Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 5 Read online

  “Say now, Chief of Finances… Is that rock lizard I spy?”

  “Yes, so it would seem.”

  “And down there, is that a whole roasted deer…? Just how many tens of gold pieces do they intend to let these urchins gobble down?”

  “They appear to be intent on using up more in a single day than the Crown allots to the orphanage in an entire year.”

  “……”

  Once everyone had finally eaten all they could, and the children were stuffed and happy, Mile’s voice rang out again:

  “Now then, it’s time for the games to begin!”

  Naturally, just serving up food and compelling the children to talk to one another would not make for much of an event. Even Mile wouldn’t overlook such a fundamental fact.

  In fact, Mile, who had always been an outsider when it came to cultural festivals and other school events in her previous life, was not going to let a chance like this slip by her. No matter what, she was determined to take part in the games she had planned. That was the root of her motivation.

  “Without further ado, we invite you to participate in our Doll Wrestling tournament—‘DolWres,’ for short.”

  At that, four small figures, each around thirty centimeters in height, appeared on the stage that had been erected.

  According to Mile’s explanation, sufficiently amplified throughout the venue using wind magic, the four were small-scale golems known as “Dolls.” Those who aimed to utilize these techniques as a means of warfare disguised it as a game and planned an exhibition of skills, hoping to steal the Doll techniques of other countries for their own. In order to put a stop to that plan, one heroine who fought in the name of justice arose.

  The Dolls were operated by their owners’ verbal commands.

  “Ogar, fight!”

  A doll in the shape of an ogre, dressed in the trappings of an infantryman—the super heavy-weight, power-type fighter known as “Devout Soldier, Ogar”—stepped forward. The operator, playing the role of the ringleader of the evil organization, was Pauline.

  “Go, Beast King Marl!”

  The fighter controlled by Mile, the heroine of justice, was a speed-type Doll in the shape of a beastman, called “Beast King Marl.”

  Choosing to have the beastman be an ally of justice was just one facet of Mile’s stealthy marketing scheme to promote the social standing of beastpeople, for the sake of young beast-eared girls the world around.

  And then, to serve as assistants for both sides, two more fully automated Dolls appeared.

  On the enemy side was Zenio, a Doll who had the looks of a secretary, with fox ears and a tail to match. On Marl’s side was Marcy, a maid with feline features.

  And then, the true battle began.

  Power versus speed. Destructive blows versus skillful slashes. Both sides taking hit after hit, energy slowly dwindling.

  During the breaks in the match, Zenio and Marcy stepped in to administer first aid to any damage done to the other Dolls and resupply them with power.

  However, owing to his lightweight construction, the heavy damage soon began taking its toll on Beast King Marl, and he found himself in grave danger.

  Yet just when it looked as though it was the end for the champion, suddenly, riding atop her noble steed, appeared Cherry, the lightweight princess knight Doll. It appeared that she had no assistant, but the moment she dismounted, her steed stood upon its hind legs and transformed into the humanoid assistant Doll, Raging Speeder.

  “I know much of your deeds, Beast King Marl. I’ve come to your aid!”

  Naturally, the puppeteer behind Cherry was Mavis.

  In truth, Reina had wanted to play the part as well, but Mavis had begged on her knees, so the role was hers. It was abundantly clear that one who aimed to be a knight, as she did, would never let such a chance slip through her fingers.

  With Cherry bursting onto the scene, the match now became a three-sided battle royale.

  The children were thrilled.

  The adults were speechless.

  This was hardly surprising—none of them had ever witnessed such a spectacle.

  Also, there was that particular bit of Mile’s patter about “those who aimed to utilize these techniques as a means of warfare.”

  They could not help but think about what might happen if these Dolls were constructed at human size. Or worse yet, larger still—the size of rock golems? And then if they really were used on the battlefield?

  A cold sweat ran down the backs of all the invited guests’ necks.

  The Dolls before them moved only on command from their human handlers, one action at a time, but in truth, their bodies were being moved independently via the nanomachines. Thanks to a prior discussion with Mile, a temporary contract of authority had been established so that, within permissible bounds, the nanomachines would obey and enact each of the Doll’s user’s directions. Naturally, this had only been accomplished through a detailed discussion with the nanomachines ahead of time.

  Normally, Mile assiduously avoided calling upon the nanomachines in her everyday life or her work as a hunter for frivolous purposes, but she figured it was probably fine for a one-off occasion such as this.

  She would never bring them into her work or private matters, but if it wasn’t for work, but rather, for charity, then it was fine, wasn’t it?

  That was her thinking—and the nanomachines went along with it. They were delighted at the chance to do “something interesting,” an opportunity that presented itself only very rarely for them. It seemed that news of the event had already proliferated via the nanomachine network across the entire world…

  “Why do you take up arms against us, Beast King Marl?!”

  “Why, you ask? One needs not a reason to fight in the name of justice! Why do you sully your hands with such foul deeds?!”

  Naturally, the ones speaking the lines were not the Dolls themselves, but their handlers, Pauline and Mile.

