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Having left Shusii’s shop, Ciel was about to head to the Hunter Guild when she suddenly called out to me, 『That reminds me, Ain.』

While a bit startled from the hint of joy in Ciel’s tone, I replied.

『What is it, Ciel?』
『When we switched, you put away the hairpin and ring, right?』
『Umm… that’s… You bought them for me and they’re mine, so… If you want to wear them, I won’t say no, but…』

Being called out over this, I feel somewhat awkward. I won’t lend these accessories, even to Ciel. Or so I said to myself, but if Ciel actually asks for them, I probably wouldn’t refuse. Still, if possible, I want to keep them only for me.

I’m such a pain to deal with, if I say so myself, but I can’t help it. That’s just how I feel. I just have to make sure to keep this troublesome side of me to myself. And while it might have seeped through a bit in my answer, I was just taken by surprise.

It’s fine, I’m sure of it. Or so I consoled myself, when I heard Ciel giggling.

『It’s fine, completely fine. After all, these are Ain’s. That just means that Ain values them to that extent, right?』

That’s exactly the case, but hearing that from the very person that gave them to me is awfully embarrassing.

『That’s why, I won’t lend this to Ain either. If Ain really wants to borrow it, I might just give in, but for now, I won’t lend it. I won’t.』

Ciel said so while happily touching the necklace hanging from her neck.

『That’s, yes. Naturally. I chose that accessory for Ciel to wear after all, so I won’t use it.』
『I feel the same way. Everything from the color to the accessories themselves are different, but we’re matching, aren’t we?』
『It seems so.』

The first presents we ever chose for each other to wear. While they may look different, it’d be wonderful if the feelings that inspired our choices matched. Would that be a bit too romantic to think so?

◇

When Ciel arrived at the Hunter’s Guild, Viviana was already inside. She’s there, sitting at the area with tables and chairs free for hunters to use. How do I say this, she looks agitated or maybe nervous? Due to the unusual air around her, the surrounding hunters don’t dare to sit near her.

Actually, even the members of the Fools’ Gathering are watching over her from a different table. Now, I wonder how it ended up like this? No matter how you look at it, there must have been some issue with the relaying of information to Viviana.

Or perhaps Viviana herself doesn’t have enough information?

Listening to the surroundings, I overheard a few things;

「That woman, isn’t she the Fools’ Gathering’s…」
「Yeah, “Lady Quickshot”… I’ve got no idea why she’s firing off such intense aura though.」

So Viviana’s alias is “Lady Quickshot”.

She excels in rapid casting of sorcery, so I guess that’s where quickshot came from. As for the lady, it must be due to her coming from a well-off family. Once again, I can’t help but wonder what alias we’d have… but it’ll most likely be “Fiiyanamia’s Daughter”.

I mean, that’s a bit weird to be considered an alias, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the most easily recognizable identifier for the public. That aside, what about “Dancer of Hues” for Ciel? It immediately exposes her as a Dance Princess, though.

I digress.

And so it’s quite difficult to approach Viviana in this current situation, but Ciel doesn’t pay any heed and simply heads towards the eye of the typhoon named Viviana. Meanwhile, Viviana herself doesn’t seem to notice that Ciel is approaching her. She’s just staring at the edge of her table.

While I was wondering what she was thinking, Ciel sat at the side facing Viviana and greeted her, 「Sorry for the wait.」

Hearing that, Viviana sprang up with a straightened posture and answered with a cracking voice, 「N-no, I haven’t waited at all.」

Yeah, she probably would have reacted the same way regardless of how Ciel greeted her.

「What’s wrong?」
「No, umm… Huh? You are… Cielmer, right?」

Properly recognizing Ciel, Viviana asked with a confused tone. By the looks of it, I guess she was only told that Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter called for her? And Viviana doesn’t seem to know that Ciel and I are Fiiyanamia’s daughter.

