Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 4 Read online

  Previously

  When Adele von Ascham, the eldest daughter of Viscount Ascham, was ten years old, she was struck with a terrible headache and just like that, remembered everything.

  She remembered how, in her previous life, she was an eighteen-year-old Japanese girl named Kurihara Misato who died while trying to save a young girl, and that she met God…

  Misato had exceptional abilities, and the expectations of the people around her were high. As a result, she could never live her life the way she wanted. So when she met God, she made an impassioned plea:

  “In my next life, please make my abilities average!”

  Yet somehow, it all went awry.

  In her new life, she can talk to nanomachines and, although her magical powers are technically average, it is the average between a human’s and an elder dragon’s…6,800 times that of a sorcerer!

  At the first academy she attended, she made friends and rescued a little boy as well as a princess. She registered at the Hunters’ Prep School under the name of Mile, and at the graduation exam went head-to-head with an A-rank hunter.

  A lot has happened, but now Mile is going to live a normal life as a rookie hunter with her allies by her side.

  Because she is a perfectly normal, average girl!

  Chapter 27:

  Sixteen Years Since…

  It had been sixteen years since the day Reina first opened her eyes.

  Yes, Reina was sixteen years old.

  Mavis, at seventeen, was currently the oldest in their group. Reina, at sixteen, was a close second. Then came Pauline at fifteen and finally Mile, who was only thirteen. Oh, and it would be Mavis’s birthday very soon.

  With Pauline finally fifteen, Mile was now the only member of the Crimson Vow who was still underage.

  However, as one could become a full member of the Hunters’ Guild at ten years of age and this country did not have age restrictions on things like voting and drinking alcohol, it made very little difference if one had achieved the official age of adulthood (fifteen years) or not.

  The more important distinction here—whether in terms of employment, legal matters, or parental responsibility—was whether or not one had turned ten. That was the age at which children normally began trying to make an honest living instead of just pocket money, although most of them, other than hunters, would find employment only as apprentices and errand boys and not earn very much at all.

  Marcela and the others will be third years now, Mile thought. I wonder if Crooktail and the others are doing well…

  As far as Mile was concerned, all of her former classmates ranked lower than the cat. Only the Wonder Trio really mattered to her.

  And I’m thirteen now. Huh. I have an early birthday, so the rest of them are probably still twelve. Come to think of it, if I were still in Japan, I would be in my second year of junior high now.

  That’s the year when people are supposed to contract junior high syndrome—the adolescent arrogance they call chuunibyou. But that has nothing to do with me anymore.

  After all, I have the strength of a dragon, immense magical powers, and mysterious little creatures only I can see who can answer my every inquiry. And memories…of my…past life…

  Mile collapsed onto her bed.

  ***

  “There’ve been a lot of weird requests lately,” Reina muttered, standing before the guild’s job board.

  In addition to the typical gathering quests, extermination orders, and escort duties, there were investigation-type jobs posted.

  Investigating monsters in the mountains.

  Investigating why monsters that usually stayed deep in the forest had begun appearing around towns and villages.

  Searching for parties that had gone missing, with additional rewards for rescuing them, uncovering the reason for their disappearances, retrieving the belongings of the deceased, and so on.

  Several of the investigation jobs, including requests for culling and eliminating fairly high-ranked monsters that came near human settlements, seemed to converge on a single town.

  “The town of Helmont? Why does that sound familiar?” Mile asked.

  “Because we just went there to capture the wyvern!” Reina replied.

  “Oh right, the Mysterious Bird, Lobreth!”

  As Mile patted her fist on her palm in recognition, Mavis muttered, “We keep telling you, a wyvern isn’t a bird.”

  “Hmm, all the jobs around here are pretty normal. They pay well enough, but they’re kind of boring.”

  Mavis and Pauline, having heard such from Reina before, hurriedly looked around. In truth, they felt the same way. However, they were in the middle of a guildhall, surrounded by hunters who were doing their best to earn a daily living. Saying things such as “These jobs are all so normal it’s boring,” or “I guess they pay well enough,” was unacceptable. They were sure to stir up trouble.

  After all, not everyone had above average mages and swordsmen in their group or possessed absurd amounts of magic. Hardly anyone ever earned as much as they did on normal gathering or extermination requests.

  Reina soon realized this and managed to look embarrassed. Thankfully, none of the other hunters had heard her, or at least no one seemed to be looking their way. The four of them breathed a sigh of relief.

  “A-anyway, these must be pretty unpopular requests, getting recirculated all the way to the capital,” said Reina before hurriedly correcting herself. “Taking care of these jobs would earn us a lot of brownie points with the guild!”

  Yes, that phrasing was unlikely to ruffle any feathers.

  As far as the other hunters and the guild were concerned, having a skilled young party taking leftover jobs even veterans weren’t interested in—that weren’t even worth their pay—was a good thing. It increased the prestige of the capital guild branch.

