Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 8 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 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 came hurtling their way—from golems, invading foreign soldiers, and doting fathers to elder dragons, the strongest creatures in the world! Reina developed a crush, and even Mavis, their leader, received a wedding proposal!

  The four have overcome many adversaries, but their greatest battle lies ahead of them. The empire to the south has suddenly launched an invasion of Mile’s old home. The four now hurry on their way to the Ascham lands…

  Chapter 63:

  The Fief of Ascham

  Mile’s soul was an amalgamation: the product of two souls that joined together one day three years ago—the souls of ten-year-old Adele and eighteen-year-old Misato Kurihara. However, in truth, Adele and Misato were the same person all along—the same consciousness and the same soul. During the time that she was Adele, Misato was still herself, merely rebooted from nothing, without her memories or faculties of reasoning.

  To put it simply, Adele was the sort of person that Misato might have become had she been born into this world. That was Adele von Ascham.

  Thus, when their spirits were finally brought together, there were zero incompatibilities. They were merely two instances of the same application running on the same operating system, simply with different output results based on varying input data regarding growth and education. In other words, on a software level, they were fundamentally the same.

  And then, those two sets of results had been concatenated.

  As such, neither of the sides had been subsumed. They were one soul, with two sets of memories. That was Mile.

  Therefore, while Misato’s personality was at the forefront—thanks to her portion of the experience having fundamentally more memories—Adele’s personality was represented as well. Along with, of course, her memories.

  Most of the staff at the manor have been replaced with people who knew neither me nor my mother, but even those who were fired are probably still living on our lands. All of those former servants were so kind to me up until Mother and Grandfather died, and until they were forced out… And then, there’s the fief of Ascham, which was looked after by Grandfather, Mother, and all of our ancestors before them, and all of the citizens who live there…

  Though Mile had made the decision to cast her old home aside—to have nothing more to do with it ever again—that was a rational decision that she had made as Misato. Adele’s will, and Adele’s memories, could not be so easily expunged.

  “What do you look so puzzled for? It’s not that complicated!” Reina called to Mile, who was deep in thought, her brow furrowed. “The Albarn Empire is to the south of Brandel, your homeland, but it also comes into contact with this kingdom, Vanolark, and also Tils, Mavis and Pauline’s homeland and the place where we’re all registered as hunters. By traveling west, we came to Vanolark via Brandel, which is to the northwest of Tils. There’s also a route that passes through Albarn, but obviously, most people aren’t interested in taking it, so we avoided it, too.”

  Reina had referred to Tils as “Mavis and Pauline’s homeland” because, as the daughter of a traveling peddler, Reina had no idea where she had been born. Her father had never even given her any hints.

  “Now, when it comes to our return, we obviously won’t be taking the Albarn route, so we’ll be traveling back on the Brandel side of the border. We’ll have to avoid any places that have been touched by the invasion, of course. In order to do that, we need to pick whichever path will get us to Ascham the quickest.”

  As she spoke, Reina indicated a highway on the map that was a short distance from the border. It was a different route from the one by which they had come, which ran a bit farther to the north. Thus, this new route was slightly farther from the border.

  The four agreed with Reina’s suggestion and packed their things away into storage. Yes, it was time for that old standard, the Sonic Speed maneuver… Of course, all they had really packed away were the items that they had to carry by hand, so the move did not fully live up to its name, but their speed improved at least a little bit. This increase in speed was a manifestation of everyone’s desire to move quickly.

  Even if they didn’t rush, they would probably still arrive before the Albarnian forces could reach Ascham.

  In this world, wars took a very long time. One had to accumulate resources and then rally the interim forces (in other words, farmers) to battle, begin training them, and complete all last-minute preparations. Then, even after the actual military operations had begun, the marching and the battles themselves took time. It was common for both sides to end up at standoff for some weeks or to have blockades or sieges that dragged on for months.

  In this case, it was clear that the Empire was probably gunning for a swift victory, but even so, their advance would be crippled by skirmishes, ambushes, traps, and surprise attacks, so the speed of their advance could never be comparable to that of an army on modern-day Earth.

  ***

  Just a few days later, the Crimson Vow were already well within Brandel’s borders. The Ascham fief was nearly on the horizon.

  “That was a huge waste of money!” Pauline groused as they walked.

  While thus far the Crimson Vow had spent every night camping out so as not to waste time, they did now and then swing by the larger towns they passed to gather information. They had made some paid inquiries at numerous Guild branches, but the information from each was more or less the same as what they had heard in the very first town. There was essentially no new information nor any further detail that the employees could offer… Indeed, from the second stop onward, paying for Guild information had been both a waste of money and time.

