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『Ciel, what would you like to do from now on?』

Now that I’m able to converse with the girl —Cielmer— I asked her about our future plans. Puzzled, Ciel tilts her head and asked me back, 「What do you mean by that?」

『If you wish to, I’ve been thinking about finding a way to escape this mansion.』
「Oh, that’s right. Of course I’d like to escape. Would you lend me a hand, Ain?」
『If it’s for you, naturally.』

I suspect that, depending on how I use my magic, just getting out for this mansion isn’t impossible. After all, with detection we can move unnoticed and even if they can find us, I can protect her with my barrier. I’ve hidden the existence of these two as much as I can, so I believe even that man wouldn’t notice. In addition, with Ciel being as young as she is, her small build is likely the best for moving unseen. However, our problem is if he sends out pursuers after we escape. Both Ciel and I are too ignorant of the world to continue the runaway.

If the other party only had the influence of a common household, then it may be possible for us to live in hiding even on just the neighboring town. However, that man is definitely some sort of nobility. At the very least, he has enough finances to keep Ciel locked away. Even after considering that, we have no guarantee that outside the mansion is safe. We live in a world with magic after all, so there might be monsters as well, and expecting the roads to be paved like in modern Japan would be too optimistic of me. If we ever encounter monsters, with only my defense and no means for us to defeat them, it’ll result to an uphill battle.

The most ideal scenario would likely be for that man himself to cast Ciel away. Considering our current state, I think the best course of action might be to make him abandon her by getting him to lose enough interest on Ciel. Another one I’ve thought is to have Ciel feign her death. However, it’s difficult to do inside this mansion and even outside this place, if we don’t prepare a corpse to take her place, it would be hard to make it convincing. Be it we decide to run or play dead, we still need more information about the world.

『With that said, although I would us like to make our escape as soon as possible, I feel that it’s dangerous to go unprepared.』
「It certainly seems so. But you know what, Ain? I really do think that planning out our escape is important. But for now, how about we start off by learning about each other, alright?」
『But we don’t know how long we can stay safe here. If that man ever changes his mind, we could even be disposed of right now. Well, it is hard to call our current lifestyle safe, but…』
「In that case, we’ll be fine. At the very least, until I become 10 years old, our current lifestyle should continue as is.」
『Why can you be so sure about that?』

With Ciel speaking so confident, I was confused. After an adorable 「Hmm」 to herself, Ciel mutters 「Right」 and began her explanation.

「Ain, do you know what that man’s current goal is?」
『I don’t know. He was aiming for your blood before, right?』
「That’s right. Specifically, my virgin blood it seems. And then, the part where it didn’t work out should be familiar. That’s why this time he’s planning to have me become a sorcery-related “princess”. So that when he starts another new experiment, he’ll have a useful helper.」
『Um, may I ask…… what do you mean by princess?』

The word princess just came up naturally in our conversation, but I don’t think becoming a princess is something that you can just do. In Ciel’s case, with how that man seems to be, I really do feel like she might actually be one in reality. Still, I do understand that’s not what she meant by that. Also, a bit off topic but, it seems that what I thought of as magic until now is called sorcery here. Ciel seemed to be surprised with my question, but she immediately continued.

「Ain, do you know what Jobs are?」

And at the start of her explanation was, as expected, another unknown term. Just taking the meaning of the word job at face value, it refers to occupations such as teachers, office workers, firefighters and the like. You can probably see “princess” as a type of job, too. Still, based on my experience so far, I can somewhat guess what it means. After all, back in Japan, I did enjoy playing games to some extent. However, if I play know-it-all now and it actually turns out to be completely different, the one who will get into trouble would be me and, as an extension, Ciel. So I honestly replied, 『I don’t know.』

「Jobs are something that gods bestow to people at the age of 10 and based on what that job is, it’s said that it defines what you’re good at. For example, it seems that having “** Swordsman” as a job would make it easier for people to learn swordsmanship.」
『Is princess among those jobs?』
「The princess is… a bit different. Maybe it’s easier to put it this way; even in the same jobs, there are different ranks.」
『So that means that there are high grade swordsmen as well as low grade swordsmen. So does that mean that a princess is particularly high-tier job?』
「Yes! Exactly!」

Ciel clapped her hands in delight. The joy of being understood after explaining something difficult is quite similar to the satisfaction felt when solving complicated riddles; it seems Ciel is feeling an emotion similar to that right now. So it looks like that man is currently thinking of having Ciel obtain a sorcery-related job to have her be useful. Even with how he’s treated her, he had likely spent a considerable amount of money on Ciel. Seeing that he’s trying to make use of her somehow, this is clearly his last resort.