Currently this information is yet to be completely relayed within the Hunter Guild, so the timing might have been terrible. From the Hunter Guild’s standpoint, the fact that Ciel is Fiiyanamia’s daughter is of the utmost importance, so they might have prioritized that part.

It’s far better than just relaying Ciel’s appearance, which might risk the people underestimating us and treating us lightly.

「Yup. It’s been a while.」
「Yes, it certainly has been. Umm, so Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter refers to…」
「Me.」
「Wait, could you give me a moment? I’m really disoriented now. And I’ll have to adjust, don’t I? Yes, right.」

Viviana’s confusion was a real sight to behold. We waited for her to calm down and after a few minutes passed, Viviana went back to normal.

「Please excuse me for my discourtesy up until now. What might be your business with me today?」

And then there’s this extreme change. As expected of a lady from a wealthy family. While we might be acquaintances, she recognizes that we can’t interact in the way we usually do in a place with this many eyes on us. Well, not like I’m knowledgeable enough to have a definitive opinion on these matters.

Ciel seems to have understood this as well, as she didn’t make any comment about Viviana’s way of speaking. Instead, she called over a guild staff and said, 「I want to talk with her alone.」

For a moment, the staff person had a puzzled look, but seemingly realizing something, she nervously began to guide us.

It might be a bit heavy-handed, but if we start chatting right here and then, it’d just trouble the Hunter Guild. Rather than that, isolating us would be better for both parties involved.

Inside a room a bit too spacious for only two people to use, Ciel takes out a letter from her magic bag. More specifically, a letter of introduction.

「I’m returning this. Thanks.」
「No, my apologies for not being of much help.」
「You can speak normally now.」

Hearing that, Viviana showed a troubled expression. From our standpoint, it feels really weird to suddenly hear her talking differently but, on her end, she’s probably just showing proper etiquette, so I suppose it is troubling. Even so, it’s not like people with friends of different social status don’t exist and it should be fine to interact normally in private.

Otherwise, there’s no way to explain Shusii and Yunmica’s behavior.

「Right. I understand. Since you’re returning this, you don’t need the backing anymore, right? No, that goes without saying. With you becoming Mistress Fiiyanamia’s adopted daughter, something like this isn’t necessary anymore. While I can understand that you deserve that status, I’m still impressed that you caught Mistress Fiiyanamia’s eye.」
「I just greeted her when I entered Central. Then, I was welcomed as a guest.」
「Just from greeting?」

Rather than the act of greeting itself, I think having the capability to even notice Fiiyanamia’s magic power is more important. It’s probably impossible even for Ciel, so who knows how many people can actually achieve this feat. That’s why I think Viviana’s confused thought process isn’t exactly right.

「Why were you nervous earlier?」
「I was summoned by Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter, after all. I didn’t know it was actually you, so of course I would get so nervous about it.」
「Just that?」

With Ciel’s further question, Viviana raised both her hands as if to surrender.

「Nope. I got a request from my family. To find out what kind of individual Mistress Fiiyanamia’s daughter is and such.」
「Why?」
「Now that I’ve said that much, changing topics would be useless at this point. There’s a faction that is planning to drag Mistress Fiiyanamia down from her top position. They don’t quite like how she’s at the top despite not having to do anything, it seems. And in the midst of this, if Mistress Fiiyanamia truly did adopt a child, then it would give them an opening to take advantage of.」

I sort of remember being told that there’s a possibility of us getting dragged into some mess for being Fiiyanamia’s daughter, so I already expected this, but aren’t things developing a bit too fast? I don’t plan on being an easy target though, so I’ll make sure to be extra alert with my detection magic.

Don’t tell me that the people of the Merchant Guild that closed their doors to Ciel are in cahoots with this faction? Actually, maybe it’s the reason they treated Ciel like that to begin with. In other words, they’re confident that they can take Fiiyanamia down.