  Of course, when it came to their true motives, any young man or woman would grow dissatisfied with taking on boring, normal jobs just to earn a living. For middle-aged hunters with spouses and children, work was nothing more than a means of supporting their families. Young hunters found it far easier to convince themselves that “I want to do a huge job!” or “I want to promote my name!”

  So, naturally, the Crimson Vow—which included Reina, aiming for a B-rank, and Mavis, who dreamed of becoming an A-rank and enlisting as a knight—had similar inclinations.

  Well, perhaps that wasn’t quite the right way to put it. Mile and Pauline had little interest in such things, and even as young hunters went, Mavis and Reina’s desires for promotion weren’t especially strong.

  The Crimson Vow were relieved, assuming no one else had heard Reina’s words. But of course, that wasn’t actually the case. The guildhall wasn’t especially large, so four notable rookie hunters—who happened to also be cute girls—standing around making a fuss attracted attention. Plus, their high-pitched voices carried far.

  Everyone was just pretending they hadn’t heard them.

  What would the rookies do about troublesome, suspicious jobs even veterans considered unworthy of their time? What fascinating tale would they hear from the girls who not only succeeded at the wyvern-hunting job—considered a “red mark,” a job that would see “the red blood of their allies flowing and put red marks upon their records”—but had done it without a scratch?

  The hunters and employees of the capital branch of the Hunters’ Guild listened with rapt attention, gazes averted, pretending they didn’t care.

  “So, which one should we do?”

  As Reina ruminated, Mile pointed to one of the postings.

&
nbsp; “Reina, look here…”

  “Special value pack! Upon accepting the task to settle matters in Helmont, hunters may take on only as many tasks as they feel up to handling, at any time, with no fees or penalties for non-completion or failure. Wages paid in proportion to job success.”

  “Wh-what is this?! This is the first time I’ve ever seen a posting with such convenient terms!”

  “Doesn’t that just mean no one is around to take the jobs? Or that the danger is great in proportion to the pay, or that the failure rate is high?” asked Pauline.

  “Yeah,” Mavis agreed, “No mistaking that. Plus, they’re probably looking to get several parties involved at once.”

  “This is another one of those, isn’t it? What Laylia was talking about before.”

  “Yeah, a ‘red mark’ job, right? Red, like the color of the blood that will flow or the ‘red mark’ upon your record… But, even so!”

  “We’ll be taking this special ‘red mark’ job!” the four announced in unison.

  Hearing this, Laylia, the receptionist, shrugged her shoulders. Her face fell in a way that perfectly indicated she had given up on life.

  Mile, seeing the words “special value pack,” suddenly felt rather unsettled.

  I wonder if that comes with fries…

  ***

  “You all again?”

  It was six days later.

  When they arrived again in Helmont, the Crimson Vow stopped in to see the guild master, who had previously explained the wyvern situation to them.

  “Well, thanks to that last job, I have a good idea of what you can do. However, this job might be more dangerous than that one. Several parties have already failed to return and have been registered as missing. I won’t say more, but you’d best leave this one alone. There’re plenty of other jobs to take, and no matter how skilled you are, it’s not smart to take on troublesome, dangerous jobs while you’re still lacking in experience. You should take jobs like this after you’ve had more time to grow. You’re still young—there’s no need to rush.”

  The guild master wasn’t belittling the Crimson Vow, but rather, admonishing them out of genuine concern.

  “Even so,” Reina replied, “We already accepted the job in the capital.”

  “No,” the guild master said. “You may have taken on the job in the capital, but it originated here. If I personally judge that ‘the job candidates are unsuitable,’ then the contract can be dissolved. You haven’t failed in any way, so you won’t take any penalties, and we’ll cover your travel expenses from and to the capital, as well as the breach of contract fee.

  “What do you think? If that sounds good to you, we can go ahead and do that.”

  The guild master’s proposal came from a place of kindness. If they accepted, it would mean taking losses on the guild’s part, with no profit gained. Simply leaving things as they were, on the other hand, wouldn’t cost the guild a single copper, as the payment for the job would have already been set aside.

  It was a proposal made for the sake of the girls, at the cost of the guild.

  However, the way the guild master suggested they give up gave the girls a bad feeling. Though he encouraged them to give up, in truth, the four of them got the feeling he was simply hesitant to refuse them.

  But then:

  Reina offered a stern refusal. “We decline. If we intended to give up after coming this far,” she explained, “we wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. We agreed with full awareness of the pros and cons, so do you really think we’d simply roll over because someone asked us to? Plus, why would ‘it’s dangerous’ give us pause?”

  Seeing the other three nodding in agreement, a crestfallen but oddly hopeful look briefly crossed the guild master’s face. However, it vanished in an instant. The guild master’s stoic visage returned.

