Rein went back to the tree she was resting at, leaning her back against its trunk and closing her eyes just like before.
After a few silent seconds, the Starlight Lantern was beside her once again.
"The observer guy will be asleep for another few minutes." He said with his ethereal voice
"Why won't you show us your transformation?" Rein said with one eye open
"Why do you care so much? You'll get to see it if there's no other choice."
"You also owe me now. You'll need to focus harder on getting my Star Fragment." The Starlight Lantern said
"There's no way for us to speed up that process. If you wanted something, you should have said so before you went along with our plan." Rein scoffed
The Starlight Lantern gave out an ethereal sigh before going back into the duo's Soul World.
Just like that, everything went back to normal. Although, there was only one observer now.
[ I'll leave in around 10 minutes. The Royal Guard observer should be up by then. ] Rein said
[ Alright. ] Ciel agreed with a mental nod
10 minutes later, Rein was back on her feet and was now headed back to the Floren Kingdom.
The Royal Guard observer had woken up, completely oblivious to what had happened while he was asleep.
The sun had completely set now, and Rein travelled through the dark windy hills of the Tempest Plains.
By the foggy morning, she had reached close to the Novan Gate of the Floren Kingdom. She could see the large gate in the near distance.
It had been a day and a half since she left, and the date was now the 29th of May.
'Sadly, I can't clean myself up properly…' Rein thought with an inward sigh
Her endeavor had made her clothes quite dirty, and she didn't have an extra pair. All her accumulated sweat had also made her skin sticky.
It would be quite embarrassing to walk around the lavish 2nd quadrant with her current looks.
[ Hey… is there anything you can do? ] Rein asked without any hope
Ciel didn't have any powers that could clean.
Since she was out of water, it would catch the eye of her observer if any water suddenly appeared near her, even if it was slightly hidden by the fog.
[ Sorry, I can't… wait, actually, there is a chance. ]
[ The Starlight Lantern said he could summon starlight and use it to increase our regeneration speed. ] Ciel remembered
[ That works. ] Rein replied, having no shame in asking the Starlight Lantern for his help once again
Ciel went into their Soul World to tell the Starlight Lantern what to do. It wouldn't be good to communicate with him in the real world.
He then inconspicuously summoned the Starlight Lantern inside the bag filled with Forsaken Cores.
The Starlight Lantern started glowing slightly, before spreading the starlight into Rein's body.
Slowly, her sweat vanished, and her body felt more and more rejuvenated, but her clothes were still the same.
Still, it was much less embarrassing to walk around in the 2nd quadrant with just worn out clothes.
'Maybe I can do that with Void element if I gain enough knowledge. I'll try and practice later…'
'Though, the Starlight Lantern's healing abilities are much better than I expected.' Rein thought
It had been 10 minutes, and she felt a noticeable difference.
She had not halted and was slowly walking towards the Novan Gate the whole time to not look suspicious to her observer.
[ He said that we really do owe him now. ] Ciel said after returning the Starlight Lantern back to the Soul World
[ What did you say back? ] Rein curiously asked
[ That as such an awesome lantern, a minor inconvenience like this shouldn't bother him. ]
[ Nice. ] Rein said as she reached the Novan Gate
She continued forward and entered the kingdom without any trouble, heading straight towards the Scouts Guild.
She was too broke to eat anything here in the 2nd quadrant, and her stay at Miriko's Cafe Inn had expired.
Sadly, it would still be a while before she would reach the Scouts Guild in the Maude Borough.
She quickly walked through the many streets, paying no attention to the elegant buildings and manors around her.
By the time she finally made it to the Scouts Guild, it was already early afternoon.
Rein walked past the outside fountain and entered the well kept building.
This time, there was a middle aged lady at the reception desk.
After introducing herself, Rein gave the bag of Forsaken Cores to the receptionist.
"Wow, that's a lot. It'll take a moment for the tally." The receptionist said with an impressed expression
Rein nodded and waited for her payment.
After a few minutes, the receptionist confirmed the amount of money earned by Rein, which was 53 Silver and 20 Copper.
