Didn't I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! Vol. 3

by Funa

  In a world like this one, even the slightest show of malice, such as brandishing a weapon, was sufficient grounds for at least a little retaliation. Really, strictly seeking out a “grounds for justified self-defense” as one might on modern day Earth was nothing more than a means of satisfying Mile’s sensibilities.

  “Pauline, Reina, if you would.”

  Mile was wiped for the time being, and of course it would be impossible for even Mavis to fight this many soldiers head-on, so now, it was up to the other two.

  From the beginning, this had been Pauline’s fight, and Reina, whose father had similarly, been killed by thieves, had her own small stake in this, too. It would be dangerous not to let the two of them let off a little steam.

  There were no magic-users in the soldiers’ ranks.

  There were few people around who could use combat magic of any sort, but mages who also had the tactical sense and level of ability to utilize combat magic in organized warfare were a rare breed indeed, and they were always well-salaried. It wasn’t as though they lived in the lap of luxury, but their pay certainly amounted to that of several average soldiers combined.

  The shop employee who had been dispatched to send word to the viscount had assumed Mile was a sword-wielder, and had reported that there were only two young rookie mages amongst the group. So, it was deemed that even if they did have mages in their midst, a group of rookie hunters would be helpless against a band of soldiers many times their number, and the lord elected not to dispatch the scant number of mages within the regional troops against a few young girls.

  In other words, there was no one to stand up to the pair.

  “Flare!”

  The spell Reina let off was but a simple thing, a flame that would only graze an enemy, not explode or pierce or anything like that. Put simply, she was holding back. However…

  “Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

  This momentary flame had almost no effect on the soldiers’ weapons or the parts of them that were covered by armor. However, their exposed skin and hair was not so lucky.

  Their skin was all right. It was red on the surface and stung badly, but in medical terms, they had received only a first-degree burn. In a week or two, they would be right as rain, without even aches or scars.

  Their hair, however, was singed. To a crisp.

  Ignoring the flailing soldiers, Pauline now turned to another group, and let off a spell of her own.

  “Ultra Hot Mist!”

  “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!”

  A red mist rained down on the soldiers.

  Once again, the “hot” used here did not mean thermal heat, but rather, spiciness. This was the mist version of the “Waterball: Ultra Hot” spell she had used before, when capturing the robbers.

  “Eughaaaaaaah!!”

  Unfortunately, it seemed that a portion of the mist had drifted onto the soldiers whose scalps Reina had already burned with magic. A scream the likes of which had never been heard in this world rang out.

  “Wh-wha…?”

  These young girls, of whom they had thought so little, had rendered nearly a quarter of the troops incapable of fighting in an instant. The lord was shocked. However, they were still fighting these enemy mages at point-blank range. Both of them had just finished casting, so it would take time for them to incant their next spells.

  “Now! Before they finish casting their next spells!!” the viscount screamed, but Mile and Mavis had each already taken a step forward.

  When it came to magic-users, it was not so strange to find someone of formidable skill, regardless of their age. However, when it came to the sword, this was not the case.

  In the world of swordsmanship, the difference between someone of 45 years and someone of 50 was little, but the difference between 15 and 20 years old was an insurmountable wall. Such was the way of the weapon. Facing seasoned soldiers, a little girl of around ten and a young lady—who was older, but likely not even twenty—could easily be kicked aside, allowing for the mages’ capture.

  So thought the viscount, and thus, he felt relief, until suddenly a voice came from the crowd.

  “Could you wait a moment?!”

  Naturally, there was not a soldier around who would halt in the middle of a skirmish just because the voice of someone they didn’t know asked them to. Several of the men swung at Mile and Mavis and were just as quickly blocked. The brief time it bought them was long enough for Reina and Pauline to complete their spells.

  “Firebomb!”

  “Slippery!”

  Reina’s fire magic—whose power and scope she had initially held back, in light of their surrounding environment—exploded. Immediately after this, Pauline let off her original spell, “Slippery,” to halt that same fire’s spread.

  Several of the soldiers were blown away by the explosion, and those remaining fell into a great panic.

  “E-everything’s slippery! I can’t grip my sword!”

  The fearsome magic of “Slippery!”

  How fortunate that there were no female soldiers present.

  “Now then! Didn’t I tell you to wait?!”

  While the battle was put momentarily on hold, the owner of the voice that had called out before emerged from a gap in the crowd.

  No matter how you looked at the man, it was clear he was a noble, and he was flanked by several knights, positioned around him like guards.

  “Viscount Boardman, pray tell what it is you intend to do to my daughter.”

  “F-Father!” Mavis shouted. “And Third Brother…and First Brother…”

  Indeed, Doting Daddy and the SisCons had just made their stage debut.

  Since the morning following his first encounter with Mavis in the capital, Ewan had penned letters to their father every day, collecting the details he learned. One of these letters had even been written the day the plan to travel to Viscount Boardman’s lands was made.

  Each one, he sent by dragon mail.

