Chapter 112 Persuasion
With their plans laid out, Lyrica and Madison started to look for a decent dungeon where they would be able to gain a lot of levels whilst also being able to gain a lot of battle experience.
An alpha beast type dungeon would be the most favourable.
It was due to the fact that while the monsters were sparse, they were essentially mini-bosses that rewarded a lot of exp. The dungeon where Shiro killed Yetis could also be classed as an alpha beast type dungeon.
While those two were looking for the dungeon, Shiro was currently eating a mana stone lollipop whilst playing around with her floating blades.
She wanted to see if she was able to formulate any kind of attack tactic with the blades along with seeing if she was able to discover any kind of secret.
'Since the blades have no growth limit, it means that they would stay with me even after levelling up to level 200. However, if they could level up that much, it also means that it should gain skills every so often, similar to Yin I believe.' Shiro thought with a frown.
Soon, the other girls in the tent started to wake up.
[Good morning, did you enjoy your sleep?] Shiro asked Kanae.
"Mn? Shiro-nee I can't see the phone. Hold it closer please." Kanae replied whilst rubbing her eyes since she had just woken up.
Shiro nodded and held the phone closer to Kanae. Since Kanae was lower levelled, her senses were obviously a little weaker when compared to Lyrica's or Madison's. She would need to be closer to the phone in order for her to read it.
"Yeah I enjoyed it." Kanae smiled and nodded at Shiro.
"So what are we going to do today?" She asked.
[Well, Lyrica and Madison may or may not go to a dungeon. I'll be staying here like I promised. That being said, we can do anything you want. Play, train, up to you.]
"Can we train then?" Kanae asked eagerly.
[Sure.] Shiro chuckled at Kanae's eagerness.
Hopping off her tree, Shiro realised that she had never inspected Kanae for her level.
[Kanae LVL 5 – Swordswoman]
'Hmm, the level is a little low but that's to be expected. She'll increase her levelling speed when she gets older and starts to hunt in dungeons.' She thought whilst biting down on the mana stone lollipop to finish it in one go. Making a new one, she threw it into her mouth.
Yin saw her eating more and smacked her head.
"Ow, fine you get one as well." Shiro said and gave Yin a lollipop as well.
"Shiro-nee, when did birdie like to eat lollipops as well?" Kanae asked.
[Don't worry about her. Little Yin is a glutton.] Shiro replied.
"So what are we doing first?" Kanae asked whilst stretching her body.
[We'll be doing exercises where it would increase your flexibility whilst also increasing your foundation strength.]
Shiro then started to demonstrate a few exercises that helped push one's flexibility to the extreme. When Lyrica and Madison saw Shiro perform the exercises, they were a little curious as to how difficult they were. But, the moment they tried it, they noticed how hard it was to keep the form as it was pushing your flexibility to the extreme.
However, Shiro was performing it easily.
[I want you to do that routine of stretching every morning so that you will grow up with good flexibility.]
Shiro wanted Kanae to take advantage of her young age and still developing the body to increase the base foundations. If she were to perform the routine every day whilst growing up, she would be able to keep and even increase her range of movement.
Even if she wasn't going to use it for a fight, it was still very healthy for her to keep her body flexible.
And just like that, three days had passed quite quickly.
All she did during these three days were wake up early, go to a dungeon, farm for some food, go home. Not to mention, on the second day, she had received the text about the mana springs.
[???: Miss Shiro. The procedures have been completed. Please come to the main mansion in two days time. You will also be required to pay the 21 million USD on the day.]
[Shiro: Thank you, what time should I arrive?]
[???: Preferably around 1pm.]
[Shiro: Ok, thank you.]
In addition to scheduling her appointment at the Ospar Family mansion, she had also kept training Kanae to the point where there was not a single day where she wasn't about to collapse from fatigue.
Yumi was obviously livid but Kanae's determination made Yumi sigh wearily. She was delighted that her daughter was trying so hard to achieve something. However, if that was at the cost of her daughter almost fainting every day, she didn't want Kanae to suffer through pain like this.
During the third day, Yumi couldn't hold it anymore and confronted both Kanae and Shiro about this.
"Miss Shiro, I know you are strong adventurer. But I don't want my daughter hurt like this." Yumi said to the best of her ability. Shiro, who sat opposite her, nodded in understanding.
[I understand your concerns. However, I need to point out that the more we do for Kanae now, the easier her later life would be. It's easier to cultivate her flexibility now than when she is in her teens and about to reach a.d.u.l.thood.] Shiro replied.
During these three days, she had started to see Kanae as a disciple of sorts. Being a teacher and training the young was something she found to be quite entertaining.
Yumi showed some difficulty in understanding the text in her face but Shiro knew that this was due to the fact that her English wasn't as good as her Japanese.
She smiled slightly and gestured for Kanae to help her mum.
"Shiro-nee, basically, mum wants to say that she doesn't want me to get hurt." Kanae said before turning back to her mum.
From her observations of their facial expressions, Shiro could understand that Kanae was trying to convince her mum that she wanted this training while her mum was worried about Kanae's body condition.
[Kanae, would you mind translating this to your mum for me? Tell her that in the future, no matter what, there will be a time when you need to enter the dungeons. Times are tough and if you're weak, it'll only make you vulnerable.]
"Alright Shiro-nee, hang on." Kanae replied and started to translate.
However, after hearing Yumi's reply Kanae's face flinched in anger.
She was about to respond when she felt Shiro's hand on her shoulder.
[What did she say?] Shiro asked with a smile. She understood that what Yumi said may have hurt Kanae but that was because she didn't want her to be in any danger.
Taking a deep breath, Kanae clenched her fist.
