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I shoot countless bullets into the gaping mouth trying to tear through us.

The bullets pierce through the monster’s throat and drill holes that reach deeper into its stomach, killing it in mid-air and making it drop like a stone. My usual guns, Black Hawk and White Viper can’t pierce through its scales, so I have no option but to target the soft tissue inside its mouth.

Meanwhile Erika is using her acid to weaken the monsters’ bodies before chomping through them, while Olivia just punches them in the head to cave in their skulls and kill them instantly.

Akane got injured in a previous fight so she’s just resting, with Clarissa watching over her while also staying back as backup.

Whenever there’s any materials I can use, I store them in my magic storage and then move on.

The Longshan territory is basically a huge mountain, and the path we’re on is also one going uphill, and it’s definitely not an easy trip. But it’s also the shortest route leading to our destination, the eastern harbor. Clarissa isn’t taking part in combat for now, being in charge of pulling the carriage after us.

The main issue are the monsters though, which are mainly low level dragons, and they’re some of the toughest foes we’ve had to deal with so far. Olivia and I can still keep going, but Akane and Erika are quickly reaching their limits. I can heal their wounds with potions and medicine, but that does nothing for their physical exhaustion. Akane is curled up next to me in the driver’s seat, and Erika is sunbathing in her cart attached behind the carriage. I’ll really have to let them rest as much as possible once we reach a village or city. As I think of that, some buildings finally come into view ahead.

We haven’t found any other settlement or passed by other travelers since we entered the Longshan territory. While I have plenty of supplies stashed in my magic storage to keep us going, not being able to replenish them was starting to weigh on my conscience.

While the roads are maintained and kept safe by Seperion, all settlements always need a wall surrounding them to protect from dangerous monsters, unless all nearby monster dens are destroyed like in big cities or the capital. But the city that came into sight has no wall whatsoever, even though it’s located in a dangerous area.

Once we enter the city, I notice that the local architecture is also completely different from that of most of Seperion. It’s like they have a completely different culture here. If I had to put it in simple terms, most of Seperion looked like the western world in my past life, while the buildings with white walls, red visible columns, and elongated roofs, looked like they came straight out of China. Most of the people walking around also have their hair tied up, and wear tunics with wide sleeves and a binding on their waist.

I can’t help but admire the sudden change in scenery, compared to everything I’ve seen in other territories.

But I can’t really say that I got a good feeling from the city. There’s some people walking around, but they don’t seem very lively, and more importantly, they’re all wary of us, or almost like they want us gone.

I don’t like being here so maybe it’d be best to have a change of plans and just pass through as fast as we can.

But then a figure suddenly moves to stand right in the path of our carriage.

“All of you, did you willingly enter the independent territory of us dragonborn?”

The one speaking is a male, his body covered in scales, his face elongated to the front and furnished with horns, and a long tail behind him, with a clear distinction from lizard demihumans. I heard stories about them, but I guess this is what a dragonborn looks like. And now that I think about it, I haven’t seen a single person who isn’t a dragonborn in this city, which is really rare for Seperion, as usually there’s a large variety in the demographic of people in a city.

I step down from the driver’s seat and bow to him.

“I had no idea that entry to this territory was limited. We’ll leave right away, so please be lenient with us.”
“Driver…wait, you’re not even human! How rude is that, sending a manufactured product to talk instead of doing that oneself.”

Well, I guess this is how it’s going to go. Then again, I’m used to this already, it’s not like he’s wrong, I’m not human. I’m not happy that he insulted Olivia too, but if we don’t let it get to our heads we should be able to solve things peacefully.

“Natalia is my maid. So what if she’s not human?”

There goes that plan. Olivia had come out of the carriage without me noticing, and now she’s standing in front of me to cover me. I’m glad that she cares this much about how others treat me, but that’s just going to cause more problems here.

“So it wasn’t rudeness, but plain ignorance. I guess humans really are more shallow than I imagined.”
“…”

Ah, I can tell Olivia is about to snap now. It’s the same as that time Mathias confronted her.

“Grrr…”

It’s not just her this time though, Clarissa, Akane, and even Erika are getting mad.

“Umm…Young Lady, everyone else, it’s fine, this happens all the time.”
“Exactly, it happens too much!”

