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

by Funa

  Much farther east than either of those, in some unknown country, a new religion had begun to flourish.

  The teachings of this religion told of a war between the gods of this world and the gods of another world in the far distant past. Those who heard this story quickly realized that it resembled the legends told by the elves and dwarves.

  That said, there were several important points where these stories differed. The most significant of these was that, while the stories of the elves and dwarves painted the gods of this world as “good” and the gods of the other world as “evil,” this religion’s view of the pantheon held no concept of rank or morality. Their view was simple: the gods of this world had abandoned them, so it was time to worship a new set of gods and receive their divine protection. Similarly, where the elves and dwarves’ legends took the view that, “The elves, dwarves, humans, beastmen, and demons must all join hands to protect this world abandoned by the gods,” these men taught that, “Only humans hold the power to worship the foreign gods. All other races are our enemies.”

  If you’re trying to popularize a new religion, wouldn’t it be easier to choose one that’s accessible to all races? Why bother spreading one that’s less accessible and encourages antagonizing others…?

  Mile had her doubts, but then again, she supposed, most religions were not fully accountable to logic. She decided to think no more about it.

  The legends of the olden days had been lost among humans, and so the stories, as told by the elves and dwarves, had generally been written off as having nothing to do with the human race. Why, now, had stories with similar origins—but completely different perspectives—made a resurgence?

  The men seemed to have little idea. All they knew was that this new faith had spoken to their desires and to the promise of obtaining divine blessing through their deeds, and as a result, they had become believers. The teachings of this religion required no great sacrifices and did not demand they proselytize to others, merely asking them to pray for divine protection to save their own skin—and conduct rituals. The ritual they were attempting the other day was the greatest of these, one they had been preparing for and awaiting just the right moment to perform.

  Indeed, it was a ritual to open a gate to another world and call forth its gods. If they could offer up a sacrifice from one of the aberrant races to one of the gods, their wishes would be granted…

  So they were trying to sacrifice her! Wait, no! I already knew that. The issue here is…

  “And who came up with the incantation for that ritual?”

  “Ah, well. The spells were compiled by the late founder of the sect… They’ve been passed down faithfully, though admittedly, there are some parts that even we don’t understand. Of course, the words aren’t the only important part. It’s crucial that you pray deeply to the gods while you say them…”

  Hm, I think I get it now. I still don’t know where it came from, but otherwise…

  “Well, well. I see. Now that you have answered my questions, I shall be taking my leave. Farewell!”

  “Oh! P-please wait!” the leader pleaded, as Mile, her business concluded, started to make her exit.

  “What is it?”

  “U-um, we’re your believers, so please grant us your protection! Rescue us from this hardship!”

  Receiving divine protection would prove that they were messengers of the gods. Instead of being treated as criminals, they would be lauded as divine messengers. What a total reversal of fate!

  Apparently the men were so desperate for a miracle that they now believed this “Little Evil God” to be a true otherworldly deity—or at least, they were trying very, very hard to do so.

  “There’s no such thing.”

  “What?” the men asked in unison.

  “If a pack of huntsmen came into the woods to hunt, and a jackalope said to them, ‘I am your truest believer! Please grant me your favor, and place me and my brothers at the head of the forest hierarchy!’ do you truly believe that the huntsmen would do so?”

  “………”

  “Of course, anyone other than myself would have already eaten them right from the start. Any foolish jackalope who would show itself right before a huntsman, that is!”

  “………”

  “Oh? Did you all assume that this was my true form? If you were to see my true form, it would shock the life right out of you… Do you wish to see it?”

  Shfshfshfshfshf!

  The men noisily shuffled back from the iron bars as quickly as they could, their backs up against the opposite wall.

  All right! Home free!

  Mile put her full range of barriers back up, just as they had been when she arrived.

  “Sh-she vanished…”

  Leaving behind the men, who were still on the floor, a mix of despair and relief upon their faces, Mile carefully walked out of the building.

  Hopefully, they won’t attempt to use that dimensional linking magic again after this. Fingers crossed, anyway…

  The ritual was one that required the combined magic of a number of mages, something they had only been able to set into motion after gathering their numbers. Now that they would be scattered about, some of them imprisoned or enslaved, it would probably be impossible for them to attempt such a feat again. Once all their terms had ended, there was the possibility of them regrouping and attempting the ritual once more, but given that the eyes of the authorities and their relatives would be upon them, it would likely be very difficult to do so. If they were to try anything at all suspicious again, they would surely be dealt with by their own relations.

  If it came out that one member of a family was a criminal—a cult worshipper, little-girl abductor, and would-be murderer—the young people of that family would never find anyone to take their hand in marriage, after all.

  ***

  Finally, without a sound, Mile slipped back into the inn and returned to the room she shared with the rest of the party. She released her barriers, a black cloak wrapped around her. She gripped the doorknob, gently turned it, and slowly opened the door…

  “Eek!”

  Reina, Mavis, and Pauline were all sitting in chairs facing the doorway.

  “………”

  Mile attempted to close the door again slowly.

