Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 7 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Color Inserts

  Title Page

  Copyrights and Credits

  Table of Contents Page

  Cast of Characters

  Previously

  Chapter 57: The Mysterious Kidnappers

  Chapter 58: Information Gathering

  Chapter 59: Leatoria Returns

  Chapter 60: The Girl with Seven Faces!

  Chapter 61: The Tale of the Wicked Maiden’s Foiled Engagement

  Chapter 62: The Moment of Truth

  Side Story: Good Luck, Mariette!

  Bonus Story: Mile vs. Reina

  Afterword

  Newsletter

  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 those 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 formed a party with her classmates. The Crimsom Vow made a grand debut, but one problem after another has come hurtling their way—from golems, invading foreign soldiers, and doting fathers to elder dragons, the strongest creatures in the world!

  And then suddenly, a clash between the Crimson Vow and Mile’s friends from her first school, the Wonder Trio?!

  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 57:

  The Mysterious Kidnappers

  One evening, the Crimson Vow stopped by the guildhall to turn in their goods after a successful day of hunting. On their way back to the inn…

  “Wehehe, cat ears, cat ears…”

  “Mile, can you stop going around town saying weird things with that creepy look on your face?!”

  “Miley, that’s kind of…”

  “You’re being suspicious. Someone’s gonna call the guards on us…”

  The other three groused at Mile’s behavior, waiting at any moment to hear, ‘Officer, that’s the one!’ However, Mile did not appear to care a jot.

  “Squishy squishy, fluffy fluffy, honest, and adorable…the perfect little sister! Aah, I can’t wait for another sweet evening with little Faleel tonight…”

  “………”

  Utterly resigned, the other three just shrugged their shoulders.

  “Faleel, we’re back… Oh!”

  Faleel, who was typically at the counter at this hour, was nowhere to be seen.

  “I wonder if she’s in the restroom?”

  Such a thing was possible, of course. She was human (read: a beastgirl), after all.

  “Oh, it’s you all, is it?” The inn’s owner emerged from the kitchen, looking worried.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Mile.

  The man replied with a troubled look. “Faleel hasn’t come home. Normally, she’s back by now. I mean, I have to assume that she’s just off playing with friends and didn’t notice the time. Unlike Faleel, her friends don’t have to help out with household chores, so there’s probably still some time before they have to be back home for dinner.”

  Despite the logic of his words, the owner seemed worried. It was only natural—his daughter was still a very little girl. While it brought him some relief to think that she might be with friends, it did not change the fact that he was concerned. Usually, she wore a hood or bonnet when leaving the house, but she was still a child, and it was possible that she might unwittingly let it slip while she was playing…and of course, there was always the possibility that anti-beastfolk contingents already knew about her and might be lurking about.

  The population of the capital was great enough that it was not unheard of for elves and dwarves and beastfolk—as well as half-breeds of all three—to be present within the populace, though their numbers were few. While public discrimination and persecution were thus relatively unusual, beastfolk were often looked down upon or teased behind their backs. Unlike elves and dwarves, with whom humans were generally friendly, beastfolk were thought to be kin to demons—or at best, a group of backwards forest dwellers.

  Thankfully, things never went as far as serious injury or any life-threatening assault, for anyone who took things too far would be caught and persecuted as a criminal. After all, the top brass in the kingdom and all its territories wanted to avoid war with the beastfolk, particularly because war against the beast tribes would not be one of army against army on the battlefield. Instead, it would be an onslaught of guerilla combat, with any humans who entered the woods ending up dead. Woodcutters and hunters would lose their stomping grounds, causing acute harm to the economy. Any routes through and near the forest would become dangerous, and thanks to the rapid rise in escort expenses and the higher rate of injury, it would no longer be feasible for merchants to regularly travel. If things got especially bad, most of the feudal administrations would begin to go bankrupt.

  Therefore, no one risked offending the beastpeople on a whim.

  …Normally.

  Yes. Normally. For in any world, there are degenerates and fools, including those who would wish to stir up conflict between humans and beasts. Arms dealers, mercenaries, foreign provocateurs…

  “Why don’t we go and fetch her? Where does she usually—?”

  In the midst of Mile’s question, the door swung violently open. A man around thirty, holding hands with a girl of five or six, burst through the doorway, a dire expression on his face.

  “Dafrel?” the owner addressed him.

  The man known as Dafrel shouted, “Faleel’s been abducted!”

  “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!”

  The man hung his head, speaking in a pained voice. “Just a little while ago, my daughter came home crying. When I asked her what happened, she said that Faleel had been dragged away by some strange men. I’m so sorry, I’m truly sorry!”

  When they finally calmed the sobbing little girl, Methelia, they learned that several strange men had suddenly appeared where the two girls had been playing. They shouted, “There she is!” and seized Faleel, before silencing her and dragging her away.

