Chapter 18: CH 18

『I see that you packed a lot into that magic circle.』

『Yup, it’s really interesting; how you can put so many conditions into it.

I was relieved that I somehow added no-killing as a condition.』

『I’m happy that you were satisfied with the results. By the way, it looks like fighting without depending on the barrier seems difficult.』

『Fighting a D-Rank hunter without any preparations seems to be impossible.

All I could do was dodge him after all. Though it would be fine if I could at least prepare something in advance.』

『Well, although I did make you do this, I don’t really think that you fighting without a barrier is something that would happen that much after all.』

『Fufu, naturally. But you don’t need to push yourself if it gets difficult, okay Ain?』

Maybe it’s because she was able to do something she wanted to or perhaps she just feels refreshed after beating up Alejo, Ciel is now in a good mood. Rather, it might only be that, no matter how bad her mood is, she cheers up when talking with me.

Even back at the mansion, there were a few times when Ciel got in a bad mood but it was never directed at me.

I considered alluding to the fact that she got snapped in the middle of the fight and ended up relying on my barrier, but if I limit her that much then she probably wouldn’t win. So, well, I’ll let it slide.

After all, I only wanted to know the gap between Ciel’s current unenhanced physical strength and the strength of a D-Rank hunter.

If it didn’t seem like she would win, then there’s no need to push it. Rather, I don’t think that situations where Ciel, a Sorcerer-type, battles head on against a full-on vanguard axe-user will happen that much at all.

Now then, for now, since I believe that this is a win, I borrowed Ciel’s body and looked at Carol-san.

Staring at me — or rather the magic circle by my feet, Carol-san, likely noticing my gaze, gave an overdue announcement「The match has ended.」

After that, she went out of this stadium like place and brought a few guild staff — or maybe just some nearby hunters — back with her.

The people following her were startled after seeing the bloodied Alejo on the floor and then shot a questioning glance at Carol-san.

I see. They’re likely thinking that Carol-san caused this disaster.

Certainly, it’s more convincing than thinking that I — Ciel — did it.

And then they looked at me with a confused look, but come to think of it my hair is still hidden.

Still, Carol-san probably noticed it with how much we moved, so I don’t think I need to keep the hood up anymore.

「With this, you can now start as a E-Rank hunter.」

「Yes, thank you very much.」

「My, you don’t seem that happy about it. Well, it’s hard to feel a sense of accomplishment after winning while barely using your full strength, right?」

「No, it was really difficult, you know?」

「There’s no use in hiding it. Nobody that can use a magic circle like that would ever lose to a D-Ranker after all.

At that level, you could’ve instantly killed him if you wanted to, right? 」

『Ciel, would you mind if I ask you something?』

『What is it, Ain?』

『Showing our full power to a certain extent and quickly aiming for B-Rank, or hiding our strength and steadily working towards being a B-Rank. Which would you prefer?』

『Once we become B-Rank, we’ll stand out whether we like it or not, right? Then, there’s no need to hide our strength, is there?』

Since it felt like Carol-san was probing into us, I pretended to think and had a quick strategy meeting with Ciel.

Our topic, whether to stand out or not. In conclusion, be at B-Rank even if we stand out a bit. And with that said, I think that we’ll display our strength with just a little flare.

「It takes some time to perform sorcery, so instantly is impossible, you know?」

「Well that’s true.」

「So Carol-san, what do you want me to do?」

「I want to see your real sorcery. After all, for someone like you who has at least hunted two B-Brank monsters, there’s no way that that was all you had.

But, well, even just this magic circle is enough to use as research material, but I’m absolutely sure that there’s more than this!」

Seeing Carol-san suddenly high in spirits, I was overwhelmed.　

Maybe she’s one of the so-called geeks. It seems that even though I’m in a different world, there are still similar people. In that case, I hope that the entertainment here is well developed too.

「Two B-Rank monsters? What do you mean?」

Suddenly realizing something, I took out the one-eyed giant’s magic stone and after showing it to Carol-san she replied「That.」

In the end we defeated it in an instant, but there’s no denying that it was all thanks to the combined power of the Song Princess and Dance Princess, two Princess Jobs.

On the other hand, being a B-Rank monster means that the strength of a B-Rank hunter or more is needed to defeat it, but I really feel that my barrier is getting out of hand for being able to endure that monster’s attack.

Though at this point, I’m honestly much more curious about how far it can go rather than the practicality.

「If that’s true, then I did defeat a B-Rank monster.

