Just A Reincarnation Story (Summoning Japan Edition)

Chapter 117: The Stars My Destination

Ignismens 6, 1617 Central Calendar; 21:00 Local Time

Samboangan, Malayo Province, Eastern Maritime Holy Milishial Empire

Luger Lugh slipped the change into her pocket, thanked the noodle shop clerk, and stepped back out into the street.

Taking in the scene of a town around her, for a moment, she could have sworn she had never left the Annonrial Empire, the only country she had ever been in her entire life until now. It was a scene of unpretentious vitality, of a community winding down its day. And it was this very normalcy that struck the individual who had been one of the Messiah's most loyal enforcers. This could just as easily be a night in a regional seaside settlement back home. Only different banners hung overhead here. Their beliefs clashed so completely, and yet the people moved the same way, bargained the same way. They lingered on corners, waiting for nothing in particular, the same way. Even the occasional strays that wandered through were nearly identical, despite the vast distance separating the two territories.

Walking swiftly back toward the pier, Luger punctured the seal of a boxed fruit drink she had kept from earlier and took a pull through the straw. It was overly sweet, cloying on her tongue, but it cooled her throat. As she drank, she let her senses unfurl again.

Being a sensor, she could sense presences distinct from the lively townsfolk. Every one of them was focused on her. If those watchers were sensors too, they would have registered Luger's brief flare of her sensing field—a kind of 'handshake' between sensor mages, acknowledging awareness and intent.

This was how they chose to do it.

The silver-haired young man had agreed to give her space. He allowed her the semblance of solitary movement, punctuated only by these quiet but persistent reminders that she was still under scrutiny after her recent... transfer of allegiances.

Luger didn't feel any objection to the arrangement. No matter how hard she thought about it, various factors made her just couldn't muster the conviction to see it as hostile. In fact, as she crumpled the empty juice box and tossed it into a street-side bin, she found it the least constraining treatment she had expected of a secret society that infiltrates nations like White Lotus. She had reasoned her way to that assessment, yet the result still felt strange—novel, yes, but way too lenient. It was either that the White Lotus Leader was too naïve, or that the young man possessed ways of watching her beyond anything she could perceive. If anything, she found this lenient treatment suspicious. If the White Lotus Leader possessed a subtler, more pervasive form of watchfulness, then every moment of perceived privacy was a test. Such thoughts surfaced again and again whenever she reflected on the arrangement, steadily nudging her toward believing that this possibility might be real.

'...I wonder if the White Lotus Leader is tolerant of criticism?'

That being said, Luger was also inclined to offer her opinion based on experience.

Nearing the sea, Luger cut off the main road and slipped into a narrow alleyway between two storefronts, encountering two figures lingering near the other end.

The White Lotus Leader, Meteos Roguerider, leaned casually against the alley's far wall, posture loose. A few steps away from him stood Lugiel, the blonde-haired elf who was also there when she first woke up in this country. When Luger came into view, Meteos straightened slightly, a lopsided grin tugging at his mouth.

"How do you find the town?"

"Foreign... but familiar."

She answered without hesitation, tilting her head as she witnessed Meteos' grin faltering—not quite disappearing, but loosening, as if he were turning the word over in his mind.