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「So from what I understand, Cielmer blocked Carol’s ice spear at the very end but… To start with, would you mind explaining how this happened?」

Celia brought us to a room that resembled an interrogation room with a table in the center and asked me for an explanation. In my opinion, asking Carol would be better since she knows everything that happened but that might be wrong in this situation. Perhaps she’s going to ask Carol for confirmation after I speak to make sure that I’m not lying.

Well, that’s how I see this situation from a calculating lens, but the one that’s being tried right now is probably Carol. I think Celia wants to hear the story from my perspective first before asking her about it. After all, the current situation is a result of Carol’s mistake in the first place.

Celia is sitting on the other side of the table while Carol and I are on the same side, and after Celia finished speaking, I feel a weird pressure emanating from Carol beside me.

「Do I need to explain from when I won against Alejo? I don’t really think that there’s much I can explain about it though.」
「No, it’s alright. After all, what I want to know is about how you two ended up fighting and a general summary of the battle. Specifically, the matter about the spear of ice.」
「I understand. We ended up fighting because Carol asked me to show her my sorcery. And as compensation, she said that she’ll make it so that if I win, I will pass the B-Rank examination. Then she also said that she’ll watch over me until I reach D-Rank.」

And because of that, I wanted to clarify the results of our match but it might be difficult to ask right now. Anyhow, since we’re talking about the details of the battle, I do hope that we get the answer for that as well. Perhaps to maintain her neutral reaction, Celia replies 「I see」 with an even tone.

「If it was only that, it seems like she didn’t do anything that would cause any particular issue.」
「It won’t cause any problems?」
「That’s right. It’s not very common but there are cases where, for example, a former soldier registers to the guild. When that happens, they can use their former rank as a basis for their achievements and are allowed to take a Rank Up examination. Not only that, there are also times when people with exceptional strength want to register. In this case, making them start from E-Rank is a demerit even for the Hunter’s Guild. So, there is a special system that allows particular E-Rankers to complete high ranking requests. Based on the rank of the request they completed at that time, they can Rank Up to the same rank without taking an examination. This match can be seen as an application of that. Carol deciding to back Cielmer up is her personally, so it’s not something that the guild can concern themselves with. However, this gives Carol a huge responsibility.」

Since there isn’t any issue with my promise with Carol, it seems like there wasn’t any downsides for us.　I was really nervous that I might also be held responsible for doing a formal match, or rather exam, by ourselves but I’m happy to see that it’s not the case. In contrast to my feeling of relief, Carol’s face went stiff. While she is still smiling, her cheeks are twitching and I can see that she’s forcing herself to smile.

Now then, Celia is asking for the details of the battle, but how much should I talk about it? As for what we did, I used a spherical barrier along with the usual one that fits to the shape of Ciel’s body and also supported her with my song. As for Ciel, she used sorcery via spells, magic circles, and the Dance Princess.

However, she barely used 10% of the Dance Princess’ true strength while my support via Song Princess isn’t something that people would notice. In addition to that, since Ciel stopped using the Dance Princess’ power as soon as I began supporting her, we haven’t displayed the synergy of the Dance Princess and Song Princess as well.

Perhaps for the sake of showing off our abilities a bit as well, it might be best to tell her everything that happened. Concluding so, I decided to tell her about everything except for our Jobs. As I reached the part where the spherical barrier was destroyed and it turned into a sorcery battle, Celia suddenly interrupted me.

「It might be a bit too late to ask after hearing so much but can I confirm something, you are a sorcerer right, Cielmer?」
「Yes. If I don’t use sorcery, I likely can’t do anything.」
「In other words, you fought Carol without any prior preparations?」
「Preparations? Of what?」

Since I constantly have a barrier up, and our conflicts can typically be resolved with my singing and Ciel’s dancing, provided we don’t constrain ourselves as we did on this occasion, it often appears as though we are perpetually ready. Still, from a sorcerer’s point of view, it might be common sense to have a different kind of preparation.

I immediately look at Carol and she instantly looks away.

