by Virlyce
Mary glanced at the armor on her torso. Grimmy still hadn’t returned her gauntlets and sabatons. Her brow wrinkled. “Really?” She raised her head and squinted at Grimmy’s scales. “Then how come you don’t have any runes like these?”
Grimmy raised an eyebrow. “Why would I use something so crude and barbaric?”
“…Why did you invent the runes if they’re crude and barbaric?”
Grimmy shrugged. “I thought it’d be interesting. And if you’re the product of thousands of years of fermenting this technique, then I say it’s a success. You’re a bit slow, but you have your merits. And it’s not like being slow is even a bad thing; it means I can manipulate you more easily.”
Mary’s expression dimmed as she bit her lower lip and inched away from Grimmy, scooting along the rocky bench. She looked up at Lindyss with her eyes while keeping her head lowered. “I don’t like him.”
“That’s normal,” Lindyss said with a shrug.
“Hey now, what’s there to not like about me?” Grimmy asked and grinned at Mary. “At most, I’ll only manipulate you, but that other fellow, he’ll take over your body and destroy your soul completely, you know?”
“Huh?” Mary furrowed her brow. “The who will what?”
“…Hmm. Did I ruin a surprise?” Grimmy asked and retreated back into the shadows. “Forget I said anything.”
“How am I supposed to forget something like that!?”
Grimmy shrugged. “Easy. Just pretend like I didn’t say anything.”
***
“Well, we found him,” Alice said, staring at the ocean-blue dragon at the bottom of the pit. A snot bubble extended from his nostrils, growing and shrinking in time with the rising and falling of his back. Alice turned her head towards Tafel, who was standing beside her. “Now what?”
Tafel rubbed her eyes a few times and wiped the dark expression from her face by pushing the corners of her lips upwards into a smile with her fingers. She exhaled and lowered her hands. “Don’t get mad,” she muttered. “Don’t get mad.” Her head swiveled around as she inspected the surroundings. “He chose the weirdest place to fall asleep. It looks like a beehive.”
“There’s traces of blood in these holes,” Mr. Skelly said. He held up his bloody finger which he had swiped inside a nearby crevice. “These are the perfect size to house those larval-like things those chimeras were holding while attacking us. Maybe this is a nursery?”
“So Vur wiped out their spawning center,” Tafel said. She nodded. “That’s cool. Okay. Sure. I’m fine with that.” She chewed on her lower lip as she stomped down the muddy path leading towards the bottom of the egg-shaped cavern. Unfortunately for her, her stomps didn’t echo, muffled by the bloody mud instead. She strode up to Vur’s face and extended her staff to pop the snot bubble. With a splat, a stream of green goo dropped to the ground by Tafel’s feet.
Vur snorted twice and stirred. One eye creaked open. He made eye contact with Tafel. Then his eye closed again. Another bubble of snot rose out of his nostril, inflating like a balloon.
“Vur!” Tafel shouted and smashed the bubble by swinging her staff like a mace. “Wake up!”
A few mumbles escaped from Vur’s mouth followed by a jet of steam blowing out of the gaps between his teeth. His neck bent and curved towards his torso, burying his head into the crevice between his body and his wing. His tail wrapped around as well, blocking off the passage to his face. A fairy poked her head out of the space between his two wings. “Vur’s sleeping,” Stella said and put a finger to her lips. “Sshh.”
“I can see that!” Tafel said, her voice echoing through the chamber. “Vur. If you don’t wake up and explain yourself, I’ll…, I’ll…. Ugh….” She ground her teeth together and stamped her foot.
“You’ll what?” Alice asked from her position higher up in the cavern. The elementals floating around her drifted down and settled back into Vur’s body, forming the tattoos along his scales.
“I can’t think of anything,” Tafel said. “How am I supposed to get mad at a dragon? If I got mad at any other dragon other than Vur, I’d be eaten. Threats don’t work. Pleading doesn’t work. He can’t even hear me when he sleeps!”
“You know, a marriage is supposed to be a partnership between two people,” Alice said. “I don’t see why you have to resort to threats. You shouldn’t have to beg either.”
