Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 1

by Funa

  “S-sorry… We figured you were a D-rank hunter, just like us, so…”

  “Oh, um, D-rank? Wouldn’t having a two-rank difference make things difficult?” Mile had been trying to come up with a good reason to refuse, and now, the rank gap would provide her with an out. She had assumed that the boy and his party were also E or F-rank, so, really, this was a fortuitous surprise.

  “Two? Ah, you’re a B, huh? That makes sense, what with the storage magic and your sword skills. You look rather young, but I assume you must be an elf or a dwarf? Please, forgive my rudeness…”

  “Oh no, I’m just a plain, average, ordinary human. I only became a hunter yesterday. I’m an F-rank.”

  Ka-thak!

  Thwump!

  Smack!

  Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

  A variety of noises resounded behind her.

  “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!”

  Mile was startled at the sudden ferocity of the voices behind her.

  “Come on, even so…”

  “There’s no such thing as an F-rank like you! Why didn’t you put in a skip application when you registered?!”

  “Huh? A skip application? What’s that?”

  At Mile’s blithe response, the hunters looked still more horrified, and at the front of the hall, the officials’ faces went pale.

  “Someone call the guild master!”

  At the command of a man who appeared to be a veteran hunter, one of the guild officials ran frantically up the stairs.

  “Little miss, who registered you?”

  “Umm, she was a lady with blonde hair, about seventeen or eighteen years old. I think her name was Leira? Or Lorrie…?”

  “Laura! Damn that girl! This is ridiculous.”

  Mile shrank back. This seemed to be becoming quite a to-do.

  “Is there a problem…?”

  “Don’t you worry, little miss. You’re not in the wrong here. The guild master’s coming to sort this out.”

  After several minutes, the official who had run up the stairs returned with the guild master in tow. It had probably taken some time to fully explain the situation. After all, it would have been unthinkable for the master to meet with someone he had no prior knowledge of—especially now that a problem had arisen.

  The guild master who descended wasn’t the tall, beefy sort that Mile had imagined, but rather the kind of man you might reasonably mistake for a regional bank manager. Perhaps, she thought, he had been selected for his managing ability rather than his combat skills.

  “Is this the young lady in question? Where is Laura, anyway?”

  “Yes, sir. This is her. And Laura is off today, but I’ll go fetch her straight away,” replied a nearby clerk.

  The guild master nodded, then turned to Mile. “My apologies. It appears that one of my staff has slipped up, but I’d like to try and get this sorted. Would you mind coming with me for a moment?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Mile.

  The veteran hunter who had spoken up before chimed in. “Mind if the rest of us sit in on this too? We wouldn’t want anybody pulling the wool over the eyes of this innocent little lady. Gotta make sure she knows that this was a guild slip-up and not a reflection on all us hunters.”

  The guild master nodded, and the veteran called over two other older hunters. Together, they all moved into the meeting room.

  As they sipped tea, Laura, the receptionist from yesterday, arrived breathless, her face very pale.

  “First off, let’s confirm Laura’s side. You were the one who registered this girl, Miss Mile, yesterday. Is that correct?”

  “Y-yes…” Laura nodded, her face still ashen.

  “And at that time, did you tell her about the skip applications?”

  “N-no…”

  “Why not?”

  “W-well, she was newly registering at twelve years old, so I assumed she was just a beginner…”

  “And what do the guidelines say?”

  “Th-that we should explain everything to everyone…”

  With this misstep confirmed, the guild master held his head.

  “She listed her occupation as magic user, didn’t she? Why didn’t you confirm her skill level?!”

  “Well, she was carrying a sword, so I figured that even if she said she was a mage, the sword was her main means of combat and her magic was fairly weak…”

  “You idiot! She bested Matthew with her sword in one blow, and she can use storage magic! That’s the skill of a B-ranker at the very least! You would’ve made a person like this sit around for years collecting herbs and hunting jackalopes! What the hell were you thinking?!”

  “I-I wasn’t…” Laura, now in shock at the magnitude of her mistake, was on the verge of tears.

  Truly, it was all quite understandable. The difference in earnings and reputation between an F-rank and a C or B-rank was as considerable as the difference between straw and gold. Her mistake would have sentenced a promising new recruit to sacrifice valuable years of their life, an irreparable act, and one that wouldn’t have occurred had Laura not decided to follow her own judgment instead of the guild regulations.

  “Um…” Mile interjected timidly, still not grasping the gravity of the situation. “I’m okay staying like this…”

  “Do you really think that’s possible?!?!”

  The attending hunters stirred in anger.

  “Do you know what kind of precedent it would set if the guild just let a mistake like this go?! Think about the other hunters! Since when have there been any F-rank hunters who could use storage magic?!”

