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「Right, right. It seems like you two got into a bit of a trouble.」
「It happens often, so there’s no point worrying about it. After all, no matter what happens, Ain will protect me.」
「Yes, yes. And excluding me, there is no being in Central that can overcome Ain’s barrier.」

The day is ending and, while having dinner, Ciel and Fiiyanamia are having a conversation. Yesterday’s dinner was a sautéed meat of something, I couldn’t quite tell. It was garnished with heated vegetables and some kind of consommé soup. I don’t really know the typical cooking of this world, so I’m not sure what it’s really called. Though, even if I do know, my mind will probably still recognize the consommé-like soup as just consommé.

Regarding our meals, other than what’s served at the inn, we only eat from outdoor stalls or food I cook. And this is how I learned that the flames I produce can only mildly warm up a steel cooking plate. It’s perfect to use for warming yourself up, but it’s a bit useless in cooking. At most, it’s only useful for heat retention.

That was the moment I realized how insanely thorough my inability to use magic power to attack was.

Back to the main topic. At the very least, I don’t know about typical home cooking and, at inns, we mostly eat what was served instead of picking from a menu. So, I don’t really know what the dishes are called.

「Which reminds me, Rhavelt left a message earlier.」
「A message, what is it?」
「He said that the Amyulute girl will be at the Hunter Guild tomorrow noon.」

『What’s an amyuloot?』
『It’s Viviana’s family name.』
『Oh, that’s right. Then, should we go shopping in the morning?』
『Let’s do that.』

「Got it. We’ll try going just right after the noon. Until then, we’ll go shopping.」
「That sounds nice. There might be something tomorrow, but feel free to deal with it as you like.」
「…? I don’t really understand, but we can do as we like, right?」
「Yes, yes. However, it would be best to avoid such acts like threatening or stealing, alright? It makes living among people more difficult, you see?」

Fiiyanamia replied with that, but she really is a bit odd. She doesn’t want us to threaten people or steal, but it doesn’t sound like she’s heavily against it either. I guess that’s just how transcendental beings are.

It’s true that with us though, robbing a shop or two of their merchandise isn’t that particularly hard to do. While I do recognize that as a bad thing to do, I feel like my stopper is less tighter now compared to my previous life. It’s fine since a stopper isn’t necessary for something as small as this, but I have to be careful not to make the wrong judgments.

「I won’t do things that will make Ain hate me, you know.」
「Right? It’s not a cause for worry.」
「Come to think of it, what were you doing Fii?」
「Information gathering, I suppose? I guess you can call it a bit of preparing.」
「Is there something about to happen?」
「I’ll talk about it when the time comes. Borrowing your strength should make things go smoother, you see.」
「Understood.」

Fiiyanamia said that with a casual tone, so I don’t think there will be any major issue. However, I feel like, by her standards, a whole town disappearing might just warrant a huff from Fiiyanamia at most. If she doesn’t plan on saying it, she likely wouldn’t tell us no matter how we ask, so I’ll just leave this aside for now.

「Which reminds me, do you plan on going to the den?」
「We’re interested about it.」
「I see, I see. With you two, even reaching the deepest depth shouldn’t kill you. However, defeating the monster there might be difficult, you know?」
「You’re really knowledgeable about it, Fii.」
「It’s the reason I’m here at Central, after all. Managing the den is one of my duties. Though with that said, I don’t really have much to do. Perhaps some culling if the hunters weren’t around?」

Fiiyanamia said so jokingly, but since it’s one of her duties, wouldn’t it be extremely important? I wouldn’t even be surprised if it turns out that a world-endangering demon lord is actually sealed in the deepest of depths. Still, even if there was actually one, Fiiyanamia is probably stronger than it.

◇

With dinner done, we returned to our room. Naturally, Mohsa and Luna followed behind us and I’m slowly getting used to it. Though, the most I do in our room is talk with Ciel and mess around with magic power, so there isn’t really a problem even if there’s other people anyways.

Regarding magic power, probably because I gained divine power? I’m a bit more versatile with it now. For example, I can change a barrier’s color, make barriers shaped like different objects, change the shape of a pre-existing barrier and make it look like it’s moving or so.

Still, even if I change a barrier’s color, you can still see through it. And even when I make a sword-shaped barrier, it doesn’t become a weapon. Being hit by it feels like being hit with a pillow. Even though it can be moved, it can’t be ridden on. No, actually you can ride it, it’s just that the magic power consumption becomes ridiculously high.