Tafel gave Alice a dirty look. “I don’t want relationship advice from someone who regularly hits off her partner’s head.” She turned her attention back onto Vur and frowned. “If he was in his human form, I could shake him awake. But I can’t shake him when he’s this huge.” She bit her lower lip and took a few steps back. The gem on the end of her staff shone as she pointed it at Vur. “Maybe I’ll nudge him with a glacier. Freezing Path!”
A brilliant blue light flashed, and a jet of white air flew out of Tafel’s staff. The air condensed into a wall of ice which promptly melted into a puddle of water that evaporated in an instant. Tafel’s expression stiffened as her staff stopped glowing. She waved it again. “Freezing Path…?” For a brief moment, her staff lit up before fizzling out. Tafel lowered her weapon and brought the end of her staff close to her face. She blinked and rubbed the gem a few times with her sleeve. “What’s going on?”
“Vur said not to wake him up,” Stella said. She was sitting with her legs crossed on top of Vur’s back. “So I canceled your spell.”
“You … canceled my spell?” Tafel’s brow furrowed. A long time ago, when she was still a child, someone had told her fairies could silence people. Was it Dustin? It was probably Dustin. She had forgotten about it since all fairies ever did to her was curse her. “Right. Fairies could do that…. The whole time that I’ve known you, you could’ve been contributing but weren’t!?”
“What?” Stella’s eyes widened. “I’ve been contributing this whole time! What do you mean?”
Tafel pointed at Stella. “You could’ve canceled out those blood arrow spells. Back in the eastern continent, you could’ve helped so many times when we were doing those random quests that Alice insisted on taking. But you…! Hah. I need to calm down.”
“For the record, those quests weren’t taken at random,” Alice said and adjusted her glasses with her finger. “I mapped out an efficient route for your request as a part of my guide duty. You should be more thankful. Don’t sound exasperated at me for doing what you asked me to.”
“You’re right,” Tafel said. “Sorry.” She glared at Stella. “I should be exasperated at the freeloader.”
Stella crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin towards the ceiling. “I’m not a freeloader. I’m an adorable mascot. I raise the morale of the party. Without me, you’d be a group of boring stuck-up people.”
Mr. Skelly turned towards Alice. “Are we boring?”
“I prefer the term studious,” Alice said with a frown.
“It’s too loud.” The ground and walls shook as Vur spread his wings, sending gusts of wind in all directions. He climbed to his feet and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his paws before looking around. His eyes rolled up to the top of his head to stare at Stella, who repositioned herself on his forehead. “How long was I asleep?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“…Really?” Vur asked, blinking twice. He stared down at his paws, flipping them over to inspect the fronts as well. “Then why do I feel so refreshed? It feels like I slept for twenty straight years.”
“You’re not even twenty years old,” Tafel said and glared at Vur while placing her hands on her hips. “Do you have anything you want to say for yourself? About Diamant, I mean.”
“Eh….”
“There’s no moon!” Tafel waved her staff in the air, attracting Vur’s gaze which was slipping towards the ceiling. “Don’t say it!”
Vur scratched his snout and lowered his head to the ground. He coughed and shifted his gaze away from Tafel. “Deedee’s a nice person.”
“That’s not w
hat I meant by having something to say about Diamant!” Tafel strode up to Vur’s face and placed her hands on her hips. Vur was still looking away. Tafel sighed and lowered her arms. “Alright. I’m not going to blame you for going off on your own. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
Vur blinked before making eye contact with Tafel. “Really?”
“Really,” Tafel said and nodded.
“Wait, why not?” Alice asked before Tafel could say anything else. “He endangered the whole party by leaving without warning us. I can charge in recklessly because I know he’s there to take care of any problems if things go south. And he’s our healer! What kind of healer runs off in the middle of a dungeon exploration to do his own thing? Do you know how much more stressful it is to fight without a healer watching over you? This past week was a nightmare.”
Tafel chewed on her lower lip. “You have a point….”
“You already said you wouldn’t blame me,” Vur said. His body shrank as he turned back into a human. He stood up and nodded. “That’s why you’re the best wife.”
