Sung yawned and rolled over onto her side, squishing her left wing underneath herself. Her legs kicked a few times as she snorted. Moments later, a snoring sound rang out of her mouth. A line of drool leaked out of the corner of her mouth and onto her pillow, which was a boulder covered in yellow moss. It was a special type of moss that grew near places with high concentrations of mana: such as rocks covered in dragon drool. Sitting across from the sleeping dragon, Lindyss was reading a book. She had been left behind by Sera and told to wait for Vur or she would face the consequences. She didn’t know what the consequences were, but she didn’t want to face them.

There was a small movement by Sung’s face, and Lindyss raised her head. A fairy was hovering around Sung, doing something to the red dragon’s pillow. “What are you gathering?”

“Dragon drool,” Erin said, her tiny wings flapping so fast they were nearly invisible, keeping her suspended in the same place. “And look at all this mana moss; I’ll be rich if I sell even half of it.”

“It’s hard to get rich off a dragon,” Lindyss said, turning her attention back onto her book. “In fact, it’s nearly impossible.” She tucked a strand of hair hanging in front of her face back behind her ear. “Even if it seems free, it’ll cost you in some way, shape, or form.”

Erin stared at the bottle of dragon drool in her hand. She glanced at the large mass of yellow moss in her other hand. With a determined expression, she flew over to Lindyss and tucked the two materials into the cursed elf’s pocket before she could object. “Ack!” With a swoop, Erin dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding Lindyss’ hand. “It’s just temporary! I don’t have big enough pockets to store them!”

Before Lindyss could respond, there was a loud beeping sound. Lindyss and Erin turned their heads to the side, staring at the exit of the cavern where the sound was coming from. A loud snore forced them to turn their attentions onto Sung. Erin leaned over in the air and whispered, “Should we wake her up?”

“I hate it when people disturb my sleep,” Lindyss said. “So, I don’t wake other people up to avoid being called a hypocrite.” She pushed Erin towards Sung. “That’s why you can do it.”

Erin blinked twice. “If you make someone else wake someone, it’s still your fault for waking them!” The fairy queen sighed and muttered, “Hypocrite,” but she still approached the sleeping dragon. “Hey, wake up. There’s a beeping sound coming from outside. I think you left your oven on.”

Sung smacked her lips a few times before choking twice, her airways seemingly clogged. A moment later, a large ball of mucus flew out of her mouth and covered Erin, dragging the poor fairy queen to the ground. She struggled free and glanced down at herself. Her eyes widened. “I’m covered in money!”

Lindyss narrowed her eyes at the fairy, who was gathering as much mucus as she could. “Since when did you become so materialistic?” she asked and hid her pockets from view, sitting on them. Another beep pierced the cavern, causing Lindyss’ brow to furrow. “Hurry up and wake her. That could be Vur asking to be brought back. Then we can finally go home. This is the fourth time I’m reading this book.”

Erin looked around before storing the mucus she scraped off of herself, placing it in a corner of the cavern. She cleared her throat and flew up to Sung before halting in front of the dragon’s snout. She used one of Sung’s scales as a mirror, inspecting herself and fixing her hair. After she restored her appearance, she cleared her throat again. “I, the great Erin Koller, command thee to wake up!” She raised her hand and slapped it down, striking the edge of one of the red dragon’s nostrils.

“Yeowch!” Sung bolted upright, causing the cavern to shake from the sudden motion. She glanced around while rubbing her snout, and her eyes narrowed at Lindyss. “Did you hit my nose?”

“No,” Lindyss said. “Honest, it wasn’t me.” She pointed at the cavern’s exit. “Also, there’s a beeping sound coming from over there. I didn’t touch anything in case of explosions.”

Sung glared at Lindyss for a little while longer. “I’m watching you,” she said and pointed at her eyes with her claws before pointing her claws at Lindyss. “Oh, where’s Bobo?”

Lindyss closed her book and placed it down on her lap, folding her hands on top of it. “He said he couldn’t fall asleep since you kept kicking him while you were dreaming, so he went outside for a walk.”

“Figures,” Sung said and shook her head. She rubbed her snout with her front paw while limping out of the cavern, heading towards the room with her portal device. Sung pressed a large crystal on the wall that emitted a bright light and a beeping sound, cutting the sound and light off. “It seems like Prika’s fake mate finally found her. How long did that take? A few days?” She muttered to herself and flipped a few switches, and a green portal appeared on the wall.

Not even two seconds had passed before Prika’s head popped through. “Sung!” Prika roared and bolted out of the portal, tackling her sister to the ground. “You lied to me! There weren’t any dragons in that world at all!”

“I didn’t lie to you; you lied to me!” Sung shouted back, slipping out of Prika’s grasp like an eel. “You lied about Vur being your mate. It’s only fair that liars get punished!”

Lindyss took a few steps back, avoiding the tussling dragons. She waited at the portal, and she wasn’t disappointed. Vur appeared along with Tafel, Alice, Mary, and Mr. Skelly. Lindyss nodded, about to say something when another two unfamiliar creatures appeared: a horse and a white cat. Then, a group of nearly naked brown-skinned men came through, followed by someone she had seen before—Charles V, the person she had taken some information from. Lindyss raised an eyebrow at Vur. “It looks like you had an interesting time. What happened?”

“Hi, Auntie.” Vur scratched his nose. “My adventure was boring; you should ask Tafel about hers instead.”

“Well….” Tafel pursed her lips and hummed. “Where do I start?”