  Of course, dragon mail did not actually go by dragon. It was merely an express relay system, where horses and messengers were changed out at every station, so that a letter seemed to travel as though on a dragon’s wings. After all, one could not put a price on assuring Mavis’s safety.

  Naturally, upon receiving Ewan’s information, their father was indignant with rage.

  “Someone tried to a-a-attack my dearest daughter, who is the spitting image of my beloved wife in her younger days…?!”

  Not an hour after he received the letter, their father had set out toward the viscount’s lands, along with six of his subordinates and his eldest son, who entrusted all his official duties to his next-youngest brother.

  “Wh… C-Count Austien? Why has the Count himself suddenly appeared in my capital, without sending even a messenger…?”

  Viscount Boardman apparently knew the face of Count Austien, who was not only an influential nobleman, but also a powerful player in military circles. Not yet grasping the situation at hand, he was incredibly confused.

  “That girl there, Mavis, is my beloved daughter. Now then, might you care to offer an explanation as to why you are attempting to protect the offender who had my daughter attacked in the capital? Depending on what you say, this may not end well for you,” said Count Austien to Viscount Boardman. His face twisted in loathing, and he tried to mask the way that his arms trembled in rage. “I—no—we, the entire Austien family, shall assume the responsibility of sending the man who appears to be your ally—the man who attempted to bring harm upon Mavis von Austien, our family’s crown jewel—straight to the depths of Hell…”

  Viscount Boardman was white as a sheet.

  A lord could do as he pleased with his own citizens. He could threaten them and increase their taxes and kill them or their friends or families—anyone who did not follow his commands. Many of the hunters, as well as the employees of the local guild branch, were citizens of his lands, too. There was not an idiot around who did not know that if they made an enemy of their lord, then a harsh fate awai
ted not only them but everyone they associated with.

  However, the Count was a problem.

  The fact that the Count held a higher station was a problem enough in itself, but the Austien family also had great influence over the Crown and other noble families, and furthermore, they were renowned for their militaristic bent. While their regional troops did not greatly outnumber that of other lords’ territories, their strength was widely acknowledged.

  If such a noble were to level his power and hatred at the Viscount, rally the aid of other influential nobles, and perhaps even involve the Crown… he would not stand a chance.

  “Y-your daughter? Whatever could you be talking about? I came out here merely because I heard that man over there, who happens to be a merchant in my city, was being attacked. In any event, this is a problem for my territory. You may be a count, but you have no right to meddle in my affairs!”

  The viscount tried desperately to gloss over the incident, but Count Austien was not ready to abandon this battle so easily.

  “Oho! Well then, I suppose there is no reason a viscount should be meddling in my affairs either—I, who came all the way here because I heard that my daughter and her companions, young girls who are all citizens of the capital, were being attacked. If my family’s only daughter, as well as citizens of the capital, a place under the king’s direct rule, are involved, then this is a problem for me and His Majesty.”

  “What frivolous chatter is this? It would be one thing if you were His Majesty himself, but for a noble to be butting into another noble’s affairs—even if you are a count—is simply—”

  “If you require His Majesty’s seal as proof, then will this do?”

  “What?”

  Count Austien and Viscount Boardman both turned in surprise at the voice that came suddenly from beside them. They saw a man in his mid-thirties, who looked like a knight, standing there. A sword was fastened to his waist.

  “My apologies for cutting in. I am Santos, of the second division of the royal guards. Recently, His Majesty received a missive from the guild master of the capital branch of the hunters’ guild, stating that some personages under His Majesty’s own watch had come under attack. Moreover, the letter explained that those selfsame individuals were now undertaking an investigation into the situation on their own behalf. I am the one who was directed by His Majesty to confirm the aforementioned circumstances. I come as the forbearer of an approaching unit that will apprehend and transport the wrongdoers. As this is a matter concerning an offense against His Majesty’s people, and ergo, well within His Majesty’s jurisdiction, I have been granted the authority to apprehend the offenders in His Majesty’s name.

  “Count Austien, you are a faithful retainer of His Majesty. Furthermore, these young women of the Crimson Vo… ahem, the Order of the Crimson Blood, received half a year of tuition-free education at the Hunters’ Prep School and are associates of the capital branch of the hunters’ guild. In the name of His Majesty, I request that you confirm the identity of the mastermind behind these offenses, as well as all those who have interfered in this investigation.”

  “Wh…?”

  Viscount Boardman was speechless. The crowd’s gaze shot back and forth in bewilderment as they followed every new sally in this ping-pong match.

  Though the girls of the Crimson Vow had considered the possibility that Mavis’s family might get involved, even they had never imagined that the king himself might take an interest in their affairs.

  The viscount was sweating bullets. If he handled this poorly, it could spell doom for him. He thought desperately and reached a conclusion.

  “I-I suppose, in that case,” he announced, “I have little choice. Until the guards arrive to apprehend him, I shall deal with that merchant myself.”

