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Even without all these complicated conditions, I understand that it’s not good to throw away physical evidence.
Now that I think about it, just being a high-rank hunter grants you a level of trust from the people while also granting you influence that you shouldn’t actively use.
So in this case, you could actually say that Ausente’s fourth prince just disrespected a noble of a foreign land.

With this considered, while they have greater authority, this incident is still not a good look for them. At worst, it could be considered picking a fight with Central.
A noble would probably accept the courtship since it means gaining a connection with the royals of another country, but in the case of hunters, even if it gains them a connection with royalty, they probably wouldn’t accept something that would limit their freedom.

「Understood. Thank you.」

As Ciel expressed her thanks, Mia lowered her head and returned to her previous position.
Hmm. She was a daughter of nobility up until recently, but now she’s so natural at being a maid.
From a professional’s perspective, there might still be a lot for her to improve on, but for an amateur like me, she looks really natural.

「Ain, what should we do?」
『What do you want to do, Ciel?』
「You aren’t really bothered by it, right?」
『I’m mostly only bothered by it because it’s bothering you.』
「In that case, I’ll keep it with us for now. No, that’s wrong. I want to respect Ain’s decision for it.
I was the one who started the topic, but it does belong to you, after all.」

While it’s true that it’s technically mine, I’m not really happy about that.
Actually, I feel a bit troubled about having the timing of when to use it left to my discretion.
Personally, I would have preferred Ciel to make her own decision regarding the letter, whether to use it or burn it.
But after what she just said, the final decision is now in my hands.

◇◇◇

「And so in the end, you two decided to keep it.」
「As an insurance of sorts. I want to avoid as much trouble as possible.」
「In that case, would it be better that you two don’t announce yourselves as my daughters when you get there?」
「Keeping it hidden will make it easier for us to move around. And we do have our status as A-rank hunters if need be.」

We spent our free time relaxing, and before I noticed it, we were in the middle of tea time with Mother.
Since I did have something I wanted to talk about, I asked to switch with Ciel and conversed with Mother.

「Right, right. That certainly is true. I don’t have any intention to tie you two down either. However, you must divulge it if the situation calls for it, alright?」
「If being too secretive gets us into trouble, it’ll defeat the whole purpose, after all.」

Discerning the proper timing to disclose our identity will be difficult.
I’ve never had any experience acting incognito, and naturally, the same applies to Ciel.
Besides, there’s also a possibility that people won’t believe us to begin with.

I wonder how nobles normally do it in situations like this.
Do they have some sort of symbol, mark, or family crest they carry around as proof?

「Mother, do you have something like… a crest of sorts?」
「In the past, when I was still more active than at present, I had one made to be a recognizable mark.」
「… I’m surprised you actually did that.」

I assumed that Mother wouldn’t do noble practices like this; this surprised me.
Seemingly recalling something, Mother had a slightly exasperated face.

「People kept pestering me to do it every day. Many kept on challenging me back then, and I fought them back, so perhaps it was due to that.
Once I gave in and had one made, all of it suddenly stopped. I remember feeling so impressed by that.」
「What’s the status of that crest now?」
「It should still be officially recognized. We should have some spares lying around somewhere, but here you go.」

Mother removed the pendant from her neck and handed it to me.
The pendant was as large as my palm and had a metallic texture, yet it was surprisingly light.

It’s a circular metal plate engraved with a white dragon motif, but is it just me or does this look like Tur?
It’s a simplified design, so it’s difficult to say for sure, but it has a white body and golden eyes, so it must be Tur.

「You can bring that along.」
「Are you sure?」
「Yes, yes. I don’t mind. After all, it no longer sees much use for me these days.」
「I see. Thank you very much.」
「For people who don’t understand its meaning when it is shown to them, deal with them as you like, though the same goes for people who understand yet still cause you trouble.」

What a convenient thing this is. But at the same time, I want to avoid using this as much as possible.
It wouldn’t be good for Ciel’s education, and if we use this, we might get dragged into the world of nobles.
Let’s use it only as a last resort and discuss with Ciel more about it later.

「By the way, Ain, what was it that you wanted to ask me?」

Mother inquired, so I decided to go for my original objective.

「In this world, is it alright to give names to monsters and spirits?」
「Is this about Khyturi?」
「That’s right. They don’t get more powerful when given a name, do they?」
「Such a thing is possible, but if simply done arbitrarily, the chances of that occurring are low. It would require the birth of a Job with the ability to do so. Otherwise, it’s a feat within the realm of magic.」
「In other words, there won’t be any changes with Tur?」
「That would be the case.」

Seeing Mother giggle, she probably somewhat understood why I was worried about this matter.
Meanwhile, Ciel is asking, “Why did you ask about that?” inside my head, so now I’m wracking my brains over how to explain it to her.

And there ends our interlude, with Ain mulling over how to explain a common JP Isekai fantasy cliche to our curious little Ciel.

I like to imagine the exchange with Fii and the Central officials in the past being like, “Please, Mistress, we clean up bodies every week.” “It’s their own fault for being so ignorant.” “But how will they even recognize that you are actually Central’s master when you don’t even have an ID?” “… Okay, fine.”

Also, the exchange about monster naming was funny. Like, naming can be considered the act of “recognizing something’s existence and attaching meaning”, and has real power behind it (which is why name-calling is a thing), but when it’s added without sufficient context, like all tropes and cliches, it can really feel random and unwarranted.

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