Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 6

by Funa

  Eight—the same as the number of demons who were currently present.

  Such rate of fire, such speed of casting, and such force…

  There was no one who could guard themselves against that.

  “…Forgive me.” Helst bowed his head to Zawin in apology. “I knew how skilled you all are, and I still doubted your judgment. I was wrong.”

  If he sincerely apologized, Zawin would forgive him, Helst assumed. Zawin, however, did not reply. Helst lifted his head slowly, thinking that Zawin must truly be angry.

  “W-w-we-wer…” Zawin was pointing at the little human girl, and trembling. “Were you holdin’ out on meee?!?!”

  ***

  “So, if y’all hear the whole story and decide there are no problems here, you’ll leave us alone?”

  Once Mile manufactured some excuse to pacify the raging Zawin, both groups finally sat down to have a discussion. The main parties were Zawin, on the demons’ side, and Mile, for the Crimson Vow.

  “Yes. We already heard the gist of it from that elder dragon errand boy—what was it again? Um, oh yes—Berdetice. So the humans are already aware of what’s happening. I’d imagine the intel is currently being spread all across the land by now. Therefore, as long as you all can prove that you’re operating within that scope and have no intention of meddling within any human territories, then we can commit that to our report and call it a day.

  “Of course, I have no idea how the lord and king of this place will react or what they might decide to do—but at the very least, that’s all that we, who undertook this investigation, would have to do to fulfill our obligations. Once we’ve done it, we’ll go home—and I get the feeling that the leadership won’t be too interested in sticking their noses into this, either.”

  “You’ve met Lord Berdetice?! W-wait, what do you mean ‘errand boy’…?”

  “Hm? Well, that’s what he called himself, anyway. He said, ‘I am but a humble intermediary.’”

  “An intermediary and an errand boy are two very different things,” said Zawin. Still, it was true that Berdetice, despite being a high-ranking elder dragon, was being sent around to do follow-up at the various sites. If one thought about it, the role he had been given was more or less that of an errand boy after all. Thus, Zawin could not truly argue with Mile’s interpretation.

  At any rate, now that they had confirmed that the girls did possess some measure of information, Zawin could tell them anything that fell under the categories of ‘what would not be a problem for them to know’ and ‘what they probably already know,’ and that would likely be enough to satisfy them. Of course, how long they intended to be at the site, and where they stood in the overall progress of their investigation, was, as of yet, undecided.

  However, as for their current status…

  They were currently conversing in a wide-open space. In the wall at the end of the space, there was something…

  “Um, about that there…?” Unable to hold back any longer, Mile turned to Helst with a question.

  She had noticed it the moment they had rounded the bend and spotted the investigation trio. Since then, Mile could not take her eyes off of it.

  “Ah—that? It’s a little room that looks like some kind of treasure vault. It dead-ends there. Though I guess, since it’s so small and made of metal or something, you could probably say it’s more like a safe. It took a lot of work, but we managed to force it open, only to find it was empty inside. I guess it’s no surprise that whoever built this place would’ve taken whatever was in there with them when they abandoned it.”

  “………”

  It was just the same as the ruins from before.

  To the demons, and to Reina and the others, it would have looked like a vault or a safe. This, however, is what Mile saw: the wrenched-open, mangled doors of an elevator…

  Would an ancient civilization that was supposed to be far more advanced than those on Earth really use something so primitive that Mile could identify it as an elevator as first glance? Would they not use some locomotive device that was far more fantastical? Mile wondered this briefly but quickly set herself straight.

  It wasn’t as though this previous civilization had simply collapsed overnight. If they declined slowly, then it was possible that in their final years, most of their technological advances and equipment had already been lost.

  Plus, no matter how many scientific advances they may have made, that didn’t mean that they would stop making use of older technologies. Necessity, safety, reliability, low maintenance costs, and any other number of reasons might see to their continued use.

  No matter how advanced your technology was, you wouldn’t use a science fictional transporter just to go to the next room. Even on Earth, though every department store in the world had elevators and escalators, they all still had stairs, too. There were also things like fire escapes and other apparatuses for emergency evacuation. Perhaps this was just that—an elevator to be used in case of an emergency.

  Even if it resembled an elevator from the outside, it might actually be some kind of teleportation device. Or it could use some kind of gravity control or maglev technology instead of cables. Or maybe it was powered by an antimatter engine or something like that.

  Only one thing was for certain: as old and decrepit as this passageway was, there was no way that the thing could possibly still move. And even if it did seem like it had any chance of still operating, she would be far too terrified to try and ride in it. Plus, if it had still been functional up until its rediscovery, now that the doors were in shambles, it probably would no longer operate with any modicum of safety.

  Secretly, Mile activated her magical sonar.

  Indeed, she supposed, if this was in fact anything like an elevator, there was certain to be something like a set of stairs or a maintenance pit somewhere nearby.