As for why my barrier is the only thing growing more versatile, it’s because I can use it even when I’m “not outside”. Magic is amazing. And convenient. I still can’t attack though.

『You’ve gotten quite good at controlling magic power, Ciel.』
『Really?』
『During today’s mock battle, you seem to have detected nearly all of Friere’s sorcery and you even caught sight of that final spell.』

I believe detecting magic power should be considerably difficult to do, so I think Ciel is already quite capable as she is now. I was driven to learn it out of necessity though. I guess this is thanks to the natural aptitude for sorcery that I possess, or rather what I was left with after being thrown out mid-adjustment?

『I see. Those were easier to detect than Ain’s barrier, after all. But I still can’t sense your barrier, you know? Even though I could faintly feel it in the past.』
『I’ve been playing around with my barriers ever since. I still can’t lose to you, Ciel.』
『I’m definitely going to reach the point where I can sense Ain! So then, even if Ain is asleep, I won’t have to go looking for you. Ain oversleeps a lot, after all.』

Right, being someone who was once asleep for three whole days, I can’t argue with Ciel. It’s not like Ciel is criticizing me either, so I probably shouldn’t be too worried about it.

Right now, I should be happy to see Ciel being able to cheerfully giggle, laugh, and joke about it. I don’t quite know how to react, but even that makes me happy.

『Ain, Ain, Ainsel.』
『I can hear you. What’s wrong?』
『How do I say it? There’s nothing wrong about it, but various people are calling Ain by name now, right? Up until now, I was the only one calling Ain, but since other people have started calling your name… Jealous! I feel just a little jealous.』

Even though Ciel said she’s jealous, on her face is a smile befitting of her age. Still, I guess it isn’t unreasonable for her to feel that way. After all, even I got jealous when Fiiyanamia referred to Ciel only by her nickname “Ciel”.

『Even so, Ciel was the first to ever call me “Ain” and even now, only Mother Fii calls me so. And most of all, the only one who knows the remnants of my former name is you, Ciel.』

I’m being a bit unfair, but there are no lies in my words. In the case of my former name, I’m sure the Creator God knows of it, but as for its remnants, Ciel is the only one I’ve ever told about. There’s likely no hiding anything with the Creator God anyways, so it should be fine to leave that out of the headcount.

Still, I want to avoid lying to Ciel as much as possible..

『That’s, somehow, really wonderful. Wonderful!』
『Besides, even if everyone in the world calls my name, it can’t even compare to when you call my name.』
『Is that true? If so, that makes me happy. I’ll say it again and again, Ain. Ain!』

Ciel delightedly calls my name. Her saying my name again and again, the last time was probably when I first introduced myself as Ainsel, wasn’t it? Compared to that time, Ciel has grown a lot.

Thinking about it, I can’t help but feel sentimental. It’s been 13 years since I met Ciel. She’s grown up so much since… Still, some things never change and Ciel calling my name is just simply adorable.

『Ain, is there something wrong?』
『No, nothing at all. Incidentally, would you like to try talking to Luna and Mohsa?』
『…? Why?』
『Because we’re likely going to spend more time with them from now on. They might even know about things that I don’t know about.』
『Ain, is there anything you don’t know that you want to know?』
『How Estoque is seen from the outside, I guess? Since if that is what’s considered typical, we might have to think a bit before going to other countries in the future.』

I tried bringing that up for Ciel to practice socializing, but things are going slightly different from planned. Though, as long as this gets Ciel conversing with Mohsa and Luna, it doesn’t really matter.

『Got it.』

Ciel nodded in reply and turned to Luna.

「Luna.」
「What might it be, Lady Cielmer?」
「Tell me about Estoque.」
「About Estoque, the country you two originally came from, correct?」

Luna paused with a slightly downcast expression. Is there some problem with Estoque?

「Right. Estoque has the reputation of being an insular nation.」
「Insular?」
「Yes. While the Church and the Hunter and Merchant Guilds do have a presence there, their people seem to have peculiar values… or rather, they hold prejudice against non-human races. Additionally, they’re famous for having more firmly-rooted Job discrimination compared to other nations.」
「Song Princess’ was terrible.」

The moment rumors about Ciel being a Song Princess spread, the looks from everyone immediately changed. It’s a bit nostalgic now. It was relatively better at the Hunter Guild, but if it was a different place, we might have been chased out. That’s why, in a sense, we were lucky.

Making an enemy of a country is troublesome, after all. We could probably outrun them, but this’ll obviously make our life difficult. We won’t be able to live freely, that’s for sure.