  “Faleel tried—hic—to bite their fingers and kick them, but—snff—they put a cloth over her mouth and tied her up and—hic—took her with them… I tried my best too, but they pushed me away… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Methelia began to wail once again.

  “Wh-what do I do…?”

  Though the innkeeper was quite a large fellow, he shrank into himself, fretting. Understandably, he appeared rather shaken.

  He’s no good to us like this! We have to do something. Reina thought. Just as she tried to speak, however…

  “IS THAT SOOOOO?!?!?!”

  “Eep!”

  The inn’s owner, Sir Dafrel, little Methelia, three members of th
e Crimson Vow, and the matron, who had rushed from the kitchen, sensing something was wrong, all suddenly yelped in fear.

  “IS THAT SOOOOO?!?!?!”

  The voice, which sounded as though it had risen from the very depths of hell, was Mile’s.

  Mile, who was now trembling with rage.

  There were various levels to Mile’s anger: First, there was pouting and sulking. This meant that she was just in a bit of a bad mood, and though she might grouse and be cross for a little while, it was nothing much to worry about. Then, there were the times she showed no expression at all. This meant that she was quite angry. In these instances, she was cool, composed, and relentless in dealing with her enemies. This happened when, for example, she took on stalkers in her previous life or bandits in this one.

  Finally, there were the times when she truly showed her anger. This was the case when someone harmed her allies or someone else important to her. For example, during the fight against the elder dragons…

  “Little miss, would you mind showing me to the place where Faleel was abducted? You’ll take me there, won’t you?”

  Nodnodnodnodnod! Methelia nodded vigorously.

  “Well then, let’s get going!”

  She’s scary! She’s so scary! Reina thought. However, as the leader of the Crimson Vow—er, well, as the true director of the party, with the most experience as a hunter—there was something that she had to do.

  “Pauline, you go with the owner here to the Guild! Have him place an emergency request and then accept that request immediately!”

  “Huh?”

  Both Faleel’s father and Sir Dafrel seemed perplexed.

  “Th-this isn’t the time!” the owner protested. “If you want money, I’ll pay you afterwards! Just hurry up and find Faleel! Please, I need you to find my daughter!”

  “Calm down!” said Reina, explaining, “We are going to give this search our all. That’s precisely why this step is necessary. If we head out immediately, this will officially be nothing more than an independent operation. Assuming that we find Faleel and a battle breaks out, it will be considered a personal conflict, and if the abductors have been hired by a noble or someone else with wealth, there’s a chance that we’ll be labeled as attackers or villains. And if that happens, then we might never get Faleel back.”

  “Oh…” The owner was nearly speechless.

  “That’s why we file the emergency request. If you make a public announcement to the Guild about Faleel’s kidnapping, file an emergency request for her rescue, and ask for the capture—or annihilation—of the offenders, Pauline can accept it, making our mission an official request. Anyone who might try to hinder us becomes an enemy of the Guild. And you know that no upstanding hunter, mercenary, aristocrat, or merchant would ever want to make an enemy of the Hunters’ Guild, don’t you?”

  Indeed, just as the merchant company and local lord involved with the incident in Pauline’s hometown had fretted over such a thing, the owner of the inn knew that going up against the Guild could prove fatal for anyone, regardless of their position in society. Reina was not the only one aware of this; the other three members of the Vow knew it just as well, nodding along with her explanation. Such fundamental facts had been covered at the Hunters’ Prep School. Classroom lessons were not just meant for nap time, after all.

  “Plus, if we should end up in a tight situation, as long as we’re on an official job and abiding by their terms, the Guild will send us backup—even if our enemy turns out to be a noble or merchant. In other words…”

  “In other words?” the owner asked, his breath caught in his throat.

  Reina grinned wickedly and replied, “In other words, we’ll be able to ensure our enemies learn that whoever tries to mess with little Faleel—with any friend of ours—will soon come to find they’d be better off dead. Those kidnappers are going to find out very, very soon what happens to anyone who tries to lay a hand on a friend of the Crimson Vow…”

  At these words, a big smile spread across Mavis’s face. A smile that would make anyone who knew Mavis back away very quickly.

  The smile was…dark. In fact, it was a terrifyingly dark expression, which the truly warmhearted Mavis would never show in any normal situation.

  Pauline, meanwhile, had on her usual smile… Which was to say, it was a wicked grin.

  Yet the scariest was still Mile, whose face was utterly lacking in expression. She was truly the most frightening of them all.

  “The terms of the job,” Reina declared, “will be Faleel’s rescue and the capture of the criminals—or else, their annihilation! If someone’s behind this, we’ll wipe them out! Now, Crimson Vow, roll out!”

