Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 8

by Funa

  They would either have to fight, or they would have to surrender. There were no other options.

  That said, surrender was only a viable option if it was bandits they were up against. In the event that their opponents were monsters… Well, in that case, they would just have to hang their hopes on the strength of the guards they had hired.

  “Um, do you mind if I step away for a bit?” Mile made her usual request, seeking the merchants’ permission.

  There would be no need for her to seek permission if she was just stepping away to pick flowers or something nearby, so this meant she was probably hoping to go a little farther. That said, she could only go so far in a place like this, so permission was quickly granted.

  Seeing this, the other hunters’ eyes glittered with anticipation.

  After Mile stepped away, Reina said to the merchants, “Don’t worry about preparing dinner for me tonight.”

  The members of the other two parties cut in one after the other, while the merchants looked on, perplexed.

  “Me neither.”

  “Nor me!”

  “Nor me…”

  “What?” the merchants cried.

  What were these hunters thinking, going without dinner? The merchants were flummoxed, but, as requested, they prepared an evening meal for themselves alone.

  “I’m back!”

  A short while later, Mile returned. She appeared to be empty-handed, but the other hunters did not seem disappointed to see this was the case.

  “All right! Here we are.”

  As planned, Mile pulled her spoils out of storage.

  Deer.

  Some fruits resembling persimmons.

  And the old standard, a cask. Inside was fruit juice, and beside it were drinking bowls filled magically with water.

  Seeing this spread, the other hunters hurriedly grabbed for their wallets.

  “Ah, there’s no need to pay for anything that I hunted while on the job here. The only thing I’ll need payment for is the juice that I bought ahead of time, and the sauce, salt and pepper, and other seasonings. The juice is two half-silver a cup, and as a special bargain, for just five half-silver, you can use as much of the sauce and seasoning you like while we’re on this trip!”

  Obviously it would be a bit much to keep spending silvers here and there the entire time they were on the road, which would be six days of their eight day venture—excluding the two days they would spend in the village. It would be a particularly piteous thing to inflict upon them after the two parties had once again let themselves get screwed over for the sake of the Crimson Vow. And so, Mile decided to provide this special service.

  “Whoa! Seriously?!”

  “N-now that’s some thinking I can get behind. Hope you don’t mind if we take you up on that offer!”

  Granted, it was not as though career hunters such as these were truly hurting for money. Still, having to shell out every single time they wanted to eat a steak was sure to lead to a lot of unfortunate feelings, including a sense that they were being used. Even though it was so tasty! Even though they were so glad to have it! Even though they were full of gratitude!

  But if everything except the drinks and the seasonings were free, and they could use the seasonings as much as they liked, they certainly weren’t going to complain.

  We’re gonna eat. We’re gonna eat until we burst!!!

  Hunters took a good meal very seriously.

  As always, the Crimson Vow set off like busy bees. Reina began preparing the stove that Mile had produced, while Mavis chopped the dried wood that she had collected while Mile was gone into kindling. Then, she began butchering the deer carcasses, while Pauline helped out, cutting the meat into portions of appropriate size.

  Mile began bringing out cookware and sauce and seasonings, placing them on the table that she had produced beforehand.

  The merchants and their hired drivers only stared on in awe.

  “Y-you’ve got…storage magic…?” one of the merchants asked Mile, in a voice full of disbelief.

  Of course, as he had just seen, there were more things to question than just the storage, but it was the absurd capacity of her storage that shocked him the most.

  Deer. Not fawns, but fully grown deer. And a table, chairs, a stove, cookware and tableware, a cask, and much, much more. Plus, just to put a cherry on top, behind Mile was a fully assembled and furnished tent.

  The merchants had heard that the Crimson Vow could use attack and healing magic, and produce water with magic, too, but judging by how they were outfitted, they had assumed that the party only had two mages, with the other two being sword wielders.

  As the three parties had already fought alongside one another previously, there was no need to inform each other about their strengths or battle styles, and so there had been no opportunity for the merchants to learn more about the Crimson Vow. Furthermore, Mile had not bothered to disclose the fact of her storage to the merchants, as it had nothing to do with her combat abilities.

  “Ah, yes. It’s quite handy.”

  “Handy” was certainly one word for it! The merchants stared at her like wolves looking at a plump sheep, unable to suppress the feeling that they would snatch her right up if the chance should arise and milk that ability for all it was worth…

  “All right, eat up, everyone!”

  The merchants and drivers looked at the deer meat roasting on the spit and the soup that Pauline was making on the stove—not reconstituted powdered vegetables, but an honest-to-goodness stew filled with real ingredients—and then turned back to look at their own table, where the hardtack and jerky were laid out.

  Then, they all replied in unison: “Please and thank you!!!”

  After dinner, the group miraculously managed to avoid a scene in which the merchants pulled Mile limb from limb in the hope of winning her favor. On the contrary, she turned the tables on them, asking the merchants a number of questions about the merchandise they were carrying.