"Do you have a bank account?" The receptionist asked
"No." Rein answered succinctly
The receptionist nodded and then asked:
"Would you like notes or coins?"
"Single Silver coins, please."
Rein took her payment in Silver coins. She didn't want to bother keeping the notes in a good condition without a wallet.
The receptionist handed over a small bag of Silver coins with a few Copper ones mixed in.
Rein took the small bag with gratitude.
After finally relaxing, Rein went back to Miriko's Cafe Inn which was located in the Merchants District.
It took half an hour, but she finally reached.
Rein went straight inside the cozy two-story building.
There were a few customers inside having a late lunch.
She saw Zhanix serving a few customers, who had already noticed her presence.
She sat down at the corner table she usually sat at.
After serving the customers, Zhanix went to Rein's table.
"I'd like a room. And lunch." Rein said
Zhanix nodded and took her order.
He then went back to the kitchen.
A few moments later, Miriko came out of the kitchen and went to Rein's table.
"Welcome back. How was your first mission?" She asked
"Good enough. Is your offer for me to work here still available?" Rein replied
"Yeah, any time. Are you already tired of working as a Scout?" Miriko said
"I guess. Well, I'll take you up on your offer. I don't plan on doing any Scout missions for the near future."
"Can you cook?" Miriko asked politely
"As long as you teach me the recipes." Rein said with confidence
"In that case, your room will be free. Zhanix doesn't want to add any burden on you "two" for some reason. Still, it would be unreasonable for me to give you a room for free without doing anything." Miriko explained to the slightly shocked Rein
"Oh… well, that helps a lot. Thank you very much." Rein honestly thanked Miriko
[ I guess you have a free room as long as you work here. Still, Zhanix's hospitality towards us is quite high. Just what are we going to do in the future for him to be like this? ] Ciel said mentally
[ No clue. ] Rein answered while not thinking about it too much
After finishing her lunch, Rein went upstairs to her room, which was still room 201.
All the other rooms were also still empty.
She didn't plan to leave the room any time soon, and locked the door after entering before closing the curtains.
From tomorrow onwards, she was going to start working for Miriko.
She would work in the kitchen during the afternoon from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Her pay would be 15 Copper per hour.
[ Why do I feel like Global Missions from the Scouts Guild are a complete scam? ] Ciel asked
[ Because they are. Or maybe it's quite hard to find a stable job in this kingdom, making people choose to be Scouts. ]
[ Either way, the price of Forsaken Cores are way too low. ] Rein said, feeling ripped off
For two hours of work, one could avoid risking their lives to defeat a Feral Forsakened.
This made it so that most regular people would rather work normal jobs instead of being a Scout.
Rein lay on the bed looking up at the ceiling in thought.
"I guess it's about time we take our reward from that Star Contract."
[ Yeah. ] Ciel said, exiting Rein's shadow
He then summoned the beautiful Starlight Lantern.
"So you're back in this room."
"I'm guessing you completed the Star Contract." The Starlight Lantern said
"That's right." Rein verified
The Starlight Lantern didn't need to confirm as he already knew that the Star Contract was complete. It was a contract which connected the soul, not empty words.
"So, what is your question?"
'I would like to ask about the true identity of the great entity behind the Door of Void, but that information would be quite useless to us right now.'
'Now's also not the time to be asking about Earth or Prisma. We need to learn more about this world before asking about other planets.'
'Only once we know the basics of our situation can we ask about our original planets.'
'Well, there is one important question that could be worth asking right now.' Ciel thought
He mentally told Rein the question and got her confirmation.
"Do you know the Soul Tier of the great entity behind the Door of Void?" He asked
"Yes." The Starlight Lantern answered simply
'So existences at that high a level will also adhere to the logic of Soul Tiers. If that's the case, a Soul Sorcerer is a way – or maybe the only way – to ascend to godhood.'
There was no doubt that the entity behind the Door of Void was beyond human understanding, making it some sort of deity.
The Starlight Lantern also always addressed the great entity with honorifics such as 'He'.
"Okay, so my question is, what Soul Tier is the great entity behind the Door of Void?" Ciel asked
The question he previously asked was a personal one, so it didn't take up the invisible question coupon the duo had.