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

by Funa

  Given that the tent packed away in Mile’s storage (read: inventory) could be stored and withdrawn without having to be put together each time, regardless of its volume or weight, it was intricate and painstakingly assembled, but there was no one else in their group who had that capability. The tent materials and tools that the girls were using were ones rented from the guild. Mile had no clue that her friends would have gone off to do any work during their vacation and had left all of the gear stored away in her storage (read: inventory), so it couldn’t be helped.

  The guild kept a certain amount of spare equipment in stock to lend to financially-strapped newbie hunters and for use during emergency requests placed with the guild. For the most part, these were pieces of used equipment donated by hunters who had swapped their gear out for newer things, items left behind by hunters who had died, and secondhand goods from other various avenues, but given that they were loaned out for next to nothing, they were still a blessing.

  And then…

  “How is it dark already?!”

  “Oh, come on! I just gotta get this part—get in there…”

  Not only had it taken them quite a bit of time to locate a place to set up that would keep them safe even in a sudden change of weather, the Crimson Vow, whose members had been used to having all of the necessary framing parts packed away in storage, even before Mile had begun carrying the fully assembled tent, were fighting an uphill battle, wholly unprepared to be constructing a tent from scratch.

  Reina had some previous experience, but Mavis and Pauline were more or less at a loss. By the time they somehow or other managed to rig a tent together, it was already completely dark out.

  “………”

  Dinner preparations went off without a hitch.

  They had packed along some hard tack and jerky just in case, but thankfully they had also snagged some jackalopes and birds along the way, so that became the centerpiece of their meal.

  Most normal hunters would avoid eating what they had caught in order to save money, but the Vow were not hurting for cash, and without Mile, their transport abilities were relatively diminished, lower even than those of most other parties, so they decided to just eat their catches on site.

  The cooking itself went favorably, thanks to the use of magic, with Reina to ignite the fire and Pauline to oscillate the water molecules to make them boil and so forth. This was one area where they were not lacking without Mile around. Fire magic was only useful for lighting the logs, anyway. Applying magical fire directly to the food would not cook the meat well; the outside would be charred and the middle left raw.

  “Mile, the spice ple… Ah.”

  “………”

  “Um, I could use my hot magic to—”

  “I’m good.”

  “Never mind, then.”

  On the evening of the fourth day of their break, the Crimson Vow arrived back at the capital. They had managed to bring back a relatively large amount of slightly pricey medicinal herbs, a fair bit of sellable prey, and the inedible parts of prey marked for extermination in the daily requests as trophies. For two days and one night’s work, the outcome was not bad at all…for a normal party.

  However, the three had become accustomed to their earnings from when Mile was around. Their clearly abnormal earnings.

  They collected their reward, divvied up the pay, and then stared at the coins piled in their hands.

  “………”

  They had to do better so that they could survive and call themselves competent C-rank hunters, even without Mile’s help.

  Also, they really ought to cherish Mile more—but no, even if she was the youngest and had the most exceptional ability, she was still just a member of the party, and the four of them were equals. On the contrary, giving her special treatment would be disrespectful to Mile in a different way.

  The best thing that they could do was put in more effort themselves in order to make up for Mile’s shortcomings, the places where she fell behind because she was still so young. And in order to do that, they had to work harder, in pursuit of the day when they could finally, truly, stand shoulder to shoulder with the wondrous girl that was Mile.

  On this, Mavis, Reina, and Pauline all agreed.

  ***

  “I’m back!”

  On the evening of the fifth day, just before dinner, Mile returned.

  “Welcome back. Did you enjoy your break?”

  “I did! I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream!”

  “I’m glad to hear it. W-we decided to do a bit of hunting for practice while you were gone, just us three, but we already split the earnings among ourselves. You’re okay with that, right? I mean, not that it was that much to begin with, anyway…”

  Reina had no desire to keep anything hidden from Mile, and one of them was bound to spill the beans in casual conversation sooner or later anyway. So, it was better to just get it out of the way and tell her ahead of time, Reina thought.

  “Oh, of course! We all agreed on that when we formed this party, anyway,” Mile said, as though this were a completely obvious thing. “I got done with the thing I had planned a bit early anyway, so I decided to do a bit of side work myself. I only ended up bringing in about twenty gold, though…”

  “Wha…?”

