by Virlyce
“We wanted to register as adventurers,” Tafel said before Vur could speak.
“Alright,” Alice said. “I can help you with that.”
***
Leo sighed as he adjusted his body, shifting his weight from his side to his belly. His wings flapped twice as his silver tail swished a few times. He was waiting in a cave, resting in a patch of sunlight. Why did he have to come to these boring assemblies? Why couldn’t Lulu or Luke take over instead? It always took the members forever and a day to assemble, but he had to be on time because that’s what respectful dragons did. Maybe he should’ve ran away from home like Leila….
“Leoniden!” a voice called out. “The members have assembled and await your presence.”
Finally. Leo clambered to his feet and shook the dust off his scales. He raised his head and puffed his chest out as he lumbered out of the cave towards the open glade where the assembly took place. He nodded at the members already assembled. The two humans kneeled while the three elves nodded back. The group of dwarves acted as if they hadn’t seen him, causing his expression to darken. Meanwhile, the five silver-haired fairies were chattering and eating fruit from a golden plate that had been prepared for them. He released the breath he was holding when he didn’t see a certain someone.
“Is this everyone?” one of the dwarves asked. His face was gray, but he had a nose as red as a cherry. A crown rested on top of his head.
“Not yet, Plumby,” one of the fairies said, giggling at the dwarf. “Erin’s not here.”
The dwarf called Plumby scowled. “I told you not to call me that.”
The fairy giggled. “No, you told Erin not to call you that. You didn’t tell me.” She smiled as she bit into her strawberry and sucked out its juices.
Leo sighed. Why was he even at this farce? “Shall we get started?” he asked. “The present fairies can vote in Erin’s stead. Let’s finish this before she arrives, please.”
“No, no, no,” the fairies said at the same time. “Erin’s very … Erinny. You know how she is. If we vote for her, she’ll never leave us alone until the next assembly.”
Leo’s expression darkened. He glanced at the two human representatives. They smiled back at him and lowered their heads. He sighed and collapsed onto his belly, resting his head on his paws, his gaze falling onto the dwarves. Usually, there were thirteen of them, but only four were present today. But, of course, their votes would still be worth more than everyone else’s combined.
“I’m here!” a voice thundered from above. “You better not have started without me!” A tiny fairy flew down from the sky.
“About time,” Plumby said and stroked his beard. “Let’s—”
“First order of business!” the new arrival said, interrupting the dwarf. “Which one of your subordinates broke my fairy spring!?” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the surrounding members. She was easily the shortest person there, but no one dared look her in the eyes. Erin Koller, the third fairy queen. There was a reason why everyone feared her. “Leo!”
Leo flinched and shrank backwards. “Y-yes?”
She was the first fairy to ever transform a dragon into a goat; although, the dragon was only a baby at the time. “Was it you!? Do I have to polymorph you again to teach you a lesson?” Erin asked, narrowing her eyes.
“No!” Leo said, shaking his head back and forth. “You know I never leave my cave except for this.”
Erin’s gaze lingered on the holy dragon before she snorted. “Who was it?” she asked again, flitting to the center of the assembly space. “No one’s going anywhere until I find out!”
“Don’t be unreasonable, fairy,” Plumby said as he drew his rifle which was slung across his back.
“Point that thing at me and I’ll transform you into a worm and feed you to a bird,” Erin said, shaking her fist at the dwarf.
One of the silver-haired fairies by the side sighed. “Isn’t it unfair how she’s the only one who knows how to polymorph?”
“Well, you’re the only one with telekinesis, and that’s not very fair either,” another fairy said and rolled her eyes.
“Says the mind reader.”
Erin turned around and pointed at the fairies. “So it was one of you. You were jealous of my ability and didn’t want it passed on to my offspring!”
“No, no,” the fairies said and shook their heads. “It really wasn’t us.”
Plumby cleared his throat. “Can we seriously begin the meeting now? I’m sure we all have places to be. None of us know anything about your stupid spring, you fairy.”
