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

  “On it!”

  After a short time, Mavis returned with Pauline, the owner of the inn, and five other hunters in tow.

  “Wh-what are they doing here?!” Reina raged.

  Pauline lowered her head in apology.

  “S-sorry. They overheard us when we were going through the emergency request process with the receptionist and said that they wanted to take the job, too. I told them that we would be taking the job, but they just—I even told them that the pay was only going to be one silver, and they still…”

  “When these five were just starting out and sleeping at inns, they stayed with us for a time,” the owner chimed in. “They would cuddle and dote on Faleel, too… I set the pay for the job to be only one silver, like you said, but they said that was fine. Honestly, as far as I’m concerned, even having just one more hunter is a big help. So, I gladly accepted their kindness. We can all work together!”

  The Vow were in no position to refuse. They could understand Faleel’s father’s feelings, as well as the feelings of the party that had tagged along.

  Plus, in the case of an emergency request, the client did not get to choose who took the job. If they wanted to do that, they would have to place a direct request—the logic being that if they had time to be choosy, then it probably wasn’t an emergency after all. Of course, the circumstances this time called for the request to be placed as an emergency. It gave the job priority at the Guild and spread news of the request, thus suiting their purposes.

  At any rate, the Crimson Vow had already accepted the job. They still had the right of refusal, but not even Pauline could deny the owner’s request to bring along another party.

  Even Reina realized that there was nothing she could do, shrugging her shoulders.

  Finally, the other party spoke up. “You all can rest at ease now that we’re here! Just leave this to us, and we’ll show you a thing or two! We are five maidens, protected by the Goddess’s grace—the Servants of the Goddess!!!”

  “So, what are you doing, Mile?”

  From here on out, this would be a job for the hunters. Despite their desire to tag along, Faleel’s father, Dafrel, and Methelia were told that, as laymen, they would be an impediment to the groups’ progress. They were sent back to the inn, and as was good form, the two parties briefly introduced themselves to one another—all the while following Mile.

  They previously had met one another at the Guild. However, the Servants had merely butted in on the Crimson Vow’s conversation at that time, so the two parties had never been formally introduced.

  Watching as Mile stared at the ground while leading the group assuredly forward, Telyusia, the 19-year-old leader and the eldest among the Servants of the Goddess, asked the obvious question.

  “She’s tracking the scent,” Reina replied.

  “Tracking the scent???” the Servants asked in unison.

  “Is she a dog?!”

  “Mile, are you half-beast too?”

  “Sorry for farting earlier!”

  “Shut your mouths!”

  “Oo-oh! She’s a feisty one…”

  Mile appeared to be growing angry, which was no surprise. Judging by the fact that the kidnappers had tried to capture Faleel without harming her, and that so little time had elapsed, it was too soon to assume that Faleel was in any real danger. Still, the longer they took, the more the danger grew for the beastgirl. To slip up because they were in a rush would be unforgivable, so Mile was conducting herself carefully, without missing any necessary steps. However, she had no time to let her attention be drawn away by frivolous matters.

  In fact, heightening her own senses and turning olfactory signals into visuals ones did not mean that she had lost her own sense of smell entirely. This was not truly a matter of exchanging sight for smell. After all, if her visual signals turned into olfactory ones, she would not be able to function. Thus, both her sight and her smell remained as they were, with any divergent scents appended to her field of vision. With that information, along with her own, already heightened sense of smell, she could accurately distinguish and follow Faleel’s scent.

  Mile stopped as they reached a fairly wide roadway. “The smell is growing weaker here,” she declared. “They must have carried her this far and then loaded her into a wagon or something to take her from here.”

  “Hmm… That must mean…”

  Reina worried that Mile would no longer be able to track Faleel’s scent, but Mile immediately reassured her. “No, it’s fine. It’s just…”

  “Just, what?”

  “It’s time for us to fly!” she said and broke into a jog, with the Crimson Vow and the Servants of the Goddess following desperately behind. Of course, what was a “jog” for Mile was incredibly fast for the rest of them.

  “I don’t think it was a passenger carriage—probably a delivery wagon. There’s still quite a bit of scent to follow.”

  If they were riding in a passenger vehicle like the sort on Earth, very little smell would escape, meaning that tracking would become quite difficult. In the case of a delivery wagon, with its open bed, this was no issue. Plus, such a vehicle would not be able to pick up any considerable amount of speed. The only time one might travel at full tilt was when one had to go very far, very fast, uncaring of whether the wheels or the axles or even the wagon body itself broke down—for instance, if one was pursued by bandits or monsters. It was unusual enough for a wagon to travel at that sort of pace that such a thing would stand out. There was no way that a group of kidnappers would want to bring such attention to themselves, and besides, it would wear out their horses too quickly. At the rate that the two parties were going, they should have been more than able to catch up with the wagon in no time at all.

  “Hmm… The scent’s weaker now,” Mile said suspiciously.

  Looking ahead, the reason became clear.

