“Where is Deedee?” Vur asked. “Is he sleeping?”

“Let me check,” Sheryl said. “He’s—”

“Nope,” Zilphy said, cutting the fire elemental off. “Deedee slipped away into the portal that Tafel opened. He merged with the boats and left.” There was a slight sniffling sound. “Isn’t my husband such a caring person? He was more worried about those people than I thought. He couldn’t let them be bullied in a strange new land.”

Vur blinked before shrugging. “Well, it’s a good thing I took attendance,” he said. “Almost left him behind. I bet he’d hate that.” Vur slipped off of Prika’s head. He placed a hand on Tafel’s shoulder. “We have to get Deedee first before we go. Can you open a portal to where you sent the boats?”

“Of course,” Tafel said, her horns glowing silver. The air split apart as a large portal appeared in front of the group, wide and tall enough for Prika to pass through. Upon opening, shouts and screams filled the air, surging out of the portal. Tafel’s brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

Mary grasped the hilt of her sword. A moment later, she cleared her throat. “The people that Vur brought are shouting, and your subordinates are the ones screaming. Vur’s people are capturing and rounding everyone up, killing those who resist.”

Tafel’s blinked three times and whirled her head around to look at Vur. “You prepared them for war, didn’t you? You thought using them to help you conquer the place would increase your chances of finding me if you owned more territory.”

Vur scratched his head. “Yes,” he said. “But it wasn’t really my idea. It was the food’s.”

“The food’s?” Tafel asked, her brow furrowing. “You mean that spirit rabbit that hopped out of you?”

Vur nodded. “Originally, I was going to look for you by myself, but it said I’d find you faster if I brought those people with me too.”

“Well, isn’t that just great?” Tafel asked. “Your people are causing a huge mess.” She sighed and shook her head. “Alright, let’s go through and stop it. I might not be particularly attached to those subordinates of mine, but how dare they lose in a fight?”

“They’re saying Vur’s people are monsters,” Mary said, her hand still on the hilt of her sword. “And Vur’s people are praising Vur for giving them strength.”

Tafel stared at Vur. “You’re giving them strength?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I didn’t give them anything,” Vur said and shrugged. “Maybe it’s Deedee. Zilphy just said he was helping them. How come you’re looking at me like that?”

Tafel sighed and shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she said and walked through the portal. She turned around. “Are you guys coming or not?”

Alice went forward and nudged Vur’s waist with her elbow. “Don’t take it personally,” she said in a mock whisper. “Tafel’s acting like that because of her competitive spirit. She spent a few months uniting her empire, and I bet she can’t stand to see it losing, especially to your people.”

“That makes sense,” Vur said and nodded. “My people shouldn’t hurt hers because my people are basically her people. No wonder why.”

Alice stared at Vur. “That’s not what I was trying to imply at all.” She sighed. “Don’t you see? Tafel just really hates losing to you, even if it’s a proxy battle between your subordinates.” Alice rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why she’s so grumpy though; maybe it’s because she doesn’t understand much about war. Your people were armed and fully ready for combat. Her people suddenly had a portal opened in front of them that unleashed an armed force without any warning. It only makes sense they’d lose.”

Vur furrowed his brow. “Tafel hates losing to me?” He tilted his head, his expression relaxing. “How come that doesn’t make any sense to me? When have we ever competed?”

“The fact that you haven’t noticed is what makes it so much worse,” Alice said and sighed. However, Vur had already gone ahead, chasing after Tafel.

A bony hand landed on Alice’s shoulder. “You tried,” Mr. Skelly said. “I think this is something Vur has to realize for himself though.”

Alice snorted and grabbed Mr. Skelly’s hand, pulling him into the portal. “It really irks me how he’s such a blockhead sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Mary asked, following the couple. “He’s a blockhead all the time.”

Prika looked around before waddling into the closing portal. She leapt forward, landing to the right of Tafel. “How much longer is it going to take for us to go home? Who cares about stopping some little scuffle between a group of people? Why don’t we just grab Vur’s parasite and leave?”

Tafel glared at Prika. “People are dying for no reason. We have to stop that.”

“Don’t glare at me,” Prika said and wrinkled her snout. “Humans die all the time. You take a century-long nap, and practically every human has grown up, died, and been replaced. You can’t stop everyone from dying. What are you going to do? Feed everyone some water from the Fountain of Youth?”

“But I can save these people right now,” Tafel said and placed her hands on her hips. She glanced around, looking at the slightly bloody courtyard with glittering, golden boats. Her lips pursed together, and she stepped towards the castle, heading towards the sounds of battle.

“Here’s an idea,” Prika said, walking extra slow to stay beside Tafel. “We go home and get Grimmy’s little elf to come here. Then, she can set up that whole system she has back at your place. Dying and turning into an undead is basically living forever anyway. You’ll save everyone on the whole world and their future children too. Isn’t that much better than stopping a petty little fight like this?” Prika pointed. “Look, Vur’s parasite is hiding right there.” She pointed at one of the golden boats. “We found him. We can go home now, right?”

“I’m not just here to stop the fight,” Tafel said. “There’s someone I want to take with me.”

“Hmm?” Vur raised an eyebrow. He was taking Diamant, who was struggling, out of the golden boat. “Who?”

“My horse. I almost forgot about him.”