The woman who had silenced Keith stared at Mary with a frown on her face. Although the robed woman suspected her current boss’s mental capacity due to the armored woman wanting to slay a dragon for the sake of a pet, she hadn’t realized just how severe the mental deficiency was—until now. “After discovering the dragons capturing our people, you want to send more people into the dragons’ lair by themselves? To what? Be captured as well?”

Mary frowned as well. Why had the plan made much more sense when Keith had first proposed it to her, and why did it seem so ridiculous now that the robed woman commented on it? “It was Keith’s idea.”

“That explains a lot,” the robed woman said and rolled her eyes. She shook her head. “Although the plan is poorly thought out, the concept isn’t that horrendous. Rather than sending people in to worship Grimmoldesser, it’d make much more sense to establish a religion around the cursed dragon out here, and when he gets curious, we take him down. Disguise the ballistae as ceremonious items, perhaps as decorations around an altar. It wouldn’t surprise me if a dragon like Grimmoldesser had an inflated ego.”

“Won’t that take a while?” Mary asked. “How long will it take to establish a religion, and how long will it take for Grimmoldesser to notice it?”

“Do you really think a dragon-slaying plan can be accomplished instantly?” the robed woman asked. “Slaying a dragon is a grand undertaking; small steps have to be taken first. It can’t be accomplished in one day. If you could do kill a dragon that fast, you wouldn’t have hired us.”

Mary took in a deep breath. “So, how long do you think it’ll take?”

The robed woman shook her head. “It depends on the timing as well. If Grimmoldesser doesn’t show up by himself, or if we aren’t ready the moment he appears, we could be waiting for large amounts of time. Things have to be perfect, and even if you’re prepared, you still have to wait for the right opportunity. I estimate it’ll take at least a year for us to have a shot.”

Mary’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t bring a year’s worth of supplies when we came here,” she said. “Your leader claimed it would only take a month at most.”

“That was before we knew about the existence of other dragons,” the robed woman said. “If it was just Grimmoldesser, it wouldn’t take as long, but we didn’t expect to run into his whole family. You hadn’t informed us of that.”

“I was the one that ordered you to gather intelligence,” Mary said. “If anyone should’ve informed anyone, it should’ve been you informing me.”

The robed woman blinked. “While that’s true, you’re still the leader of this expedition. As such, you’re the one that’s responsible for verifying the information.”

Mary’s expression darkened. Under normal circumstances, anyone who spoke to her this way would be disposed of. Unfortunately, she needed this cheeky woman’s help. “What do you need to establish a religion?”

“People,” the robed woman said. “We already have our figure of worship, Grimmoldesser. All we need are some people to worship him. Why don’t you take us back to civilization? We’ll work together to gather a large population to bring back here. You don’t have to worry about us running away, not with half of our companions being held hostage by the dragons.”

Mary stroked her chin. “Let me think about it,” she said. Her gaze swept over the mercenaries. “I’ll talk with each of them individually first. Maybe one of you will have a better plan.” She went to the nearest mercenary and brought him away.

The fifth member of the Dragon Slayers came up to the robed woman. “Even if we kill Grimmoldesser, how are we going to save Keith, Danielle, and Joseph from Grimmoldesser’s family?”

The robed woman raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t expect you to be such a sentimental person,” she said. “After getting caught by dragons, the chance of surviving is overwhelmingly based on whether or not the dragons want to let you go and not on anything else. They’ll understand if we don’t come back for them.”

The fifth member of the Dragon Slayers stared at the robed woman. After a long moment, he exhaled and patted his chest. “Thank goodness,” he said. “I thought you were really planning on dragging us to our deaths there.” He glanced at Mary, who was talking with one of the mercenaries. “What about her?”

“Once she takes us back to civilization, will she be able to locate us if we change our identities?” the robed woman asked and rolled her eyes. “She gets lost going to the bathroom; it’ll be a miracle if she can find us after we disperse.”

***

Tafel leaned back and exhaled. After conversing with the Recordkeeper, she finally figured out how to perform the second spell in the Trickster’s Book. Unfortunately, even though she hadn’t tried it yet, she didn’t think it would have an effect on Vur just based on the spell’s description. However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try it. Her horns glowed silver, and a portal opened beside her. She walked through and immediately covered her eyes. A dazzling golden glow filled her vision, nearly blinding her. She squinted and lowered her hand, barely able to make out the outline of a building. Was this the company house that Vur had built? Why was it so shiny!? “Vur? Are you here?”

A portion of the building split open. Tafel hadn’t realized that section of the building had a door. The surface was smooth, glossy, and seemed like one continuous piece. Once the door was open, the offensive glow was angled away from Tafel’s face, allowing her to see somewhat properly. Vur beckoned at her from the doorway, inviting her to come in. With an unsure expression on her face, Tafel stepped through the massive entrance that could easily accommodate a dragon. Just by looking at the slabs of gold that made up the doors, she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to push them open. Luckily, she could still enter and exit with her portals; otherwise, how embarrassing would it be if she couldn’t leave the company house by herself? Tafel took in a deep breath while looking around the interior. “Which architect designed this place?”

Vur patted the brown runes on his forearm. “Deedee did.”

Tafel nodded. “Fire him.”