Two as One Princesses

iel as much as possible..

『That’s, somehow, really wonderful.
Wonderful!』
『Besides, even if everyone in the world calls my name, it can’t even compare to when you call my name.』
『Is that true? If so, that makes me happy.
I’ll say it again and again, Ain.
Ain!』

Ciel delightedly calls my name.
Her saying my name again and again, the last time was probably when I first introduced myself as Ainsel, wasn’t it?
Compared to that time, Ciel has grown a lot.

Thinking about it, I can’t help but feel sentimental.
It’s been 13 years since I met Ciel.
She’s grown up so much since……
Still, some things never change and Ciel calling my name is just simply adorable.

『Ain, is there something wrong?』
『No, nothing at all.
Incidentally, would you like to try talking to Luna and Mohsa?』
『? Why?』
『Because we’re likely going to spend more time with them from now on.
They might even know about things that I don’t know about.』
『Ain, is there anything you don’t know that you want to know?』
『How Estoque is seen from the outside, I guess? Since if that is what’s considered typical, we might have to think a bit before going to other countries in the future.』

I tried bringing that up for Ciel to practice socializing, but things are going slightly different from planned.
Though, as long as this gets Ciel conversing with Mohsa and Luna, it doesn’t really matter.
Ciel nodded 『Got it.』 in reply and turned to Luna.

「Luna.」
「What might it be, Cielmer-sama?」
「Tell me about Estoque.」
「About Estoque, the country you two originally came from, correct?」

Luna paused with a slightly downcast expression.
Is there some problem with Estoque?

「Right.
Estoque has the reputation of being an insular nation.」
「Insular?」
「Yes.
While the Church and the Hunter and Merchant Guilds do have a presence there, their people seem to have peculiar values… or rather, they hold prejudice against non-human races.
Additionally, they’re famous for having more firmly-rooted Job discrimination compared to other nations.」
「Song Princess’ was terrible.」

The moment rumors about Ciel being a Song Princess spread, the looks from everyone immediately changed.
It’s a bit nostalgic now.
It was relatively better at the Hunter Guild, but if it was a different place, we might have been chased out.
That’s why, in a sense, we were lucky.

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Making an enemy of a country is troublesome, after all.
We could probably outrun them, but this’ll obviously make our life difficult.
We won’t be able to live freely, that’s for sure.

「Right.
Their discrimination against Song Princesses are incomparable compared to other countries.
Part of this is due to historical issues, but that country also seems to be a special case.」
「Why?」
「In the case of Estoque, they have received considerably little influence from Central.
For example, the leaders of the Hunter Guild and the church mostly come from people of Estoque.
In other words, people with Estoque’s peculiar views tend to gather, by which includes discriminatory views against other races, Jobs, and so on.」

In other words, it’s the nature of their country.
While the Hunter Guild isn’t bound to any country, if only Estoque people gathered in their guilds, it’ll naturally make their views and values the norm.
Even so, I suppose it’s thanks to the Hunter Guild’s intervention that they behaved somewhat tolerant towards a Song Princess.

Well, if Estoque’s views and values are just peculiar, then that’s a relief.
We shouldn’t experience persecution in other countries.
Though, even in Estoque, I don’t think it really reached persecution.

「Still, it’s known for having a generally peaceful land, as well as a competent leader.」
「Is that Rispelgia?」
「…… That’s right.
Disregarding his character, Rispelgia’s competence is well-known even here at Central.
To the extent that his place is even considered a hunters’ dreamland.」

Was her momentary pause because she somewhat knows the relationship between Cielmer and Rispelgia?
Since she’s in charge of taking care of her, I guess it’s information necessary for her to know.

We’ve gotten into troubles even unrelated to being a Song Princess, so it’s weird to call it peaceful, but considering that a preteen girl alone –– or so it would seem –– was able to travel by herself, that might be true.
With this in mind, it’s within the realm of peacefulness.
Even Japan can’t be called safe with full confidence.

「Troublesome.」
「Indeed.
With such obfuscation, it would be best to keep a level of caution.」
「Ain is with me, so it’s fine.」
「Cielmer-sama, you are really fond of Ainsel-sama, aren’t you? 」
「Naturally.」
「If you don’t mind, could you tell me more about Ainsel-sama?」

The instant Luna said so, Ciel’s eyes sparkled.
Might be weird for me to say it, but this is not a good topic.
Because I won’t know where to hide myself.

Not that I can be seen.

After that, Ciel with her usual tone, yet with slightly more delight than earlier, proceeded to brag about me.

～The maids afterwards～

Luna 「…… Today, I once again realized just how admirable Ainsel-sama is.
I never thought that I would be able to see Cielmer-sama being so cheerful at such proximity.
」
Mohsa 「Yes.
I sincerely believe that I can get along very well with Cielmer-sama as well.」
Luna 「Oh my, it seem like we don’t have the same thing in mind, do we now?」
Mohsa 「Perhaps if you find yourself having the opportunity to converse with Ainsel-sama as I have, I’m sure you’d understand how I feel.」
Luna 「My, well that’s something to look forward to then.」

～Ain and Ciel afterwards～

Ain 『Ciel, you’re awake, right? Why did you pretend to fall asleep?』
Ciel 『Oh, I’m exposed.
I mean, it’s been so long since it was just us two on a bed together.
It’s not like I dislike the two of them, but I really want to have alone time with Ain, you know?』
Ain 『Is that so.
Then shall I sing you a song?』
Ciel 『No lullabies, alright? It makes me go to sleep, after all.』
Ain 『Fufu, understood.』

Heya~! Not only was there AinCiel fluff this chapter, we also have a little bit of screen time for the maids! Yay~!

Following the last chapter, we got a short mid-dinner interaction with Fii, who is once again being extremely ominous about stuff.
But anyways, we get a bit of set up for a reunion with Viviana and foreshadowing so blatant, it’s more of a display of just how different Fii is compared to the normal folk.
On that topic, we also obtain more info about the den.
Apparently, it houses monster/s beyond our duo’s offensive capacity.
Demon Lord? Maybe, but Fii is already Demon Lord-ly enough from an objective standpoint, lol.

Moving on, we have our AinCiel interaction, which neatly connects with the very first Ciel POV, where she finds the weird magic power around her (which she doesn’t even know is magic power yet) one of the few sources of comfort during her confinement.
In short, she could sense magic power *that* early on.
Seriously.
Also, we get another source of motivation driving her to want to be able to sense through Ain’s veil of concealment; so she can comfortably know if Ain is with her even if Ain is knocked out or asleep.
Just…

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And for the part, we have Ciel interacting a bit more with the maids, specifically Luna.
It’s more on the exposition heavy side, but at the last moment Luna wittily got Ciel to talk by her own volition with the super effective “I’d like to hear more about Ain” card.
Good job.
Also, the short post-chapter snippet is really nice.

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