  “Bwahaha, then I might say the same to you. Does one need a reason for which to do evil? Dare I say: because it’s fun? Counting up all the money you’ve earned is simply delightful! Haaahahahaha!”

  When it came to the role of a villain, Pauline was a natural.

  “Both gold coins and the lives of men must be spent wisely!” the princess knight Cherry interjected. “What is the worth—where is the meaning?!—in hoarding your coins and living a life without purpose?! I will show you how my spirit burns!!”

  With that, a fierce battle raged once more between the three, and the crowd—children and adults alike—went wild! The adults, seeming to forget that this event was for the sake of the children and that they were merely present as spectators, joined in the cheering, a great clamor spreading throughout the hall.

  And Mile, watching as the battle continued to rage atop the stage, thought to herself that it was time to begin the final showdown…

  Ka-shink!

  Tumble…

  “Oh…”

  Ogar’s sword struck Cherry’s breastplate, and it went clattering to the floor. Suddenly, Cherry’s naked chest was in full view.

  There was nothing else beneath to hide her breasts, which were now dewy with moisture. No shirt, no undergarments—

  nothing.

  And, for some reason, they were sculpted in full detail.

  The adults stared in shock, the young boys with intense interest. The girls stomped upon the boys’ feet.

  “She’s braless!! It’s over! This match is oveeeeeer!!!”

  Now, granted, they were quite different from the garments that Mile knew back on Earth, but this world did still have items that ladies wore over their chests. In her mind, Mile referred to these garments as “bras,” and in her panic, the word had slipped out.

  Despite her peculiar choice to give the female Doll such a well-sculpted bosom, Mile had not included any garments for her chest. She simply had not thought that far ahead.

  Even though she was a Doll, having Cherry continue to fight half-na
ked would absolutely be sending the wrong message to the children. Therefore, Mile decided to call the match to an immediate stop rather than waiting until the final blow was struck.

  Plus, it would be unforgivable to continue such a scandalous spectacle in the middle of a church, at an event that had the church and an orphanage as its sponsors.

  “But whyyyyyyyy?!” Mavis cried out, devastated that her grand finale had been so abruptly cut short. Her protests were ignored. Mile, in a great hurry, used her superior authority to issue a command to withdraw to the nanomachines who had been entrusted with making the Dolls move, and the figures all shuffled away into storage—after the nanomachines controlling them had cleared out, of course.

  One of these days, Mile would have to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with the nanomachines who had participated today, in order to apologize and recognize their services.

  In fact, at the moment, Mile was sitting on the ground having a conversation inside her head with the nanomachines. With her eyes closed, it looked from the outside like, rather than participating in a conference, she had dozed off. Other than the nanomachines who lived in the strands of Mile’s hair, most nanomachines rarely had a chance to contact her directly, and so a lively exchange was in progress.

  ***

  After that, the gathering came to a lackluster end.

  This did not mean it had been a failure. In fact, it would not be out of the question to label it a huge success.

  Following the wardrobe malfunction, the adults who had come to observe took to the stage, putting on their scariest faces and ordering everyone to keep their lips sealed about what they had witnessed today—and so the “DolWres” incident became a secret, known only to those who had been present in that room.

  The children were dying to talk about the astonishing spectacle, but as it turned out, the only ones they could talk to about it with were the other urchins and orphans.

  The shared secret granted them a sense of camaraderie and connection.

  By a means that she never expected, Mile’s aim was accomplished.

  Furthermore, the sponsors who had been in attendance, now realizing that the orphans had a group of considerable wealth and skill to assist them, increased their contributions to the institute in the hopes of strengthening their connection to Mile and her cohort.

  Grants from the Crown then increased severalfold as well, the royal family stating that it would be remiss of them to let support from private citizens outstrip their own. Of course, in truth, they too secretly hoped to appeal to the Crimson Vow, but the girls themselves were entirely oblivious to this.

  Later, a messenger from the “invited guests” appeared, asking a slew of questions in regard to the Dolls. In response, he received a slew of answers: The dolls had been discovered within the ruins of a faraway country, and they had no idea how they were constructed; no, they only moved if the operator was within ten meters of them; no, they would only respond to the commands of the first person to command them; no, it was impossible to reassign operators; yes, but when, previously, they lent one to a magical researcher who wished to study them, the next day that researcher’s atelier was blasted apart by an explosion, et cetera, et cetera—until, disappointed, the messenger gave up and returned home, dragging his feet all the way.

  One day, Mile and the others were walking down the back roads of the city when they again encountered the urchins from before.

  “My, you all look well! How is work going for you?” Mile asked.

  The children grinned and replied, “It’s goin’ great. Those guys at the orphanage have gotten all these grants and donations now, so they’re livin’ comfy. Plus, we’ve completely moved outta the odd job business around here, so that seems like it’s pretty good for them, too. Well, it probably sucks havin’ to fend off all the guys that want them to do dodgy or illegal things, but we definitely don’t take on that sorta stuff anymore…”

  “Whuh…?”

