"Valtrana?" Aarim tilted her head slightly.
"Yeah. Itās just a name that popped into my head. Anyways, Iām going back to check up on Helion. He might have recovered a bit now." Shiro said while stretching her body.
"Iāll follow you after I packed up a little. I still have a bunch of stuff here after all." Aarim gestured to the ridiculous amounts of tailoring equipment in the other room.
"Youāre going to be bringing all of that?" Shiro raised an eyebrow.
"Ya. I mean, while I am a mage, Iām also a tailor you know?" Aarim chuckled.
"Fair enough. Just message me when youāre done ok?"
"Got it."
Leaving Aarimās apartment, Shiro sighed a little.
āHmm... Iāll have to be a bit more careful with how I conduct myself when Iām in the presence of other people.ā She mused to herself.
She couldnāt fully answer Aarimās question just yet because while she considers her a friend, theyāre not close enough for her to reveal herself.
But once they party up more often, sheāll have a better understanding of Aarim and reveal the truth to her then.
āBut honestly, monsterās being the reincarnation of people with bad karma... is that even possible?ā She asked herself.
From what she had seen so far, it happened twice. Once with her and the second time with Kamnar. With just these two as evidence, she couldnāt prove the theory. But the possibility was there.
Looking back at the apartment, she curved her lips into a smile and walked away.
###
After making sure that Helion was feeling better, she decided to spend the night over in New York since Helion wanted to make some armour.
In regards to materials, Helion offered to pay for everything himself as compensation for breaking her set armour.
Seeing how adamant he was in regard to this, Shiro could only smile and nod. By the next morning, he had prepared three pieces of good quality armour for her.
[Unnamed Chest Piece LVL 65 Blue+]
+1000 INT
+200 DEF
[Unnamed Helmet LVL 65 Blue+]
+700 INT
[Unnamed Boots LVL 65 Blue+]
+1200 AGI
While they had no skills or effects, they gave her a decent boost in stats. It couldnāt compare to what she had before but they will work for now.
"Hm... Only blue +." Helion frowned slightly.
"Haha, donāt worry about it. You can spend more time to make me some better armour later." Shiro smiled.
"Alright. Just you wait, since Iāve gotten a godās name in my class, it would be shameful if I canāt make the best armour in the world." Helion grinned.
"Of course. I look forward to you making the highest grade of armour."
"Dumbass, youāll have to make sure that your level is high enough first. Donāt cha think that you failed this time is because you were too weak?" Aarim chipped in with a smirk.
"*cough* That might be the case." Helion scratched his cheek embarrassingly.
"Donāt worry about it. I was a bit hasty anyways since the situation is a little problematic in Miriel." Shiro chuckled.
"Wait what do you mean?" Aarim raised an eyebrow.
"You see, we are basically against a whole country right now." Shiro smiled āinnocentlyā.
"Ah..."
Aarim paused for a moment as her brain tried to comprehend what Shiro had just said.
"So youāre telling me that you somehow provoked a country?" She asked dubiously.
"Yup."
". . . Can I ask how?" Aarim massaged her eyes. She knew that Shiro was a troublemaker with the amount of insane things that she does but this was not within her expectations.
"Well Lyrica is elven royalty. Her three brothers want to kill each other and the factions want some power over the country. To keep Lyrica safe, weāll be against three princes." Shiro replied, boiling down the current situation.
"Canāt you just take Lyrica elsewhere? If she just kept running, Iām pretty sure that theyāll lose interest in her eventually and leave her be." Aarim raised an eyebrow. Even if Lyrica was royalty, if she showed no interest and left the continent, then they shouldnāt pursue her too much.
"Now, that is a great idea should I thought of it sooner. Unfortunately, I have a few things that require my attention in the country so I canāt eject myself out of this situation now." Shiro chuckled.
She realised that if they stayed neutral and did nothing, they wouldnāt need to worry about the elves.
