"What a long queue, and after two hours, we are still midway," said Terax.

"Do not complain and be patient Terax," replied Dragoona.

"Patient? I cannot bear with this anymore. Just what the heck is this bonesoup restaurant? Why there are so many ladies in the queue?"

As an old resident of the Waterfall kingdom, Terax knew about the restaurant, but he never understood why the ladies liked it so much.

"It is obvious, is not it? Their soup does not make you fat, and it tastes great."

Terax tilted his head to the side, "Oh, I see. I have been thinking about this for years, and the answer turned out to be so simple. So are you sure that the necromancer is in the restaurant?"

"Not in the restaurant but underneath it. Back when I had my dragon's detection skills, I found a necromancer located underneath this bonesoup restaurant. I expect he wanted to hide in a very dull place so that none would notice him. But the mysterious part is that even after three months I haven't noticed him ever leaving his location. So basically, he had been living underneath this restaurant for at least three months."

"That is weird, maybe he is researching something?"

"Maybe, I do not know much about necromancy. Once we enter the restaurant, we will keep talking about necromancy and decide what we will do based on the reactions of the workers."

"Sounds good to me."

Terax agreed to what Dragoona had said and tried to stay patient, but for only ten minutes, "No, no, I cannot wait for more than this. My dead father is waiting for me to resurrect him, and I am here wasting time in a never-ending queue."

"Well, I also want to resurrect him as much as you do because he is probably capable of returning me back into a dragon. I am not expecting much from you, Terax, but If you got a way to make us bypass this long queue, I don't mind trying it."

"Hmm… I have a trick."

***

"Mom, where are you?" Terax shouted as he kept pushing his way through the long queue. He was screaming with tears while Dragoona was following him.

"Hey, why are you moving to the front of the queue? We have been standing in this queue for hours." complained one of the ladies.

"Oh, poor boy, let him be he is searching for his mother." replied another.

"But is not he too old to cry for his mother?"

"An offspring is always a baby in the eyes of his mother."

"Not bad, Terax," whispered Dragoona so that none would hear her. "We might actually reach the front of the queue in no time."

And as Terax was blazing through the queue, a very dangerous foe grabbed his shoulder. Her name is Freya.

"Oh, look who do we have here, it is Terax," said Freya.

Terax felt a cold shiver through his spine. "H-Hi Freya. What a coincidence, I am so happy to see you."

Why is Freya in this damn queue? Why is my life so miserable?

Freya is the bodyguard for the queen of the waterfall kingdom. She also is the caretaker of Terax after his father passed away, and she used to be a friend to Terax's mother. The queen is also a very picky person who cannot have a female bodyguard with her unless she has extreme beauty and extreme strength, and Freya had both.

She grabbed his shoulder tightly while giving a dark smile. "I am also quite happy to see you, Terax. I heard you shouting for your mother. But I wonder where is your mother right now? She is not in this queue, is not she?"

Terax's mother had gone missing for almost ten years. People have searched for her nonstop, but they could never find her. Freya, who was a friend of Terax mother, knew this quite well. This is why the situation did not look bright for Terax.

She knows my mother more than me, better to just be silent.

Thus, Terax went mute and relied on giving her sad, puppy looking eyes, which he felt may somehow penetrate through her cold, harsh heart.

"These emotional tricks won't work on me, Terax. I asked you where your mother is, didn't I? When people ask you a question, you have to answer it. Or should I teach you how to answer?"

I have to tell her the truth before she kills me.

"My mother had gone missing, and I do not know where she is."

"Then why have you been shouting for her? Could it be that you were trying to use your mother's name to bypass the queue?"

The eyes of all the ladies were staring at Terax and Freya talking and murmured to one another.

"So, this boy was lying?"

"Kids are so annoying."

"If he were my kid, I would have spanked him."

Freya gripped Terax shoulders more tightly, causing him sharp pain. "So we have a liar. And as your caretaker, I have to discipline you. Otherwise, your parents would blame me, wouldn't they? Now I wonder how should I punish you?"