  Pauline’s neck creaked as her head pivoted slowly toward Mile.

  Reina’s face twitched.

  And Mavis’s face was one of resignation.

  Looks like we’ve still got a long way to go.

  ***

  “Mile, I’ve got a request,” said Reina a few days later.

  “Me too,” added Pauline, an equally serious look upon her face.

  “Oh? What is it?” asked Mile, intrigued.

  “I want you to teach me to use storage magic.”

  “Me too!”

  “Uh…”

  The inventory that Mile accessed while feigning the use of storage magic could only be reached by individuals who were of a Level 3 authorization or higher, and thus able to communicate directly with the nanomachines. Even the storage magic that normal people could use was difficult to access without sufficient talent.

  This was not surprising. If it were a skill that could be taught and acquired easily, it would not have nearly as much value.

  It was one thing to store something temporarily, but keeping something in storage while concentrating on other tasks, and even while sleeping, required a constant invocation. It was a high hurdle, both mentally and in terms of magical strength—absurdly high.

  “I don’t mind teaching you all, but well, to be honest, it’s incredibly difficult.”

  “Don’t worry, we can handle it!!”

  A few more days later…

  “Why?!?!”

  It turned out that Reina could not even access hyperspace to begin with. Pauline, who could muster up a strength greater than that of any mortal man in the name of earning money, could at least tentatively access hyperspace, but once she put something in to store it, all that she stored was spit right back out the moment she lost focus. Plus, she could only hold a few dozen kilograms. This alone was not enough to claim that she could properly use storage magic. Though if she could at least get to the point where she only had to take the items out of storage and undo the spell while she was sleeping, then she would at least be tentatively worthy of the claim…

  “I’m not even sure if you’ll be able to keep things from falling out of there like this…”

  “I can’t let anything fall out!!!”

  Mavis looked on, resignation upon her face once more.

  We really do still have a long way to go…

  Chapter 56:

  The Masked Girl

  Rides Again!

  “I suppose I’ll just walk back…”

  Once she had managed to accomplish her impossible dream of meeting a fairy on the very first day of her five-day vacation, Mile thought that she might take a leisurely pace on the journey home. Because she had been uncertain of how l
ong she would actually need for her to accomplish her task, she had hustled on the way out, moving at full speed.

  For that particular journey, she had worn a form-fitting suit made of special materials to reduce wind resistance and so that she would not end up with her clothes tattered or catching aflame. Naturally, this outfit was not one that she could allow other people to see her in. If nothing else, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

  Thus, she cloaked herself with an optic camouflage as she sprinted along.

  However, she had a surplus of time on the way back. On departure, she had declared that she would devote the full five days to fulfilling this desperate, lifelong dream, so returning the very next day wouldn’t look very cool. Surely, she could find some way to spend her time for the next four days.

  Plus, she had already thought of a way that she could return home even more quickly if she needed to and checked with the nanos to confirm whether it was possible. The nanomachines had approved, so, even if she put off her return until the very last day, she would have more than enough to make the trip.

  And so, on the second day of her vacation, Mile began her meandering journey home.

  The area she was currently in was far from the capital, close to the country’s borders. It was a place where fairies might live, so it only made sense for it to be out in the sticks. Mile walked with a lively step down a road that only seldom saw travelers, fielding greetings from the rare passersby.

  Though Mile appeared to be only twelve years old, she was wearing a hunter’s garb in a manner that suggested it was not brand new to her, but rather, a well-worn friend, so the travelers did not appear to show any concern for her well-being. If she was over ten years old, then she was probably an F-rank hunter, a proper member of the guild, after all. And, given that she appeared to have been living as a hunter for a least a few years since officially joining the guild, she likely had some sensible reason for traveling out here all by herself. At least, so these adults would judge, knowing much of the world.

  Hm?

  Just as Mile was passing by some small village, whose name she did not know, a rather odd gathering of people came into view.

  On one side, there were about twenty farmers, and on the other side, around ten men who looked like soldiers. They faced each other at a distance of several meters. The soldiers had not drawn their swords, but the farmers were brandishing hoes and spades and sickles. The atmosphere was clearly a tense one.

