Not too long after finishing their meal, the party returned one by one. Most of them had managed to level up once maybe twice if they were lucky.
Looking at the state of their bodies as well as their expression, Shiro realised that Silvia was the most relaxed out of all of them.
“Seems like you had quite a bountiful run Silvi.” Shiro said with a smile.
“Well it was easier than I thought. I just had to keep buffing myself while I punched the boss. I also just ran past all the monsters after I realised that I heal more damage than what they can do combined.” Silvia laughed as Nan Tian raised his eyebrows.
‘Damn…’ He muttered in his mind since he could imagine a lone healer punching away at the boss while the monsters couldn’t harm her fast enough.
Just imagining the scene of hundreds of monsters scratching away at her while she didn’t care was quite the scene as he almost felt pity for the monsters.
*Whistle~
“Welp seems like we’ve confirmed that you can definitely solo a dungeon without problems. In all honesty, I almost feel sorry for the monsters.” Shiro laughed.
Shrugging her shoulders, Silvia sat down with Chen Yu and ordered some food.
Looking over at the rest of the party, Shiro gestured for them to sit down since there was no point having them stand up.
“Hm, I might bring Attie, Nimue and Iziuel out.” Shiro muttered while glancing into her mana realm. Seeing that the three of them were playing around with each other, she couldn’t help but smile.
‘Do you three want to come out for some food?’ Shiro asked.
{Hm… Sure, I don’t see why not.} Nimue nodded as Iziuel did the same.
Seeing that the two agreed, Shiro excused herself from the table so that she could bring them out without any worries.
Jumping into the rift, she brought all three spirits out and held Attie in her arms once more. Leaving the rift, Shiro gestured for them to sit down and order something that they like.
Seeing the three spirits, Nan Tian was rather surprised at their elements. Especially with Nimue being a mana spring. If people were to submerge themselves and bathe in her water, their mana would receive a permanent boost.
As for Iziuel, she was the spirit of Nature and that itself was quite a broad element to govern over. This meant that she could use wind, wood, water, earth and any other element part of the natural surroundings.
‘I’ve already known about her son being an incredible spirit but to think her two friends were also incredible in their own regard.’ Nan Tian thought in surprise. The more he knew about her, the more he was taken aback by what she had accomplished over the course of a year. Scratch that, it hadn’t even been a year yet which is the most insane part.
“Mn? You alright?” Shiro asked as she could tell that Nan Tian was thinking about something.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just surprised that you’ve made this much progress in less than a year.” Nan Tian shook his head with a smile.
“Haha, are you jealous?” Shiro grinned.
“A little but I’m not too bothered since I’m already at a high level. There’s no point to be annoyed by your levelling speed either since danger is looming around the corner. If anything, I wished everyone would level up as quickly as you so that humanity had a better shot at surviving.” Nan Tian shrugged as the party couldn’t help but nod at his thoughts.
After finishing their meal, the party prepared to return to their rooms when Shiro realised that Nan Tian was still following her.
“You couldn’t be thinking that you get to sleep in the same room as me, now are you?” Shiro raised her eyebrows.
*Cough!
“Of course not. I’m merely making sure that you get to your room safely.” Nan Tian smiled.
“Right, whatever. Do you have a place to stay? If not, grab yourself a room from the counter or something. Because my room isn’t enough to accommodate you.” Shiro waved her hand.
“Fine I’ll be honest with you. I want to get the room besides you if possible.” Nan Tian confessed while shrugging his shoulders.
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“That’s rather bold of you.” Shiro chuckled as the rest of the party were also slightly surprised by how bold Nan Tian was being.
Lyrica seemed to have blanked out for a moment as Madison shook her head with a tired smile and escorted her upstairs.
“So, is that a yes or a no?”
“I’ll let you find out for yourself.” Shiro laughed before jumping into the rift with her three spirits and two daughters.
Chuckling softly, Nan Tian only shook his head before walking towards the reception.
“Um, branch master.” Chen Yu called out.
“Mn? What is it?”
“You’re playing a dangerous game here. If you’re not careful, you might be pierced.” Chen Yu warned as Nan Tian nodded his head.
“I know.” Nan Tian smiled before walking away.
Watching Nan Tian walk away, Chen Yu couldn’t help but give him a mental salute.
‘Damn, branch master, your tastes are quite strong to be going after the empress herself.’
“What are you thinking about?” Silvia asked.
“Oh, just wondering if the branch master can actually get together with Shiro. Though with how she is, I doubt it since she’s more focused on helping her race survive the next age.” Chen Yu replied.
“Mn, that’s true. Shiro isn’t exactly one to be focused on romance. There’s also Lyrica since it’s pretty obvious that she has a crush on Shiro. I’m sure Shiro knows, so the fact that she’s not responding probably means that she doesn’t want to focus on romance just yet.” Silvia smiled while holding Chen Yu’s hand.
“Mn, though do you think she wants romance? She’s… quite extreme and seeing her with a love-struck face would only give me a shiver down my spine.” Chen Yu asked.
“Oi, Shiro is still a girl ok? Spending life alone would be quite sad so I’m sure she’ll be thinking about getting a partner once the danger passes. Plus, while she acts tough and extreme, I can still tell that she’s gentle on the inside ok? Have you not seen the way she looks after Yin, Attie and Lisandra?” Silvia replied while gently smacking his back.
“She’s right you know.” Aarim called out while walking next to them.
“Remember how I told you about the fact that I can see true natures?” She smiled.
“Mn, we remember.” Chen Yu nodded.
“Well after coming out of the trial, her nature is much clearer than before. It’s not creepy nor is it ominous. If anything, it feels gentle and kind. I’m sure that her cold nature is a façade for the things she had gone through. After all, she said that Kuromi was betrayed and killed by having her links shredded to bits. Maybe this is a defensive mechanism for her.” Aarim suggested as the two nodded their heads since it was quite plausible.
Talking for a little longer, they made their way back to their rooms.
Meanwhile, Keiko had finally killed the two demon generals as they laid beside her with blood splattered everywhere.
“Ha…. Damn. How the hell did they even intercept me.” Keiko muttered with a frown while holding her arm that was barely attached to her shoulders. Quickly drinking a high-quality health potion, she took a breather and waited for her wounds to close her.
When she left the front lines, she didn’t tell anyone about her route and where she was going but the fact that the demons could track her down was clearly strange. She made sure that she wasn’t tailed either.
‘Could this be the work of a mage or something? Someone that can observe from afar.’ She thought while forcing herself on her feet.
Shaking her head, she glanced at the demon corpses and collected them all before trying her best to fix the road.
Once she was done, she flickered from her spot and made her way towards Epona.
###
“Grrr…. How the hell did they fail.” A hooded figure growled in displeasure while looking through a demonic mirror that was adorned with black skulls.
“What shall we do general?” A demon asked while kneeling down.
“The place she’s going to right now is quite far from the front lines. It was a pain trying to set up the ambush to begin with. Now that she’s further behind the front lines, it’ll be quite hard to do the same. Do nothing for now and conserve our strength. Allow the humans to gain some land but don’t let them do it too easily. Make it seem real by putting up a decent fight. Once they spread out their numbers, we can sacrifice them to our queen and summon her to this world.” The hooded figure grinned as he stepped away from the mirror.
With how arrogant humans can get once they acquire land; they would not expect that they’ll be stepping into a giant magic circle that would sacrifice them all.
‘Soon, our queen will arrive.’
