by Virlyce
“Huh? Really?” Alice asked, lowering her head. If it wasn’t an army and it wasn’t supplies, then what was the most important thing required for war? “Weapons…?”
Mr. Skelly clacked his teeth and shook his head. “Your thinking is too narrow. The answer is a reason! How can you rally an army of people without a reason to declare war? How can you convince people to give up their food and mana without a reason? Why would blacksmiths create weapons for you without a good cause? The peasants need a reason to pick up their pitchforks to fight against their rulers!”
Alice’s eyes lit up, but they dimmed shortly after. “I get it now, but somehow, I don’t like hearing it from you,” she said. “You didn’t have any reason for starting a war against the dwarves way back then. And you didn’t rally anyone with your reasons. You kidnapped people and forced them to join your cause.”
“But I had a reason.” Mr. Skelly straightened his back and stuck out his chest. “Because the mistress told me to.”
“That’s a horrible reason.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit it was,” Mr. Skelly said with a shrug. “But back on the eastern continent, I already had an army of skeletons. I don’t have that here; thus, I need an actual reason to rally these natives to my cause.”
Alice nodded. “Yes, an actual reason would be nice. And you’re going to ask around the village to find their grievances against the ruling class, right? She did say rising taxes were a problem.”
“Eh?” Mr. Skelly’s eyes widened. “Why would I do that? I was thinking of burning this village down and blaming it on the king. Isn’t that a great reason? The king burned down a bunch of villages for no reason at all. If you don’t want that to happen to your village next, then you’ll have to pick up your weapons and fight!”
Alice chopped Mr. Skelly’s head off with her shield.
***
Vur and Tafel laughed as they walked side by side through a dense rainforest spotted with all kinds of colors. Frogs, insects, parrots, brightly colored animals were everywhere amongst the foliage. Thick vines hung down from trees, and thinner vines grew from the soil, circling around tree trunks. Clouds of insects hung in the air, but as Tafel and Vur walked towards them, they’d disperse before reforming a while later only to disperse again as a woman with blue hair and golden eyes staggered by. “You two! Wait for me. How do you balance so well without a tail!?”
Vur and Tafel paused as they waited for the gasping woman to catch up. She wasn’t wearing any clothes despite Tafel’s earlier pleading. Alora had said it’d be easier for Tafel to find genie bean vines since she was a small human, so Vur disabled his dragon form and polymorphed Alora against her wishes. Tafel bit her lower lip as Alora caught up and placed her bare hands on Vur’s shoulders from behind while panting for breath. Tafel crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to wear clothes? They help with balance. Look, even Vur’s wearing pants.”
Alora squinted at Tafel before lowering her gaze to Vur’s black leather pants. She crouched down and pinched it, pulling it while tugging it up and down. Her head tilted to the side as she released the material. “I don’t get it. You can’t control it like a tail at all. How does it help you balance?”
“It just does, okay?” Tafel asked. “Not all phenomena are explainable yet, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen.” She stretched her arm out and into a portal, taking out a bathrobe. She held it out towards Alora, who sniffed it before wrinkling her nose, causing Tafel’s eye to twitch. “Try it on. And don’t wrinkle your nose like it smells bad! I just washed it.”
Alora snorted. “I don’t want to.” She tilted her head up and to the side, pointing her chin at the treetops while closing her eyes and crossing her arms. “Have you ever seen a dragon wearing a wooly sweater? It’s embarrassing. Grandma makes us wear them all the time in the winter. I’m not going to voluntarily humiliate myself in the summer.” Her eyes opened, and she raised her brow. “Oh? Is that a genie vine?”
“Where?” Tafel asked, her head snapping to the side, following Alora’s gaze. A blueish-green vine appeared in her view, barely noticeable against a greenish tree trunk. Three bean sprouts grew out of the vine, dangling like Christmas lights. “I see them. How do you summon the genie?”
Alora walked over to the base of the tree and looked up at the sprouts that were out of her reach. “You pluck the bean sprouts, but you leave the vine for future genies to grow on. Or you can wait here for a few months until the genie beans fall off on their own. There’s a higher chance that those genies can fulfill your wishes.”