  As Mile stared blankly, one of the hunters elaborated. Storage magic was a fairly high-level magic, so the people who could use it were few. With such magic, you could carry large quantities of spare armor and weapons, food and water, and of course, collect materials and prey, so your rate of earnings increased several-fold. If you were able to use said magic, others would defend you with their lives, even if you were weak in combat. It wasn’t unreasonable that you would be able to join C through A-rank parties.

  Thus, if you could use storage magic, no matter how poor your other abilities were, you would be authorized as a C-rank at minimum. And so, given that Mile could use other magic fairly well also, as well as being particularly handy with a sword, it was only reasonable that she would be invited to join parties of B-rank or higher.

  “So then, could I just re-register?”

  “If that were possible, this wouldn’t be such a problem.”

  This time, the guild master explained. Apparently, in the past, there had been many nobles and dependents of such who tried to forcibly have their ranks raised, whether by bribery or influence. In order to prevent this, the rank promotion rules were firmly set, so that once a person registered, they could not re-register at a higher rank. Generally speaking, anyone who unregistered only to re-register again was placed at the same or a lower rank than before, as in the case of a retiree getting back into the business of hunting.

  Early promotion was an option, but there were still obstacles. A minimum number of years participating in the guild were required, and exceptions were incredibly rare unless one was a hero acting in a time of national crisis.

  Even if the guild was able to arrange such a thing quietly, thinking they wouldn’t get caught, the risks were too high and the punishments too severe: no one would ever dare put themselves in such danger. If one official, or even one hunter, slipped up, and word got around to the wrong people, it would all be over for the guild.

  This was part of the reason why new recruits were to have their skills and abilities confirmed at time of registration. If it were found that their background or abilities qualified them for a rank skip, then it would be reported to the guild master, and that recruit would be tested before the guild officials and several high-ranking hunters, who collectively would decide the individual’s rank.

  It was not uncommon for soldiers and knights to become hunters after retiring, as well as
former court magicians driven out of their homes by civil war and other conflicts. Obviously, not everyone started at F-rank.

  Even Mile, as things stood, should have started out as a C-ranker—even though that was the last thing that the girl herself wanted.

  “What the hell do we do?”

  “I’m really fine like this…” Mile insisted.

  “YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!” The veterans all roared, ignoring the troubled guild master’s attempts to quiet them. Mile shrank back.

  If she could net ten gold pieces a month, there would be no complaints on Mile’s part; however, the veteran hunters could not stomach the thought of someone like her wasting all her time on fetch quests and other menial tasks, day in and day out. Plus, an F-ranker would be excluded from the roster of important folks who were called upon to respond when a great monster appeared, when the guild was asked to escort someone important, or when hunters were needed to participate in a disaster relief effort.

  All in all, the guild wasn’t prepared to let someone who would be useful in these tasks sit around for years, frittering her time away. In particular, it was hard to overlook Mile’s storage magic, which could be used to bolster logistical support in transporting goods and help guildhalls in other cities during emergency situations when they might be lacking in personnel. True, the hunters couldn’t overrule the word of the guild master, but it was nonetheless a matter of grave importance, one which would have an effect on their very lives in times of emergency.

  “What about the prep school in the capital…?” Laura offered softly, her face still pale and her head hanging.

  “THAT’S IT!!!” The guild master and one of the hunters leapt from their seats.

  The other two hunters seemed to have no idea what they were talking about. Naturally, neither did Mile.

  ***

  The Hunters’ Prep School.

  It had begun operating in the country’s capital only six years before. The school was an experimental institute, designed to impart the knowledge and technique required of a novice hunter in just half a year, allowing one to attain a D or even C-rank upon graduation. It had initially been proposed by a nobleman from a hunter’s background, who was concerned by the fact that, due to the years of participation before one could become a full-fledged hunter, even the most talented candidates were limited in how much they could achieve before reaching an age for retirement.

  “Whether they’re noble or commoner—or in certain cases, even slaves—anyone can enroll there without obstacle. Because no one is accepted without a guild master’s recommendation, the program has a high success rate; it’s part of every guild master’s duties to scout for new recruits. They stake their own reputations on these referrals. However…”

  “However?”

  “If the person a guild master refers is ever judged unfit to attend the academy, the student will be expelled at once. And the guild master who recommended the student in question will be looked at very critically by the higher-ups and should abandon any hope of promotion…”

  As one of the hunters explained, Mile glanced in the direction of the guild master, who seemed quietly pleased, his eyes sparkling.

  “I believe in you, Miss Mile…”

  His eyes were no doubt those of an optimist.

  ***

  And so, Mile consented to relocate to the country’s capital for enrollment in the Hunters’ Prep School. She got the impression that if she didn’t, Laura, the clerk, would probably be fired, and that the guild master—though his position was secure—would still face some kind of penalty.

  Still influenced by her Japanese sense of propriety, Mile felt quite guilty. It seemed that this guildhall had carried on its day-to-day operations just fine until she came along: the anomaly, as always.

