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have

The white snow that blanketed Central has begun to melt, and the air has been growing warmer.
The neighborhood is slowly regaining its liveliness, evidenced by the gradual reappearance of the stalls around the plaza.
However, the mornings and nights continue to be chilly.

Unlike before, I’ve reduced the barrier’s heat insulation, so the morning cold has been particularly biting.
Being overprotective about every trivial thing would be detrimental to Ciel’s health, so, with a heavy heart, I adjusted the barrier to allow her to feel the cold. Consequently, Ciel has become a captive to the comforting warmth of her morning blanket.

Side note: Up until now, there was no way to assure Ciel’s safety if she ever got ill, so I eliminated every external factor I could.
I’ve kept this barrier up continuously for the last several years, and there were times when I was thinking of keeping it up forever. How do I say this? Like, did I seriously consider disappearing from Ciel’s life with that mindset?
Still, at that time, I couldn’t really put the two together. It seems like I was really driven against the wall, if I say so myself.

Returning to Ciel’s captivity by the blanket monster, it’s not really much of an issue.
After all, Ciel stays half-asleep for an extended amount of time. She still wakes up at her usual time, only lingering longer under the blankets now.
During these moments, she’s only vaguely conscious and occasionally calls out to me with an uncharacteristically sleepy, wide-mouthed grin, saying “Ain~”—which is, to put it mildly, extremely cute.
Frankly speaking, it’s devastatingly adorable.

If I’m able to make a kotatsu, would Ciel stay turtled up under it?
Well, should she fall asleep, I can just walk her to the bed so she won’t catch a cold.
It might be fun to set making a kotatsu as one of my goals to achieve in our stay at the academy.
My final goal in terms of sorceric tools is to make a proper time-halting magic pouch, but since it likely won’t be that easy to achieve, I’ll have this as one of my smaller goals.
As for how I’ll go from a kotatsu to a magic pouch, future me should be able to figure that one out.

Thoughts like these frequently occupy my head as our departure from Central draws ever nearer.

While the entrance exam is still 2-3 months away, factoring in travel time, we plan to depart Central a month prior.
The schedule is set: the entrance exam in 2-3 months, followed by the release of results about a week later, with classes commencing shortly thereafter.
Compared to my university enrollment in the past, it feels a bit hectic, but thinking about it, my high school entrance exam was pretty similar to that.

As the date of Ciel’s departure approaches, we’ve gradually advanced our preparations.
Today, we’re collecting the garments we commissioned Shusii to sew, and later, we will reveal those and the dress crafted by Lisyl at the manor.
For good measure, we’ve also packed food and various essentials for our hunter and school activities into our magic pouch.

We studied for the entrance exam and brushed up on manners and etiquette just to make sure. And by we, I mean mainly me.
Beyond today’s task of collecting the clothes, only two important activities remain.
One of which is for Ciel to address, meanwhile…

『What should we do about that…』
「Ain, is there something wrong?」

Picking up on my barely audible mutter, Ciel tilted her head and curiously asked.
While it’s debatable whether ‘audible’ is the right adjective in this context, there’s not much I can do pondering on it alone, so I decided to try consulting with Ciel.

『I was thinking it might be time to decide on the alias we’ll use.』
「Right, we did talk about that before.」
『If we continue putting this off for later, we might end up prolonging it right up until our departure.』

Like how one would with summer homework—though I’m not saying that aloud.
I can, but that would likely catch Ciel’s curiosity and I’ll have to explain what it is in detail.
This could sidetrack our discussion and lead us to forget about the alias matter all over again.
As I needlessly mulled over this, Ciel called out to me with a curious, “Ain?”

“It’s nothing,” I replied, steering us back to our ongoing conversation.

『Have you thought of any good names to use, Ciel?』
「Right… nothing really comes to mind. The name will be used by both of us, correct?」
『That’s right.』

At the academy, it won’t just be Ciel who’s active; I plan to be more involved as well.
Thus, the name we choose must represent both of us, not just Ciel or I alone. And it’s an alias to begin with, so it shouldn’t single us out either.
We could opt for a random name, but since Ciel will be using it—even if only temporarily—I want it to be fitting and appropriate.

『What about Lymer, for example?』
「Is there anything else?」
『How about El?』
「Nope.」
『I thought so.』
「After all, those are all based on my name. In that case, are you okay with Isel or Selin?」
『That would be a no.』

Personally, they don’t quite sound like a girl’s name, and since we’ll both be using it, I prefer it to have some element of Ciel in it.
So even if Ciel is adamant on them, I would never agree. She likely shares my sentiments.
In that case, we could instead choose a name completely unrelated to our real names, but this time we might struggle responding when called.

The safe option would be to merge our names, but fragmenting “Ainsel” for this purpose is difficult, and like Ciel’s previous suggestions, it tends to result in non-feminine names.
As I was wracking my head, Ciel suddenly perked up, as if struck by an idea.

「In that case, why don’t we combine our names, like Ail?」
『Ah, that could work. But it seems a bit lacking in ‘Ciel’ factor, so what if we add ‘neige’ and call it “Ailneige”?』
「What does ‘neige’ mean?」
『It means snow.』
「It’s a ‘Frenj’ word, right?」
『That’s right.』

Ciel seems to have recognized that it was French from the pronunciation and gleefully inquired, so I candidly answered.
It looks like Ciel likes the French language… Actually, that’s probably because I used French for her own name.
In hindsight, perhaps it would have been more fitting to choose a French name for myself.

Though in that scenario, I might have chosen ‘Neige’ for myself.
I have a rather limited French vocabulary, after all.

「In that case, we’ll go with that! It’s time to get breakfast!」

Ciel energetically stood up and left.
Is it really alright to settle this so easily? It feels anticlimactic, but it’s just a temporary name and there’s not much point in fixating on it, so I just let it go.

◇◇◇

We went to Shusii’s boutique to pick up the clothes and then returned to the manor.
I had to play mannequin for the final adjustments, but I’ll skip the details. After all, Shusii was in work mode and was genuinely focused on fine-tune adjustments.
Each outfit was crafted as requested and received positive feedback from the servants.

The novice hunter outfit consisted of a thick leather vest and pants, with a chest protector and a robe to match.
It was mostly brown and inconspicuous in appearance. Now, as long as Ciel has the hood over her, even she should look like an average hunter.
The A-rank hunter attire abundantly utilized materials from B-rank and higher monsters. Even the chest piece alone, for example, was made from wyvern material, making it far more resilient than its novice counterpart. The robe is tough yet flexible. While it resembles the novice version at first glance, this one features detailed ornamentation, making it appear of noticeably high quality even to the untrained eye.

And that’s where we leave off today! In the middle of an outfit reveal, lol!

We’re back to our protagonist Ain and it looks like they’re going to be leaving Central soon. But before that, preparations, preparations! Ciel feeling comfy under the blankets as a result of being able to normally feel cold now is pretty funny. She was never a morning person, and this isn’t helping her one bit. It’s good that Ain feels secure enough to expose Ciel to more of the world. She really was on that “evil fairy tale mother imprisoning her child to protect their purity” grindset for the entirety of the Estoque Saga.

Also, we have another name for our main pair “Ailneige”! Honestly, I’d love to stretch the limits of Ain’s vocabulary and see her admit that she’s running out of fancy foreign words to use.

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