by Funa
Indeed, having gotten her fill of an enjoyable excursion, Mile was satisfied.
Then, suddenly, Mile saw before her…
A fairy… larva?
Indeed, it was a larval fairy—or rather, a young fairy girl.
“Would you like to come with me, as a pe—er, a mascot? I can feed you delicious food, as much as you like! Well, not so much that you get too fat to fly, of course…”
There was a devilish gleam in Mile’s eye.
“Huh?” asked the girl. “Oh, wh-what should I do?”
Tempted by the promises of endless delicious food, the little girl was troubled. However…
A sudden roar came from the crowd. “Do you really think we’d let you do thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!”
“And also, just what exactly was it you were about to say?! ‘Pe—’? What is ‘pe—’?”
“Uh, well, th-that was…”
“You were about to say ‘pet,’ weren’t yooooouuuuu?!”
Pe—Mascot Acquisition: Failed.
“All right, I’ll let you all go now. Thank you for everything.”
“Huh?”
The fairies appeared surprised. Apparently, they had not actually expected Mile to honor her promises.
She understood why. If she were to take all these fairies, whom she had already captured, back to town with her to sell, she could make a fortune so great that her children and grandchildren could live in the lap of luxury for their whole lives. There was no human who would let such a catch slip right through their fingers.
Mile was doing a bit of thinking as well.
I really have done something a bit cruel, haven’t I? Seeing a monster shaped like their friends suddenly break open its back would have to be rather traumatic, one might suppose…
A “bit” cruel this was not. A bit cruel would be…
I guess I’ve probably given them one more strike against humans as well… This is bad! This is really bad! If it’s true that I, who wanted to strive for a newfound peace with the fairies, have done exactly the opposite… I just couldn’t bear it!
These were Mile’s thoughts as she busied herself undoing the fairies’ bonds, when suddenly, an idea popped into the back of her head. Abruptly, she put the tent back into her inventory.
“Illusion magic, dispel!” she said suddenly, performing an incantation inside her head…or rather, giving instructions to the nanomachines.
Refract and diffuse the light! Gather moisture into ice! Neutralize gravity and maintain formation…
Yes, it was a callback from the far, distant past—Mile’s Goddess Form!!
The condensation in the air froze, taking form as two pure white wings of crystallized ice sprouting from Mile’s back. A halo of light floated over her head, and light particles glistened all around her…
“Wh—?! I-It can’t be! The All-Mother…”
Hm? No? Not a goddess then?
Mile was a little surprised at the elder’s utterance, but whether they thought of her as a goddess or as this so-called All-Mother, it made little difference.
“Yes, it is I. I have come to assure myself that you, my children, are still telling our tales of yore, and that you are leading happy lives. It brings me ease to see you all in good health. Well then, be of good cheer!”
Whoosh!
With those special words, Mile’s form vanished into magical light. And with that, she ever so stealthily left the clearing behind.
Perfect! she thought. Now they’ll think that those horrid things were the work of the E-Ferario or the All-Mother or something like that—and their hatred of humans won’t spread! It’s a little different from my plan to blame it on the goddess, but everything turned out okay in the end!
And so Mile returned home, a triumphant spring in her step…
“Oh my, oh my… I can’t believe that the All-Mother herself is watching over us!”
The village elder and all the other fairies were so moved they were trembling.
“Still, just when we thought that there might actually be a human who keeps her promises, it turned out to be the All-Mother. I guess there’s no mistaking it—there’s no such thing as a trustworthy human in this world. This is all the more reason that we must be cautious. That was probably why the All-Mother did as she did, to send us a warning…”
And so, a rare and precious opportunity to raise the value of humans in the eyes of fairies went utterly wasted.
Chapter 55:
The Four Stooges
(Minus One)
“So, it seems like Mile’s gone off on some mysterious solo mission for the duration of our break,” said Reina, her eyes on Mavis and Pauline. “But I’m assuming that you two don’t have any particular plans, do you?”
The two of them shook their heads.
Five days was far too short for either of them to make a round trip back to their home country of the Kingdom of Tils, so they hadn’t even considered trying it. As it was their first time in this country, there was nothing around that they even knew of to do on their own.
Truthfully, though the idea behind taking this vacation was to give each of them time to do things alone, Reina had had it in mind to go out and do something fun with the four of them, so she was a bit stunned to hear Mile say, “I’m leaving the capital for a bit. There’s something I need to do.”
At that point, though, it was already too late to take back her original proposal, and given the fact that it was so rare for Mile to express her own desires, Reina figured that it was more important to respect her wishes and left the matter be.
Anyway, the four of them were always together. They could go and have fun together another time.
“Well, there was something that I was thinking that we could use these five days to try out.”
“What? You mean without Mile?”
Pauline’s surprise was to be expected. The Crimson Vow was a four-person set, with Mile at the middle.
