by Funa
Mavis examined the paper she had been handed and found that it was marked with an A grade. Naturally, they would have not have expected any other.
“Thank you very much.”
Echoing Mavis’s thanks, the four of them bowed their heads. All of them had acquired at least that much in the way of manners, and this was a matter of ceremony.
“Now then,” said the baron, “I actually had something else to ask you…”
Mavis grinned and replied, “A new personal request? Would you mind letting us know what it is?”
Even if it was a direct request from a noble, they would not take any job that was fruitless or demeaning. This was a rule that the Crimson Vow had set for themselves. Even when it was a seemingly good person like the baron, they did not intend to leap into any agreements without first hearing the terms.
However, the baron looked a bit troubled, hesitant even, upon hearing Mavis’s inquiry.
“A request… Do we have to go as far as making this a formal request? Ah, well, I suppose it’s not as if I can expect hunters to do charity work, and if it’s a request from a noble, then it may as well be a job…”
The baron mumbled something to himself before finally seeming to work up the courage to say the words. “Please, be Leatoria’s friends!”
“No, thank you!”
“Whaaaaaat?!”
Hearing such an immediate reply, from the usually quiet Mile no less, the baron was taken aback.
“B-but why not?” the baron, who had never imagined that his request would be denied, was openly dismayed.
“You don’t become friends with someone just because their parents ask you to,” said Mile. “And also…”
“Also?”
“‘Leatoria’s been our friend this whole time!’ That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?!” Reina cut in.
“Ah, eh heh…” Mile scratched her head, embarrassed.
“Well, that’s our Mile for you.”
“I couldn’t imagine any other reply.”
Even Mavis and Pauline had seen straight through her.
There was no way that Mile—who until very recently had never had any friends her age, even in her previous life—could ever have truly refused the baron’s request. Even the other members of the Vow, who knew only the half of it, could see that.
“You’re so easy to read, Mile…”
“Huh?”
A surprised voice rang out from the doorway. Everyone turned to look and saw Leatoria, now changed into normal clothes, standing there, her eyes sparkling with shock and joy.
“F-friends? I h-have f-friends?!”
Oh no…
And with that, the other three were sucked into the trap right along with Mile.
“This is perfect! I can’t wait to go on all sorts of adventures with you all as a hunter!”
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!”
The baron and the Crimson Vow all let out a reflexive cry, and in a shocking turn, even Bundine joined in.
For Bundine, the veteran butler, raising his voice in shock at a conversation between his master and a guest was the blunder of a lifetime.
“Wha, wh-wh-wh-what are you saying…?” asked the baron.
“Huh? Well, if I’m friends with hunters, then obviously I have to enroll as a hunter and go along with them if I want to see them with any regularity… Plus, I want to have all sorts of fun adventures too, just like the ones they were telling us about last time!” Leatoria replied, chipper.
“Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope, N-O-P-E, NO WAY!!!!” the Crimson Vow all shouted, wildly shaking their heads and waving their hands.
“If you were really listening, you’d remember what we said. A hunter’s life is full of dangers, and even we’ve come close to death. It’s not a job for a noble’s young daughter,” Mavis admonished, grimacing.
“Th-that’s right! A dangerous job like that is no sort of place for someone like you, Lady Leatoria,” Mile agreed.
“Huh?” Leatoria replied, “But Mavis and Mile, aren’t you both nobles?”
“Guh!”
Indeed, though they had never outright confirmed it, Mavis and Mile had been behaving in a way that clearly revealed their true origins in order to win the baron’s trust. Neither had even tried to hide the fact that they were not even disgraced nobles but still in good standing from active noble lines…
This was inevitable, of course. It had been crucial that Mile be thought of as someone of appropriate status, with adequate knowledge and a high-level education, in order for her diagnosis and treatment plan to be trusted. However, now it had come back to bite her…
“A hunter has to have sufficient skill in combat—the strength to protect herself. If she can’t handle her own affairs without troubling her allies, then she’s nothing. You have to hike through forests and up craggy mountains while carrying heavy things, and square up against enemies… Without excelling at the sword like Mavis does, or having skill and experience with magic like I do, or some other special ability like that, you’d be done for,” said Reina, hoping to dissuade Leatoria.
“Oh? But I am good at magic. Not many people know about it because I couldn’t leave home thanks to my frail body, but I can do fire and water magic, and perform combat spells, too.”
“C-come again?!?!”
For a beautiful young noblewoman, this was incredibly rare. Indeed, as far as Mile’s recollections went, the only such individual she had ever even laid eyes on was Marcela of the Wonder Trio—a young lady that she had trained or “power-leveled”—in other words, one whom Mile had hand-raised herself.
If one were to search the whole country, perhaps one might turn up one or two noble maidens who could use combat magic. However, to find one of such beauty, who had neither husband nor lover, was entirely unheard of. If Leatoria’s existence, her talent, and the fact that she had totally recovered from her illness and frailty came to light, there was no doubt that droves of suitors would come banging down the baron’s door.