  Laura learned from the incident, as well. Had she continued in the same manner, it was possible that she could have made the same mistake again in the future, but after this lesson, it was unlikely that she would ever again follow her own judgment over the guild’s regulations.

  Frankly, it worked out for Mile either way.

  She was going to end up a C-rank sooner or later, so it wasn’t a big deal when, exactly, it happened. The only reason she would have been a C-ranker in the first place was because she could use a bit of storage magic, and even if that were rare, at least it would still have put her in the category of an “ordinary” C-rank hunter. It wasn’t much different from being found out to have storage magic as an F-rank, anyway.

  Plus, if she went far away and re-registered with a different guildhall, she would end up a C-rank, assuming she followed proper procedures. If she lied and registered as an F-rank, she would have to keep in line with other F-rank hunters, pretending she could not use storage magic at all—which would have been more than Mile thought she could bear. She had no interest in remaining poor by her own hand.

  In the end, it was really only a difference of spending half a year as a student or not. And oh, how she wanted to. She wanted to so badly!

  Her life as a student at Eckland Academy had ended abruptly, but she had relished it. She had conversed with everyone—like normal. She had made friends, and they had spent time together.

  How she had longed to stay! She had wanted to be with everyone until graduation. How she regretted leaving. How her heart yearned.

  With that in mind, her response was without hesitation.

  “I’ll go! I’ll enroll!”

  ***

  During the three weeks after it was decided that Mile would be going to the capital, she worked—worked hard.

  According to a fellow hunter, tuition, lodging, and meals at the prep school were all free of charge. Plus, the students were allowed to continue working as hunters while enrolled, so really, the work she did during those three weeks was just to ensure that she had a bit of money to fall back on.

  The next enrollment period was roughly a month from when she had decided to attend the school, which left her three weeks to work, followed by an eight-day carriage ride; the remaining ten days, she would spend preparing. If all went well, she would even be able to do a bit of sightseeing and take her time getting used to the lay of the land in the capital.

  As has already been mentioned, Adele’s world had six days and months that were six weeks, so there were a lot of convenient ways in which the number of days could be broken down.

  Now, as Mile did her hunting and gathering in the forest, she fought with magic and her sword rather than pebbles. This work did double duty, for as she hunted, she could also practice limiting her power, a skill she would need once she returned to school.

  She had, of course, kept a cap on her strength while attending Eckland Academy; however, limiting one’s strength to match that of a typical preteen’s was not the same as trying to match the power of those who would also be graduating as C-rank hunters in half a year’s time. To do all this while embroiled in sword fights and combat magic would be another challenge altogether.

  It is possible, Mile thought, that they might even conduct practice battles with real, bladed swords—not wooden ones. There might be magical duels. There might even be students there who were older than her, with more experience.

  She caught birds with magic.

  She bested jackalopes and vulpine creatures with a finely hewn wooden spear.

  And boars and deer, she defeated with her sword.

  Though she tried to keep her catches no more impressive than those of any other novice, she was constantly turning in prey that left the old man at the exchange station dumbfounded, and by the time she left she had stashed seven gold coins away neatly in her loot box. Combined with her previous earnings, she now had ten gold pieces in total—about 1,000,000 yen, in Japanese money.

  This was more than enough to cover her travel expenses and interim lodging, as well as any other immediate necessities.

  Finally, she would be able to purchase some clothes of her own, ones that weren’t hunting equipment or school uni
forms.

  ***

  And then, three weeks had passed since the discussion in the guild meeting room.

  With the guild master, guild officials, and a few other hunters there to see her off, Mile’s carriage departed the city.

  They would arrive at the capital in eight days.

  Mile would have been able to travel much more quickly on her own, but as there was no need to, she refrained from drawing on that ability.

  She was just an average, unremarkable F-rank hunter, after all.

  As was only natural, the guild master and Laura shared the cost of her travel and meal expenses for the journey.

  “There she goes…” the guild master murmured.

  “Yes, indeed.” Laura replied.

  “In six months, hopefully, she’ll come back to us as a C-rank hunter, and then it won’t be long—maybe a few years—before she reaches B-rank. She’s still quite young. I doubt that even A-rank would be out of her reach. It wouldn’t be a bad thing for the guild to have such a one among us.”

  “Do you really think she’ll come back here? She won’t simply settle down in the capital?”

  “Well, I’m sure she’s got family. She’ll have to come back for them, won’t she?”

  “No, Miss Mile was born up in the mountains. She said that she only came down here to earn a living because both of her parents passed away. She isn’t from here, and she has no family.”

  “Hm?”

  “Huh?”

  “Whaaaaat?!?!”

  The guild master fell to his knees.

  “P-please, at least let her graduate with honors so that my endorsement means something.”

  He was nearly in tears.

  Behind him, the several hunters who had overheard this conversation fell to their knees in disappointment.

  ***

  The journey to the capital was a smooth one.

  Mile’s new clothes were plain and cheaply made, giving her the appearance of a “typical, average” country girl.