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Uh-oh. He finally did it. As Brass declared that I didn’t work, I can only stare at him with pity now. Celia turned her gaze to me, so I simply shook my head in reply.

「The mob seemed to have been consisted of 11 monsters, but you mean to say that you defeated them all, correct?」
「Yeah. There’s proof here, see? Besides, I’m wounded but she isn’t. That means we won because I worked hard. I’m the only one did the work.」
「Well she is a sorcerer, so there should be less opportunities for her to get hurt, however…」
「Saying that she didn’t do anything was probably too much. But I’m still the one who did more.」

Just as Brass finished speaking, I said 「Not true.」 and cut into the conversation. It’s annoying to go along with this farce. Still, if I don’t properly assert myself, Brass’ opinion might have some chance of going through. Although this time, I don’t actually need to do this myself but there’s nothing to lose in showing that I did anyway.

「I defeated 7 monsters alone, he only defeated the remaining ones.」

Incidentally, since we haven’t introduced ourselves to each other, I’m pretending like we don’t know each other’s name. Though, as for Brass, he might not be pretending. There should’ve been several times I was called by name right in front of him but since he never called me by it, I guess he just isn’t interested. I was glad about that anyway, so I just left it that way.

「Like there’s a chance for a shrimp like you could do that. Right?」

Brass called out to the few remaining hunters left in the guild. I see, so he’s planning to get the others involved. However, knowing the rumors about me, the hunters neither agreed nor disagreed and were only unsure on how to react. Likely different from the reaction he hoped for, Brass looked at Celia with a slightly irritated look.

「Brass, was it? To think that you’d falsify your report, you really aren’t suited to being a hunter, are you?」

Although I had already noticed Carol’s presence, Brass only seemed to register her existence upon hearing her voice, and he turned around in surprise. Carol, who was the owner of the voice, was glaring at me with an expression of complete exasperation for some reason. I don’t think that this is my fault though.

「What do you mean?」
「What did I mean? I was observing the two of you right from the start. In other words, I’ve seen everything. From you running to the goblin mob, to you struggling as you got surrounded, to the girl beside you gradually eliminating the goblins one by one.」

Brass grit his teeth as he glared at Carol resentfully. To think that he would even act like this to a B-rank hunter. If the two of them ever fought, Brass would probably be dead in less than 10 seconds.

「You were peeping, that’s nasty.」
「This is an official work from the guild. To begin with, do you even remember why the two of you formed a party?」
「It’s about the F-rank demotion thing or something, right? But these days, I complete the requests without failing, don’t I?」
「You know, since it’s a test, it’s only natural to be observed but well, anyway. For now, regarding the current request, 20 percent should be good enough for him. Based on the monsters he defeated, that’s how it would be, correct?」
「It’s 4 to 7, so… Uhhh…」
「You might be inclined to say that you should get 30-40 percent but you’d be very wrong. After all, it seems like you said it yourself. That the one who defeats the strongest monster would get 50 percent more and such. If you consider the one who defeats the Goblin Leader gets half, then my calculations shouldn’t be incorrect.」

It looks like Brass can’t do calculations, so he couldn’t say anything against Carol. Though, I’m pretty sure Carol made the leader amount to 50 percent since she can’t be bothered to calculate properly too.

「So with that said, the request reward this time shall be divided as Carol stated. In addition, because you falsified the report, we have judged that there is a problem in your temperament as a hunter. As such, Brass, you will be, from here on, demoted to F-rank.」
「Wait. In the first place, she was cheating. There’s no way that this shrimp can defeat a Goblin Leader, you know? More like, that woman secretly observing us, you’re the one that defeated it, didn’t you? You set me up!」

Brass screamed. I guess he really doesn’t want to be demoted to F-rank. Ignoring the fact that he doesn’t know that I’m a D-rank, he’s even picking a fight with the B-ranked Carol. Does he want to die? I can hear the sound of something freezing from Carol’s direction, but it must be my imagination.

「Cielmer is a D-rank hunter, so being able to defeat a Goblin Leader is a given. If you intend to cause a bigger uproar than this, then we will have to consider demoting you to G-rank as well. So, what shall it be?」

Before Carol moved, Celia warned him with a slightly low voice and Brass could only grit his teeth as he ran out of the guild. Everyone around us let out an air of relief.

