As Lisandra continued to pull out new sets of clothing, Yin would look at a few of them before shaking her head.
“Never mind these won’t look that nice.” She would mutter, filtering out the pile much to Shiro’s relief.
Eventually, they threw out roughly 40% of the pile as the remaining ones are the ones that Yin was happy with.
Most of the clothes were coloured with dark blues, reds and purples with some even having a bit of turquoise.
Thankfully, there was no pink.
“Let’s go with an easy one first.” Yin smiled, holding up an outfit which made Shiro flinch a little.
“Are we really going with this one?” Shiro asked with a forced smile.
She liked her dark colours along with simple designs but this… this was pure white with gold and light blue. There were flashy ornaments and designs all over the dress which made it hard to think about where to look.
“Yeah wouldn’t this look good on mum?” Yin nodded and turned to Lisandra who only stayed silent while putting away the clothes that Yin didn’t want to pick.
“Let’s go with a darker to-”
“Nope. You always wear black mum so try some lighter colours today.” Yin grinned.
Glancing into the pile of clothes that Yin had chosen, Shiro realised that hardly any of them were black.
“Then how about something a bit simple then? Having all of these ornaments is not necessary.” Shiro asked. She didn’t mind trying new colours out but something this flashy was not to her taste.
“Really? Hm… fine. This one is not as flashy.” Yin sighed.
Throwing the outfit behind her, she grabbed the next one which almost caused Shiro to shout out the words ‘Bullsh*t!’.
While there weren’t many ornaments on this dress, the main problem was that it was simply a mish mash of colours. Much like how a child would paint, it was as if someone had just thrown a bunch of colours on this dress.
“How about I just choose one from this pile myself?” Shiro asked as her daughter’s taste in clothing was definitely no match for her talent in cooking!
“But that’s no fun.” Yin furrowed her brows.
“Well mum still needs to go talk to Aarim so maybe just let her pick one for now. We can have a look at more outfits later. Plus, didn’t you need to check up on the scouts to see if they have any more news on your fragments?” Lisandra reminded as Yin sighed.
“Fine. I’ll continue this later then.”
Sighing in relief, Shiro secretly gave Lisandra a thumbs up.
###
After an hour of going through the clothes, Shiro eventually settled on a sleeveless white and gold dress that extended all the way down to the floor. It was paired with a white silk jacket that was adorned with gold patterns around the shoulder.
It was the best dress that she could find in the pile that matched her tastes but even so, she still preferred her normal outfit.
But since it was Yin that gave her this outfit, she might as well wear it for a while.
“Shall we go to Aarim now?” Nan Tian smiled as Shiro nodded.
“Mn, let’s talk to her before the day ends. The quicker I can get back to using my mana, the better.” Shiro nodded.
“Well I’ve had my fun for today. Me and lil sis won’t bother you anymore. Come on, we’ve still got a stack of reports to read through.” Yin said as she seemed much happier than before.
Nodding her head, Lisandra gave Shiro one last hug before leaving with Yin.
“I should spend more time with them huh? I’ve been neglecting the two a little.” Shiro smiled softly after they left the room.
“Well you were quite busy.”
“Mn but it’s no excuse. Setting that aside, let’s go to Aarim.” Shiro smiled as they left the room.
As they were making their way towards the teleport node in the main tower, Shiro glanced out of the tower window and looked down at the city which seemed to be functioning as normal.
“There was a bit of unrest since you didn’t make a single appearance in almost four months but I had the spirit council and the militia helped calm people down saying that you were preparing for something else.” Nan Tian smiled as Shiro nodded her head.
“Thanks. It’s good that people aren’t panicking. Though I suppose we haven’t been accepting anymore residents.”
“Unfortunately, no. We haven’t accepted anymore residents in Asharia but Madison has been making small anchor cities outside of Asharia. They’re mostly underground with pathways towards the surface along with a few teleport nodes for them to come to Asharia for trade but that’s about it. They aren’t able to stay here for an extended period and Madison has some of her more powerful subordinates looking after the city. The people were a bit afraid of the demons at first but they’ve come to accept that the demon’s are trying to help rather than harm them.” Nan Tian explained while passing her the tablet with everything that Madison has done in the time she was away.
Reading about all of her achievements, Shiro was impressed by how much she had accomplished.
“Though it seems like there have been a few people that have been trying to usurp her power in these cities. One of them was almost taken over due to new residents l.u.s.ting over Asahria’s resources huh?” Shiro narrowed her eyes.
“Mn, but since they’re sent to the subspace that you created with Estrella, they couldn’t find the main city and we were able to deal with them quickly.” Nan Tian nodded.
“Everyone’s worked hard huh?” Shiro chuckled.
“Of course. After realising that we’ve been putting a lot on your shoulders, everyone decided to do their part for the city and help keep it running so that there is less stress for you.”
Talking to each other about the development of the city, they reached the teleport node within the tower that would send them to the second city.
Stepping in, Shiro’s vision flickered and they were in the main tower of the second city. There was no bright light or dizziness since they were the things that she hated about the teleports. It was instant like the snap of a finger.
She couldn’t help but nod at her handy work with a smile since it was pleasant to walk through.
“Let’s see… seems like she’s in her office like usual.” Nan Tian muttered.
“Like usual? Does she not leave her office?” Shiro asked curiously.
“No she doesn’t. She does everything in her office and she had even renovated it with Estrella’s help so that her lab is in a separate space.” Nan Tian shook his head.
“Hmm… well I guess if you can wake up and immediately start working on your research then I would have probably done the same.” Shiro shrugged since she could understand Aarim’s thought process. Less time wasted after all.
Making her way up the stairs towards the top of the tower, they found Aarim’s office.
Knocking on the door, the two heard the sound of paper falling as Aarim coughed.
“Come in.” She called out.
Opening the door, Shiro could see Aarim behind her desk looking tired.
Littered around the room were heaps of scrolls that were discarded.
“Ah Shiro, are you feeling better now?” Aarim asked as she stood up and jogged over to Shiro.
“I’m feeling a bit better now. Sorry it took so long.” Shiro smiled.
“Nonsense. Take as long as you want. We’re keeping things in order right now so you don’t have to worry.” Aarim smiled.
“So what brings you here today?” Aarim asked, snapping her fingers and quickly cleared the table and chairs so that they could sit down and talk.
“Ah I just wanted to ask you about a small problem regarding my body. You see… I can’t use mana nor divine energy right now.” Shiro smiled as Aarim furrowed her brows.
“What? That’s impossible. Wait let me have a look, you should have been able to use it once your body has recovered. Knowing Silvia, she wouldn’t do a half assed job.” Aarim muttered.
Closing her left eye, she opened it once more as a magic circle could be seen hovering in front of her pupil.
Looking at Shiro, she frowned for a moment before sitting back down.
“You had me worried for a moment. It’s nothing major, it’s just that most or rather, all of your mana and divine energy is being directed towards your mana realm. I suppose you can say that it’s evolving which is… crazy if you think about it. Since no matter what happens in the mana realm, it’s basic structure will remain the same. Yours is Improving, refining itself. All of your mana is being used up so if you give it a while, it should fix itself once the evolution ends.” Aarim chuckled and sighed in relief.
“Wait really?” Shiro blinked.
“Yup. Though on a side note, I want you to help me with something if you don’t mind.” Aarim smiled.
“What is it?”
“I want to take some photos and dress you up like back in New York. I’ve been so busy with magic I haven’t done anything to do with fashion for a while. Seeing you wear white and gold has given me some idea.” Aarim grinned.