  As Mile had gathered, thanks to her investigation back in Mafan, the merchants did not appear to be carrying any alcohol to sell for profit, given the many drawbacks associated with transporting it. At most, they had a few bottles that they might offer as gifts to the village chief or any skilled blacksmiths.

  Yes! Jackpot!

  If she wanted to curry favor in the village, then liquor, particularly high-class, expensive liquor, was an obvious choice. There would be nothing in the village that could compare. Now, the only question would be the selling price.

  “Um, so, about how expensive is that liquor you brought as gifts?”

  When you didn’t know something, it was best to ask the experts.

  “Ah, well, there’s wine, which is about three silver a bottle, and some distilled spirits, which run about eight silver each. They’re both pretty pricey, of course. The wine’s a bit cheaper because they don’t make their own there, so it doesn’t have to be quite as good. However, the spirits have to be the real deal.”

  I see, I see. They came to the same conclusion I did. Plus, as I don’t have to give my stock away for free, I brought more expensive stuff. I should be able to cut a good profit on this…

  Mile’s windfall—and her win—was assured.

  ***

  Bandits often appeared on the way to the village.

  This leg of the journey was when the caravans were still fully loaded with daily necessities and luxury goods for sale, as well as money that would be used for stocking up. On the return trip, they would only be stocked with metalwork that had been purchased for later sale, goods that would be less appealing to bandits, who operated largely without horses so as not to rely on the main road. Such items were hard to carry, and if they tried to sell them off anywhere in the immediate area, they would be easily tracked and discovered. Anyone who would buy them knowing that they were stolen goods would be sure to bargain the price down to such a pittance that it would hardly have been worth the bandits’ trouble.

  Additionally, by
their return, the merchants would have spent all of their investment money, and the money earned from selling the goods they brought would have already been invested into new stock. As a result, they would have very little actual coin on hand, and so, it was rare for bandits to bother targeting anyone leaving the village.

  Even monsters with any sort of intelligence realized that attacking the caravans when they were traveling uphill instead of down was to their advantage, as they would find plenty of things to eat on the wagons in addition to the humans.

  And so, the attack came right on schedule.

  Fweeeeeeeeeeee!

  At the telltale sound of a whistle from the front, all of the wagons immediately stopped, and Pauline and Mile, who had been taking the resting shift in the central wagon, leapt out. Sure enough, it was the signal of an impending attack. The members of the other two parties who had been resting in the front and back wagons jumped out as well.

  Now, when the guards had all descended and everyone would be in position to hear, a voice rang out.

  “Ambush! Four ogres, straight ahead!”

  The five members of the Devils’ Paradise were in charge of protecting the front of the caravan. For C-rank hunters, they were reasonably skilled, but in the grand scheme of things they were really only around the middle ranking for C-ranks, or perhaps a little lower. Five men against four ogres would be a tough battle. The Crimson Vow immediately rushed to the front.

  Meanwhile, the Fellowship of Flame split up, leaving two men at the rear, while one each moved to flank the left and right sides of the central section of the caravan, and the final two rushed to the front to lend their support. They were seasoned guards who would never be so foolish as to send all their forces to the front line while leaving the rear and flanks of the caravan vulnerable to attack.

  As formidable a foe as four ogres might be, they would be no match for eleven C-rank hunters. However…

  There came a sudden, harried cry from the two Flames who had remained in position at the rear.

  “Three more ogres coming from behind!”

  Apparently, despite the fact that the enemies were ogres, they were intelligent enough to think of attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. That said, the fact that there had been a delay before the ones at the rear had appeared was probably sheer chance and not a result of any mindful planning to strike after the defense was already concentrated at the front.

  “Flames, to the rear!”

  At Wulf’s direction, the Flames who had come up to the front and sides rushed back to their original position. That left nine hunters to face the four ogres at the front, and six to face the three at the rear. At first glance, this was just about sufficient balance, and yet…

  “I’ll go to the back, too!” Mile declared.

  “Go for it!” replied Wulf, granting her permission. Like Mile, he had realized that, numbers aside, the rear team was at a disadvantage in terms of objective combat strength.

  Mile headed immediately to the back, as fighting broke out on both sides almost simultaneously.

  “Flare!”

  There was no need for a mage to wait until an enemy came into striking range. Their incantations were finished before the approach even began. Before both sides got into the thick of things, leaving it harder to distinguish friend from foe, Pauline let off a full-strength Flare attack.

  The ogres were fully consumed in flame, but since the area of the attack was wide, the actual power behind it dropped accordingly, meaning that it was not enough to fell an ogre at full health. Of course, Pauline had already fully accepted this from the get-go. Even if she could not manage to fell any monsters, the fire was at least enough to slow their approach and wound them somewhat. Pauline wasn’t the only one here with combat abilities, after all.

  Up next was…

  “Firebomb!”