◇

While a murder didn’t happen, since the surroundings would be noisy if those involved stayed around, Carol and I moved to the booth together with Celia.

「We’ve already discussed about working a bit longer unless any problem occurs, but…」
「He then immediately caused a problem. When I heard him insisting to add his little sister’s share, I was utterly lost on whether I should laugh or feel disappointed.」
「Anyway, will it be fine to think of this as the end of the party thing?」

Even if we talk about Brass, it’ll probably just turn into a gripe fest, so I changed the topic. Rather, I wanted to confirm this first. After this, they probably won’t ask me to form a party anymore but I want to have their word.

「Yes. Your party work with Brass ends here. However, if you would join a different party for just one more time, it would smoothen your C-rank promotion. Will it be alright?」
「As long as you don’t push problem children on me again, then I don’t mind.」
「Ummm, yes. That should be alright. We would like to ask you to do a D-rank request with the people that originally worked with Brass. This time, we have informed the other party that you are a D-rank hunter in advance, so if they show signs of treating you lightly, we wouldn’t mind if you refuse.」

It’s those kind people that worked with Brass and apparently gave a share of the reward to his little sister. Considering that they didn’t come into agreement with him in the end and parted with him as well, there should be no issues with their characters.

「Are the members D-ranked?」
「No, they’re E-rank. However, since they consistently finish their work and their D-rank promotion shouldn’t be too far away, we would like them to experience a D-rank request at least once.」
「In that case, I accept.」
「Thank you very much.」

If this smoothens my C-rank promotion, then there’s no reason to refuse. Hypothetically, even if they ask me to party with Brass again, I’ll probably accept it if they tell me that I’ll be promoted to C-rank with that.

「Which reminds me, what will be your plans after reaching C-rank, Cielmer?」
「Staying in this town won’t help me reach B-rank faster, right?」
「For B-rank, that would be difficult. Rather, it can even be said that reaching C-rank itself in this short amount of time is irregular. Your existence itself can be called irregular as well, Cielmer, so you might be able to reach B-rank immediately; but around this area in general, there are only a few requests of C-rank and above, so I can’t recommend doing that.」
「To be frank, I’d like you to stay here but that’s not possible, is it?」
「Yes, it’s impossible.」

Continuing after Celia, Carol asked. Hearing my immediate reply, she breathed a sigh. I really wonder why I don’t sense any reluctance to part from that sigh.

「Do you know a good place for ascending to B-rank?」
「In general, the capital, I suppose? The more people that gather, the more requests there will be. Otherwise, the frontier where there are a lot of monsters. Although, even if you ask me where that is, I really have no idea.」
「Understood. I’ll think about it until I become C-rank.」

This is something that I can’t decide on by myself. Rather, since Ciel will be the one mainly moving once we leave Sannois, there won’t be any issues even if I don’t give my opinion on this.

◇

Today, we went home after singing at the pub. But as I thought, it felt like we were being monitored along the way. I don’t sense any danger for the time being, but it doesn’t make it any more pleasant. Still, there were no signs of them following us in the inn, so we can eat in peace. Ciel is really looking forward to mealtime as well, so if they get in the way, we’ll have to exterminate them.

I switch with Ciel when we eat at the dining hall, since Nilda barely talks to us, but it’s absolutely healing to see Ciel’s face reacting to every single thing.

As we finished eating, we headed back to our room and Ciel immediately laid down on the bed. A neatly made bed feels good to even just lie down on, so I understand the feeling of wanting to throw yourself to the bed first. Ciel properly sits on the bed before lying down but if it was me, I probably would’ve jumped on it instead. It’s really hard to say who’s the real child here. We didn’t use beds at home in my previous life, so just the fact that there’s a bed raises my excitement a bit.

