Arriving at the café, they saw the party sitting near the window. The first thing that Keiko saw was Yin eating away as plates were stacked up high beside her.
"Yin, if you wanted to eat, you should have gone to a restaurant. This is a café." Shiro called out with a sigh.
"Mn? Well I just thought I might as well get some food since weâre all here." Yin replied while licking some cake off her fingers.
"Well anyway, this is my cousin, Keiko." Shiro shook her head and gestured towards Keiko.
Looking at the woman besides Shiro, the party paused for a moment before widening their eyes.
As adventurers, it was almost guaranteed that they knew what each of the faction leaders at the top of this world looked like. To see the assassin hero next to Shiro while she proclaimed that she was her cousin was akin to a meteorite smashing down on them.
"Wait wait wait, sheâs your cousin!?!?" Chen Yu asked in disbelief.
"Yup. But you should probably come with me back to my room. Iâve got some important things to tell you all." Shiro said while looking around. She had already used her Fae illusions so to anyone else, this would just look like a normal meeting and not one between her party and the assassin hero.
"Ah sure."
Standing up, the party left the café and made their way towards her room.
Upon arriving in the room, Shiro sat down on a chair and gestured for everyone to sit down.
"Right then, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Keiko, and Iâm Kuromi or rather, Shiroâs cousin. Iâm also the leader of the Rising Sun faction that you may have run into back in Miriel." Keiko smiled as the party nodded.
"Jeez Shiro, your familyâs more ridiculous than Lyricaâs. Are me and Silvia the only ones with a relatively normal background?" Madison asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Itâs not a bad thing now is it?" Shiro chuckled.
"True. So anyway, you wanted to talk to us about something important?"
"Yeah, you can say itâs about the future." Shiro nodded.
For the next few minutes, she informed them all of all that she knew about the new age. How humanity would be suppressed as they would need to be at least tier 6 to stand a chance of survival.
Hearing the news, they had a frown on their faces since this wasnât exactly the best situation.
"So I guess our next move is to class up as fast as possible then?" Lyrica asked.
"Mn, I still need to wait a month for the celestial trials to open and even then, Iâm not sure if Iâm able to get all of the materials that I need." Shiro shook her head.
If not for the fact that she had chosen such a troublesome class to level up into, she might have reached B rank already and saved Yuki from her prison.
But as things stand, sheâll be wasting another month in doing nothing.
"Anyways, while you talk about what you need to be doing in the next month, would it be ok if I took my niece to get some food at a restaurant?" Keiko asked with a smile.
"Ah sure go for it. Yin listen to your aunt. Lisandra, if you want, you can also join her." Shiro nodded.
As the three left the room, Shiroâs face became serious.
"I think itâs about time that the two of you also know the truth and why this next age is important. Remember how I told you that queens of different races will be suppressing humans from levelling up?" Shiro said with a narrowed gaze towards both Aarim and Chen Yu.
"Yeah? What about it?" Aarim nodded.
"Iâm going to be one of those queens. Due to some personal reasons, I would like it if none of the spirits are harmed since theyâve been enslaved for long enough. Though thatâs not to say that I will be going out of my way to hunt down anyone." Shiro said as she dispelled her disguise on her name tag.
[Shiro LVL 100 Mystic Sylph Queen]
"During my class up from level 50 to 51, my race changed from Snow Girl to Mystic Fae. And just in case you are still suspicious, yes this means that I was a monster from the start. I began as a snow girl in New York. The host of this body, Kuromi, died in New York so thatâs a whole different thing I need to deal with."
Looking at Shiro with a raised eyebrow, Aarim only chuckled.
"Well I suppose that solidifies one of my other theories then. To be honest, I figured as much since your power is clearly abnormal for someone your level. Itâll only make sense if you were a hero or a monster of the same level." Aarim smiled. She didnât really mind Shiro being a monster since it just means that there was a chance she could learn some information about monsters that humans didnât know about.
"Hou? Seems like you were prepared. What about you then Chen Yu? Are you going to report this back to b*stard Tian?" Shiro asked.
Even though Nan Tian already knew her identity as a monster, Chen Yu doesnât. Depending on what he says, she might have to reconsider his allegiance.
Looking down with a serious expression, Chen Yu furrowed his brows for a moment before sighing.
"I just hope I wonât get my ass killed by the branch master. To be honest with you, Iâve enjoyed my time much more in this party. Previously, every mission was somewhat dull as the other members are all focused on efficiency. So just in case I get some stupid task where I would need to try to slay you, I think Iâll keep this to myself." Chen Yu smiled honestly. There were two reasons for him to keep this, first being Silvia and second being that he didnât want to fight against Shiro.
"Welp you heard that ladies, seems like we can trust our dear precious Silvi to lil Chen here." Shiro grinned as the other party members in the room chuckled.
Hearing this Silvia only blushed and looked down.
"Though to be fair Chen Yu, Nan Tian already knows about my identity as a monster. He found out way back in New York when we first met. This is also why he had been calling my Little Snow." Shiro rolled her eyes.
â!!! Sh*t someone is trying to get together with Shiro!â Lyrica widened her eyes when she realised that Nan Tian must have his eyes on Shiro.
âIâll have to ask Chen Yu about his details later so that I can prepare myself.â
Ignoring Lyricaâs shocked reaction, Shiro turned back to Chen Yu.
"So if you had told him, I would have needed to punish you a little. But you can rest easy now since youâve passed my test. Oh but you need to treat Silvi with pure dedication ok? If you make her sad, you make all of us angry. If you make her happy, you make all of us happy." Shiro smiled.
"Got it." Chen Yu nodded while holding Silviaâs hand.
"Good. Anyways, letâs talk about what we should do in the next month. Everyone here will focus on getting to B rank and Iâll be helping you out whenever I can. After that, Iâll be heading back to Mount Fuji so that I can do my celestial trials in order to get the next class. During that time, all of you will be charging to level 200 so that you can then class up once more to A rank. Understand?" Shiro grinned.
Nodding their heads, the party had a determined gaze in their eyes as Shiro smiled in satisfaction.
"Alright, while you girls do your rank up requirements, I got a few more people I need to talk to."
Since Lucius was in the city, she might as well pay him back for stalking her back in Tokyo. One the other hand, there was also Isaac who seemed to have a story of his own that she was rather curious about. Though if it wasnât anything important, sheâd rather not interact with that massive masochist.
Leaving the room, Shiro dashed through the city while reactivating her disguise on her name tag. After all, it would not be good for her to flaunt her identity as a monster in the city now would it?
Closing one of her eyes, she scanned the surrounding area and soon found Luciusâ mana signature. Right now, he was in one of the hotels relaxing. This reminded her of the time when she walked in onto Chen Yu after he had a shower.
ââLetâs just hope I donât walk in on shadow b*stard n.a.k.e.d or else I might have to cut off something that ends his bloodline." Shiro muttered.
Lucius, who was in his room, felt a shiver as he had no idea that a certain queen was making her way towards him.