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The leaves were still starting to change colors when Ain and I reached Central, but now they’ve fallen off.
Not every tree has all of their leaves gone, but for some reason, it makes me feel lonely.
A seasonal cycle ago, this didn’t make me feel that way.

We constantly undertook requests back at Estoque, so I didn’t have the leeway to observe the surroundings, and from my perspective, everything in the world was still shiny and new. After all, the fact that the leaves fall from the trees when it gets cold did leave me awestruck and curious.
In the end, I remember asking Ain why this happens, but she said she didn’t know.

Ain once said that a lot has happened since we left Estoque and arrived at Central. True, a lot has happened, but in my opinion, a lot also happened even before leaving Estoque.
However, we didn’t interact much with others, and within two seasonal cycles, we only got into a few troubles with people there.

But what I’m talking about is the first time I experienced the blue sky, the scent of the trees, the sound of the ocean, and the light of the starry sky. In other words, the scenery I saw, the sounds I heard, and the winds I felt with Ain.
All of them were big happenings for me.

And the biggest one was the day I was able to be with Ain.
The only events as important that day were the time when Ain came to my side—not that I can remember it—and the time when Ain and I first spoke to each other.

Still, even among them, that day is special.

Anyhow, it’s winter now. Breaths now turn white, and the town is slowly losing its liveliness.

「Ain, is winter like this in your previous world, too?」

At our assigned room in Fii’s mansion, I asked Ain.
It’s hard to talk to Ain outside, but inside this mansion, we can talk normally, so I’m really thankful to Fii. And the servants, too.

『At the country I live in, it might actually be more bustling during this period.』
「Really?」
『Each household has their own heating system, after all; and there was no need to worry about procuring food to eat.
The arrival of winter doesn’t mean that there’s less work to be done, though.』
「It’s hard to imagine.」
『The lifestyle there is vastly different… the very least in comparison with the lifestyle of a hunter. There are no threat of monsters, you won’t lack of food as long as you have work, and, in a sense, due to the abundance we had, we also had special events during winter.』
「It sounds like an enjoyable world.」
『That world has its own issues as well, so it’s hard to say which is definitively better or more enjoyable between the two worlds.』

From what I’ve been hearing, Ain’s previous world feels like a better place. However, Ain told me it could be because I always focus on the good aspects of that world.
Ain says that she only tells me about things I ask about and doesn’t talk about every single aspect of her previous world.

「That sounds complicated.」
『That’s right. In the end, it might be a matter of personal preference.
Had I been reborn with my memories retained as an average person in an average household, who knows how I would’ve felt about it?
At the very least, my abilities seem to be far from average in the standards of this world.』

Ain said with a wry smile, so I just replied, “I guess so.”

Even I understand that we are different from other people. And apparently, becoming an A-rank hunter at my age is unthinkable for others.

Come to think of it, I seem to recall a person who was happy to reach D-rank at 15 years old.
Apparently, that’s actually a relatively early promotion. Personally, I don’t find rank promotions to be more worthwhile than thinking about how to spend time with Ain, so I don’t really care about early promotions.

In our case, raising my rank was a way for us to escape Estoque peacefully, and, my sorcery aside, Ain’s sorcery—and magic—was something she learned to protect me, so without it being as strong as it is, we might not be alive today.
I heard that the creator god would’ve protected us until I reached 15 years old, so maybe we wouldn’t have died, but we only knew about that when we arrived here.

So I think that it was definitely thanks to Ain’s efforts that we never experienced being on the brink of death.
It’s because I had Ain that I can be happy right now; otherwise, I might have ended up becoming something like an unthinking puppet. And in the first place, I would’ve been dead before I reached the age I’m at now.

Right now, I’m happy, but there are people who don’t see it that way. And there are people who, under the same circumstances, might not feel the same way.
It might be just how the world works, and maybe that’s what Ain meant.

『Now, what shall we do today?』
「We don’t need to find work at the guild, right?」
『Not at all. Rather, we were even told that we should refrain from working for awhile.』
「We were just some hunting monsters on our way back from playing with Tur, though.」

Moreover, we only brought back monsters from the first 50 floors.
We rarely bring monsters from around the 60th or 70th levels.
I think it was only when we presented them directly to Rhavelt?

Rhavelt wasn’t surprised, but he said that they’ll have trouble dealing with it if we frequently bring those, so now they’re just sleeping inside our magic pouch.

After such a long time, we have another Ciel POV! Yay!

I really love how the Ciel POVs manage to capture her child-like innocence and wonder while also displaying her contemplative side. The way Ciel treasures every little experience is so precious, and can fuel my hate of Rispelgia for weeks on end. Funnily(?) enough, I feel like you can really feel Ain’s disillusionment and pessimism much stronger here due to the lack of her monologue, which does highlight that, despite basically only caring about Ain, Ciel does have a healthy does of optimism for the world and I think that makes Ain’s efforts to be a good role model (despite her negativity) very precious.

Ain’s disillusionment and pessimism clearly stems from having her naivety crushed in the first chapters. It’s as if the mere fact that people like Rispelgia existed and can do what was done to Ciel absolutely destroyed Ain’s optimism. The fact that she blames herself for not being able to protect Ciel because she hid herself “to protect” Ciel doesn’t help. The more I think about Ain’s trauma, the more layers there are to unpack, and I don’t know if that only makes it better or worse. Meanwhile, Ciel has trauma herself, but Ain managed to cushion a lot of it. Once again, it’s all my opinion, and I could be completely overthinking it. Tis the beauty of reading literature.

I know it’s a Ciel POV, but for some reason, I had a lot to say about Ain, hahahaha

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