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Although we’ve reached D-rank, I wasn’t particularly overjoyed about it. And since it was just a waypoint to our goal, I didn’t really feel like we need to brace ourselves for what’s next. Though it might be because the only D-rank hunter that comes to my mind is the battleaxe wielding Alejo too. Actually, realizing that we’re at the same rank as that makes me feel less excited instead.

Even Ciel’s reaction was only 『So being D-rank is supposed to be amazing, right?』 and nothing else.

If the other hunters were to hear her words, they would probably think that she’s taunting them, but Ciel was only asking out of pure interest. On the other hand, the Hunter Guild was already amazed about us reaching E-rank at 10 years old and they even boasted that being D-rank at this age was practically unheard of. Though, since Celia was the one explaining it to us, it was in a more humble and polite way than how I’m describing it.

Although my power was something I got practically by cheating, Ciel learned to use sorcery from her own efforts and she has great control over the Dance Princess Job as well. Still, other people would probably think that Ciel’s being cheeky. These are the kind of people who might oddly become angry upon hearing that you achieved the highest score, even though they were the ones who asked about it in the first place. Of course, it’s possible that I am simply overthinking things.

Despite being promoted to D-rank, we are still performing the same cycle of hunting monsters and gathering herbs. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that we don’t need to prepare ourselves any differently than before, as I had previously assumed.

However, the giant spiders are unforgivable. Why are they even D-rank? But more importantly, why are we being asked to hunt them? Even if we agree to hunt them by some miracle, it’s absolutely unreasonable to expect us to bring any evidence parts back. After all, giant spiders are to be annihilated instantly upon encounter in our case. Having a part of their body or even their magic stone left behind is rare even.

In general, we haven’t had any problems continuing as a D-rank hunter, but as expected, there seems to be some techniques and favored abilities required to reach C-rank. With that said, Celia and Carol led me to the booth inside the guild.

「We’re going to have you form a party.」
「That’s quite sudden.」
「Well, you can decline if you want. It’s not a prerequisite after all.」
「But you want me to accept it if possible, right? Since that’s what Celia’s face is saying.」

I understand that it’s best to work with a party, especially with how hunters work. In our case, considering our background and abilities, it’s better for us to work solo, but there might be situations where we can’t insist on going solo.

For example, monster stampedes. It’s a natural disaster that happens when, for some reason, monsters run out of their food supply and begin targeting humans for consumption. To make sure that doesn’t happen, the Hunter Guild regularly cull monsters and because of that, it’s considered to be a rarely occurring event.

Still, since stampedes can be artificially triggered, we can’t let our guard down. The most famous case of this being the Song Princess’ suicide stampede, but drugs that can attract monsters do also exist and can be made. Obviously, the usage of these drugs are forbidden and their raw materials are also not easy to get. Using just a bit of it can barely attract a handful of monsters, so it’s said that making enough of these to cause a stampede would practically cost a fortune.

By the way, if I use up all of the money we have right now, I’ll actually have enough to buy that drug. Since we have several gold coins, I’m sure that we’re quite rich from the eyes of a common household. Though this can be seen as the difference between the nobles and the common folk. Considering this, Duke Rispelgia’s power is likely to be comparatively miles greater as well, and that’s something I’m absolutely not happy about.

Back to the topic.

If I’m forming a party, then working with Carol would be best, but because of our difference in rank, that should be impossible. In other words, there’s someone else they want me to work with. The currently downcast Celia will probably explain to me the details. I don’t have a good feeling about this, though.

「Cielmer, do you still remember the party of four that you helped before?」
「The ones I left to Carol, right?」
「That’s right. After that incident, it got absolutely troublesome.」
「The possibility of that happening was exactly why I left them to you after all.」
「Anyway, we’re already done with that. However, what happened that time is connected to this.」

Frankly, they didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I just saw them from afar, had Ciel help them appropriately, and then we just ran away. And speaking of Ciel, 『Who were they again?』 it seems like she practically has no memory of them.

「Regarding the said party, they are split up as of now and are acting separately, with three of them working as a team and the other working alone.」
「So they kicked out the other one. Now that I recall it, they did seem to act like that even when they were fighting at that time.」
「To be exact, it seems that the other three were the ones who left but that’s not too important. Cielmer, the one we’re referring to you, is the one acting alone. We’d like you to form a party with the E-rank hunter having the role of a swordsman, Brass.」

They’re probably pushing something troublesome to us again, but I keep silent and listen.

