"I'm Rogal Dorn! You finally remembered I was here!"
Looking at the huge lemon of a man in front of him, covered in dust and looking as if he'd just been dug up, Magnus felt awkward. He'd just been talking about Seventh Brother, and somehow he'd completely forgotten Dorn.
The Emperor, by contrast, didn't look the least bit ashamed. He had no shame to begin with. Hogg was much the same, but compared to the Emperor's moral standards, Hogg could at least pass for human. He did feel a little guilty, though—not toward Dorn, but toward his unlucky little stepmother Malice, whose pocket money he'd swindled.
Hard times revealed true friends. Malice often took advantage of Hogg, but he still looked after his unlucky apprentice. After all, she was his own mother.
Looking at Malice wolfing down food, dressed in tatters and with a swollen, bruised face, Hogg wore the same kindly expression as Emilia. He picked up a comb and began fixing her hair.
"My unlucky little apprentice, what were you thinking, picking a fight with Yellow Weasel? And I've told you before: apart from the Kobold, those other three aren't good people. Don't hang around with them. Now look at you—you got played!"
Though they were both Emperors, Malice clearly favored Hogg more. She knew he was worried about her, but still defiantly lifted her chin and shouted:
"If those useless idiots hadn't held me back, I wouldn't have lost! That bastard Emperor lied and said you and Magnus were going to die. I knew he was up to no good—saying one thing to my face and another behind my back. What a despicable guy! He even hit me on the head. I wasn't smart to begin with. What if he knocked me stupid?"
As for Malice, who