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Yesterday a girl not even the age of adulthood contended against the guildmaster. The girl —Cielmer— was completely innocent in this situation but due to her Job and the gravity of what she said, it was decided that I’ll guard her. I don’t particularly mind that, rather this sort of situation is exactly why we’re here, so I gladly accepted.

Still, if I had to admit whether Cielmer needs protection or not, it’s probably a no. She would be able to defend herself against an assassin that I could handle, and if she were faced with one that even she could not handle, I would not be capable of fending them off either.

Her capability as a sorcerer is overwhelmingly greater than mine. A failure like me who can’t circulate magic power properly can’t compare. If I had to say, I guess I’m here as a countermeasure against the self-conceit that could be caused by her age.

Towards someone like her who is far above me, what I have is not envy but rather respect. She’s a twelve-year-old girl. What do you even do to be so capable at that age? There are fools out there that would point and yell “Cheater!” towards people who excel but at Cielmer’s level, it isn’t something that can be explained with merely that.

If simply cheating could enable a 12-year-old girl to be this powerful, then the strength of the sorcerers of present time should have been two or three levels greater than it is now.

In short, what I want to say is that it was inevitable for me to consult Cielmer about my sorcery. When you are aware of your own shortcomings and someone greater than you appeared, you can’t help but want to ask for their guidance. If an S-rank swordsman were to appear before us, I’m sure that Chasse would beg to have a spar as well.

With that said, we went outside the capital walls. Bringing the escort target outside the walls is a stupid idea, so I was quite hesitant. However, just because we’re outside doesn’t mean that I’m neglecting my guarding duties. Making those excuses to myself, I decided to consult Cielmer with my magic.

「Now, what to do. Please use your strongest sorcery… That’s out of the question, right?」

When asking for advice, there’s no doubt that displaying one’s strongest sorcery is an effective method. However, for an escort, consuming a considerable amount of magic power is difficult to just brush off. Besides, she might be taken aback with my strongest, so I’m hesitant.

「… I have to preserve at least enough magic to protect you after all, so naturally, yes.」
「In that case, I’ll make a target, so please cast a sorcery that can display your abilities to a certain extent.」
「Understood.」

Although feeling relieved by her words, I was also distressed by how her next request left most of the thinking to me. A sorcery that can display one’s abilities is, in my opinion, considerably difficult to choose. Might she be assessing me based on my sorcery of choice here as well?

As I was deep in thought, Cielmer created a wall of earth that will be the target. In terms of distance, it should be about 12-13 steps away. It’s by no means distant, but it’s surprisingly hard to hit a target this far for beginners in sorcery.

Anyhow, thinking that the sorcery I generally use should be good enough, I began reciting my usual spell. Five spheres of flame fired in succession. It’s a bit difficult to control, but since I can’t produce much offensive power, this was my only option. That is, to cover up with my magic power manipulation and cast sorcery multiple times with a single spell. This is my sorcery’s strong point; speed and continuous bombardment.

The problem is that the higher the grade of a sorcery job, the more common it becomes to perform specialized sorcery without incantations, thereby reducing my advantage as I rank up.

One out of the five missed the target, but that’s the most I can do with my level of magic power manipulation. If I had to make an excuse, my sorcery would be dangerous to do if tried by other people.

Upon seeing my magic, Cielmer appeared as if she was pondering something before telling me to then use a magic circle this time.

Honestly, I’m extremely bad with magic circles. Still, not doing this won’t start anything. It took some time, but I managed to destroy the earth wall that I couldn’t damage earlier.

「How was it?」

Now that I’ve shown what I can, I ask for criticism. I completely exposed my clumsiness so there’s nothing I can do about it at this point.

「Viviana, you aren’t a commoner, right?」
「What’s this all of a sudden?」

Does she perhaps mean to say that I’m that lacking in magic power? Disregarding my total magic power, considering the amount of magic power I can use at one time, it can’t be helped. While I’ve already heard comments of these sorts many times up until now, I don’t really enjoy hearing it. I guess it’s still good enough that she’s not insulting me directly. Just as I thought that, Cielmer continued speaking.

「It’s just that… this isn’t something I can say free of charge, you see. I think you already know this much, but all I can legally say is that you’re “not good with circulation”.」

She accurately hit my weak point. By not something she can say free of charge, does that mean that she has some advice for me? In that case, she’s fundamentally different from the people I’ve consulted up until now. And if so, it might be best to honestly answer the question. She doesn’t seem to be making fun of me after all.

「That’s right. I am, in a sense, a person of nobility. However, not a nobility of this kingdom to be exact. I’m a member of a prominent family in the Central, I suppose.」
「The Central is where the Guild Headquarters and so are located, right? There are nobles there? I somewhat expected there to be none.」

It’s a bit difficult to explain about Central. Rather, it’s often the case even in other countries that people won’t understand. If only based by the lineages, then we would be nobles of one country, but not a registered noble in another. And even in Central, we’re not actually nobles, to be exact. However, since it’s easier to explain it in this way, I’ll leave it at that.