『Come to think of it, there’s a person that I might have seen in the pub, but did you notice them, Ain?』
『No, I was too focused on singing, so I didn’t look around that much.』
『Ain always has fun singing after all. Are the lullabies you sing to me fun for you too?』
『Of course. It’s awfully fun to think about which song that would help you sleep well, what kind of voice to sing with, and what you would enjoy, Ciel.』
『Thank you, Ain.』

Smiling as she said, Ciel looked so absolutely beautiful that it made my heart skip a beat. I’m certain that this isn’t because I was originally male, but because she has the charm to attract people regardless of gender. There might come a time that she’ll be able to show this smile to others, but considering how it’s currently only directed to me, I can’t help but feel privileged.

『By the way, what will you do once we become C-rank, Ciel?』
『That was today’s question, right? It’s fine to do what you want to do you know, Ain?』
『We can’t do that. Rather, I don’t have anything I want to do.』
『I see. In that case, I want to see the ocean. Since I’ve already seen the ciel, I want to see the mer too. Can we?』
『Of course we can. That’s right. I want you to see the ocean too.』
『But we might reach B-rank later, you know?』
『If it’s your decision, I wouldn’t mind even if we get delayed. Besides, we don’t really know the most efficient place to work at, and at the very least, I’d really like to be further away from this town.』

Ciel remembering the origin of her name makes me feel happy, but it’s somewhat embarrassing. I just hope that she doesn’t notice my embarrassment. Wanting to go to the ocean is not a big problem at all. Instead, since it’s said that monsters become stronger as one goes nearer to the ocean, there should be more high-ranking subjugation requests available there.

I can’t be sure about how much we can fight against B-ranked monsters, but it’s not like I was doing nothing for half a year. It might be just by a little bit, but the barrier’s durability should have increased and the reapplication after it gets destroyed is now much faster than it was before. Ciel also has a much better proficiency with Dance Princess as well. Though, with this one, we haven’t gotten any proper practice at all, so I don’t know how using it would actually go.

For those reasons alone, even if we encounter some B-rank monsters stronger than the cyclops, we should be able to defeat them without difficulty. In the first place, we can’t accept B-rank requests, so considering that we’ll be generally up against monsters of up to C-rank, it shouldn’t be too dangerous no matter where we work.

Since it’s not like we’ll be at the ocean the instant we leave Sannois, peeking at the requests on the guilds along the way while searching for a perfect town or village to stay at should be good too.

『So, Ain. Could you tell me the origin of the name Ainsel?』
『Ahh, umm… It’s a secret.』
『You’re so mean, Ain.』
『Having secrets makes a woman charming… is what I’ve heard before, you see?』

Being a person who identifies somewhat as a woman yet somewhat not, I couldn’t assert my gender with complete certainty. However, since I had already chosen to conceal my gender, it would have been more appropriate to leave the distinction vague.

Unaware of my inner conflict, Ciel said 『I’ll leave it at that.』 with a gentle gaze, making me feel all the more depressed.

Hiya~! The mad lad! The boi! The legend! He’s finally messed up so much, beyond recovering if you ask me. Well, I doubt that he learned anything from this.

I love how Carol played such an important role in this. It’s only natural that she does, considering that, well, this *is* a test for both of them, regardless if Brass didn’t see it that way. Or maybe he did and he just thought that they’ll see his *true strength* or something. Anyway, good job almost turning the guild into a crime scene, Brass! This would have been Carol’s second accidental murder attempt, or rather her first intentional one to be honest. Like, really? He really thinks that he’s important enough to be set up by anyone?

On the other hand, it seems like the party leadership test might actually happen now! Bless those saints that put up with Brass for so long, their hard work seems to be very much acknowledged. As for our princesses, very cute as usual. It’s nice to see Ciel being curious and Ain trying to avoid the question with varying results, lol. You’re too easy to read, Ain. Really, at this point, the other people are just trying to convince themselves that trauma is the reason the little girl Cielmer acts like she does. Well, it’s just my opinion though.

P.S. If you’re curious, Brass didn’t actually say any specifics about the reward for the *stronger guy*. It’s really Carol being lazy, lol.
So, Brass’ share becomes:
4/10 * 50%
(Since the other 1 goblin is worth the other 50%)
Instead of the uneven of
4/11 * 100%
Meaning, he gets:
4/10 * 50% = 20% (Which looks suspiciously easy to divide **wink wink*)
Instead of the original:
4/11 * 100% = 36.66%
Decimals don’t really help when you’re working with small money not reaching thousands, lol

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