­­­Looking at Shiro who was looking out through the window with an angry pout, Kuromi couldn’t help but giggle softly.

  "What are you giggling about?" Shiro asked as she glanced over at her.

  "Oh nothing much. Just remembering how my dear lil sis asked me to pamper her last n-"

  "Lalalala! I can’t hear you!" Shiro covered her ears since she didn’t want to remember.

  If any of the girls in the party knew that she had to say such an embarrassing line then her image would be shattered.

  "Oh please, it wasn’t a bad trade ok? We now know a little of what we should do for us to actually use the celestial energy." Kuromi said with a smile.

  "I guess but it’s still a little inefficient to be actually put into battle." Shiro sighed.

  "It’s a start." Kuromi chuckled.

  "True…… Anyways, we’ve collected most of the things that we need from this city so I guess we’ll be going back to Teriu to see what’s the state of things there." Shiro replied while looking back at the window.

  "Do you think Phillip will agree to that?"

  "I’ll be honest, he will probably say no. But I got my own plans." Shiro smiled.

  Peeking her head out of the carriage, Shiro looked towards Phillip.

  "Phillip!" She called out.

  "Yes young miss?"

  "Can we make our way to Teriu? I want to get some information about the aftermath of what happened and see the current state of the city." Shiro asked.

  "I’m afraid I can’t do that young miss. Considering the fact that they probably don’t want information about the spell to be leaked outside, they probably have the entire city on lockdown." Phillip shook his head.

  "I know but what if we just had a few of the shadow guards do this task? If there are only one of two of them, surely they can succeed, no?" Shiro persuaded.

  "No miss, you don’t understand. I’m saying we’ll be discovered the moment we get close to the city. They had people standing guard on the city walls making sure that no one sneaks in or out." Phillip shook his head.

  Furrowing her brows, Shiro stayed silent for a moment.

  "Kuro, you got any ideas?" She turned towards Kuromi.

  "Some but that would be skipping some steps and it might backfire." Kuromi replied.

  "Oh? What’s the plan?" Shiro asked as she sat back down.

  "We’ll just spread the information about the spell that father made but with some exaggeration. Mix in a few truths such as ’Have you not realised that Teriu city seemed to have fallen silent? No one comes back from that city.’ And ’The spell was designed so that his daughters can use it with just one soul strand. Imagine if a normal person got their hands on that spell?’ That way, it’ll rouse some of their interests. Feed them a few more lies and half truths for a while and they’ll make their way to Teriu to see for themselves. The more people we get to enter Teriu, the better chances of success. After all, the bigger the commotion, the harder it is to cover up. There might also be the chance that a few of the people might actually escape and reveal the truth to the other cities. Once that happens, the families in Teriu will be surrounded by enemies everywhere." Kuromi replied while writing something down on her pad.

  "Hmm…… indeed that is skipping a few steps. There are still mysteries surrounding Teriu and I don’t exactly want to basically start a coup without information." Shiro frowned.

  "That’s why I said it might backfire. There’s a good chance that whoever tries to invade Teriu will die so it would just be a waste." Kuromi nodded.

  "Arg! So annoying." Shiro frowned.

  "It’s annoying because it’s hard. And it’s hard because we have no powers so we must rely on wit to win our battles for now. Have some patience." Kuromi replied with a smile before closing her notebook.

  "What have you written?" Shiro asked curiously.

  "Oh I just gave each of the guards their names. I’ll talk to them about this once we leave this city."

  As they continued to talk for a little longer, the guards soon collected everything that the two girls had requested.

  "Alright, for now, how about we make some money? With the items and materials they bought for us, I can probably make some decent food and get us some funds." Kuromi smiled.

  "Eh? But we don’t have a shop do we?" Shiro tilted her head.

  "Dummy Shiro, ever heard of food stalls?" Kuromi giggled.

  ". . . Don’t call me dummy." Shiro furrowed her brows.

  "Oh come on lil sis, let big sis have this one. Anyways, I got work to do so just hang tight for now." Kuromi smiled before getting off the carriage.

  Walking around to the back, she started to sort through all of the materials. Placing a table in front of her, the guards stood beside her and watched with curiosity.

  Ignoring the guards, Kuromi started to tinker away at the materials while standing up.

  A few of the passing people were rather surprised after seeing this masked woman play around with little pieces on a table and decided to stay behind to see what she was planning.

  After a few moments, they were surprised at what she had created. With just wood and some small pieces of metal, she had created a few of the more modern style toys.

  ’Ha? When the hell did she become a toy maker???’ Shiro widened her eyes.

  Placing one of the finished products on the table, she continued to tinker away as the spectators looked at the toy with interest.

  "Excuse me miss, what have you made?" One of the spectators asked with curiosity.

  "This, it’s a toy for children. Children are filled with imagination so if you get one or two of these for your children, I can guarantee that they’ll grow up with a fresh and vivid imagination. Think about this, if as children they can imagine a glorious battlefield where they use amazing spells, then won’t they be able to make such revolutionary spells when they grow up? After all, it’s all about the mind no? Plus, where else have you seen such items like these?" Kuromi chuckled.

  "Hmm……" Thinking about it for a moment, the man nodded and asked for how much they cost.

  "Well for an unique item, how much do you think it costs? Since you’re the first customer, I’ll allow you to think of the price. Of course, if it’s too low, I won’t be able to sell it." Kuromi smiled.

  She had already researched about how much the gold here is worth. A single meal at the restaurant cost around 15 gold and it could be afforded by most of the people around here. So a toy was within their range.

  As for how much it cost her to make the toys, the materials cost around 5 gold so anything higher would be a profit.

  "How about 10 gold?" The man suggested.

  Clearly surprised at his offer, Kuromi nodded her head.

  "Very fair price sir and to think you got it dead on the price. Small toys like this are 10 gold while large toys are 15. Since you’re the first customer, how about I take only 8?." She replied with a smile.

  "Really? Thank you very much then." The man said while going through with the trade.

  After he left, Kuromi continued to make more toys. While she was doing this, she had the shadow guards make two signs saying large toys will cost around 15 gold while small toys will cost 10.

  The large toys are things like dragons and such while small toys are humanoid. Of course, that wasn’t all. She had a variety of toys but if they had a special thing in mind, they’ll have to pay 20 gold for a large commission and 15 gold for a small commission.

  However, if the commission was very complicated, she’ll charge accordingly depending on how much of a hassle it was.

  By the end of the day, she managed to make quite a profit for herself as there were still more people who wanted to buy the toys.

  "Ah sorry, I’ll be finishing up for today. I’m planning on staying for a day or two so I’ll be here again tomorrow at sunrise if you want to buy something. First customer of the day will get a discount of course." Kuromi smiled before packing everything up.

  Walking into the carriage, she had Phillip lead them towards the closest inn.

  "See? I’ve managed to get us some funds." Kuromi smiled as she showed Shiro the heavy money bag.

  ". . .When did you even learn how to make these?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Oh when Keomi was little, she used to want a lot of toys but mum and dad refused since they wanted her to practice with martial arts. Hence why I just got a bunch of wood and metal so that I can make toys for her myself." Kuromi shrugged with a smile.

  "Huh, that’s quite thoughtful of you." Shiro nodded.

  "Oh? Could it be that you want big sis to make you a toy too? Maybe you also want me to pamper you?" Kuromi grinned.

  "Oh screw off!" Shiro rolled her eyes but had a soft smile on her face.