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As we were heading back to the Hunter Guild, Carol asked Ciel if it was alright to disclose her rank, to which Ciel nodded in agreement. Since it would become known that we’re Fiiyanamia’s child, I think it would be safer to say we’re A-rank here in Central, hence I didn’t oppose it. Though, even if we were somewhere else, I wouldn’t oppose Ciel revealing our rank if she wanted to.

While revealing it might make things easier, it also brings trouble. What I do is shoulder her troubles with her. Though, if it’s obviously a wrong choice to make, I’d probably stop her.

Whoops, leaving our situation aside, Carol had the expression of a child about to do a prank. It’s definitely going to surprise Friere… Since she thinks we’re B-rank…

「Friere, you might not know, but she’s an A-rank hunter.」
「… Could you give me a moment?」

Friere put her hand on her head and started mulling over this, but Carol ruthlessly continued her attack.

「Also, I heard she became Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter.」
「Didn’t I just say… Yeah, could you please give me a moment?」
「Isn’t it great that you didn’t pick a fight with her? One wrong move, and you might have lost your place in Central.」

Hearing Carol’s words, Friere’s face went a bit pale… I think. Maybe she’s good at hiding it, it’s difficult to read her expression.

『So Carol already knows that we became Fii’s daughter, right?』
『After all, it’s the Hunter Guild who’d be troubled if a hunter caused an incident. Though, it seems like Friere was yet to be informed. Or maybe they considered the fact that Carol is acquainted with us and informed her before anyone else.』
『I see, then. Still, it’s nice that we don’t need to explain anymore.』
『Saves us the effort, yes.』

While watching Carol and Friere’s comedy act, I chatted with Ciel until we reached the Hunter Guild.

◇

After returning to the Hunter Guild, for some reason, it’s been decided that we’d be taken to Carol’s house. When I asked why, 「I promised to invite you home when you reached B-rank.」 was the reply. Moreover, she added 「You’re already A-rank, but that’s a minor difference.」 but I really don’t think the difference between B and A-rank can be called minor. Nonetheless, I do understand what she meant, so I didn’t have a comment for Ciel.

We parted with Friere at the guild and met up with Celia. I was worried if it’s fine for her to leave work, but she was permitted to go since she had nothing that needs more precedence than attending to Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter. Well yeah. We do have that much influence, huh.

Like… How do I say this? Seeing the influence Ciel –and I– have in unexpected situations makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. Ciel might not feel that way, but unfortunately, I’m originally just a lower middle class citizen.

And so we were led to Carol’s house, which looks more like a noble’s dwelling. Isn’t this a mansion? It’s hard to imagine this to be the magic geek, Carol’s home.

I imagined something more laboratory-ish, you know.

『It’s a big house, but is there anything about it bothering you, Ain?』
『No, it’s nothing important. It’s just that this was different from what I imagined.』
『Imagined?』
『How do I describe it? I expected it to be more eerie, or rather have an ominous feel.』
『Fufu, so that’s what you imagined. Why is that? Why is that!』

Ciel is strangely interested, but… I see. The specific image I have of a researcher or rather a mad scientist comes from my former world. How the researchers of this world are, I don’t really know. So naturally Ciel wouldn’t know either and I guess it’s only normal that she’s curious about it.

『In my former world, researchers or specifically people who are engrossed in research live in buildings with that sort of atmosphere. Imagine with lighting and such.』
『Have you ever gone to houses like that, Ain?』
『… Come to think of it, no. I guess it’s just scientists in stories tend to have that image.』

While I’ve never been to an actual research institution before, I feel like it should have proper safety measures and be more on the tidy side. Rather, I really don’t know much of my old world. I lived in a quite narrow world, huh.

Going inside, the entrance had a pretty extravagant appearance. The ceiling was high and there were decorative vases. The parlor, reception hall, and the dining hall had expensive-looking furniture but these really don’t feel like Carol’s taste.

『It’s really different from what I expected.』
『That I can understand. If I had to say, I didn’t think she’d like these sort of things.』

After passing through several rooms, we finally arrived at a moderately messy room that matches my imagination.

