Lindyss peered over Grimmy’s head and raised an eyebrow. “Well then. That’s on a much larger scale than I thought it would be.”

Grimmy nodded, nearly causing Lindyss to fall off. He was hovering over a palace. Within that palace’s gardens, there was a massive hole with red liquid churning inside of it. Bubbles occasionally rose to the surface and popped, spraying bloody mist into the air. A group of people dressed in white robes were surrounding it, and there was a line of villagers leading towards the hole from outside the palace. One by one, the villagers jumped into the pit, disappearing underneath the liquid’s surface. Some tried to resist and run away after seeing the pit, but armored guards with pikes prevented that from happening.

“Really?” Grimmy asked. “That little girl’s blood magic was just on an extremely small scale. This is the kind of stuff I envisioned it being used for.”

Erin tugged on Lindyss ear, hiding inside a curtain of hair. “I really think your dragon friend is a bad influence,” she whispered. “From now on, you should stay as far away from him as possible.”

Lindyss rolled her eyes. “What are they doing?” she asked, crossing her legs as she leaned back. “Some kind of summoning ritual? Or is their leader so afraid of death that he’s looking to create an elixir of immortality?”

“Neither of those,” Grimmy said. “It looks like a creation ritual. They’re trying to create a really big creature filled with resentment using flesh and blood as the bonding agent. It’s a little like that dark spirit you made Vur eat or the god that the humans worshipped back home. It’s crude though, and it’s definitely not going to be humanoid in nature. Or anything natural. Maybe a giant mishmash of different animals.”

“So, I’ve been wondering,” Erin said out loud towards Grimmy. “Do those people just not care that you’re hovering over them? Isn’t a normal reaction upon seeing a dragon to panic, scream, and run?”

Grimmy grunted. “Yep, that’s the normal reaction. But it’s okay because I’m stealthy. They can’t see me.”

Erin blinked hard and rubbed her eyes. She hopped off of Lindyss head and flew towards the scales under the cursed elf. “You’re saying you’re invisible right now?”

“No,” Grimmy said. “I said I’m stealthy.”

Erin tilted her head before staring up at Lindyss. The fairy queen blinked an unasked question, causing Lindyss to sigh. “Just ignore him when he says stupid things like that,” the cursed elf said and shook her head. “That’s what I do.” She tapped on Grimmy’s scales and gestured towards the bloody pit with her head. “Are you going to do anything about that?”

“Do anything?” Grimmy asked and raised his brow. “Why would I?”

“You know what they say,” Lindyss said. “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Stop the mishmash creature from being summoned now, and you won’t have to spend nearly as much effort to stop it later.”

Grimmy rolled his eyes up to look at Lindyss. “But it’s not my problem? I don’t live here.” He grunted and brought his front claw up to his chin and rubbed it. “Hmm. Who does live here? Was it Sera’s family? I think Prika’s cousins lived here too. They’ll take care of it.”

“It’s your duty to stop them,” Erin said. “You don’t let people get away with evil rituals; it’s called noblesse oblige. As someone born with strength, power, and the ability to do whatever you want, you have the moral responsibility to give back to people less fortunate.”

“You’re preaching to someone who’s on the other end of the evil rituals,” Lindyss said, grabbing Erin and stuffing the fairy back into her hair. “He’s the person who starts the evil rituals that other people are obligated to stop.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Grimmy said. “Let the fairy come out; I want to debate with her some more.”

“You’re going to eat her, aren’t you?” Lindyss asked, narrowing her eyes at Grimmy.

Grimmy cleared his throat. “Now why would I do that?” he asked and redirected his gaze towards the ritual site. “She wouldn’t even sate my hunger. In fact, I’d use up more energy digesting her than I’d gain from consuming her.”

Lindyss rolled her eyes. “Yes, but you’re the type of person to take on small losses for yourself if it means you could create a large loss for someone else. I’m not going to let you eat her.”

Erin’s head popped out of Lindyss’ hair, her eyes glittering. “I knew it! You care about me! It took you so long to realize your feelings for me because you’re a frigid b—person, but you realized it!”

Lindyss sighed. “On second thought, you can eat her.”

Grimmy chuckled and turned his attention back onto the pit. “Once this thing’s created, it’ll take a couple of dragons to bring down. And once they’re all tired, and the creature’s almost dead, that’s when I’ll come in to take it.”

“Those people are dying as we speak, you know?” Erin asked and pointed at the villagers lining up in front of the pit. “Can you really abandon them so heartlessly?”

Grimmy snorted. “When I go to sleep for a hundred years, millions of humans will have died by the time I wake up. This tiny amount really isn’t much.”

Erin snorted. “Hmph, if you won’t save them, then I will! Watch as I, the mighty Erin Koller, save those people.” She flew down to Grimmy’s snout and pointed at the guards who were preventing the villagers from running. “Polymorph!”

Time seemed to freeze as the guards turned into sheep.

“That’s right! Run free, villagers!” Erin cheered. “You’re free now!”

As if they heard her, the villagers ran. Towards the sheep. With shouts and frenzied screams, the villagers wrangled the struggling sheep and threw them into the pit where they bleated before dissolving, wool and all. Then, they swarmed the people dressed in white robes and shoved them inside. Like savages, they howled and beat their chests while cheering towards the sky. Grimmy crossed his eyes to stare at Erin, who was frozen in shock on the tip of his snout. “So. You saved them. Congratulations.”

Erin bit her lower lip. “T-that wasn’t…, that’s…, why…?”

“Oh, looks like the ritual’s done anyway,” Grimmy said and beat his wings instead of answering Erin. “Villagers, guards, ritualists, all of them are catalysts. It doesn’t matter which ones fall into the pit as long as enough of them do.” The ground shook and fractured, causing the villagers down below to shout as they fell to their knees. “Well, let’s get out of here before things get messy.”

Erin dragged her feet along Grimmy’s scales and dropped to her knees in front of Lindyss, who was still sitting with her legs crossed. The fairy looked up at the cursed elf. “Did I…, did I do something wrong?”

Lindyss shrugged. “What’s right, what’s wrong, who are we to decide?”