It was true that Mavis was the official party leader, and that Reina always took the reins, but somehow or other, deep in their hearts, they all felt that Mile was the heart of the party. Her exceptional abilities aside, she was something like a mascot, or unifying force at the core of their solar system…
“That’s right. I think we all rely on her too much anyway, so every once in a while we ought to try and see what things are like without Mile, for the sake of our own futures…”
Indeed, though they lived carefree lives now, there was no telling when something might happen. Obviously there was the chance that one of them might die on the job, but losing members to illnesses and other circumstances was to be expected in the life of a hunter as well. The Crimson Vow in particular had a particularly large variety of “other circumstances” that could affect them.
Though Reina, the Lord of Rain and Thunder—er, solitary wanderer—was a non-issue, Pauline worried after her family’s shop, which her mother and younger brother were working so hard to keep afloat. As for Mavis, she was still head over heels for her father and elder brothers. And then there was the reality that they each had their own dreams: Pauline of owning her own business and Mavis of becoming a knight. Sooner or later, there was sure to be talk of marriage…which was a possibility for Reina, too. In short, none of them were likely to remain hunters for their entire lives.
And of course, there was Mile, the true problem child.
Though she was currently neglecting her duties, she was in fact the land-owning head of a noble household. While she held no interest in either her rank or her estate, Mile was still very young. It was possible that one day she would come to gain some awareness of the duty she owed her family name, besmirched now but held high for generations by her mother and grandfather and the generations before them, as well as her responsibility toward the people who lived on her lands. Plus, it seemed that the royal family had some interest in what became of Mile…
It was all too evident that one day the Crimson Vow would have to disband, or else resign them
selves to having to recruit new members. Should that happen, they could not be accustomed to letting their every pattern revolve around one specific individual. So thought Reina, who got the feeling that, of the four, she would be spending the longest portion of her life as a hunter.
“I guess you’re right,” said Mavis. “I approve, then. Pauline, what do you think?”
“I agree too. We really do rely a little too much on Mile…”
Thus, it was decided that the three of them would try doing something on their own.
***
Later on, deep within the forest…
“I don’t see anything around here. Mile, would you use your search ma… Ah.” Reina trailed off and continued to walk.
“I’m getting hungry…”
“I think we could probably stop to eat now. Mile, would you take some… Ah.”
“Oh.”
None of them had thought to bring any food with them.
Since they normally had access to Mile’s storage space, full of fresh fish, meat, vegetables, bread, and fruit, even when they went out on expeditions, no one ever paid any mind to preparing food for their trips. Now that they thought about it, they hadn’t brought any cookware or tableware, either. And naturally there was no camping gear…
Well, they had planned to return within the day. However, the three still should have made at least the minimum of gear preparations, just in case. One never knew when something might happen in the forest, after all.
“………”
This was bad.
They all silently agreed.
They had become far too accustomed to a life of convenience.
Negligence. Over-reliance. An inhibited ability to sense coming dangers. Even depravity.
Those were the greatest killers of hunters, far greater foes than even the monsters they stalked.
About two hours later, the three girls dined on a meal of tree fruits, a jackalope they had finally snagged, and plain water. Given that the amount of time they would be out only warranted eating one meal, they could have simply packed some jerky and hardtack, in which case, they would not have needed to waste so much time on acquiring and preparing food. And of course, if Mile had been there, she would have simply pulled out an already-prepared meal…
Reina shook her head wildly at the thought.
No! After the members of the Crimson Lightning were killed, I lived all alone. Properly alone! This—this weakness is not what Crimson Reina is all about!
Reina was appalled at her own degraded condition, but Mavis and Pauline’s concern was not nearly as grave. Their travels with the Crimson Vow were the first time in their lives that they had lived as hunters, so they had been entirely spoiled by the convenience that was traveling with Mile. On top of this, they lacked the innate awareness of danger that Reina had. Without any other comparable experiences, it was more than likely they had come to believe that the status quo was the usual way of things.
This is bad. This is bad this is bad this is bad this is bad!!!
Putting herself aside, Reina was overwhelmed with a sense of fear at Mavis’s and Pauline’s limited independence as hunters. At this rate, they would never be able to make it in any party that did not contain Mile. This was even more serious than she previously thought.
“I see one! There’s an orc moving all alone—a fairly small one!”
“This should be a breeze. We’ve got room to work, so try not to lower its sales value too much, okay?”
As always, Mavis was the quickest to spot their prey.
Even without Mile, an orc was basically small fry as far as the Crimson Vow was concerned. Accordingly, Reina had decided to make “killing something without lowering its sales value too much” the topic of their special practice.
Quietly, Reina and Pauline incanted their spells.
“Ice Javelin!”
“Bl—inding Mist!”
The orc stood still, shocked at the spear of ice that had just materialized from thin air and pierced into its side. A red mist began to float around its face, and the orc started to rub its eyes.