  “The city gates…”

  Indeed, it was necessary to pass through the city gates to exit the capital. In order for the kidnappers to do this without being caught, it was likely that they would have shoved Faleel into a box or barrel. Nevertheless, it was still the case that for some distance beyond the city limits, there was only one road big enough for a wagon to travel along. Plus, even if Faleel’s scent dissipated, the scent of the kidnappers and the horses was still strong in the air. There was no way that Mile could lose track of them, at least for as long as Faleel was forced to remain on that particular wagon. Thus, the chase continued!

  “All right, it’s just as I thought!”

  A short time after they had passed through the gates, Faleel’s scent grew stronger again. Keeping the girl in a cramped box or barrel for very long was risky, so at the appropriate moment, once the wagon had gained enough distance from the city, they must have let her back out.

  The others had no idea just what it was that was “as Mile had thought,” but if things were as she suspected then that was probably not bad news. They continued to run, saving their breath by withholding any unnecessary questions.

  “This is it!”

  After proceeding for a short while, Mile came to a halt at the spot where the road veered off to bypass the forest. It was already beginning to grow dark. This world’s moon was rising, but its light would not reach beyond the trees.

  “Here, Faleel dismounted the wagon with three humans. The four of them headed into the forest, while the wagon continued down the road. I’d guess that they wanted the wagon to gain some distance from the capital on the off chance that they were spotted or followed.”

  The kidnappers were right to be cautious—after all, Mile and the others had been following them this whole time.

  “Anyway, that wagon’s not any of our concern. We can deal with capturing the rest of the kidnappers tomorrow once their friends are taken care of. Our focus now is Faleel!”

  The other eight nodded silently in agreement.

  “We might encounter the enemy at any moment now. Keep sharp!”

  They nodded once m
ore.

  “Let’s go!”

  Up until now, they had merely been following along behind Mile, but now, there was no telling when the enemy might appear. They proceeded quickly and quietly, keeping a close watch on their surroundings.

  “I can’t imagine that they would have their main hideout this close to the capital,” Telyusia remarked. “These woods aren’t all that deep, and D and E-rank hunters are always coming through here to hunt and gather. This must just be a temporary waypoint for them. Or else…”

  “Or else?” asked Pauline.

  “Or else they chose this to be the scene of the crime.”

  “………”

  The scene of the crime. Thinking about the meaning of those words, everyone’s expressions hardened.

  They proceeded on silently for a short while more, when suddenly they heard a cry like the hoot of an owl.

  Huh-hoo! Hoo hoo, hoo hoo, hooh!

  “We’ve been spotted,” Mile announced calmly. The Servants of the Goddess nodded, but the members of the Crimson Vow were dumbfounded at this revelation.

  “How do you know?” asked Reina, voicing their shared thought.

  Mile explained: “We haven’t heard any bird cries so far, but we just heard one at a short range as we approached. Besides, the call wasn’t a regular one—there was some sort of pattern to it. I have to guess that it was a night watchman pretending to be a bird in order to relay some information. If I were to establish a birdsong code in order to relay information as a watchman, I would decide on a pattern of sounds to let the others know how many people were approaching—with individual signals for one to four, and one each for five and ten. For example, huh-hoo would be five, and a single hoo might be one, and so forth. Finally, there would be a signal to convey the level of threat. Hohohohoo would mean soldiers, hohoo would mean tough veteran hunters, and just hooh would mean useless young female hunters—or something along those lines.”

  Reina, Mavis, and Pauline listened, awestruck. The Servants, on the other hand, looked as though this information was completely obvious to them.

  “M-Mile, do you have a fever or something?” asked Reina.

  Normally, Mile would have groaned in annoyance at such a jab, but this time she completely ignored it.

  “They’re coming. Four groups of four—sixteen men total!”

  The magic Mile had used to determine this remained within the scope of “investigating with surveillance magic,” rather than the prohibited “asking the nanomachines for information about an opponent,” so she drew on it without reservation. After all, someone’s life hung in the balance—Faleel’s, to be specific.

  At her words, both parties moved quickly from their travel positions into battle formation.

  Given the hastily combined nature of their two-party force, trying to fight as a single unit would be out of the question. Without fully knowing each other’s strengths, they could not efficiently collaborate. Therefore, both parties formed into separate lines. The Crimson Vow had Mavis and Mile in the front line, with Reina and Pauline at the back. The Servants’ front line consisted of Philly, the lancer, in the middle, with the swordswomen Telyusia and Willine flanking her; Tasha the archer-slash-dagger-wielder was at the midline, and on the back line stood Lacelina, the fourteen-year-old mage and youngest of their group. (While they flattered Lacelina by calling her an ‘all-purpose’ mage, in reality, she might be more fairly classified as a ‘jack of all trades and master of none.’)

  Tasha fought primarily using her bow, but in the event that an enemy should break through the front lines or appear from the sides or behind, she would discard it and draw her dagger to defend herself and Lacelina while covering the front line’s backs.

