"Hey, General Kudel is ready to leave, and we don't have much time. How much longer until your herbs are ready?"
Little Rich pushed the door open and peeked into the secret chamber where the archdruid was.
Then he realized that Caspar wasn't preparing herbs at all. Instead, she was staring at a page covered in writing, muttering to herself now and then.
Holy crap, was she possessed?
Little Rich grew worried and wailed:
"When is this ever going to be done? Why are you still slacking off, sis?! If we don't get moving, those two old-god bastards are going to join forces and drag a whole lot of innocent people into disaster. I finally got a chance to be a hero, and you're going to make me fail so spectacularly!"
"Quit talking nonsense! Get over here."
At Little Rich's lament, the archdruid swiftly tore up the paper in her hands, conjured a ball of elemental fire in her palm, and burned it to ashes. Then she brushed back her hair and beckoned Little Rich over.
He hesitated, unsure whether to go.
"What are you afraid of? I'm not going to eat you, you coward from another world. You can't even die, so why do you always look so strangely frightened?"
The archdruid teased him, riling Little Rich up. He pushed the door open and shouted:
"What do you mean, 'frightened'? Do you even know how to talk? I'm the great hero of Transia, the fishman scourge of Great Reef Province. Why would I be afraid of a weak woman like you? I'm being cautious! Get it?"
"Hmph, call it whatever you like."
Caspar pursed her lips and swiftly sorted through the huge pile of herbs before her. She put less than a tenth of them into a beaker—the rest,