Walking out of the room, s.h.i.+ro looked down from the dragons back and was rather impressed by what she saw. Seeing the place in real life gave off a better feeling than seeing a picture after all.

Compared to the buildings that she saw in the Ruin Continent/Old Earth, there was definitely a more medieval feel to the architecture style.

Instead of clearing the land up for s.p.a.ce, they opted to adapt to the landscape and use it to their advantage.

All arcs and spires could be seen all over the place as there were buildings that were built alongside waterfalls.

Columns of mana prevented the waterfall to intrude into the buildings, allowing the residents to have a clear view. Airsh.i.p.s and mounts flew in designated lanes while on land was mostly filled with people walking around. After all, some could jog faster than cars if they wished to get to their location faster.

From what she could see, the city was split into 'layers'. On the outer layer, the most basic facilities could be seen. There was nothing fancy but nothing poor. As one progressed through the layers and towards the centre, the facilities would become fancy along with the decoration.

Buildings were painted with a mixture of white, cream and gold which gave off a refined feeling.

In addition to this, tall trees could be seen as it slowly transitioned to that of a miniature forest of sorts. With a mixture of buildings that resided on the ground floor and on the trees, bridges were built to connect them to each other.

At the centre of the city, was a giant tree that was surrounded by tall infrastructure. Towers, bridges and arcs surrounded the tree like a cage as s.h.i.+ro guessed that this was the royal castle.

Looking up at the tree, she could see a faint dome of mana spreading out and over the entire city.

'That is probably a barrier to prevent any large scale destruction spells. But what's powering the huge thing? Back in Aria, we had condensed mana battery farms to power barriers. But such technology is clearly out of reach for the current generation, s.h.i.+ro thought in wonder.

During the trip, she had researched on the technological aspect of the current world and realized that it was still in a 'transitioning' stage of sorts. This was when they were still developing mana infused tech.

While computers were upgraded, they were still limited by weapons and vehicles hence why most of the people would use swords and mounts. This was because the technique to imbue weapons with mana is hard to apply on items that have a lot of components. Not only do they need to make sure that the balance was correct, they also had to embed mana into each compartment individually.

But if they were to do that, there will be no synergy in the parts, resulting in a defective weapon. Hence why swords were the most common weapon. Made from a single piece of metal, the creator would only need to embed it once to get the best results.

This was the limiting factor for weapons. But for vehicles, it was slightly different.

Airsh.i.p.s could be created easily since it was just a matter of using formations and mana crystals correctly. But for vehicles like cars or planes, such tasks were too difficult for the current world's technology to create.

Not to mention, Airsh.i.p.s were privileged items but were inferior to mounts in terms of speed. The only reason one would use airsh.i.p.s would be to show off and to travel across the world.

That was because mounts had limited stamina so they couldn't travel for a very long period of time. An airs.h.i.+p was entirely powered by mana and could run for a long time.

Mounts like dragons were an exception since their mana efficiency for flight was amazing. Normal mounts couldn't even compare.

But if one was to take out exceptional mounts, once normal adventurers reached a destination, they would mark it using the teleport shrine and teleport when they wish.

Previously, she hadn't found the teleport shrine in the other cities she's been to so she wondered if it was limited to New York. Thankfully, she was able to spot one at the middle layer of this city.

'With this, I should be able to travel between continents with ease. But I would have thought that there would be some near Cairosa or Vericia though. Could it be different in this world?' She wondered to herself.

In Aria, these kinds of shrines could be found everywhere. They were so common to the point that the scientists in the world were able to conduct research on it. Unfortunately, they were still amidst research at the time of her death.

But since she had only found two, she couldn't use it as a base to determine the situation of the teleport shrines. They were naturally erected buildings to begin with. People had no control over where they would appear.

While the party admired the view, s.h.i.+ro saw melancholy and nostalgia in Lyrica's gaze. She lost her parents and fled this country after all. It wasn't surprising to s.h.i.+ro that Lyrica would feel such feelings.

Walking over to her, she patted her head softly.

"Eh?! Ah, why did you pat my head?" Lyrica asked while trying to hide the blush that was slowly emerging on her face.

"Don't worry. Everything is going to be ok." s.h.i.+ro smiled.

Understanding that s.h.i.+ro noticed her feelings, Lyrica nodded her head and felt rea.s.sured. With a person like s.h.i.+ro doing their best to help you, one couldn't help but feel like they could take on anything in the world.

Controlling the dragon to fly towards the castle, Blythe had Morthil send a message to the guards about their return.

As they approached the landing area, s.h.i.+ro spotted several dignified men along with some maids.

"We welcome your highness's return!" They called out when the dragon landed.

Quickly walking over with some wristbands, the maids offered one to each of them except for Lyrica.

"The situation is a little problematic so this will hide your true appearances from unveiling arrays we have scattered throughout the castle." Blythe informed. He knew that this wouldn't hide their stats but said nothing.

If s.h.i.+ro hadn't warned the party beforehand about being careful around all the princes, they would have thought that he was being genuine.

Taking the wrist bands, they changed their appearances slightly so that they wouldn't be recognized.

As for s.h.i.+ro, she changed her appearance back to what she looked like when she was in her old body.

She had long black hair, a C cup b.r.e.a.s.t and average height. Her face wasn't as beautiful as it was now but was still pleasing to the eye.

"Well this should do, right?" s.h.i.+ro smiled. Her aura had completely changed as from the slightly mellowed out aura that she had normally to one that had confidence. It was similar to what a leader would have since they were at the top of the food chain.

Even Blythe had to admit that he was suppressed by her aura.

Morthil frowned since this only fueled his suspicions. But since the prince forbids him from making a move, he could only watch from the sidelines.

"Yes, that's fine." Blythe nodded after a short pause. If he were to describe the previous her like a flower in the process of blooming, then the current her would be a rose at the peak of its life. Full of vitality and beauty.

Despite not having the same beauty, her natural disposition made her more desirable. Which only caused him to wonder about her ident.i.ty. But now wasn't the time. The elders had surely received word about their arrival so he should bring Lyrica to them as he was instructed.

"Come, the elders have been waiting for a long time." He said and led the party through the castle.

As they arrived before the council room where they would meet the elders, Blythe couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Seeing his reaction, s.h.i.+ro realized that the elders must not have told him anything or else he wouldn't be this afraid of their response.

'Interesting…'

*Knock knock knock!

Knocking on the door, Blythe waited patiently for their response.

"You may enter and greet the council." An aged voice called out.

Taking a deep breath, Blythe gestured for the escorts and Morthi to wait outside and pushed open the door.

Looking at the five elders seated on tall platforms, Blythe bowed.

"This one greets the five elders." He said.

"You may rise. Leave the room, for we shall talk with Lyrica Valenstaine. Daughter of Edvimar Valenstaine and Talia Faeha."

"Understood." Blythe nodded his head and left the room.

With just the five elders and the party in the room, s.h.i.+ro noticed the fact that the atmosphere seemed to become tense.

"Lyrica, after all these years, how do you address us?" One of the elderly women asked with a serious face.

"This young one greets esteemed elders." Lyrica kneeled.

"Mn. Now, do you know why we have called you back to the capital despite you leaving for so many years?"