Opening her eyes slowly, Shiro yawned and looked around her. Noticing that she was sleeping in her wheelchair with a blanket over her body, she quickly checked the time and date to see how long she’s slept for.
Seeing that it’s only been 8 hours, she sighed in relief. Glancing back, she saw Nan Tian sleeping on a makeshift bed by stacking up all the chairs. He had a small blanket on him that’s too big for his body which caused her to giggle slightly.
Wheeling herself beside him, she couldn’t help but look at his face before an idea popped into her mind.
However, that idea was quickly dismissed since it would definitely wake him up. He had gone through the effort of finishing her paperwork so she shouldn’t disturb his rest. Closing her eyes, she checked the database and saw that her schedule is pretty much cleared except for a bit of scouting and training both Glen and Celeste.
‘Hm… my schedule hasn’t been this empty for a while now’ Shiro thought to herself in surprise. Since she was focused on training Glen and Celeste, the paperwork started to stack up over time and it would’ve become quite a task to finish it all. And yet Nan Tian was able to do it in a single night was quite impressive.
Looking at the dates on the paperwork, Shiro understood that he only went to bed at 5am. It’s only been 3 hours into his rest so she didn’t want to wake him up for another 3 hours minimum.
‘What to do… Glen and Celeste will get their training around 3 in the afternoon since I was giving them a small break in the morning. Since I needed to scout and do paperwork, the timing lined up. Since Lil’ Tian did all my paperwork for me, I got quite a lot of free time.’ Shiro thought to herself.
The scouting could be done with the existing drones that she had out in the field so she didn’t need to send out an avatar anymore.
With 7 hours of free time to herself, Shiro didn’t know what she should do.
{Why don’t you just listen to what Nan Tian said and rest. Do nothing for 7 hours to rest your mind.} Nimue suggested as Shiro felt a vein pop.
‘Oi we still haven’t had that talk have we?’ Shiro forced a smile.
Shrugging her shoulders, Nimue’s body faded away in the water and not a single peep could be heard from her.
Shaking her head, Shiro walked over and hugged Attie.
{Don’t be angry at aunty, mommy. You were overworking yourself.} Attie looked up at her as Shiro sighed and nodded her head.
‘Fine fine, mommy will relax for 7 hours ok? Plus, Lil’ Tian is here to look after me.’ Shiro smiled as Attie furrowed his brows.
{Can I be outside and sit with mommy?} He asked as Shiro raised an eyebrow before nodding.
‘Of course. But mommy’s in a wheelchair, do you want to sit on my lap instead?’ Shiro asked with a smile.
{Mn, then if Nan Tian does something strange to mommy I can stop him.} Attie pumped his little fists with determination.
Seeing this, Shiro found it rather cute as she couldn’t help but chuckle at her son’s display of strength.
‘Sure, if Nan Tian does something strange to mommy you protect me ok?’ Shiro laughed.
Nodding his head vigorously, Attie had a look of determination on his face.
Bringing Attie outside of the mana realm, Shiro let him sit on her lap while Nan Tian slept.
“Let him rest for now. He worked hard so he deserves some rest ok?” Shiro smiled as Attie nodded his head.
Making a tablet for Attie to play around with, Shiro relaxed on the wheelchair while watching Attie play around with the tablet. He browsed the net and whenever Shiro was mentioned in the title, his eyes would shine with curiosity and excitement before looking at the post.
He was interested in anything that mentioned Shiro.
Of course, Shiro censored the posts a little since she didn’t want her son to be seeing comments demanding her feet pics. That would be quite embarrassing.
While resting with Attie on her lap, Shiro saw Isilia enter the command room as Shiro did a shushing motion and pointed at Nan Tian sleeping on the makeshift bed.
Nodding her head, Isilia understood that Shiro wanted her to be quiet so pointed just outside the room.
“So what is it?” Shiro asked, closing the door to the command room.
