Arriving at Shiro’s old room, the party could see the mountain of plushies piled up by the side as a giant 8ft rabbit was clearly bigger than the rest.

  Taking off their shoes and setting them by the side, the party walked in.

  Sighing softly, Shiro shrugged and dived into the pile head first before adjusting herself in the pile.

  "Behold! The plush queen, queen of all plushies. Long may she reign." Yin said with a laugh.

  "Hush it, why don’t you try it too. It’s quite nice." Shiro pouted while throwing a plush towards Yin.

  Catching it, Yin was surprised by how soft it was.

  "Oh my…… I can see why you would want an 8ft plush now mum. I wonder if they have an 8ft chicken drumstick plush." Yin mused while also diving into the pile.

  "You’ll probably eat it in your sleep." Shiro rolled her eyes.

  "I’ll excuse myself now. I’ll go prepare the other rooms for your friends." Mio said with a smile.

  "Ah I’ll help mum." Shiro said as she tried to stand up again.

  "No it’s fine. You enjoy time with your friends." Mio shook her head and left the room.

  "Hm…… You lot want to hop into the plush pile?" Shiro asked as the party looked towards one another before shrugging.

  "Sure." Lyrica chuckled.

  With how big the pile of plushies were, it was able to fit everyone in.

  "So this is your room huh?" Lyrica asked as she was quite surprised by how big the room was.

  While she wasn’t sure of the exact measurements, she guessed that she could probably fit a few large mounts into this room.

  Near the back, there was a king sized bed with bed curtains that seemed to be made from the finest silk.

  "Yeah, from my memories, I’ve stayed in this room since I was a child. I think I can probably find some old pictures of mine." Shiro mused while pointing towards her desk that was opposite her bed.

  The desk was quite large and had an assortment of drawers. In addition to this, there were bookshelves above the desk that had a few decorative items that gave the room some personality. To the right of the desk was a bookshelf that had quite a few copies of martial art manuals.

  Standing up, she walked up to her desk and opened one of the many drawers.

  "Found it." She smiled.

  Presenting a book of sorts to the party, she opened it to reveal a photo album of her childhood.

  "Holy sh*t I really do look like mum when she was younger." Yin widened her eyes when she saw one of the pictures of Shiro eating a snack with a grin on her face.

  "No sh*t, I’d be more concerned if you didn’t look like me." Shiro rolled her eyes.

  Going through some of the photos, the party had some fun as Shiro talked about her childhood days.

  To their surprise, Shiro was just as gluttonous as Yin when she was younger.

  After talking for a while, Mio finished preparing their rooms. Since it was still early in the day, they decided to relax a little longer before having some dinner.

  Once again, Yin was in love with Mio’s cooking. This time, Yin even wanted to watch Mio cook so that she could make it for herself. After all, what’s the point of paying for a bunch of food at restaurants when you can make better food yourself. Plus, unlike restaurants, Yin didn’t need to care about how much she ate when she was the one who’s cooking.

  On the dinner table, Koji informed the party of the arrival of his friends tomorrow as they will train them for the time that they’re here.

  "Let’s see…… I’ve invited 4 people to come here tomorrow and they will teach you what you need most at this time. For Lisandra and Lyrica, you two will be studying under a person named Lin. She’s a talented swordswoman and she will be able to teach you a trick or two. For Yin, Silvia and Aarim, you three will be studying under a guy named Stanley. He will teach you how mages and healers should survive on the frontlines and how you should defend yourself should you enter melee range with an enemy. Chen Yu, you’ll have your very own teacher since you’re the only assassin in this party. His name is Fin and his training is a little…… dangerous. But he won’t kill you so it’s fine." Koji laughed.

  "So basically Shiro’s training, understood." Chen Yu nodded.

  "Oi."

  "Anyways, the last teacher that I invited is for Madison and Helion since you are both heavy weapon users. Her name is Chelsea and despite her small stature, she is a monster of a woman. She can probably snap you in half like a twig. Just make sure you don’t talk down to her like she’s a kid or mention her stature." Koji smiled.

  "It shouldn’t be too hard then. I’ve met my fair share of small stature people." Helion laughed as he remembered what Shiro looked like before along with his childhood crush.

  "That’s good then. She gets quite violent when looked down upon." Koji smiled.

  Hearing the names of the teachers, Shiro couldn’t help but tilt her head before searching her memories for their identities.

  "Oh my…… Chen Yu, you have my condolences." Shiro shook her head as Chen Yu paled.

  "Wait what do you mean?" He asked with worry.

  "I just remembered who Fin was." Shiro replied while glancing away from him. When Koji meant that Fin wouldn’t kill him, he wasn’t wrong. However, the state that he’ll be in after the training wasn’t far from death.

  Hell, even her training was better in some regards since they weren’t THAT close to death.

  Hearing this, Chen Yu seemed to have his soul ripped out as he started to dread for the arrival of tomorrow.

  "So since everyone else is getting teachers, I’m guessing that I’ll be studying with you then dad." Shiro said while looking towards Koji.

  "Half. Me and your mum will be teaching you since there are areas where we can both give you tips. Plus, your skill set has parts of what me and your mum are good at so we might as well help you improve in those areas while we’re here. Who knows when’s the next time you’ll be able to come back." Koji chuckled.

  "Oh? Mum’s also teaching me?" Shiro raised her eyebrow in surprise as Mio nodded her head.

  "Of course. I also want to spend time with my baby girl after all." Mio smiled.

  "Pft, baby girl." Yin giggled at how Mio addressed Shiro.

  *Puchi!

  Feeling Shiro’s annoyance, Yin quickly dived into the rift without hesitation.

  "Don’t be so violent now." Mio sighed with a soft smile.

  "Fine." Shiro nodded as Yin popped her head back out.

  "Thank you, grandma." She smiled.

  "Don’t worry about it darling. Just don’t annoy your mum too much." Mio waved her hand.

  Talking for a little longer, they rested up for the night.

  Sleeping in her own room after such a long time, Shiro felt extremely calm.

  Looking up at the ceiling, she had a soft smile on her face.

  {It’s good to relax like this for a while isn’t it?} Nimue chuckled.

  ’Mn. I was a bit nervous at the start but it seems like I was worrying for nothing.’


  {I could tell. It’s not often you try to delay something so actively.}

  ’Speaking of delay, I should pay a visit to the spirit capital sooner or later. I don’t know where it is but Estrella should know the way.’


  {I know the general direction. The spirit capital shifts locations once in a while due to the dangers that surround us but I know the most viable places.} Estrella replied.

  ’Thank you.’


  {We still have the map to the Garden Shard to think about too. We’ll need it in order for you to make an Anchor.} Nimue reminded.

  ’True. I’m thinking of looking for it after the God Trials in Mount Olympus. Once we pass those, we should get a decent boost in strength and it would be a good chance to search for the shard. After all, if I build it hastily without the strength to back it up, everything could be ruined.’


  {Where are you even going to place the anchor?}

  ’I’m not sure but I’m thinking of using this place as the base. I’ll spend a while modifying this city so that I can convert it into a flying city/fortress when I need to. That way, the citizens will be safe if they choose to stay in my domain. The second option is the spirit capital. After all, I am the Queen so I need to protect the race. We will see in the future. For now though, let’s just focus on getting stronger so that we can accomplish everything.’ Shiro smiled as she closed her eyes and slept peacefully.