Chapter 508 - Victoria

"Well, quite a few people have gone missing in the north and the west. Local lumberjacks and pharmacists that have gone out in those directions were never seen again. We've sent out quite a few search parties but there were no signs of them." The waitress whispered over.

"I see… do you think it could be monsters or bandits?" Shiro asked.

"I don't know. There haven't really been any cases of bandits or monsters near this village in the past so most of us just believe it to be a strange dungeon or something. Hence why we've already sent out a request for the hero to take a look at this. I heard that he should be arriving soon so it's best if you stray away from those areas for now and wait for his arrival." The waitress shook her head.

"Fair point. Just out of curiosity, when did this happen?" Shiro asked.

Before the waitress could reply, she was called by the kitchen.

"Ah sorry, I need to get back to work." She apologised as Shiro smiled.

"Don't worry, but thank you for the reminder. I'll keep a note on avoiding the north and the west."

Watching the waitress walk away, Shiro glanced towards the rest of the party.

"Seems like we'll need to get a quick glimpse of this before heading to Mount Everest." Shiro whispered as they nodded their heads.

"We'll discuss this in our room once we have our meals." She followed up with a smile.

After eating the meal, they promptly went to their new rooms.

"Estrella." Shiro called out.

Beside her, a portal opened up as the spirit walked through with a calm expression.

"You called, my queen?" She asked with a bow.

"Before going to Mount Everest, I want you to go investigate things to the south of this village. At the first sign of danger, I want you to report back. We need information as soon as possible." Shiro ordered as Estrella nodded her head.

"Understood."

Fading into the portal, Estrella left the room.

"As for you Keiko, would it be ok if you scout out the north? Just get a general view of the situation and make sure you're not in any danger."

"Of course. But with how the waitress describes people going missing and the chance of a strange dungeon, do you think it could be the Frozen Imperial Mountains? After all, it wasn't a naturally formed dungeon so there's always the chance that it could mutate." Keiko shrugged.

"Mn. Honestly, I would have wanted to investigate myself if I could. Hell, maybe even use my drones but with only 15% of my body recovered, I can barely make a dagger right now since my links would just hurt if I try anything harder." Shiro smiled tiredly while waving her hand. Creating a small dagger, she twirled it for a short moment before dismissing it.

During the two days that they had been travelling, the party told Shiro about what they had seen but didn't question it too much. Understanding that they're respecting her privacy, Shiro didn't mind showing them some basics of her class without explaining. After all, they've already seen her create her gatling cannon that dealt some decent damage to the gorgon so a dagger wasn't too surprising.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like we're fighting anyways, the scouting should be done pretty quickly." Keiko smiled before walking out of the room.

Talking for a little longer, Shiro got herself out of the wheelchair and sat on the bed.

Sighing softly, she couldn't believe that the simple action of moving from point A to point B would actually tire her out this much.

"Seems like you dislike this weakened state." Nan Tian chuckled.

"No sh*t. Who would like it huh?" Shiro rolled her eyes.

"True. But still, stacking berserk skills… Even after a few days, I still have to applaud how reckless you were to do that. Though that recklessness also saved you since it gave you the power to fight against the gorgon." Nan Tian shook his head.

"Well… I won't disagree with the fact that it was reckless. There was probably more than one way to approach that situation with my skill set. If not for you being around, I would have been a goner." Shiro replied while scratching her cheeks, feeling a little embarrassed.

After all, she had an entire lifetime's worth of experience with her class. She could have easily defeated the gorgon if she only used one or two of her berserk skills and some careful thinking. But no, in the end, she decided to not only modify her body in the heat of battle, but also stack all of her elements ON TOP of her berserk skills. The result being one that could be called a complete overkill which had her rip out the gorgon's code. Even now, such a feat was still ridiculous in Shiro's opinion.

"So thank you for helping me out." Shiro followed up while glancing towards Nan Tian who had taken off his mask at this point.

"You're welcome. You can't rule out your friends' help either."

"Of course. But tell me, who's this Qin Lan subordinate of yours? How did she even edit this contract that I hadn't even heard of before?" Shiro asked curiously.

"Hmm… I suppose it's ok for you to know her true background. You see, most of the people in the sect know her as a contract expert and a doctor in some form. However, her family is actually closely tied with the sect master. They have a history of crafting some of the strongest contracts in the world and her grandfather was rumoured to have forcefully contracted several peak tier 5 monsters to act as his bodyguards." Nan Tian replied.

"Eh? But I've never heard of such a family in China though. If her family is that impressive, why does the hero need to work so hard?" Shiro furrowed her brows.

"Because her family doesn't originate from China. They changed their name and appearance so that migration could be easier for them. Her real family name is Victoria and you may know her older sister as Rachel Victoria, the healing hero that runs the Lumia's Blessing Faction."

"Huh? Why did they even migrate to China if they are a family that produced a hero?" Shiro raised her eyebrows.

"Hmm… It's a long story. If you want, I can tell it to you as a bedtime story." Nan Tian chuckled.

"Oi, you want a punch?" Shiro asked with a 'smile'.

"Pft, at this point, your punches are love taps. By all means, I'd like to receive some love from you." Nan Tian joked as Shiro wanted to flip a table into his face.

{Welcome to my world. I've already ran out of imaginary tables to throw at you so I don't bother any more.} Nimue chuckled seeing that Shiro felt the same feeling she had a while ago.

'Shush it. When did I do something that made you want to throw a table?' Shiro pouted.

{Are you sure you want to be asking that question? Because I will, and I can, list out how many imaginary tables that I had thrown within time that I had been with you.} Nimue smiled.

*COUGH!

'I'll be fine.' Shiro averted her gaze and focused back to reality.

"So? What's the final verdict?" Nan Tian smiled.

". . .I would like to hear this 'bedtime story'." Shiro squeezed out through gritted teeth.

Seeing her expression, Nan Tian chuckled as he found it quite cute.

However, Nimue who realised what he was thinking, couldn't help but shake her head.

'His tastes is pretty f*cking strong if he thinks a murderous gaze is cute… wait a minute, is he a masochist? Why else would he want to woo Shiro despite knowing her habits of going for the ass?' Nimue paused before feeling some pity for Shiro. After all, she wasn't too good with masochists. Her threats of penetration would backfire if Nan Tian turned out to be an M.

Unfortunately for Shiro, Nimue enjoyed the show she was seeing so she wasn't about to end the 'movie' just yet by telling her about this.

'Hehe~ this is for all the times you made me want to flip a table!' Nimue giggled while Iziuel couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion.

On one side, there was Shiro who was thinking of ways to get back at Nan Tian in the form of 'penetration' while on the other side, there was Nimue who was giggling to herself randomly.

{Attie, let's go play on a different island. Your mum and auntie are acting strange today.} Iziuel suggested as Attie only nodded his head.