Olivia isn’t even trying to hide the mana she’s amassing, and it’s gotten even more violent than that time during the party in the Gardeland estate. But I can’t let her get carried away by her emotions, so I step forward and try to restrain her fist.

“Young Lady, please step back. I’ll deal with-”
“Grawrr!”
“Shahh!”
“!!”

Before I can hold her back, a fizzing splash, a beam of destructive light, and a large rock pass flying by next to me. They’re Erika’s acid, Clarissa’s Nebula Breath, and Akane’s Rock Cannon.

“Are you crazy?!”

That’s clearly going too far.

The dragonborn is knocked back and crashes through the wall of a nearby house. He took all three hits so I doubt he’s doing too well.

“I should’ve expected as much from a band of monsters.”

But his voice rings calm and composed.

He slowly walks out through the broken wall and glares at us. There’s not a single scratch on him, and he doesn’t even seem staggered. The three attacks had been spaced carefully, so they would each deal as much damage as it could before the next landed, something I would’ve praised in any other situation, but the dragonborn looks perfectly fine.

“Good job everyone. Now it’s my turn as your master to take over. The actions of my Servants is my responsibility after all.”

Olivia shakes off my hand that’s trying to restrain her and walks forward.

“An insult to my Servants is an insult to me. And their anger is my anger.”
“A lowly human, saying that? I’ll have to smash your insolence-”
“So annoying.”

The dragonborn’s enraged rebuke quickly turned into a high pitched squeal that was almost adorable, his hair being pulled back by a tall figure that emerged from the broken wall.

“I was having such a good time drinking, and I don’t even get an apology for your intrusion.”
“Gyaaaaaaaa!”
“Go reflect on your actions over there.”

The dragonborn started screaming as he was thrown away, crashing into another house. But this time he doesn’t come out again.

Looking at the tall figure again, she’s obviously another dragonborn.

She has purple scales, long lavender hair, with a pair of horns pointed back growing out, and she’s wearing a red qipao, a chinese dress. She looks more or less just as tall as Olivia.

“It’s Lady Fan-Yen.”
“She’s really drunk again.”
“Let’s get away, we don’t want to get on her bad side.”

With the entrance of the female dragonborn, who everyone calls Fan-Yen, all the onlookers who watched with derision lose their cool and start to get away.

“So, you must be the other culprits ruining my day.”

She starts to walk towards us, but I can tell she’s not really interested in getting an answer.

“I know not what brought you here, but I’ll make you pay for what you did.”
“I’m not saying it wasn’t my fault, but I also don’t like being antagonized like that.”
“Then you’ll have to get rid of me through force.”
“Nice, I like it when things are simple.”

Yan-Fen and Olivia’s lips contort upwards, but they’re not smiling at all, they’re just savoring the ferocity of fighting. As much as I feel pressured to step back, I can’t just sit and watch this go on.

“Young Lady, I’m the one who started this. Let me make things right.”

I try to hold Olivia back again, but she just brushes me aside and walks ahead, without even looking at me.

“No, that person is stronger than you, Natalia. And I already said it before, my Servants’ actions are my responsibility.”

I can feel Olivia’s anger towards the dragonborn in her voice, as well as her sense of responsibility, and her refusal of my aid. She’s only standing a few feet ahead of me, but somehow it feels like there’s an insurmountable wall between us now.

“You heard the girl. Know your place, maidservant.”

Maidservant, huh.

Right…that’s all I’ve always been. I’m just a maid, I have no right to stand in front of my master or tell her what to do. All I can do is shut up and do as told when I’m needed.

“You’re not going to square up?”

Olivia gets ready to fight, but Fan-Yen is still standing casually, almost like she’s not even going to fight.

“Letting a human strike first is the bare minimum a dragonborn can do to equalize the playing field. Come at me whenever you want.”

She just keeps standing there.

“In that case, I’ll do just that then!”

Olivia rushes in and punches Fan-Yen’s cheek with all her might, an attack that would’ve easily broken through the scales of the dragons we encountered in our way here. As superior as dragonborn might be to humans, I doubt they can withstand so much force.

But…

“The fight’s on then.”

Fan-Yen doesn’t move an inch, even with Olivia’s fist pressing against her cheek. And a menacing grin spreads along her lips.