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We were led by the soldiers to a conference-like room located inside a large building. In the middle was a large table and around it was a number of chairs. Sitting on those chairs were 9 people in total.

In the room stood an aged, bald man with bulging muscles. Though he exuded the same aura as Norvelle’s guildmaster, their physical appearances differed. This man exuded an air of confidence and had not only brawn, but also a substantial amount of magical power. Based on a brief assessment, his sorcery combat capacity seemed to be at least C-rank or higher.

Apart from him, there were two corrupt nobles, a portly merchant-like figure, a similarly rotund priest-like person, and a henchman-like individual.

Also present were a bearded short man, a slender woman with elongated ears, and a lion. As for the latter three, the man was most likely a dwarf, the woman an elf, and the animal a beastman. However, the beastman did not appear to be a human with attached animal ears, but rather had more pronounced beastly characteristics such as fur and a humanoid skeletal structure, unlike an animal standing on two legs.

Also, from how her magic power feels, the elf doesn’t seem to be Fiiyanamia.

The nine individuals in the room stared at us with a curious gaze, which was likely overwhelming for Ciel. I was unsure of how to proceed in this situation… After all, it was unclear why we had been brought to this place in the first place.

「For now, take a seat.」

With Mr. Skinhead’s prompt, Ciel sat on the nearest chair. The soldiers that led us here then exited the room, leaving only one to guard the door. Just being surrounded by adults feels extremely overwhelming. Considering that this isn’t a one-on-one conversation, this probably isn’t the time to be thinking about giving Ciel more experience.

『Should we switch out?』
『Can we? Then I’ll leave the answering to you, Ain.』
『I’ll try to include your comments as much as possible.』

With that said, I switched with Ciel. And in doing so, the spirits then gathered to me. Though, when they came too close, they just passed through me. Now then, those who reacted when I switched in were the dwarf, elf, and beastman. Those that showed the biggest reactions were the dwarf and elf. They seem to be staring at me, so they can probably see the forest spirit.

While the forest spirit usually keeps a certain amount of distance even when I switch in, she’s on top of my lap for some reason, attracting their attention. It doesn’t look unusual size-wise, but since the forest spirit looks older than Ciel, it’s a bit comical seeing her sitting on my lap. Also, to be exact, since I couldn’t touch her, she’s floating in a way that looks like she’s sitting.

She seems to be enjoying herself, so it doesn’t really matter.

『Say, Ain. Is she actually sitting down?』
『She’s floating.』
『Right? But wouldn’t she get exhausted?』
『She’s enjoying herself, so it should be fine?』

While talking with Ciel, I shifted my attention since something appears to be starting, when the merchant-like man suddenly spoke with an irritated tone.

「You don’t seem to understand why you were brought here.」
「Yes, absolutely.」

While a lot of possible reasons came to mind, we were the ones that suffered in each and every one of those, so I don’t see any reason to be surrounded like this. Because of that, I answered with no hesitation. However, it seems that the merchant-like man wasn’t pleased by that, 「You…」 as he lunged out of his chair with his face deep red.

However, since Mr. Skinhead stopped this with his hand, the merchant-like man could only groan as he sank back on his chair.

「This is the Hunter Guild’s problem. Merchant Guild, save your complaints for later.」
「Ahh, certainly. We will have our grievances heard afterwards.」

Well, I don’t have any idea why someone from the Merchant Guild would have grievances against us. Rather, there’s a Merchant Guild? We had nearly no exposure to them, so I didn’t know. Though, maybe I just forgot that they do exist.

Still, in this case, would saying “the guild” also refer to the Merchant Guild then? It might be best to differentiate the Guild during formal discussions.

「So, why was I brought here?」

Implicitly telling them to hurry up and start this, I ask the nine of them. Only a few of them showed an obvious reaction, but the priest-like person had a displeased look.

Ignoring their reception, these people gathered here are probably people with leadership positions here at Central. As for the lack of introduction, they probably don’t think I’m worth giving introductions to. It is nice not having to remember anything though.

「Can I refer to you Cielmer?」
「Yes.」

Just as he said earlier, the skinhead Hunter Guild representative is advancing the discussion.

「You were summoned here for cross-examination, as well as to answer several questions. Depending on your answers, we may require you to go straight to prison but…」
「I don’t remember doing anything that would warrant that.」
「What non-…」
「Quiet, Merchant Guild.」

Just when things were moving forward, it immediately halted. Are they even interested in discussing?