But there isn’t any merits for me even if I show you my real sorcery, right?」

「The fact that I mediated your battle…… is what I’d like to say, in your case, even without me mediating, Alejo wasn’t really a problem. Rather, I was the one that limited you.

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So, in exchange for showing me your sorcery, how does a formal match with me sound to you? If you win, I’ll convince the guild that you passed the B-Rank Exam.」

「Can you prove that you can keep your promise?」

「You heard my conversation with Ceila, right? For my own reasons, I did it without any favors.」

「You “asked” to do this, right?」

「The test to become B-Rank is to have a hunter of B-Rank and above to acknowledge your strength. And if you clear the test itself, which is to make me, a hunter B-Rank and above, recognize your strength, then I just need to do something about the test schedule.

Also, if you have a match with me, I’ll look after you until you reach D-Rank. Your strength itself is probably already about B-Rank, but it’s not as if you only need to be strong to raise your hunter rank after all.

If you want to rank up fast, asking instruction from you senior is the best.」

After asking Carol-san a few more questions, I consider whether we can trust her or not.

The demerit for accepting it would be that our strength would be exposed more than the previous battle. However regarding that, how much we can show is decided on.

The merit is that we can learn how strong a high-ranking hunter is. Based on Alejo’s reaction, I’m sure that she’s at least C-Rank or higher.

With that as our minimum reference, I think that there’s no doubt that Carol san is a B-Ranker. And if she’ll help us after this, there’s no reason to decline.

『Personally, with some conditions, I think it’s fine to accept it, but what do you think?』

If anything ever happens, being known as a Song Princess rather than a Dance Princess is much more convenient to avoid Duke Rispelgia, but I can’t disregard Ciel’s feelings. And most of all, I’m also the one who suggested that we stick to our roles.

Me disregarding that won’t leave a good impression on Ciel.

『I understand. However, please fight in a way that won’t make them realize that you are a Dance Princess.

In exchange, if the barrier is fine, then I don’t mind if you rely on it.』

『Understood.』

Since we’ve decided, I tell Carol-san「I’ll do it.」

Though I did tell Ciel that’s fine to rely on my barrier, there’s no assurance that Carol-san wouldn’t destroy it.

I can only pray that she won’t attack us with something that strong.

Seemingly delighted by my answer, Carol-san almost skips lightly towards the center of the dome.

「By the way, is it okay for me to keep this barrier up?」

「Well, it’s your second round after all; I’ll treat that as one of my handicaps.」

「Then thank you for your consideration. And I’m sorry if I don’t meet your expectations.」

「Nu-uh. For me, I already had enough new material. Still, people become more and more indulgent when they see easy success.」

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Well, I do understand how you feel but I think, with that mindset, you’ll just be more disappointed when you don’t get good results.

「Well, enough with the minor details, let’s do it. The moment this knife lands on the floor, the battle starts. Is that good?」

「I understand.」

Throwing a knife around sounds dangerous to me, but there aren’t any convenient branches or rocks laying around, so maybe for Carol-san the knife is just the right thing to throw.

Since we’re about to fight, I should stop making weird quips now. While Carol-san is putting some distance between us, I switch with Ciel and leave the battle to her.

As the two of them faced each other, Carol-san chucks the knife high into the air.

The moment the knife landed after a few seconds of airtime, I sensed a countless amount of magic power reactions appear in before us.

In my vision, I see multitude of ice arrows facing towards us suspended in the air.

Even if all of those are shot at us, it’ll still depend on the power of each and every one of them but I think my barrier can probably block them all.

However, Carol-san likely knows that too. In that case, there might be something to those arrows.

As Ciel was about to move, the arrows were shot towards us.

I expected them to come in a barrage to limit our movement, but they were fired in a line and disappeared as soon as they hit the spherical barrier.

While Ciel was protected, she ran to escape from Carol-san’s attack, but she couldn’t shake off the pursuit of the arrows.

Each of the arrows hit about as strong as Alejo’s attack but this might be a bit dangerous.

Looking at Carol-san, although the arrows don’t reach Ciel, she still looks composed.

In other words, she’s likely doing this intentionally. To simply explain, barrier sorcery creates a wall with magic power to defend against attacks but there can be inconsistencies in its durability.

In other words, the durability of the barrier isn’t uniform, you can end up having strong spots and weak spots.

And Carol-san’s arrows, are accurately hitting the weak spot. There was the magic stone thing before too, so I think that her ability to sense magic power is considerably high.

Likely understanding that running is meaningless, Ciel stops on her tracks and begins drawing something on the ground.

As though to prevent her from doing it, the amount and force behind the arrows increase; finally something cracked and the barrier collapsed.

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