Tafel furrowed her brow, but before she could decide, Vur climbed up the tree and pulled off a bean sprout. A silver light flashed, and a tiny man appeared on Vur’s palm, looking much like Stella but male. Alora’s eyes widened. “That’s a genie king!”
“I called it!” Stella shouted from Vur’s chest. “Who said Vur was going to find a genie king? I did!”
Tafel’s mouth fell open before she heaved a sigh. “Slow and steady….”
“Ah?” the genie king’s head swiveled around before his gaze settled onto Vur. He yawned while stretching his arms up towards the sky. “I wanted to sleep for longer…. Will you let me?”
“Oh,” Vur said before nodding. “Yeah, I know how you feel. Go back to sleep.”
The genie king’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Huh!? Really!? You’re the first person to let me do this. I’ll sleep inside you for now. When I wake up, I’ll grant you any wish you want!” The genie king dissolved into motes of silver light that sank into Vur’s chest.
Less than a second later, Stella’s scream rang through the rainforest. “Deedee, Sherry, Zilphy, Misty! Help! There’s a naked man in my home! H-he fell asleep on my bed!” Her voice choked up as she wailed, “My blankets are tainted now; you have to burn them, Sherry!”
Sheryl’s sun-like tattoo on Vur’s shoulder lit up. “When did my name become Sherry?”
“When mine became Misty,” Mistle said from Vur’s back.
Vur ignored the chattering elementals and looked down at Alora and Tafel. “Should I grab another one? There’s only two left.”
“Let me pick my own!” Tafel said as she scrambled up the tree. She pursed her lips before grabbing the rightmost bean sprout. Nothing happened.
Alora coated her fingers and toes with mana and dug into the tree like a squirrel. She climbed up and clicked her tongue. “There wasn’t a genie inside that one,” she said, pointing at Tafel’s sprout. “But you can eat the beans or give them to Grandma as cookie ingredients.”
Tafel sighed as she stored the bean sprout, sneaking a peak at Vur’s chest. Vur noticed and raised an eyebrow. “Do you want the genie king?” he asked. “I don’t need it.”
Tafel bit her lower lip before shaking her head. “No. I want to find one myself. I can’t always rely on you.”
“Hmm.” Vur scratched his head. “You should rely on me more. I’m your husband.” He shrugged before letting go of the tree, dropping to the ground.
“I’ll rely on you now,” Tafel said to Vur. “Catch me.” She released her grip and fell over backwards into Vur’s waiting arms. She smiled at him as she righted herself. “When it comes to getting stronger, I want to do as much as I can by myself. It wouldn’t mean anything if you improved my strength for me.”
“You two should get a room,” Alora said from above with a disgusted expression. She plucked the last bean sprout, causing a blue light to flash. A blue-haired genie materialized on her palm. “Oh, lucky, lucky.”
The genie blinked at Alora before making a face. “Tsk. Alright, what do you want? I’m a busy person. Make a wish, chop-chop.”
“I wish you weren’t such a rude little bugger,” Alora said with a snort. The genie glared at her with murder in his eyes. He raised his arm and a blue veil of mana enveloped him.
“Your wish has been granted, ma’am. Have a nice day.” The genie smiled at her before dissolving into motes of blue
light that floated back into the vine.
“Was that wish worth it?” Tafel asked as the polymorphed dragon struggled down the tree.
“Rude genies ruin wishes,” Alora said once she was on the ground. “If I wished for something, it’d have done everything it could to screw me over. Like if I wished for a cookie, it’d be poisoned. If I wished for a non-poisoned cookie, it’d taste horrible. If I wished for a good-tasting, non-poisonous cookie, it’d be the size of a grain of sand. Too many things can go wrong with wishes.”
Vur tilted his head. “What if you wished for a large, good-tasting, non-poisonous cookie?”
Alora made a face. “Then it’d probably be gluten-free or something. Blech.”
3
“Whew, it’s so hard to eat when your mouth is so tiny,” Alora said, staring at the half-eaten drumstick in her hands. “If I had my dragon form, I could inhale this through my nostrils and swallow it like a booger.”
