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

by Funa

  Indeed, they had reached the final act. Naturally, Reina and the others, who had now been conditioned by Mile’s Japanese folktales, were thinking something similar.

  “Please don’t fret for us. We are hunters who came here from the capital on the request of a job placed by the Merchants’ Guild of Zarbef. We are already fully aware of the rules of this region, so…”

  “What?”

  A cry of surprise rang through the room, not only from the Soaring Twin Dragons, but also from the people in the gallery. However, none of the judges nor the lord who was watching over them showed any signs of shock. Apparently, this much had already been explained to them beforehand. The “Your Honor, if you would!” event flag had already been rendered moot.

  “Then,” cried the leader, “you’re guilty of presenting a falsified identity! People associated with the Guild have certain obligations to fulfill! So, if you concealed the fact that you’re hunters, then that means…”

  “Hm? I don’t recall us ever once saying that we were not hunters. Is there a rule that says that you have to declare, ‘I’m a hunter! I’m a registered hunter!’ every time you walk into a guildhall?”

  Mile looked to the guild master, who grimaced and shook his head.

  “But then there’s the matter of nobility! You never directly represented yourself as being a noble, but your dress and manner and speech clearly gave the false illusion of your being one! Doing such a thing is considered to be falsifying one’s status and impersonating a noble, a crime to be severely punished! Ha! Looks like the cat’s out of the bag. You all are the criminals here! Guards, hurry up and apprehend them!”

  If Soaring Twin Dragons could denounce the noble travelers, or rather, the hunting party from the capital, as criminals, then that would render their testimony against the offending hunters invalid. Staking everything on this hope, the leader called out triumphantly, his fellow party members swept up in the moment and cheering him on.

  All right, time for the clincher! Mile thought as she signaled to the others with her eyes, walking confidently forward.

  “Once, I was the daughter of a viscount. Once, I was an academy student pretending to be a commoner. Another time, I was a rookie hunter. And yet another time, I was the daughter of a viscount…”

  Ignoring Reina’s insistent whisper that she was repeating herself, Mile continued her speech.

  “However! As I stand before you now, I am…”

  Mile whipped the cloak from off of her body, exposing her standard hunter’s gear beneath.

  “A disciple of truth and justice! C-rank hunter Mile of the Crimson Vow!!!”

  “Mavis von Austien, likewise!”

  “The Crimson Reina, likewise!”

  “Pauline, likewise!”

  “We are four allies!”

  “Bound by an unbreakable friendship!”

  “At our very souls!”

  “And our name is…”

  “The Crimson Vow!!!”

  Ka-boooom!

  A dazzling display went off as they finished their catchphrase in unison; of course, as they were indoors, they were framed only by audiovisual effects, lights of four colors dancing behind them.

  “………”

  The four girls held their practiced poses until their muscles began to tremble, giving everyone in the room a chance to collect themselves…

  “Well, if your party has two nobles, including yourself, then I suppose that does not count as misrepresentation… Now then, as previously announced, the four members of the Soaring Twin Dragons will be sentenced to a lifetime term of hard labor. Furthermore, we shall be noting in the court record that they appear to be malicious individuals who would attempt to incriminate others in order to save their own hides without any hint of remorse. I’m sure that this will see that the appropriate workplace is arranged for them. Guards, take them away!”

  The judge, who had clearly recovered from his surprise, announced this decision, and the four hunters—no, the criminals formerly known as hunters—were dragged from the room.

  “Oy, there!”

  There was silence from the Crimson Vow.

  “I said, oy!”

  “Y-yes, sir!”

  The master of the Hunters’ Guild was calling to them, looking displeased. Though they had tried to ignore him, it did not look as though there would be any escaping this.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  When penning their letter, the Crimson Vow had insisted that the guild master tell the absolute minimum number of people possible—and only those in whom he had absolute faith. Even when collecting the bandits, they had insisted that he borrow carts and riders from the town stables instead of the Guild. However, they had not once informed him that they were hunters on an official job. True, he had some mild suspicions. The instructions tendered were rather unbefitting of some idiot daughter of a noble and her cohorts.

  Reina prodded Mile forward again until she had no choice but to be the one to answer.

  “Well, um, the ones who placed the job order were with the Merchants’ Guild, and we were asked not to tell any unrelated parties about the job, so… Plus, there was the possibility of a traitor within the Guild. We couldn’t possibly contact the guild master without an introduction, and there was the chance that the traitor might be the clerk who helped us or an employee we relayed a message to.”

  “I understand. I’m sorry to have been so cross. That’s completely understandable. You managed to clean up after our mistake. Thank you.”

  The Merchants’ Guild in their own town had passed over the local Hunters’ Guild in favor of the hunters of the capital. Normally, this would not be a particularly strange thing. The hunters of the town, none of whom were above a C-rank, were not suited to more difficult jobs. Still, the jobs did usually at least go through the local Guild. The fact that the guild branch had been bypassed entirely was a huge loss of face for them. It was an affront to the guild branch itself.

