When I first saw Cordelia break out from her evolution cacoon, the first thing I felt was awe and respect. Partially from the sheer majesty of the sight and because of what I've been calling Bloodline Suppression, but that may not be the best term, perhaps it would be better to say the influence of her bloodline.
This effect works both ways though, from Cordelia unconsciously affecting the Red, Blue, White, and Brown Dragonoids, and vice-versa. I say that she does this unconsciously, because she doesn't seem to be completely aware of it, but she does know about the unusual feelings she has towards Dragonoids with Spirit Dragon descent, of course, she doesn't comprehend the full effect she has. But if Milla or I were to confront her about this, she would probably claim to know since she likes to give people the feeling that she is smart. She doesn't seem to realise it, but she makes cute expressions when I poke holes in her facade.
But back on topic, The feeling that Dragonoids have towards Cordelia is something similar to reverence towards an ancestor. While the feeling she has towards Dragonoids of Spirit Dragon descent seems to be one of protection. It actually took a while to get this out from her since Milla had insisted on doing it herself, but she couldn't manage to get Cordelia to spill the beans. But I got it from her within a few hours by trying to get it from her with more subtle means. I don't deny that Cordelia is just a vault of knowledge, but most of it is of little use. She seems to have a degree of knowledge pertaining to the Elements, but some places seem flawed and incomplete. But despite all this knowledge, she is kind of an idiot, but since she is fun to mess with this problem can be ignored... as long as she doesn't wander around by herself.
For the first week after I first met her, I will admit that her smart act had me fooled. The first time I pointed a flaw out in some of her information, she had just returned from doing some Guild work and was still in her humanoid form. Some of the other at the base had come up to ask some questions about the Elements and while they seemed to have accepted her incomplete information, I had quickly found and pointed out the flaws in her words. Thankfully, everyone else had left, or I may have had more competitors, but the expression on her face was priceless. My initial views of respect had been shattered, but this was fine since she is adorable and fun to play around with. Ever since I had come to attend her little teaching sessions with the other bandits just to point out her mistakes. and after a while, I began to notice the subtle shifts in expression even when she wasn't in her humanoid form. But back then I still just saw her as a fun person to be around who also happened to make cute faces when flustered, it made it better that she didn't even realise this herself.
Making use of the natural constitution of a Blue Dragonoid, I secretly picked off a few scales from Cordelia while she was sleeping for a couple of purposes. One was simply for the academic study of her scales, but the more important reason was so I could experiment with them and find a way to get closer to her without killing myself. And with even effort and time, I managed to raise my already decent resistance to toxins up to complete immunity, I even prepared clothes that shared my immunity. Just in time for our trip to The Great Forge.
Having just recently gaining complete immunity, I took full advantage of it to get closer to Cordelia. Surprisingly enough, her scales are strangely soft when stroked, but are near impossible for me to pierce through, but I also don't have the highest strength around so it isn't too much to go off of. But they really do feel just like they look, as I quickly found that resting my head on them felt like a fluffy pile of feathers.
I noticed this when we were in the Capital, but Cordelia seems to have warmed up to me quite a bit and even helped me deal with that annoying merchant when we were buying the carriage. Even when considering the effect of her bloodline, considering her trigger-happy personality I figured she would do anything unless it got violent. Having noticed that she was warming up to me, I decided back then to push the limits even further that night after I followed her when she went for her secret drinking trip. I even had some of the alcohol she took despite knowing I would fall asleep soon after. Having made the choice to push the limits of her patience, I swung down my drink and held tight to her tail, it's really soft and comfortable. And right before I completely fell asleep I managed to see it. An absolutely beautiful and gentle smile, something I had never expected to see from her.
Thinking back, I already had some budding feeling for her at this point, but I hadn't paid it much attention until that day. When we were fighting the Elementals for the Dwarves, just as we were finishing the fight one of the Elementals tried to suicide bomb me. I had no time to react, nearly closing my eyes and preparing myself for death. A shockwave was sent through the air I had been knocked down, but when I opened my eyes I only saw darkness and assumed I had died instantly. But within seconds I realised that I was never hit has light began to shine down on me once again as I saw Cordelia unwinding herself from around the area I was in. Her bloodied body horrified by and pushed aside all fear I previously had with worry over Cordelia's safety. Despite not being able to see most of her stats at the time, I could still see her health when I looked and it was so low that a single punch even from me could kill her. Thankfully my worry was short lived as she began to regenerate her health back faster than the bleeding could drop it. After seeing that she was out of the danger zone, I thanked her, but she brushed it off saying it was a whim despite the clear look of worry she gave me as she scanned my body for injuries.
During the celebration we had with the Dwarves, Cordelia drank so much alcohol that she went crazy and even vomited a couple of times. Destroying the walls after getting into an argument with one of the Dwarves. Having just had my life saved though, the previous budding feelings I had begun to clearly take hold of me and was close to fully blooming, but before I could even act on them, Cordelia made a move first and hugged me, saying that she would always protect me. This was the last straw that pushed my feelings over the edge. Despite not normally drinking in a large group, not even doing so with my Milla, yet I felt safe doing so as long as Cordelia was around and having a round with her was the last thing I could remember before passing out.
