43 The Continent of Talonia

"Lets start at the beginning then, Cordelia, how much do you know about the continent you're on right now?"

"That there's a mountain and a river that goes to a big lake called Giras, that's about it. I don't know much regarding the geography of the land since I spent most of my time previously wandering the ocean. Most of my interactions with humanoids until now had been a process of my robbing their ships for so booze."

""SO IT WAS YOU!""

Suddenly both Milla and Lia shout out.

"What?"

"A few years ago there were some stories going around about how a Dragon Bandit was robbing ships, so of the less intelligent folk who heard thought it was us and we eventually received a complaint from the other Alliance leaders about it."

"So it did go just as I planned. Leaving the people alive to spread the tale of the seemed to have paid off."

"Regardless it was an incident from a while back and we don't need to worry about it right now. Lets move back to the topic at hand. This is the largest continent of Grauntia, Talonia, it's also the northernmost continent. Our current location is Mount Dragspear which is in the centre of the continent and serves as a landmark to denote the southern lands of the Alliance. As for the Alliance, its full name is the Central Alliance of Talonia, it is a union composed of five countries. There is ours, the Dragonoid Khanate, we hold the steppe regions under our control. The northern Tundra is under the control of the High Chiefdom of the Giants. The eastern coastal area Alliance territory is governed by the only human faction within the alliance, the Serene Republic of Zam. The western side is under the control of the Elvish Kingdom of the Western Forest. And in the central mountain range past Mount Dragspear is the Dwarven Confederation. As for the exact territory we hold, from the west forest to the east coast, we nearly split the continent in half through its centre, this is the reason why we call ourselves the Central Alliance of Talonia."

"I see, I won't be remembering most of that."

"..."

For some reason, the silent stare and expression on Milla's face kind of hurts me a little on the inside.

"I'll keep this rest short then. Other than us there are only a few other nations that you need to be wary of. There are the two who hold hegemony over the south, you should have met them both before, the Kingdom of Talos and the United Kingdom of Agura-Ulldar. They are both have beliefs of human supremacy which makes them an annoyance to deal with, but Agura-Ulldar takes it to a whole new level. On the northern half of the continent, there are far too many countries to count, but there are only two that are of any importance. The Arcane Federation and the Grand Duchy of Argos. The Arcane Federation has declared neutrality for the sake of the pursuant of knowledge, so there is little need to bother with them. But the Grand Duchy has displayed imperialistic tendencies in recent years, conquering and annexing many of its smaller neighbours."

"And where does your Central Alliance stand in all of this?"

"As far as our continental politics go, we are rather unconcerned unless someone chooses to pick a fight first. This is because most of the time, we are more concerned about increasing our own control and influence over the Alliance. The only time we ever real act is a singular nation is when there is an outside threat, like Agura-Ulldar, or Agura, or Ulldar, oh and Algura-Ulldar."

"I think I get the point you're trying to make, you don't like Agura-Ulldar very much, do you."

"I have many reasons to hate them... by the way, the man who chased you all the way here previously, he is from Agura-Ulldar."

"So when do we get started on taking this country down a peg or two?"

"Now we're on the same page. I think we are going to get along quite well. I want to do back down the mountain since being so high up is rather uncomfortable but I don't think you can fit into any building."

I have that humanoid shapeshift thingy now, don't I? Keeping the form from my previous life in mind, my body begins to glow and in a flash of light, I feel like my body is being compressed. As the light dissipates I find that everything has suddenly gotten a lot bigger, rather, it's more like I got much smaller. Looking over my body, I find it to be almost identical to what I looked like before. My head has long hair the goes down to my waist, but instead of the black hair I had before, it's now the same blue colour as my scales. I think I'm also a little taller than I was back then too, I think I'm pretty close to being two metres tall now. But why couldn't the extra size have gone to my chest, I don't want people to continue calling me a washboard! Unlike my pitiful chest that remained unchanged, my back has a pair of wings just like the ones I had in my Dragon form, just scaled down to fit my current body. And similarly to that, I have horns adorning my head.

