“Let’s make it a contest.”

Everyone in the igloo turned their heads to look at Tafel. They were cleaning up the table after having finished eating. The purple-eyed demon nodded. “We’ll split up, and the one who finds the hidden piece first wins.”

“What do they win?” Stella asked, sticking her torso out of Vur’s chest. “Who gets to participate?”

“Unless we’re betting, I’m not interested in finding a hidden piece that no one has found since the tower’s been formed,” Lindyss said and tossed a few pieces of trash into a bucket. “I’m too old to run around looking for treasures.”

“You’re not that old,” Erin said from Lindyss’ shoulder. “In elf years, you’re like … what? Middle-aged?”

“Exactly,” Lindyss said and wiped her hands. “How am I supposed to compete with these two brats? One of them can open portals anywhere she wants, and the other is a dragon.”

“Doesn’t sound like age factors into it,” Erin said, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like your skills just aren’t quite up to snuff.”

“Yes, that too,” Lindyss said and rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to provoke me into participating in a scavenger hunt with no clues.”

Erin flew off of Lindyss’ shoulder and flew in front of the cursed elf’s face. The fairy queen put her hands on her hips. “So, you’d rather just sit here and laze around instead while everyone’s out having fun doing things together?”

“Yes.”

“I see,” Erin said and nodded. She flew over to the dining table and picked up a wooden cup filled with water. She flew back to Lindyss’ side and poured the water onto the cursed elf’s shoes.

Lindyss frowned and shook her foot, causing the water to evaporate. “What are you doing?”

Erin grinned as she dropped tossed the wooden cup aside, letting it land wherever. “Making sure you have enough water and sunlight because, evidently, you’re a plant.”

“It’s alright, Erin,” Stella said, flying out of Vur’s chest to join the other fairy queen. “You might not have known this, but Lindyss is actually a huge scaredy-cat. She’s afraid of losing to Vur and Tafel because she thinks they won’t respect her anymore if she doesn’t show a certain amount of dominance.”

“What?” Tafel asked, her voice brimming with mock surprise. “Auntie, is it true you’re afraid of losing to one of us? Even if we beat you, we’ll still respect you.”

Lindyss inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “I know all of you are trying to get me riled up, so I’ll compete with you, but like I said earlier, if there’s no betting, I’m not playing.”

Tafel beamed. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll take out my wager first.” A portal appeared beside her. She reached inside and retrieved a glistening, golden-brown muffin. It was the size of her head. “One muffin baked by Vur’s grandmother.”

“Whoa, what is this!?” A melon-shaped egg bounced onto the table and was immediately slapped off by Lindyss.

“Don’t put your feet on the table,” the cursed elf said and glared at the egg on the ground.

The caterpillar egg fell silent. After a bit, it flashed with a soft glow. “Sorry.”

“Do eggs have feet?” Erin whispered to Stella.

Stella whispered back, “That one does.”

“How is it?” Tafel asked, her portal closing beside her. “You can’t find a muffin like this anywhere else.”

“Aren’t those muffins fairly common?” Lindyss asked with a frown. “You visit Vur’s grandmother quite often, don’t you?”

Tafel shrugged. “That may be true, but the tower’s preventing me from teleporting out of it, so … this might be the last muffin we see for a while; after all, the first stage alone takes ninety days to complete.”

“That’s the last muffin?” Vur asked, saying something for the first time since the competition had been brought up.

Tafel nodded. “What’s your wager?”

Vur furrowed his brow. Then, his eyes lit up. “Can I wager half of your muffin?”

“Uh, no?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. “How would that even work?”

“You give me half the muffin, then I wager half, and you wager the other half.”

“Split it into thirds while you’re at it,” Lindyss said. “That way, I can wager a third of the muffin as well.”

“How about this?” Stella flew to the center of the table, hovering between Tafel, Lindyss, and Vur. “The winner gets the last muffin!”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Tafel said and shook her head. “I’m the one who went out of my way to get this muffin. If I wanted to, I could’ve eaten the whole thing by myself and none of you would’ve known. You guys have to wager something as well.”

Vur scratched his head and looked around the room. His eyes lit up, and he leaned over to pick up a fallen object on the ground. “I wager Garlic.”

“You can’t wager Garlic,” Tafel said, her expression blank. “He’s a person.”

The melon-shaped egg flashed twice. “Yeah! I’m my own person!”

Vur unceremoniously dropped the egg back onto the ground. “Ginger?”

“You can’t wager Ginger either.”

Vur frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He sank into his seat and furrowed his brow. Now that he actually thought about it, for a dragon, he had very few possessions. How could he not come up with an item equal to a muffin? Vur raised his head. “I wager Konigreich.”

Tafel sighed. “You can’t put your kingdom up for bets.”

“Why not?” Stella asked. “I’ve heard of people losing their houses due to gambling. Wouldn’t it be great if Vur became the first king to lose a kingdom due to a bet? I bet Garlic would love to see that happen.”

“I would!”

“Auntie?” Tafel asked, glancing at Lindyss.

“What’s the use of betting Konigreich away? I already take care of all of Konigreich’s matters,” Lindyss said. She glared at Vur. “You’re betting dragon scales. When you lose, you’re giving me ten dragon scales; I don’t care where they come from.”

“Mighty big talk for an old lady,” Erin said, “acting like you’ve won already.”

Lindyss snorted and grabbed the fairy queen. “I’ll wager Erin. If I lose, no take backs.”

“Hey! Let go of me! You already know you can’t wager people! Stop it with your bad jokes.”