  Reina curled her finger, beckoning Mile. Resigned, Mile opened the door wide and entered the room.

  “Care to explain yourself?”

  “Um… Well…”

  Reina narrowed her eyes angrily.

  “How many times have we told you not to slip off on your own without telling us, Mile?”

  “A…a lot…”

  Mavis looked at her sadly.

  “Seriously, again?! You were going to leave me alone again, Mile?!” Pauline looked about ready to cry.

  “So, what did you run off to do this time, huh?! Didn’t we say that we were gonna do everything together?!” Reina shouted, rising from her chair and stalking over to Mile, then shaking her by the shoulders.

  The cloak slipped to the floor, revealing the swimsuit underneath.

  “Actually,” said Reina, “next time, just go handle your business on your own.”

  “Yep,” Mavis agreed. “I’m good, thanks.”

  “That’s even worse than that thing you made me wear! I’m good, too!” Pauline chimed in.

  “Dismissed!” the three said at once, before dispersing, each snuggling back into her own bed and heading right back to sleep.

  “Huh…?”

  For Mile, who had been preparing herself for a stern dressing-down, this was something of an anticlimax.

  “Huh…?”

  And yet, somehow, she was not happy about this at all.

  “Huuuhhh…?”

  Chapter 59:

  Leatoria Returns

  “You deceived me!”

  One day, as the Crimson Vow headed into the guildhall to see what was up on the job board for the day, a little girl came rushing their way, red in the face and screaming.<
br />
  “Oh, Miss Leatoria…”

  Indeed, it was the young daughter of Baron Aura, Leatoria.

  “You said that you were going to be my friend, so why haven’t you come to visit me at all?! Plus, I heard that I could register as a D-rank hunter!”

  “Oh no! She found out!”

  “I registered as a hunter! I’m the D-rank magic war club wielder, Leatoria the Crusher! You better remember my name!”

  “What the heck is thaaaaaaaat?!?!”

  A war club. It was a six or eight-sided rod, originally made out of a dense wood like yew but later covered in metal plates or

  made entirely out of metal. The all-metal versions were incredibly heavy and difficult to handle even for an extremely powerful wielder, so there were limits to how long or thick they could be. Yet somehow, the one in Leatoria’s hands was made fully of metal, with a length and girth that was completely out of proportion to a small girl’s hands, and countless hideous-looking bumps protruding from it.

  Unconsciously, Mile suddenly began to sing to herself, as the theme song of a particular anime came to mind. “Pi-piru, pirupiru…”

  Behind Leatoria was Bundine, his face looking utterly pained, along with a maid who was by all appearances a completely normal person, wearing leather armor that did not suit her at all and looking as if she was about to cry.

  No, well, that was a bit of an understatement—she was actually crying. Under what looked like hand-me-down leather armor, she was still wearing the uniform garb of the Aura household, frilled headband and all, even as she held a staff. Perhaps she had some magical ability and so had been conscripted by the baron into accompanying his daughter—as someone who might take care of Leatoria’s daily affairs, and, should it come down to that, serve as a human shield.

  “That’s terrible!!!” the Crimson Vow cried as this last thought occurred to them.

  If the baron had indeed ordered the maid to accompany Leatoria, then that was clearly some sort of violation of contract. However, none of them could imagine the baron actually doing such a thing, which meant that this young woman had probably volunteered herself—though whether she had truly volunteered of her own free will or had no choice but to volunteer was unclear.

  No matter how good a person he might have been, a noble was still a noble. It was only natural that he would value the life of his own daughter over that of a peasant in his employ.

  “If that’s the case, then he should have just told his daughter to give up on it from the staaaaaaaaaaaart!!!” Reina shouted to the universe. Everyone in the hall who overheard her nodded in agreement—including Bundine the butler and the weeping maid herself.

  “Leatoria,” said Mavis, a serious expression upon her face, “there’s something I would like to ask you. Do you mind?”

  “S-sure. What is it?”

  Silence fell across the guildhall. Mavis’s voice rang out loud and clear.

  “How did you get a nickname so soon after joining the Guild? Tell me!”

  “What the hell kind of a question is thaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!”

  ***

  Several minutes later, Leatoria, Bundine, the young maid, and the members of the Crimson Vow sat in the Guild’s snack corner. The seats around them were unusually full, and everyone was listening attentively rather than conducting conversations of their own.

  “Anyway, if you don’t want this maid to begin to resent Leatoria, I suggest you send her back home,” finished Reina.

  Bundine nodded and signaled to the maid with his chin. The maid rose and bowed her head respectfully to Reina and then flew from the room like a bat out of hell. Apparently, even Bundine thought that her presence was a tad unnecessary.

  “So, what are you going to do now…?”

  This was as far as anyone had planned.

  “Well, obviously,” said Leatoria, “I’m going to become a member of the Crimson Vow and work my hardest to be a strong hunter!”

