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Since there weren’t any good requests anyway, we left the troublesome scene and quickly entered the forest outside the capital. Mia followed behind in her usual attendant-like manner, while Palra and Belltina had anxious expressions ever since we exited the capital walls.
For now, I’ve chosen a monster-less route, so forgive me for the needless anxiety. I’m considering protecting them with barriers if anything ever happens.

「I nearly got you two involved in some strange trouble back there.」

After confirming that no one was around, I stopped on my tracks and turned to the pair. Ciel is urging me to stay in control for just a bit longer. Actually, she even suggested that I should be in control for the rest of the day, but I refused.
Naturally, part of it is because I want to avoid stealing Ciel’s time, but it’s also because we can’t defeat monsters without Ciel. Well, I’m at least capable of defeating low-rank monsters, but since I’m not as athletic as Ciel, it won’t look very good.

I’d defend against every monster attack with my barrier while hitting them up close. From the side, it’ll seem as if I’m constantly being hit by the enemy, which would likely be heart-stopping for Palra and Belltina.
It’s honestly just time-consuming and I don’t think I’m capable of keeping the attention of multiple enemies while moving around.

That aside, as I spoke to the two, their shoulders jumped as if startled, and they stared at each other afterwards. Then, Palra turned to me and responded.

「No, it’s okay. Nothing really happened to us, after all. More importantly, are you alright, Ailneige?」
「That particular situation is quite rare, but I’m no stranger to trouble, so I’m fine. Rather, outside of this capital, you get roped into trouble more frequently. At other places, things could get even messier than that.」

Looking back on the earlier incident, the random classmates aside, both hunters and guild staff members remained as quiet observers, and―while they likely had different opinions about the situation―the reason they didn’t intervene or interject is likely because they wanted to see how we’d handle trouble―or rather, they wanted us to experience the sort of troubles that happen within the Hunter Guild.
For that reason, if any of the clients were to become physical, they’d surely step in to stop it; on the other hand, if we ran out of patience and decided to turn to violence, they’d surely stop us as well.

「So do troubles really happen frequently?」
「It’s not rare, to say the least. There are misfits who’d snap at you for weird reasons, people who’d challenge you out of simple dislike, and even some who won’t hesitate to attack when you’re outside town. Still, I can’t deny that my appearance being so conspicuous in other places could have played a part.」

Still, it’s not as if you’d no longer see trouble once you’re an adult. For example, you could have client issues. An easy example is when taking escort requests, the client might demand you do odd jobs or make detours unrelated to the request. There are even people who, despite not being the request client, try to lord over you or just endlessly nitpick what you’re doing.
Even outside of escort requests, those that involve direct interactions with the client may result in friction.

「Besides, it was lucky that trouble happened inside the Hunter Guild this time; it could have been worse. In hindsight, if the worst comes to pass, the Hunter Guild would have taken action.」

In this world where 15 years old is considered adult age and people can work as early as 10 years old, you’re not likely to get special consideration for being still 12-13 years old.
However, people like her who believe that they’re in the right without any doubt, who live in their own world, tend to interpret whatever they hear in ways convenient for them, so the problem escalated more than it had to.

「Right, then I guess that’s good…」

Palra seemed to have something bothering her, but she hesitated to continue, so I decided to ask a certain question―it’s the very reason I haven’t switched out yet.

「Incidentally, what are your thoughts about the earlier incident? To be more precise, do you think her request should have been accepted?」
「B-Bell thinks that it depends on the situation…」
「Could you elaborate more?」

Surprisingly, Belltina was the first to answer, so I asked her to delve into her true thoughts. I didn’t expect this, but considering how she’s a former noble and, in a way, somewhat similar to us, I suppose it’s only natural.
Belltina anxiously, yet resolutely, explained her answer.

「If the person receiving that request wanted to accept it, then it’s fine. If not, then they should be free to turn it down. The criteria for whether a request should be accepted or not are different for every person, and Bell would have run away in that situation… probably.」
「Thank you very much for your answer.」

I thanked Belltina with the kindest smile I could muster so she doesn’t interpret my reaction as a negative one.
Breaking down her response, you can basically boil it down to ‘just do what you want.’ And I agree with her. However, I understand that this might not be an acceptable mindset for some. Which is why there are people like the nosy Mr. Hero around.

And if I had to categorize Palra, from how she’s hanging her head with a difficult expression, she likely has the same mindset as the Hero.

「For me… At first I was confused why you wouldn’t accept it. I didn’t understand why when you had the means to help a person in need.」
「Is it because helping each other is normal in your hometown?」
「Yeah. I was raised seeing and being taught that it’s important to help people in trouble as much as you can…」

Palra’s village appears to be a small one, so I’m sure the villagers must be a tight-knit community. A place where helping when there’s someone in need and they’d extend the favor back happens frequently.
This is how I imagine her upbringing, so I’m genuinely interested in how Palra feels about what happened earlier.

Well, they had no way to know whether we actually had the herb or not. So I can’t blame them for being influenced by the conversation back then and assume―like the other onlookers―that I had the medical herb.

「But thinking about it now, you might have plans to use the material for yourself. If that was the case, then it’s only natural to not want to accept it, I thought.」

The fact that she could see things from another perspective makes Palra closer to being a saintess than Shelate is in my book.
After all, no one back then―not the two clients, nor Juerd and Shelate―properly considered my thoughts and opinions.

「That’s right, I certainly planned to use it. To be precise, there was a chance that I’d need it, I suppose. However, I thought of a usable substitute, so I instead relinquished the material before things could escalate further.」
「I see. That’s great to hear.」

Palra sighed in relief as though genuinely glad for me, but then her face immediately turned glum.

「Is there anything wrong?」
「No. It’s just, I’m just thinking…」
「I don’t consider the ideals you were taught to be wrong, you know?」

Since the majority in our group―us and Belltina―believe that it’s not always necessary to help, it’s not surprising for Palra to start to think that her mindset might be wrong. Besides, I can understand that she might find it difficult to share her thoughts since her belief is in the minority.
Perhaps she may even feel as if her whole life up until now has just been denied.

Normally, I would just let her mull by herself since it’s generally not worth the effort being considerate in many cases, but since Ciel is partial to Palra―and I don’t particularly dislike her either―she’s worth the effort.

「That’s, really?」
「Saving people from danger, helping others in need, and giving aid when you have the capability to do so. I consider all of those to be wonderful ideals.
And those that can act in accordance with these are surely wonderful people. After all, not many are capable or willing to lend a hand when faced with people in need.」

As I protected Ciel while we were in Estoque, my common sense has been utterly ruined. It reached the point that I seriously think that Ciel is the only thing that matters; that if Ciel is happy and I can be by her side, nothing else matters.
Despite that, it isn’t as if I’ve forgotten the morals and ethics I’ve learned, so I can understand that finding life precious and wanting to help people is a wonderful thing.

Because of that, it’s not as if I can’t understand Juerd and Shelate’s thought process, and, at surface level, they’re the kind of good that’s hard to come by. If they continue gaining experience, they’d surely grow to be great heroes that could save the nation. They’re just young and inexperienced.
And I simply don’t have the patience to be considerate of them.