"So what's your take on the situation?"
*munch*munch*
"... Done yet?"
"Ah, those skewers were so good. Yep, I'm done now. You want my opinion, it's the Elves. Those pointy-eared are beyond suspicious, that's all I've got for you."
"And those monsters? From what I heard battle took place in five different sectors, outside the four gates of the city and the city centre. Of all these fronts, it was only you and Magistrate Thrasin that took down the monsters without help from the Elves."
"I just turned the entire southside into a scorched barren wasteland of ice and snow to stop the monsters. So how did he manage it?
"I didn't see it personally but from the reports I heard, he singlehandedly used his hammer to completely destroy the bodies of the monsters. Apparently there is nothing left of the bodies because they were torn asunder after making contact with the hammer, he didn't even get hit once."
"You really can't touch when it's hammer time. Anyways, I'm actually still keeping up my control over the southern front. Unless I dispel it myself or leave the area around the Capital, the southern area will remain a frozen waste. I can't do anything about the scorched earth, but should I restore the weather?"
Milla closes her eyes to think, but Lia is a little more decisive. "I think it might be better to keep it as is. Depending on how things go tomorrow we might be able to use it as a bargaining chip."
"Ok, it doesn't take too much effort to keep this up since I don't need to focus too hard on it, so I should be able to keep this up indefinitely. So what is that stuff the Elves are doing, what with the flashy display?"
"Parlor tricks, nothing more. What secret Elven techniques, I'm sure they have some, but it won't just cause monsters to drop dead like that. Just who do they think they're fooling... actually they probably fooled a lot of people today. We are aware simply because of your encounter with the Elves controlling monsters before. Speaking of, is this the same thing they did before with the rats you mentioned several months ago?"
"The feeling I got was similar, but this was different in a few ways."
"Don't keep us waiting and I'll have Lia go get you more skewers later."
"Wait! Why me!?"
"Deal. One of the key differences is the most obvious one, the difficulty in killing them. A better description would actually be putting them down since they were dead from the start. These were simply puppets, the bodies of deceased monsters being controlled by someone else. This is why they could keep going even after losing large chunks of the body. There are upsides and downsides to this method over the previous case where live rats were controlled. Using the dead, they don't have access to the more specialised abilities of the monsters but they are a lot harder to get rid of, and vice-versa for using live monsters. At least that's what I noticed from my encounters, who know when they might improve the technique so that the dead can use their skills."
"Just how did you know they were already dead? Even after fighting with a few myself, I had thought they were just unusually tenacious monsters. I didn't even know they were being controlled until I saw the strange movements for the Elves and connected it to the report you gave me before. There were a few priests around in the plaza who took part in the volunteer army, but they didn't mention anything about the monsters being undead. After noticing how they could keep moving despite the injuries, they were quick to use their undead detection skills but it didn't pick anything up."
"This could be considered a special skill of mine. From what I've come to understand about the undead raised by necromancers and the undead races like liches are that it is the body that is considered dead, but the soul remains. Although my sources for this only comes from the conjecture made from the books I... borrowed from a few places. But these monsters had fully functioning bodies, the only problem was the lack of a soul. I can feel it when I'm against something that does or doesn't have a soul, I mean, I do eat souls after all."
"Well I don't think you borrowed... what, why is this the first time I've heard of you eating souls?"
"I never thought it was of much importance before, I just kill and eat. All I've ever done in my life, kill and eat. The more souls I consume the stronger I get, so next time you go searching for monsters for me to eat, bring them back alive. This is actually bothered me a lot today, I dealt with so many of those monsters today, but I got no EXP or souls to eat."
"Fine, since there are more important matters we can put aside your hunger for souls. Do you have anything else to say?"
"I guess, but it isn't related to the monsters, rather it is related to what got discussed at the conference earlier. I didn't mention this before because I was too lazy- I mean I didn't think it was in my place to intervene, but you should work with the Doge and his trade expedition. Just trust me, in the future, you'll thank me for this. Those weapons will become the foundation of warfare in the future."
"Just how can you be so certain about this? I won't chide you for not mentioning this earlier, since the resources that are needed to that trade expedition are simply too much for the Khanate to shelve out on its own without support from all the factions. Even with the Elves supporting the deal we don't have the material resources to fund the expedition with taking huge losses elsewhere. The Dragonoid Khanate may be the largest of the five factions in terms of size, but much of that land is empty steppes. I won't discredit your idea, especially since I am personally interested in getting those weapons, but as a Ruler, I need to think about what I can realistically afford to do in my capacity as the Khatun."
So it wasn't she didn't want to but rather she didn't want to put an unnecessary burden on the Khanate's budget. But if I know anything about modern warfare, it's that guns had completely pushed out other types of personal weapons from war. As the saying goes, never bring a knife to a gunfight.
"Eventually the weapons that the Doge wants to obtain will replace the bow and crossbow for personal ranged weapons. Using a gun while keeping a melee weapon to the side for emergencies will become standard after the technology progresses. As to why I'm so sure about this... I've personally seen the weapons in action. They are to put it simply a small portable cannon."
Milla closes her eyes to think once again. Lia too has taken a moment to ponder on what to do. After a couple minutes of silence, Milla claps her hands, having come to a conclusion she brings our attention to her.
"I will bring this up with the Doge at the continuation of the conference tomorrow. However, I expect you to take a larger part in the conversation as well, Cordelia. Since you seem to be knowledgeable on the subject, you can do the talking. If you managed to at least bring the Dwarves into the agreement then I too will agree."
"Ehh..."
"Since it's been a turbulent day I'm sure we're all tired. Lets get some rest and so we will be ready for the conference tomorrow. Remember plan... I never came up with a name for our plan did I? Not that it matters, who needs to name everything, doesn't change that the plan is still in motion. But I think we accomplished a lot today on account of Cordelia's contributions."
But I don't need to rest... she just doesn't want to listen to my complaints. I can't help but feel I just shot myself in the foot. Besides, that can hardly be called a plan, you just need us to do things that increase the prestige of the Khanate. Whatever, Since I don't need to rest, I'm going to hit a bar and get a drink.