Hoping out of the portal next to Kuromi, Shiro then activated the second orb she had left behind and summoned the rest of the guards beside her.

  Thankfully, it seemed like they had managed to find the missing guards.

  "Huh? Eh? How did we get here?" Phillip looked around in confusion.

  "I summoned you with the orb I left behind. Anyways, since the guards are dealing with the dragon, our task here is done. We’ll be retreating back to Yoru now." Shiro replied with a smile.

  "Ah unde- Second Miss! Your arm!" Philip cried out in shock after seeing the severe burns on her arm.

  "Quickly, give her some healing!"

  Two guards immediately stepped up and started to heal Shiro as she only sat to make herself comfortable during this treatment.

  "So Shiro, are you able to tell us what had happened to the dragon and giant?" Kuromi asked. She was mostly focused on getting as far away as possible so that Shiro could teleport. This made it so that she didn’t exactly get a good look at the fight.

  As Shiro explained the situation while getting healed, Kuromi had a serious look on her face.

  "Hmm…… this Celestial Spear seems to be quite important. Phillip, do you know the origins of this spear?" Kuromi asked since Phillip would probably know the most about this spear.

  "I do. It’s a weapon given to the city lord by the higher being or rather, the one known as the Celestial Empress. She gave this spear as a gift since our country had pledged our allegiance to her rule." Phillip explained as both Shiro and Kuromi looked at each other.

  "Seems like this is the ’key’ then huh?" Shiro smiled.

  "Indeed. If we get our hands on this spear, it should help us complete a portion of our goals." Kuromi nodded.

  While the trial wasn’t exactly clear on what they should do other than ’solve the corruption’ and fulfil certain requirements, Kuromi could guess that meeting the Celestial Empress would be one of them.

  "Phillip, do you know where the Celestial Empress resides?"

  "Unfortunately, no. All I know is that her emissary lives in the capital." Phillip shook his head.

  "Emissary huh? I don’t exactly like talking to emissaries since they could be fakes for all I know. For someone as vague as the ’Celestial Empress’ it would be better to talk face to face rather than through a medium." Kuromi frowned.

  "Well I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go talk to them now would it? Plus, who knows, the emissary might be a decent person." Shiro chuckled.

  "True. Regardless, let’s finish everything here before grabbing more tasks. We haven’t even destroyed all the families that have hurt us yet." Kuromi shook her head. While she didn’t exactly have an emotional connection to the ’lord’ and the family, she knew that the shadow guards were very loyal. If they left the enemies untouched, then it may affect their attitude towards her as a leader.

  "Alright. So I’m guessing the next step is to go back to Yoru and spread the news?" Shiro smiled.

  "Yup. We’ll also have some of the shadow guards spread the news to the other cities around Teriu and not just Yoru. Of course, there’s the chance that they don’t want to invade Teriu in which case it’s fine as well since I have a few backup plans for that." Kuromi smiled.

  As they were making their way back to the city, Shiro flexed her fingers as a portal opened up next to her and a spear was ejected out.

  "Damn that spear took a while to actually slow down." Shiro chuckled as she inspected the body of the spear.

  Now that she had taken a proper chance to look at the spear, she saw that its craftsmanship was rather impressive. The spear was coloured entirely gold with light blue runes etched onto the body.

  In the centre of the spear head, there was a single blue crystal. The crystal itself was dull and lifeless as she could see a few cracks on the surface.

  ’Hmm…… must be due to the spear running out of charges like that captain said.’ Shiro thought to herself.

  While she was inspecting this spear, Phillip noticed this and could only shake his head.

  ’I give up. There are too many strange things around second young miss and if I try to comprehend everything, I would only confuse myself further.’ He thought and ignored the situation.

  "Shiro, can I borrow that spear for a little while? I want to do some research on it. Maybe it might give me some understanding on how I can help enchant some stuff for us." Kuromi asked with a smile.

  "Oh of course. Here." Shiro nodded and passed her the spear.

