(MC POV)
"The Royale?" Shiori repeated after I explained what the phenomenon was called.
All of us were gathered back in the hall I had found them in earlier, unsurprisingly they had a seat reserved for me where Shiori and Akari would be laying down on either side of me.
I nodded, "It's a phenomenon that happens in the Cloud Plane at a specific place during specific times. Basically there's a ruin there that has portals leading to various places that supposedly contains tons of treasures and cultivation materials for the Practitioners of the Cloud Plane to take advantage of. I never knew there was one that led right here."
"And Divine One has sealed it?" Stephanie asked.
"That's right, so you don't need to worry about it anymore."
Benjamin lowered his head, "As expected of Divine One to know of such things, we should have relied on Divine One sooner."
Well… I can't really say that it's because I came from the future where I had witnessed this before. If I had known that one of the portals actually led back here in my previous life… Then again, there's no point since I'm pretty sure Iris would have done something anyway.
"Please accept my apologies, Divine One…" Shiori also lowered her head. "It was utterly foolish of me not to have come to Divine One to deal with this sooner."
I reached up and patted the giant fox, "It's alright, you were just worried about me weren't you? I don't blame you."
"Kyuuu…"
So cute.
I stood up from my seat, "Alright, I guess it's also about time I head back, I wouldn't want the others to panic when they find out I'm missing."
"Yayyy~ Let's go back, Master~" Akari cheered, immediately transforming into her smaller form to jump up onto my shoulder.
Shiori gave a low growl and reached over with her snout to pick up Akari using her mouth, dumping her on the table in front of us.
"Stop making trouble for Divine One, sister! We still need to fix up this place first!"
"Ehhh… It's not like I can do anything even if I stayed right? Just let me go with Master alreadyyyyy… I wanna cuddle with Master!! I want Master to pat me! I wanna snuggle with Master! I want Master's belly scratches!"
I looked at the small red fox that was currently rolling on the table throwing a tantrum. Yep, she looks really cute. You wouldn't think that she's a calamity level fox capable of destroying cities with a swipe of her tails right now.
Shiori looked like she was going to berate her sister again but Stephanie stepped in.
"It's fine isn't it? We can handle the rest of the matters here and I think Divine One's protection takes precedence over everything else."
I'd like to say that I don't really need protection but I can at least read the mood enough to know not to say that.
Shiori turned to me, silently asking for my own opinion on the matter.
I shrugged, "I don't mind either of you following me, you don't need to worry about me that much."
"Unn… In that case… We'll be in your care, Divine One," Shiori relented, transforming herself into her smaller form to curl up on my shoulder.
"Ehehehe~ Sister also missed cuddling with Master, she's just too shy to-Ouch!"
"Shut up, sister," Shiori growled, retracting the tail she had used to smack her sister on the head.
Akari obediently kept her mouth shut and jumped up onto my other shoulder, settling herself in comfortably and curling her tails around my neck.
I waved to the other monsters, "I guess I'll see you guys later. Next time don't hesitate to give me a call if something happens ok?"
They bowed their heads right as I teleported us back to my room in the temple.
"Oh? It looks like Master had a lot of fun last night!" Akari giggled upon seeing all the girls all passed out in various states of undress on a giant bed. The fact that all their clothes are scattered around the floor further suggested what really happened last night.
"Mmm? Where are we, Divine One? And… Who is that?" Shiori asked, using her tail to point at Tatiana.
Oh right, they aren't informed of my trip here yet.
I quickly gave them a brief summary of everything that happened so far, of course I made sure to only tell them about the events of this new timeline instead of the other one that no longer exists.
"Master is so popular!" Akari cheered while snuggling against my cheek.
Shiori wasn't as amused by the news, "Hmph… Aren't they just copying us?"
Not you as well… You do realise that chronologically, they founded this country before any of you right?
Then again… If we're following the other timeline's existence I guess my disciples were the ones who started this first…
Oh whatever, it's not important anyway.
Akari started bouncing on my shoulder, "So are we going to go explore the city now, Master?"
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Eh? It's in the middle of the night?"
"Mmhmm? So are we going?"
"Err… Shouldn't we be sleeping now?"
"Ehhhh? But we just got here, Master! We should play!"
Shiori smacked her sister on the head again, "You stupid sister. You've become really obnoxious now haven't you? Who do you think you are talking to Divine One like that?"
"Uguuu… Sowwy…"
I patted the both of them on the head, "It's ok, it's ok. Normally I wouldn't mind taking a night stroll but well… I think we've had enough excitement for one night so why don't we call it a day?"
Shiori perked up, "Ah, could I ask what does Divine One intend to do with the Cloud Plane?"
I tilted my head at the white fox, "Whatever do you mean?"
"Eh? I got the impression that Divine One might choose to go there, was I wrong?"
Oh, Shiori's quite perceptive eh? I didn't even mention anything about wanting to go there at all and yet she still saw through me.
Well, I was planning on giving the news to my disciples in the morning. The Royale would have portals connecting to many different places full of rich cultivation materials and this could be a chance for my disciples to gain more insights and increase the speed of their cultivation too.
Sure I could simply just conjure up the materials for my disciples, but they already mentioned they wanted to achieve godhood themselves.
Besides, it's good for them to go out and explore.
If my memory still serves, it's only the beginning stages of the Royale right now and only a handful of the portals are open. There should be one giant portal in the deepest parts of the ruins that would lead to the best place which would only open a few weeks later.
That portal would be our main goal.
Yep, we're going on another trip to another Plane!
Before I could tell her my plans, she continued, "Since they dared to invade Divine One's Sanctuary, Divine One surely plans on going there to rain Divine Judgement on them right?"
"Yay! We get to see Master punish some idiots!" Akari cheered, rubbing her face on me.
…
Right… I forgot you guys were like this too…
