Kim Hajun stared at the large spread of food in front of himself. For some reason, it looked like the food he’d make for himself when he actually had free time to cook. Either someone had read his mind and appropriated his recipes, or he had unknowingly created a massive meal. Considering there were shiny patches of skin on his hands and forearms that looked as if hot oil had splattered against him, Kim Hajun was inclined to believe in the latter. Somehow, he had zoned out and cooked a feast fit for Thanksgiving. Also, there was another little person; there seemed to be a lot of those following Vur around.

“Wow, you guys really went through a lot without me, huh?” Mervin asked. He was sitting beside Stella, and in front of the two tiny individuals, there was a watermelon slice that dwarfed them even further. There was the bottom of a white melon seed sticking out of the fairy queen’s mouth, and with a slurping sound, it vanished.

“Yep,” Stella said. “That’s where all the silver animals came from, a place called Earth we went to because of Prika.”

Mervin bobbed his head up and down before using a toothpick to pick up a piece of watermelon. “What about those bugs over there?” he asked and gestured towards Garlic and Ginger resting on the edge of the table. “Are those friends or food?”

“Friends,” Stella said. Her eyes flitted towards Vur before her gaze landed back on Mervin. “But they’re named after food: Ginger and Garlic.”

The genie king tilted his head to the side. “Why?”

“Because,” Stella said and shrugged, “things be the way they are.”

Kim Hajun shifted his gaze away from the little people, turning his head towards Vur and Tafel with a frown. They were acting like nothing was wrong as if the Oebu Sin weren’t going to invade the tower. Vur was stuffing his face without a care in the world, extremely typical behavior for a dragon. During the prophetic dream, the dragons hadn’t participated in the battle against the Oebu Sin at all, so Kim Hajun wasn’t sure if Vur’s confidence was baseless or not.

A sigh escaped from Kim Hajun’s mouth. In this iteration, it seemed like the dragons and phoenixes would be the main characters when dealing with the Oebu Sin, not like the humans could’ve stepped up without Keulonoseu acting as the Time Lord. If Kim Hajun had more time to grow stronger, perhaps he could’ve filled in the gap the Time Lord had left behind, but as he was now, supporting Vur and Tafel was the most he could do. It just would’ve been more reassuring to support people who knew how to act in order to inspire confidence amongst their underlings.

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“So, Auntie,” Tafel said, gesturing towards Lindyss with a fork. “What innate ability did the tower give you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Lindyss asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tafel blinked. “Uh, yes, I would.” She blinked again. “Please?”

“There are plenty of things you don’t know about me,” Lindyss said and stabbed her fork into a slice of pork cutlet. “Adding one more thing you don’t know won’t hurt.”

Vur looked at Lindyss and swallowed the food in his mouth. His irises glowed as he made eye contact with her. “Tell us,” Vur said, causing the cursed elf’s expression to slacken.

Lindyss’ eyes glazed over, and she said, “Long-distance swimming.” A second later, the cursed elf’s eyes returned to normal, and she glared at Vur. “Did you just hit me with a command spell?”

Vur nodded. “Yes.”

“Come here,” Lindyss said, beckoning towards Vur from across the table with her hand.

Vur blinked before looking at Tafel.

“What are you looking at her for?” Lindyss asked before Tafel could say anything. A bolt of lightning flew out of her finger and struck Vur’s shoulder—the one Sheryl wasn’t occupying. “I’m talking to you.”

Vur rubbed his shoulder and blinked at the cursed elf.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Lindyss said with a scowl. “Do you think it’s okay to use a command spell on me because you’re strong now? Tafel wanted to know, so you were willing to command me?”

“Yeah, you messed up big time,” Erin said from her spot on the table. “I’m her best friend, and you saw what she did to me.” The fairy grumbled as she looked down at her piece of fruit. “All I did was command her to dance.”

Mervin turned towards Vur and cupped his hand in front of his mouth to prevent other people from hearing what he was going to say. “I bet she’s embarrassed her innate talent isn’t that great, so she’s snapping at you. I mean, c’mon, long-distance swimming? I don’t even have an innate ability yet, but I’m sure mine’s better than hers.”

“I’ll have you know,” Lindyss said, “my innate ability allows me to swim faster than a leviathan. I wouldn’t call that useless.” She turned towards Vur and gestured at Mervin. “Now that your genie regrew, what are you going to wish for now?”

“Another pair of arms?” Mervin asked.

“Vur’s not wishing for anything,” Stella said. “Mervin’s going to hang out with us, so he’s not granting anybody here a wish.” The fairy queen crossed her arms over her chest. “Besides, I’m the one who planted him, so if anyone does get a wish, it’s me.”

Vur looked at Stella before turning his head towards Lindyss. It didn’t seem like the cursed elf was angry upset with him anymore. Mervin must’ve been right, but Vur still decided against commanding Lindyss in the future. Since the cursed elf was disappointed by her innate ability, there was an easy way to fix that. “Do you want me to teach you how to command people, Auntie?” Vur asked. “It’s easy.”

“I’m not falling for that one,” Lindyss said and snorted. “I know how you teach people.” She nodded and sank back into her seat. “If you’re really want to do something for me, you can get me some phoenix liquor when you go off to do your peace thing with Volearden and Malvina.” The cursed elf raised an eyebrow. “That’s happening soon, right?”

Vur nodded. Soon, the conflict between dragons and phoenixes would come to an end. Vur’s gaze shifted onto the table. Of course, food came first.