Erin glanced around at the faces avoiding her gaze. They didn’t directly agree with the dwarf, but they didn’t refute him either. “Fine,” she said and crossed her arms. “I’ll remember this. When something happens to your slave traders, magical trees, stupid brick kingdoms, tasty fruits, and frozen wasteland, you better not come begging me for help.” She sat on top of the plate of fruit and closed her eyes while crossing her legs.
Plumby shook his head at the fairy before putting away his rifle. “Then let’s begin.”
Leo closed his eyes as the members chatted about rules: the new ones formed, the old ones dissolved, who broke what and when. He shifted his neck, trying to get into a more comfortable position. Just when he was about to fall asleep, a voice pulled him out of the void.
“Leoniden, do you know anything about the dragons who flew over my lands recently?” Plumby asked.
“That was probably my sister bringing home her mate,” Leo said with a yawn. “You don’t have to worry about them.”
Plumby nodded. “Good.” He glanced at the human representatives. “I heard two new SSS-ranked adventurers appeared in the town of Anfang.” He turned his head towards the fairies and raised an eyebrow. “And a new fairy queen.”
“What!?” Erin asked as her eyes shot open. “A new fairy queen in Anfang? She’s definitely the one who ruined my spring!” She jumped up and flew away before anyone could react.
“Yes, there were two new SSS-ranked adventurers,” one of the human representatives said after Erin disappeared. She bit her lower lip. “Though, we’re not sure if one of them is exactly human … and the other one is questionable as well. We have no idea where they came from.”
“Interesting,” Plumby said and stroked his beard before grinning. “I’d like to meet them.”
The human representatives made faces but didn’t say anything.
7
Tafel hummed as she raised the silver card in her hand above her head. It was similar to the one that she already had, but the engravings that framed the card were different. Maybe she’d go to every continent and collect them for fun. There had to be more continents, right? She glanced at Vur.
Stella was lying on her back on top of Vur’s head, her head dangling upside-down off the side. She was holding her card in front of her face by his ear, squinting at frowning at the words. “Stupid scribbles,” she said and puffed her cheeks out. She crossed her arms, dropping the card, but Vur caught it before it could hit the floor.
“My card’s more full than last time,” Vur said. He tugged on the reins with his foot, causing the carriage to swerve around a pothole.
“Let me see,” Tafel said and traded cards with Vur. “You’re right. You have a last name this time. And your hometown is filled out, but it doesn’t mean anything since we both put Anfang. Class is still dragon…. No subclass….” Her brow wrinkled. “I’m really going to have to ask your mother how old you are when we get back. I’m surprised the guild master let you get away with this little information.”
“Dragons get special treatment,” Vur said as he read Tafel’s card. “Your class says spellblade instead of black mage this time.”
“…You haven’t noticed?” Tafel asked, taking her card back and holding onto Vur’s and Stella’s.
“Magic is magic is magic,” Vur said with a nod. “Classes don’t matter to a dragon.”
Tafel sighed. “For someon
e who practically robbed my kingdom’s royal library, you really are oblivious to the obvious, huh?”
“Anything that contradicts him being a dragon is automatically filtered from his head,” Stella said, rolling over onto her belly. She propped her chin up with her hands and smiled at Tafel. “See? He didn’t even hear me.”
Tafel glanced at Vur. He was reading a crumpled up commission note that wasn’t meant to be taken off the board. Her gaze returned to Stella. “I think that was the longest sentence I’ve ever heard you say.”
Stella winked at Tafel before rolling onto her back again. She hung her head off the side of Vur’s head and stretched her hands out towards the demon. “Apple.”
Tafel sighed as she reached into her bag and pulled out an apple, passing it to Stella while inching closer to Vur’s side. She peered over his shoulder to read the commission. “You’ve been looking at that for a while now, but you haven’t told me what the mission was,” she said, breathing into Vur’s ear.
Vur turned his head, kissed her on the lips before she could react, and placed the note into her unmoving hands. “You wanted a weapon,” he said. “I found an interesting one for a reward. I’ve never heard of it before.”