「To confirm, Estoque Kingdom is currently under the assault of a stampede, is it true that you came here ignoring it?」
「I didn’t ignore it. I delivered supplies to the royal capital and defeated the monsters I encountered on the way.」
「Then, is it true that, during that time, you committed acts of violence in the Royal Capital Estoque’s Hunter Guild?」
「No. When I delivered the supplies, the acting master told me that he wouldn’t accept the supplies unless I cooperated with resolving the stampede and threatened to refuse the completion of my request or to make it so that the magic bag was stolen by the hunter who accepted it. Moreover, he ordered the hunters present to capture me, so I was pressed to defended myself.」
「Haven’t you gone too far? You increased the burden on a city that is being ravaged by a stampede, you know that?」
「To begin with, wasn’t I supposedly promised personal safety within Capital Estoque’s Hunter Guild building? This promise was broken, yet why should I be the one required to show consideration here?」

Our progress was often disrupted, and the interactions followed a similar pattern. Mr. Skinhead from the Hunter Guild remained steadfast, but I could sense that his energy was waning. In fact, I suspected that he may not have been particularly enthusiastic about being here in the first place, knowing that I was not at fault. Meanwhile, the priest-like person persisted in his lively interjections.

「In other words, you had no intent of fighting the stampede from the start. While many are in great peril, you merely delivered supplies? If I’m not mistaken, it should be mandatory for hunters to cooperate during stampedes, is it not?」
「To begin with, information says that insufficiency in preparation was due to how unreliable your information was.」
「If Estoque falls, it’s possible that this danger will befall Central. How do you plan on taking responsibility for that?」

Various pretentious remarks fly from the human side. However, the ones from other races only have their brows raised staring at those people. They, at the very least, don’t seem to have negative sentiments against me. Well, even the ones arguing against me might not be doing it out of negative sentiments but rather might just be doing it for political reasons.

「First, during my dispute with the Hunter Guild, I was permitted to abstain from fighting if a stampede hits Royal Capital Estoque, right?」
「Yes, undoubtedly.」
「Nevertheless, it’s beyond absurd to come here in neglect of the people.」

Asking Mr. Skinhead, he replied with agreement, but someone then raised their voice. Why do they keep interrupting? Do they have a disease where they’ll die unless they give their opinions?

「For that matter, those showing objections against my actions, please head to Royal Capital Estoque and loudly yell “I am a Song King or Song Princess”. In my case this was exposed against my will, but I believe you should be able to understand what I’m trying to say after doing so.」

It seems that they know that Estoque loathes Song Princesses as the room fell silent. More than that, they seem to have understood that I’m a Song Princess from that statement as the priest (temp) displayed an obviously displeased look.

「Besides that, I’m also being targeted by a noble of Royal Capital Estoque. As for why, it should be because I hinted at the stampede. Additionally, the Hunter Guild told me to fight under the noble suspected to be the one wanting my life.」

Are you telling me to die? Implicitly relaying that, the person who kept arguing then averted his eyes.

「Also, I subjugated ten wyverns, but is this not enough of a result for a B-rank hunter fighting in a stampede?」
「If that’s true, then it’s more than enough.」
「They’re inside the magic bag, so I can show proof of the subjugation. After that, the information about the stampede, was it? had placed their complete trust in the information gathered by an amateur who was simply passing her spare time, then I must apologize. However, if it were not for this information being available in the first place, I do not believe that any preparations would have been made at all. Now then, are there still any accusations for me regarding this?」
「No, rather these results are worth being rewarded compensation.」

With this the Estoque issue should be practically resolved. Still, this is just half of it, isn’t it? It is true that I damaged the cell, so this is likely where things get serious.

I’m sick of this already… Just as I was feeling half-resigned, the elf lady that has been silent up until now raised her arm.

「Is this done yet? Can we… No, I suppose I should introduce myself first. I am Yunmica Maa Messi. I’m something of a mediator for the Elves of Central.」
「The name’s Bajo Tua Sentro. Same with Yunmi, I’m the mediator of the Dwarves.」
「Oh, if Bajo’s going along, then I guess I’ll join in. I’m Wangwan Liev. Mediator of the Beastmen.」
「Pleased to meet you. I’m Cielmer.」

They all suddenly introduced themselves, so I paid in kind and told them Ciel’s name. While Ciel’s name already came up earlier and they should already know us by now since they were gathered here, we haven’t actually introduced ourselves, so this act should be meaningful. With the belated introduction done, the elf Yunmica turned towards the humans.