「Ahh, right. I see. So a certain someone picked a fight with an unprepared rookie while she herself was completely prepared.」
「But a hunter should be always prepared to fight, right?」
「That’s right. I was only teaching her that harsh reality.」
「It’s true that is how a hunter ought to be and in that regard, if anything happened to you, Cielmer, the public would likely see that as your fault for not being fully prepared. However, my personal opinion of Carol has dropped low. Even though she’s an aspiring hunter, that’s not something you should do to a 10-year-old girl.」

For now, I expressed my thoughts to validate my existing knowledge, but it caused Celia to have a negative view of Carol. Well, since she did play along with a child’s statement to justify her own actions, it might be fitting to lower your opinion of her.

「Umm, so, what do you mean by preparations?」
「Excuse me. Sorcerers generally prepare magic circles on their clothes, shoes and the like, so that they can use their sorcery as soon as possible. The amount of magic circles one can prepare would depend on their ability but in situations like these, where you are taking an examination, it’s expected that you did prior preparations. As I said earlier, in cases where you aren’t prepared, it’s generally seen as your fault for being unprepared.」
「I see. Thank you for the information.」

Certainly, having a magic circle beforehand would mean sorcery can be immediately used in case of an emergency, so it’s considerably good even as a last minute defense.

At the very least, if the sorcerer can detect the enemy ambush beforehand, it’s possible to avoid the worst-case scenario. When relying solely on spells, the sorcerer may require time to chant a spell after detecting the enemy, increasing the likelihood of death.

Using sorcery with spells restricts the sorcerer to one spell at a time. However, in the case of magic circles, the ability to utilize various types of sorcery simultaneously becomes a significant advantage.

It’s obvious that handling multiple magic circles requires good control. But if it’s Ciel, we could probably handle 3 more magic circles on top of being in battle mode. And having that much more options would have probably given us a bigger advantage in the last battle. Still, I don’t think that 3 more magic circles would have done anything to stop that spear of ice.

And as I was about to move on from the sorcery battle to talk about the ice spear, I felt a light tug on my arm. As I was wondering what this is about, I see Carol shaking her head and pleading for something with her eyes. Hmm, so you don’t want me to talk about the ice spear that much, huh. But since Celia- already knows about it, I don’t think that there’s any point in hiding it.

Besides, I don’t have any obligation to make the details more favorable for her currently, not even a bit. So I reply to Carol by casting my eyes down and shaking my head. I see despair written all over her face, but you reap what you sow.

「During a stalemate, Carol used the spear of ice, Glacia Lentso was it? And shot ten of them.」
「Excuse me. Ten of them?」
「I’m pretty sure there were ten. I really thought I was going to die, so it should be right.」
「I’m very sorry. Right now, there’s something I need to ask Carol about, so can I ask for a bit of time?」
「Yes, please don’t mind me.」

After getting my confirmation, she sent a spine chilling gaze to Carol. Carol awkwardly averts her eyes but it doesn’t feel like she can run away.

「Say Carol. What were you fighting against?」
「… A 10-year-old girl.」
「I know right? You weren’t actually fighting a wyvern, right? Then why did you use ten of them? Even one is overdoing it, you know? In the first place, don’t you know that even using just one of them inside the guild’s facilities without permission will land you a fine?」
「I couldn’t help it. It was so much fun. This child’s really amazing, you know? The more you go at her, the more she hits with something new. Like, it makes you want to strike her with all your strength, you know?」
「You can get as defensive as you want but a fine is a fine. 10 gold coins per spear. And since you used ten of them, 100 gold coins.」
「Haa… It can’t be helped.」

With a big sigh, Carol takes out a leather pouch the same way she did with the battle axe and the knife. It looks quite heavy so I’m likely not mistaken to think that it’s probably filled with gold coins. Since a night at an inn costs 2 silver coins, 100 gold coins can get you 5000 nights of stay, so I now understand that it’s a really large amount of money. Does that mean a high ranking hunter can earn enough to spend this much without any issues?

