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

by Funa

  “Friends,” huh? she thought to herself. And indeed, sitting there beside her, utterly puzzled by the grin suddenly crossing Mile’s face, were her three new friends.

  ***

  The following days were filled with practical training, during both the mornings and afternoons. This was comprised of everything from improving basic fitness levels to studying techniques, methods for attacking different types of monsters, and everything in between. There was individual training as well as practice battles, sometimes even against the teachers themselves. In addition, they had training sessions organized both by discipline and as a full group. Without an awareness of the work performed by those in other professions, they would be unable to forge a strong relationship with their party members. Besides, when participating in real combat as a guard or fighter, comprehending an enemy’s abilities and being able to counter their technique could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

  The female-only parties had a larger proportion of magic users, and therefore lacked power on the front lines. Thus, when it came time for the inter-party practice bouts, they came together with the male parties to swap members temporarily. Still, owing to Mile’s skill as a swordsman and each of the girl’s own individual strengths, Mile’s party could more or less fight on their own…

  Since doing nothing but practical training would have caused the students to burn out, classroom lessons were held occasionally. During these lessons, they learned how to identify medicinal, herbal, and poisonous plants, exploit the weaknesses of different monster types, and take various safety precautions. They also received a general education on such topics as the histories of nearby countries, the makeup of the guild, and in-depth etiquette relating to interactions with nobles.

  Typically, a hunter would learn these sorts of things on the job, taking pointers from more experienced party members or simply copying their techniques. From each, they thus learned to improve themselves through simple trial and error.

  However, learning this way took time, and the potential for slip-ups due to lack of knowledge were many. Because of this, it often took years to grow into a full-fledged hunter, using one’s many failures, repeated year after year, to fill in the gaps in one’s knowledge and experience… Worse than that, however, was the fact that there were many hunters who lost their lives from such failures.

  And so Mile, studious as ever, took these lessons quite seriously, writing everything down in a notebook she carried to class. Though there were many others taking notes just like her, some students, while they did seem to be listening to the lesson, never wrote a word.

  One day back in their dorm room, when a perplexed Mile asked about this very fact, Reina told her, in a somewhat exasperated manner, “It’s because they’re illiterate, dummy.”

  “Huh? But then, how will they read the posted job requests?”

  “They’ll rely on the guild staff to point them to the right ones—or sometimes, you’ll see children hanging around who’ll read things aloud to earn a bit of pocket money.”

  “…”

  In her previous life, Mile had loved reading—without any friends, it was, along with TV and games, one of her only pleasures. She could scarcely imagine being unable to read and write and could only think what an incredible tragedy their inability to read was.

  ***

  “Commencing party meeting number three!”

  This time, when Reina made her announcement, a question slipped out before Mile even had time to think about it. “Um, if Mavis is our leader, how come you’re always the one leading these?”

  “………”

  “Um, sorry! Forget I said anything!”

  “This meeting’s topic is… our next rest day!” Reina continued speaking as though nothing had happened. “As you know, this party is lacking in power, skill, speed, and most importantly, money!” She was speaking in a shout now, her voice painfully loud. “Once we start the monster-hunting portion of our practical training, we’ll be able to started earning money by exchanging monster parts. However, we can’t afford to wait for that!”

  Indeed, Reina had already run out of money—the only times she could eat were during the three daily meals served in the dining hall. Not only that, but she was starting to hit the bottom of her inkwell.

  It was the sort of circumstance one might refer to as being at “the end of one’s rope” or “hitting rock bottom.”

  “Mavis, you and Pauline have no experience as hunters and only just registered as F-ranks after coming here,” Reina went on. “Mile, you have a little bit of experience, but unfortunately you’re still an F-rank. I, however, am an E-rank, which means that I can accept jobs fighting monsters of any rank up to goblins and orcs.

  “If there are extermination requests, we’ll take them. If not, we’ll collect jackalopes and hunt smaller animals. If all goes well, we should be able to get three or four silver each.”

  “Hmm…” Mile said.

  “What? Do you have an objection?”

  “N-no, it’s nothing…” Mile was merely surprised at Reina’s enthusiasm at the prospect of earning such a small amount. That was all.

  ***

  That night, Mile lay in bed, thinking about whether or not she should teach her roommates what she knew about magic.

  Even if she were to teach them, she knew she couldn’t do so in the way that she taught Marcela and the others. Her three friends at Eckland had had little magic ability to start with and would never lead a life where they their own mortality would be staked on their magical skill. In other words, even if she taught them a few special tricks, those three would never become wielders who might influence the destinies of many, nor would they do something careless if they ever faced mortal peril. They, she knew, would be able to keep her secret.

  For the students at this school, things were different. Their lives were inextricably linked to their magical skill, and their collective fates rested on the abilities of their party members, not only themselves. If people like that learned how to grow their magical power by an immense degree, they would most certainly share this knowledge with their party members. And when their party dissolved, and they joined another, they would tell those people as well.

