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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 someone 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 eye, 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.”