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Sung scratched her head and stared at the group of humans and one skeleton that had assembled in front of her and Vur. “So, what’s the meaning of this?” she asked and blinked at Tafel, who was catching her breath.
“If we’re going to look for someone, wouldn’t it make sense to have more people?” Tafel asked. “And it just so happens that these people are free.”
“That does make sense…,” Sung said and rubbed her chin. “But why’d you call humans over instead of dragons? Humans can’t even fly, and their legs are so short that they can barely move anywhere in a reasonable amount of time.”
Tafel scrunched up her forehead. “Dragons are too difficult to teleport. I could barely bring these people over with your and Vur’s help. How would I transport a dragon across an ocean?”
Sung narrowed her eyes at Tafel before glancing at Vur. “She’s such a handy little thing. Not only can she read your mind, but she can teleport people too. Where’d you find her?”
Alice turned to look at Tafel. “You can read minds?” she asked. Beside her, Mary and Mr. Skelly were staring at the demon too. “Since when?”
Tafel furrowed her brow before sighing. “Well, since Prika is going to find a mate in there, I guess there’s no point in hiding it anymore,” she said. She bit her lower lip and stared up at Sung. “Vur’s not actually Prika’s mate; he’s mine. And he can speak too, but he doesn’t lie, so Prika had me pretend to be reading his mind to speak his thoughts.”
Sung blinked twice. Then a wide smile appeared on her face. “I knew it! There’s no way Prika could’ve found a mate.”
Tafel frowned. “What makes you say that? Prika’s actually a really nice dragon. There’s no way she can be single forever.”
Sung nodded. “She is, but that doesn’t matter. There was one time my siblings and I went out to find a fortuneteller—without Prika because she already fled from home. We wanted to know when Prika would find a mate, and do you know what that fortuneteller said? How did it go…? I think it went like this. When the sands are … something … by the dead, when the god of the sun descends, when the seas are commanded by red, when the purple … something … something … comprehends, and when the … something … becomes a … something, only then will your sister have a chance.”
“That was a lot of somethings,” Tafel said. The rest of her party nodded in agreement.
“Well, it was a long time ago,” Sung said and shrugged. “Anyway, none of those things happened yet, so it’s obvious Prika can’t find a mate. Anyways, is this everyone?” She grabbed the receiver from the corner of them room and passed it to Vur. “Alright, to get back, everyone has to touch the receiver and send some mana into it. Once that happens, a signal will appear on my end, and I’ll be able to open a portal next to you guys to come through. Got it?”
“Sounds simple enough,” Vur said. He coughed and cleared his throat. “It feels weird not speaking.”
Sung stared at Vur for a moment before nodding. “And there’s one more thing,” she said. “Once you guys go through, you might be placed into different areas, but it shouldn’t deviate by too much. At least, you won’t find yourselves separated by the distance from the land to the moon.”
“I won’t be able to teleport around,” Tafel said with a frown. “Not until I’ve gotten a good grasp of the coordinates there. In that case, if we’re separated, how should we find each other? Same plan?”
“Plan? What’s the plan?” Mary asked. She frowned, her hand resting on a sword’s golden hilt. “You can’t say same plan when there’s new people.”
“I don’t know the plan either,” Alice said. “What is it?”
“I know!” Vur said. “We create a big ruckus, and Tafel finds us.” He beamed at Tafel. “Right?”
“Yep.”
“That’s the plan?” Alice asked with a raised eyebrow. Her hands twitched as if she wanted to hit something. “Aren’t you supposed to be a top-tier adventurer?”
“Hey,” Tafel said and frowned. “if the plan works, then I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”
“No, no,” Alice said and shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong with it, nothing at all. Let’s go by your plan, why not. After all, you’re the leader.”
“I thought I was the leader,” Vur said.
Mr. Skelly coughed. “Your plan is the same as Tafel’s.”
“That’s true….”
“Um. Are you guys done yet?” Sung asked and tilted her head. “This portal can’t maintain itself forever, you know?”
A wrinkled appeared on Tafel’s brow. “It can’t? What happens if it runs out of power before we find Prika?”
“Then I guess you’re stuck there forever,” Sung said and nodded. A moment later, she smiled. “Just kidding! Once you go through, I’m closing the portal anyway. I’ll open it again when you activate that receiver. You might have to insert your mana into a few times to get my attention, so don’t panic if it doesn’t open right away; I might be eating dinner or napping.”
Alice raised her hand. When everyone turned to look at her, she asked, “Can I not go? I just remembered I, uh, left the fire burning in the stove.” She flinched when no one said anything. “What? I don’t want to go, okay? This dragon seems completely unreliable, and I don’t want to get stuck in a strange place.”
Sung’s nostrils flared. “I’ll show you unreliable,” she said and snatched Alice up with her paw. The guild leader didn’t even have a chance to shout before she was thrown through the portal on the wall. Sung smiled at the remaining members of the group. “Right, good luck. Bring Prika back soon. I’m not sure how I’ll explain myself to Mom if you take too long.”