“So fancy,” Stella said as she flitted through the air. She flew to the ceiling of the room and poked a crystalline chandelier before stealing one of its crystals. After flying back down to Vur, she stored the crystal inside his bag before taking her place on his head.

“I’m glad you like my palace décor enough to steal things from it,” E said and glanced at the chandelier. It wasn’t his anyways. Zappy would probably have been outraged, but he wasn’t here to say anything. When E had asked about his assistant on the way back, Vur had told him Zappy was only imprisoned. “Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?”

“Throne first,” Vur said with a nod. He was carrying a makeshift flag in his right hand, the flagstick propped up against his shoulder while the leather rectangle was draped against his back.

“If you insist,” E said and scratched his head. “It’s a bit unkempt; I hope you don’t mind the mess.”

“Aren’t you a king?” Stella asked, tilting her head. “Why is your throne messy? People should clean it for you.”

“Well,” E said and cleared his throat. “I use my throne as my bed. And sometimes I don’t leave it for days at a time.”

Stella blinked. “Bathroom?”

“Let’s not talk about that,” E said and cleared his throat again. “I assure you; the throne room is perfectly sanitary.”

Stella pursed her lips and hummed, her eyes filled with suspicion. She shook her head before gathering Vur’s hair to use as a pillow as she lay down. “Pst, pst, Diamant, are you awake?” she whispered into Vur’s head.

“The earth never sleeps,” Diamant’s voice said in return.

E stared at the glowing runes on Vur’s arm. “I didn’t think anyone could contract with a mountain elemental,” he said to Vur while the fairy and the elemental chattered. “Even acclaimed elementalists are contracted to boulder elementals.”

“Really?” Vur asked. “Why?”

“Because mountain elementals are strong, and beings that are strong have lots of pride,” E said. “Imagine being the ruler of a massive territory, and some unknown pipsqueak comes in and tells you the land is his now and you’re forced to work under him. No one in their right mind would accept that.”

“I was in perfectly sound mind, thank you very much,” Diamant said. “You say only a crazy person would yield, but what if that pipsqueak was immeasurably stronger than you? Faced with the choice between proud and dead or cowardly yet alive, there’s not many people who’d pick death.”

“I suppose,” E said. “But he’s stronger than you, a mountain elemental? Aren’t mountain elementals the uncrowned kings of all earth elementals?”

“Beyond mountains there are mountains. Beyond people there are people.”

E frowned. “Then what’s beyond him?” he asked, gesturing at Vur.

“…Probably dragons?”

E snorted. “The dwarves have taken down dragons.”

“You’ll understand soon,” Diamant said. The runes on Vur’s arms stopped glowing.

“Hey!” Stella said and knocked on Vur’s head. “I wasn’t done talking to you.”

“Dwarves are stronger than dragons?” Vur asked, and raised an eyebrow at E. “It doesn’t seem like it.”

“Individually, dragons may be the strongest beings, but when dwarves work together, we can overcome one,” E said with a nod. “We did it when we first settled on this continent. Our technology has only advanced since then; we can do it again.”

“What if the dragons work together?” Vur asked.

E rolled his eyes. “Dragons don’t work together,” he said. “It’s part of being strong and proud once again.” He pushed open a pair of double doors. “And we’re here. My throne room.”

Stella sat up and looked around. The room smelled a bit funky, and there was a mess of items scattered about the throne’s surroundings. She glanced at E as Vur approached the chair, readying his flag. “How prideful are you?” she asked. “It’s time to find out.”

“Huh?” E asked as he followed a few steps behind Vur.

“I claim this land for Konigreich the Second,” Vur said as he raised the flag into the air. Then he rammed it into the head of the throne, piercing through the velvety material.

E’s mouth fell open as he stared at Vur, who dusted off his hands and took a few steps back to admire his handiwork from a distance. “M-my throne! My baby!” The dwarf king ran up to the throne and grabbed the flag. He tried to pull it out, but it was firmly stuck inside. He whirled around to face Vur. “What did you do!?”

“Planted a flag,” Vur said with a nod. “I’ve claimed your territory. It’s mine now.”

“But why the throne!? Couldn’t you have rammed it into the ground, or the top of the palace?” E asked. “My throne is my bed and, by extension, my life. If you can’t sleep well, then life’s not worth living!”

Vur scratched his head. “I’ll find you a new one then,” he said.

E sighed and fell to his knees. He gingerly brought his hand to his throne and sighed again before shaking his head. “It’s okay, Papa will fix you up in no time,” he whispered while stroking the red material. “Don’t worry.”

“He’s a weirdo,” Stella said from atop Vur’s head. “Maybe I shouldn’t have let him be your friend.”

E pulled his hand away while standing up. “What was that about claiming my territory?” he asked Vur. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“What used to be your land is mine now,” Vur said. “Okay?”

“Wait. What do I get out of it?” E asked.

Vur tilted his head up and met Stella’s eyes. Stella shrugged. “Friendship?” she asked. She brought her finger to her lower lip and hummed. After a while, she nodded once. “Or you can just despair.”

“Are you being serious right now?” E asked, furrowing his brow. “This is a distasteful joke.”

Vur frowned. “Mr. Skelly said planting a flag was a universal symbol of conquering. I knew Tafel’s method was better. It’s a lot easier too.”

“Gathering a crowd of dwarves will be hard though,” Stella said. “They’re everywhere.”

“Right?” Vur asked in return. “Why is this so difficult?” He glared at E, his eyes glowing golden. “I declare myself king of the dwarves. End of story.”