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Roughly 2 months have passed since the academy classes began. It’s been getting hotter as summer is steadily approaching, but it doesn’t seem to be as hot as summer in my old world. While I can measure the atmospheric temperature, I can only make vague estimations based on the season, my bodily sensations, and my past experiences. The old world had Fahrenheit and Celsius, and my estimations are probably closer to the former.

And so, while the temperature itself isn’t as high, it doesn’t make much of a difference. Hot still feels hot. I just might not be used to it, though. Still, there are sorceric tools that keep the temperature down in this world, so it doesn’t get uncomfortable indoors.

The said sorceric tool is by no means cheap, so the common household can’t afford it, but each classroom in the academy has one, while the dorm also has at least two installed per floor. Apparently, even just having one in the hallway can cool the rooms down considerably.

Meanwhile on our floor, each room has one installed. Considering how much we paid, it’s not particularly surprising. It does require magic cores to maintain, but each room is provided a supply. It’s roughly worth around 10 hours of use, which I guess is long enough to stay comfortable from after class until the next morning.

In our case, we could probably substitute it with a barrier, but as we know the purpose of magic cores, we make use of it as much as possible. Honestly, we generally have it turned on the whole day.

Mia spends most of the day in our room, after all, and we have an excess of magic cores in stock. Frankly, a single S-rank magic core could probably last us the whole summer and some.

We’re hoarding because we’d rather not be seen with these, but is there any way for us to dispose of magic cores? Even if we were to dispose of them through the Hunter Guild as Cielmer or Ainsel, we’re still limited to up until A-rank cores, and it’s hard to find use for S-rank cores.

「Incidentally, there seems to be a magic core deficiency this year.」
「Is that so?」
「Indeed. I heard that there are fewer magic cores gathered compared to last year, which is quite troubling.」
「I wonder why.」

Wouldn’t a magic core deficiency be a major problem for this country? With sorceric tools being so commonplace, there should be a high demand, and it’s likely that they also rely on sorceric tools to survive through summer and winter.
While the summer heat isn’t particularly bad, what about winter? Still, the nobles probably have enough stock to last at least one winter.

「Apparently, small-scale stampedes periodically happen near the royal capital of Ausente. While one just broke out recently, it seems to be smaller than usual.」
「I see.」

Ciel responded with indifference, but a certain incident suddenly popped into my mind. And looking at Mia’s expression, she seems to be thinking the same.

「Still, I haven’t heard any news about a stampede.」
「The public was likely not openly informed. There seems to be an effort to keep it secret from the students as well.」
「There must’ve been a troublemaker before, right?」
「Yes. Though the said troublemaker simply overestimated their abilities and died.」

Plausible story. For this year, the thunder sorcerer Alcrei or the hero Juerd might just stick their necks into something like that. Mr. Hero would probably survive one way or another, though.

While their reasons may be different, like testing their own mettle or helping people in need, I can easily imagine them diving headfirst into a stampede.

「To begin with, the nation is able to quietly quell the stampedes without the aid of students. They simply don’t occur on a large scale here, you could say.」
「Well, small-scale ones are manageable. After all, Ain and I could handle one.」
「Only you two can treat it that lightly, I believe.」

If you ever hope to resolve a stampede alone, the first problem is not your own strength but how to get the whole monster swarm to focus solely on you. Being capable of large-scale attacks so they can’t run past you might be enough, though.

Either way, only a small few are capable of either.

Even if it’s only a stampede of F-rank monsters, it’s still normally impossible for a single person to handle. In our case, we might have a difficult time if there are monsters that can’t hear leading the pack. I have no idea how the Song Princess interacts with deaf targets, so I probably need to get more familiar with my Job’s abilities.

I’m sure that the Song Princess at the chapel has greater Job mastery than I do.
Since only Ciel can hear me, all I think about is how many positive effects I can provide to Ciel, so I’m honestly not very skilled outside of those.

First of all, the chapel Song Princess appears to have a different audible range than I do. So perhaps Song Princesses can expand or narrow down the audible range of their voices.

Finally, if they can become capable of making only the people they choose hear their songs, then Song Princesses could be crowned as the most powerful Job ever. Well, it’s probably impossible, though. Whether you judge it by its abilities or its reputation. Unless the discrimination stops, no matter how much power the Song Princess Job may have, it will probably continue being called a Misfortunate Job.

「With that said—」

While I don’t see where we’re going from here, Mia moved the conversation forward.

「This would be the perfect situation to expend magic cores, wouldn’t it?」
「That’s true, but why ask?」
「You do have an acquaintance who you could entrust to covertly utilize magic cores, yes?」
「Right, you’re absolutely right!」

Ciel raised her voice in realization. Now then, will this action serve to give relief to that certain acquaintance, or will it only ail her with stress? It will undoubtedly be of great help, so let’s just meet up for now.

◇◇◇

「So, what do you wish to discuss about?」

On the floor above our own, we arrive before Princess Leshimiiya after sending a letter in advance. While she likely won’t get mad even if we come without prior warning, the princess will still be troubled if we don’t.

Considering the topic of discussion, only Princess Leshimiiya and Fithuille are allowed to hear it. She probably needs to make preparations regarding that, but if not today, then we could just ask her for a more convenient date.