  On top of having to be prepared to adapt to a myriad of situations on the fly, there was a high risk of her losing her bow, as Tasha had to quickly judge a place where she might discard her weapon. It would be a huge loss if her bow were to be trampled underfoot in the scuffle, and since she didn’t have time to store it on her back, she had to quickly find a place that would not be disrupted by the battle and which she might easily reach with a light toss. Even then, she was left with her dagger, forced to fight at close quarters with a weapon that had a shorter reach than her opponents’. Poor Tasha…

  “Mavis, try focusing your strength and directing your spiritual power to your eyes. Then think, ‘Strengthen my eyesight so that I can see in the dark!’”

  “Huh? S-sure, all right.”

  Just as Mile directed, Mavis steeled herself.

  “Uh? Oh my goodness! It feels like my vision is getting brighter…”

  “………”

  Reina and Pauline looked on suspiciously. This “spiritual” power was turning out to be quite an all-purpose skill. It seemed as though it could do just about anything.

  In any event, now they were ready to fight!

  “Who’s there?!”

  Surprisingly, the girls found themselves not being attacked but questioned. Furthermore, what they saw before them now was a single very suspicious-looking man, wrapped in a black cloak with a sword at his side. The others remained lying in wait. Were they aiming for a surprise attack? Or did they hope to simply explain away their presence, believing that the girls had stumbled into the woods by chance? There was no reason for them to think that the girls had tracked their scent and followed them. If they had already confirmed visually that they had made a clean escape, it was not ridiculous for the men to assume that the young hunters had just happened upon them.

  Of course, few people would have a reason to be deep in the forest late at night, so the probability of such a thing occurring was relatively low. Even if this were but a small thicket near to the capital, the woods at night were still a dangerous place. Unless they had some emergency affair to attend to, no one would normally choose to be wandering about in a place like this, particularly not a group of young ladies.

  “We’re hunters. What’s a group like you doing out in the forest in the middle of the night?!”

  Oof… The Servants of the Goddess were greatly vexed. The enemy had gone out of their way to have just a single person appear before them, meaning that they had a valuable chance to lead the conversation and get the other to let something slip. This way, they might obtain useful information. And yet, here Reina had carelessly revealed that they were already aware of the enemy’s true number. Thankfully, her remark seemed to have flown over the man’s head, but it was still a misstep in their negotiations.

  The man bristled. “That’s what I should be asking!”

  Mile’s face twisted as well. Normally she would have grinned and ignored Reina, but right now, gathering information was key, so she was far more serious than usual. Even if they got into a battle and won, there was no guaranteeing that they would get the information they needed. It was better to get the enemy to let something slip while they could still talk, and to that end, they should not be giving anything away.

  “Just what in the world are you all doing out in the forest in the middle of the night?!”

  “When you ask someone a question, it’s customary to explain yourself first! What are you all doing here?!”

  A battle of words unfolded as both Reina and the man refused to cede control of the conversation—of course, it was only natural that two parallel lines would never meet. Apparently, their opponent was not particularly bright, or at the very least, not especially skilled in the art of persuasion…

  “Now!” the man shouted. He had given up on warding them off with words.

  At his command, the remaining men emerged from out of the bushes and trees: fifteen in total. Waiting in ambush did not appear to be part of their strategy.

  Given that none of them had emerged from behind the girls, the men did not seem to have the intention of preventing anyone from running; their formation indicated that as long as no one broke through their lines, then that was good enough.

  All the men were dressed in plain clothes with
black cloaks on top, and each held a sword in their hand, just like the first man to appear. While certainly no one would wear full plate armor in the forest, it was odd that there were so many of them, all raring for a fight, without even leather armor atop their clothing.

  Furthermore, they did not appear to have any mages among them. With this many assembled, it would normally be good to have at least two or three within their ranks. Perhaps there were not enough capable men or this grouping had just happened to come together…

  “They might be disguised. Watch out for magic!” Telyusia warned the Crimson Vow. Clearly, the Servants needed no such warning.

  “………”

  Though their party included Mile, who was dressed as a swordswoman even though she was primarily a mage—and though they had previously come up against mages who were pretending to be normal swordsmen during the false bandit incident—the thought had somehow not occurred to Reina and Pauline. However, Mile and Mavis had already considered such a possibility.

  Meanwhile, the Servants of the Goddess appraised their enemies. Who knows how strong they are in battle, but they’re clearly amateurs when it comes to negotiations…

  If they had been hiding their strength and wished to overwhelm the girls with sheer force, they would have launched a more sudden surprise attack. Ideally, they should have taken word from their commander as the signal to attack at once. Yet with his command, the enemy simply appeared in groups.

  Still, the fact that they were bad at negotiating did not itself mean that they were necessarily unskilled in battle. Soldiers and assassins did not make their bread and butter from chatting with the enemy, and their lack of speaking skill was no indication that they were not strong fighters.

  As the men hustled in, the first one who had shown himself retreated to the three who were likely the rest of his unit, and with that, it seemed that the other side’s battle preparations were complete.

  The Crimson Vow and the Servants of the Goddess were lined up with the Vow on the left and the Servants on the right, leaving about two meters between the two parties. It was necessary to allow that much distance in order to fight safely alongside an ally whose strength and battle style one did not know. However, it was still a short enough distance that there was no fear of an enemy slipping in without suffering an attack from both of the two sides.