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「Next is the tool shop, right?」
『Since we still have five days left, it doesn’t have to be today, but I suppose we should at least take a look at what they have.
I’m also curious if they have a largish magic bag as well.』
「It’ll be really handy. After all, with that, we might be able to do several requests at the same time.」
『If they do have one, the problem would be if we could afford it but… even if we can’t, it’ll likely become something we can look forward to in the future.』

In the case of the size we want, I don’t think we can buy it with what we have right now. After all, we were told that it’s at the price that you can build a house or a castle with. The ideal size would be one that would allow us to carry several dozens of monster corpses. With that, we could just drain the blood from the bodies and, after paying the necessary commission fees, leave everything else to the Hunter Guild.

In small towns, there’s generally one of each tool shop and weapon shop. But here at the royal capital, just like how there are a variety of weapon shops, it seems that there are also a variety of tool shops as well. It’s divided according to the type of customers.

Particularly since, in the case of hunters, merely entering the shop would likely intimidate the other customers. It was probably best for both the management and the customers to have it that way. Since hunters also have completely different earnings depending on their rank, there are cases when the shops differentiate based on that as well.

So with this being the case, it now becomes a question of which shop Ciel should go to, but I say the one for high-ranked hunters is a safer choice. After all, the hunters picking on Ciel are almost generally low-ranked hunters of D-rank and below. The high-ranked hunters are more mindful of themselves.

I heard that high-ranked hunters do requests from nobles as well, so I guess it becomes necessary to at least have some level of courtesy.

So with that, the tool shop we’re currently at is, how should I say this, a small two-storey building that looks like those large retail stores. Naturally, the building itself isn’t made out of steel-reinforced concrete or anything like that, but there are a lot of items on display and several shop assistants introduced the products as we roamed around the floor.

There were other customers as well, but after giving Ciel a quick glance as she entered the shop, they went back to shopping without any particular concern.

『They didn’t say anything about us, that was unexpected.』
『Maybe they think that you’re a daughter of nobility that came here in incognito or so?』
『Well they’re not wrong. Probably.』
『I don’t quite understand the nobility system but I think that, in your case, you’re probably not considered a daughter of nobility even though you are a noble’s child.』

Because it was completely irrelevant to me while I was alive, I don’t know the exact details of aristocracy.

While the duke and Ciel are related by blood, would Ciel’s existence even be recognized by the public to begin with? Would her treatment be the same as those of unreported illegitimate children that haven’t been locked up in secrecy? How do the rights of succession work? Are the men predominant? Is the family head’s younger brother higher in the order of succession, or is it the son? Etc. etc.

I honestly don’t care much about these things but thinking about it will be a good way to waste time while training or at night.

『From a quick look, there doesn’t seem to be any magic bags.』
『It’s possible that it’s just not on the first floor but… the bags are concentrated around here, so I guess it’s either that they’re unavailable or not on display. In the meantime, let’s check the second floor as well.』

The first floor had backpacks and other luggage holders, tents, and what looks like a bike trailer. The second floor seems to be where lamps, firelighters, fire strikers, portable rations, and other travelling essentials are all at. There are even magic item versions of lamps sold, it’s pretty expensive.

Still, there aren’t any magic bags on sale as expected. Just when I was about to give up and accept it, Ciel suddenly approached a female shop assistant.

「There aren’t any magic bags?」
「Yes. It’s highly unfortunate, but there none available in stock.」
「Too bad.」
「There’s only a few magic bags and even here in the capital, it only appears in the market roughly once a year. With that being the case, the most reliable method of acquiring one would be to negotiate with an individual that already owns one.」
「I see. I’ll come again.」
「Understood, we look forward to your return.」

We’ll leave in five days at the earliest. Other than the magic bag, the only things we need are portable rations, so buying other things right now will only add to our luggage. For that reason, we were going to leave the shop without buying anything, but we were still sent off with a smile.

Usually people would look displeased when customers go home without buying anything, so it might be that the people in the royal capital received good training. Though it might be due to this being a high-ranking hunter-oriented store as well.

We still have some time to roam around, but since we were tensed up during the dead of night yesterday, we decided to return to the inn ahead of time.

◇

As we reached our room, I instructed Ciel to immediately check the things we left behind. After confirming that nothing’s out of place, Ciel throws herself faceup on the neatly tidied bed. Since a lot happened today, she’s probably exhausted.

As for why I had Ciel check our things first, it’s because I don’t trust this inn yet. We intentionally left some valuables behind to check if they’ll get stolen or not. The outcome is, nothing was stolen. We should be able to relax now… not. In the first place, it’s obviously bad for your reputation to be known as a place where people got things stolen from, so only low-grade inns would allow it from happening— according to what I’ve been told, at least.

Well, I don’t really trust any inns fully. Since I’m always awake, there’s no chance of us being attacked while asleep. In other words, it’s just as usual. Still the same in these twelve years.

Rather, considering that we have a high-class bed and bath, it’s actually better than the usual.

As I was musing over that, 「Fufu.」 a giggle left Ciel’s lips.

『Is there something on your mind?』
「We’ll be able to see the ocean soon, right? I’m just, really excited about it.」

Although Ciel says soon, we still have to go to a town further north of here and cross over a mountain, so it’ll take some time. That being said, considering that we’ve spent two years since escaping the mansion while coming this far, being able to see the ocean in less than a month may be pretty soon.