"So I think I can fit into buildings now."

"Umm... Miss Cordelia, are you not cold?"

That is not quite what I was expecting to hear. But I quickly figure out what Lia meant by that. This, this could be a problem.

"Lia, go back down and fetch Cordelia some clothes. We can't let her walk around without anything on."

I didn't even notice since I remain completely unaffected by changes in the temperature, but when I changed into my humanoid form, I was completely nude. Not like a big Dragon has a need for clothes to begin with though.

Seems like Lia chose to hurry as she flies back in just under half an hour with some clothes. With the exception of the chest area, the clothes that Lia brought back are a little small.

"You'll have to buy some better fitting clothes later, but for now that will have two do. Let's head back down to the meeting room."

"But I just got here! Let me rest for a bit!"

"Why buy clothes? Can't I just mug some people?"

"Lia, you need to exercise more. And Cordelia, you... why do I feel like you fit the description of a bandit more than I do."

I can't exactly say that's not true, but I'll do it anyway.

"That's not true."

Not willing to put up with an argument over it, Milla just ignores my statement and makes her way down the mountain while beckoning us to follow. As we arrive at their base, Milla gathers up her important subordinates as she calls them and introduces us.

"This is a special guest and partner we will be working with for the foreseeable future, so try your best not to anger her. I won't be held responsible for any fool that does so. Oh, and her name is Cordelia. Ok, you're all free to go."

EH? That's it? Looking over their faces, most of the Captains and Lieutenants are just as confused as I am, but there is always that one guy. That one guy that always has to do something stupid.

"Hey Boss, you sure this person is really a woman and not a dude in drag? I mean, their so tall and flat as a board."

Wasting no time at all I open my mouth and use my Acid Beam directly on his unsuspecting face. Having no time to prepare, he takes the full shot causing his skin and flesh is melting away, revealing his skull.

"uh u bhc!"

Trying to speak but unable to form any coherent words, he uses a couple of different Air and Fire spells on me, and I respond with nothing, just letting them hit me.

"That won't work on me, I'll show you what true master over the elements looks like."

Using a combination of Fire and Air a create a small explosion with the deformed man at the epicentre, ending his life right there. And as soon as his soul pops out I walk over and consume it. Most of the onlookers at horrified while some look towards Milla to see her reaction, but a few of the stronger magicy looking people in the room noticed what I had done to his soul and have horrid expression, far worse than those who were simply turned off by the carnage. As for Milla, she doesn't seem to care all that much.

"What, why are you guys all looking at me? I gave out a warning not to annoy her and that I wouldn't take responsibility for anything that happens. Besides, even if Cordelia didn't kill him here, this fool's unrestrained actions and loud mouth were bound to get him killed by someone at some point. No matter how many times we punished him for sneaking into the woman baths and selling off recordings, he never learned. I for one, am not terribly sad to see him go. The letch deserves it. Anyways, take a look at this map, Cordelia."

Pushing the issue of the dead lieutenant aside, Milla brings out a map of the Alliance territory and on couple places there is an X mark, although I don't know what they mean.

"So this is our current location, Mount Dragspear, and these X's denote the sightings of large monsters. I did say I would show you where you can find monsters to level you up, so here you go. They are also monsters that are causing trouble for the places we are receiving protection money from, so it helps us as well if you would get rid of some of them."

I get the feeling that Milla is vastly overestimating my current strength. Did she not use Analysis or something? I suppose this is both a good and a bad thing, but for now, I'll just head towards the general location of a marked area, kill a few small fry, then come back and just say I got lost or I couldn't find it.

"Alright, I'll head out now then."

I quickly take my leave, making sure to give no one any time to say that they are coming with me. Once I get outside, I undo my shapeshift and turn back into my true Dragon form and climb the mountain once again. Time to test out another new ability, Gliding. Let's take off.