to balconies, connecting the buildings of the castle to the gardens, linking indoors with outdoors. And the main verenda leads them to the big Sacred River of the Mizuryuus.

Astri’s spouses are looking around with a lot of attention, because they believe that this is the kind of castle worthy of Astri’s presence. Everything in that place breathes the pure essence that is worthy of a Goddess.

They gathered around a round wooden table, where the tea and food was brought.

"Hum.. yes! I was desiring this. You guys need to try it." Astri says after eating caramelized nuts.

The others try the sweet. Atlas, Aurora and Albus liked the most.

"If I may ask.. Will you stay living where you were attacked?" Seiryuu asks.

That question was a direct hit on her spouses, and sincerely, they don’t know the answer.

"I’m not sure. For me, as long as my family is with me I can live anywhere." She says.

Her answer made her family smile.

"I understand.."

"You want me to live here, don’t you?" She smirks.

"In a safe and sacred place worthy of your presence." He answers, blushing a little.

"Even in sacred places, there’s evil. Surely it won’t be as strong, but there’s evil inside all of us."

"Wisely said, Goddess. Can you explain what Seiryuu meant about being attacked?" Reigan asks.

Astri tells him what happened.

"Even if I lived here, the Youkai Monster would have entered." Astri says.

"It’s true, milady.. But living in a sacred place also empowers your soul." Reigan says.

"Are you saying that... if she was attacked here, her soul wouldn’t have broken?" Claud asks.

"I can’t say for certain, but if her soul traveled all the way to the Spirit Tree, it’s because her soul needed the pure energy to become strong again. I can assume that her soul could have come back on its own to her body if the place was sacred." Reigan explains.

They felt that they’re not looking after the guilty parts, they’re just pointing out something that is a problem, and her spouses have to agree that a sacred place like that feels better for Astri.

"Would you teach us to build a sacred place for her?" Claud asks.

"Why not just stay here? We can move the female’s building to another place to keep the energy even better." Seiryuu asks.

"This place is amazing, but it belongs to the Mizuryuu Clan, and it should be kept and honored that way. If people find out I’m here, they might have the wrong ideas about you. Besides, you’re one side of the power of this continent. The political side might believe you’re trying to overpower them. We should not unbalance something that is living in balance naturally." Astri answers.

What she said made sense. And Seiryuu knows that he wants her to live there mostly because it would be easier for him to keep courting her, and to keep her safer.

"We can teach you. All of you have purer energies. Master Kenzou can also help. He was my student, too." Reigan answers.

"We will be eternally grateful." Claud bows slightly.

They hear a sliding door opening, and when they look, it’s a female of very white skin, long black hair, and expensive yukata. She wears it open until her shoulders, and uses a big and expensive hairpin, tying a tidy little hair bun on the top of her hair. Her blue eyes aimed at Astri, and everyone could sense the reason that the female was there.