"Halt, what is your business at the castle?" One of the guards immediately called out as both Shiro and Isilia paused in mild surprise and confusion.

Considering the fact that she was the one who helped their country and the one beside her being the queen of elves, Shiro had expected the two to just let them through without saying anything.

"You don't know who we are?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Am I supposed to?" The guard furrowed his brow while gripping his weapon.

Looking at each other for a moment, both Shiro and Isilia shrugged their shoulders since they didn't really have anything to prove themselves.

"Do you think you can get one of the elders to come here and meet me then? Either that or get Cyril since she'll recognise me." Shiro said as the guard frowned.

"This…. Is a bit of a difficult request considering we don't know anything about you." He replied.

"Yeah yeah I know but like, I'm not trying to make things hard for you either since if we really wanted to, we can just break through and you won't be able to do anything." Shiro narrowed her eyes as his body tensed from the intensity of her glare.

Looking at her eyes, he felt like a rabbit in front of a dragon that could exterminate it at any moment.

Taking a moment to recollect himself, he nodded his head.

"I'll do what I can. What should I tell the elder?" He asked.

"Just say that Shiro's here and she wants to talk for a bit." Shiro replied as the guard nodded before making his way into the castle. While they were waiting, Shiro and Isilia waited by the side.

"I didn't expect you to wait like this. I would have half expected you to just teleport in and be done with it." Isilia smiled.

"If I did it would leave a bad impression. Since we'll be getting the elves to live on the city, having them see me in a bad light due to my attitude would hinder this a little." Shiro shrugged.

"That is true. Before, you would have just gone in without caring about the impression you leave." Isilia chuckled since Shiro never used to be one that cared about impressions. Whether they liked her or not didn't matter as long as the job was done.

"Well that was before. Now I have responsibilities so I can't just go around without care." Shiro said while leaning back and looking at the barrier that shimmered above the city.

Just as she was relaxing, she noticed a few roots wrapping around her finger that grew out from the ground.

"Mn?" Looking towards the roots, Shiro couldn't help but raise her eyebrow as it seemed to be tugging her.

"What's that?" Isilia asked as she peeked at the roots curiously.

"Not sure. Iziuel do you know what it is?" Shiro asked as Iziuel only chuckled in the mana realm.

{Shiro it's the world tree. Remember that little sapling from before? It seems like it has grown quite a bit.} Iziuel smiled as Shiro raised her eyebrow.

"Ah it's you. Why are your roots all the way out here? Shouldn't you be in your little chamber?" Shiro asked.

Dancing around for a bit, the roots gestured towards the castle before retreating back into the ground.

Seeing the hole that it left behind get patched up in an instant, Shiro shrugged before turning to Isilia.

"Seems like we'll be paying a visit to the world tree while we're here."

"Mn, last time I saw it, it was just a seed. Seems like it's matured quite a bit for its roots to be able to reach out here." Isilia chuckled.

Talking for a little while, the guard came back with the elder.

"Miss Shiro! I'm sorry for making you wait out here." The elder bowed as Shiro waved it off.

"It's fine. Seems like you lot have been maintaining the barrier well." Shiro smiled.

"It's all thanks to you. Shall we talk inside?" The elder asked as he couldn't help but glance at Isilia who was next to Shiro. The moment he made eye contact, the elder froze in shock.

Back when both of Lyrica's parents were alive, Edvimar was the one that everyone focused on while Talia liked to be in the shadows. She didn't like the attention and would focus on her research so not many recognised her except for the elders and old maids that have been around for a while.

"Talia?" He called out hesitantly.

"Mn, it's Isilia now but it's been a while hasn't it elder. Thank you for looking after the country." Isilia smiled as The elder nodded his head.

"Come, I'm sure the other's will be happy about your return. What about Edvimar? Is he with you too? If you're alive he should be as well right?" The elder asked as Isilia looked down and sighed.

"He's… not here. I was lucky and I managed to 'revive' myself I suppose. It's just me that's around." Isilia sighed as the elder felt bad for asking now.

"Ah let's not talk outside. Let's go inside first."

Leading the two in, the guards were at a loss for words.

"So one's the old queen and the other is someone who the elder respect. Seems like they're kind enough to not care about the fact that you just made them wait outside." One of the guards said as the first guards glanced towards him.

"Weren't you involved too?!" He retorted.

"Nothing of the sort. Good luck, if you get punished, I'll look after your belongings for you." The second guard patted his shoulder.

"Shouldn't it be, look after your family and not belongings?!"

"Not important."

###

Upon entering the castle, Shiro immediately noticed the increase of mana as well as nature energy since the last time that she was here.

"Seems like you lot have been taking good care of the sapling." Shiro smiled as the elder nodded.

"Mn, while it hasn't matured to become a proper world tree yet, it is making good progress." The elder nodded.

"Of course, I presume that you can already feel the increase of energy in this castle alone. I estimate that if we let it grow for another month or so, it should have enough energy to increase the mana in the entire city and not just this castle." He continued as Shiro tapped her finger on the wall to get a full scan of the castle. Locating the sapling immediately, Shiro could see that it had grown to the size of a somewhat large bush with the roots extending through the entire castle.

Moving the tree would be somewhat annoying since they would have to do something about the roots.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a month." Isilia sighed as the elder looked back.

"How come?"

"We'll tell you when everyone is together so that I don't have to repeat the story." Shiro smiled as Isilia nodded her head.

"That's probably for the best. It's a shame that Lyrica isn't here today since Cyril has been missing her quite a bit." The elder smiled.

"Don't worry, they'll be seeing each other more often in the future." Shiro reassured. If they were going to be moving the elves to one of the platforms in the city, then it'll be akin to becoming neighbours with one another so it's only natural that they'll see each other more often.

Entering what seems to be a conference room of sorts, Shiro saw Cyril sitting in the centre looking as though her soul had just flown away. With the books around her that are constantly being replaced, Shiro could tell that Cyril needed to study quite a lot to become the ruler.

Seeing Shiro, Cyril tilted her head for a moment before sitting up straight.

"Ah it's Shiro!" Cyril called out with a smile.

"Yo, seem like you've been working hard." Shiro grinned.

"Mn I have. So can you please tell them that I deserve a break?" Cyril cried out as she had been studying pretty much every day since the last time that Shiro had seen her.

"Mn, but you seem to be doing fine though." Shiro furrowed her brows since Shiina, Oran and Akhess looked worse but were able to function just as well.

{That's because you crammed everything in a week! Poor girl deserves a break too you know!} Nimue stopped her train of thought immediately since if she didn't say anything, Shiro might suggest making things harder instead.

"Though you do deserve a break I suppose. Thankfully for you, you'll be busy with something else so you won't be studying." Shiro smiled as Cyril cheered in her mind.

"So who's this? She looks a bit like big sis Lyrica." Cyril asked while looking at Isilia.

"That's because that's her mother and by extension, your step mum. She used to be called Talia but now she's called Isilia." Shiro smiled as the other elders paused in shock at the news while Cyril didn't know how to react.

"She's my step mum?" Cyril asked as she walked up to Isilia who hugged her immediately

Shocked by the hug, Cyril hesitated for a moment before hugging her back.

'Ah… this is my mum.' Cyril thought in her mind as she never had parents. It was always her siblings and the elders raising her up. But now, her mum was hugging her.

Seeing this, Shiro smiled and allowed the two to have their moment.

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