  Pauline understood the value of information and would have gladly shelled out a half-gold at each guildhall if they had anything new to tell. However, no matter how many days passed and no matter how close they got to their destination, the information was all exactly the same as it had been on the very first day. So, Pauline’s complaints of wasted money were more or less valid. Though one could argue that the “information” they had bought was that there was no new information, but still…

  “We have to assume that either one Guild branch got their hands on the information and then transmitted it to all the other Guild branches, or that whoever initially sold them the report continued moving west, selling it to other branches as they went… In other words, there’s only one source. Are we sure we should trust it…?” Mavis worried.

  Pauline, however, felt more confident.


  “I mean, this is information that the Guild was willing to sell to us, right? I can’t imagine that they would buy any story unless it came from someone with the right credentials. Either they’ve been presented with sufficient evidence, or they have some other reason to deem the information reliable. Plus, they seem fairly informed as to the whole thing.”

  What Pauline said was not incorrect, but Mile could not help but retort mentally, They said things like that on the evening news all the time, but just who are these “informed sources” they’re always referencing? If you don’t reveal who provided you with the information, you may as well be saying, “I heard it from a little old lady down at the tobacco shop…”

  Nevertheless, it was fair to say that the accuracy of the information was not a major concern here.

  If the enemies were invaders from the Empire, pushing into the Kingdom of Brandel with unknown intentions and no formal declaration, then the kingdom could strike back without reservation. Other countries, if asked, would place all the blame on the attackers—the imperial forces. In fact, as they had not issued a formal declaration of war, they were technically an unknown group of armed attackers and could be treated as no better than bandits. Yes, they probably were bandits. That had to be it!

  If the kingdom laid waste to a group like that, no one would care. The ones who would do the smashing could be the kingdom’s own troops, or mercenaries—it didn’t matter which, and it didn’t matter who hired them…

  “Now then, as previously discussed: today we are not hunters who took a request through the Guild but fighters who were hired independently. Therefore, we will not call ourselves ‘hunters’ but ‘mercenaries.’ It’s not that we are misrepresenting ourselves by saying that we are not hunters, but rather that we are operating in the role of hunters who have taken on a job as mercenaries. As such, we aren’t breaking any rules. On the off chance that someone says to us, ‘Hey, aren’t you all hunters?’ we have to tell the truth: that we’re registered as hunters, but right now we’re working as mercenaries.” As they walked, Mile ran through the plan once again.

  The other three gave emphatic nods. They had already discussed this many times on their journey, but this was the final confirmation before they embarked on the real deal. It would have been surprising for anyone to pick this moment for questions or objections.

  “Our party that we have formed as hunters is one thing, but as your leader, I would now like to put together a band of mercenaries. All who wish to be included, please raise your hand.”

  Three hands went up into the air.

  “Thank you very much. Now then, I formally declare the mercenary band, the Order of the Crimson Blood, in operation!”

  And so, they became the Order of the Crimson Vow through and through, cloaked in an ironclad deception.

  Not even Reina, confident as she was, thought that the four of them were capable of getting involved in a war. All she had been thinking was that if they didn’t do something right away, Mile would regret it for the rest of her life. Her intention was to let Mile act as recklessly as she liked but drag her back out before things got too hairy—using force if necessary.

  No one else needs to suffer a lifetime of regret from their own inaction. I know that feeling all too well… Reina thought.

  Mavis, meanwhile, fully intended to save the Ascham lands. If it’s for the sake of Mile, who always believed in my dreams, and who’s saved me again and again, I’d forsake even the gods…

  No one could guess what Pauline was thinking, but a vague smile drifted across her face.

  And as for Mile…

  I can’t just abandon them. Even if it means I’ll lose any chance I had of a happy, peaceful life…

  How could she be thinking such a thing when Misato’s thoughts were at the forefront? Did that mean that her spirit was being poisoned by Adele von Ascham’s childish sense of justice?

  No. By her very nature, Misato Kurihara was the sort of person who would throw herself before a speeding truck to save the life of a little girl she had never even seen before. It was not peculiar in the slightest that she would feel the way she did now.

  If it comes down to the wire, I can announce myself as Adele… Better still, the Servant of the Goddess. I have to save all my people, even if that’s what it takes. And I won’t let a single one of my friends die in the process!

  She was fully and utterly committed to going into battle with just their band of four…

  ***

  “Enemies from the Albarn Empire, huh?” spat Juno, the leader of the Ascham troops stationed nearest the fief’s edge.