『Aren’t they a bit too reckless?』
『I agree. Still, these people don’t think that they’re being reckless, which is why they’re doing it, right?』
『Since this is a good opportunity, can you ask Viviana about this?』

She definitely has more info on them than we do. We could ask Fiiyanamia too, but it’s best to have information coming from a different perspective.

「Are those people… okay?」
「It seems like they’ve mustered a fairly impressive fighting force. I’ve heard that they also have some people at A-rank level, but…」
「Only that?」
「I can’t imagine them being able to win against Mistress Fiiyanamia with this either, but Cielmer, will you be alright?」

Right, thinking about it normally, we might not have a winning chance against multiple A-ranked people. But I think we should be able to defend every attack they can throw. It didn’t sound like Fiiyanamia was joking about my barrier, so we probably wouldn’t even budge.

『A-rank is right about a wyvern’s strength, right? Then it wouldn’t be a problem at all, would it?』
『Even if there’s someone specialized in offense with nearly S-rank level strength, it should be alright. If what Mother Fii told us is true, that is.』
『I think you should be a bit more confident about yourself, Ain. Still, just having Ain by my side puts me at ease, you know?Since Ain protects me not only with a barrier, but with other things too.』
『I’m grateful to hear that then.』

Me replying… just a bit curtly was, as always, because I felt embarrassed. Besides, if I get carried away, I might get the rug pulled right under me, so I’ll just continue striving to make an even stronger barrier. As we were chatting, we ended up leaving Viviana hanging. While it wasn’t for too long, she’s staring at Ciel just waiting.

And so Ciel asked Viviana a question.

「Do you know blue hellfire?」
「Yes, that’s my teacher’s— Friere Iazick’s sorcery, no?」
「The lower power barrier that I usually use can withstand it.」
「…You don’t… sound like you’re lying…」
「There’s no point lying about it.」
「In that case, I suppose there’s no need for any concern. I already knew you were strong, but I didn’t realize you were that strong.」
「It’s the barrier I’m proud of.」

Ciel saying it so proudly is probably because she meant it as a praise for me too. It’s adorable to see Ciel showing such a rare expression, but from Viviana’s standpoint, this probably only looks like Ciel’s bragging. Ciel doesn’t seem to mind that, though.

At this point, either asking for more information or just simply enjoying a bit of catching up with each other would be fine, but there’s something I want to confirm before moving on.

『Ciel, there’s something I want you to ask Viviana, will that be alright?』
『What is it? You can also ask her personally too, you know?』
『Let’s decide whether to switch or not later. This question is also for deciding whether it’s fine to switch in front of Viviana, you see.』
『Understood. What is it?』
『About what side Viviana’s family will be on.』

This is something we honestly have to know. The reason why she was requested to look into Fiiyanamia’s daughter could be to prevent disorder in Central or protect Fiiyanamia’s reign. However, it’s also possible that this is so they can scheme against her. Even if Viviana doesn’t want to do that, she might not be able to go against the will of her family.

「By the way, which side is Viviana’s family on?」

As Ciel asked so, Viviana’s expression grew clouded.

Heya~! It’s been a while since we’ve last seen Viviana and now we’re having a slightly tense development with the last question!

Just as a refresher, Viviana comes from a semi-aristocratic family in central (since there’s no aristocracy here), so the chance that she could be dragged into the seemingly brewing mess non-negligible, which would be interesting since she seems personally against the “f around and find out” tier stupidity of trying to overthrow Fii, lol.

As for our protags, it’s bit heartwarming that Ciel is so on board with having Ain interact with Viviana in person, especially with how Viviana tried to help her (as Ciel) ease up prior. Combined with how they said goodbye to her, it seems like even though they were only together for a short while, Viviana have left a big impression on them. At the very least, Ciel seems to trust her enough to be open with her meeting Ain. Also, Ain going slightly tsun when she gets embarrassed never gets old, cute Ain.

Anyways, it might get delayed since I’ve got a minor issue preventing me from sitting for too long of a time but there’s a chapter baking for next Friday, so I hope you look forward to it~!

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