Lindyss crossed her legs and leaned to the side, resting her elbow on the icy armrest. Her head was propped up by her palm, which was resting against her cheek. Underneath her, there was a throne made of ice, but her seat was padded by the fur of an unknown creature to keep her butt from getting cold. Underneath the ice throne, there was a half-silver, half-green dragon. The dragon turned its eyes up to look at the person comfortably perched on its head.

“Seriously,” Lulu said, “you’re making my head numb. If I turn dumb because of you, I’m going to ask Leila to ask Grimmy to eat you.”

“Hopefully, when you turn dumb, you’ll forget that it was me who did it,” Lindyss said and rolled her eyes. As if she’d believe a dragon could be affected by a block of ice placed on its head. “We’re getting closer; just keep flying straight. The faster you fly, the sooner I’ll get off of you.”

Lulu glanced down at the ground below. She had heard rumors about the southern continent and how Grimmy destroyed it. From what she was told, it was completely inhospitable, but from what she could see, the land actually didn’t look so bad. Sure, there wasn’t anything around but brown dirt, but if she planted a few seeds, it wouldn’t take too long for the place to liven up. As expected, rumors were always exaggerated. If Grimmy really had made the place inhospitable, would Leila have become his mate?

Lindyss looked down at Lulu’s head, wondering what the dragon was thinking. Usually, Lulu would offer a rebuttal to her words. “What are you thinking about? A cold forehead isn’t going to reduce your mental capabilities,” Lindyss said. “You can relax.”

Lulu shook her head. The base of the icy throne fit perfectly along the dragon’s scales, so it didn’t even shake due to Lulu’s actions. “Do you really think Grimmy can fix me?” Lulu asked. “Does it make sense for a cursed dragon to be better at curing things than a holy dragon?”

“Don’t worry too much,” Lindyss said. “Even if Grimmy can’t solve the problem, there are still other methods of turning you back to normal. Usually, there isn’t only one solution to any given problem. We could go to Nova and have him paint your green scales silver. We could kidnap a fairy and have her cast illusion spells on you to make it seem like you’re normal. We could make some dwarves smelt some silver scales for you and replace the green ones by plucking them out.”

Lulu rolled her eyes up again to look at Lindyss. “But none of those solutions solves the root of the problem,” the silver dragon said. “They only treat the symptoms. Don’t you think it’s unnatural for a dragon to turn green? What if I’m poisoned and only have a few years to live?”

Lindyss snorted. “You’ll die eventually,” she said. “What difference does it make if it’s now or later? I haven’t seen you scrambling to come up with a way to live longer, but now you’re worried about how long you’ll live?”

Lulu’s brow furrowed, and her eyes narrowed in contemplation. After a second, her eyes widened. “You’re absolutely right!” the silver dragon said.

“Wait,” Lindyss said and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know I’m right most of the times, but what am I right about this time? Why does it seem like you misunderstood something I said?”

Lulu shook her head. “I didn’t misunderstand anything,” she said. “I’m scared of dying, but I’m not doing anything about it! Right, right, right, right, right. I have to figure out what causes things to die of old age. But how do I do that? There aren’t many dragons who’re dying of old age. Wyverns then? If I experiment on them, but….”

Lindyss’ expression darkened as Lulu rambled on and on, the dragon’s voice become lower and lower. Soon, all that could be heard were the sounds of lips moving and teeth clacking. Lindyss scratched her head. Was this a result of her words or a result of whatever had turned the dragon’s scales green? The cursed elf wasn’t quite sure.

***

Vur sat on a golden throne in the middle of the ruined courtyard. The ripples from the battle had extended quite far, knocking over a few buildings. Luckily, only the adventurers who had attacked Vur were injured. The butlers, maids, and nobles had enough common sense to escape in time. Vur drummed his fingers against the armrest of his throne. It had been created by Diamant, and as usual, only the exterior had been plated with the precious metal. In front of Vur, all the adventurers were kneeling with bitter expressions on their faces. They were the strongest in their generation, yet they had been suppressed by a single person, one who was much younger than them as well.

Vur glanced at the six people who were kneeling in front of the rest of the group. They were wearing armor made of broken dragon scales. “The six of you killed three dragons?”

Cold sweat ran down Joseph’s back. “Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

“Well, it wasn’t really the six of us,” Keith said. “The five of them did the slaying. I’m really weak and useless, you see?” He pulled out a dagger. “Look at my weapon. Do you think I can harm a dragon with this? Even if I could pierce through a dragon’s scales with this, the injury wouldn’t amount to more than a scratch.”

“Are you really trying to throw us under the bus?” Danielle asked and glared at Keith. If it weren’t for Vur’s overwhelming presence, she would’ve stabbed Keith’s butt. “Who was the one that operated the ballista, the key to killing the dragons, huh?” She raised her head and stared Vur in the eyes. “What’s it to you if we killed some dragons? Is killing dragons illegal? We did nothing wrong.”

“Holy crap,” Keith muttered and stared at Danielle as if she were crazy. “If you want to die, don’t drag us down as well!”

Vur scratched his head. For some reason, the Dragon Slayers weren’t what he expected them to be. They were too weak. However, appearances could be deceiving. Just in case, it’d be best to let Grimmy seal them in the tower. “After the auction is over, the six of you will follow me,” Vur said and turned his head to the side. Ed Edward was standing there. “When does the auction start?”

The undead noble lowered his head. “It’s scheduled to start in a week, but we can start it ahead of time if you’d like.”

Vur shook his head. “Start it in a week.” As he had thought before, a week was the perfect length of time for a nap. “Make sure these six don’t leave the island.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”