Leaving Shipping

"This feels way too easy. Like, considering how things usually go, this doesn't feel right," Wanjing says as we are gathering our things on the Treasury's rooftop.

"With Cordelia around that usually means something bad is going to happen soon, her luck is abysmal. We should have scrapped her participation and left the dummies out of the plan, that way her luck wouldn't affect the outcome," Aurelia says, as she is observing the dummies leave the city.

"Can you not distract me, it isn't exactly easy to control these with precision from this distance. Making them actually move like a person normally should from this far away is really difficult. Unless you actually want them to notice something is up this soon then keep talking," I say with Wanjing's telescope to my eye.

"I've double-checked our things and it doesn't seem like we've left anything behind. How are things on your end, Cory?" Lia asks.

"On the road, it shouldn't be long before the dummies get surrounded. I just hope it happens before they leave my field of view."

"Alright, but make sure to let us know when the Imperial Guard shows themselves, only you and Aurelia can see through the fog, and only you can see that far."

"Don't worry, it'll be really obvious when then approach the dummies, I left a nice surprise for them."

"Is that so, I won't even read your mind, so why don't you share with the rest of us what you plan on doing, this way we can make sure it doesn't cause trouble," Aurelia says.

"Underneath the wooden exterior of the dummies is a very thin metal frame, leaving the rest of the bodies hollow. I just filled it up with some nice goodies. Oh, the Imperial Guard is starting to move."

"Ok, last check, does everyone have everything?" Lia asks

"Yeah, I already put all my stuff into my ring," Wanjing says.

"I also have my belongings," Aurelia says.

"I never really took much out from my stomach."

"Ok, I'll transform now, everyone get ready."

In a flash of light that would on a normal day attract a lot of attention, Lia shifts into her Dragon form. Turning my attention to her, I can't help but wonder what happened to her wings, I mean she has them in her humanoid form but not in her Dragon form.

{Quit thinking about pointless things and get on my back,} Lia says through the Soul Connection.

As I still keep one eye on the dummies, I end up being the last one on her back and as we prepare to take flight, Yue who has been just standing around until now also transforms, revealing herself to be a giant red bird, not much smaller than Gaoh. But I can't help but think I'm looking at a big red chicken, but of course, I don't say this out loud.

Seemingly withholding her laughter, most likely have heard my thoughts, Lia says, "Will you be accompanying us, Yue?"

"Yes, part of the way that is, I still have some other inspections to get to. We are going in the same direction for part of the way but out paths will split before long, but I'll meet up with you guys in Zhongyang. Do you still have the map I gave you, the city is hard to miss but after Cordelia's recent adventure, I can't trust her with it," Yue says.

"I memorised most of it and if the need for it arises, I gave it to Aurelia, but Wanjing should also more or less know the way as well."

The two Divine Beasts fly up into the sky, almost entirely unnoticed by the city below, as we are nearly completely hidden by the thick fog in the air. But a few moments before we reach the clouds, I begin the countdown, "3... 2... 1... 0"

Ending my countdown, powerful vibrations can be felt in the air as a disturbingly loud sound can be heard in the distance, particularly where a large black smoke cloud can be seen, and it just so happens to also be where the dummies are, or in this case, were.

As Lia and Yue penetrate the cloud layer, Aurelia yells, "ok, what the hell was that!? This clearly has you written all over it!" calming down slightly, she continues, "I'll keep to my word earlier and not peek into your head, so you'd better explain this."

"I found a nice loophole in my abilities as a result of having control of air, ice, fire, and water. If I have a clear understanding of what it is, I can create things like liquid nitrogen or in this case, I made some liquid saltpetre and liquid sulphur. Of course since the condition for painting that state, they quickly turned solid."

"Saltpetre and sulphur... wait, you--"

Cutting Aurelia off, I continued, "with Dai Jiang's help I also secured quite a bit of charcoal as well."

"I can't believe you filled those dummies with black powder, can't you think about the consequences of your actions for a moment. The Imperial Guard seemed content with trying to deal with us silently with the awareness of the rest of the government. But something as big as that can't be covered up easily, I wouldn't be surprised if we were publicly wanted now."

*Sigh* "I knew things were going too smoothly," says Wanjing.

"Not even I can help you out of this one," says Yue.

"Cory, you've brought a whole lot of trouble to us this time, we're going to have to have a talk about this later, a very long talk."

"Ok so I may have overdone it on the amount of powder but c'mon, it looked cool, I almost made a mushroom."

"That's not a good thing," Aurelia says while the others are confused over the mention of a mushroom.

As we continue our way towards Zhongyang, we eventually part with Yue as she has a different destination. The others are discussing how to deal with the potential of us being publicly wanted, while also leaving me out from the conversation.

After some time, Aurelia asks, "You know, you've said that you've killed a lot of people in your past life, but considering the way you normally conduct yourself, how in the world did you never get caught?"

"How should I know, I just got rid of the bodies and was done with it. I never got caught the first time, so I just kept doing it and it kept working so I never thought to change the method."

"There is no way you did that all on your own, without someone to clean up after you, I can't believe you can really get away with such simple methods. The authorities can't possibly be so incompetent."

"But I really never worked with anyone. I guess, there was one person who I was a little close to, but only on the level of a close acquaintance at best, not someone I'd work with for murder."

"Honestly, even I can't believe you got away with that on your own, from what you've described to me in the past, most of your work looks a bit sloppy," Lia says.

"Et tu, Lia."

***(Third Person)***

At Mount Dragspear, two people are lazing around after having enjoyed a meal that they may or may not have threatened the Khatun to get.

Achoo! Both the ten tailed man and the woman sitting on his lap sneeze at the same time.

"What was that about, Dear? Is someone talking about us?"

"Yeah, a few people are, two Dragons, a Taotie, and an Eithgar, but they aren't actually aware of it. It's not important though, so let's just take another nap."

"Ok."

"If the two of you are going to sleep can you at least not do it in my office!"

Not caring for the inconvenience they are causing the Khatun, the two ignore the matter and drift off into their own world.

*sigh*

Before returning to her work, the Red Dragonoid, Milla, just lets out a sigh, and says, "why do these two walking disasters have to come here of all places..."