“Well I’m just here to visit you since you’ve been quite busy. Plus, everyone else is helping out with cleaning up the city after the fight.” Shiro shrugged.
“So in the end you’re bored and decided to visit your sister huh?” Keomi laughed.
“Basically.” Lyrica sighed.
“Well why don’t you try to do some dungeons? Isn’t this the perfect time? You’re almost level 100 and the princes are no longer overlooking the high level dungeons.” Keomi suggested while sitting down.
“Hmm I suppose so. Well ignoring that for now, what are your plans now Keomi?” Shiro asked.
“I think I’m probably going to make my way back to japan and meet up with cousin. We need to see her remember?”
“Right, Yuki did say that didn’t she?” Shiro nodded after a short pause.
In the letter that Yuki had given Keomi, she had mentioned that she sent a letter to Keiko as well.
“Where is the headquarters anyways? I can go find you over there when I finish my business.” Shiro asked.
“Oh it’s in Tokyo. However, would it be ok if I follow you for a while. I haven’t seen you in such a long time after all.” Keomi asked with an expectant smile.
“Hm, sure I don’t see why not.”
After talking for a little longer, Shiro returned to the castle with the two of them since she wanted to speak to Iziuel.
Telling them to go on without her, she arrived back in the room where the world tree resides.
“Yo, I’m back.” Shiro called out.
“You finally returned. Are your injuries fully healed? I saw your fight against that monster.” Iziuel replied with concern.
“Don’t worry about that haha, I’ve had 5 days to fully recover.” Shiro chuckled.
Looking over at the world tree who seemed rather docile now, she saw that it reached with its roots as if it was asking for more food.
“You want nutrients again?” Shiro asked curiously.
Shaking his roots up and down, it tried to emulate a nodding motion.
“Have some then.” Shiro shrugged and sent over a wisp of Life Fire.
Absorbing the fire happily, the roots danced with joy.
Ignoring the tree for now, Shiro activated her flight skill and flew up into the air.
“Let’s see, Nimue, Iziuel, you have any ideas on how I can get you out?” She asked.
{Hmm… honestly I’d say it’s just a matter of feeding the world tree enough nutrients so that it leaves Iziuel alone.} Nimue replied.
“What about you Iziuel? Do you have any ideas?”
“Not really. I’ve been here for as long as I can remember so I don’t know how to get out.” Iziuel replied with a sigh.
“Hmm…”
Narrowing her eyes, Shiro thought about the implications that her actions would bring. The main reason that the tree is using Iziuel as a battery is because it needed nutrients. Not only that, but the world tree also powers the barrier around the capital. Once she gets Iziuel out, the barrier would most likely crumble.
‘I need something to preserve the barrier after Iziuel is gone.’ She thought to herself.
Flexing her fingers, she created a mana collector just to test out one of her theories. If she could have the mana collector act in Iziuel place, she should be free to remove her from the world tree.
Jumping down, she placed the collector next to the world tree and turned it on.
“Use this to get some energy and see how it is.” She said as the tree obeyed.
Wrapping its roots around the device, it started to absorb mana using it as a catalyst.
“Hmm… it’s working but the absorption rate is a little too fast for the collector. Unless I have a room full of these, I doubt it can suffice. However, if I get a full room, there is no doubt that the elders would find it and there will be a chance that they’ll use it for something else.” Shiro muttered with a frown.
Looking at the collector, she could see it breaking apart with every passing second.
{Why don’t you just ‘borrow’ the world tree? Form a contract with it and absorb it into your mana realm. That way, you can keep it fueled with the life fire.} Nimue suggested.
‘There are a few problems with that but first, I can do that!? Second, last time the world tree absorbed my mana my links were in danger remember? And third, what about the barrier around this place? It would be problematic if the elf’s holy relic disappeared all of a sudden.’ Shiro replied with a shake of her head.
{Well you can make a contract since the world tree should be at least equal or higher grade than a phoenix right? As for your mana links, I’m sure that if you make it sign a life blood contract, it should keep you alive.} Nimue replied.
“Nah it’s too much risk having something like that inside me. Also, what if we’re in a situation where it needed to grow into the next stage and had to absorb mana? If it was outside of its control, it would kill us both. And that’s a risk I’m not willing to take since I’ve seen it happen before.” Shiro shook her head.
If that situation did happen, she wouldn’t be able to survive.
{That’s… true. Then what shall we do?}
“I’m thinking of doing something called mana tax for the country. People regenerate mana all the time so if they were to donate some every day, they can feed this world tree and perhaps even speed up its growth.” Shiro said after a short pause.
This was similar to what she had done way back in the shadow temple trial since she had asked the citizens to donate their mana for her to build the mana nuke.
If she was to recreate that situation here, they’ll be free to take Iziuel without damaging the city too much.
{That could work.}
“Iziuel! I’ll be right back. I’m going to tell this to the elders and have them impose this new rule. That way, we can get you out safely.” Shiro called out.
“Alright, I await your good news. Have a safe trip.” Iziuel replied with a smile.
Leaving the room, Shiro left the castle to look for the elders. Once she found them, she suggested this new rule so that the world tree could ‘grow’ faster.
“I don’t see why not. We have a lot of people not doing anything with that mana so that’s fine. Though we’ll have to make sure we don’t take too much though.” One of the elders shook her head.
“That’s fine. Just think of it this way, we’ll gather 10 to 15% of their total mana into a catalyst every day and give it to the world tree. It’s either that or we take it from them every week. With the amount of people in this country, I’m sure it’s sustainable.” Shiro suggested with a smile.
“She’s right. That spirit has only offered to help sustain the tree since there were no other options. Plus, she’s only there because of Lyrica’s father. Now that he’s gone and we have an alternative, I think it’s about time we let her go.” Another elder sighed.
“Very well. We’ll give this suggestion a two week trial period. If it proves to be sustainable, we’ll continue with it.”
However, little did they know, even if it wasn’t possible, Shiro would force them to try harder.
After all, she wasn’t about to let Iziuel stay in a state of mana deficiency for much longer.
‘They can just tax it from all over the country if needs be.’ She thought to herself.
While the elders started to implement this rule, Shiro had made her way to the church in order to try to get her hands on some holy water. Unfortunately, the average holy water wouldn’t do since it would be too weak to actually have an effect on the relic. She needed some of the higher quality water which was in very limited supplies.
Since she needed a genuine reason to get the water, the first thing she thought of was to approach the priest dressed as her ‘rogue assassin’ attire and tell him about the relic. That way, there was a higher chance of getting what she needed.
Walking into an alley near the church, Shiro changed her outfit and arrived at the priest’s office through the rift.
Sitting down on the sofa, she crossed her legs and waited for the priest to return.
