Vur scratched his chin and furrowed his brow. He was sitting on top of a wooden box with his legs crossed. Skeletons were streaming into the golden building, carrying luxurious pieces of furniture and boxes of household goods.

“Is something bothering you?” the Recordkeeper asked. She was sitting next to Vur on a different box, copying his posture.

Vur hummed and turned to look at the Recordkeeper. “You’re supposed to know things. How do I make this company the best?”

“The best?” the Recordkeeper asked. “What exactly do you mean by the best?”

“Tafel’s a part of this company, and I want it to be the best company,” Vur said. “I can make it the best company by forcing every other company to disband, but then this company will be the worst one too, and I don’t want that.” He nodded at the Recordkeeper. “So, how do I make it the best?”

The Recordkeeper scratched her head. “There isn’t exactly a best company or worst company,” she said. “Companies are like families. There isn’t a best family. There are different families, and some of them do some things better than others but some things worse. The families that are best at saving money can’t also be the best at being the most luxurious, right? There are tradeoffs in everything. It comes down to your vision of where you want the company to be.”

Vur hummed again and leaned back to stare up at the ceiling. There was a giant diamond with a glowing crystal inside of it acting as a light source. “Since there’s no best company, then I’ll make this company the strongest one.” Vur nodded to himself. “Tafel will like that. She really likes working hard to get stronger.”

The Recordkeeper stared at Vur. “Since you’re a part of this company, it’s already the strongest one. There aren’t any adventurer’s stronger than you. Of all the beings in the world, there are very, very few that can defeat you.”

Stella’s head popped out of Vur’s chest. “There are things that can beat Vur?” she asked. “Like what?”

The Recordkeeper observed Vur’s expression. He seemed curious as well, and it didn’t seem like he’d take offense if she pointed out the things that could defeat him. “Well, I’ll start with the people you know. For one, there’s Grimmoldesser,” the Recordkeeper said and raised a finger. She scrutinized Vur’s face. After seeing he wasn’t going to object, the Recordkeeper raised another finger. “Then, there’s Lindyss the Corrupted One.”

Stella blinked. “Lindyss is strong? She doesn’t seem like all that to me.”

The Recordkeeper nodded. “Grimmoldesser has been messing around with her soul for way longer than he’s been messing around with Vur’s. Although there was a period of time where she was so weak that she couldn’t go out into the sun, her soul has adapted, and that problem went away. Theoretically, as long as she has enough souls to manipulate, she can even defeat Grimmoldesser—of course, this is only in theory because she’d probably require two times the world’s current population worth of souls to achieve that feat.” The Recordkeeper blinked. “Are you taking notes?”

At some point while the winged woman was speaking, Stella had taken out a notepad and a quill which she used to jot things down. Stella nodded. “I’m a very busy person, and sometimes, I can’t remember everything. Writing things down helps a lot.”

The Recordkeeper fidgeted in her seat before extending her legs, letting her feet hit the ground. Once Stella was done writing, the winged woman raised an eyebrow. “Shall I continue?”

Vur nodded. “Who else is stronger than me?”

“Your mother, Serafina,” the Recordkeeper said.

“Sera’s strong?” Stella raised an eyebrow. “Is she stronger than Grimmoldesser?”

The Recordkeeper glanced down at the fairy queen. “She isn’t referred to as the matriarch for no reason. Who’s the ruler of the roost? Serafina or Grimmoldesser?”

Stella tilted her head. “That’s not right. Isn’t the ruler of the roost Vur’s grandpa? He’s the patriarch.”

“Have you ever seen him make any decisions?”

“I’m not that old,” Stella said and blinked her large eyes. “I haven’t even seen Vur’s mom make any decisions. Do dragons even have anything to make decisions about?”

The Recordkeeper shook her head. “Whatever,” she said. “From what the records show, Sera is one of the very few ice dragons in history who’s inherited the ability to freeze souls.” She stared at Vur’s forehead. “Since you’re a part of her lineage, there’s a chance you’ll learn the soul-freezing ability too, but the chance is extremely low. …Now that I think about it, if you want to learn it, you could just ask her to use it on you.”

“And once Vur learns how to use that ability, he’ll be stronger than Grimmoldesser?” Stella asked.

The Recordkeeper stared at Vur. “…Possibly.”

Vur scratched his chin. “I’ll ask Ma later,” he said. “Who else can beat me?”

“Grimmoldesser’s mother, Grenwelser. You got into a conflict with her earlier at her home ad overpowered her physically, but that doesn’t mean you can defeat her,” the Recordkeeper said. “She went easy on you. If she really used all of her abilities, half the world would be destroyed. The previous Recordkeepers haven’t been able to gather the exact details about her, but from what has been recorded, Grenwelser has contracted—at the very least—over a dozen of the strongest evils sealed inside the evil-sealing tower.”

“How about Grimmy’s father?” Stella asked. “Did he contract evils too?”

“He has, but Grenwelser stole his contracts,” the Recordkeeper said. “I don’t know the exact details, but he shouldn’t be that strong.”

“Who else?” Vur asked before Stella could ask for more details.

“Pyrrhicandra,” the Recordkeeper said.

Vur blinked and Stella blinked. “Prika?” they asked at the same time. “Really?”

The Recordkeeper nodded. “Don’t underestimate her just because she can’t find a mate. A while back, something fell into our world through a crack in space. Prika happened to be nearby and ate it. After that incident, the temperature of her flames increased drastically. As a fire dragon, the flames she breathed out were already deadly, but with the boost of the strange item she consumed, her breath can become hot enough to the point that it can’t be seen. It’ll burn through any defense you can muster up, and you won’t even feel it disintegrating your limbs.”

Vur blinked three times.

“You really can’t judge a book by its cover, can you?” Stella asked and sighed before shaking her head. “Or in this case, you can’t judge a dragon by its personality. Prika, strong? Wow. Maybe we should be nicer to her.”