"She said… She'd rather me stay weak than fight strong monsters and get stronger." Kanae said as she bit her lips.
'Hmm… getting stronger does have its own dangers. The stronger you are, the more dangerous your opponent's.' Shiro thought and nodded.
[Well tell her this. It is true that the stronger you are, the more danger you are in. However, in that moment of helplessness when you are almost killed by an enemy in front of you, even though you can clearly defeat them if you were just a little stronger, is the worst feeling ever. Having to be repeatedly saved is disheartening when you could have avoided it if you were just a little stronger. Strength, whilst being dangerous, is also the key for you to surpass those dangers. Staying weak and not fighting is no different from suicide.] Shiro smiled and patted Kanae's head.
Kanae's expression lightened up a lot more.
[Not to mention, you can reduce the intensity for now and increase it when your mum can't see.] Shiro grinned and winked her eye.
Kanae blinked her eyes to force away the tears that had almost built up due to her almost needing to give up on what she enjoyed.
Grinning in a similar fashion to Shiro, Kanae nodded and translated it for her mum. Naturally, she only translated the first paragraph and not the second one.
Yumi made a difficult face since Shiro was saying the truth. Both of the options had their dangers, she couldn't deny that.
"Ha…." Yumi sighed out heavily before speaking some Japanese to Kanae.
"Shiro-nee, mum just agreed!" Kanae jumped in happiness and hugged Shiro.
Shiro smiled and returned the hug. It only lasted a short moment as Yumi pulled Kanae back.
"So mum agreed as long as you are able to make sure that I am not in any serious danger or harming my body." Kanae said after calming herself down.
[That's a must.] Shiro nodded since that was her intention to begin with. She wasn't about to let Kanae run into danger hence why she hid a chip on her body. It was so that she could be notified when Kanae was in trouble.
Walking out of the tent, Kanae and Shiro glanced at each other before grinning.
*Pa!
High fiving each other, they resumed their training once more.
Yumi could only smile wearily as she looked out from the tent.
Not long after their talk, Lyrica and Madison had come back from their ventures in the dungeons.
"We're back!" They called out.
[Congrats on reaching level 39 the both of you.] Shiro smiled.
"Yeah, we wanted to get to level 40 but our supplies ran out so we came back earlier than expected." Lyrica confessed.
[Hm it's fine. You can still go to dungeons tomorrow. Also I have some good news. Yumi has agreed for me to continue to train Kanae.]
"Heh~ congrats Kanae." Madison said as Kanae nodded her head happily. During the three days, Madison and Lyrica would also occasionally train with Kanae as well.
Their relationship was also similar to that of siblings but she was still closer to Shiro much to Lyrica's dismay.
While they were chatting, Shiro pulled out another lollipop and threw it in her mouth.
"I say Shiro, you've been eating lollipops for a 3 days in a row. I don't think that's very healthy." Lyrica asked.
[No matter what you say, I'm not giving up my lollipops.] Shiro replied instantly. She had slowly cultivated a love for her mana stone lollipops that made her think about eating them more often. Yin wasn't much better as she was also eating mana stone lollipops albeit not as often as Shiro.
"Shiro-nee, can I give the lollipops a try?" Kanae asked curiously.
[Sure.] Shiro was long prepared for this and had bought some normal lollipops beforehand.
Handing Kanae a lollipop, Shiro informed them about her departure tomorrow.
[I'll be going to the mana springs tomorrow so I won't be here at the camp. I'll also be out the full day to try this Silvermoon Keep Trial key and see if I can harvest any benefits.]
"So you're heading to the Ospar family mansion tomorrow?" Madison asked.
[Yeah.]
"Alright, I'll stay back with Kanae at the camp since my body's hurting a little from tanking a strong boss." Madison said whilst massaging her shoulders a little.
"I'll head to the dungeon tomorrow alone. I also have a skill theory to test out and see if I can add it to my Rose Blossom series." Lyrica added on. Ever since she created the Rose Blossom skill line, she wanted to add as many skills as she could in the skill line since it was something she created herself. She wanted to watch the skill series blossom into fruition. Both literally and metaphorically.
[Oh? A new skill idea. If you have trouble with it, don't be shy about asking for help. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to help me as well since I got my Frozen Hell series as well.]
They discussed ideas for skills until the sunset. After eating some dinner, to which Shiro only ate her lollipop's, they went to sleep.
However, halfway through the night, Shiro heard a slight ting of the traps that she had set up. Opening her eyes slowly, they glowed with a cold light.
She shifted Kanae to the side before walking out of the tent. Once she arrived at where the intruder was, she saw a man walking off with a woman struggling on his back. Her body was tied up and her mouth was stuffed so that she couldn't cry for help.
"Hm?" The man paused when he saw something from the corner of his eye. Turning to his right, he saw a beautiful girl standing on a tree with her silver hair flowing in the wind.
Since the woman was being carried on the shoulder, she wasn't able to see Shiro.
Blinking for a moment to make sure he wasn't hallucinating; he saw nothing on the tree and could only frown.
*Thud
The woman was knocked unconscious with a single hit at the back of the neck. Before the man could even register what had happened, Shiro had already plunged her index and middle finger in the man's eye holes and her thumb into his mouth.
*CRACK!
With a single twist, she ripped off the front part of the man's face before flicking her fingers and cutting up the rest of his body with her Ascendant Dream. Due to the fact that they were in an alley, none of the patrols had seen her kill the man.
Shiro only frowned before moving the woman to a spot where the patrols would be able to find her.
"Seems like I'll have to try to clean up the Slum area a little in the next few nights. Maybe a few midnight murders would give them something else to worry about." Shiro muttered coldly before returning to the tent and closing her eyes once more.