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Tafel leaned back in the plush chair, one leg crossed over the other. Her elbow dug into the armrest with her arm upright, her palm holding her cheek. Prim would’ve called it bad posture, but at the moment, Tafel was an adventurer, not a demon lord, so she didn’t care. “When are they coming?”
“The closest members should be arriving by today,” Frederick III said, dabbing at his forehead with his handkerchief. “Unlike Your Excellency, none of us are able to traverse great distances in an instant. The fastest mode of transportation is via horses, but none of the leaders would desperately ride horses to exhaustion. No doubt, they’ve traveled in posh carriages, caring more about their comfort than pleasing Your Excellency.”
Tafel’s skin crawled at the obvious bootlicking. However, no matter what she did or how she behaved, the Elector of Saxony’s behavior didn’t change. The shock he received when Tafel had teleported Martin Luther to the peasants was too strong. It was normal for a demon lord to show overwhelming power—it was a requirement of being a demon lord—but their subjects would worship them, not fear them. A frown appeared on Tafel’s lips, and she sighed through her nose, keeping her mouth shut. At least she would only have to put up with it for a few more days. Once all the top brass of this Holy Roman Empire had gathered, she’d unite them under her banner whether they wanted to join or not.
***
Vur yawned and scratched his chin, his neck arching, his head pointing at the sky. Faint silver streaks decorated his scaled stomach, and if one pressed their ear up against it, they’d hear the murmurs and cries of many different kinds of animals. A deep burp rumbled out of Vur’s mouth, and he exhaled out a silver stream of smoke. He yawned again and curled up at the base of a massive golden statue, resting his head on his front paws, wrapping his tail around to the front of his nose.
“Are you going to sleep, Vur?” Stella asked, climbing out of the scales on his snout. She nudged him with her palm, but his eyes shut and remained shut. “Vur?”
“I’m tired,” Vur said and yawned for a third time. “I flew around for a month, ate all the spirit animals, and built all the statues. Tell Tafel to wake me up when she finds me.”
Stella scratched her head. It was true; Vur had flown around for a month, but he slept during the flights! He shouldn’t have been tired. And he did eat all the spirit animals, including the bear that had led him around everywhere. It wouldn’t have felt right to leave it behind when all its companions were in Vur’s soul, so Stella silently fed it to Vur as he slept with the help of the four elementals. “But don’t you want to see more of the world?”
“Nope.”
“Aren’t you an adventurer? How—”
“Nope.”
“You didn’t let me finish! You—”
“Nope.”
Stella puffed her cheeks out. “Vur,” she said in a whining voice, dragging out Vur’s name. However, the only response she received was a snore and a steadily growing snot bubble from the nostril behind her.
***
Alice squished Burc’s cheeks, causing the fluffy white cat to swat at her wrists, but she didn’t care. “Ah.” Alice sighed. “I’m so bored.”
“I know,” Burc said and gave up, falling limp on Alice’s stomach. She was lying down, and he was lying on top of her. “Every time you’re bored, you harass me! Can’t you find a hobby like a normal person?”
“Are you saying I’m not normal?” Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.
Burc stared at her. “Ask anyone in the army. Go on. Ask them if you’re normal.”
Alice pinched Burc’s cheeks harder, spreading them out like a chipmunk’s. He meowed and smacked her nose. Alice snorted and let her head drop back down onto her pillow. Her bed bumped and rocked, jolting along with the sounds of turning wheels. She had been given a carriage to ride in. Suleiman insisted on giving her special treatment, not having her march or sit on a horse for several hours a day. She didn’t really mind. After all, the most exciting part about war was the fighting, not the traveling—not that war was exciting to her, of course.
“I overheard something,” Burc said, and Alice relaxed her grip, letting his cheeks return to normal. “We’ll be arriving at Rhodes tomorrow. Suleiman was talking to all his advisors, and he said you’ll definitely be happy there.”
“I’ll be happy there?” Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”
Burc cleared his throat, his tail swishing. “Because there’s lots of walls for you to punch down.”
Alice sniffed, not bothering to formulate a response to such an absurd accusation.
***
Mary opened her eyes and flipped her body upright. Just a few seconds ago, she was resting on her head, her body stiff and straight like a pole. She took a seat on the carriage and glanced at the man who was on the opposite side of the carriage. “Are we there yet?”
The man was unfazed by Mary’s actions, having seen her do even stranger things during the past month. “There’s still an estimated fifty days or so before we arrive.”
“Oh.”
***
Prika stood in the middle of a desert. “Where are you, damnit!?” She roared at the sky and slammed her tail against the sand, sending a giant yellow plume into the air. Her eyes narrowed, and she pressed the side of her head against the ground, listening for any signs of the earth dragon that she knew was here. The surrounding area was filled with grass, but in the middle of the grassy land, there was a massive desert. And the only reasonable explanation was an earth dragon had made it his home, sucking in all the moisture and turning the area around him into a lifeless sandy void. Of course, it could’ve been a female dragon too, but Prika was sure it was a male. It had to be! Prika snarled and dug into the ground, fling massive amounts of sand behind herself. “Let’s see just how much longer you can hide from me!”