Up until now, the requests that Celia gave us included many that were left unprocessed in the guild. In those cases, since completing the unpopular requests were meant to improve the guild’s impression of us, I went along with it to some extent. This time is likely an extension of that as well. Even after hearing the other person’s name, I still don’t really know who it is, but since it’s probably the boy who recklessly rushed towards the Goblin Leader, it’s definitely going to be troublesome.

Roles specify what someone can do in a party, independent of their Job, or so. In our case, we can probably just go with Sorcerer as our role. Just like in my case, a person’s role doesn’t necessarily match their Job. One’s role is a personal decision but generally they’re like swordsman, spearman, axman, sorcerer, and so on. Because of that, even if one calls himself a swordsman, it’s hard to guess if they’re referring to their Job or to their role.

「Can I have some time to think about it?」
「Yes. Please feel free to.」

『For you Ain, what do you think about this? I can’t remember anything about him, so I don’t really know what to do.』
『What are your thoughts on forming a party?』
『If it’s with Ain, then I’d really like to do so. Though we are always in a party if you think about it. As for other people, I wonder. I can’t really imagine it, but it might be best to try forming a party at least once exactly because of this, right? So Ain, what do you think?』
『As for me, I think that we should try it. However, thoughtlessly forming a party might drag us into trouble, so I don’t really like it much.』

After all, it’s someone that was abandoned by every member of his party. In my case, I’ve thought of some conditions that I want before we’d agree to it but I want to give Ciel the opportunity to ponder deeply about it, so I decided to wait for her response.

『He’s an E-rank hunter, correct? If so, that would make him weaker than us. If we were to accept an E-rank request, even if he was a burden, we wouldn’t be in danger. Our main concern should be things unrelated to the request. Can you find out if the incident that led to their party disbanding was the only reason?』
『Understood.』
『Thank you. I really appreciate it.』

「Why did his party split up?」
「I believe that you’ve seen it firsthand but it seems to be due to Brass’ reckless way of fighting and them having an issue with their allocation of the rewards.」
「I see.」

『So in that case, we should only form a temporary party that would only work together to complete requests. It would be nice if, after the request, the guild also makes sure that the other party doesn’t come in contact with us more than necessary. And then, we should ask the guild to have him agree with dividing our rewards equally. Finally, how about having them recognize that we will not be helping him to get stronger or try to reform him?』
『Sure, I think that’s good.』

I’m not sure about what the guild really wants from us, but what they asked from us was only for our cooperation in times of emergencies.

Even if they actually want us to incite his personal growth, we don’t have any reason to take care of him to that extent. When I told them what Ciel said almost word-for-word, Celia showed a slightly dejected smile before saying 「Then please do your best.」 and bowing her head.

Carol even muttered 「Doubtful that you’re really 10 years old.」 as she stared at me, but Ciel was the one that thought of this. That’s why it actually is something a 10 year old would say, so no problems here.

Hehe~ My Ciel is pretty amazing, isn’t she? Just kidding.

「Also, I have one more request, or rather, one more question.」
「There’s still something, I see.」
「I just wanted to ask, even if we form the party, is it fine to treat it just as usual? 」
「Well of course. After all, this is simply a test.」
「Then in that case, it’s alright.」

With that, our first party work was decided like it was some sort of free trial.

◇

After that decision, we were guided to a location where we were met by a boy who appeared to be somewhere between a teenager and a young adult and stood considerably taller than me. His hair was brown with hints of red, and his eyes were green in color. He had a solid masculine build as well. He looks like the regular dream-chasing youngster, I guess. Well, I suppose I’m also still a youngster too, but anyway.

He should be Brass, but please stop staring at me. I’m sure he’s thinking Why do I need to play babysitter? or something right now. After all, judging from how I look, he probably thinks that I’m just a G-rank hunter, and he likely won’t believe us even if we tell him that I’m at D-rank. That’s what I get from his expression.