  However, now was not the time to be raising complaints about this. Just as the Merchants’ Guild had feared, there was a traitor in the midst of the Hunters’ Guild. Two of them, in fact, one of them an employee of the Guild, no less. The fact that the individuals who had been able to capture the bandit gang—something that the Guild had been unable to do up until now—were a group of four tender young ladies, half of them not even of age, just added insult to injury.

  To complain about this would bring them more shame upon shame. The Guild would be the laughingstock of the town. Ridicule would spread like wildfire through the other guild branches and the country beyond. They had to do something…

  “W-we would like to offer you a reward as well!” the guild master squeaked out.

  “Huh? Are you sure?!”

  The Crimson Vow grinned widely. They were not hurting for money but receiving a reward personally from the guild master was different from normal payment—it was a mark of the guild master’s high esteem. It would bolster their reputation, and naturally, it came with a heaping helping of contribution points. In this case, it was the guild branch’s final chance at redemption, by showing that they would pay their dues to the people who assisted them, even if their own reputation had been dragged through the mud. The proposition was a mutually beneficial one.

  Of course, it was not that the guild master himself had never suspected the possibility of a traitor among his own staff. However, as he could not cast doubt on any of his subordinates outright, he had been hoping to conduct a quiet investigation without raising suspicions. In the meantime, the Merchants’ Guild, tired of waiting, had been forced to take action.

  We messed up…

  The guild master was unlikely to lose his position, but his reputation was sure to be irreparably tarnished. He would have to work hard in order to recover from this failing. As he watched the Crimson Vow, who were shaking hands with the master of the Merchants’ Guild and seemed to be receiving an invitation to dinner from their lord, the master of the Hun
ters’ Guild’s shoulders slumped.

  Behind him the hunters of the two local B-rank parties, who had been in attendance to ensure the appropriate treatment of the hunters who were on trial, stood stunned.

  “Man, are there really that many nobles among the hunters in the capital…?”

  “M-more to the point, is it really possible for four rookie C-rank hunters from the capital to capture almost twenty bandits single-handed…?”

  “The capital’s a scary place…”

  The hunters of the capital were getting quite a reputation.

  Chapter 61:

  The Tale of the Wicked

  Maiden’s Foiled Engagement

  It was well after the Crimson Vow had returned from their journey of self-improvement to work in the capital of the Kingdom of Tils, their original home base, when one day, upon arriving at the Guild to receive a mark for a newly finished job, they were hailed by a guild employee.

  “Oh, Miss Mavis! There’s a letter here for you.”

  Mavis received the letter and turned it over to see who the sender was, then immediately stowed it away into her breast pocket. It was unthinkable that anyone besides her own family would be sending her letters, and she wasn’t about to go opening a private communication in a wide-open room, surrounded by strangers, after all.

  “………”

  After returning to their inn, Mavis pulled the letter out and read it, then froze in place. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, and did not appear to be following the letters on the page at all.

  “Hm? What’s wrong, Mavis?” Mile asked, concerned.

  As Mavis turned to look at her, one could practically hear her now-frozen joints creaking.

  “Th-there’s going to be a wedding…”

  “Oh, one of your brothers is getting married? That’s wonderful news! Though I’m sure it’s a bit of a shock for a bro-con like you, isn’t it, Mavis? But still, it’s not that…”

  “No…it’s…”

  “Hm?” Mile asked, unable to make out Mavis’s whispered reply (which had seemed to utterly ignore Mile’s implication of a brother complex).

  This time, Mavis answered clearly.

  “Apparently, I’m the one getting married…”

  “Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!”

  Lacking the willpower to even explain the situation, Mavis merely held out the letter and slumped down into a chair. The other three took the note and read it over…

  Evidently, a marriage proposal had come suddenly from the second son of the family of some marquis. Even if he was the second son, his family still ranked highly, and furthermore, the boy’s own father was ranked second within their family. That made the father a viscount, a station that this second son would inherit. In addition, the family was of good standing within the Austien family’s personal faction. The young man was a perfect match…as far as Mavis’s family was concerned.

  Apparently, Mavis’s own opinion of him did not factor into this in the slightest, but then, well, that was rather standard for the marriage of a daughter of a noble household, wasn’t it?

  “Congratulations, Mavis!”

  Smack!

  Mile’s stupid joke immediately earned her a smack to the back of the head from Reina—a very hard smack, which made a rather splendid sound.

  “So, what’re you going to do?” asked Reina.

  Mavis was silent, unable to reply. According to the letter, the Austien family, given their alliances and social standing, was not in a position to refuse this proposal. And of course, as much as her father and brothers said that they would never give her up to marriage, it wasn’t as though they intended to keep her forever, forcing her to live her life as an old spinster. Being the wife of a viscount within the family of a marquis was actually quite a promising prospect. Thus, while her brothers were probably still grousing, her parents were surely eager to see this marriage take place.

  “Could you just ignore them and skip out on the meet-and-greet?” Pauline proposed.