「Now that’s more relaxing.」
「There you go saying that again… Cielmer’s here today, you know.」
「Oh that’s right. Welcome to my palace.」

Saying so, she directed our sight to a room filled with books and a magic circles. It’s not to the point where there’s no floor to step on, but I can’t tell what’s what. In contrast to the proud-looking Carol, Ciel looked somewhat puzzled.

「The other rooms?」
「Just for show. The guild gave this to me when I reached A-rank, you see. Even though I told them I didn’t want it. Since I’m A-rank, they said it would be problematic if I don’t live in a house like this.」
「After all, when reaching A-rank, you’re going to have interactions with people of nobility here and there. Since there’s a chance of inviting them over, your house will have to look presentable, at the very least.」

Hearing Celia’s supplementary information, Ciel’s face warped into a slight grimace.

「That’s troublesome.」
「For you, it’s irrelevant. Your house is Mistress Fiiyanamia’s house after all, so people won’t be visiting there anytime soon.」

If I remember correctly, I think we were told that we’re the first guest in a while. I guess visiting someone not much different from the king of a nation is not easy even for a noble. Moreover, Central is practically under Fiiyanamia’s dictatorship. If she says no, it’s an unshakable no.

「Well then, the nuisance is gone and we’re in a comfortable place now. I can ask you now, right?」
「What?」

Carol straightened her back and spoke to Ciel. How do I say this? It’s like she’s been itching to ask since forever, based on her reaction.

「Is it ‘nice to meet you’? Or perhaps ‘it’s been a while’?」

『This means that I don’t need to hide it, right?』
『It should be fine. Though she’s using a leading question, we already planned to tell them about it anyways.』
『That’s true.』

「Nice to meet you, Carol.」
「In other words, you’re not Cielmer? Or are you the actual Cielmer?」
「That’s right. I’m Cielmer. Nice to meet you.」
「I see, I see. So that’s how it is.」

While Carol seems to understand, Celia next to her is confused. Still, she’s not interrupting the conversation. This is likely because she decided to just listen for the time being. Though, in this situation, neither Ciel nor Carol seems interested in explaining anything.

「And so the one who we talked to at Sannois… is inside you, perhaps?」
「Should we switch?」
「Could you do that for a moment? Celia right next to me might get a headache otherwise.」

『Is it fine?』
『It’s alright.』

If we switch while Celia is about to have a headache, isn’t that just going to make it even worse? Still, this should make things easier to explain, so we switched.

I was wondering what to do about the colors, but I decided to change to black for easier discernment.

「It’s been a while. Or should I say pleased to meet you?」
「You have different colors, but you are the Cielmer we met before, right?」
「That’s right. I’ve been able to change my colors just recently. Easier to distinguish between us now, isn’t it?」
「True. Can I ask for your name?」
「My name is Ainsel. I don’t really know how to describe it well, but let’s see… Please think of me as a being coexisting with Ciel.」

As the conversation continued, Celia is trying her best to understand it. And then Carol continues without taking Celia in consideration.

「In other words, you mean to say that the body is Cielmer’s?」
「That’s right.」

『That’s wrong! It’s our body! At least it’s that way until Ain’s body is made!』

Ciel strongly objected inside my head, which made me nearly chuckle a little. I ignore my conversation with Carol for a moment and began soothing Ciel.

『I just meant that the original owner is Ciel. Since it’s difficult to explain our relationship and sensibilities.』
『Well, that’s true. Only Ain and I can understand it, after all. That’s right, only Ain and I!』
『That’s right. So please rest assured.』

It felt like I just went with the flow there, but since Ciel went silent in satisfaction, it should be fine.

「So what is it?」
「…You, you didn’t listen at all, didn’t you…」
「Yes, I had an important conversation, you see.」
「…Fine then. So you two can just casually speak to each other.」
「So what was the topic again?」

As I asked so as though nothing happened, Carol stared at me in shock. Well I can’t help it, Ciel’s more important, after all. If there’s anything more important than Ciel… Hm? There’s nothing else, is there?

While I contemplated about obvious facts, Carol started talking with a sigh.

「You two have your own distinct Jobs, correct?」
「That’s right. Actually, you even witnessed it. Incidentally, just to be sure, could you explain how you noticed the two of us?」
「’Just to be sure’. Is an explanation really necessary?」
「Mainly for Celia’s sake.」

I feel bad about Celia not being able to enter the conversation, so it’d be nice if she gets necessary information now. I can explain it myself, but I do also want to know why Carol is so sure.