「The ocean has a lot of water, right? But it’s blue? I wonder why. The water in a cup doesn’t have any color though!」
『Why indeed.』

Ciel said so somewhat excitedly, but I’m stumped on how I should answer this. From the knowledge I had when I was alive, I know that it’s related to the reflection and/or the wavelength of light but if I answer with that, I’ll have to explain the exact nature of light as well. Ciel is bright, so maybe she’ll understand it but I’m also unsure if the scientific knowledge I have can directly apply in this world of magic and sorcery.

『Besides, I’ll also have to see if the ocean really is blue as well.』¹　

While the reason that Ciel wanted to see the ocean is because I named her “Cielmer”, to start with, I don’t know what color the ocean has in this world. On earth, I can confidently say that the ocean is obviously blue but in this world, it might even be black. After all, there are two moons in this world and the two are different in color.

「Then let’s see it. If possible, I’d like to see the ocean that Ain knows but as long as I’m with you, any ocean is worth seeing. By the way Ain. Can I ask you something?」
『What is it?』
「I’ve already asked this a lot, but Ain isn’t a god, right?」
『And I’ve already answered this a lot, but I’m not a god. If I was really a god, then it wouldn’t have taken us 10 years to escape the mansion.』

Ciel occasionally asks me if I’m not a god. I suspect that this is because the magic to descend a god on Ciel resulted in me haunting her but after asking this, Ciel begins to ponder about different things. Every time this happens, I always end up worrying if I unintentionally said too much information about me or if I caused some huge misunderstanding, but she never asks me any serious questions after that.

Just when I thought that we were in a somewhat serious mood, Ciel abruptly reached out to her own chest. And as though to check its size, she then started fondling it. It’s on the small side, but it’s grown bigger since. More importantly, I feel an indescribable sense of frustration, or rather like my mind and body is just vaguely out of sync with each other, and it’s embarrassing.

『Ciel… What are, you doing?』
「What? You said that it’ll get bigger if I massage it, right?」

Right. I was the one that said that. There’s no questioning it, but how is Ciel so composed like this? Because of that, it’s all the harder to interrupt her. Well, sure, if Ciel actually feels the same as I do, then it’ll definitely be hard to interrupt her too though.

『I, told you before, it’s just, a rumor.』
「That’s true. But you also said you haven’t tested if it’s true or not. Then in this case, we can try it out by testing on me, right?」

In that case, it’ll likely be meaningless unless done everyday. Though if I say that, then this will start happening everyday, so I definitely shouldn’t carelessly speak out anymore. After all, today’s happening is a result of yesterday’s mistake, so I have to learn from it. It’ll be nice if I can. Can I even?

Still, since it seems like Ciel does it only when it comes to mind —and since I can’t quite get accustomed with the stimulation— it might be actually better to just tell her about it at this point. Would that be bad for Ciel’s education?

『Hyu!』

As I was trying to somehow distract myself in deep thought, Ciel’s hand touched the summit. From the stimulation, I involuntarily let out a shriek. It’s strange, it’s just unfamiliar. It’s embarrassing. This stimulation and even this high-pitch voice I suddenly made, I somehow just can’t get used to it all.

I can only endure it so that Ciel won’t notice it all. Fortunately, it seems like Ciel didn’t notice my shriek as I wasn’t asked anything about it.

As this long yet short time passed, Ciel’s hand moved away from her chest. I’m finally freed. Ciel laid on her side, seeming satisfied for some reason. And then, she closed her eyes as if to bask on something.

For now, since I wanted a distraction and it also feels like she might end up falling asleep, I called out to her, 『If you’re sleepy, why don’t we take a bath early?』

However, I guess it didn’t reach her ears —though I’m not actually sure if it is her ears physically hearing me— as she didn’t react. Due to that, I called out to her again, 『Ciel, did you hear me? Ciel?』 and she reacted this time.

「I’m sorry. I was a bit deep in my thoughts.」
『Don’t worry, I only wanted to say that: if you want to sleep, how about an early bath? That’s all.』
「Let’s do that. We’ve got a good room to stay at after all, I want to enjoy it.」

Saying so, Ciel gets up and with light steps, she goes off to fill the bathtub with hot water.

That was… Not good for Ciel’s education, Ain. lol
Heya~! While our princesses didn’t get to find a big magic bag, they’re thoroughly enjoying their stay, it seems.

The dichotomy between the rude, forever low ranked hooligans and the experienced high-rankers being explained a bit was nice though, lol. Now that I realised it, the issue here is that the veterans stay in the bar, since they don’t have much work that fits them, and the hooligans just feel like they’re the king of the hill since the veterans don’t have much to do. Might not apply to all cases though.

Anyway, on AinCiel. First, before my blanked out mind forgets, it was nice that Ciel had the initiative to find a shop assistant, very good development. Also, that part where Ciel asked about why the ocean is blue when water isn’t really stirred some indescribable emotions in my heart. Ciel is really, *really* excited about the ocean and it’s making me excited now too. Now, to *that* part. Whoooooo. *Boy*. From what we know about Ciel, it’s a hundred percent intentional, and she definitely noticed Ain’s squeal. I will say, Ain trying to distract herself halfway in and seemingly questioning the obvious (Yes Ain, it’s bad for Ciel’s education, lol) made me laugh. Still, AinCiel fluff~

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

1. Silva: I’ve never seen a blue ocean in my life either, the sea is all black-ish