“Please, we’re trying to eat here,” Tafel said, making a face. She sighed as she placed her drumstick onto a nearby flat rock, wiping her hands on a handkerchief. She stood up and walked to the campfire before rotating the dead boar that was spit-roasted above the flames. “Do you want more, Vur?”
Vur shook his head, holding onto a chunk of meat that was the size of his torso with his mouth.
“Ah.” Alora sighed and leaned back against a boulder, tossing the remains of the drumstick to the side. She placed her hands on her stomach and exhaled. “It feels great to leave the house. Normally, I’m stuck babysitting the annoying trio, so I never get to do anything fun. It’s nice that Aunt Sera can watch over them for me. Mom and Dad sleep way too much. How can they just shirk their responsibilities and pass them all to me? I’m only three hundred years old! People shouldn’t be allowed to burden children with such heavy responsibilities, don’t you agree?”
Tafel cleared her throat. “You know, I’m only seventeen.”
Alora blinked at Tafel, a blank expression on her face. A moment passed before her eyes lit up. “Right! I forgot how short a human’s life is. And a sacrifice once told me a dog’s life is even shorter. One nap, and the dog’s already dead, can you believe that? Oh! And flies live even shorter lives than dogs! You can close your eyes and an entire generation of flies would’ve been born and died! Weird, huh?”
“Right….” Tafel turned to face Vur. “What am I even supposed to say to that?”
“When people talk about boring things, just nod and grunt,” Vur said. The chunk of meat that he was eating had vanished. “I do it all the time.”
Tafel’s eyes narrowed as she placed her hands on her hips. “You nod and grunt at me all the time. Do I bore you?”
Vur coughed and turned his head to the side.
“Hey!” Tafel said. “Dragons can’t lie. C’mon, answer me.”
“Oh, the moon looks nice today,” Vur said, staring at the sky while avoiding Tafel’s gaze despite her best attempts to stand in front of his view. “How come the moon always looks the same no matter where we go?”
Tafel’s voice lowered. “Vur….”
“The moon?” Alora asked, bolting upright. She scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide. “It’s nighttime! Quick, turn me back into a dragon!”
Vur scratched his nose. “I don’t know how. Why do you want to turn back?”
“Grandma has a strict curfew!” Alora ran up to Vur and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. “We can’t be out at night without an adult or else Grandma will withhold her cookies from us!”
“Then there’s no problem,” Vur said and puffed his chest out. “I’m an adult.”
Alora stopped shaking Vur and blinked. “Huh? You? Really?”
Vur snorted. “What’s with that tone? I stopped Grandpa’s meteor a long time ago.”
Alora collapsed to her knees, her arms falling to her sides. “No way…. You don’t act like an adult at all! And I’m a prodigy! A genius! An unparalleled existence amongst dragons! How can someone my age become an adult before me!?” She fell onto her stomach and grabbed her hair while fluttering her feet, kicking the ground.
“Is she alright?” Tafel asked, staring at the polymorphed dragon that seemed to be throwing a temper tantrum. A bitter smile appeared on Tafel’s lips. “I can understand how she’s feeling.”
Vur scratched his head. “Should I tell her I’m only as old as you?”
Alora flinched, her legs freezing mid-kick. Her neck let out creaking sounds as her head crept up and to the side to face him. “You’re less than two decades old…?”
Vur coughed and shifted his gaze up towards the sky. “Oh, the moon looks nice today, doesn’t it?”
“Vur…,” Tafel said. “Why are you avoiding our questions?”
“Yup, it’s a really pretty moon. No clouds to block it.”
Tafel sighed. “You take after Grimmy too much,” she said, recalling all the times Grimmy would avoid conflict by saying random things. Tafel bent over and grabbed Alora’s leg, dragging her back and away from Vur. “Don’t try to kill my husband. And yes, he’s really as old as me.”
Alora’s body went limp as she sighed, deflating like a balloon. “What have I been doing for the past three hundred years? Someone younger than the annoying trio is stronger than me…. Supposedly.” She raised her head off the ground, glaring at Vur. “Is he really? I don’t believe it. Vur, I challenge you to a match!”
