While they were planning on how they could lure the two behemoths into Teriu, they didn’t know about the commotion that they had stirred in the city. With Tau missing and most likely dead, his assets were free for grabs as all of the families were interested.

  After all, he was one of the biggest ’traders’ in the city with connections everywhere. If he’s dead, that means his huge fortune is now ownerless. The only reason as to why other people hadn’t thought of killing him was because he had the support of several large families from larger families outside of the city.

  With someone else doing the dirty job, they can take the money without worry.

  "So Tau’s missing huh? I think I might have an idea of who did it but I must say, they are quite brave for people who are just selling toys on the street." A man smiled while drinking some wine.

  This was the same person that had told his servants to send the information about the two women to Tau on the first day.

  "Yes master. We’ve tried to look for some traces but all we found was a hole in the wall that was covered up, a dead guard and a broken wooden plank. Other than that, there seemed to be no struggles from Tau’s side." A servant replied.

  "Heh~ So they managed to take him despite the powerful guards that he kept around him. Interesting…… have some people monitor their inn and see what they’re up to. Tell them to try to not get spotted since both girls are quite adept with their senses."

  "Understood."

  Watching the servant leave, the man drank a bit of wine before standing up.

  "Well, I suppose I might as well make a move as well. Perhaps I should get them once they leave the city." He muttered with a smile.

  ###

  "Alright, this plan has an 85% chance of success. With our current manpower, getting any higher would be difficult." Kuromi said while showing them the plan.

  "With the dragon’s firepower, it would be hard to outrun the destruction but if we’re successful, the rest of the plan should fall into place."

  "Hmm…… what about the giant then?" Shiro asked.

  "Depending on the situation, we might not need the giant. But with how things are looking, he should chase after the dragon since they seem to have a rather big feud with each other. If we can get the dragon into Teriu quickly, the giant should follow behind and fight the dragon in the city. Your main task will be to lure the dragon with the rest of the group while me and a few selected members will try to locate the giant." Kuromi explained.

  "Sure, shall we set off now? The sooner we do this, the better." Shiro said while standing up.

  "Not yet, don’t be so hasty." Kuromi shook her head and gestured for Shiro to sit down.

  "Since we know that they’ve just had their battle not too long ago, they might be a little weak right now. The first step we should do is to scout out the situation and see if they’re in good shape to fight at all. If not, they’ll be a little reluctant."

  "Hmm…… true. So how many people are going to scout out the information?"

  "Obviously all of us. With so little members, it doesn’t matter too much if everyone went. We’ll wait until everyone else is awake before making our way to Teriu forest. Make sure that you pack up everything. Oh also, Nui, Prim, have you cleaned up the corpse?" Kuromi asked.

  "Of course first young miss. It would be dangerous to leave his body laying around to act as evidence." Prim nodded her head.

  "Good. Since I’m in a rather good mood after hugging my dear ol sis in my sleep, I’ll cook us four a meal. Tell me what you want to eat and I’ll make it." Kuromi smiled as Shiro flinched a little at the mention of hugs.

  "Hugs?" Nui tilted her head before looking at Shiro. She couldn’t believe that their second young miss would be one that allows other people to hug her. In addition to this, her senses are quite keen so there’s no way that she wouldn’t realise that someone had hugged her.

  *cough!*

  "Nui, Prim, why don’t we er…… get some supplies for Kuro to cook with?" Shiro asked with a ’smile’.

  Nodding their heads, they quickly left the room before they annoyed Shiro anymore.

  Sighing heavily, Shiro sat down with an annoyed pout.

  "You don’t need to go announcing it everywhere you know?" Shiro said with a frown.

  "Oh but if I didn’t, no one would know my little sister’s cute side no? Plus, if I get some reactions out of you now, I’ll know how to tip your partner off in the future. Which big sister doesn’t want to see their ’strong, independent and ruthless’ little sister squirm in embarrassment while trying to hide a blush?" Kuromi chuckled while grabbing an apron and tying her hair up into a ponytail.

  "Urg, but we’re the same person ah?! Can you not torture me like this."

  "While that may be true, we have our own experiences so unless we merge, we’re not exactly the same person ’yet’." Kuromi replied with a smile.

  "Ha…… True." Shiro sighed.

  As Kuromi started to cook the breakfast, Nui and Prim soon returned with a few ingredients while the rest of the Shadow Guards woke up just in time for breakfast. After eating their fill and thanking Kuromi for her cooking, they started to make their way out of the city in their carriage.

  After leaving the city, the group started to make their way towards Teriu forest. After around 1 hour worth of travel, a hail of arrows could be seen descending from the sky.

  "Attack!" Phillip shouted out as he snapped his finger.

  A magic circle could be seen in the air as the area above them seemed to freeze up in time. The arrows, that were descending a moment ago, are now frozen in stasis as the Shadow Guards readied their weapons.

  "Mn, seems like we’ve attracted some attention onto ourselves huh?" Kuromi said with a smile.

  "Mn, let me join in. As long as they don’t use their Celestial Energy, I should be able to kill them quite easily." Shiro grinned as she grabbed the top of the carriage door and flipped herself onto the roof.

  Narrowing her eyes, she picked out several enemies hidden in the forest.

  ’Hmm…… seems like a bow would work better in this situation.’ Shiro thought to herself before looking over at the guard closest to the weapon compartment of the carriage.

  "Gareth! Bow! Sati! Enchant my arrows!" Shiro commanded quickly as Gareth threw a bow towards her direction.

  Just as she grabbed the bow, Sati passed her ten enchanted arrow that had the return enchantment applied to them.

  Pulling back the bowstrings, Shiro shot two arrows towards the first person she could see.

  Quickly raising up his bow, the man was about to block the arrow when Shiro smiled.

  Activating the enchantment on the first arrow, she recalled it back to her side as the second arrow pierced the man in the chest after bypassing his guard.

  "Bingo." She said with a grin.

  With this arrow, it acted as a spark to a stack of gunpowder, igniting the battlefield instantly.

  Arrows and spells hurled through the air as Kuromi only sat inside the carriage with a soft smile.

  Glancing out of the carriage, she started to write down a few notes, doc.u.menting some of the fighting habits of each member.

  With the Shadow Guards on the defence, they were slowly pushed back as more people started to sustain injuries.

  Thankfully, there hadn’t been any casualties yet but the enemy seemed to be adamant on whittling them down little by little.

  Even Shiro started to have a frown on her face since there was only so much she could do with just a pair of bows and arrows.

  "Kuro, any ideas?" Shiro asked while shooting a few more arrows before recalling them back with blood soaked on the tips. Out of the ten arrows that Sati had given her, only three remained as the others were broken during this fight.

  "Of course. I haven’t spent the last few moments in the carriage for nothing you know." Kuromi smiled as she too flipped onto the roof.

  "Everyone! Listen up!" Kuromi shouted out.

  Glancing over at her, the guards listened carefully while making sure that they were still fending off the attacks.

  "When I gave you your names, I also gave you each a code number. Do you remember that?" She asked with a smile.

  After seeing a nod from each of the guards, her smile widened into a grin as her eyes seemed to shine with a cold glow.

  "In that case then, let’s slaughter some fools." Kuromi grinned since she had already come up with a strategy to get them out of the situation.