  ***

  “Well, that will be it for us then,” Mile announced, as spokesperson for the Crimson Vow. “We will make camp somewhere in the vicinity tonight and depart in the morning. We will report that this appears to be nothing more than a standard investigation with no special concerns. However, there is the possibility that others may be sent here to investigate or that travelers may come passing through, so please do take care. Word of the previous incident at the ruins may make it here sooner than you know, and then the humans may begin to connect the dots…”

  The demons nodded.

  The Crimson Vow then stood to take their leave.

  “Say, though,” Zawin called out to them, “Could ya tell us one thing? Are all humans these days just as strong as you four? How many’re there out there like you?”

  “You are aware that, save for G, which is merely an apprentice level, we hunters are divided into seven ranks—F, E, D, C, B, A, and S—correct?” Mile replied.

  “Y-yeah, I mean I have heard something like that…”

  “The four of us are only C-ranks.”

  “You’re…what now…?”

  The demons were awestruck, dumbfounded, and horrified.

  As Mile and company left the room, they left eight stone statues, their mouths all agape, behind them.

  ***

  Late that night, as they all slept within their tent, Mile rolled up her blanket and quietly slipped outside.

  The very next second…

  Plink!

  Ka-fwump!

  “Gah!”

  Mile tripped over a string and took a spectacular tumble.

  “Wha-wh-wh-wh…?”

  Mile flailed about as the other three groggily awoke.

  “We thought you might try something like this, so we tied a string to your ankle after you fell asleep,” Reina announced proudly, still reclining, but with her hands on her hips.

  “Th-that’s cruel!”

  “And just which of us is the cruel one, huh?! You’re the one who was trying to sneak off and leave us behind again, weren’t you?!” Pauline jabbed.

  “Nnh…”

  Mile wa
s fuming, but to that conjecture she had no reply. Reina and Mavis were one thing, but she still owed Pauline for the Attempted Abandonment Incident.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Anyway, you gave yourself away when you said that you wanted to ‘camp somewhere nearby’ for the night.”

  “Er…”

  Already, Reina and Pauline seemed to have developed a sense of precognition when it came to Mile’s thought processes. Not that it was quite on the level of Marcela’s, of course…

  “All right then, let’s get going!”

  “Okay…”

  Naturally, the cave was their intended destination.

  “The demons did say that they were camping inside the cave. They’re probably sleeping in the deepest part of it with someone out near the entrance keeping watch,” Mile mused.

  “Sounds about right to me,” Reina agreed.

  As they neared the entrance of the cave, Mile activated her location magic.

  “There are two of them just beyond the entrance. The rest are deeper inside, exactly as we assumed.”

  Mile then used a sleep spell. Medicinal particles that would induce sleep began to drift around the demons’ faces.

  Unlike on TV, it was impossible to instantly knock someone out with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform or ether or something. It took a little more time than that for any inhaled anesthetic to start working, and administered poorly, it could even lead to paralysis of the respiratory organs, followed by death.

  This drug, however, was one produced by the nanomachines, and it was nothing like anything ever made on Earth. For them, it was no trouble to conjure a substance that was exactly as Mile requested: colorless, odorless, and instantaneous in its effects, with no health risks or side effects.

  And so, the two demons silently fell unconscious, still sitting on the ground. Had the two been standing, Mile would have devised some other method, for if they had fallen onto the rocky ground from a standing position, they could have been seriously—and possibly even fatally—hurt.

  The four members of the Crimson Vow slipped into the cave, carefully eyeing the sleeping demons out of the corners of their eyes. After they proceeded a short distance, nearing the place where the others resided, Mile once again began her sleep spell.

  Because these demons were already asleep, nothing changed on the surface, but this way, it would take more than just walking by them to wake them up. Still, Mile summoned a sound-dampening barrier around them, just in case.

  “Shall we?”

  Rather than heading straight over to the busted open “elevator-like object,” Mile began fumbling around with something along one of the walls a little bit away.

  “Um, now, I think if I do this…”

  Previously, when using her search magic in the cave, Mile had asked the nanomachines to find out if there were any staircases or any other accessible entrances around them. What they had reported to her was that the entrance she was after was merely camouflaged and that the mechanism that would open it was still in functional condition—not locked or rusted shut.

  Perhaps it merely lacked a lock because it was a passage for emergency use. Or maybe the last person to leave the place forgot to lock it. Or perhaps, they had not had time…

  Ka-chink.

  As Mile searched the underside of a small rock protrusion with her fingers, there was a soft sound.

  “All right!”

  She gripped the knob with her hand, pulling it to the side as hard as she could, and suddenly, soundlessly, part of the rock wall slid aside, revealing a small opening.

  “Wh-what is…?”

  “I think it’s some kind of emergency exit. I don’t know if it’s unlocked because there’s no point in locking an emergency exit or if they just forgot to lock it, but, well, either way, this is pretty convenient for our purposes.”

