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It’s a new morning—more precisely, it’s close to noon. Ciel has just woken up, and now we’re heading to Shusii’s establishment.
It seems news of yesterday’s attack has already circulated, as the surrounding atmosphere feels less tranquil than the last time we visited.

Given her central role in the incident, several people stared at Ciel, but they only looked from a distance; no one approached us.

Those staring likely know that Ciel is “Mistress Fiiyanamia’s adopted daughter”, and probably also know of her strength from rumors, so I suppose this is understandable.
However, it seems like there are always exceptions. There was a well-dressed, aristocratic-looking man who asked if Ciel was out for an errand.

He had the appearance of a veteran butler, with a meticulously groomed mustache to impress, but I don’t recognize him.
Checking with Ciel, she doesn’t recognize him either, so it seems like he’s just a random smooth talker.
There’s a considerable age gap between us, though.
Ciel asked how to handle it, and I told her to respond however she liked.

After all, just ignoring him might leave a bad impression.
Besides, we should be able to handle him if he turns out to be dangerous.

「To pick up clothes.」
「Sounds like a pleasant time.」

With a hearty laugh, the man then walked past us.
I observed him for a while, and while I did detect some use of sorcery, it didn’t seem like he did anything to Ciel.
While I’m still confused about him, I informed Ciel just to be safe.

As we continued walking through the streets, I noticed something different.
It’s just a minor detail, but a boutique that previously barred us from entry appeared to have disappeared.
When I tried to confirm this with Ciel, she just walked past the vacant building without any second thought.
 
The other establishment still stands, but at a quick glance, it seems that the employees have changed.

 
◇◇◇

 
As we were only a few steps away from Shusii’s shop, I felt something amiss and asked Ciel to halt.

『Is there something wrong, Ain?』
『There are people inside the building… And they don’t seem to be there as customers.』
『Is it something bothersome?』
『I believe so. Shusii seems to be motionless, after all.』
『She’s alive, right?』
『She’s alive, yes.』

I can still sense magical power from her, so she shouldn’t be dead.
Besides, I don’t see any apparent reason to kill her.

『It seems like we are their target.』
『In that case, let’s go inside. Ain, can you take care of Shusii?』
『Understood. There are six people inside; should I sing?』
『Let’s see. If it turns into a fight, can you do so? After all, it’d probably be better to avoid using sorcery.』

If we fight inside the shop, sorcery would be far too destructive.
Water would dampen the clothes, fire is out of the question, and wind-based attacks would be no different from hurling blades around.
Though in Ciel’s case, she’s likely more concerned about damaging the clothes we came to pick up than actually causing collateral damage.

Pulling a seldom-used sword from her magic pouch, Ciel approaches the entrance.
She opens the door without hesitation and quickly steps inside.
Not long after, two people armed with swords rushed at her from behind before she could start speaking.

They kept silent, making as little noise as possible.
Their ambush was made with impeccable timing, but my barrier easily repelled their attacks.
The outer barriers remain relatively intact, so they don’t appear to be very powerful.

As this unfolds, I envelop Shusii, who seems to be asleep in the back room, with a barrier. Though a bit distant from Ciel, the barrier should be robust enough to withstand at least one A-rank level attack.
An elderly man with a knife was standing beside Shusii, but I ignored him for now.

Since these people don’t seem interested in talking, I start to sing—just a regular song, not the one from the spirits, and a relatively short one.
As I sing, Ciel moves in sync with my melody.

When wielding a sword, Ciel aligns her movements to be even closer to my song than she usually does.
She swings upwards whenever my voice ascends to a higher pitch and downwards as it descends low.
While she still moves in reaction to her enemies, she opts to absorb attacks with the barrier rather than deviate too far from the song’s rhythm.

It may seem like I’m manipulating Ciel like a marionette, but in reality, Ciel would never be capable of moving the way she currently does if that were the case.
With just a slight bend of her knee, she effortlessly leaps over a grown man almost instantaneously. 
While her movements match the rhythm of my song, she moves at speeds I can’t hope to emulate.
Technically, I should be capable of similar feats, but I’m confident that I would lose my balance and fall over on even ground if I ever attempted to do so.

Whether it’s because she’s a Dance Princess, or because she’s the original owner of her body, Ciel is generally better at moving around.

Back to the matter at hand.

Ciel slashes through the necks—and major arteries—of the two assailants, spraying blood in all directions.
She leaves them be, as they are certain to die eventually, and performs a backflip to evade three knives flying from different directions.
They may have been aiming for a gap in Ciel’s defenses, but since I had alerted her to the number of people beforehand, her caution remained high even after taking down the prior assailants.

Even if it had waned, the barriers would have deflected those knives either way.

It appears our enemies have judged that they can’t win in a fair fight, opting for stealthy assassination instead.
This situation, specifically the thrown knives, suddenly brought to mind our past at Respelgia’s mansion.

An attack immediately the day after after having suppressed a whole rebellion on her own? That seems… smart?

It was interesting how the two shops that shooed Ciel away in a prior chapter was 1.) vacated completely (likely due to it’s owner being in cahoots with the Triadol faction, maybe even being among those exiled) and 2.) had their employees changed (either as scapegoats or because the said employees acted on their own). The turnaround is real, no one wants to catch hands with Fii anymore, lol. And on the main event, the attackers were at least smart enough to set themselves an advantageous position. Probably hearing the rumours, they chose an enclosed space to limit magic use (if Ciel actually cares about collateral damage, luckily they chose a good place), avoided direct confrontation, and have a hostage just to be sure. Too bad Ain exists and Ciel can class change to Spellsword, lol.

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