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Ramon and Gloria stared up at the figure in front of them with wide eyes. “This is Grandma?” Ramon asked. His head tilted to the side, and he blinked a few times while inching closer to get a better look. The person in front of him wasn’t shaped like a dragon at all, but Ramon knew better than to judge someone by their outer appearance. Vur didn’t look like a dragon at times, but he certainly was one.
“Oh, boy, your kid is quite special, isn’t he?” Lindyss asked with an amused expression. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared the silver dragon straight in the eyes. “I’m not your grandma. In fact, I’m not even a dragon.”
“If you’re not Grandma, then why are we here?” Ramon asked and sat back on his haunches. He raised his neck upwards, tilting his head back to stare up at Grimmy and Leila from below. “We flew for so long, but we didn’t even go to where you said we were going.”
Grimmy stroked his chin. “We only flew for so long because she was hiding from us,” he said and glared at Lindyss. “Normally, she’s much closer to the roost.”
“And yet, you still managed to find me,” Lindyss said and sighed. “What do you want? A babysitter? I know Tafel lost her phoenixes thanks to Nova’s carelessness. I’ll have you know, for dragons, my services will be calculated by the minute.”
“You’re ignoring me,” Ramon said, thwapping his tail against the ground. “Why did we fly all this way for nothing? I’m tired, and I’m hungry, and I really need to poo.”
“Yes, why did we come here, dear?” Leila asked, staring at Grimmy.
“We’re teaching our kids a life lesson,” Grimmy said and gestured towards Lindyss while looking at Gloria and Ramon. “Look. Dragons are big, and most of the creatures in the world are smaller than us. They have entire towns and cities filled with wondrous things, but if we go to take those things, those creatures will be wary of us and lose motivation to create more interesting things.” Grimmy poked Ramon’s snout. “You know that sesame oil and salt you dip your rabbit tails in? That was made by a human. If you want more, you need someone who can get it for you.”
Ramon blinked, and the gears in his head whirred. Then, his eyes lit up. “She’s like Gloria, but I can tell her to get me things from human cities!”
“You shouldn’t order your sister around so much,” Leila said, gently nudging Ramon’s shoulder in a chiding manner. “One day, she’ll be bigger than you, and you’ll regret it.”
Gloria blinked. “Is that true?” she asked, her eyes widening. “I’ll be bigger than Ramon one day?”
“Only if you eat lots of meat,” Grimmy said with a grin. “Normally, cursed dragons are bigger than holy dragons, but that’s only because of our diets. How can eating moonlight compare to eating bears?”
Gloria frowned. “I don’t like eating bears; their faces make me so sad. Moonlight doesn’t cry when you eat it.”
Lindyss’ gaze shifted from Gloria to Ramon. Then, she looked at Grimmy and Leila. “I didn’t expect both of them to be so … precious. It looks like you two have your hands full with parenting,” she said and casually took a step back. “I wouldn’t want to burden you with having to take care of an elf too, so—”
“Not so fast,” Grimmy said and grabbed Lindyss like a farmer catching a chicken. “It’s not like you have anything to do anyway. Why does it seem like you’re always trying to run away from me?”
Lindyss’ eye twitched. Just because it looked like she wasn’t doing anything on the surface didn’t mean it was actually true. In the end, she was still responsible for hundreds of thousands of people. She ran a religion that revived the dead, and she had to take care of kingdoms that Vur and Tafel constantly took over and immediately got bored of! Relaxation was a major step in the process of dealing with all the responsibilities. However, trying to explain that to a dragon…, it was simply easier to do what they wanted. A sigh escaped from the cursed elf’s mouth. “What do you have in store for me this time?”
Grimmy nodded and placed the elf down. “That’s more like it.”
***
Tafel yawned as she rotated the stick in her hand. At the end of it, there was a fish roasting over a fire. Although she could open up a portal and buy a meal from her favorite restaurant, she preferred to live the life of an adventurer. If she was going to use her powers to live a life of luxury, why would she have given up on being a princess in the first place? When the fish was done roasting, Tafel climbed to her feet and took out Minerva’s feather. She munched on the fish while following the traces Emile and Susan had left behind.
When Tafel finished the fish, she tossed the remains and the stick by the foot of a tree. She reached through a portal and pulled out a map. She had no clue where she had ended up, so the map in her hands were drawn by herself. It was a bit crude, but it was still better than nothing. Along with drawing noticeable landmarks, she also recorded their coordinates for easy teleportation.
“How much further do I have to go?” Tafel mumbled as she drew on the map. When she was done recording her route, she raised the feather once more. After a few hours of walking, she arrived in front of a dilapidated structure that, at first glance, looked like a rock but was clearly a pyramid when she got closer. According to the traces the two phoenixes had left behind, they had gone inside the structure, but Tafel didn’t see any signs indicating they had come out. Were they trapped inside?
Tafel frowned and followed the traces to a hatch. She opened it and furrowed her brow. Her horns glowed red, and a small fireball rose out of her palm, illuminating the space inside. She could see murals on the walls, and they seemed to depict a black dragon. More importantly, there was a circle on the ground with obvious traces of mana around it. “A teleportation circle?” Tafel’s brow furrowed. After a moment of hesitation, she climbed down the hatch and entered the pyramid. If she wanted to find Susan and Emile, she had to go where they had gone.