Book 6: Chapter 15
Book 6: Chapter 15
Vur stood with his arms crossed, standing in the center of the room with Tafel and Lindyss standing at his sides but positioned slightly behind him. Held in his arms, pressed against his upper body, there was a red, statue-like ant. In front of the ant, there was an open jar half-filled with an amber liquid. Vur was holding it up with a third arm, and in his fourth arm, there was a second jar of honey. His fourth arm bent, bringing the glass close to his face, and without a care in the world, Vur took a few generous mouthfuls of the liquid.
The air shimmered in front of Vur’s group shimmered, and a flaming woman, Gaegukja Yeol, appeared. She hovered above the ground with her hands placed on her hips, a faint smile on her face. “Welcome back. This trial was simply a joke to the three of you, I see.”
Vur nodded and turned his head towards Lindyss. As if they had discussed beforehand, Lindyss reached into her pocket and retrieved three jars of honey, distributing them to Tafel, Vur, and herself. Vur stared at the jar he was handed, which he had picked up by uncrossing one of his arms. His wrist wiggled from side to side, causing the amber liquid inside the jar to swirl about. He frowned, but he extended his arm out, offering the jar of honey to Gaegukja Yeol without saying a word.
The flaming woman cleared her throat. “Isn’t there something you have to return to me before giving me this jar of honey?”
Vur furrowed his brow, and Gaegukja Yeol cleared her throat again. “I’ll give you a hint,” the flaming woman said. Her body contorted, the solid bits dispersing into flexible flames, and she took on the shape of a cube. “It looks like this.”
Gaegukja Yeol didn’t remain shaped like a cube for very long. Her body unraveled itself, returning to her original form. She floated to the side and gestured towards the floor. There was a noticeable imprint of a cube’s bottom along with cracks that covered the surface. “The storage cube, remember?” Gaegukja Yeol asked. “It was loaned to me to complete the mission. If I don’t return it, I’ll be punished.”
Vur nodded. “I understand,” he said, making eye contact with Gaegukja Yeol. “Be more careful next time with things that don’t belong to you. It can be dangerous being a debtor.”
The flames burning on Gaegukja Yeol’s body all stopped at the same time. A moment later, they flickered and moved about once more. Half of Gaegukja Yeol’s mouth stretched out and curled up in a twisted smile as she narrowed her eyes at Vur. “To complete the tower’s mission, you have to place a jar of honey inside the storage container. Handing it to me won’t do anything.”
Vur blinked and turned towards Lindyss again. Her shadow extended, and the ground opened up into a yawning abyss of shadows. Vur maintained eye contact with Gaegukja Yeol as he bent down and stuck the jar of ant honey into the pool of shadows, his arm sinking into the ground up to his elbow. When he brought his arm out, the jar was gone. Vur stood up and looked around. “Now that I’m done, where do I go?”
“Ha-ha,” Gaegukja Yeol said, enunciating her laughter. “You know what?” Her body sank down, and her feet touched the ground. She walked in an arc over to Vur’s side and very naturally placed her arm around his shoulders. “Forget about the cube; I’ll consider it as a gift to you. Another one. It’ll probably be given away too.”
Tafel cleared her throat and placed both her hands on Gaegukja Yeol’s shoulders. The fire around the flaming woman’s shoulders burned brighter, but the increase in temperature didn’t affect Tafel at all. The demon squeezed down harder and firmly pried Gaegukja Yeol off of Vur’s body. “My husband’s keeping the cube, and it’s not going to be because you gave it to him as a gift. He found it, and acting in accord with the rules of nature, he kept it.”
Gaegukja Yeol giggled and floated back, her body behaving more as if she were floating in a pool of water rather than standing on solid ground. “If you’re going to keep the cube hidden in the shadows, I won’t go down there to retrieve it, but at the same time, all the other exam takers who came with you, I’m sure they’ll be devasted if they can’t complete the mission because the cube is gone.” Her eyes seemed to glitter as they stared at Vur. “Wouldn’t it be your fault if they’re sent to the basement as failures?”
“I got this,” Stella said and flew out of Vur’s chest. She flitted to the brown runes on Vur’s forearm and patted them. “But I’ll need your help, Deedee.”
“What wonderfully great idea do you have for me to execute today?” Diamant asked in a monotonous voice. Stella landed on Vur’s arm and gestured while whispering. After an animated moment, Stella stopped moving around, and the brown runes flashed with a dim light. A storefront made of earth rose out of the ground, and Stella cleared her throat before looking at Lindyss. The cursed elf blinked, but upon reading the signboard that came with the storefront, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
Although Lindyss thought the idea was dumb, not listening to Stella could be considered an even dumber choice, so the cursed elf waved her arm, and a series of shadowy hands rose out of the abyss, stacking the storefront’s counter with jars of honey.
“You’re selling my honey?” Vur asked, his brow furrowing. For some reason, the pupa he held in his arm seemed to be upset as well despite it being unable to express its emotions.
“No, no,” Stella said. “We’re selling entrance tickets. The contestants buy the honey, and they put it back inside the cube. Since we’re keeping the cube, the honey gets sold and returned to us.”
“Actually,” Gaegukja Yeol said. “You can keep the cube, but I really do need to hand in the honey to the tower, so the honey that gets sold will be given to me.”
Vur frowned and stared at Gaegukja Yeol in silence. A few seconds passed. Beads of flaming sweat popped up on Gaegukja Yeol’s forehead. A few more seconds passed. Gaegukja Yeol shifted about, fidgeting in place. A few more seconds passed. Gaegukja Yeol cleared her throat and walked away. “You know what? Never mind.”
Tafel blinked and couldn’t help but ask, “Where are you going?”
Gaegukja Yeol turned her head and stared at Tafel with a blank expression. The flaming woman’s body was only a few steps away from the portal leading into the ant tunnels. “I’m going to get some honey.”