After making sure the room was fully closed up, Ciel exited out of Rein's shadow, and summoned the Starlight Lantern using Soul Transfer.
"Hey, long time no see." The Starlight Lantern greeted gleefully
"We're in the kingdom now. So, where or who exactly has your Star Fragment? You only said it's in the possession of the Royal Guards, and surely you know more than that." Rein asked without wasting time
"Yeah, I do in fact know where its location is right now. However-"
"Just tell us. You can answer the question since it's related to you." Rein cut him off before he could spout any nonsense and waste time
"The Star Fragment is located in the Avadonn Palace, inside its royal treasury." The Starlight Lantern said dejectedly
"Oh. Basically we have no chance of ever getting our hands on that Star Fragment of yours. At least not in any conventional way." Ciel said, thinking of any ways to get the Star Fragment
'If there's some sort of event where the winner could choose an item from the royal treasury… that would be quite ideal.'
'If not, we are going to have to get someone from the inside to betray the kingdom. Seems troublesome in every way…' Ciel thought, wondering how long this task was going to take
Even if they actually became a Royal Guard, there was no chance that they would get to go near the royal treasury of the Avadonn Palace.
Even if they did, stealing and escaping in one piece was a completely different story.
"Let's just get used to the kingdom life for now. We can ask Miriko if she knows about anything that can involve the royal treasury." Ciel said
"Alright. Anyways, there is a Star Contract that you can give us, am I right? Care to give us a new task, Starlight Lantern?" Rein asked
The previous Star Contract was complete, and the Starlight Lantern didn't give them a new one.
The Starlight Lantern answered unhurriedly:
"Sure. Give me a moment to think..."
"...How about infiltrating the Royal Guards?"
"Rejected. Give us a new one." Ciel said, knowing that becoming a Royal Guard would now be a complete waste of time
"It's kinda unfair that you can reject my Star Contract..." The Starlight Lantern said with its light growing dimmer
"You were the one that made that rule." Rein replied
"Fine.The new Star Contract is quite easy. All you need to do is earn 30 Silver in whatever way you want."
"That's fine." Rein accepted
"Well, that settles one thing. We are not going to an academy. There's no way to earn money in a place like that." Rein said without any disappointment
She was already leaning towards doing missions from the kingdom to get her Silver Support badge.
They wouldn't join the Royal Guards now knowing that they needed to enter the Royal treasury, but getting close with a few of them wouldn't hurt.
"There was no way that we would have gone to an academy in the first place..." Ciel said with a look of confusion
"There's no need to rush, you know. One year is just the minimum time to join the Royal Guards. You can just do missions in peace, while waiting for a good opportunity to come around." The Starlight Lantern chimed in
"That's not true though. We need to rush, else the entity behind the Door of Void is going to awaken." Ciel said
There was a timer with an unknown amount of time that was constantly ticking.
If they waited too long, the entity behind the Door of Void would awaken and destroy them from inside their own Soul World.
"Trust me, I understand that much, much, much more than both of you. In fact, you are heavily underestimating 'Him'."
"You need to get stronger as fast as possible if you want to be even relatively safe from 'Him'." The Starlight Lantern spoke unnervingly
'For an ancient lantern of unknown origins, this 'great being' is the only thing that he seems to truly be afraid of and takes seriously.'
'Looks like we need to work harder and at a faster pace.' Ciel thought
"So you're saying that we should aim for Soul Tier 3 or higher while laying low in the kingdom, while also waiting for a chance to grab the Star Fragment."
"As far as the Royal Guards know, Rein was trained by me, who in their eyes is an elite Awakened Sorcerer who took down one of their captains."
"That means that her becoming a Radiant Sorcerer wouldn't be too much of an issue."
"Still, standing out too much could cause a problem." Ciel expressed his concern
"If we become Radiant Sorcerers, we can easily just hide that fact until we make our move."