āSeems like I unconsciously justified my desire to fight.ā She thought to herself since she knew that she was a muscle brain at times.
"Hais... is it too late to leave the party?" Aarim sighed.
"Nope. You can leave if you want."
". . ." Aarim paused since she didnāt expect Shiro to be so straight forward.
"*Cough* I think Iāll stay. Plus, I wonder if the elves have any information regarding the dungeons. If I can get access to their library, I can probably do more research."
"Oh donāt worry about that. I can go to their library at any time." Shiro reassured.
"Thatās reassuring." Aarim nodded.
"Ah speaking of the elves, Helion, I heard about a lolibaba." Shiro grinned.
"Lolibaba?" Helion raised an eyebrow.
"Ya. Her name is Saika and sheās quite famous in Miriel apparently."
"PFT!! HAHAHA! Helion, isnāt that the name of the girl that you fell in love with back then!?" Aarim laughed after hearing her name.
"Wait what?" Shiro looked at Aarim in surprise.
"I think Helionās told you about him falling in love with a married woman that looked young right? Well her name was Saika and I remember playing around with her in our childhood quite a bit." Aarim grinned and looked at the embarrassed Helion.
"Anyways, shouldnāt you girls go already? Donāt you have things to do back in Miriel?" Helion coughed embarrassingly and urged them to go back to the elven continent. He hoped that he could forget about that dark history of his.
"Hehe, why donāt we talk a bit more about Saika? Maybe youāll want to come with us to Miriel and catch up with her." Aarim teased with a grin.
After joking around a bit more, Shiro and Aarim left for the teleport shrine while Helion escorted them.
"Well then, Iāll send you a message when I can make better armour as compensation." Helion chuckled.
"Alright. I wait for your good news." Shiro waved her hands lightly.
"Are you sure you donāt want to join us?" Aarim grinned.
"Just go already." Helion rolled his eyes.
Activating the teleport shrine, their figures flickered for a moment before disappearing.
Shaking his head, Helion smiled and left the area.
###
As for Shiro and Aarim, by the time they opened their eyes, they found themselves in the teleport shrine located in Miriel.
"I need to go to the toilet first. Give me a moment." Shiro turned to Aarim.
"Alright. Iāll wait here."
Making her way to the toilets, Shiro changed her appearance back to what she looked like as Nytri. After all, the elders didnāt know about her original form.
"Iām back." Shiro called out.
Looking over, Aarim looked at her in confusion.
"Shiro?" She called out in confusion.
"Yup."
"You see, I need to hide my appearance a little since the elderās donāt know what I look like." Shiro whispered into her ear.
"Right... You know, that just gives me more evidence that youāre you know what." Aarim raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe~ Think what you want. Letās go." Shiro chuckled.
Making her way to the castle, Shiro greeted the guards and told them that Aarim was one of her party members.
"Understood. Iāll notify the elders." The guards nodded since theyāve all received information regarding Shiro and her party. They knew that they were the third princessās friends.
"Thank you." Shiro smiled.
After greeting the guards, she led Aarim to their room but saw that it was empty.
"Hmm, seems like the party is out levelling up right now."
"I see. Can you show me to the library then?" Aarim asked curiously.
"Sure. I need to go there anyways." Shiro nodded since Iziuel did ask her to visit often. She decided that while she had the chance, sheāll talk to her and see if she could find out more about where she was currently. Thatās why, she could at least start planning on how sheāll save her.
Showing Aarim to the library, she excused herself and āleftā the place for a short while. In reality, she had just made her way to the top floors.
"Yo, Iām back." She called out with a smile.
"Welcome back. So do you have any stories to share with me? Iām interested to know about what happens outside of Miriel." Iziuelās voice rang out softly.
"Of course. Iāll share some of my adventures in dungeons with you." Shiro nodded and sat down.
For the next hour or so, she shared stories about the quests that sheās gone to. Especially the one where she had found Lisandra.