Vur lowered his head to meet Alora’s gaze. “No thanks. Mom said I shouldn’t bully people weaker than me.”
“Wow!” Alora shook off Tafel’s grip and jumped to her feet. “I can’t not fight you after hearing that!”
Vur scratched his nose and looked around. He walked over to Tafel and reached into the bag by her waist, pulling out a silver coin. “Okay, let’s have a match based on our luck.”
“Can that even be called a match anymore?” Alora asked, tilting her head to the side.
Vur shrugged. “Well, I don’t know how to turn you back into a dragon without getting rid of all my mana,” he said. “You can fight me like that, though. I don’t mind.”
Alora lowered her head and stared at her palms. “Eh…. Alright, we’ll compete in luck.” She stuck out her hand before Vur could say anything. “Wait! There has to be stakes. The loser has to follow the winner around as a lackey for fifty years!”
“I object!” Tafel shouted. “If Vur loses, then I’ll have to follow you around too since I’ll be sticking by him. And if Vur wins, then we’ll have unwanted company for fifty years.”
Alora’s face fell. “I’m … unwanted?”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant,” Tafel said. “I mean—”
“Then there’s no issue,” Alora said, her head bobbing up and down. She pointed at Vur. “Flip the coin!”
Vur nodded. “I pick heads,” he said as he tossed the coin into the air. It bounced on the ground twice before coming to a stop by Tafel’s feet. A strange expression appeared on her face as she stared at the coin before turning her gaze onto Vur.
Alora held her breath as she approached the coin, squinting her eyes to prevent herself from seeing the result. She crouched down and slowly opened one eye. “No! No, no, no! How can this be!?”
“Heads,” Vur said as he grabbed the coin and dumped it into Tafel’s bag. “I win.”
Alora clutched her hair as she dropped onto the ground, rolling back and forth.
Tafel furrowed her brow and whispered into Vur’s ear, “Wasn’t that the coin I confiscated from Mr. Skelly? The one with the same picture on both sides?”
“Oh, hey. The moon’s really bright tonight.”
***
Alice leaned back, resting against Mr. Skelly’s sternum. “The sun’s already set, huh?”
The two were sitting next to each other on the ground of a living room. A few leather cushions decorating the floor and a waist-high table were the only pieces of furniture in sight. Mr. Skelly raised his brow. “Oh? We’re in someone else�
�s home, but you want to do the naugh—”
“No.” Alice straightened her back, sitting upright. The top of her head collided with Mr. Skelly’s lower jaw, cutting off his words. “I mean, it’s nighttime, but Vur and Tafel haven’t contacted us yet. Do you think they forgot about us?”
“Don’t be silly,” Mr. Skelly said. “Vur probably forgot about us, but there’s no way Tafel would’ve. You know how dragons are—everything they do is slow and relaxed as if they have all the time in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vur’s initial meeting with his grandma took several days.”
Alice pursed her lips. “I did hear that dragons slept for years at a time….”
“See?” Mr. Skelly asked. “Our party members wouldn’t abandon us. You worry too much.”
“The bath is ready,” a voice said from a doorway leading outside the living room. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Alice and Mr. Skelly exchanged glances. “Now that I think about it,” Alice said as she climbed to her feet, “do skeletons even take baths?”
Mr. Skelly shook his head.
“It’s because water probably softens your bones, huh?” Alice nodded. “Makes sense.”
“What? No, of course not,” Mr. Skelly said. “We take showers. The only point of a bath is to relax in hot water and play with bubbles, but we can’t feel anything. Showers are much more practical for a skeleton.”
***
Tafel rummaged through her bag and pulled out the coin that Vur had used for his match against Alora. She flipped it over and sighed. It really was the double-headed coin that she had confiscated from Mr. Skelly. Her brow furrowed, and after one glance at Alora’s pitiful state, she opened up a portal and tossed the coin inside, removing all evidence. It was her duty as a wife to support her husband after all. But it was also in her best interest to not fool a dragon…, but Vur was a dragon too, so in the end, she made the best choice. After internally justifying her decision, Tafel closed her bag and hung it on the belt on her waist. “Hey, Vur,” she said. “Are we forgetting something?”