「Now back to the topic. Can we stop it with this farce right now? I’ll say it now, but I’m siding with her. Bajo, Wang, it’s the same with you two, right?」
「You’re right there.」
「Yup.」

Hearing Yunmica’s announcement, several of the humans began shaking on their seats. Among them, the priest (temp) turned bright red and was leaning forwards from his chair.

「In that case, how can you explain what happened at the border’s prison?」
「Oh, I gave permission for that matter, you know?」

A voice came from behind me and everyone’s gaze gathered there.

She had the same white hair as Ciel, smooth and clear skin, and a slender figure. Her height is… somewhat shorter than the average female height in this world. Despite her slightly upturned eyes, it didn’t give her a harsh impression and her wide eyes shone with the color of gold. Small nose, long and pointed ears, pink lips, and her overall appearance, no matter what you focus on, they’re all well-shaped features. With her beauty, practically everyone passing by her in the streets would turn around to look.

Lastly, magic power that just screams that she’s at the top of Central.

「Once again, pardon my intrusion.」

As I lowered my head, she tenderly smiled.

「I don’t mind. So, how do you like my garden… Is what I wanted to ask, but did you have a good view?」
「I’ll have a thorough look later on.」
「Yes, yes. Feel free to do so. Still, since we got the chance of seeing each other, let me introduce myself. My name is Fiiyanamia. I am the mistress of this manor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.」
「It’s a pleasure to meet you too. Umm…」

I was about to reintroduce myself, but I feel conflicted about introducing myself to Fiiyanamia as Ciel. But on the other hand, I also don’t want to say the name Ainsel in this place. Seemingly understanding my worry, Fiiyanamia told me 「It’s fine.」 before turning her eyes to the people gathered here.

「Now then, what is this situation here? What did you intend to do with this manor’s guest?」

And despite the smile on her face, her eyes were by no means cheerful.

Hiya~! New chapter, new characters~! And most importantly, the first proper introduction to Fiiyanamia~!

First, a few trivias about the names of the new characters, for their last names in particular. Yunmica’s Messi seems to be taken from the Greek μέση which means waist, middle, or midpoint. Bajo’s Sentro similarly seems to be taken from centro/sentro, both meaning, you guess it, center. And, lastly, Wangwan’s Liev might have been based on the Russian word for lion, лев, which certainly would fit him considering how Ain just instantly saw him as a lion, lol. While these might just be coincidences, it’s still quite interesting. Oh, and for those interested about it, Bajo is read as Baho.

Moving on, Ain’s quite snappy this chapter, which is quite a treat. *Are you telling me to die?* Lol. This whole chapter is basically Ain finally saying what she’s been wanting to say: the chapter. From how it seems, only the non-human race representatives and the hunter guild representative seem to be on the neutral/ally position, with the hunter guild representative openly recognising our protagonist’s efforts despite being an interrogator of sorts and even stopped the merchant guild representative who can’t even take ridicule from a child. Every interruption presented moral dilemmas, which might even be understandable if not for the hypocrisy of them berating a child for not doing a soldier’s duty as well as them selectively ignoring all context of why this child went here in the first place. So far, only 1 person seems to be at least neutral on the human side, with the merchant guild representative and church? representative being openly hostile (possibly for political reasons? The church representative can still be speaking from belief and moralistic reasons, but the merchant guild is still iffy) and the other unknown 3 being generally silent and only described based on looks.

And then we got the three non-humans who sided with Ciel. The three of them seems to have noticed Ciel and Ain switching for some reason, or maybe they just noticed the spirits? The elf and dwarf definitely noticed the spirits behaving weird, since they stared at the forest spirit. Meanwhile, the beastman might just have enhanced beastly senses or something. And finally, Fiiyanamia~! First of all, she definitely has a lot of magic power, not only because Ain said so, but because of her white hair. Up until now, white hair has been treated as a measure for excellent sorcerers and in truth, it also means that the individual’s magic circuits have extended out to their hair, draining it of colour. Second, gold eyes. Now, where have we seem this colour before?

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