「To be exact, the princess is the highest female rank in common jobs. The male equivalent of that would be the king.」
『Are jobs something that you can choose for yourself?』
「To be honest, it’s not really clear. It’s said that when you reach 10 years old, gods randomly decide what your job will be. Still, it seems like there were many cases where a person’s job was related to something that they were good at to begin with. Somewhere in this room, there was a thesis that found out that a child who practiced swordsmanship everyday had a better chance of having a job related to swords than someone that didn’t practice at all. 」
『In other words, that medicine that causes magic power to run berserk is needed to better the chances of Ciel getting a sorcery-related job even just a bit.』

If that’s the case, most of the books in this room are likely to be sorcery-related as well. If everything that Ciel needs to be his assistant is written on the books here, then that knowledge should be helpful for us when we make our escape. In that case, it’s really a waste that I can’t read like Ciel. I can talk, but I’m not good with letters. I can’t really ask her to read each book out loud, so there’s no other choice but to rely on Ciel’s memory.

「That man wanted me to be a princess, but you know, in reality just being a princess doesn’t mean you’re the best.」
『Why is that?』
「I read before that there was once a Sword King that lost to a Swordsman. In the end, effort and persistence is important, it said. That’s why I think that no matter what job I’ll have, it might still be useful for our escape.」
『I see. Moreover, although it would be useful, it might be for the best that you don’t get a sorcery-related job.』
「Back to topic. What that man wants from me is a job, so I need to stay and study sorcery in this room until I reach 10 years old.」

On the other hand, this means that until Ciel turns 10 years old and her job can be known, he won’t get rid of Ciel that easily. I see, it certainly might be best that we don’t rush ourselves to think of an escape plan right now.

「Now that we’re sure that we have time, I want to us to talk about ourselves but… can we?」
『Right. Being impatient right now does seem to be more dangerous. But what should we start with?』
「First, there’s something I really wanted to ask you. Ain, you’re a god aren’t you?」
『No, but what makes you think that?』
「That man’s first goal was to have a god inhabit a baby, me, and make a god. But if you aren’t a god, then he really did fail.」

As the scale of our discussion suddenly increased in magnitude, I instantly froze. With Ceil saying it so casually, the gap it resulted only made me speechless. In Japan, I haven’t really thought much about gods; but in this world where the gods are close enough to grant the people jobs, you can definitely feel their presence. Perhaps that’s also why crazy ideas like creating a god are thought of. Still, that doesn’t explain why anyone would use their daughter as test subject. At worst, Ciel’s consciousness might have been taken over and might even disappear. No, he’s exactly the kind of man that would be fine with his daughter dying.

『So that means that when I saw that man taking care of you and rejoicing your safety when we were at that cell, it was because he thought there was a god inside you. The many attacks too, were to confirm a god’s existence. He probably thought that a god wouldn’t die from that much. If you died, it would’ve been likely that he would only conclude that the experiment was a failure and there was no god in the first place. Considering all of this, I can understand that man’s joy at that time.』
「He didn’t actually say it, but that was probably so. The reason he didn’t give us food too might have been because he was afraid that giving human food would make me stop being a god. Although he didn’t actually have any basis for that one.」
『That means that his goal wasn’t actually Ciel’s virgin blood, it was a god’s virgin blood.』

I gaze at Ciel nodding in agreement with mixed feelings. With a god’s blood, it’s obvious that there would be some tremendous power within. More so if it’s blood that could be only shed once, it won’t be strange for it to be capable of miracles like reviving the dead. That man might have had wanted something enough to push him this far. It might even be something like exchanging some last words with a beloved. Still, it absolutely doesn’t pardon him for how he had treated Ciel.

If asked whether learning enough of the situation to imagine this much quelled my anger, it doesn’t. Up until now, I was distracted by an indescribable disgust at the eeriness of this unknown situation. But now that the mystery is cleared, my anger only boils even more instead.

