Book 4: Chapter 102 (1/2)

“So,” Prika said, rolling her eyes up to look at Vur, who was sitting on her forehead in his human form. “You’re telling me, you can sense everything below us through those elementals of yours? All the water, all the wind, all the rocks below the water? How far is the range?”

“Yup,” Vur said and nodded. “Since there’s so much mana around, it goes really, really far. I can even sense those boats over there.” He pointed off into the distance. There were five tiny black dots on the surface of the ocean.

“Boats?” Prika asked, her eyes lighting up. “Want to go over there and flip them over?”

Vur tilted his head. “Why?”

“It’ll be fun!” Prika said, her head bobbing up and down. Despite the rough movements, Vur remained in the same spot as if he were glued to the red dragon. Prika grinned. “It’s like flipping a turtle onto its back and watching it struggle to get on its feet.”

Vur tilted his head the other way. “Why is that fun?”

Prika blinked. “You don’t think flipping turtles is fun?”

“No?”

“Oh.” Prika’s brow furrowed. “Okay, how about this? We fly over there, tip those boats over, and you tell me how you feel about it.”

“Have you tipped a lot of boats?” Stella asked, coming out of Vur’s chest. “And how many turtles have you flipped?”

Prika rolled her eyes. “Do you remember how many times you’ve entertained yourself in your life? Of course not. Why would I remember something as pointless as that?” She snorted and tilted, leaning to one side. Her body curved towards the boats in the distance. “Look, it’s more normal to flip turtles over than to not flip turtles over; I don’t get what’s so hard to understand about that.”

“I think I know why she’s single,” Sheryl whispered but not loud enough for Prika to hear. “Oh, and there’s some source of delicious-smelling fire on one of those boats over there. It’s really, really, really familiar, but I’m not quite sure what it’s from…. Do you guys ever get that? Like, there’s something you can remember but actually can’t?”

“Why would there be a fire on the boat?” Stella asked. “And don’t worry, Sheryl. When you get like that, that just means you’re old. It’s natural.”

The boats grew in size as Prika got closer and closer. She rolled her eyes up to look at Vur. “Hold your breath,” she said and pinched her nose with her front paw. “We’re going under.”

“You don’t have to hold your breath, Vur,” Mistle said. “I can keep the water out of your face, and Zilphy can siphon in some oxygen for you.”

Vur didn’t get to respond before Prika dove beneath the surface of the ocean.