  In turn, those people would tell their children—and those children would tell their friends, some of whom would surely be money-grubbers who might open magic schools, or work as tutors for the children of nobles, or sell their expertise to other countries…

  In other words, there was no way that Mile’s special knowledge would remain a secret.

  The other factor to consider was the fact that the people at this school already had significant magical abilities. Their powers of strength, clarity, and image were already far greater than those of other people, meaning that they could use fairly powerful magic. If she were to teach people like that her tricks…

  When she thought about it that way, Mile realized, she simply wouldn’t feel right teaching her roommates the same things she had taught the Wonder Trio. However, she also couldn’t bear the thought of any of them perishing shortly after graduation. And as they were all aiming to be promoted to C-rank when they finished, not D-rank, extra magical abilities would be a great help.

  What to do…?

  Mile fretted over the question until daybreak.

  ***

  “All right girls, let’s get going!”

  It was the following rest day.

  After waking early and rushing through breakfast—all at Reina’s urging—the four girls set out through the capital city to the Hunter’s Guild.

  Naturally, there was a hall even in the capital.

  Because of its location, this hall was a kind of capital of its own, serving as a central place to consolidate the needs of all the individual halls within the country. However, as the Hunters’ Guild was spread across many countries, there was still no single place that could be called the true headquarters, which was advantageous. With no “head” in any particular place, t
here was thus no head that could be easily crushed—nor could the organization at large be taken over.

  However, in exchange for this security and stability, the guild was slow to mobilize, and once a decision had been fixed in place, it was no small task to alter it. Whenever a big decision needed to be made, it was decided in an inter-country conference.

  It was early in the morning, but the guild hall was already packed.

  Or rather, the hall was packed because it was early in the morning.

  One of the reasons for this was…

  “Hey! They’re from the school!”

  Indeed, it seemed that all the other students, just as short on money as Mile and her friends, had exactly the same idea.

  The F and E-rank boards, in particular, had been ravaged. All the decent jobs that could be finished within a day were long gone.

  “We’re too late…”

  Reina slumped, devastated.

  “W-well, there’s still standing orders and gathering tasks. Right?!” Mile said.

  She perked up a little at her encouragement and went to confirm the prices on the request and materials board. Upon finding that the turn-in rewards for birds and jackalopes were fairly good, her vigor was restored.

  “Well, that’s the capital for you! There are tons of buyers, so at least the price of meat is high. Let’s get a move on!”

  And so, Team C of the twelfth class of the Hunters’ Prep School embarked on their first mission.

  ***

  “This isn’t working…”

  Reina collapsed in a heap, both hands planted on the ground beside her.

  In order to earn four silver apiece, they would, collectively, need to catch at least eight birds or jackalopes—or two foxes.

  If they caught something larger, like a deer, they would only need one, but thus far, no such fortune had visited them.

  It had been three hours now since they had begun hunting and was nearly noon. They had caught only a single jackalope and a single bird. At this rate, they would go home with only one silver each.

  Even if they worked their hardest in the four hours following their lunch break and things continued as they were, at best, they would only net another three catches. For Reina, who was in the most dire straits of all of them, this was a serious problem.

  It seemed she had overlooked something critical. True, the population of the capital was large, but so was the amount of meat all its people consumed—and too the number of fledgling hunters. As a result, the hunting grounds near the city had already been picked clean.

  I had better say something soon, Mile thought, as they sat down for a midday break, taking out their food and unwrapping it.

  Just then, Reina’s gaze landed on Mile’s meal. “Hang on, what is that?!”

  “Huh? It’s just my lunch…”

  The other three were eating stale bread they had collected from the cafeteria and rehydrated with some water, but Mile was eating a roast meat sandwich and drinking black tea, which she had pretended to pull from storage space—though in actuality, it had come from her loot box.

  “How is it still warm?!” Reina asked. In the end, she stole the lion’s share of the sandwich.

  ***

  “Um, there is something I would like to suggest to everyone…” Mile finally said, as the girls rested after their meal, Mile finally spoke.

  Everyone turned to look and Mile continued. “The reason that we haven’t been able to catch anything is partly due to the fact that the prey is simply hard to find, but I also think a part of it is that our magic isn’t accurate enough. We don’t have an archer, so we’re relying on long-range spells…”

  “Hey! Are you saying that I suck?!” Reina sputtered.

  Mile kept speaking in an attempt to pacify the other girl. “Um, I believe I mentioned before that I was skilled in many types of magic, so, well, if you like, I was thinking we could perhaps take a brief break from hunting to study some technique.”

  “Are you saying you’re going to teach us something?”

  “Y-yes, well…” She trailed off, well aware that the idea of being taught by someone younger than her wouldn’t be good for Reina’s ego. Already, Mile regretted bringing it up.

