After the great battle, the furious roars of the Remnant Beasts and the thunderous explosions of magic power battling finally vanished.
The wetland park at midnight reclaimed its usual calm.
The remnants of magic power and smoke dissipated, leaving only the corpses of monsters in the woods.
The mysterious girl with deep blue hues gathered the magic silk lines that spread out around her, and the small scissors in her hand transformed back into a magic wand. With several nimble leaps, she arrived beside the skeleton and pulled out a brooch-like object from its neck. Sparkling lights began to emerge from the Remnant Beast and gathered towards her.
Lin Xiaolu, not far away, recognized what the girl was doing after a moment of scrutiny.
She was collecting the "Echoes" of the Remnant Beast.
The so-called "Echoes" refer to the remnants of magic power and soul fragments left after a Remnant Beast is defeated.
Magical Girls defeat Remnant Beasts, gather Echoes from their bodies, and hand them over to the Seeder. The Seeder then sends the Echoes back to the Magic Kingdom, which judges the contributions of the Magical Girl based on the strength of the Echoes and distributes rewards accordingly.
That is the reward system between Magical Girls and the Magic Kingdom.
At the moment, even though Lin Xiaolu was the one who first discovered and engaged in battle with the Remnant Beast, there's no doubt that it was the mysterious Magical Girl who appeared out of nowhere and dealt the finishing blow, so it was only natural for her to collect the Echoes.
Lin Xiaolu made an effort to catch up and walked up to the side of the mysterious girl.
She wasn't concerned about things like Echoes, as she had something else on her mind to say.
However, before she could speak, the mysterious girl asked first, "You're a new recruit, aren't you?"
Caught off guard by the other's question, Lin Xiaolu subconsciously replied and then remembered that she also had something to say, "I wanted to thank you for lending a hand..."
"Where is your Seeder? Hasn't it told you not to challenge Remnant Beasts beyond your capabilities alone?"
However, the mysterious girl's words came at her like a barrage of bullets, not giving Lin Xiaolu a chance to continue, "And your companions? Didn't you notify them before you set out?"
As she listened to the other's questions, Lin Xiaolu felt her head spin, "Seeder? Companions? It's just me..."
Hearing this, the mysterious girl lowered her eyelids in disbelief, "You're by yourself? No, aren't you the Magical Girl from Fangting City?"
Lin Xiaolu spoke hesitantly, "Um... yes, that's correct. Is there a problem?"
The mysterious girl did not answer her.
Rather, her gaze was no longer on Lin Xiaolu, but on the Fairy—Moke—who had been trying to make itself less noticeable beside them.
"Hey, you, Fairy over there, are you this child's Seeder?"
The addressed Moke had been hiding behind Lin Xiaolu all this time, constantly avoiding the mysterious girl's gaze until now, when it was called out, it reluctantly emerged, "Um, hello?"
"It's not as casual as a simple 'hello,' is it?"
The mysterious girl put her hands on her hips, somewhat aggressively, "I have a whole host of questions waiting for you. Why is this city, Fangting City, in this state?"
She pointed at the bewildered Lin Xiaolu next to her, "How can such a large city only have one novice Magical Girl who can't even use a Magic Wand?"
"This child has probably fought in less than five battles, right? In other cities, such a newbie would need to be led by a Magical Girl of Leaf level or above to join battles. You just threw her into a solo fight against an Inchworm, did you want to kill her?"
Moke shook his head in haste, "Certainly not, I didn't mean to harm Xiaolu!"
Lin Xiaolu chimed in to explain as well, "It's not Moke's fault! Tonight, I insisted on going ahead with the action!"
The mysterious girl crossed her arms, evidently determined to get to the bottom of this, "What about the other Magical Girls of Fangting City?"
Moke's voice was faint, betraying a guilty conscience, "I mean, I just don't know..."
"What are you saying? I can't understand."
The mysterious girl looked unimpressed, "A Seeder doesn't know where the Magical Girls it's responsible for are?"
"Even though you contracted with them yourself?"
"Even though each one has to be registered and documented in the Magic Kingdom?"
"Uh... there's no reason I must tell you, right?"
Moke's expression visibly wavered, but it still retorted stubbornly, "Although I am a Seeder, I'm not obliged to casually disclose the local personnel distribution to an outsider Magical Girl!"
The mysterious girl, upon hearing this, nodded in agreement, "Indeed, you make a good point; safeguarding information is the mark of an excellent Seeder."
Relieved by the girl's seeming concession, Moke sighed. But before it could catch its breath completely, the girl's next statement made its expression freeze again.
—"What if I tell you I'm an inspector?"
"Nonsense, don't, don't try to trick me!"
The pink cat-like Fairy blustered and gestured wildly, "You-you-you-you can't fool me-me-me-me, I don't believe-lieve-lieve-lieve you just happen to be-be-be..."
Lin Xiaolu, squatting to the side, remarked in amazement, "Moke, you're shaking like you've been electrocuted."
The mysterious girl looked doubtfully at Moke, but still seriously pulled a badge resembling a brooch from her collar, touched it lightly with her finger, and instantly activated the shining magic circuit, revealing the pattern on its surface: a deep blue background, with a floral pattern etched on the top; Favo Runes faintly inscribed a name on the left side, though it was obscured by the extending finger; there was also a crown-like shiny icon with the flourish-written number "41076" beside it.