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Gaegukja Yeol exhaled and relaxed her body, sinking into her crystalline chair. She had gone back to the Extreme Heat Clan’s residence to compile the information Vur’s group had obtained, so she could fulfill Tafel’s order of creating an itinerary. If she tried to complete it at Vur’s residence and accidentally lost control of her flames for a brief moment during a sneeze or cough, well, the residence was one big pile of fuel waiting to be set ablaze. As one of the people with the most authority in the Extreme Heat Clan, she could’ve delegated the task of sorting the information and creating the itinerary to someone else, but she wanted the task done right.
Gaegukja Yeol stood up and stretched her arms over her head. She reached down and grabbed a crystalline cup containing a bubbling red liquid. With two gulps, she finished what remained inside the cup and let out a tiny burp before floating over to the exit of her office. She hummed to herself and waved at the occasional members of the clan she passed as she made her way to the wooden tablet. With a few swift taps on her root bracelet, the tablet shone amber, sending out a light that engulfed her.
When the light faded, Gaegukja Yeol took in a deep breath. Surprisingly, the forest—which, to her, smelled as appealing as mold—had a pleasant scent to it, one she was quite familiar with: burnt blood. Did a battle break out? She floated forward, not in any hurry. There weren’t sounds of combat, and only people Vur’s group approved of could enter the residence.
A few seconds later, Gaegukja Yeol came to the familiar-yet-different clearing. It looked like a battle had happened in a region that had been blocked off by a barrier, and within that region, there were some familiar-yet-different people kneeling on the ground. As Gaegukja Yeol floated closer, she realized the people on the ground were familiar because they were all lords she had seen images of before; they were different because they were covered with traces of healed injuries all over their bodies, and their clothes looked like they had been worn for several years without being washed.
“Hello,” Lindyss said, causing Gaegukja Yeol to flinch and turn her head away from the kneeling lords. The cursed elf nodded at the fire spirit race member before focusing back on the half-formed garment in her lap. Her knitting needles clacked together as she spoke. “If you’re looking for Tafel, she stepped away for a moment.”
“Oh,” Gaegukja Yeol said and floated towards the elf’s rocking chair. “I came by because I finished creating the itinerary Tafel asked for. Can I leave it with you?”
“No,” Lindyss said and stopped knitting. She held out her left arm. “We have some new information from the rest of the lords.”
Gaegukja Yeol face froze as she stared at the cursed elf’s root bracelet. “Are you asking me to perfect the itinerary by including the new information?”
“You would do that for us?” Lindyss asked, her voice flat. “Wow, how kind of you.” She wiggled her left wrist. “Here. I’ll trade it over to you.”
Gaegukja Yeol extended her root bracelet towards Lindyss’ with a sigh. It had taken a few hours to create the first itinerary, and now, she had to go back and revise it. “Oh, how fun.” While the data transferred between her root bracelet, Gaegukja Yeol observed the lords. “What are they doing?”
“They’re praying,” Lindyss said, jerking her head towards Vur. “They think he’s a god, Feathered Serpent, that they’ve heard about before.”
“Oh,” Gaegukja Yeol said. “For some reason, I thought they were being punished for something.” Prayer did explain why the lords were on their knees, but it didn’t explain why they looked like they had just been thrown through a vicious battle. Of course, the most important part about being a ruthless person’s underling was to ignore the obvious details and believe what she was told. “I’m glad things were resolved without violence.”
“Yep,” Lindyss said. “Me too.”
The lords shivered upon hearing the cursed elf’s words, but none of them spoke up.
***
“How about raiding someone’s residence?” Mary asked. The black-armored woman was standing next to Tafel, and in front of them, there was a wooden tablet. Off to the side, Kim Hajun stood in silence with his head facing the ground.
“We already have a residence,” Tafel said and scratched her head. “It’d feel wrong to invade someone’s home just to beat them and have fun.”
“I don’t have a personal residence yet,” Mary said. “I have a room with lots of space in the Virtuous Hand’s residence, but there’s always people around. It wouldn’t be wrong to invade a residence if you’re helping me claim it, right?”
Tafel rubbed her chin. “Can you even invade residences? I remember the tower wouldn’t let us, and Vur had to threaten it into doing what he wanted.”
Mary raised an eyebrow. “You can threaten the tower?” She placed her hand on the wooden tablet. “Give me all your money.”
Tafel scratched her neck. “I don’t think it works like that.”
Mary’s brow furrowed as she tilted her head to the side. Her eyes lit up, and she fixed her posture. She squeezed the wooden tablet and narrowed her eyes. “Give me all your money, or else.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Tafel said.
Mary frowned. “Is squeezing not enough? Do I have to punch it?”
Kim Hajun stared at the ground with a blank expression. These were the kinds of people who destiny and fate blessed with incredible gifts. It was clear to Kim Hajun that fate and destiny were blind and perhaps deaf too. Kim Hajun cleared his throat. “Residence invasions aren’t always available as an option,” he said. “Towers may just be trees, but they still respond to outside stimuli. If one tower discovers another tower is invading residences, it’ll keep away from the warmongering tower.”