  Arriving back in Yoru, they made their way back to the inn that they had bought previously and rested in their rooms.

  Kuromi laid the spear on the table while Shiro sat besides her.

  "Say, do you think there’s a way for us to charge the spear again?" Shiro asked since this spear was quite an impressive weapon. While she doesn’t use spears as much as she uses swords, it was still better than any weapon she could obtain right now.

  "Hmm…… maybe. I might be able to edit the spell that the lord made so that we can make an artificial link between us and the spear. That way, we can charge it with our own celestial energy. Unfortunately, we’ve already used up quite a bit during our battle so I don’t think it’s something we can do today. We’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out." Kuromi replied with a smile.

  "Heh~ Is that so…… Oh right, I’ve been meaning to ask you a question but held it off since we were in the middle of a battle. How are you able to use celestial energy so easily? I’m only able to use it easily because I’ve experienced it before with my Celestial Raiment." Shiro asked.

  "Oh you’re curious about that are you? Well without the help of the system, I had to study the entirety of Celestial Energy without any assistance. During the times that I’ve been selling toys and practicing with the guards, I had them run the energy through my body so that I could memorise its feeling. That’s why when I finally had access to it, I could use it without too many problems."

  Hearing Kuromi’s explanation, Shiro couldn’t help but raise her eyebrow.

  "Man, it feels like you’re way more prepared than me. With you dealing with most of the things, I’m just sort of here to give you physical labour." Shiro sighed as she hugged Kuromi from behind. Letting her arms dangle over her shoulders, she rested her chin on Kuromi’s shoulders.

  "Haha, are you complaining that you can fight without thinking about much of the details?" Kuromi laughed as she patted Shiro’s head.

  "It’s not that. I’m absolutely loving the fact that I can just fight to my heart’s content but I can’t just be giving you all the work now can I?" Shiro replied while closing one of her eyes due to her hair being in the way after Kuromi patted it.

  "Well that’s what big siblings are for. I do the hard work so that my cute little sister can enjoy herself to her heart’s content. That’s what I did with Keomi and that’s what I’ll do with you." Kuromi smiled.

  "Mn, fair enough. Say, Kuromi, when we get out of this trial, what do you think will happen? Will you stay with me like now or will you be back to your spirit form?" Shiro asked slowly.

  ". . .I don’t know. This situation is rather bizarre to begin with. In reality, I shouldn’t even be in this trial with you but here I am." Kuromi shook her head after a moment of thought.

  "However, I suppose if you get good enough with spirit magic you might be able to transfer me to an ice spirit and let me reside in your mana realm." She suggested with a chuckle.

  "Mn…… I guess it’s better than nothing then." Shiro nodded with a smile.

  "Anyways, go get some rest now. You must be tired after all of that fighting today." Kuromi said while gesturing to the bed.

  "Hmm…… fine. I was going to stay up with you and look at the spear but I guess I’ll get some rest now. Good night Kuro- Um…… Big Sis." Shiro replied as she hesitated for a moment but decided to call Kuromi big sis instead.

  Pausing in surprise, Kuromi looked back at Shiro.

  "*cough* What? If it’s weird I can call you Kuro like always." Shiro coughed in embarrassment.

  "Ahh so cute! Damn, do you not want me to work? Come here, let big sis pamper you to sleep." Kuromi grinned uncontrollably.

  Tackling Shiro onto the bed, Kuromi dragged Shiro into her embrace.

  "Gah! Let go of me, I’ll suffocate!" Shiro complained since Kuromi had accidently wrapped her arms around Shiro’s neck, stopping her from breathing.

  "Ah sorry~ Anyways, let’s go to sleep. Big sis will prioritise you over my work tonight." Kuromi chuckled while making sure that Shiro couldn’t escape from her hug. Of course, she made sure that Shiro could breathe this time.

  "Sure whatever. Just make sure you don’t strangle me by accident." Shiro replied before turning around to hide her smile.

  ’How adorable.’ Kuromi thought as she slowly fell asleep.