by Funa
hailed.
“Wh…?”
“What? Don’t look so surprised. We’re still bound by a minimum term of duty in service to this country, in exchange for the free education we received at the Prep School. So we get some easy job out of the way to let everyone know that we’re back in town, show some results, and get a bit of a head start on the, ‘Hey look, we’re working here,’ thing.”
“Ah…” said the other three.
That was Reina for you. The other three were aware of their unofficial contract with the kingdom, but they had not really given it much thought.
“Plus, if it’s an extermination job, then just producing parts from monsters that we’ve hunted on the side as trophies for verification would count as fraud. The only thing we can give them in good faith would be herbs, raw materials, or edible meat.”
“Y-you’re actually pretty sharp, aren’t you, Reina?”
“You little—!!”
A vein bulged in Reina’s forehead.
“Mile, you’re one to talk!” Pauline scolded.
There was no doubt Mile was in the wrong here. She quickly apologized.
At the first town with a guildhall that they came across, Mile produced five edible jackalopes from storage, and they turned them in, marking a safe and proper start to their return tour.
Incidentally, when one was on an escort mission upon leaving the country, all of the time spent until that job was completed counted as working within the country as well—even when you traveled beyond the country’s borders. As a result, they were planning on inflating their completion time just a bit.
It was a bit underhanded, but if you piled up enough trash you could build a mountain. It was only natural for a hunter to want to free themselves from unnecessary obligations as quickly as they could. Of course, Tils was still home for Mavis and Pauline, and they both had families they loved and cherished there, so for as long as the two of them remained in the party, it only made sense for them to call Tils their home base. Because of that, their debt to the country didn’t matter so much.
At any rate, now that they had made their presence within the country known once again, the Crimson Vow proceeded lazily towards the kingdom’s capital.
They hunted small prey and gathered other raw materials along the way, but all of those things would fetch a better price in the capital, so there was no reason to sell them off piecemeal at every guildhall they passed. Since they wished to keep moving forward, they did not take on any extermination requests. There was no point in them hunting anything other than a monster that needed killing, no matter where they were in the kingdom.
With the heaps of goods that were already stored away within Mile’s so-called “storage,” they could easily deceive anyone they wished, but the four of them were not the type to take advantage of such a thing—not even Pauline.
Speaking of Pauline, she had been in something of a foul mood for the past several days. Or at the very least, there was something off about her.
This was, of course, because of their charity work—primarily the fact that they had given away the bulk of the money that they had swindled from the soldiers to the people of Ascham and Cesdole.
“Three thousand… Three thousand gold pieces…” she muttered deliriously every now and then.
“Ugh! Enough! Pauline, I know you’re upset about the money, but for the four of us to keep that amount of cash all to ourselves would be utterly indecent! Taking even a thousand gold as our cut is plenty!”
One thousand gold pieces. For a citizen of modern Japan, that would be the same as having 100,000,000 yen. It was more than enough. Besides, to anyone else, it would look as though they had given away all of their money. Assuming that no one found out about the rest, of course.
Even so, Pauline was as good as heartbroken.
“You have to give it up already, Pauline,” said Mavis. “It’s not like we can go take back all the money that we gave away. Plus, thanks to Mile’s weird storage magic, where the stuff inside never deteriorates, we have way more earning potential than other hunters. We’ll make that money back before you know it, by honest means!”
“B-but still… With all that money, I would be one step closer to my goals…” Pauline muttered.
Reina raised an eyebrow. “Your goals? Don’t you mean our goals?”
“Uh…” both Mavis and Pauline spoke without thinking. Mavis looked dumbfounded, and Pauline’s face bore an expression that said, Oh no.
“Pauline, you—”
Pauline only averted her gaze, silent.
“Wh…?”
Beside them, Mile had her hand clapped over her mouth in shock. This time, however, it was not the childish, overly deliberate pose that she normally took—she appeared to be genuinely stunned.
“M-M-M-M-Mavis, what are you talking about? I have perfectly normal storage magic, I just use ice magic inside of it…” Mile babbled, desperately trying to play it off.
Reina, however, looked at her wearily, and then smugly replied, “Mile, are you still seriously trying to keep up that act? The jig is up. The meat that you say you’re cooling down with ice magic isn’t frozen when you take it out. It isn’t even cold. Vegetables in there never lose their flavor, and herbs keep all their potency. Do you really expect us to believe that you can achieve all that just by cooling things down with ice?”
“H-how long have you known?”
“Since around the time we first hunted the rock lizards, I think.”
“That was about when I figured it out, too,” said Mavis.
“Me too,” agreed Pauline.
“So, pretty much since the beginning?!?!”
Mile, who had worked so hard to keep the trick of her storage a secret until now, hung her head in disbelief.
