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A few students even approached the princess while still paying attention to us.

With that said, our seat is pretty far from that of the conspicuous group, so I don’t think Ciel noticed this.
The seating arrangement we have seems to have been made in consideration of Princess Leshimiiya, but, to be honest, I wish we were in different classes. As I contemplated this, Ciel turned her unconcerned gaze to the scenery beyond the window.

「Um, hello……」

This peace was interrupted by an energetic voice that quieted down near immediately.
It looks like the girl seated next to us wants to talk. I suppose even if no one far away would go out of their way to speak to us, the people already nearby might just do it.
In this school context, it’s not really unusual for the person sitting next to you to want to talk.

The girl speaking doesn’t seem to be the conspicuous type, but she has light brown hair and a charming appearance. She’s likely taller than Ciel, and compared to the other students, she’s of average build and stature.
It seems like she’s not used to initiating conversations with people, but even as Ciel continued to ignore—or rather, failed to notice her at all— 「Umm, hello…」 the girl continued to give it her best effort.

It would be bothersome if someone noticed this and reprimanded Ciel’s continued disregard, so 『Someone’s talking to you,』 I informed Ciel.
Startled, she then turned her gaze back to the classroom interior before finally seeing the girl.

「I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.」
「N-no… please, don’t worry about it…」
「Do you need something from me?」
「W-we sit next to each other, so I wanted to… hoped to give my greetings…」

The visibly nervous girl had a somewhat odd way of speaking; is this because she thinks Ciel is a noble? Or perhaps the daughter of a prominent merchant, at the very least. On the other hand, she likely hailed from a small village.
So from her perspective: with no friends around, she took the courage to speak to someone nearby, who turns out to possibly be a noble.

『This isn’t getting us anywhere; it would be best to ask her to talk normally.』
『I knew it; she was talking weirdly.』
「Please talk normally. We are all equal within the academy, after all.」
「Y-Yezzz… Thanks. B-but, what about you…」
「This is my normal, you see.」

Oh, I see. So the reason she was being so meek was partly due to Ciel’s imitation of my speech style.
Then changing Ciel’s way of speaking would help, but if Ciel does that, she’ll probably stop socializing altogether, so I’ll give up on that thought.
The girl fell into silent contemplation, and after some inner conflict, just as she did the first time, she gave it her all and introduced herself.

「Um, I’m Palra. Nice to meet you.」
「I’m Ailneige.」
「Ailneige… are you a noble?」
「I have no family name.」
「I see. But how do I describe it? You’re so pretty.
No, um, I mean, your skin is so pale and your hands are smooth, and…」

Palra quickly started spouting excuses, but Ciel doesn’t seem to have any idea why Palra is even reacting this way.
I feel bad for the girl, but I’m going to have her continue being Ciel’s conversation partner.

「Enough about me; would you care to tell me more about yourself?」
「Me? I’m not really interesting, though.」
「You’re a commoner as well, right?」
「Y-yeah. I’m a commoner from Berte village.」
「Berte village… I’ve never heard of such a place before; is it a village on the western side?」
「That’s right! How did you know?」

Perhaps getting used to how Ailneige speaks, or because she simply loves to chat, Palra couldn’t hide her excitement and responded energetically.
As for why we knew, it’s because when we traveled north through the eastern side, we never heard of any Berte village. However, Ciel seemed to have no intention of answering and instead asked, 「What sort of village is it?」

「It’s a village near a forest. We use sorceric tools for farming there, but do the hunting ourselves. We have a small Hunter Guild, but barely any outside hunters come to our place. Our small village rarely encounters problems that need the attention of hunters, I guess.」
「Do you do farm work, Palra?」
「Not really. Dad was a huntsman, and I basically copy what he does, so I help out when dismantling the animals he hunted and so on.
Because of that, I got the Job 「Advanced Huntsman」 and ended up getting into the academy…
The royal capital has a lot of people, doesn’t it? Back at the village, there were only ten of us kids in total, but just this room has more than that.」

It seems like she was admitted for her Job.
Advanced Jobs are rare, after all, and being a Huntsman, she must excel in the use of bows or traps.
She might also have an aptitude for erasing her presence and scouting. It’s the type of Job that, if present in your party, will make hunter work a lot more comfortable.
Naturally, she could probably make a decent living as a huntsman back in her village as is, but with her enrolling in this academy, her family, the country, or even she herself must be expecting greater things to come.

From there, Palra began to talk about various facts about herself; I even feel like I’ve become the second most knowledgeable person about her.
I’ll probably forget most of it by tomorrow, though.
During their conversation, Ciel responded accordingly, and whenever it seemed like the focus was shifting to her, she urged Palra for more personal anecdotes.

This wasn’t because she found Palra’s stories particularly interesting; Ciel just doesn’t want to speak, so she’s letting Palra talk. She probably let the conversation continue to keep other people away as well.
After all, while Palra is speaking, no one would likely try to force themselves into the conversation.

After a while, noticing that she had only been talking about herself, Palra suddenly shut her mouth before timidly speaking:

「O-oh… Sorry, I kept going on about myself. It must’ve bored you.」
「That’s true, it was boring.」

Hearing Ciel answer with such certainty, Palra was apparently left in shock. However, Ciel didn’t even react to it, only continuing with, 「Still, I’m grateful for it.」

「Grateful…?」

As Palra tilted her head, 「Everyone, take your seats,」 a voice echoed from the front of the classroom.
Come to think of it, should we advise her against casually telling others about her Job?
After a short contemplation, until Ciel shows concern or decides to do so, I should leave it be.

And that ends this chapter! Goodbye April, see you soon May!

Continuing from last time, it seems like we’ve got a new potential friend: The shy but extroverted Palra! She even got ‘pal’ on her name, so I guess she’s gotta be one! It was adorable how she did her best to communicate, the continued ignorance of her at the start must have been so awkward, lol. Meanwhile, Ciel doesn’t even care to sugarcoat her words. Poor Palra… Also, that part where Palra awkwardly tried to explain what she meant only to dig herself deeper, geez. Let’s hope this didn’t break the girl’s spirit, it’s still her first day in the big city, separated from her family since the academy has a dorm system…

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

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