「There are nobles, to a certain extent. As the number of people congregating in an area grows, so too does the need for leaders to arise. In addition to the top management of the Guild, these leaders also include those who manage Central’s administrative functions. They are known as the nobles of Central. However, it’s important to note that it’s an absolute meritocracy. Regardless of how much influence one’s family might wield, anyone who is deemed incompetent is immediately removed from their position. So the nobles of Central might be quite different from what you’re imagining.」
「So in other words, no matter how great the noble families are, there’s a person there, if not an auditing body, at the top that keeps them all at bay, right?」
「And that would be the guild’s founder, the main figure behind Central’s independence, Mistress Fiiyanamia.」
「The guild’s founder… The founder is still alive?」
「She’s an elf after all. I’ve never met her first-hand, but there’s enough proof to support this.」

To put it simply, Central is the long-lived Fiiyanamia’s manor. We, or rather the residents of Central, are nothing more than freeloaders in her yard. Because of that, there’s no opposing Fiiyanamia. If you don’t like it, then you’ll just end up getting told to leave.

「So there are races other than humans then.」

Cielmer said solemnly but, come to think of it, she should be born and raised in this country.

「Oh, so you were born in this country, correct?」
「Yes, that’s right. But then, why aren’t there any of them in this country?」
「Estoque doesn’t acknowledge other races, you see. I do believe that this is relatively common knowledge though…」
「I wasn’t raised with common knowledge, you see.」

I was suddenly dropped a bomb. I knew that she should have something going on with her for a twelve-year-old like her to be capable of utilizing sorcery to this extent, but she might have gone through experiences harsher than what I imagined. While it’s not as if I’m not curious about it, let’s not tactlessly delve into this topic. After all, there are some dodgy people drawing near.

◇

After beating down the assassin and the vengeful hunters, I left the assassin’s handling to Cielmer. She appears to have some contacts for this, but didn’t she just arrive here at the capital a few days ago? Well, Cielmer shouldn’t have any problems, so I probably don’t need to worry about it so much. Even if the assassin was killed somewhere out of my sight, the assassin is simply getting what she deserves.

Since I’ve completed my tasks, I headed to the inn Cielmer is staying at. Seriously, why is she staying at such a high-class inn.

Conveying my purpose to the receptionist, I was guided to her room. After the receptionist knocked on the door and informed 「Your guest has arrived,」 Cielmer opened the door without any second thought. People attempted to take her life just a few moments ago, isn’t this a bit too careless of her?

「When I opened the door, you made a weird face, right?」
「That’s the first thing you ask? It just seemed somewhat careless of you considering your situation, that’s all.」
「It was you that brought me outside when I was planning to just spend the whole day inside my room, you know?」
「That’s… I had my own circumstances, okay. I already told you that, didn’t I?」

Bringing up the fact that I brought her is honestly painful. Since I couldn’t say anything but that, I stared at her defensively and she swiftly backed down with a simple 「That’s true.」

It’s as if I’m the child here.

After that, we discussed the circumstances of the attack that happened earlier. From Cielmer’s side, it seems that a noble is involved and since the guildmaster is likely to have a part on this, no matter how much I think about it, it’s giving me a headache. Moreover, Cielmer seems to have a connection with the leader of the underground guild all of the sudden. It’s just one headache after another.

「Anyways, we were talking about my compensation, right?」
「Yes, that’s right. That’s exactly why I hurried here after all.」

We’re finally back to the topic I want to discuss. Not only would my long enduring issue be solved, seeing the process to do so might show me a new possibility in sorcery as well. Cielmer is definitely hiding something. The compensation is going to be proportionally scary though.

「Since I might need it when I go to Central, I would like to ask for protection from your family.」
「Oh, that’s right. Since it’s you, you’ll likely reach B-rank sometime soon. And having someone backing you would, in a sense, make it easier for you to move around after all. Still, what do you mean by ‘might need it’?」
「I already have someone else that might protect me, so it’s for insurance.」
「Being treated as an insurance is quite rude, don’t you think?」

As I was once considered a lady of a respectable family, despite how I appear, being treated lightly is displeasing. After all, appearances are important in that world. Pride is more necessary than food. Though, I’m no longer an inhabitant of that world anyhow.

「I’d rather be safe than be polite. Besides, I had a hunch that you wouldn’t get mad from something like that.」
「Well that’s true. Still, it’s not something I can decide for on my own, and even if I back you myself, I’m not a legitimate heir, so it won’t really amount to much anyhow. So instead, would you mind settling with an introduction to the house? If there’s anything else, then I’ll consider them as well.」

Am I that easy to read? I’ve been living as a hunter for a long time now, so there’s no helping it. Honestly, I wanted to give a firm promise, but since it’s a matter for the family, the family’s head judgment will be needed. Since an unreliable introduction is clearly insufficient as a reward, I decided to ask Cielmer if she has any other requests.

「In that case, could you write me a letter of introduction? I can’t be sure when I’ll reach B-rank after all, and there’s also no assurance that I’ll be able to contact you when that time comes.」

In the case of an introduction letter, then it’ll be necessary to consider the contents to be written. Depending on what is written, it might be usable for people other than Cielmer, risking the misuse of it. Still, since it’ll only be slightly more work on my part, I agreed. Rather, it’s still insufficient to make up for the compensation if you ask me. After this I was asked to keep what happens here a secret, but even I’m not that low to spread this to the public anyhow. And then finally, Cielmer began her explanation.

Hiya~! As I said the other day, here it is~! The interlude~! But yeah, this is no more a surprise, but the following interludes will be a Viviana centric arc~!

As usual, it’s a bit nice to see from an outsider’s perspective and it also helps give a measure of the “standard” of this world. Still, now that we’re going to Central soon enough, it is a bit exciting to think about the character introduced in this chapter’s counterpart previously on. Fiiyanamia, the ruler (?) of Central. How and what could she be? Elf? So then are elves powerful in this world? (As they tend to, but anyhow).

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