Plus, since she had older siblings, there would be no issue with her leaving the household to wed. Surely, she would leap at any proposals that came from the heirs of viscounts or counts. Though, as she was only fourteen, any talk now could be of nothing more than a betrothal…
“Also, my body’s felt so powerful these past few days, I bet I could carry a whole cask of wine from here to the next town on my back…”
“Whaaaaaaaaat?!”
Reina was utterly lost for words.
“B-baron, if news of Leatoria’s magical ability, and her recovery, start getting around to other households…” Mile began.
“Ah…”
That was all the baron needed to hear. Suddenly, he could see everything clearly. His face went pale.
“Th-that can’t happen! I won’t let anyone take my Leatoria away!”
“But Father, I don’t want to be a bride, anyway. I want to be a hunter.”
Things were already falling apart.
“Anyway, Lady Leatoria, the fact remains that we are all C-rank hunters. If you enlisted now, you would start off as an F-rank hunter. People with such different ranks can’t be in the same party…”
“Really?”
That was a big, fat lie.
If four out of five people in a party were C-ranks, and the remaining member was an F-rank, the party would still be counted as C-rank on the whole. Plus, given that she could use combat magic, she would probably start off as a D-rank—thanks to the aforementioned “skip” process… Though of course, no matter how good someone’s magical skills were, it was still very unlikely that a complete novice would be allowed to start at a C-rank. Assuming that they didn’t also possess storage magic anyway…
Both the baron and the butler more than likely knew that Mile was lying, but there was no way that either of them were of the mind to correct her, not in the slightest.
And thus, the wings of Leatoria’s dreams were clipped before she could ever even take flig
ht.
***
“The direct request has been completed with an A grade…”
After taking a good long look at the completion mark that Mavis had handed her, Felicia cast a suspicious glare over the four hunters of the Crimson Vow.
We should have gone to a different counter…
Despite Mavis’s immediate regret, in truth, this was inevitable. Even if she had attempted to head to a different counter, Felicia would have noticed and raised her hand to beckon them over. Apparently, she had independently decided that all matters regarding the Crimson Vow were in her care, and though Mavis was bold when it came to battle, such conflicts were not an area where she shone. There was no way that she would have been able to escape Felicia’s call.
“So, you’re telling me that the daughter of a noble, who was wasting away from a mysterious illness that even countless doctors could not identify, has suddenly made a full recovery in just a few days?”
The Crimson Vow exchanged glances.
“Well, I suppose that asking for details is against the rules,” Felicia said, and began dutifully processing the form. “Here!”
With that, she slapped a leather sack down upon the counter.
Since it would be troublesome to shove clattering mountains of coins across the counter, and it would do no good to hand the group a large sum of money in front of the watchful eyes of other hunters, when there was a sum over a certain amount to be paid, it was delivered in a leather bag. There were enough dishonest hunters and those hurting for money that at least this much caution was warranted.
Of course, in practical terms, this was rather pointless. The fact that the money was inside of a leather bag was itself already an indication of the amount that might be inside. All the hunters here knew that the appearance of a leather bag meant that the amount was thirty gold pieces or more. Furthermore, the size of the bag changed based on the amount of coins that were inside, so anyone with a keen eye could guess the approximate amount at a glance.
At this point, all that putting the coins inside a bag truly did was avoid the general stir that would be caused by having heaps of loose coins passed around. As far as the guild was concerned, achieving at least that much was more than enough to merit the effort.
At times, however, Felicia liked to play a bit of a game.
Yes, at times she would pay out a small reward entirely in silver pieces and hand it over in a leather sack.
Of course, these bags were not free. Obtaining them cost the guild money. Such a ploy was inherently wasteful, but neither the guild master nor the other employees sought to pick a fight with her about it.
Why was that?
Naturally, it was, “because it’s Felicia.”
There was no one at this guild branch who dared stand up to her.
Even the hunters who were given these large sums of silver coins had no complaints. Getting their pay this way made them look good, so they were happy to be on the receiving end of Felicia’s tricks. People would just think that luck had come their way.
Mavis began to peek inside the bag to check just how many gold coins they had been paid but stopped halfway and handed the bag to Mile… They had never actually discussed payment for the job with the baron, she realized, so there was no point in confirming the amount enclosed.
They could not ask Felicia about the amount, either. To do so would be to reveal to everyone that they had taken a job without confirming the reward first. Somehow, Mavis got the feeling that this would be an incredibly unwise thing to do.
And so, Mile took the bag and placed it into her inventory in such a way that the other hunters could clearly see it. Naturally, everyone assumed she was using normal storage magic. This way, they would know that pickpocketing the Crimson Vow’s earnings was impossible and that the only way to steal those coins would be to have an armed showdown with the party as a whole.
The hunters, who had no interest in this, thought nothing of it, but Felicia, upon seeing how Mile and Mavis stored the money away without even confirming the amount that was inside the sack, quirked an eyebrow.