The word that Pauline had started to say was “Blessing,” which would have indicated a type of healing magic. However, the spell had turned out to be an attack on her opponent. That was Pauline for you—when she invented a new spell, it was a tricky one.
Mavis took advantage of the opening to leap out from the trees, slicing the orc’s head off in one fell swoop. She was not using her True Godspeed Blade, of course. Special techniques were best saved for special times. Furthermore, an orc that was standing stock-still and rubbing its eyes was not even worthy of being called an enemy. Of course, this was only possible because of Mavis’s skill and the help of the mysterious blade that Mile had provided; it was not something that could easily be achieved by just anyone. Orcs’ necks were thick, and their bones were sturdy.
“That felt good. We didn’t put a single scratch on the parts that sell for the most, and we didn’t cause any damage to the environment. Ten out of ten. Now, Mile, if you would…”
“Ah…”
Of the three girls assembled there, two of them were slight, waifish mages.
Even a small orc could be estimated to weigh just shy of 300 kilograms.
And there was no one there who could use storage magic.
***
“C-can we rest for a bit?” Pauline wailed.
“We just took a break a little while ago!” Reina rebuked.
“B-but isn’t it more efficient to take regular breaks, rather than pushing ourselves?” Mavis argued.
As it would have been utterly impossible for them to carry back the entire orc, they had taken with them only the ears, as proof of elimination, and as many of the most valuable parts as they could carry.
Even without the head, hands, bones, and internal organs, which no one would care to eat, the orc still weighed around 200 kilograms. No matter how hard they pushed themselves, they would only be able to carry around half of that. They took only the good portions of the flesh and then the heart, liver, and the tongue. All this was divided up among the three, with Pauline and Reina both taking far smaller portions of the load than Mavis. Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, so even Mavis could not complain about this.
“After we get this back to town, should we go back and pick up the rest?” Mavis asked.
“………”
Reina and Pauline answered her with silence.
“Well, I mean, I just thought I’d ask! You don’t have to look at me with those dead eyes… Plus, I’m sure that by the time we got back, all the good stuff would have already been eaten up by small animals and other monsters, anyway!” she hurriedly added.
Still, the hollow look in Reina and Pauline’s eyes did not change.
The day after they hunted the orc, the three girls decided to take a rest.
Given that they were already in the midst of a full-party five-day break, this was of no consequence.
However, the reason they were resting was that their bodies were so sore they could not move. That was all there was to it.
And then, the third day came.
“Let’s do this! But this time, no orcs!”
Mavis and Pauline nodded emphatically.
“All we’re going to gather is herbs that sell at a high price and are easy to transport. If we hunt anything living, it’s only going to be extermination targets, and all we’ll be taking back is proof of the kill. And we’ll be camping out tonight.”
Once again, there were nods all around.
Reina knew that they had sufficient combat strength between them, and her assessment was apt. If they got into a battle with other humans, or even against a monster, the Crimson Vow could put on an impressive display. Even without Mile.
They had Reina, the fire-magic wielder. They had Pauline, who had not only healing and support magic but also combat spells and a few other fairly dirty tricks at her disposal. And they had Mavis, whose abilities with
a sword rivaled those of a B-rank hunter and could even surpass those of an A-rank, at least for a short time and provided she had her pills. Truly, now that she had her “spirit”-powered sword techniques, the Wind Edge and the magus killer Anti-Magic Blade, Mavis had perhaps been getting a bit carried away as of late.
Together they had the strength of a C-rank party twice their number. Even if they found themselves surrounded by ogres, they could prevail… It would not even be inappropriate to say that they already had the strength of a B-rank party.
Even the guild was aware of this fact, but unfortunately, under the current rules, there were still a minimum number of contribution points and years spent as a member of one’s current rank that were required for promotion, and as it stood, the Crimson Vow, who had only a scant amount of time as C-rank hunters under their belts, did not yet qualify to take the rank promotion exam. Even though they were accumulating those contribution points at breakneck speed…
At any rate, what the girls needed now was not battle training, but “Mile-free” training.
This was the conclusion that Reina had come to.
“I think it’s probably about time to start making camp, then?” said Mavis, seeing that the sun had already begun to set.
“You’re right.”
Reina nodded in agreement, thinking that it was about time to stop hunting for the day anyway.
The three searched for an appropriate place to set up their tent. Though we say tent here, if they were to carry a complete set of thick and sturdy hides and pelts treated with moisture-repellant, along with wooden poles and sticks of the appropriate strength and size, it would be heavy, awkward, and generally a huge pain. Carrying something like that along with them would mean that they could carry almost nothing else and would not be able to take any gathered materials or prey back with them.
Thus, they had decided only to roll up some waterproof cloths and hides, and use the trees themselves, as well as any sticks they found around them to make a shelter just substantial enough to stave off any wind and rain.