“A-all my pain and suffering…was for nothing…”
Still, this means that now there’s hardly any secrets that I have to keep from them—save for the story of my reincarnation, which no one is ever going to hear—and the secrets of the fundamentals of magic, including the nanos…
Well, I mean, I guess if you consider that I told Marcela and the others about the fundamentals of magic, but not the trick of my inventory, then both sides’ knowledge about me are about at the same level now.
On the one hand, Mile couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. But on the other hand, she felt somewhat pleased as well.
Well, it’s all right…
She wasn’t going to let the little things bother her. In fact, not letting even the fairly big things bother her was just the Mile way.
Next time, we’re going to head in the opposite direction from the way we went this time, so I guess that means we’ll be heading east. Come to think of it, wasn’t it something to the east that those men who kidnapped Faleel were talking about?
Indeed, they had mentioned a country that lay far to the east. The men had said that was the place where their mysterious religion, and its mysterious teachings, originated. There was no rush to get there, of course, but Mile was dying to know what was out there that would give even the nanomachines pause…
If it was something that would disturb the nanomachines, who seemed to have no particular interest in the lives and deaths of most human beings, it had to be a matter of global proportions. Such harrowing phrases as, “this world has been destroyed and rebirthed numerous times,” and “the cause of the destruction of civilization,” came to mind. More than likely, it was something related to the elder dragons’ mysterious actions, which was what had spurred Mile to go on a journey in the first place.
Mile thought deep and hard, and then…
“‘While Mile still lived as Adele, to the east of the Kingdom of Tils, a mysteriously cultish religion began to take root…’ Wait, is this the cult of the Golden Eye God?! Or could it be the Manji Clan, searching for the Diamond Bell?!?!”
As Mile carried on her one-woman comedy act, the other three looked on wearily.
***
“
Oh, Capitaaal! We’re hooome!” Mile shouted as they approached the city gates. The other party members, assuming she was once again pulling a quote from some fairy tale, ignored her.
The first place they headed was their old inn. They could stop by other places after, but if they didn’t get into the inn straight away it might get late before they knew it, and then, they’d end up split between different rooms. Plus, if there was anywhere that they should be showing their faces first, it was there.
“We’re home!!!”
“Welcome ba—ohhhh! Oh my goodness, you’re back!”
Lenny came flying out from behind the reception desk.
As always, there she was: Lenny, the ten-year-old—or perhaps she was eleven now, as her birthday would have already passed—poster child of the inn, full of pep, her hair in the familiar short braids, her eyes looking a bit damp.
“I-I’m so glad you made it home safe!”
It was not strange for hunters to turn up dead, at any time, in any place. As a result, even in her relatively few years, Lenny had seen many patrons who, once they left on a journey, never returned again. Whenever she said a word of parting to a guest who was a departing for a trip, she prepared herself ahead of time for just such an outcome.
This alone was enough to make Lenny overjoyed when there were those who not only returned home safely but chose to frequent her inn again. Especially when those guests were ones that she could put to great use…
And so, Lenny faced the four with a great smile, and said, “Welcome home!”
Such was Lenny the Penny-pincher for you.
Once the four had taken a room, they headed on to the Hunters’ Guild—an obvious next stop, of course.
“We’re back!” Mavis announced as they walked through the guildhall door.
The clerks and the other Guild staff all sat straight up and shouted, “It’s the Storage Girls!!!”
“We’re the Crimson Vow!!!” the party rebutted.
Apparently, the others had been giving them strange names behind their backs.
Truthfully though, Mile’s storage magic—or at least the ability that she disguised as such—was the Crimson Vow’s most distinct feature. They were fairly skilled in battle, but as far as anyone in the Guild was aware, they were certainly not A or S-rank level. By and large, the Guild’s evaluation of the Crimson Vow as a C-rank party with abilities on par with B-ranks; the strength that they possessed was really not all that unusual. It certainly was not enough that they could have won against the Roaring Mithrils—if they were fighting at full strength, at any rate.
Of course, that would be the evaluation of someone who knew nothing about the fight against the elder dragons, or Mile’s true power, or Mavis’s doping exploits, or Pauline’s hot magic…
And then, there was the fact that they were a group comprised entirely of cute, young girls. The fact that they possessed such abilities while still being beautiful young ladies, rather than wizened grandpas or old crones, granted them an unfathomable added value—and as they continued to grow from their experiences, opened up great prospects for the future, as well.
That said, the truth remained that what had most drawn the eye of all of the hunters and Guild affiliates within the capital was that (so-called) storage magic. With a power like that, you could carry several times—maybe even ten times—more when out hunting, or gathering, or delivering things. Really, the fact that Mile’s chest measurements were still a bit lacking in their capacity was the only thing keeping some of the men in check.
Thus, at some point or other, their peculiar nickname had begun to spread.
“W-well I mean, that’s really just another name for Mile, right? Th-that has nothing to do with the rest of us,” said Mavis, not wishing to be affiliated with such an awkward title.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!?!” Mile raged at the betrayal.