  “Ah, of course…”

  The four members of the Crimson Vow were at their wits’ end. If you counted Bundine, that made five people in this position, and if you added everyone in the Aura household, there were plenty more. And then, when you considered the trouble it would cause to send a noble’s young daughter straight to her death, the number expanded to include every guild employee, from the guild master down to the clerks.

  The whole debacle really had nothing to do with the regular hunters, though. Unlike Mile, none of them would even think to lay a hand upon the daughter of a noble. If any of them were to ever dare, heads would roll. And in this world, of course, such expressions were not figurative but quite literal.

  Actually, if a noble’s daughter were to join the Crimson Vow, it would make it that much harder for anyone to make passes at the rest of the party. That was yet another vexing aspect of the situation.

  “But,” said Mile, “we’re a party from another country in the midst of a journey of self-improvement through other lands. So I mean, there’s a chance that we’ll be leaving this city—in fact, even leaving this country—fairly soon… I mean, I’m sure that the baron would never permit that, would he?”

  Leatoria just smirked.

  “My father has no power over me. He could never stand up to my secret technique!”

  Mile reflexively looked to Bundine, who nodded, his brow wrinkled and a somber expression upon his face. By “secret technique,” she surely meant that—the ultimate surprise weapon, which Mavis had used in the battle against her older brother. There was no mistaking the fact that it must be something along those lines.

  The members of the Crimson Vow began to ponder other excuses. For one, there was the fact that they were a fairly exceptional party. No normal person would ever be able to keep up with them…but then Leatoria was by no means “normal,” was she? So that was another argument gone.

  “Well, I mean, what we’re saying is, we’re technically stationed back in the Kingdom of Tils, and we’ll have to go back there at some point soon. You have a home and a family here, don’t you…?” Mavis asked.

  Leatoria appeared unmoved. “I have older brothers and sisters, so I might be married off to someone in another country anyway. And if making the acquaintance of you and Mile gets me closer to marrying into a noble household, then that’s a cause for celebration! Otherwise, the third daughter of a baron who already has sons to inherit his title is no better than a commoner. It would be a step up just for me to worm my way into the arms of some influential merchant, bureaucrat or some high-ranking military officer. That’s about as far as my station will carry me.”

  Apparently, she still had no idea of her true value. She was the beautiful daughter of a noble, and she could use combat magic. As she was even now, she could easily catch the eye of a count or even a marquis.

  “………”

  Leatoria was formidable. And by all accounts she had more or less made up her mind. Why was she so determined to join up with the Crimson Vow?

  If she were a normal girl, it would be impossible. She would never be able to keep up with their traveling speed, combat ability, level of confidentiality… There really were a million and one issues. However, Leatoria had decent magical ability and apparently could use several different varieties of spells. Plus, for some reason, since her recovery from her illness, her physical strength and endurance had drastically increased, and if she wielded a weapon that required little finesse—such as something of the bludgeoning-type—she could be quite a formidable contender in close-range combat. It was also true that she would never break the trust of the Crimson Vow. They had saved her life, and being still as young and pure as she was, her pride as a noble would never allow for such a betrayal.

  Nevertheless, the members of the Crimson Vow were not prepared to let her in just like that.

  The Crimson Vow was a party of four bosom companions, joined at the soul—Mile, Reina, Mavis, and Pauline. That was something that nothing and no one could take away from them…

  The
four desperately wracked their brains.

  Ka-cling.

  Just then, the doorbell chimed and another rather unique party walked through the door.

  “Oh, if it isn’t the Crimson Vow! How have you all been holding up?”

  “I mean…y’all know how it goes…” the members of the Crimson Vow casually replied.

  Apparently, some of the language from Mile’s strange stories was starting to rub off on them.

  “Wh-what sort of phrasing is that?” The Servants of the Goddess appeared rather taken aback.

  That’s it!!!!

  Suddenly, all at once, the four members of the Crimson Vow came to the same conclusion—a rather wicked one.

  “Hey guys, I’ve got a proposal for you…” Mile said, rising from her seat and rushing over to the Servants, dragging them to a spot a short way from the snack corner.

  “H-hey! Don’t pull so hard! We’re coming already!”

  “Would you come here a moment?” asked Mavis, tugging at Bundine’s sleeve.

  “Huh? Wha…? What’s going—?”

  Reina and Pauline stepped in, keeping the apparently oblivious Leatoria distracted with a bit of conversation. She was an easy mark. Leatoria’s eyes sparkled as the three of them had a lively talk concerning tips and tricks for new hunters.

  “What is it?” Telyusia asked suspiciously.

  “Actually, I think this should be a welcome proposal for you. The only mage you have among the Servants is Lacelina, right? So your back line is spread a little thin, isn’t it?” Mile asked.

  “W-well, I suppose that’s true…” Telyusia replied, a bit hesitantly, glancing furtively Lacelina’s way.

  In their party of five, they had only one mage. Well, in fact, there were plenty of parties who had no mages at all, so to complain about having only one was in somewhat poor taste. The Crimson Vow, in which three out of the four party members were mages, was an anomaly. In fact, their front line was lacking, which put their balance way out of whack—or at least, it would have under any normal circumstances.