  The imperial forces that had invaded so suddenly had already leveled the lands of Count Cesdol, which abutted with the national border. Their arrival on the Ascham lands was imminent. However, Juno did not regard these brigands, who had come barging in without even a formal declaration of war, to be real military troops. They were merely brigands. Such an appellation was more than sufficient for ruffians like them.

  Though the Ascham territory belonged only to a viscount, it boasted far more troops than similar fiefs because it was so near the border. Yet the strength of which they had boasted until just a few years ago had been greatly diminished of late.

  “Damn that bastard son-in-law…”

  Juno was, of course, referring to the man who had married into the Ascham family—the husband of the previous viscount’s only daughter, Mabel.

  After Mabel and her father were mysteriously attacked and killed, there was scarcely a person around who didn’t have their suspicions. However, none were in a position to stop the usurper—a corrupt man whose only clout came from being the descendent of some count somewhere—who had waltzed in with his mistress and illegitimate daughter, slashed the budget for the fief’s military upkeep, and redirected the funds toward his own luxurious lifestyle. As a result of all this, their combat resources had plummeted—manpower, equipment, and training alike.

  Thankfully, all those who had schemed to push Adele out and take over the household—in spite of their utter lack of Ascham blood—had been discovered and brought to justice. In the end, they and their associates served only to wet the guillotine’s blade. Adele, the rightful heir, had vanished for her own safety, but the king himself had personally dispatched a minister to manage the fief until her return. However, although the new minister was trying his darnedest, the fief’s military strength was still nowhere near restored.

  Besides, even at their most powerful, the fief’s troops were still only the forces of a viscount. Even if it were only a fraction of the Empire’s forces that they were up against, there was no way that they could be expected to have the power to repel troops belonging to the army of a large nation. At best, they could only hope to buy themselves a bit of time until reinforcements from the Crown, or from other territories, could arrive.

  In truth, their chances of even getting that far were slim. Theirs was a backwater fief with little to offer, whose ruling family had been first embroiled in a scandal and then eliminated. There was not a lord or king in all the land who would be willing to march their troops out into the fray of a battle where they would certainly take great losses for the Ascham fief. No, they would be seeing neither hide nor hair of reinforcements until the others had rallied all of their defenses together and were prepared for a decisive strike…

  In all likelihood, the place that would become the frontlines of Brandel’s counteroffensive would be somewhere north of here at the forfeit of the Ascham lands.

  Even if that counterstrike should be a success, their forces would have gone to battle not once, but twice, after being devastated by the imperial occupation. Their food and valuables would be plundered, their crops and fields trampled, and their population overflowing with orphans, widows, and casualties of war. At that point, any prospects of the future would be grim.

  Our beloved former lord and Lady Mabel would never forgive me… I made an oath. I swore to them that until my dying breath—no, even bey
ond that—I would pledge to be a god of vengeance, striking to protect the Ascham lands…

  Indeed, Juno—who had been taken in by the old lord, Adele’s grandfather, and grown from a poor orphan into the head of the fief’s military forces—would lay down his life, his soul, his everything without a moment’s hesitation for the sake of the house of Ascham.

  It was twenty years ago.

  Juno was ten years old, lying in the back alleys of the Ascham capital on the brink of death, when he was offered refuge from a life that was little better than that of a beast or insect. By the lord’s mercy, he was granted the life of a human with honor and purpose.

  Surely, there was no noble in the world who would go out of their way to take in a commoner—a filthy, half-dead orphan, no less—and yet, it had happened.

  He was given a sword, an education, training, and a position as then-twelve-year-old Mabel’s guard…or rather, as her playmate-slash-attendant, regardless of the fact that he was the younger of the pair.

  “Juno, let’s go into the forest and capture some kobolds! I was thinking of raising some as pets!”

  “Ahaha! You fell for it! I tied the grass together right there! Now you have to sit through today’s etiquette lesson for me. See you later!”

  “Juno, I’m going to go take a bath in that stream, so I need you to watch me to make sure I don’t drown or get snatched up by monsters or anything. Don’t take your eyes off me!”

  In all of Juno’s days, there was no job that he completed as fervently—no job as rewarding—as that one.

  For the sake of protecting the Ascham lands and the Ascham family, to whom he owed so very much, Juno toned his body and trained hard every day, until he finally attained his peak: the polished physical form of a warrior. Furthermore, he honed the knowledge necessary to defend Ascham from any enemy attack, whether by force or by more civil methods.