「I get it, alright. To begin with, Cielmer… No, Ainsel, wasn’t it? You, Ainsel, gave me a hint, didn’t you? That you know magic power dwells in the soul from actual experience, wasn’t it? I don’t know any being that can actually have that sort of experience to begin with. So I thought, theoretically, this could be testable as long as one can separate the soul from the body. I don’t know how exactly that can be done, though. Beyond that, you two aren’t actually hiding that you’re a Song Princess, right? Rather, it seemed as if you didn’t care even if this got widely known. However, in general, it seemed as if you were trying to keep it a secret.」
「I sort of noticed that too.」

Celia finally joined the conversation. Rather, they can get that much information from Central? Or was it because they know us, that they managed to tie in and piece together fragmentary information about us?

From how the people of Central reacted, it’s probably the latter.

「Despite having such a conspicuous Job like Song Princess, wasn’t it strange that you weren’t thorough in keeping it hidden? It’s different if you’re trying to gain attention, but you two had the threat of potentially being chased after. The Job and name, with just these, one can practically identify an individual. However, the reason you weren’t identified was because the one that’s after you two thinks that you have a different Job. It’s only my speculation and it’s full of holes, but it’s still strangely convincing to me.」
「That is actually the case, after all. I’m the Song Princess.」
「Then, Cielmer is…」
「Asking that is a breach of etiquette, you know?」

As I replied with a smile, Carol stared with a look of disbelief. Well, we just had a fight where we didn’t hide Dance Princess at all, so I guess that’s only natural.

Heya~! Finally, after long hinting and foreshadowing, Carol and Celia are finally told of our princesses’ true secret!

Before anything else, I really loved how Carol felt the need to tell Friere about Ciel’s rank and status as Fii’s daughter *only after* the fight has ended. Really shows the nature of their relationship as more of a one-sided rivalry with Carol being disinterested or just doesn’t care about it, while Friere is the hotblooded shounen protag (or the hotblooded martial artist/fighter type side character that’s more prevalent than of the shounen protag these days) that likes competition. Also, just how Carol intentionally reveals information layer by layer to scare Friere more than necessary, lol.

Alright, one of my favorite parts of this series in general is how it’s constantly shown that Jobs aren’t everything. This might seem out of topic, but I mainly put this in the spotlight because if there’s one thing this series shows constantly, it’s that being smart and intelligent about how you handle things is rewarding to *most* characters in this story, not only the main character. First, there’s obviously Ain and Ciel, though they might bulldoze some of the problems. Actually, when they really get hit hard when they make mistakes, so the point somewhat stands. Then of course we have the newbie party back at Sanowa who are more intelligent than Brat-kun and became better hunters as a result, despite Brat-kun having a superior Job. Then we have the underground boss back at the Capital (if I’m remembering right), he greatly contrasted the impulsive couple that planned to sell of Ciel to pay for their debt by handling things smartly rather than what you’d expect from the usual thug boss. Then there’s Friere with her less mage-y but still in character out of the box solution to her “fire has no mass” issue. And then here again, Carol, being the scholarly mage type, quickly picked up Ain’s hints and thought up of a spot on theory by herself despite the lack of certain evidence and other information. Honestly, I feel bad about Celia, she’s so left out, meanwhile Carol and Ciel both lack the consideration to help ease her into the conversation, lol. Well at least Carol was self-aware enough and had Ain switch in. But yeah, Carol, and Celia since she was attentive enough to notice Ciel’s not being “Ciel”, being attentive and figuring things out by herself, only asking to check if her assumptions are right was really nice.

I went way out of topic again, so let’s back up and have some highlights, lol. Ain ignoring Carol to talk to Ciel, lol. And of course Ciel being cute. Ain being overall playful and sassy in her pseudo-polite way is always fun to see. Celia, again, I feel bad for you being the normal person stuck between them. And Carol being mildly exasperated with Ain in another fun sight in general, lol. They really talk like same age friends/classmates in these kind of situations. In contrast, Ciel’s interaction with Carol and Celia does show her acting her age, which is nice to see.

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