Rather, what is 5000 nights even? Based on my past life, I think a cheap hotel is about 3000 ~ 5000 Yen, so 100 gold coins is probably worth around 1.5 mil ~ 2.5 mil Yen. Even if I’m wrong about it, since I now see Carol as someone out of reach, the power of money is truly great.

「Thank you for waiting. Would you mind if we continue?」
「It’s not really much of a continuation, but after that, I destroyed 9 of them with an interception magic circle and blocked the last one with my barrier.」
「I see. Understood.」

Saying so, after pondering for a while, Celia asks Carol 「Is it all true?」 for confirmation. And as she replied 「Yes,」 Celia lowered her head.

「I’m very sorry for this incident.」
「What are you apologizing for?」
「For entrusting this matter to Carol. This time, I attempted to settle the dispute by entrusting Carol to be the examiner. However, Carol herself used a sorcery that shouldn’t be used on a person on you. The responsibility lies on the Hunter’s Guild for designating Carol and she will be punished by the Hunter’s Guild at a later time.」
「I see. In this situation, what will happen?」
「Currently, Cielmer’s standing quite is ambiguous. It can be said that you’re a hunter now but at the same time, you’re still not considered to be a hunter. The fact that Carol almost killed someone in that situation, and clearly not in self-defense, is a grave situation. For that reason, the guild will answer your wishes as much as possible. If you want to punish me on top of having me discharged, that is also possible.」
「Celia that’s-」

Seeing Celia willingly offer her own dismissal, Carol reflexively open’s her mouth. However, Celia only said 「Shut up, Carol,」 and continued.

「However, I’m very sorry about this, but you cannot exile Carol from the Hunter’s Guild. Cielmer is considered half-hunter in standing. Moreover, since you are on a considerably lower rank compared to Carol, even if you had died, the heaviest punishment she will receive is a temporary decrease in rank.」

So it means that a high ranking hunter gets that much special treatment. In this world where monsters exist, even a single high ranking hunter can probably protect a small town, so comparing the value of that person and a young rookie hunter is unthinkable.
It’s a world of aristocracy. The value of one person’s life greatly differs from back on earth.

I do have a problem about almost being killed. That’s why I wasn’t going to be satisfied unless Carol receives some sort of punishment but she did pay 100 gold coins earlier, so I guess that could be considered a punishment. Besides, making Celia quit would be a downside for us considering that we’ll be working here from now on. It’s going to be awkward, obviously, but as a member here, having 1 less person that can treat a 10-year-old child with this much sincerity is not good.

In that case, it might be better to make a choice that would give me an upside. Still, before deciding myself, I should ask for Ciel’s opinion.

『If you’re alright with it, I would like to see if we can use this to ask for a high rank, but how about that?』
『Errrr, um. Right. You should do as you want to, Ain.』
『Ciel, what do you think about these two?』
『They seem to be considerably much better people than some duke somewhere. Still, even if you ask me, it’s quite difficult to answer. To begin with, it didn’t really feel to like she was going to kill me.』
『I see. Then for now, allow me to do as I want.』

Hearing Ciel’s absolutely troubled tone, I end our discussion.

Since her life was constantly targeted with ill will, just being almost killed due to over-excitement is probably nothing to Ciel. Besides, she’s met too few people to be able to pass judgment. In that case, she probably didn’t fully understand the punishment and quitting part of the conversation.

In that case, the reason she snapped during the fight with Alejo might be because he was a man or because of the insults. Well, if asked who I wouldn’t forgive between Alejo and Carol, it’s definitely the former though.

Yeah, I’d rather forgive Carol as well, lol.
Heya~! It’s our first two-parter ever since the start of this series!
Still, it’s as long as always and it’s really nice when authors know when to take their time to explain. It seems like although Carol may have not much of a legal issue, your friend doesn’t seem to be happy about this Carol~
Firing something that would kill a wyvern is quite rude, Carol~
Also, Ciel is too chill…
Your survival instincts are a bit too numbed Ciel…
Well that does balance out Ain’s fearfulness and stuff.
Anyways, thanks for reading and have a nice day~!