  Ka-boom!

  With a sudden explosion of flame, one of the ogres sank to the ground. Obviously, this attack had come from Reina.

  With the one ogre down, Mavis, beside Reina, turned to face the ogre for which Wulf was aiming. The other two ogres were attended by two of the Paradise apiece.

  The ogres stopped moving. There were now three groups of two against one. Normally, these would be dangerous circumstances for lower-ranking C-rank hunters, but for this group, it was no issue. Reina and Pauline had already finished incanting their next spells, which were to be held on the off chance that they were needed. For the rest, they trusted the sword fighters to do their thing. It wasn’t good to hog all the glory, after all.

  Meanwhile, of the Flames, only the two who had been at the flanking positions made it to the back in time for the start of the battle, leaving them at four-versus-three. The members of the Fellowship were slightly more skilled than those of the Paradise, but they were up against three ogres with a third of their membership missing. It was a dangerous situation—indeed, a battle that could not possibly be won without casualties. Realizing this, the remaining two hunters rushed toward them at full tilt, but it did not seem as though they would be able to make it in time.

  As the two Flames ran, praying to the heavens that their companions’ injuries would be mild enough that they would heal without any long-term effects, something went whizzing past them. Suddenly, from behind the four at the rear, who were brandishing their swords desperately, doing all that they could to hold back the ogres and protect the carts and the merchants, a single tiny girl launched up from the ground, flying over both the pivoting Flames and the three ogres to touch down behind the monsters.

  In a single move she drew her blade and cut down the ogre who had been slowest to react.

  With Mile and the Flames surrounding the ogres, it was five against two, and shortly after, seven against two. The ogres did not stand a chance. Before much longer, all the ogres lay lifeless on the ground.

  Apparently, the Flames had been in rather dire straits before Mile’s arrival. One of them had a cut in his left arm, and another had taken a blow to the flank, hard enough that while he probably did not have any broken ribs, it was likely that he had at least sustained fractures.

  At first, Mile thought to start applying healing magic straight away, but for the most part, the healing role in the Crimson Vow was left to Pauline. They were not in any great rush, so she was not about to steal Pauline’s thunder on that front.

  Yes, even Mile could remember to have consideration for others and “read the room” sometimes. At least, every once in a while…

  By the time the battle finished at the rear, the front had already cleaned up as well. The ogres’ numbers had been reduced to three with Reina’s firebomb, and their strength weakened and pace slowed by Pauline’s flare. At that point, against six melee fighters, the ogres had about a snowball’s chance in Hell.

  ***

  The whole group gathered beside the central wagon—guards, merchants, drivers, and all—to confirm everyone’s status and discuss their next moves.

  “The only injuries sustained were the two Fellowship members. They’ve both already had healing done, so they’re fit as fiddles and feeling fine.”

  The non-hunters were agog to see the first man’s arm healed without so much as a scab, thanks to Pauline’s magic. They were not as impressed by the wound on the other man, as blunt internal trauma was not something judged easily from the outside—though of course, to completely heal the fractured bones, bruised organs, and ruptured blood vessels that lie underneath a wound was, particularly in this world, no mean feat.

  It was hard to picture in the mind’s eye things that one could not see, especially for those not well versed in the internal construction of the human body.

  “Let’s take the ogres with us. This area is outside of the bounds of any extermination requests, and no one would bother eating ogre meat except in a famine. Still, their hides and tusks can sometimes be used in making armor, so I bet we could get some of the dwarves to buy them from us,” said Mile.

  “Yeah,�
�� Wulf agreed. “I bet those guys in the village will be happy to know that we took care of some of their local ogre problem, so it’ll be a nice show of strength as well. Once they know that there’s no risk of the fruits of their labor falling into the hands of ruffians and humanoid monsters, they should be less reluctant to part with some of their more impressive stuff.”

  “What? But the carts are full… Oh right, storage magic!”

  Given that Mile would choose to store as huge a waste of space as that tent—which was spacious but largely empty inside—just because it was too inconvenient to take it down and put it back up every single night, one could conjecture that she still had a reasonable surplus of storage space. Anyone who could not guess at least that much was not fit to be a merchant.

  If only they could use magic like that themselves. If only they could convince that girl to work for them. Or better yet, to become their wife. Or mistress. Or lover…

  At that thought, a series of rose-colored visions that they knew would never come true floated through the merchants’ heads.

  Everyone had the right to dream. It was an unalienable freedom which no one could take away from them.

  Underneath the concentrated heat of their covetous gazes, Mile felt a shiver go down her spine…

  Chapter 66:

  The Dwarven Village

  “There she is! The village of Glademarl!”

  On the morning of the fourth day, the driver of the first wagon, who had the highest vantage point in the caravan, turned and called out to the others behind him.

  This particular driver was not one of the merchants but a professional who had been hired on for the expedition. No matter the industry, being at the forefront was always a position requiring the utmost skill.