  The merchant, whose expression had been utterly grim, appeared relieved. Perhaps he thought that the viscount was coming to his rescue.

  However, at that very moment, Pauline called out in a flat voice, “What are you looking so happy for? Doesn’t that just mean he’s going to murder you to shut you up and then, when the guards arrive, tell them you killed yourself because you realized no escape was possible? That way you can’t cause any trouble for him…”

  The president went pale once again, his knees knocking and teeth chattering.

  “Wh-what are you saying? You have no basis for…”

  “If that is the case, then I shall be the one to handle that merchant.”

  The viscount glared at Santos, the knight of the royal guard, who had interrupted him.

  At this rate, it was certain that the president would be taken to the capital and questioned, encouraged to spill everything he knew. There was no way that this man could stand up to a palace interrogator. And in any case, he had no reason to put himself through that much to protect the viscount. In fact, there was a relatively high probability that he would pin all sorts of wrongdoings on the viscount, once his gums got flapping.

  Even if he was the rightful head of a noble family, they were still a lower-ranking clan. And if all of his past wrongdoings were to come to light, the king might seize his estate, or place him under house arrest and set up his son or some other relative to rule in his place.

  This was bad. This was very very very very bad!

  “All right now, what tomfoolery is this?! Am I to believe that His Majesty would take an interest in such unimportant little girls as these?! Or that this rookie hunter is truly the honorable Count’s daughter? If you hope to deceive me, you are going to have to be a little more convincing than that! These miscreants have used a noble’s name in vain and sullied the reputation of His Majesty—kill them!”

  Kill them. That was his solution. As long as all relevant parties were eliminated, he could make some excuse for it later on.

  They had attacked him suddenly, unprovoked.

  They had demanded bribes and sullied His Majesty’s name.

  They had colluded with the merchant and conspired to overtake his lands. The fellow from the royal guard was in on it as well.

  As long as everyone was dead, he could say whatever he wanted. He could do whatever he liked.

  Viscount Boardman had no choice but to believe this.

  Given how poorly everything was going, he had no real reason to believe this plan might work, and yet he had no other option.

  On the viscount’s command, the relatively few remaining soldiers, along with the knights that had accompanied him from the start, brandished their swords.

  Mile thought, This is the last ten minutes of the episode, isn’t it…?

  And Pauline thought, Why did he put so much emphasis on “received half a year of tuition-free education at the Hunters’ Prep School”? Does that mean that they’re going to start working us for free now? What a miser! The king is so cheap!

  Chapter 23:

  A New Battle

  After those with the most severe wounds dropped out, fifty-one units remained in Viscount Boardman’s army, nine with minor injuries. Fifty-one versus the twelve of Pauline’s forces.

  The viscount himself did not count Pauline, Reina, or Theresa among Pauline’s numbers. Judging by the strong showing from the Count’s forces, the magic-users would not be a part of this fight. This battle was going to be decided with swords.

  Santos, of the royal guards, joined their forces as well, of his own accord.

  Still, speaking purely in terms of numbers, the viscount’s forces outstripped Pauline’s more than four-fold. If one analyzed the situation in terms of Lanchester’s laws, the odds of their winning were indescribably low.

  To start, situations where a very small number could beat back an overwhelming force were incredibly rare. Because they were so rare, any successful cases were widely heralded throughout the land. In other words, it was easy to prove that such things scarcely ever happened in reality.

  When such aspirational situations did come about, it was because one side had weapons that were phenomenally stronger than tho
se of their opponents, a plan was in place ahead of time, or some other such advantage was at play.

  In this case, they had no special plan, their weapons were the same, and they were squaring off, face-to-face, with a group more than four times the number of their own troops. Not only was this not within the bounds of common sense, it was sheer madness.

  However, there were those among them who shattered the limits of so-called common sense on a regular basis.

  Indeed, just as a girl by the name of Kurihara Misato had shattered the balance of heaven and earth so very long ago.

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  Taking the lead, Count Austien charged forward into the enemy lines with a mighty roar. Following him, the count’s two sons and his subordinate knights rushed into the fray.

  Santos proceeded behind them, while Mile and Mavis, having allowed the others to take the vanguard, casually followed after them in turn.

  The mages stood by as spectators, but they had their spells prepared in advance. They were certain that the others would be fine, but it was better to be ready, on the off chance that they needed assistance. It was not a competition, after all. They would let off their spells when the moment came. Certainly, it was by their own choosing that the mages were not yet participating in this fight—not because of some promise to the enemy, or an obligation to honor the Count’s desires to settle this battle with swords alone.

  If it seemed that their friends or allies were about to take a loss, they would attack without hesitation. Just as they always did.

  And then, the count’s forces and the viscount’s forces clashed.

  A number of the viscount’s soldiers circled around from the sides, hoping to entrap the count’s forces; however, this maneuver was in vain. The count’s forces had already broken into the enemy’s front lines, and were pushing through to the other side.