  Well, this was new. Having been unaware of such a shift in the world order, the Crimson Vow were unable to mask their shock.

  “W-wait, how did this…?”

  Seeing the shock upon Mile’s face, the boy who was speaking mirrored her expression with one of equal surprise, asking, “What are you talkin’ about? It’s all thanks to that get-together you put on. Apparently, just afterwards, the orphanage started gettin’ a bunch more money comin’ in. All the adults who were watchin’ started givin’ ’em lots.

  “As fer us, we got a chance to build our own reputations and abilities as hunters on our own two feet, not relyin’ on anyone else. We don’t need those odd jobs around town when we can go huntin’ and gatherin’ out in the fields and take down little monsters and such… Well, to be truthful, it ain’t entirely all on our own. It’s all thanks to our Big Bro and our Lady of Grace.”

  The girls had no idea who the boy meant by “Big Bro” or “Lady of Grace,” but it was clear to them that there were those in this world who had lent their strength to these urchins. How splendid. How splendid indeed…

  Later, when the urchins returned to the abandoned shack that served as their lair, they gave their report to Big Bro.

  “We saw the Lady of Grace earlier.”

  “I see.”

  “She’s lookin’ as cheerful as always. Honestly, I can’t imagine her not lookin’ that way.”

  “I see.”

  “What’s this, ‘I see, I see’? Are you really okay with not ever seein’ her? Even when she came to check in on us, you just hid away and didn’t even call out or anythin’ before she left! If you keep slackin,’ some other guy’s gonna snatch her away!”

  “I see… That would be bothersome, wouldn’t it?”

  “So hurry up and go talk to her…”

  At their urging, the youth known as “Big Bro” grimaced.

  “It’s not time. I’m still not worthy of her. I need to become a better man fi—”

  “How long are you gonna keep draggin’ your feet on this?!”

  “For as long as I have to. That’s the path to ‘sophistication,’ as I think they’d put it where she’s from.”

  “Sophistication?”

  “Yeah, sophistication.”

  “I don’t get it…”

  At this, the youth only laughed.

  Later, unbeknownst to Mile, a new title had been given to the spectacle put on at the Solidarity Conference:

  “BraWres.”

  Mile herself had in fact labeled the event “DolWres” for short, but apparently, the word she had shouted at the close of the scene, “braless,” had left a far stronger impression.

  Thankfully for Mile, only a very small portion of the population was even aware of the name, and so after a while, it slipped away into the dark corners of history. There it died, the hapless originator of the term never the wiser…

  Chapter 39:

  A Town I Once Knew

  “Let’s stop in this town tonight,” said Reina. “If any good, quick jobs show up, then we can earn a little money while we’re here, too.”

  It had been nearly ten days since the Crimson Vow departed from the capital. It was almost evening when they arrived at a small town and Reina made her proposal. The other three nodded in agreement.

  They had decided as a group that while they were traveling, they would not use up any of the money they had earned while living in the capital. Using money that had been earned ahead of time would make for too luxurious of a journey and would directly contrast the practical nature of their venture. All the money they had earned so far was stored away. The money for their journey was its own coffer. In fact, they hoped to use this opportunity to add even more to their savings.

  “Well then, before we find an inn, let’s stop by the guildhall and see what’s going on around here.”

  “Okay!”

  They could not possibly reserve a room without knowing whether there were any appealing—or at least interesting—jobs around. Depending on the terms of a jo
b, they might be setting back out immediately, and even a client providing lodging for them was not an impossibility. Although the chances of such a thing were incredibly low…

  Creak…

  As always, the moment they opened the door of the guildhall, all of the hunters who were already present turned as one to look.

  No matter what hall or in what new place they stopped, it was always the same. But of course, this was a habit of hunters, so one could expect nothing less.

  And, as always, the onlookers were split into two groups—those who saw that they were only a bunch of little girls and immediately looked away, interest lost, and those who harbored too much of the wrong sort of interest and continued to ogle them.

  Or not.

  “Hey, is that…?”

  “The ‘Copper Cutter’?”

  “That’s the girl who snips away other hunters’ self-confidence and pride! So she’s come back home…”

  As the commotion in the guild arose, so did the four girls’ panic.

  “Aah! Miss Mile!”

  A voice called out to them from behind the reception counter, drawing even more of the room’s focus to the four girls.

  That was when the memories came flooding back, and Mile suddenly shouted, “Oh! Miss Lowry!”

  “It’s Laura!”

  The receptionist corrected her, and Mile muttered to herself, “I did think the streets of this town looked awfully familiar…”

  Soon after, the guild master, who had been told the news, came running down from the second floor, clutching Mile’s hands with his and swinging her around, tears in his eyes.

  “You… you finally came back to us! Please, just wait here for a little while—we’ll have a feast!”

  With that, he ordered Laura to go and make some reservations at an eatery, then flew back to his office to finish up his remaining work.

  “What was that all about?” Reina asked, glaring.