  “Let’s go!!!”

  While Pauline and the owner headed to the guildhall, the others followed Methelia to the site of the kidnapping. The matron and her sons remained behind to mind the inn.

  “………”

  Mile’s continued silence induced terror in the rest of the group. Reina, Mavis, the owner, Dafrel, and his daughter were all livid too, but the powerful, oppressive aura emanating from Mile’s entire being was overwhelming.

  Finally, Mile broke her silence to ask, “Reina, what do you suppose those criminals were after?”

  Feeling Mile’s aura brighten just a bit, Reina replied hurriedly, “I-I wonder. The only things that come to mind are fairly random—trafficking or some sick perverts who want to use a child as a plaything and kill her for sport… The other possibility is someone who was after Faleel specifically because they knew that she was half-beast.”

  “Because she’s half-beast, you say?”

  “I mean, of course. There’s all sorts…people who think that beastfolk are lower life-forms or people who say that having beasts living among humans is going to bring down some sort of divine judgment on everyone… And obviously there are people like you, Mile, who are just really into beast—Eep!”

  “Don’t lump my appreciation for beast-eared girls in with those cretins!”

  Mile was definitely still terrifying.

  “Regardless, it is most likely that Faleel’s beast lineage is the reason for all this. Whether they intend to sell her or have some other purpose in mind…”

  “Huh?”

  The others looked perplexed at Mile’s remark.

  “Wh-what makes you so sure of that?”

  “Well, Methelia herself said it: when the kidnappers spotted Faleel, they shouted, ‘There she is!’ That means that they had to have been aiming for Faleel from the start, hadn’t they? Any normal ransom-seekers or slavers or perverts would have taken little Methelia along too, wouldn’t they? Given that they didn’t abduct—or even try to silence—her means that they mustn’t have had any intention of doing harm to anyone other than Faleel. Normally, a criminal tries to eliminate witnesses to delay the discovery of their crime or to prevent them from giving testimony. A flick of a knife would be enough to buy them the few extra seconds they needed. However, the fact that they didn’t even try that means that we’re dealing with some fairly honorable individuals… At least when it comes to anyone besides Faleel.”

  “S-silence me?!”

  “A f-flick of a knife?!”

  Finally realizing the danger that she had been in, both Methelia and Dafrel went pale as sheets.

  After running for between ten and fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at the field where Methelia and Faleel had been playing. In fact, it was not particularly far, but a child’s legs were not very speedy. Though Dafrel had tried to carry his daughter on his back at first, she was around six years old, meaning that letting her run on her own was actually faster.

  “Th-this is it! This was where those men…”

  Methelia pointed ahead to a spot where the grass was disturbed—the place where Faleel had tried to fend off her attackers and where Methelia had tried to help her friend.

  Suddenly, Mile shouted something very peculiar.

  “Smell, become sight!”

  “What??” Both R
eina and Mavis spoke up, understandably confused.

  “It’s a spell to turn my sense of smell into vision.”

  …Obviously.

  “And what the heck does that mean?!” Reina protested, leaving Mile with no choice but to elaborate.

  “If I were a dog, I could track Faleel’s scent. However, we don’t have a trained dog or any article with Faleel’s scent, so instead I’m using magic to enhance my sense of smell. That way, I can track her scent myself. Normally, smell is something that you sense with your nose, but my nose doesn’t have the ability to determine the strength or the direction of a particular smell. So instead of trying to detect the smell with my nose, I’m changing the scent traces to visual information so that I can ‘smell’ with my eyes!”

  “………?”

  Neither Dafrel nor any member of the Crimson Vow appeared to have any idea what Mile was talking about. Methelia was, of course, not even part of the equation.

  “Never mind! Our time is precious here, so please just hush and follow me!”

  With that, Mile began to look intently all around her.

  “There it is! Let’s go!”

  Picking up on the scent trail of the kidnappers, Mile walked forward, her eyes to the ground. The other four quickly followed behind.

  “Mile,” asked Reina, “do you really know Faleel’s scent that well?”

  “Reina, why exactly do you think I’ve sniffed her so many times before now?!”

  “………”

  Everyone, save Methelia, was thoroughly taken aback at Mile’s matter-of-fact reply.

  Truth be told, of the two scent trails that had come from the direction of the inn, one had clearly headed back the way they’d come, while the other stretched off the opposite way. The one that had returned was clearly Methelia’s. Several other scents had come from the opposite direction and then retraced their steps. With that evidence, determining which smell was Faleel’s was a no-brainer.

  “Mavis,” said Mile, “Pauline and the owner should be finished up at the Guild by now. I think I’ve got a lock on the direction, so I’m going to proceed this way for a little while. Can you go back to the Guild and fetch Pauline?”