  “Don’t overdo it. The moment you feel you are in danger, abandon the investigation and return here. That is my stipulation as your employer, which you cannot refuse. If that’s no good for you, then you better give up now. Got it?”

  The guild master’s face and voice were serious, but the Crimson Vow weren’t so dense as to miss his true meaning. They nodded in agreement.

  “Well, you really did help us out with that wyvern. Thanks to you, even our lord has finally come to recognize what hunters bring to the table and now seems a bit more favorable toward the guild. So we really have to thank you for that.

  “I guess I better fill you in. You can find more details about each individual job down on the first floor. First off, starting a short while ago, monster sightings in the forest and the mountains have become rarer. Monsters you would normally be able to find without trouble have vanished, and monsters that never used to reside here have started to appear. Numerous hunting parties have been injured. There are groups who haven’t returned at all and are likely…”

  A dark look spread across the man’s face. In other words, something had probably befallen those hunters.

  “Are those the parties we would be searching for?” Mavis asked.

  He shook his head.

  “No. If a hunter is injured or lost while on a job or out harvesting, that’s their own responsibility. Only people who take jobs where they’re out of their depth should be at risk. The guild doesn’t go out of its way to search for such folks, although their family and other close acquaintances will occasionally put up money to list it as an official request.

  “The ones you’ll be searching for are part of an official guild investigation team. They’re comprised of veteran hunters, knowledgeable about the forest and its monsters; two scholars; and a guild employee who went along as an escort.”

  This guild employee, they soon found out, had some measure of magical ability.

  Even if she could only use a middling amount of generalized magic, having her along when there were non-hunters involved could be a huge help. Non-hunters often made selfish demands, but such problems were usually quickly neutralized when magic-users were there. Plus, it was helpful to know, on the off chance something went awry, that they wouldn’t have to worry about simple but important things like finding water.

  If the employee in question was a young woman, the men also wouldn’t have any objection to her accompanying them. No, not in the slightest.

  The guild master outlined the investigation team’s plan, the items they had intended to investigate, and the monsters they would like culled if the chance arose. They would be able to confirm the rest of the details and receive maps and materials from the receptionist on the first floor, later.

  As the four of them stood from their seats to leave, the guild master called out to them.

  “The guild employee who went along with the investigation team…”

  The girls stopped and turned to face him. He continued.

  “She’s… she’s my daughter. So… please.”

  To save his daughter, he wanted someone, anyone, to take the job and search for her. Even if the worst had come to pass, he wanted someone to confirm her passing and bring back her body. Or at least some memento of her.

  The guild master spoke with conflicting emotions: the grief and desperation of a father, clutching at whatever hope he had; and the duty of a guild master, unwilling to send young hunters off to needless death.

  They understood how he felt. The four gave the guild master, whose head was bowed, a thumbs-up.

  “We will absolutely—” said Mavis.

  “Make your wish come true!” they chimed in unison.

  Of course, this happened to be a line they had rehearsed ahead of time for just such an event.

  Thankfully, like in Japan and most English-speaking areas of Earth, a thumbs-up indicated a positive response in this country. However, it was always important to use such gestures with care, as they could be offensive in certain regions and countries. Indeed, there were some places where the white flag was the call for a battle to the death, not a cease-fire.

  Leaving the guild
master behind them, the four girls departed.

  The guild master’s daughter had volunteered to escort the investigation team, thinking that the only other woman on the team—a young female student—might be lonely if she was the only girl out there. Or so the guild master had said before revealing the employee was his daughter.

  She had taken a big risk, but they would do her best to save her. She was worth it.

  Besides, if all good women died young, the world would be a much more boring place.

  With that in mind, the Crimson Vow swore to avoid dying young themselves, of course.

  Chapter 28:

  A Sortie

  The next day…

  “You all ready? Let’s go!”

  “Yeah!”

  And so, the Crimson Vow set out.

  It was half a day’s journey to the village where they had captured Lobreth. The area was deep in the forest, but the villagers took quite a bit of offense to that description. They preferred to think their home was “a village on the outskirts of the forest.”

  The going was easy, so the group reached the borders of the village before noon. They knew, however, not to stop in the town; the welcoming committee would hold them up. So, the girls passed through without stopping. The fact that they didn’t need to replenish their water supply worked out in their favor.

  Soon, they passed through what the villagers referred to as “the true entrance of the forest.”

  Just as they entered this neck of the woods and thought to themselves, Why, this is no different from any other part of the forest—a fangbear suddenly appeared. It was a strange beast to encounter here: more powerful than most regular creatures and clearly looking for easy prey. It was like they were in an RPG and had suddenly encountered a mid-level boss the moment they left the “Starting Village.”

  Well, that was unfortunate for the fangbear. The Crimson Vow wasn’t a group of Level 1 onion knights equipped with wooden rods, but rather a group of garlic knights equipped with fearsome mystery blades.