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Gaegukja Yeol glanced down at her root bracelet, her expression unreadable. She had turned off its notification function to concentrate on creating the itinerary for Vur’s group. After several hours of hard work, she had finally compiled all the information and wrote up the perfect itinerary. …Perfect if the tower still had regulations regarding advancing to different floors—which, as the fire spirit race member had just discovered, had been removed for some reason involving dogs and couches.
The fire spirit race member let out a sigh before heading to the wooden tablet. If Vur’s group requested another itinerary from her for a tower without advancement rules, then she’d pass it off to one of her subordinates. Bunno was a good worker; he was always looking for a chance to impress her. Perhaps she’d assigned the task to him. While thinking such thoughts, she activated the wooden tablet and requested entrance to Vur’s residence. Not long after, an amber light engulfed her and whisked her away.
Gaegukja Yeol floated towards the clearing, and a giant stone monument came into view. A bunch of people were sitting in front of it, staring at it and occasionally commenting about things happening … on the blank surface of the monument. Either Vur’s group had gone insane—which was a very real possibility when it came to the tower—or they had some kind of spell related to privacy going on. She floated closer, but no one turned their heads to greet her, causing a small furrow to appear on her brow. “Hello?”
“Oh, hey,” Tafel said without turning her head from the surface of the monument. She raised her right arm and waved in Gaegukja Yeol’s direction. “We’re over here.”
“I can see that,” the fire spirit race member said as she floated closer to the group. “I brought the completed itinerary.”
“Oh,” Tafel said. She raised her left arm. “You can transfer it here. I don’t think we’ll use it though since Vur broke the regulations of the tower. We’re free to go anywhere we want without worrying about taking exams.”
Gaegukja Yeol remained silent as she brought her arm up to Tafel’s, linking their root bracelets together. “I see,” the fire spirit race member said. “Since you can travel anywhere you want, why are you here and not on the ninety-first floor? Didn’t you want this itinerary to travel there as quickly as possible?”
“Yeah,” Tafel said. “We did.” Her face was still practically glued to the screen, and Gaegukja Yeol’s expression couldn’t help but darken. The demon nudged Vur with her elbow. “Let Yeol watch too, alright?”
A pebble bounced off of the surface of the monument, and an image appeared on the glossy surface. Gaegukja Yeol swallowed upon seeing what the group was watching. It looked like what one would see when they were sitting in the spectator seats of an arena. The heads of people sitting below in front, and the main attraction on the ground ahead. “What is this?” Gaegukja Yeol asked.
“It’s a play,” Tafel said and pointed at the dragon tablet. The most prominent characters on the surface were a man and a woman dressed in fancy clothes. “It’s true we have to go to the ninety-first floor, but at the same time, it’s kind of late, you know? We’ve all had a long day, and now we just want to relax for a bit.”
“What a coincidence,” Gaegukja Yeol said and crossed her legs, taking a seat in the air behind the group. She stared at the play on the screen. “I had a long day too making the perfect itinerary.”
“Shush,” Sir Selddup said from his spot on the ground. “We’re getting to a good part.”
Gaegukja Yeol furrowed her brow. Had she just been shushed by a dog?”
***
Within a pitch-black cave, Volearden lay on his back. Floating above him, there was a dragon tablet in front of his eyes. There was a furrow on his brow. “Great-Gramps?” he murmured. “Vur? How exactly should I respond to that?” Foot steps caught Volearden’s attention, and he rolled his eyes to the side. A yellow dragon came into view.
“Hey,” the yellow dragon, Fern, said. “Didn’t I tell you to turn on some lights? Did you even get out of bed a single time while I was gone?”
“You weren’t gone that long,” Volearden said and snorted. “Don’t act like I’m a moldy dragon.”
Fern rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “You scrape off the mold after it grows, but you know, if you moved around outside in the sun and stuff, mold wouldn’t grow on you in the first place.”
“What if I’m allergic to the sun?” Volearden asked.
“You’re not,” Fern said.
“But what if I was?”
“You’re not,” Fern said, firmer this time.
“I’m just asking what if,” Volearden said. “Who knows? I might get tired of your nagging one day and give myself an allergy to the sun.”
“Then I’ll nag you to reverse the damage you did,” Fern said.
Volearden snorted. “And why do I have to listen to you?”
“Because I’m your advisor, the person you hired to give you advice,” Fern said. “Anyway, what’s on your mind? You seem troubled, and the last time you were like this was because of your constipation issue a hundred years ago.”
“That issue was troubling indeed,” Volearden said. “But this one is troubling me even more because I’m not sure what to do.”
“As if you knew what to do for your constipation,” Fern said and snorted . The yellow dragon sat on his haunches. “Alright, let me hear it. What’s bothering you?”
“It seems like the dragon was from Erde,” Volearden said, “and he happens to be my great-grandso…mething. Is Vur a masculine or feminine name? I’m pretty sure I have a great-grandson, yeah.”
Fern blinked. “And that is troubling you because…?” the yellow dragon asked and craned his neck forward.
“I’m ashamed.”
“Oh,” Fern said. After thinking for a bit, he nodded. “Yeah, I understand.”
A sigh escaped from Volearden’s mouth.