  She could not even begin to imagine what kind of locks would have been employed by the people who had built this place. Of course, she could have simply asked the nanomachines to investigate the mechanisms for her if she had to, or else, she could have simply used force and destroyed it. However, the sentimental part of Mile balked at the idea of smashing some part of these ruins like they were only rubbish after they had withstood the test of the eons.

  The other three followed Mile into the new opening, finding a set of dimly lit stairs leading further underground.

  Was the light this dim for the same reason that some northern Europeans prefer dimmer light than Japanese people—because they have less pigment and are more susceptible to the sun? Or was it that someone decided that this place didn’t need very much light because it was merely a passageway? Or was it simply to save on costs and energy usage?

  The light came not from any torch or electric light but from the walls themselves. Rather, it seemed that the whole space was glowing from some mysterious, unseen source. Whether the light was magical or a product of some ancient technology, there was no way to say.

  Mile suddenly recalled a quote she had once read in a book in her previous life:

  Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.

  And with that thought, Mile ceased to ponder the matter.

  It wouldn’t be any fun to ask the nanomachines about every little thing, and besides, she didn’t have the time for that at the moment.

  All that mattered was that they had light, and so, Mile shut the entrance with confidence. Presumably, it would shut cleanly again, making it imperceptible from the rest of the rock face from the outside.

  “Let’s go. We need to be careful and move quietly. This place is probably really old, so I don’t think that there’d be anyone still living here, but there might be traps to guard against intruders—or these old stairs might crumble under our feet. So, let’s take it slow. And please, everyone, it’s imperative that you try not to touch anything or raise your voices. If you notice anything weird, please make sure to tell the rest of us right away,” Mile warned.

  With grave faces, the other three nodded.

  As they moved slowly down the stairs, Mile thought to herself, These are different from the ruins we saw last time… Except for those amazing murals, everything there could be constructed with the technology we have now—aside from the fact that it would take a ridiculous amount of time and labor. But this place is…

  Indeed, these ruins were clearly different. From the illumination to the crisp construction of the floor and walls, to the stairs descending deep underground…

  Yet, although the cave itself had clearly been subject to some level of human interference, other than the “elevator-like object,” it was still nothing more than what the people of today could achieve. In fact, even that “elevator-like object” looked like nothing more than an ancient vault or safe in the eyes of everyone other than Mile—and a cave like this was not that peculiar of a place for such a thing.

  This was probably on purpose, in the event that some human or similar lifeform should happen upon the place. If anyone came inside, they would conclude it was a cave that had once contained treasures that had been removed, at which point they would investigate no further.

  So does that mean that these really are ruins of that ancient civilization that Dr. Clairia and the elder dragons mentioned? If they really are that old, wouldn’t all of their records, their devices—really, even the metal itself—have corroded away?

  No matter how well constructed this cave and these stairs are, and no matter how far down these stairs might go, they’re still just carved out of rock. It’s possible that even the light here might just be from rock that has some naturally luminescent property.

  Of all materials, rock is the longest lasting, and as for the luminescence, if it’s something like Uranium-235 or 238, then it’d have a half-life in the hundreds of millions, or even billions, of years… Gah! That’s terrifying!

  No no no no no, I’m sure that no advanced civilization would ever use something that would give you radiation poisoning…


  Mile made a worried face as she walked, deep in thought. The others proceeded in silence as well, with similarly grave expressions.

  “Sure goes on for a while…”

  A fair bit of time had passed since they had begun their descent. Though they were well conditioned for walking along roads or through the forest, none of them were in good enough shape to walk down this many stairs. Since this world obviously had nothing like skyscrapers, this should come as little surprise.

  Of course, there were castles, which had fairly high areas within them, but in the grand scheme of things, those were really not all that high. Anyway, it was not as though any of the girls had had the chance to go walking up and down castle towers. However, the biggest problem was…

  “Ngh! My knees…and my back…”

  Per Pauline’s complaint, long flights of stairs took a toll on one’s knees and lower back, especially for individuals who were not accustomed to the movement.

  After a while, the girls finally reached what appeared to be the bottom. Considering that there were no doors or landings along the way, the probability was fairly high that these stairs were not meant for practical, everyday use but rather as an emergency egress—the quickest path possible from the lowest level of the caves up to the surface.

  At the end of this passage lay a single door.

  “Shall we then?” asked Mile.

  The other three silently nodded.

  Slowly, gently, Mile opened the door just a crack and peeked inside.

  Clack.

  And then she pulled the door shut.

  “Th-there’s something in there…” she said.

  “Wh-what is it?!” asked Reina.

  “Th-there was something in there…”

  Sweat dripped down Mile’s brow.

  “And just what do you mean by ‘something’?!”

  “Something…”

  As this exchange was going nowhere, Reina herself opened the door and peeked inside.