I had wanted to use our mission to Lausiel as an excuse for a nice vacation to spend time with Cordelia, but her awful sense of direction ruined my plans. Like really, I had the whole trip to Zagas all planned out, with some nice places to stop on the way, but she had to get lost and bring us into a forest that just so happened to have Timah residing in it and to make it worse the monkey was angry. The Elves ruined my shopping trip with her in Zagas and we couldn't even have a peaceful time at sea thanks to that overgrown whale. Cordelia felt really afraid of it too, so I should make it one of my life goals to help her get revenge on it.
But despite all my previous planning going out the window and arriving at an area that I hadn't planned for, we still made it to Lausiel safely... although it was really close on a few occasions. But having rushed all the way here, Cordelia was exhausted and collapsed on the beach after leaving the water. After making sure that she wasn't in any danger, I spent the entire night digging up the sand around her to make her location a secret to let her rest peacefully as she deserves it after her hard work so far.
Thankfully the beach was connected to a small town. I spent the next few days here going back in forth between the beach to check up on Cordelia and doing quests for the Guild as a way to get some information and build up some trust with the locals. This trust came in real handy once I found out that Cordelia woke up. I only found out before returning on my own because the Guild had organised a raid on an unknown serpent-like monster that suddenly appeared on the beach by rising from the sand. Seeing the notice I only needed a single second to put two and two together to figure out that this was Cordelia. Realising this I had rushed out and took flight to chase after the raid party.
When I was approaching the beach I saw both the raid party and Cordelia fighting with people in the distance. But she seemed to be slightly distracted, shifting her head around as if she was looking for something. Raising my flight speed to the limits, I had managed to get there in time to put myself between the other adventurers and Cordelia.
Within moments of my landing, she had transformed, jumping at me with a hug as I saw a System notification that read, "You are the recipient of the love and affection of a Dragon, even if the fool won't admit it herself, you are now eligible to change your class to a special class that stands above Tier 5 yet below Legendary. This can be upgraded to Legendary upon the completion of your System Quest."
The System's message felt strangely personal when addressing Cordelia, but I hardly had the time to think about it then as all my thoughts were focused on the previous line. Barely capable of holding myself back, I tried to change the shift the topic towards settling the issue of the raiding party and with the trust and goodwill I built up over the past few days, I managed to convince the Guildmaster here to withdraw.
Having been overcome with joy and in high spirits, I take Cordelia along for a quest instead of moving forward to the new town so I could spend time with her and talk about the class I had gotten. Every time I tried to bring up mine or her own feelings, she would forcefully change the topic or pretend I didn't say anything. But even so, she still agreed to form a Soul Connection with me without much persuading on my part. And without any hesitation, the first thing I did was look into her head. Cordelia puts on a strong and prideful front but turns out that on the inside, she was more worried than I was over this. But once I saw her full status, I knew her worries weren't unfounded. But no matter what, from now on we are stuck with each other and I will always be on her side. But she brushing aside my confession was a completely separate problem and I didn't let it slide.
When we returned to the Guild and heard the other adventurers call us out for how close we were, Cordelia's face was as red as Milla's scales and tried to let go of my hand. I didn't want to let the perfect moment for her punishment go, so I grabbed her hand before she could pull away and dragged her to me, stealing a kiss right in the centre of the Redinium Guild Branch. I had kept peeking in on her head this whole time too and she even wanted to continue but held herself back out of embarrassment. With our business at the Guild done, having guided her to the room I was staying at, she went straight for the bed and practically made a fortress of bed covers to hide under. Jeez, why is she so cute!
The next day we went to take a quest for some extra pocket money while we head to a city for the mission, but she was still embarrassed over the other day and refused to come in until we had to show our Guild Cards for the quest. The quest itself has shown to be simple with only a minor hiccup when we encountered some brigands and made short work of them. But it was a little difficult dealing with the other party we had to work with since they and Cordelia just recently fought each other. She may or may not have tried to secretly get Marcus killed, but I'm not going to look into it since he tried catching glimpses of Cordelia's bare body when she was sleeping. Even though he didn't die, I made sure he won't be seeing anything for the next few days.
Most likely still a little tired from the events over the past week, Cordelia is laying down one of the passenger carriages of the caravan and using my lap as a pillow. And at last we near the City of Lofinium.
"Hey Cory, wake up, we've arrived at the city."
"I'm up, and who are you calling Cory?"
"I've been thinking, isn't Cordelia a bit of a mouthful, so why not call you Cory for short, is that ok?"
She thinks for a moment before saying, "No it's not ok," but she turns her head away slightly before saying, "for anyone other than you."
Without thinking I hug Cory, "Jeez, why are you so cute!"
Julius and the rest of his party look over, but I give them a bit of a death stare and they quickly turn their focus to something else to avoid suffering the same fate as Marcus.
"Will you quit calling me cute! It's embarrassing, at least don't say it in public!"
Leaning in towards her ear, I whisper, "so I can say it when we're alone?"
"...yes," Cory says in a low mumble, with a deep red face.
{You are seriously the cutest!}
"That doesn't count as alone you idiot!"
Ahh... teasing her is one thing I'll never get tired of.