Sunlight illuminated Alice’s face as she stepped out of the prison. She winced and covered her eyes with her hands. She hadn’t realized how glaring it was before; it actually caused her eyeballs to sting. Alice glanced around, and after a bit, she found what she was looking for: a skeleton waving at her from inside of a metal carriage, one of the vehicles the dwarves used for transportation. “Leader-in-law, over here!”

Alice’s expression darkened. What the hell was a leader-in-law? She stomped over to the carriage and directly jumped inside, leaping over the skeleton sitting in the driver’s seat. The carriage squeaked when she landed, and it quickly righted itself from the impact. “Did Nate send you?”

“Yep,” the skeleton said. “The leader sent me to pick you up. You’re lucky I don’t have a stomach, or I would’ve died of starvation while waiting for you.” The skeleton cackled and stepped on the gas pedal, causing the carriage to lurch forward. “What took you so long?”

“It’s not my fault the dwarf took forever to figure out a way to properly secure the prisoner,” Alice said. She shook her head. “Forget it. Catch me up. What’s happening?”

“Oh, nothing much,” the skeleton said and jerked the steering wheel to the left. Immediately after, it jerked the wheel back to the right, causing Alice to nearly tumble out of the carriage. “Pothole.” It cleared its non-existent throat. “You should put your seatbelt on. It’s a new safety feature added by the dwarves; it helps prevent people from falling off.”

Alice glared at the skeleton. If it weren’t for the fact it needed its skull to drive properly, she would’ve punched it off. She grabbed the seatbelt, and it didn’t take her long to figure out how to put it on. Somehow, it didn’t make her feel any safer. She sighed and leaned back before crossing her arms over her chest. “Has a cure been found?”

“No,” the skeleton said. “We’re still working on it. Unfortunately, it’s pretty difficult because”—it took one had off the wheel and knocked on its skull, causing a hollow thudding sound to ring out—“we don’t have any brains.”

Alice sighed. “Aren’t the humans and dwarves helping you with this?”

“Well, yes,” the skeleton said and cackled. “But who knew they weren’t much smarter than us? Honestly, we undead have already developed a solution, but the dwarves and humans won’t let us do it because they doubt us.”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “What is it? Kill all the berserkers and let them become skeletons too?”

The skeleton’s eye sockets widened, and it turned its skull around to stare at Alice. “No wonder why you’re the leader-in-law; you came up with the same solution as the leader!”

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Alice’s expression darkened, and she grabbed the skeleton’s skull. She twisted it, forcing it to look at the road. Something on the side of the road caught her attention, and she turned her head. “Did you see that?”

“See what? Your fingers were in my eyes.”

Alice turned around and stared, but after a bit, she shook her head. “Forget it. I thought I saw a ribcage.”

The skeleton cackled. “You must’ve spent too much time in that prison. You’re even seeing things out here.”

“I don’t—”

The carriage came to a sudden halt, throwing Alice face first into the windshield. Now she knew why the seatbelt didn’t make her feel safe. The material was too stretchy, and it didn’t work! Alice groaned and clutched her forehead. “What’s your problem!?” she asked as she turned her head, but the skeleton had already left the carriage. It was squatting by the side of the road, and in its bony hands, there was a skull.

Alice frowned and undid her seatbelt before jumping out of the carriage, landing by the skeleton’s side. “What happened?”

Both skulls turned to look at her. “Someone attacked our base,” the skull said. “The leader’s fighting her right now. Hurry and help him!”

Alice’s eyes widened, and she grabbed the skull. She leapt into the driver’s seat and perched the skull on top of her head. She stomped on the gas pedal, not bothering about the skeleton that had brought her here. “How far away is your base?” she asked the skull on top of her head. “How did you end up over here?”

“It’s not too far,” the skull said. “I went up to the lady to talk to her, but she hit me, and I was sent flying all the way over here. By the way, have you seen the rest of my body?”

“No,” Alice said. After a second, she changed her answer. “Actually, I think I saw your ribcage. But that’s not important right now. Tell me about this attacker. What is she doing?”

“She wears black armor, and she has red hair,” the skull said. “There was a sword hanging on her waist, but I didn’t see her use it. All she did was kick me, and I couldn’t resist.”

Alice furrowed her brow. That didn’t sound like any guild master she knew. Why else would such a strong human go to the area designated as a quarantine zone? “Wait a minute,” Alice said. “Aren’t you describing Mary?”

“She didn’t tell me her name,” the skull said. “How would I know if she’s named Mary or Single?”

Alice’s brow furrowed. Why were there so many problems? Before she met Vur and Tafel, it’d be rare for her to have to act more than once a month. Now, she didn’t even have time to relax much less focus on planning her wedding! Maybe it was time for a vacation.

***

“Oh, there he is,” Grimmy said, his eyes lighting up. He chuckled and glanced at Leila, who was walking behind him. “I knew Ramon would be fine. As expected, nothing happened to him.”

Leila peered to the side, looking around Grimmy. Ramon was sitting on his haunches in front of a crystal seal, and he turned his head to look towards his parents. His eyes widened, and he climbed to his feet. “Mama! Papa!”

“Ramon, are you okay?” Leila asked and dashed over. She hugged Ramon’s head and glanced at the crystal seal. There was a pure-white goat with pink eyes staring at her. Leila narrowed her eyes, and she looked at Ramon. “Did this goat do anything to you?”

“No,” Ramon said and shook his head. “She wants to be my friend. She was teaching me how to talk to the air.”

Grimmy raised an eyebrow and glanced at Kozabokget. “What trick are you playing?”

Kozabokget rapidly shook her head. “No tricks,” she said. “I don’t dare play any tricks. All I ask is you please keep the human-dragon monstrosity away from me.”