“I did say that too,” Tafel said, avoiding Alice’s glare. Her eyes drifted onto Vur. “Uh, Vur? Did you get new tattoos?”
“Hmm?” Vur raised an eyebrow as Tafel pointed at his torso. He followed her finger and tilted his head towards his stomach. Two jagged, red lines extended down from his shoulders to his torso, disappearing into his pants. They were like lightning bolts, lining the sides of his abs. Vur tucked his thumbs into the band of his pants and pulled them away from his waist. “Oh, so that’s where they stop.”
Tafel pulled Vur’s hands away, causing his pants to snap back into place. “Don’t do that in front of Alice!” She raised her hand and traced the red line running down Vur’s body. “Is it a new elemental?”
“I’m not sure,” Vur said. He tapped the purple flower tattoo on his chest. “Stella? Do you know?”
“They’re home renovations,” Stella’s voice said. “Don’t pay them any mind.”
“Oh.” Vur nodded. “Okay.”
“How is that okay!?” If she knew how to, Tafel would’ve reached into Vur’s tattoo to yank the fairy queen out. “What do you mean home renovations? They’re just decorations? And don’t treat my husband as your home!”
Stella’s arm popped out of Vur’s chest, and the fairy shook her fist at Tafel. “You’re the one who treated my home as your husband. I was here first.” Stella’s arm disappeared back inside before Tafel could grab her hand. “And these aren’t just for decoration. They’re power-ups! Vur loves power-ups.”
Tafel’s eyes widened as she stared at Vur. “You … got stronger again?” Her expression fell as her shoulders drooped. She seemed to deflate as she let out a sigh, hanging her head. She muttered to herself, “It’s okay, Tafel. It’s okay. One day. One day it’ll happen.”
“Are you alright?” Vur asked and tilted his head. Tafel didn’t respond. Vur looked down and tapped on his flower tattoo again. “What do the red things do?”
“They’re a strength increase,” Stella said. “I absorbed the chimera queen while you were sleeping, and this power was left over because why would a fairy need physical strength? So I gave it to you.”
“One day, you’re going to run out of canvas space on your body,” Mr. Skelly said. He and Alice had climbed down to the bottom of the pit. “And then what’ll you do?”
“Not get any more power-ups,” Tafel said as she raised her head. She nodded. “That’s right. You have a limit to how many things you can randomly stick into yourself to get stronger. There’s a limit.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t mean you have any hope, you know?”
“Shut it,” Tafel said, glaring at the diminutive guild master. “Anything is possible if you try hard enough.” She shook her head before poking Vur’s arm. “Anyways, what happened here? What is this place?”
“I think this was the chimera nest,” Vur said. “There were a lot of chimeras. There was a really big one too that took a week to kill.” He pointed at the bloody holes in the wall. “It kept eating the other chimeras inside those pockets to heal itself. Magic wouldn’t work on it either, and it kept heating itself up to melt the ice whenever I froze it.” A wrinkle appeared on his forehead as his torso turned red, starting from his stomach. The redness spread to the rest of his body, crawling down his arms and legs. “Like this.”
Tafel pressed her palm against Vur’s side. “Oh, that’s pretty warm.”
“Warm? Are you kidding me? That’s hot,” Alice said. “I’m surprised your pants haven’t—”
A crackling sound interrupted her as Vur’s pants were set ablaze. Sheryl hopped out of the runes on Vur’s shoulder and dropped down to the ground, taking on her form as a red rock. Her body split in half as she opened her rocky mouth and inhaled, sucking up the fire before it could damage his pants even further. When the flames were gone, she let out a tiny burp before crawling up Vur’s leg and torso, sinking back into her runes.
Vur’s skin returned to its normal color as he cooled down. “Other than that, the big chimera didn’t have anything special. It was a little stronger than Mary, but it was still weaker than me.”
Alice scratched her head, ruffling her hair. “So, this thing nullified magic, couldn’t be frozen, and was stronger than the freak that could tie you in strength in your human form. In other words, if Tafel and Nate and I encountered it, we would’ve lost miserably.”