Tafel lowered her head and bit her lower lip, hiding her red cheeks behind the paper. “That was a bit sudden,” she said and glanced out the window of the carriage. None of the other carriage drivers on the road around them seemed to have noticed. She fanned herself with the note in her hand. “A-anyways, what were we talking about? Right, classes.” She placed the commission into her lap, forgetting it wasn’t an actual fan. “You know, I was supposed to be the demon lord class, but since my father died early, I never got the chance to obtain it.”
Vur sidled closer and rested his head on Tafel’s shoulder, plucking Stella out of his hair and handing her the reins. “Why can’t you obtain it now?”
Tafel shook her head. “There’s supposed to be a ritual,” she said. “To succeed the demon lord, the children challenge the current lord, and upon victory, the class is passed on. But since Chad killed my dad and no one knows what happened to his soul, the ritual can’t be completed.”
“Well, that’s okay,” Vur said. “You’re plenty strong as is.”
“Not strong enough,” Tafel muttered. “I still have to beat that person.”
“Just tell me who he is and I’ll beat him for you,” Vur said and raised his head. He stared Tafel in the eyes, causing her to sigh.
“This is something I have to do by myself,” Tafel said. “It’s like your coming-of-age ceremony with the patriarch. I couldn’t help you, and you can’t help me.”
Vur tilted his head. “Okay. Then what do you have to do to obtain the demon lord class?”
“I told you, the ritual.”
“But there had to be a first demon lord, right?” Vur asked. “What did he do to obtain it?”
Tafel blinked. “Sometimes, I can’t tell if you’re actually really smart or not,” she said.
“What? I’m very smart,” Vur said and snorted. “You can ask Stella. Right, Stella?”
“Right,” Stella said as she controlled the carriage. Somehow, the horse had transformed into a crocodile, and every other carriage was scrambling out of its path. “Simple solutions aren’t stupid solutions.”
Tafel hummed. “That’s true. Vur doesn’t have to think of any smart solutions when the simplest one, brute force, always works for him,” she said and pinched Vur’s side. “It’s not fair.”
Vur frowned and rubbed his waist. “It’s not my fault you weren’t born a dragon.”
Tafel rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said. “I’ll go find one to imprint me. Anyways, about the demon lord class…, I think I’ll worry about that when we go back to Zuer. I won’t find any information about it over here. Demons don’t exist here.” The paper in her lap caught her eye. “Oh right. I almost forgot.” She read through it and placed it down, staring at Vur with a blank expression. “Really?”
“Why not?” Vur asked.
“Because it was us!” Tafel said as she waved the commission. “Clearly this fairy queen is looking for the person who broke her spring to get revenge. Look at all the angry exclamation points tacked onto it! What? Are you going to give her information about yourself?”
Vur blinked. “…Why not?” he asked. “It’s a free staff.”
Tafel sighed. Didn’t this count as bullying a poor fairy queen? “Do you even know where 99 Fairy Drive is?”
“No. That’s why I’m letting Stella drive,” Vur said.
Stella cleared her throat. “Not all simple solutions aren’t stupid solutions,” she said to Tafel. “There are stupid ones too.”
“I can see that.”
***
Carl hummed as he sanded the shaft of his new spear. It was tipped with a leviathan tooth and enchanted by its bone powder. Beside him, George was doing the same thing. “It’s a good thing they didn’t want the teeth, huh?” Carl asked, admiring the sun glinting off his spear.
George grunted, causing his gills to flap. “As strong as they were, they didn’t need the teeth. I don’t think they even needed the armor.” George sighed and rested his palms behind himself, disturbing the sandy surface. “He killed a leviathan while naked. No weapons. No armor. Nothing.”
Carl shuddered as an image of a golden-eyed human appeared in his mind. “Yeah,” he said and sighed. “If he wanted to attack us…, I don’t think we would’ve made it.”
“Right, well, we’re still here and that’s all that matters,” George said. “And there was even the nice benefit of uniting all our tribes together. Maybe we could even join the assembly and overthrow some of those taxes aimed at us.”