“N-now, now…”
“Oh, it really is you all!”
As Pauline attempted to comfort Mile, the guild master descended from the second floor, greeting them.
“You’re back much sooner than I expected. Still, what’s most important is that you’re all safe. You’ll be working in this country again for a little while now, I suspect? Well, I won’t ask you to say. I know that you young folks are always wanting to go here and there and everywhere. As long as you stay safe, and you remember to come back home, it’s good to get out and broaden your horizons now and then. That’s what being a hunter is all about, after all.”
Compared to his treatment of them upon their departure, the guild master seemed quite a bit more understanding. Reina and Pauline eyed him a bit suspiciously, but Mavis and Mile were filled with a simple-hearted joy that someone seemed to understand their feelings.
The guild master had gone off on his own such journeys in his youth, and so it was not surprising that he would be able to understand them. Judging by his speech, they thought, it should be smooth sailing for them the next time they decided to travel.
“Until the next time you feel like setting out again, you all should work hard and focus on training yourselves, earning money, and racking up contribution points!”
With that, the guild master cheerfully returned to the second floor.
The members of the Crimson Vow watched him silently as he departed.
The guild master probably had no idea that they had over a thousand gold pieces in savings nor that they had already accumulated more than sufficient points for promotion and were merely waiting for the minimum required time spent as C-ranks to pass. Similarly, he would likely be surprised to learn that they already possessed skills on a level with B-rank hunters.
Of course, the reports of their achievements from the foreign Guild branches had probably already gone out in the Guild post, but such reports were only delivered once a month, and including travel time, it would be a few weeks at best, and possibly a month or more, before word traveled this far. Indeed, it might be some time still before this branch, where the Crimson Vow were registered, received word of their accomplishments abroad.
After greeting all of the Guild staff and the hunters who happened to be present, the members of the Crimson Vow retired to their inn once more.
“Has the Crimson Vow gone home yet?” asked the guild master.
“Ah, yes—just after you went back upstairs, sir,” said the female clerk who had prepared his tea.
“All right, I’m going out for a few. I’m going to stop by the palace after I drop in at Count Christopher’s, so I might be a little while.”
With that, the guild master stood and began making preparations to go out. There was an unusually gleeful smile upon his face.
“The guild master seemed to be in a weirdly good mood. And he seemed to think that we would be staying in town for a little while…”
“Come to think of it, you’re right. Even though we’re only stopping by here for a little while because it happens to be on our way. There’s no way we could finish a training journey that quickly, after all. Well, I guess we will be staying in town for about a week, at least.”
As Pauline listened to Mile and Reina’s exchange and thought back on the guild master’s manner, a wicked grin spread across her face. Seeing this, a shiver ran suddenly down Mavis’s spine…
***
“Oh, the Crimson Vow has returned, have they? They must have come to realize that our kingdom is the most comfortable place for them to live in, after all.”
“They’re back much sooner than I thought they would be. There are a lot of barriers to a party of four girls making a living in an unfamiliar land, after all. Without any men in the party, they must face a number of hardships…”
His Majesty the king was delighted at the thought that the Crimson Vow would have deemed their kingdom the easiest in which to live, a fact that he expressed to Count Christopher, master of the blade, the former-hunter-turned-noble who had himself gone on a lengthy training journey in his youth.
“Sti
ll, I am thankful that they made it home safely without getting caught up in some other country or entangled with any strange men. That ought to cool their cabin fevers for a bit, which will give them time to form all sorts of bonds here in this country—and perhaps even find themselves some worthy spouses…”
Seeing the king and Count Christopher smiling, the guild master, who had come to give his report, relaxed as well. If they could keep reinforcing the idea of expanding and improving the status of the Hunters’ Prep School, it meant a bright future not only for the Hunters’ Guild but for all hunters.
Plus, thanks to the influence of the Crimson Vow, the number of aspiring female hunters had begun to increase, meaning that the number of promising young hunters who quit the profession because their spouses begged them to do so would likely decrease accordingly. Yes, if two hunters married one another that it was likely that they would continue working as hunters even after the wedding, with far fewer partners pestering their spouses to find a safer job closer to home.
“Bwahaha…”
“Ahaha!””
“Wahahahahahahaha!”
The room was filled with hearty laughter. Each of the three men in the king’s private offices were imagining the possibility that the futures they had envisioned only in their dreams might one day become a reality.
***
“So, you all are fine with us just staying here a week, right?”
“Yep.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Ten-four.”
Sure enough, the members of the Vow had already completed more or less everything that they wished to do in the city. Really, the fact that they had stopped back here at all after departing on their westward journey was sheer coincidence, a result of their unexpected return to the neighboring Kingdom of Brandel. They had no intention of heading west again after this. Next, they would travel eastward.