「So, I just need to take care of this shrimp here, right?」
「If that’s your definition of forming a party, then sure. Naturally, you don’t have any right to refuse. Since you’ve kept repeatedly failing your requests lately, if you refuse now or can’t work together as a party, you’ll be demoted to F-rank.」
「Hmph.」

Hearing Carol’s words, Brass hatefully glared at me. No matter how you look at it, that was entirely his own fault. Taking over from Carol, Celia begins the explanation.

「If you form a party with her, then we can allow you to accept high difficulty E-rank requests. And as your party was arranged by the guild, regardless of any reason, your rewards will always be divided equally. Unlike a regular party, in cases where there is trouble between the two of you while you two aren’t working on a request, it will be treated as a conflict between hunters instead, so please keep that in mind.」
「And if she’s weighing me down?」
「Well, since the two of you are hunters, in the end it’s self-responsibility.」
「Then fine, got it.」

He probably meant that he’ll abandon us if the situation calls for it. Well we’re thinking of doing the same, so I don’t really mind that in particular. Still, doesn’t he understand that doing something unbefitting of a party member would get him demoted?

「Then I’ll take this request. Don’t drag me down. Shrimp.」
「A Kobold subjugation request, is that okay?」
「You just listen to what the Advanced Swordsman’s saying, shrimp.」

After saying so, Brass went to the reception desk and then left the guild. Before following him, I shot a glance towards Carol’s and Celia’s direction, and there I saw them looking at me with a troubled look on their faces.

How can I say this, Brass is much more unapproachable than I imagined. But looking closely, he’s walking somewhat unsteadily. They did say that he’s been failing his requests repeatedly, he might have no money at all. His clothes also seem worn out and I can see a lot of scratches on him. Maybe he’s also unsteady because of hunger, or so.

I can’t believe that he even thought of accepting that kobold subjugation request in that state. Kobolds are E-rank, so I don’t consider them strong but since the bipedal dog-looking kobolds always act in groups consisting of 5-6 of them, they’re more annoying compared to goblins.

Although it’s common to see mobs with Goblin Leaders leading more than 10 of them, goblins generally move independently and one would only encounter at most three of them at the same time. So considering that he had a close fight with just a Goblin Leader, I don’t really think that he can handle several kobolds at the same time.

In the first place, we haven’t even introduced ourselves to each other yet. I’m amazed that he actually just accepted a request like that. I know who he is, but he probably doesn’t even know who I am. Well, since detection is showing the same results as usual, I’ll just let Brass do as he wants and ask Ciel to focus on supporting him.

Though until the battle starts, I’ll still be the one mainly in control.

Hiya~! Mwahwahwahwa! He’s back! Also, we’re back to the main story and AinCiel! Also, the last chapter was objectively interesting but subjectively not fun, lol. Particularly the comments, they were fun~

Well, there were already some foreshadowing on the party event but it was probably hard to guess which half of the disbanded newbie party she would be dealing with. On one hand, the slightly vanilla group of three. On the other, it is he, Brass the Advanced Swordsman! And now we see. And now we know.

Still, other stories would usually go with the less troublesome? party members. Here the guild seems to be attempting to reform Brass with an external stimuli that just happened to be in line for a cooperative aptitude test. Though seemingly not very cooperative with their plans.

I’m sorry for another ‘what I like about Ain’ rant but what I like about Ain is that she is, to some extent, the same with the regular Japanese reincarnator protagonist, but she literally had a character development breaking and remolding her current character quite early in the story on as she was barely prepared to face most of what the duke threw at her and her being unable to stop whatever it is would instantly mean danger to Ciel as well. Most characters would show their willpower by overcoming what despair lies on their own, but Ain practically broke the moment she realised that she was a baby and just gained her willpower after realising that she’s not the only one being harmed when she is harmed. This results to her prioritizing Ciel and their freedom above all else. This makes her limit her human relations as more connections mean more relationships to cut off when they inevitably decide to leave the town. If they weren’t trying to run away, Ain probably have been quick to decide to help the party instead regardless of the usual cliche trouble. She would probably show more interest on the newbie party. And she would probably feel more offended about how Brass is talking to them. But right now she doesn’t care much about what isn’t Ciel. Still, this is all speculation. Likely just my opinion. Though it’s a bit long.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay clean, stay safe, and have a nice day~!