「So then on that day, he noticed that I wasn’t a god and took me to this room. That time, he told me to read all the books here until I become 10 years old. After that, you already know, right Ain?」

Ciel said nothing about this, but the reason that she was wrapped in bandages is probably due to that man venting out his frustration on her after realizing that she wasn’t a god. Really, in a world where gods are so close, I’m amazed that he could think of doing that. Now if only he’d get hit by divine judgment right now.

「It looks like I’m already done with my story」 Ciel mutters to herself. We’ve been together practically from the day she was born, so although she still wants to talk, she likely doesn’t have anything more she can tell.

「Next, I want to know about you, Ain.」
『Well then. First of all, I myself don’t know why I’m with you. I suspect that I might have been caught by the thing that was used to have god inhabit you. It’s absolutely unrelated to me, but it’s quite convincing.』
「So that means Ain isn’t the faintly glowing entity, right?」
『Hmm, let’s see. I think that it’s probably my soul. It’s strange to me that I can exist only as a soul, so perhaps it’s best to think that your body houses both of our souls. Since it does seem that I’m bound to your body.』
「If that’s the case, then it means that my body is yours too, right? I’m sorry, for getting you injured a lot.」

It was somewhat hard for me to explain, so I ended up being quite vague. Still, Ciel roughly understood what I said and apologized with a downcast gaze. If Ciel dies, I think it’s likely that I’ll die too, so it’s not wrong to say that it’s my body as well. Still, I’ve already died once and Ciel’s body is hers, so I’ll be happy if she lives her own life. How do I describe it? It’s only like I borrow it sometimes.

『Please don’t mind, I’m really just borrowing your body. After all, I’m someone that’s already dead.』
「Ain is dead?」
『I don’t know how best to explain it, but I’ve definitely died once. I clearly remember how I’ve died as well, so I’m certain about it. My guess is that after dying and becoming just a soul, I was pulled into your body by the said experiment. In other words, the body is yours, Ciel, and I’m just someone that came afterwards.』
「Alright, I’ll just leave it at that. You said that you’re just borrowing my body, so does that mean that you can also move my body?」
『I’ve borrowed it while you were asleep before. I’ve also assisted a bit when taking the medicine. However, I don’t know if I can move while you’re awake. Would you like to test it?』
「Fufu, I’ll leave my body to you.」

No longer feeling down, Ciel energetically flashes me a smile. It looks like she found a compromise for herself, which really helps since it’s difficult for me to explain. Besides, she’s probably also interested in experiencing the bizarre feeling of her body moving outside her control. It might be necessary for us in the future as well, so there’s really no harm in trying it.

First, I call out to her and try to move like I usually do when she’s asleep. The whole body feels weirdly tensed up, it doesn’t seem to budge.

『Ciel, could you try closing your eyes and relaxing?』
「Understood.」

Following my instructions, Ciel closed her eyes and relaxed her body. This time there isn’t as much resistance as before and I now can move Ciel’s body to my will. However, the body feels heavy and I can’t move it very smoothly. At present it’s not completely useless, but it might be better to test it out more. After testing with some light movement, I return the body to Ciel.

「It felt really bizarre. But it felt pleasant to feel your existence, Ain.」
『Did anything feel uncomfortable?』
「Nope, it was fun. So you always protected me like this, right? Thank you, Ain.」
『It was only natural to do.』

Specifically, I only used sorcery, but the fact that I borrowed her body doesn’t change. It was embarrassing to hear her thank me so frankly, so I ended up replying a bit curtly. But the fact that I can now accept her thanks might be a sign that we’ve gotten a bit closer. Up until now I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but as long as Ciel doesn’t reject me, I want to keep protecting her. For that, until Ciel reaches the age of 10, we need to do everything we can, one by one. So for now, we’ll start with learning about jobs.

『For our plans, I think we should first study about jobs. Learning what kind of jobs there are, which one of them are valued the most and the least and, if possible, finding a way to get a specific job should raise our chances of escaping this mansion.』
「So we should prioritize reading books about jobs, right? Still, I do plan to finish reading all the books in here in the first place.」
『That’s true. Then shall we continue on as usual?』
「Are you perhaps going to sing?」
『Do you dislike it?』
「Nope, I’m looking forward to it.」

With her face filled with anticipation, Ciel began searching for books about jobs.

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