“That’s not true,” Vur said. “Mary didn’t tie me. I won.”
“You’re not going to deny the lost miserably part?” Tafel asked.
“It took a week for him to kill in his dragon form,” Alice said. “If that doesn’t tell you anything, then you need to take a lesson in reading glaringly obvious cues.” She shook her head. “If that was this dungeon’s mini-boss, then the final boss will be even harder. We won’t make it to Mary’s birthday party in time if we continue. Should we head back?”
“I can record these coordinates,” Tafel said. “We’ll be able to teleport back here at any time.”
A furrow appeared on Alice’s brow. “You know, that’s a really cheat-like ability.”
“Is it? Any time mage can do it,” Tafel said. “Though, I guess, time mages are pretty rare existences. I only know two others. Shall we head back? It’s been a week since we’ve bathed, and we’re starting to smell.”
“Starting to smell? You’ve been smelling horribly since the second day,” Mistle said from the runes on Vur’s back.
“Except for me,” Mr. Skelly said. “I don’t sweat. Being undead is so convenient.”
Tafel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but you’re dead, so it balances out.”
18
“Is it wise to show up like this, Grand Duchess?”
Apollonia turned towards her most trusted retainer. “I haven’t been accused of treason yet,” she said and shook her head. The carriage they were in jolted up and down as it rolled over a wooden bridge to traverse a river. A few droplets of water splashed upwards and through the window, landing on Apollonia’s cheek. She dabbed her face with a handkerchief and sighed. “If I don’t show up for her banquet, the empress may create an excuse to have me killed. If I show up, I may be executed. If I don’t show up, I may be executed. There’s no reason not to have my final meal be the dinner served at an empress’ birthday.”
Daniel placed a closed fist against his chest and stared into Apollonia’s eyes. “If the demon lord tries to kill you, I’ll find a way to save you.”
A wry smile appeared on Apollonia’s lips. “Is that so? I appreciate the sentiment, but you and I both know it’s impossible.” The grand duchess turned her head and gazed up at the clouds through the window. “That girl is simply too strong. The only thing we can do is pray she lost her life to the devil or black dragon that took it away.”
***
Mary stared down at the plate by her feet. She was sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. Her armor covered her thig
hs, but her shins and feet were still bare and smudged with dirt. Steam rose out of the roasted … something … in front of her. Mary raised her head away from the unidentified meal and stared at Lindyss. “Am I a prisoner?”
Lindyss tore her gaze from her book and stared back at Mary. “Have we treated you like one?”
“…This food smells funny.”
Lindyss’ eyes drifted to Mary’s plate. The meal was exactly how she had presented it to the empress, and the utensils hadn’t even been touched. “Then don’t eat it.”
“I’ll go on a hunger strike,” Mary said. Her stomach growled, but she pretended as if it hadn’t, her gaze still fixed on Lindyss’ face. “I won’t eat. And if I die, it’ll be your fault.”
“Freeloaders don’t get to go on hunger strikes,” Lindyss said. She closed her book, keeping one finger inside to preserve her page. “Did you know that that’s what you are? You’re a freeloader.”
“I’m not,” Mary said. “You imprisoned me here. It’s your responsibility to keep me alive as a prisoner of war.”
Lindyss’ expression darkened. “What war? And you’re not a prisoner. No, rather, why are you still here? Don’t you have other things to do? Other places to be? Why are all the empresses and queens so irresponsible and carefree that they have time to bug me?”
A lump on the cursed elf’s head squirmed as Erin popped out of her hair. “Maybe bugging you is just really, really important? It’s so important that we have to drop everything we’re doing to do it.”
“I’m really not a prisoner?” Mary frowned. “But you have my sword. And the dragon has my armor. I can’t leave without them.” She nodded. “Since I can’t leave, that means you’ve imprisoned me.”
“What if I said I don’t have your sword?” Lindyss asked. “Then what? Will you go away?”
“I still want to fight the devil too,” Mary said and pursed her lips. “And I know you have my sword. Please give it back.”
Lindyss’ expression darkened. “You’re awfully needy for a self-proclaimed prisoner, huh?”