"That said, we can't rush things without making the right preparations. We also need an ally that can cover our tracks if needed." Rein said
"You should just do missions from the kingdom for now. We'll plan ahead as time goes on. There's no point in an extravagant plan if something immediately goes wrong."
"Making the decision to take on missions so soon may raise suspicion, so just relax for a few days." Ciel concluded
"Okay. In any case, I won't take on missions too often. I'll be like Miriko and stay reserved, whether or not it is an act of hers." Rein said in agreement
The conversation concluded, and Ciel entered Rein's shadow once more, while taking the Starlight Lantern back into the Soul World.
The biggest problem they were currently facing was the observer that was watching Rein.
She had to somehow make herself seem unthreatening and remove the gaze of the Royal Guards.
Only then could they start making large moves.
'Now we just need to wait for a good opportunity.' Ciel thought as Rein went to bed with a yawn
The next morning, at 6:00 AM, Rein went down to the first floor for breakfast.
When she reached the first floor, the cafe was still fully empty as it was still quite early.
Nevertheless, Miriko was still there, waiting for any potential customer.
"Would you like the menu?" Miriko asked as Rein found a seat
"Sure." Rein replied
Miriko handed over the menu, and Rein placed an order.
Whilst waiting for the food, the glass doors suddenly opened, and a familiar face entered.
It was the young man at the riverbank, with white hair and pupils. The same person who was looking at Rein when she first entered the 2nd quadrant.
'Why is he here?' Ciel thought to himself
Ciel wasn't feeling threatened or too wary, as it could just be a coincidence. Though that coincidence would be a bit too suspicious.
The young man glanced at Rein, before heading to the kitchen.
The kitchen was closed off by a wooden door, so Ciel couldn't see what was happening beyond it.
After a few minutes, Miriko came with the breakfast that Rein had ordered.
It was a simple plate of scrambled egg and toast, along with a glass of water.
"Thank you for the food. Also, may I ask you a question?" Rein said to Miriko
"Sure, what is it?" Miriko replied with a smile
"Who was the man that just entered?" Rein asked
"He's just an employee that works here with me. We both are the only ones who work here. More like he works for me, since I'm the owner."
"His name is Zhanix. Also, he doesn't talk because of a trauma he has, so don't let that bother you." Miriko answered
'A trauma so bad that he stopped talking… he definitely isn't ordinary. I couldn't sense him being a Soul Sorcerer, but he might be hiding it.' Ciel thought to himself
Rein nodded and ate her breakfast in peace.
She was free until she gave a reply to the Royal Guards, so there was no rush for her to do anything.
The most she could do right now was to explore the kingdom and it's quadrants.
For the rest of the day, Rein did exactly that, exploring the nearby vicinity.
There was nothing too spectacular around that caught Rein's attention.
One of the biggest things she learnt was that an underground tunnel was being built for a steam locomotive for faster travel.
The system would use the help of B1 Artifacts to keep everything clean and safe.
It was quite revolutionary for the lives of all the citizens.
Most Artifacts were made up of Forsaken Cores, and could absorb the Spirit Energy from surroundings, making them a renewable energy source.
Rein only returned in the evening for dinner. Ciel wouldn't let her waste the free dinner that came with the room like she did for lunch, where she was out shopping for new clothes.
There were a few people inside Miriko's Cafe Inn at this time. Rein went to a secluded corner and sat down.
She looked outside the window near her and at a young tree that was growing there. She hadn't realized how big the trees in the Emerald Forest were until she paid attention to a normal tree.
Soon, Zhanix had come to take her order.
Rein placed an order for a light dinner, contrary to Ciel's opinion of robbing the place.
Zhanix looked at her for a few seconds before taking out a notebook. He opened it up to a random blank page.
As Rein watched in bewilderment, letters of an unknown substance started forming on the blank page, forming into a few words.
—"Hello. Nice to meet you."— Were the words that formed
'This guy is really a Soul Sorcerer… why would he reveal that to Rein?' Ciel thought
The letters then jumbled up and formed a new sentence:
—"I can help you."—