“Eh? You don’t want me to feed you?” Minerva asked Tafel. She blinked as the demon shook her head. A snort escaped from the two holes in her beak. “C’mere, Vur. Aren’t you hungry?”

Vur felt his stomach. “A little,” he said with a nod. “Eating Auntie’s potato emptied my stomach instead of filling it.” He walked over to Minerva, not noticing Tafel and Emile’s concerned gazes. “I knew it wasn’t a potato.”

“Say, ‘ah,’” Minerva said, patting Vur’s head with her wing. She glared at Tafel and Emile as Vur opened his mouth. “This son-in-law of mine is more filial than my actual children. You two should be ashamed.” Before Tafel or Emile could respond, Minerva leaned forward and opened her beak over Vur’s mouth.

“I’m going to be sick,” Tafel said, her face turning green as brown liquid shot out of Minerva’s beak like water from a faucet. She hunched over and clutched her stomach.

Emile patted her head. “Why? It’s perfectly normal.”

“Really?” Tafel asked in a flat voice. “Then why did you beg me to save you?”

“I’m a minor! I can’t drink alcohol,” Emile said and rolled his eyes. “Duh.”

Grimmy and Lindyss watched Vur’s Adam’s apple bob up and down. “That’s a bit disturbing,” Grimmy said. “And I’ve seen a lot of things.” He blinked at Lindyss and poked her scowling face. “Are you jealous? That’s your jealous expression.”

“What the hell is a jealous expression?” Lindyss asked with a snort. “I’m not jealous at all. I’m offended. I had to coax and force him to eat a false god, but he willingly lets a phoenix puke in his mouth? Where’s the justice?”

Minerva pulled her head back and clacked her beak a few times. She sighed and patted Vur’s head. “If only all my children were as obedient as you,” she said, shooting another dirty look at Tafel and Emile.

Vur rubbed his nose and burped. He glanced at Tafel’s green face, Lindyss’ annoyed face, and Grimmy’s disturbed face before tugging on Minerva’s wing. He asked, “Can I have some more?”

Minerva tittered and hugged Vur with both her wings. “Of course! Open up!”

“Yup,” Tafel said, turning around. “I’m sick now.” She lifted Emile and pressed her forehead into his belly, causing him to yelp when her horns dug into him. “Can you tell if I have a fever or not?”

Emile squawked and kicked his legs while flapping his wings. “That tickles!”

Grimmy scratched his head and crawled onto his feet. “I’m gonna go, uh, terrorize those people by Leila,” he said, avoiding the sight of a phoenix feeding her young. His paw traveled over Lindyss’ head. “You have fun here now.”

“Hey,” Lindyss said as she ran forward and crawled up his leg. “That’s immoral. You can’t terrorize people without letting me come with.”

Minerva released Vur from her embrace and exhaled. She lifted a keg with her foot and poured it down her beak, emptying it all without pause. She shook the keg a few times to get the last few drops and hiccoughed as she tossed it away when she confirmed it was empty. “You can transform, right?” she asked Vur, nudging him with the tip of her wing. “How about turning into a phoenix? Let me see.”

Vur scratched his head. “I never tried that before.”

“It’ll be fine,” Minerva said, waving her wing dismissively. “You already know my skills, and you have enough mana to use them. You’re practically a phoenix already. Go on then, transform.”

Vur grunted. “Big bird…,” he muttered to himself and closed his eyes. His skin bulged as feathers popped out of his body. He grew in size as his arms flattened while curving, a flap of skin extending from his forearms to his sides. His legs grew scales as his feet turned into talons. A beak appeared as his lips stiffened and curved. A minute later, he fully polymorphed into an ocean-blue phoenix the size of Minerva. His eyes opened, revealing a pair of golden irises. “Did I do it?”

“Handsome!” Minerva said and buffeted Vur’s back with her wing. She inched closer to him and nudged his side with her talons. “I still have seven daughters other than the one you already married, you know?” She raised her brows twice and smiled. “In five hundred years or so, they’ll be ready to look for a mate.” She nudged him again. “Eh? Eh? How about it?”

Vur blinked and took a step away. “I’m already happily married.”

“You don’t have to marry them,” Minerva said, taking a step towards him, keeping close to his body. “There aren’t many phoenixes left in the world after the worms invaded our homeland. Just giving them a nice clutch of eggs will do. I’m already two thousand years old, but I’m not even a grandmother yet. Do you know how sad that is?”

Vur took another step away without answering.

“I’m not asking you to devote yourself to them either,” Minerva said, sticking to him like glue. “Look at me. Do you see my mate hanging around? Nope, he was afraid of commitment and ran away when Emile hatched, but don’t tell my children that. I told them he went to the coast to find a sea cucumber to smoke and that he’ll be back any day now.”

“I’m right here, Mom,” Emile said.

“Hush, Emile,” Minerva said, glaring at him. “Let the adults talk, okay?”

“…Are you really my mom?”

“Does she always get like this when she drinks?” Tafel asked Emile in a whisper. “I really want to yell at her for poisoning Vur’s brain with her stupid words, but at the same time, I don’t want to yell at someone who imprinted me.”

“You should yell at her,” Emile said with a nod. He sighed and raised his head towards the sky. His body stiffened. “What’s that?”

“Hmm?” Tafel raised an eyebrow as she followed Emile’s gaze. A giant white wall-like object was approaching from the horizon. “A … castle, maybe?”

“Castle?” Minerva asked as she released Vur from her wings. “That’s too cloudlike to be a castle.”

“Oh!” Vur said. “The cake’s here!”