Ashley stared at the piece of bear meat she had been given. Rather, she was staring at her hand which was holding it, her fingers laced with sauce and juices. It was fresh-off-the-fire hot too, and if she didn’t have her heat-resistance skill, she would’ve been burned. She turned her head to the side to see how the others ate. Vur, Tafel, and Mary were stuffing their faces, holding onto the meat with their hands and biting at it with their teeth.
Beside the three barbaric eaters, Lindyss was sitting with her legs crossed. She was holding a book in her right hand, one that had no image or letters on the cover. In her left hand, she was holding a chalice of wine. Standing next to her, a skeleton was cutting bear meat on a cutting board that another skeleton held. A third skeleton used chopsticks to take the cut strips of meat off the board and dipped it in a sauce before placing it on a small plate. It added a toothpick to the center of the meat before holding the plate out towards a fourth skeleton who picked up the meat via toothpick and transferred it to the cursed elf’s mouth. Lindyss’ eyes rolled upwards to meet Ashley’s gaze, and the Light Lord felt chills run down her spine.
Ashley turned her gaze onto Puddles, and her brow furrowed. The dog had taken out a mithril dog bowl and a meat-cutting contraption that sliced and diced the bear meat into easy-to-chew pieces. Sir Selddup rolled his eyes up to look at Ashley, keeping his head down towards his bowl. His front paw crept forward and partially shielded off his food from the Light Lord’s view.
A dark expression appeared on Ashley’s face as she looked away. It didn’t seem like the pink-haired woman or red-haired man were present, but there was an old man sitting off to the side with two insect-related things. Ashley looked at her piece of bear meat once more before taking a bite out of it, copying the three barbaric eaters.
Vur’s root bracelet flashed amber, and he lowered his head to look at it. He swallowed what he was chewing before speaking. “A yellow dragon named Fern wants to enter the residence.”
“A dragon?” Tafel asked and licked her lips. “The dragons must’ve heard you defeated the lords, so they’re investigating us now.”
Vur nodded. “Should I let them in?” he asked.
“Let’s finish eating first,” Tafel said as her horns glowed with a silver light. A massive clockface appeared underneath the clearing as she cast a haste spell over the group. Their bodies blurred as they ate, chatted, and went to and from the roasting bears, the amount of meat shrinking every time they approached and left. Once the meal was over and the bears were gone, the haste spell dispersed, and Tafel leaned back against Vur and patted her stomach while letting out a sigh. “That was pretty good.”
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Vur nodded and glanced down at his root bracelet. He tapped on it, and a flash of amber light went off in the distance. A few seconds later, a dragon’s head came into view, the yellow-scaled creature’s blue green eyes scanning the area. They locked onto Vur’s group, and the dragon flew over, landing on the ground with a thump. “Hello,” the dragon said. “As I said earlier, my name is Fern, and I’m looking for the dragon who recently entered the tower.”
Everyone turned to look at Vur, and the yellow dragon blinked before turning his gaze onto Vur as well. Vur nodded. “That’s me,” he said. “What do you want?”
“Here,” Fern said and extended his front leg out. The yellow dragon’s root bracelet flashed amber, and a black, stone monument appeared in its outstretched limb. “An introductory present courtesy of us dragons.”
Vur blinked before polymorphing himself into a dragon, making sure to lift Tafel on top of his head as he did so. On the other hand, Mary was nudged away by Vur’s body as it expanded. Vur grabbed the large monument with his polymorphed paw and tilted his head at the yellow dragon. “Is it a snack?”
“No,” Fern said and chuckled. “It’s a dragon tablet. Only dragons can activate it by injecting a bit of their aura inside to access our network. Once you do, there’ll be some simple steps you have to follow to complete the setup.”
“Oh,” Vur said and looked at the monument. The imprint on his forehead shone, and letters appeared on the screen that only he could see. Vur flipped the monument over and inspected the back before placing it on the ground beside him. “Thanks.”
“Alright,” Fern said and nodded. “You’ve received the dragon tablet, and you know how it works. My job here is done.”
Vur blinked as Fern turned around and skipped away without saying goodbye. The yellow dragon headed to the wooden tablet it had entered from and vanished in a flash of amber light.
“Well, that was interesting,” Tafel said and scratched her head. “It looks like that dragon just came here to deliver this stone monument to you.” She turned her head towards the black slab of stone that was taller and wider than herself. “Since dragons have their own personal network, I wonder if phoenixes have something similar.”
“There should be a phoenix floor,” Lindyss said and looked towards Ashley.
The Light Lord shook her head. “There are surprisingly few phoenixes located inside this tower,” she said. “If you wish to find some, you’ll have to invade other towers. Long ago, Volearden led a massive hunt that caused a great decline in the phoenix population.”
Lindyss shrugged. “You heard her,” the cursed elf said to Tafel.
Tafel scratched her head. Well, even if she couldn’t access a phoenix-exclusive network, she could still bug Vur to see what the dragon one was like. She leaned over and gestured at the stone monument beside her husband. “Let’s inspect it together,” she said to Vur. “You’ll have to read it out loud though.”