「Right. Their discrimination against Song Princesses are incomparable compared to other countries. Part of this is due to historical issues, but that country also seems to be a special case.」
「Why?」
「When it comes to Estoque, they have received minimal influence from Central. For instance, the majority of leaders within the Hunter Guild and the Church are composed of individuals hailing from Estoque. In other words, those who hold Estoque’s distinct views tend to gather, by which includes discriminatory views against other races, Jobs, and so on.」

In short, it is an inherent aspect of their country. Although the Hunter Guild is not aligned with any particular nation, if only individuals from Estoque are present in their guilds, their perspectives and principles would inevitably become the standard. Even so, I suppose it’s thanks to the Hunter Guild’s intervention that they behaved somewhat tolerant towards a Song Princess.

Well, if Estoque’s views and values are just peculiar, then that’s a relief. We shouldn’t experience persecution in other countries. Though, even in Estoque, I don’t think it really reached the level of persecution.

「Still, it’s known for having a generally peaceful land, as well as a competent leader.」
「Is that Rispelgia?」
「…That’s right. Disregarding his character, Rispelgia’s competence is well-known even here at Central. To the extent that his place is even considered a hunters’ dreamland.」

Was her momentary pause because she somewhat knows the relationship between Cielmer and Rispelgia? Since she’s in charge of taking care of her, I guess it’s information necessary for her to know.

We’ve gotten into troubles even unrelated to being a Song Princess, so it’s weird to call it peaceful, but considering that a preteen girl was able to travel by herself, that might be true. With this in mind, it’s within the realm of peacefulness. Even Japan can’t be called safe with full confidence.

「Troublesome.」
「Indeed. With such obfuscation, it would be best to keep a level of caution.」
「Ain is with me, so it’s fine.」
「Lady Cielmer, you are really fond of Lady Ainsel, aren’t you? 」
「Naturally.」
「If you don’t mind, could you tell me more about Lady Ainsel?」

The instant Luna said so, Ciel’s eyes sparkled. Might be weird for me to say it, but this is not a good topic. Because I won’t know where to hide myself.

Not that I can be seen.

After that, Ciel with her usual tone, yet with slightly more delight than earlier, proceeded to brag about me.

～The maids afterwards～

Luna: 「… Today, I once again realized just how admirable Lady Ainsel is. I never thought that I would be able to see Lady Cielmer being so cheerful at such proximity.」
Mohsa: 「Yes. I sincerely believe that I can get along very well with Lady Cielmer as well.」
Luna: 「Oh my, it seem like we don’t have the same thing in mind, do we now?」
Mohsa: 「Perhaps if you find yourself having the opportunity to converse with Lady Ainsel as I have, I’m sure you’d understand how I feel.」
Luna: 「My, well that’s something to look forward to then.」

～Ain and Ciel afterwards～

Ain: 『Ciel, you’re awake, right? Why did you pretend to fall asleep?』
Ciel: 『Oh, I’m exposed. I mean, it’s been so long since it was just us two on a bed together. It’s not like I dislike the two of them, but I really want to have alone time with Ain, you know?』
Ain: 『Is that so. Then shall I sing you a song?』
Ciel: 『No lullabies, alright? It makes me go to sleep, after all.』
Ain: 『Fufu, understood.』

Heya~! Not only was there AinCiel fluff this chapter, we also have a little bit of screen time for the maids! Yay~!

Following the last chapter, we got a short mid-dinner interaction with Fii, who is once again being extremely ominous about stuff. But anyways, we get a bit of set up for a reunion with Viviana and foreshadowing so blatant, it’s more of a display of just how different Fii is compared to the normal folk. On that topic, we also obtain more info about the den. Apparently, it houses monster/s beyond our duo’s offensive capacity. Demon Lord? Maybe, but Fii is already Demon Lord-ly enough from an objective standpoint, lol.

Moving on, we have our AinCiel interaction, which neatly connects with the very first Ciel POV, where she finds the weird magic power around her (which she doesn’t even know is magic power yet) one of the few sources of comfort during her confinement. In short, she could sense magic power *that* early on. Seriously. Also, we get another source of motivation driving her to want to be able to sense through Ain’s veil of concealment; so she can comfortably know if Ain is with her even if Ain is knocked out or asleep. Just…

And for the part, we have Ciel interacting a bit more with the maids, specifically Luna. It’s more on the exposition heavy side, but at the last moment Luna wittily got Ciel to talk by her own volition with the super effective “I’d like to hear more about Ain” card. Good job. Also, the short post-chapter snippet is really nice.

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