“We’ve finished testing the new messaging skill and it’s quite secure. Even some of the more talented mages, including Aarim, had quite a hard time decrypting it. A few managed to do so but it took them quite a long time. I’m guessing that if you were to use this, you’ll be able to arrange a meeting spot then move to a different location so that even if they decrypt this, they won’t be able to find you.” Isilia replied as Shiro nodded her head.
“That’s good to know. We only have a day or so left before the relic appears so I should host a meeting of sorts early tomorrow or later today depending on what happens.” Shiro muttered but Attie tugged at her shirt.
“No work. Only rest. Let Nan Tian deal with it.” Attie said while looking up at Shiro.
“Haha, you might want to listen to your son. Seeing as how you’re in a wheelchair now, I think you should rest.” Isilia chuckled, finding Attie to be very cute. It was a shame that she had to leave for a long time otherwise she’ll also be able to see a small Lyrica talk to her like this.
“Though I must say, I didn’t think you were a fan of pink.” Isilia grinned as Shiro face palmed and looked away.
“It was either this or a unicorn wheelchair. What do you think I would have chosen?” Shiro asked with a side glance.
“Are you asking me what you would have chosen a few years ago or are you asking what you would have chosen now? Because a few years ago you would have chosen to make your own wheelchair using nanobots or simply said no.” Isilia replied with a knowing looking in her eyes.
*COUGH!
Coughing lightly, Shiro tried to hide her blush and shook her head.
“Not important. Setting the matter of my wheelchair aside, let’s talk about preparation. For this battle, we’ll be primarily watching but we might get into a few small skirmishes. Are all the barriers working as intended?” Shiro asked as Isilia nodded her head.
“Mn, Aarim has been making sure that everything is in order. All of the barriers are powered up and they’ve been tested a few times to make sure it works as intended. On another note, Keiko has started her ascension into tier 6. I was meant to tell you that yesterday but you seemed tired. With how quickly her mana’s been increasing, I’d say she’ll be done by tonight or tomorrow morning. She had made the necessary preparation to finish her ascension quickly.” Isilia smiled as Shiro was a little surprised.
“That’s good. If Keiko is able to reach tier 6, we’ll have a total of 6 tier 6 beings in this fight not including me. I’m not sure what the fighting force of other Queen’s are but I think we’ll be a decent force to be reckoned with.” Shiro nodded.
“Regardless, our main priority is to stop people from getting this relic as well as checking out what their fighting force is like. I’m not sure if they’ll bring all of their tier 6’s but hopefully it’s less than ours. But there’s no doubt that the area around the relic will be turned to ash with the fighting prowess of tier 6 beings.” Isilia sighed.
“Mn, for now though, help Aarim reinforce the barriers as much as you can. Most of our prep is done and we just have to wait now.”
“Got it. Have fun with your pink wheelchair.” Isilia chuckled and quickly left before Shiro could say anything. Taking a deep breath, Shiro sighed and made her way back into the command room. Just as she entered, she watched Nan Tian yawn slightly before sitting up.
“You might want to sleep a little longer since there isn’t much to do.” Shiro reminded since he only had a little more than 3 hours of sleep.
“It’s fine. I usually sleep this much in the city. Can’t be too relaxed in here.” Nan Tian smiled but Shiro glared at him.
“Well you’re in my city now so you better sleep. And you’re the one who told me to rest.” Shiro pouted slightly as Attie nodded.
Seeing this, Nan Tian couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Fine I’ll rest for another hour.” He compromised but Shiro shook her head.
“Three hours.”
“Three? How about two?” Nan Tian asked.
“Four hours.” Shiro shook her head.
“I’ll take three.”
“That’s what I thought. Now sleep. I’ll give you a proper bed.” Shiro nodded and flexed her finger.
Making a bed in the command room, Shiro pointed at it.
“Sleep.”
“In here? I can just return to my room you know?” Nan Tian raised an eyebrow.
“Nope. This is revenge for the wheelchair. Unless you want me to decorate it with unicorns.” Shiro grinned.
“Sure if you’re the one making it.” Nan Tian laughed as Shiro clicked her tongue.
“Just sleep you idiot.”