Freya maintained her same dark smile as she kept staring at Terax, creating a tense atmosphere.

Shit, I didn't expect to die young...

"Umm, could you punish me instead? It was I who told him to do this," said Dragoona.

Freya's relaxed her grip on Terax shoulder, "You forced him? Is it true, Terax?"

Terax was surprised. Why is she doing this?

The ladies murmured once again.

"Oh, poor boy, so he was forced to lie because of this evil woman?"

"She looks so beautiful, yet her heart is so ugly."

"Never judge a book by its cover."

Terax ignored the words of the ladies surrounding him and was more focused on the words of Dragoona. It did not make sense to him. She ate him and did not care one bit about his feelings, nor on the feelings of the thousands of young boys whom she had eaten. She would not have cared whether he would get punished or not. It was surprising to see her sudden change of heart. That is, to put the blame on herself instead of on Terax.

I do not need your sympathy.

"No, I lied to bypass the queue. I do not even know this lady, never seen her before."

Dragoona looked angry, "You have forgotten about all the flowers you have given me? All the oaths of love that you showered me--"

"Alright, that is enough," Freya interrupted Dragoona. "I do not want to waste my time anymore with this. If you two want to be punished so much, then I will do it. I will forbid you two to enter this restaurant you love so dearly for a whole week."

Freya grabbed the two from their clothes and tossed them high in the air. And thanks to her great strength, they flew all the way behind the end of the queue. All the ladies around Freya had gone silent in terror of her power.

"Argh, my head, why did she have to throw us like that?" complained Dragoona. "This is why ladies do not taste good. If I were still a dragon, I would have crushed her just like an ant."

"Just be glad that we have survived. Freya is among the strongest in the waterfall kingdom. I prefer to avoid her at all times."

"And we are back on square one, huh?" said Dragoona.

All the trouble that the two have gone through had gone to waste thanks to Freya.

"What an annoying caretaker you've got. How did she become your caretaker in the first place?"

"She wanted to become my caretaker after my father had passed away because she pitied me, and she knew my missing mother quite well. Honestly, I never saw a drop of pity from her. All she kept doing was beating me as you have just experienced."

"And so, we have to find a way where we can enter the restaurant without making her find out about it?"

"About that, I suggest sneaking into the restaurant at midnight. Freya is always busy at that time guarding the queen in the Great Castle. She would never prioritize our punishment over protecting the queen."

"Makes sense, but the restaurant will be closed at that time. So we will have to sneak in without anyone noticing us."

"Yeah, we will probably have to unlock a few locked doors. Do you know anything about lockpicking Dragoona?"

She gave a grin. "Of course. I have a large set of lockpicking tools at home. I had to unlock many locked rooms to eat some juicy young boys. Aaaah, such sweet times."

"As much as I hate saying this, at least your obsession is helping us this time. Let us go back and prepare for the sneaky mission. My dead father is waiting for me."

***

It was midnight, and both Dragoona and Terax were hiding beside the bonesoup restaurant. Dragoona had a bag full of lockpicking tools for the mission.

"I am not feeling Freya's presence," said Terax. "What about you, Dragoona?"

"My detection skills are so weak in this human form, so don't rely on it too much. But no, I am not detecting Freya either."

"Great, then let us head to the restaurant. I cannot wait to meet the necromancer."

"I also cannot wait to eat you."

The duo was running without making any noise. They have to be careful here because of the guards patrolling the whole kingdom. These guards are required to protect the city from thieves and monsters if they somehow sneaked outside the dungeon. No one is allowed to hang around the kingdom at night, and especially at midnight.

If the guards caught any citizen walking around at midnight, then they will be sent for a week in jail regardless of the excuse, period. The only exception to this rule is those with special permission from the king. Luckily, there were no guards around the bonesoup restaurant, which makes sense. Because who on Earth would steal a restaurant that sells bonesoup? Thieves search for wealth, not for bonesoup.

Meanwhile, Terax and Dragoona have reached the door of the restaurant, which was obviously locked.

"Clink"

And Dragoona unlocked it with ease.