Do they not care how much money is inside? Or do they have that much faith in the guild? Heh! What fascinating people…
As she watched the retreating forms of the Crimson Vow, the corners of Felicia’s mouth perked up, ever so slightly.
Waaaaaaaaaah!!!
Hell had just frozen over.
The hunters who were watching quaked in fear at the wicked grin upon Felicia’s face. All but the veterans, who could tell that the smile upon Felicia’s face was one of true joy…
Chapter 53:
The Avenger
“Are they still following us?” asked Mavis.
“They are,” Reina replied.
There had been no appealing jobs on the board that morning, so the Crimson Vow decided to head off to hunt orcs or ogres or the like. The extermination rewards and promotion points received for killing ogres were good, and they could earn a fair bit from the parts harvested from orcs.
Any normal party would be obliged to pack up and go after killing their first orc. It would take the full efforts of five or six hunters just to transport one of them. For the most part, the profits made off an orc were not proportional to the difficulty of killing one, combined with the effort of transporting them from the forest back into town.
However, this meant nothing to the Crimson Vow, who had Mile. Thus, they were able to rake in an absurd amount on their hunting excursions. Assuming that they did not limit themselves to just orcs and ogres, and kept their eyes peeled for other daily request items and materials that they could harvest and sell, the possibilities were endless. And so, they walked leisurely through the forest, attentive to every opportunity and random encounter that came their way.
In this situation, using location magic was no fun. Everyone was on their highest alert for prey, so there was no way that anyone would sneak up on them unawares. Therefore, Mile had not bothered with her magic—but Reina’s uncanny sixth sense was still active… And it picked up on a suspicious presence behind them.
By Reina’s report, their pursuer was alone, and moreover, they were following the party in a manner that was crude and amateurish, their presence completely exposed, so there was no point in Mile using her magic to scan for them. It wasn’t good for either herself or her teammates to rely on this spell all the time, she figured.
And of course, if their opponent seemed to be an amateur, she figured nothing special would come of using magic anyway.
Seeing how Mile, who normally was the first to offer information, was saying nothing, the other three had a good guess as to what it was she was thinking. So none of them bothered to ask about her special skill.
“Honestly, we’re just wasting time now,” said Reina. “They aren’t going to stop following us anytime soon, and we aren’t going to get any hunting done while we’re dragging them along. So…”
“Time to eliminate the threat, yes?” Pauline concluded.
No matter how much of an amateur this pursuer seemed to be, they might be armed with a bow and arrow or throwing spear, so getting into a battle with an ogre while such a person was at their backs would be ill-advised. They also could not rule out the possibility that the person’s movements were intentional, calculated to only make it appear as though they were an amateur.
“We’ll ambush them by that big tree,” said Reina, pointing to a tree up ahead of them. The other three nodded.
Hm?
For a moment, their pursuer hesitated.
The targets had passed beneath the shadow of a tree, and the next moment, they had vanished. They should have appeared immediately on the other side of the tree, but even after several seconds, they were nowhere to be seen. Thinking this suspicious, the pursuer kept their distance from the tree, circling around to the other side. Still, no one.
“Wh-where’d they go?” the pursuer uttered unthinkingly.
Quickly, this individual moved toward the tree
behind which the party had disappeared, looking wildly all around. However, there was nothing resembling a human figure.
“Where the hell did they…?”
“Here!”
“Eek!”
As Reina came leaping down from the boughs of the tree, the pursuer shrieked, startled, and fell on her backside…
It was a girl of around ten years old.
Mavis and Mile followed swiftly after Reina, leaping down and circling behind the girl. Between the three of them, she was surrounded.
While Pauline had been lifted up into the tree instantaneously with the rest of them by Mile’s magic, she could not simply jump straight down the way that the others could. She was still busy clambering down the tree, carefully and cautiously.
At the time, Pauline had no way of knowing that later on, Mavis—an unusually displeased expression on her face—would lecture her about how “uncool” this was, and put her through the paces of learning the proper way of leaping down from up high.
“Who are you?”
“What is it you want from us?”
“I hope you can be honest with us, my dear lovely maiden.”
“Almost there, almost… Aah! Oof, ow! My butt!”
Mavis scowled at Pauline, who had spoiled the mood, while for some reason the young girl was staring at Mavis, her face growing pink. Mile looked over the whole scene, amazed.
“This is almost surreal…”
“Now then, why exactly were you following behind us?”
“I-I wasn’t! I just happened to be walking this way, too!”
The girl tried to play dumb, but there was no way that excuse was going to fly.
“Hm… A girl all alone in the forest, eh? Well, in that case, why were you so worried when you lost sight of us?”
“Nn…” Clearly unable think of a suitable response, the girl glared defiantly at Reina. “I’m here to make you pay for what you did to my big brother!”
“Huh…?”
Since the members of the Vow had met at the Hunters’ Prep School, Reina had not once killed a single person, as far as they were aware. Though of course, whether or not she had secretly gone off and killed someone when they went around on their own on days off was another matter entirely…