  “If I did that, it’d be like spitting in the face of the man I’m supposed to meet, and the house of Austien would fall into ruin. It would be trouble not just for our family but for all of our followers and retainers as well…” Mavis answered sullenly. “As it stands, my father has already received the formal proposal, which means that this second son and I are now as good as husband and wife. Even though his acceptance is only provisional—even if we had no reason to accept the proposal—it’s not as though we can really refuse. My opinion doesn’t factor into it in the slightest…”

  Mavis’s shoulders slumped. The other three were silent.

  Situations like these were not ones that could be altered by a noble daughter’s will alone. Moreover, as the family’s honor was on the line, Mavis’s father could not excuse her from this role, no matter how much she might be the apple of his eye. And of course Mavis, the daughter of a noble who loved her own family just as dearly, could never simply run away and ignore her duty. More than aware of this, the other three girls wore dark expressions.

  “So, you’re saying that it’s already too late for the Austien family to refuse?” Pauline confirmed.

  “Yep…” Mavis replied in a sullen voice. “As the daughter of a noble household, it’s only natural that my betrothal would be arranged for the sake of my family. Even if it’s a mistake, I can’t allow anything to happen that would cause trouble for my family or other relatives. This is the duty borne by all those in a noble household. It’s the price we pay in exchange for the luxuries we enjoy and the world-class education we receive.

  “And so, even if I’ve never met the man, even if it means giving up on my dreams, I must be wed, and bear children, and look after the estate, and bear more children, and mingle at parties, and bear more children, and think about all the dreams I was never able to…a…chieve…” A soft trail of tears dripped down Mavis’s cheek as her voice petered out.

  After a few moments of silence, Pauline spoke up again. “In that case, we have to force them to retract the proposal—or make something happen that makes it okay for your family to refuse!”

  “Huh?”

  Dark laughter began to bubble from Pauline’s mouth. Reina and Mile began to grin also.

  “If we can’t pull our friend out from between a rock and a hard place—”

  “Then what are allies for?! What are friends for?!”

  “We are the Crimson Vow, allies bound at the soul!”

  “And we’re gonna smash that proposal to bits!!!”

  ***

  It was several days later, at the main estate of the Austien family, back in Mavis’s home territory.

  “Father, I have returned…”

  “Oh, my Mavis! You’ve come back to us! Just as we planned, in two days’ time we will be receiving a visit from your betrothed and his pare—Oh, you brought your hunter friends along, too?”

  “Pardon the intrusion!” chorused the other three.

  Apparently, the count had the wild thought in his mind that Mavis might simply abandon her party members and come home all alone. Once the first meeting with her betrothed had taken place, she would have to begin her preparations for marriage, so it made little sense to have them along. Surely, she did not intend to be going back with them…

  “Since this gentleman is to wed our precious friend,” said Reina, “we intend to make fully certain that he’s worthy of her.”

  “Uh… Ah, I see…”

  A commoner speaking so frankly to any noble, much less to a count, might be punished by death for such frankness. However, from hearing Mavis’s tales of her family over and over again between their days at the Hunters’ Prep School and now, Reina knew that the Count was not the sort of person who would do such a thing. She thought of him as her friend’s father before she ever thought of him as a noble.

  Of course, in truth, it was only by accident that she had slipped into her normal speech patterns, without thinking. Thus, the moment she stopped talking she slammed her mo
uth shut, with a face that said, “Oh crap!”

  However, the Count had not been paying attention to what Reina had said at all. Of course, he thought, it’s dangerous for a young lady to travel alone, so they came all this way with her to see her off. What good friends you’ve surrounded yourself with, Mavis…

  Indeed, though they were rather shrewd as far as nobles went, the members of the Austien family were really not such bad people.

  Mavis spent the two days until the meeting with her betrothed undertaking special lessons with a private tutor to remind her of all the etiquette she had begun to forget. Reina and the others meanwhile, with nothing else to do, toured the Austien family lands and further developed their schemes. Naturally, they did not stay at the Austien family estate, but at an inn in town.

  Mavis’s family and the tutor alike had conspired to make Mavis wear a wig to hide her short hair. However, Mavis argued that the proposal had already been made with the knowledge that the Austiens were a martial family line and that Mavis had been making a name for herself as a rookie hunter for the past months. Besides, any sudden movement would dislodge the wig, causing their plan to backfire spectacularly. In the face of these protests, they all seemed to have a moment of clarity and abandoned the wig plan entirely. Once she had been all dressed up, Mavis was very pretty anyway, short hair or no.

  ***

  And then, the day of the meeting finally arrived.

  Naturally, there was no reason for the other members of the Crimson Vow to be present. Attendance at this event was limited to the two key parties and both sets of parents. Brothers and sisters were not included under this umbrella, either.

  “P-pleased to meet you… I am Jusphen, the second son of the family of Marquis Woitdein.”

  “And I am Mavis, the eldest daughter of the family of Count Austien…”

  Jusphen was an earnest-looking young man in his early twenties. As far as looks went, one could do much worse. Considering the fact of his parentage, and that he was next in the line of succession to a viscount, this really was an extraordinary proposal. For the Austien family, acceptance was the obvious course of action. Excepting the particularly rare girl who was aiming for crown princess or bust, a normal young noble to be leaping for joy at the prospect of a proposal from someone like him. In fact, leaping for joy would nearly be expected.