“Huh,” Carl said, his brow furrowing. “That’s really possible now, isn’t it? Should we go ask the elders?”
“I’m sure they’ve thought of it,” George said and nodded. He squinted at the coast and frowned. A massive shadow was approaching the beach from underwater. “Uh, Carl. Look.”
Carl followed George’s finger and shielded his eyes from the sun. “What is that?” he asked. He stood up and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Hey! Get away from the water!”
The fishmen children, who were running about, stopped and glanced at the sea. They screamed and ran towards the grassy border as the shadow came closer and closer, a dorsal fin as large as a palm tree emerging from the surface of the ocean.
George’s face paled. “D-do you think leviathans avenge their brethren?” he asked as he gripped his spear and retreated backwards while keeping his eyes on the approaching beast.
“I don’t know,” Carl said and shook his head, “but you should go inform everyone and have them move deeper inland.”
“And you?” George asked.
“I’ll keep an eye on it.”
George nodded. “Alright,” he said. “You’re much braver than I am. Children, follow me!” He gathered the terrified kids and headed into the jungle, leaving Carl behind.
Carl gulped as he waited by the grassy border, watching the leviathan. The water bulged as its head emerged, its eyes glazed over and focused on nothing in particular. Its mouth hung open, dangling as water poured out of it. Strange white and yellow objects were clinging to its teeth and scales, squirming with the current. Blood poured from the beast’s body from hundreds of cuts lacerating its skin. Carl dropped his spear as the leviathan wriggled onto the shore. “It’s … dead?”
“Phew! That was a real tough one,” a gravelly voice called out from beneath the leviathan. “The things we do for the mistress, eh?”
Hundreds of voices rang through the air as skeletons dropped off of the leviathan’s corpse. “For the mistress!”
***
Grimmy hummed as he flew through the skies with Leila beside him and Lindyss sitting on his snout. He stopped for a moment and raised an eyebrow. “Did you feel that?” he asked, crossing his eyes to look at Lindyss.
“Feel what?” Lindyss ask
ed and smacked his scales. “Hunger? Yeah, I felt that a long time ago. Can we kill and eat something already?”
Grimmy chuckled, his body shaking. “So they contacted me first,” he said with a grin. “Interesting.”
“You’re thinking something devious,” Lindyss said and narrowed her eyes at the black dragon. “And who are you talking about? Stop speaking in riddles.”
“She gets very grouchy when she’s hungry, doesn’t she?” Leila asked and smiled at Lindyss when the elf gave her a dirty look.
“Your family starved me for a month!” Lindyss said. “You’re lucky I’m only grouchy and not dead.”
“Oh?” Grimmy asked. “Out of curiosity, what would you do as an undead if you did die?”
Lindyss rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. Get revenge on the people who killed me? Conquer everything? Spread fear and terrorize everyone?” She snorted. “What do you want me to say? Obviously, I’d continue doing what I always have. I’d knit a few sweaters or something and find things to entertain myself. Being undead’s no different from being perpetually young, which I am already.”
Grimmy sighed. “Young on the outside, ancient and decrepit on the inside,” he said, shaking his head. “Prika would—”
“Yes, yes,” Lindyss said. “She’d tell me it’s why I’ll never get married.” She pursed her lips and peered over the edge of Grimmy’s snout. “Is that a roc? I’m going to eat it.”
“Rocs are religious figures and you shouldn’t…,” Leila said, cutting herself off. Lindyss had already leapt off of Grimmy’s snout, plunging towards the massive bird with two wings made of mana sprouting from her back. “Well then.”
The roc screamed as a glowing white sword pierced its neck. It struggled to stay in the air, spraying blood everywhere as it flapped its wings. Lindyss’ sword traced lines in the roc’s body, cutting through its steel-like feathers with no resistance. The roc’s blood acted as if it had a mind of its own, turning into little snakes and entering Lindyss’ aura, dying it red. She licked her lips and swallowed as the red color faded away.
