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Volearden exhaled as he let the empty barrel slip out of paw, not caring where it landed; after all, it’d simply fall on top of another empty barrel. As the leader of the dragons in the tower, it was highly irresponsible of him to drink this much phoenix liquor in one sitting; if the host had ill intentions, even if it was easy for him to expel the alcohol out of his body, it’d still create an opening for the host to severely injure him. Luckily, he had the foresight to wear his armor, and he could relax thanks to the protection it provided.
“Is there no more?” Fern asked and looked around in a daze. His tail swept against the ground, causing ripples and waves to appear as the barrels littering the floor were shifted out of position. He hiccoughed before raising his front legs into the air. “We did it, Arden. We drank it all!” The yellow dragon’s body tilted backwards as he lost his balance, but he didn’t seem too concerned. With a series of crunching sounds, he fell onto the ground, crushing the empty barrels spread across the clearing.
“Hey,” Volearden said and hiccoughed, shooting out a jet of flames. “You’re embarrassing yourself. Get up.”
Fern chuckled. “I’m not embarrassing myself,” he said and spread his limbs. “I don’t care what people think about me; phoenixes call me shameless all the time.” His legs and tail swept up and down and side to side. “Look, barrel angels!”
“You might not have a sense of shame, but I do,” Volearden said and hiccoughed again, setting a barrel on fire. He slapped it with his paw, breaking the wooden structure and smothering the flames. The armored dragon turned towards Vur. “Now that we’ve drank everything, you’ll treat us like family and answer all our questions, right?”
Vur tilted his head. “How drunk are you?”
Volearden nodded. “Yes.”
Tafel turned towards Vur and whispered, “He seems drunk enough to me.”
Vur blinked at Tafel before waving at Volearden. “Do you know Malvina, Queen of the Forest?”
“Of course, I know that feathered bit—err, bird,” Volearden said and nodded. “Why’re you bringing her up?”
“She’s in the tree,” Vur said, pointing at Lindyss’ residential tree.
“What?” Volearden asked, his metal helmet swirling with orange and red colors. He dropped onto all fours and glared in the tree’s direction. “Are you working with her to trap me?”
“No,” Vur said and shook his head. “I’m working with her to help Tafel get stronger.”
Volearden’s helmeted face shifted towards Tafel, causing the demon to clear her throat. “Malvina met our aunt and got drunk with her, and you decided to show up, so Malvina wanted to get you drunk as well, so you’d be in the same state of mind as her.”
“That does sound like something she would do,” Volearden said and nodded. He took a step forward and slipped, his chin smashing into the ground. “So, what? Is she looking for a fight? I can give her one.”
“Wait,” Fern said as he lifted his head off the ground without moving the rest of his body. “This aunt of yours….”
“She’s….” Tafel turned towards Vur.
“She’s Auntie,” Vur said.
“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Fern said, his words practically blurring together. He squinted at Vur. “Is she single? Do you have any pictures of her?”
Before Vur or Tafel could respond, a metal-clad claw shoved Fern aside, causing the yellow dragon to tumble towards the edge of the clearing. Volearden glared at Fern. “There’s no way you’re touching any of my family members with your grubby little paws. Keep your thoughts to yourself, got it?”
“Yes, boss,” Fern said and sighed as he closed his eyes. He had stopped moving, but his senses were still tumbling about from the armored dragon’s shove.
Volearden snorted and fixed his posture before walking up to the tree. He grabbed and lifted the branches and leaves that were acting as a shutter, revealing a knothole with a beautiful elf leaning out of it. The reddish-pink-haired elf glared at Volearden before throwing a bottle at his helmet. It bounced off with a plinking sound.
“Malvina,” Volearden said.
“Volearden,” Malvie said.
The two magical beasts glared at each other. Mana seemed to crackle between their gazes, and a fairy queen flitted away from Malvie’s side to escape from the intense heat the disguised phoenix was giving off.
“Hey!” Lindyss said from her spot by the wall. She waved her bottle at Malvie and Volearden, sloshing wine onto the ground. “If the two of you break my home or trash my residence, I’m going to do something terrible to the both of you. Go take your quarrel somewhere else.”
“You’re the aunt?” Volearden asked, looking past Malvina—though, it was hard to tell because of his helmet. The colors on his armor turned blue and purple. “What exactly are you supposed to be? You’re not a dragon.”
Malvina snorted. “Of course, she’s not a dragon,” the disguised phoenix said. “As a phoenix, it’s clear she’s Tafel’s aunt, you stupid metal lug.” She turned her head towards Lindyss. “Also, did you just threaten me?”
“No, you’re drunk. You must be mistaken,” Lindyss said, lying through her teeth.
“Oh,” Malvina said and nodded. “I must’ve misheard you. In that case”—the disguised phoenix narrowed her eyes at Volearden—“we have a score to settle.”
“I see your bad habit of overestimating yourself still hasn’t changed,” Volearden said. “Do you really think you can beat me by yourself?”
“At the very least, I won’t lose!” Malvina said as her feathers sprouted out of her skin, her arms turning into wings. She leapt out of the knothole, flying above Volearden. Her head shifted to look at Fern, and the yellow dragon hiccoughed and giggled at her in response. Malvie ignored him and focused all her attention on the metal lug below. There hadn’t been enough alcohol to incapacitate both the dragons, but at least, the yellow weasel wouldn’t interfere in her duel against Volearden. The whole residence shook as mana radiated out of the two magical beasts as they glared at each other, neither side willing to back down.
“This is what you get for lying,” Erin said to Lindyss. “Now they’re going to wreck our place unless you do something about it.”
A sigh escaped from the cursed elf’s lips. Even when she was relaxing and drinking, she couldn’t catch a break. A dragon always had to screw things up.