“Friends?” Vur asked and tilted his head. “You’re the first midget to pay tribute so far. I’ll be your friend, why not?”

“Wait!” Stella said. She leaned over Vur’s head and squinted at E. “What qualifications do you have to be Vur’s friend?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You have to go through me first. I’m his agent.” She nodded her head twice.

E looked up at Stella then down at Vur. He took Vur’s silence as a sign of agreement. “My name is E. I’m the king of the dwarves,” he said, meeting Stella’s gaze. Disinterest painted her face. “That’s not enough?”

“What can you do?” Stella asked as she lay on her stomach, propping her face up with her palms.

“All the dwarves have to heed my orders,” E said, scratching his head. “And, I guess, I can summon golems?”

Stella’s cheeks puffed up. “What about elementals? Are you in charge of them too?”

“I’m called the dwarf king…, not the elemental king,” E said, his words causing Stella to sigh. “But the dwarves hold a higher position than elementals, so naturally elementals will heed my words.”

Stella rolled over onto her back and stared up at the cave’s ceiling. She sighed again. “I guess you pass … barely. I’ve taken into account Vur’s lack of male friends, and it played the biggest role.”

E’s expression darkened, but it brightened again after he met eyes with Vur. “Why don’t we have a chat over a meal or drink? I brought a lot of good stuff in my car; let me go get it.”

“Car?” Vur asked.

“You don’t know what a car is?” E asked with a blink. “Well, that’s fine too. As your friend, I’ll get you the best model we have—it only has a 48% chance of exploding on use!”

As Vur led the way out of the earth elementals’ headquarters, Stella flew over and hovered beside E’s head. “Why did you want to be Vur’s friend?” she asked in a whisper and tilted her head in a manner similar to Vur. “All the other dwarves cursed at him when they first met him. I think he was about to drive the dwarves to extinction.”

E paled. “Can he really do that?” he whispered back, staring at Vur who had gone ahead since his strides were a lot longer.

Stella furrowed her brow and pouted. “Mm. Hmm. Mm.” She nodded. “If he doesn’t get distracted by something midway, then he could.”

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E nodded in return. “I see. Well, to answer your question,” E said and rubbed his chin. The stubble was like sandpaper rubbing against his fingers. “I come from a family of seers. Unlike other dwarves, we’re more appreciative of magic. And I probably inherited something from my parents, not futuresight, but a premonition of sorts. It’s really not confirmed, but whenever I have a hunch about something, it turns out to be true. Something on the inside yelled at me to become friends with Vur. The last time I felt that sensation, I listened to the voice and became king.”

Stella blinked at E. “A magical midget,” she muttered before flying back onto Vur’s head.

“You’re smaller than me,” E said before trotting after the duo. He grinned as he felt the burn in his legs. It had been a while since he had been so motivated. Ever since he became king, his premonition hadn’t told him to do anything, so he hadn’t. It was a shame about Zappy though.

“This is a car?” Vur asked when they arrived in front of E’s vehicle. “It looks like a normal carriage.”

“It’s a mass-produced model, which is why it looks so plain,” E said. “Some people really like decorating their cars, and they look a lot more impressive than this. I can show you some pictures.” He walked to the front of the car and popped open the trunk by the driver’s seat. “Look.”

Vur stared at the brown, transparent roll in E’s hand. “What is it?”

“It’s a roll of film,” E said. “You don’t know what this is either?”

Vur took the film off of E’s palm and sniffed it before unrolling it. His eyes widened at the images burned into each little rectangle. “A mana picture?” he asked and poked the film. His finger pierced through it, and he tilted his head. “It’s not?”

“He’s not from around here,” Stella said and giggled at E’s baffled expression.

“Are you?” E asked.

“Yes! I was born here,” Stella said with a nod. She puffed her chest out. “I’m almost two months old.”

“So these are cars,” Vur said. The film was fully unraveled with parts of it lying on the ground. “I want one. A dragon-shaped one. It has to fly too.”

“A flying car?” E asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s a lot of people trying to create one, but no one’s succeeded yet. I think Plumby was the closest; I’ll ask him for you.” He frowned. “Wait, his town was destroyed by a black dragon. I think it’ll be a while before he can do anything.”

“A black dragon?” Vur asked and shook his head. “Plumby shouldn’t have made him mad. He sounds stupid.”

E let out a wry smile. “Well, dragons are—”

“Oh! That reminds me,” Vur said. “You’re the king of the dwarves, right?”

“…That’s how I introduced myself, yes,” E said and furrowed his brow.

“I want to see your throne,” Vur said.

“My throne?” E asked. “It’s just a normal throne though, but if that’s what you want, we can drive over there right now.”

“Okay,” Vur said with a nod. “Let’s do it before I forget.” He handed the unraveled film back to E before hopping into the car.

When E finished rolling the film back up and placed it into his trunk, he found Vur ripping apart the lower section of his pants with Stella’s help. “What are you doing?” E asked as Vur nodded at the strip he tore off. “Do you have a problem with your pants?”

“No,” Vur said. “I’m making a flag.”

“A flag. I see,” E said and scratched his nose. He snapped his finger and a set of armor materialized in the driver’s seat. E sat beside Vur, and the car lurched forward. But what does he need a flag for?