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Tafel stood in the middle of a dressing room. On the wall that she was facing, there was a giant mirror that reflected everything inside the room. Between the demon and the mirror, there was a thin film of mana that she had created. It was the first spell she had learned from the Trickster’s Book. Tafel placed her hands on her hips and took a step to the side. Although she had moved to the right, the image in the mirror moved in the opposite direction. Tafel sidestepped back to her original position, and her reflection followed her. She took a step to the left, and her reflection once again went in the opposite direction. She dispelled the film of mana, and the reflection within the mirror rippled before disappearing and reappearing in front of her.
Tafel nodded to herself. The first spell was pretty easy to learn. As long as she used it correctly, her opponents wouldn’t be able to pinpoint her exact location, and her spells would come from an unexpected direction. Tafel’s horns glowed silver, and a portal to Vur’s room appeared beside her. She skipped through with a smile on her face. “Vur! I learned something new! Do you want to see?”
Tafel froze mid-skip and landed on the ground with one foot slightly in front of the other. “What are you doing?”
“Inspecting him.”
Tafel stared at the Recordkeeper. The winged woman was sitting on a chair next to Vur, who was sleeping on his bed, and her hands were holding onto one of his. Tafel walked up to the Recordkeeper. “Inspecting him? What do you mean by that?”
“Don’t speak so loudly,” the Recordkeeper said. “You’ll wake him up if you do.” She raised her hands, lifting Vur’s arm up. “I’ve seen many things, but this is my first time seeing a third arm up close. Maybe not surprisingly, he’s the first person to wish for a pair of retractable arms.”
Tafel furrowed her brow. “You came all the way here to inspect my husband’s retractable arm?”
The Recordkeeper released Vur’s hand and snorted. “You make it sound like I came here specifically for this,” she said.
“Is that not the case?”
A dark expression appeared on the Recordkeeper’s face. “Would I be here if the two of you hadn’t forgotten about me?” she asked. “Vur used me as a tour guide, and once you came along, the two of you left me in this palace to continue the tour later, but what actually happened? Vur came back and immediately went to sleep, and you went off to study, and I was left with no way to return home.”
Tafel blinked and took a step back. She cleared her throat and scratched at her neck. “Is that so?” she asked. “Vur didn’t take you home? Did you ask him to?”
“Ask him to? By waking him?” the Recordkeeper asked. She raised her hands up, showing her palms and fingers to Tafel. “Do these hands look like they belong to someone who can cook? How would I wake Vur up in a way that he wouldn’t bite my face off?”
Tafel scratched her head. “Why didn’t you ask me?”
The Recordkeeper pointed at the door. There was a chain wrapped around the handles. Tafel opened her mouth. “Right…,” the demon said and nodded. She had been the one to place it there to prevent the Recordkeeper from running away while they went on their gifting spree. “I’m sorry.” Tafel looked around. “What have you been eating?”
The Recordkeeper pointed at the bed. There was depressed corner. Tafel went over and lifted the bedsheet, revealing a mattress that had been gnawed on. “Sorry,” Tafel mumbled, apologizing again.
“Are you?” the Recordkeeper asked. She held her hand out, palm facing up. “If you’re really sorry, how about you show some sincerity?”
Tafel nodded. A portal opened beside her, and she pulled out a piece of frozen bear meat. The portal closed, and Tafel massaged the meat with phoenix flames on her fingers, thawing the chunk out. When it was warm and dripping, she offered the bear meat to the Recordkeeper. “Here.”
“That’s not what I was looking for,” the Recordkeeper said, her stomach grumbling as she spoke, “but I’ll take it.”
***
“I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding,” Keith said to the holy dragon staring at him. “We’re actually subjects of His Majesty Vur Besteck. He’s our king. If we knew you were related to him, we wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
“In all honesty, we didn’t want to come here in the first place,” Danielle said. “We were forced to by a woman named Mary Scathir. She’s on a mission to slay Grimmoldesser, and we were coerced into helping her. She told us if we didn’t help her, she’d kill us and wipe out our families. She’s scarily strong, and she beat all of us without breaking a sweat when we tried to resist.”
Ramon turned his head towards Kozabokget. “Do you know Mary Scathir?”
“Never heard of her,” Kozabokget said and shook her head. “I don’t know any humans. At least, the ones I know are already dead. Humans don’t live very long lives.”
“Why does she want to kill our dad?” Gloria asked, her eyebrows furrowing to the point that they nearly touched.
“I asked her once,” Keith said, “but she was pretty unclear. I think it had something to do with her junior’s soul, and there was something about a turtle. I don’t remember her exact words. Anyway, if you let me go, I’ll definitely be able to convince my party leader to go against Mary. She’ll think we’re helping her hunt a dragon, but instead, we’ll stab her in the back when the time is right.”
Ramon scratched his head before once again looking at Kozabokget. “Should we let him go?”
Kozabokget rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I warn you about humans being tricky?”
Ramon tilted his head. “We shouldn’t let him go?”
“Since humans are tricky, you have to be trickier,” Kozabokget said. “You can let him go, but have Gloria curse him first. If he doesn’t do as he says, then the curse will get him. If he does help, then Gloria can undo the curse.”
Keith stared at the pink-eyed goat. Why was such a cute creature so darn sinister? Her appearance simply didn’t match her personality!