  However…

  “Come to think of it, you’ve been letting me take all the shots,” Mile said. “You haven’t fired off any magic. And sitting around getting frustrated isn’t going to get us anywhere. Maybe we should just have a bit of practice—you know, for a change of pace.”

  In an unexpected turn, Reina agreed with Mile.

  Mile was surprised, but she grinned.

  It was time for their journey to begin.

  Chapter 8:

  Power Leveling

  “A

  ll right—and then, squeeze it. Your opponent is a small animal, so it doesn’t have to be very hard. The trade-in value will decrease if you damage it. Try to keep the image of small pellets with high-speed propulsion in mind.”

  Following Mile’s advice, Reina cast her spell, gaze steeled. “Come, O water, to my aid! Sphere of water, form! Now freeze! Change form, into a sharp icicle. Turning, turning, spinning! Now, fly!”

  The water gathered and froze, condensed into cylinders of ice, then flew away, rotating quickly.

  The icicles shot perfectly, right into the targeted tree branch.

  It wasn’t a hole-in-one shot like Mile’s were, but she could tell that Reina would have no trouble hitting a distant target.

  “I-I did it!” Reina grinned widely at her success.

  It would be unwise to use fire magic in the forest, and the ground of the location they were practicing in was covered in leaves rather than gravel. However, thanks to Mile’s advice, which helped her improve the accuracy of her ice attacks by increasing the compression and speed of the icicles, Reina felt her skills improve immediately. She would never have imagined that she would be able to work with ice magic—which wasn’t even her specialty—to hunt more effectively, and yet, there she was.

  Mile had devised a series of lessons to get them to this point. At first, she hadn’t realized that Reina wouldn’t understand that a large ice bullet would be affected by gravity and thus need course correction, unlike the specialized fire magic that Reina usually used at combat practice. Additionally, Mile noticed, the effect of the spell’s added guidance in helping conjure the necessary image was immense. Making the icicle bullets spin was another helpful addition.

  Now Reina would be able to use powerful magic even in battles and on hunting expeditions, where fire couldn’t be used.

  Nearby, Pauline was practicing, as well. She already possessed reasonable magical skills, but—whether because of her personality or the fact that she was a bit clumsy—she was no good at attack magic, which required continuous production. In the near future, Mile figured, it would be good to teach her at least one attack spell for self-defense, but the present moment was still a little too soon for that.

  Instead, Mile taught Pauline something that she thought her friend might find even more useful.

  “Come, O water, to my aid! Sphere of water, form! Droplets dance, like a burning soul!”

  Thanks to the spell, a gradually heating ball of warm water appeared.

  “Yes! That’s perfect. With this, baths and cooking will be a breeze. It expends a lot less magical energy than putting a fireball into water, and it can even be used indoors to make smaller quantities—pretty handy for making tea, you know?”

  “Th-thank you, Miley!”

  “No worries. I’d like to teach you even more soon!”

  Rather than trying to impart to them the fundamental knowledge of how to utilize thought pulses and nanomachine efficiency rates, Mile simply gave them the instructions they would need to grow in terms of general magic efficiency, helping them craft slightly more precise spells to invoke the necessary physical and chemical reactions. At the same time, she took careful precautions in order to ensure that they wouldn’t inadvertently stumble onto m
ore power than they knew what to do with.

  Even so, the two girls’ progress was remarkable, and Reina and Pauline practiced with zeal.

  “Um…”

  A voice came from behind her. Mile turned to see Mavis, looking sullen.

  “There isn’t anything you can show me, is there? Like a special technique, or something…?”

  “Ah…” For Mavis’s sake, Mile thought hard, but nothing came to mind.

  She really didn’t know much about Western sword techniques, and all the special moves she had seen in anime and games were impossible. If Mavis had been able to use magic, Mile would surely have been able to come up with something, but the older girl had no magical skill…

  “Maybe we could do some practice swings?”

  “…” Mavis let herself fall to the ground. Mile’s suggestion wasn’t something that would grant her a particular skill.

  “U-um, I’ll be your practice partner! I don’t have much training, so I have no idea about sword techniques or anything, but I have confidence in my power and skill! If you get used to my speed, I’m sure you’ll be able to see through other opponents’ attacks more easily!”

  “Really?” Mavis sounded doubtful. She was pouting.

  “Really! It’s true! Probably…” Mile spoke the last word under her breath, so upon hearing Mile’s reply, Mavis finally brightened.

  ***

  When the sun at last began to set, it was time for them to return to the capital.

  “We didn’t catch very much today, but this was still a productive outing! Thank you, Mile!”

  “Thanks so much, Miley!”

  “Don’t thank me! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

  “I’m your friend too, aren’t I? Are you forgetting me?” Mavis was still a bit sulky.

  “Of course! That’s right!” Mile said. After, there was moment of silence, then she piped up, as though she had suddenly remembered something. “It’s going to be super annoying if we go back to the guild like this. The boys will all make fun of us for coming back with so little! I’m going to try hunting by myself for a bit.”