  The situation had absolutely nothing to do with her, but Mile had never been one to simply pass such a scene by. If nothing else, she had a bit of time on her hands—far too much time on her hands, in fact.

  That said, she was not about to go leaping into something before she fully understood the circumstances. She cloaked herself with camouflaging magic at once and slowly approached the scene.

  “Go home! Obviously no one’s demands are going to be met, so we have nothing to discuss with you!”

  “You bastards do know that this is an act of insurrection, don’t you? What you’re doing cannot be taken back! You see that, do you not?!”

  This did not seem to be a case of soldiers invading from a foreign land or disgraced members of the military turning to banditry and attacking a village. Although the reason was as yet unclear, it seemed that the lord of these lands had demanded something of the villagers. Had their taxes been raised so high that it was impossible for them to live? Or had the lord made some other unreasonable request of them?

  “First of all, you all do understand that what you’re demanding is ridiculous, don’t you?! ‘You need to drastically lower our taxes,’ my ass! The tax rate in this territory is barely any different from the ones around us, and they aren’t unjust. Besides, do you really think that we could lower the taxes in your village alone? If we did something like that, there would be no way for us to explain it to the other villages, and anyway, there’s no reason for it in the first place. Why in the hell would you all ask for something like that?”

  Apparently, it was the villagers who had a bone to pick here.

  “You shut up! We aren’t budgin’ until our demands are met!”

  The farmers brandished their tools. Reluctantly, the soldiers took up their swords. At this rate, a clash was inevitable.

  Mile looked around and selected an appropriately shaped tree, clambering up to the top. She pulled a mask from her inventory and strapped it on. Indeed, it was the mask she had used back at the exhibition.

  With the mask strapped tightly, she released her cloaking spell and took an imposing stance upon a large branch, shouting down to the farmers and soldiers, “Cease this battle at once!”

  “Huh…?”

  A girl of tender years, wearing a peculiar mask, had appeared atop a tree out of nowhere. Hearing her declaration, the men stopped moving, staring slack-jawed into the treetops.

  “Who are you?!” demanded the man who appeared to be the commander of the soldiers.

  Though the soldiers were all taken aback, the farmers remained clearheaded.

  This much made sense. No one who appeared in such a manner as this, at such a time as this, could be anything but an ally of the common man. And despite her strange appearance, for her to appear so boldly meant that she must have full confidence in her abilities. Naturally, the villagers were overjoyed at this unexpected reinforcement.

  “Hup!”

  Mile leapt down from the tree with a shout, landing in between the two groups. Then she turned to face the farmers and said, “I have come to lend my aid to the superior side. They call me, Superior Mask!”

  “What the hell is thaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!”

  At last, this was a question that the two enemy sides could agree on.

  There was something that Mile had always wondered about the books and anime she consumed in her previous life: Why did the main characters always attach themselves to the side that was on the brink of defeat?

  Joining forces with the superior side meant that the fight would soon be over and that there would be no more battlefield casualties, no more wives who would lose their husbands, and no more children who would lose their fathers. Bolstering the losing side just meant that the battle would drag on and on and that the number of deaths would increase on both sides.

  Of course, it would be a different matter if they were dealing with invading foreign soldiers or village-attacking bandits—in other words, groups who absolutely could not be allowed to win. But if the superior side were a regional force operating within their own territory, and each side had its own claims, and a position that was just, at least from their perspective, then what would be the point of aligning oneself with the inferior side and contributing to unnecessary death and destruction? Though without any extra interference, this conflict would soon end with the impending battle anyway…

  Both of the sides in this fight had lives and families, and the soldiers were merely doing their duty by upholding the tenets of their fine profession. They were fighting for the sake of protecting their families and had probably conscripted into duty by the Crown or by their lord in the first place. Even if the cause they were fighting for might be an unjust one, that was on the shoulders of the higher-ups, not the men down here on the ground.

  Plus, only a fool would reignite a cooling battle and see more men fall simply because they happened to be influenced by it or have some tie to one of the sides—such as, perhaps, some beauty asking for their assistance.

  In every case, it was best to end a battle as quickly as possible. If it turned out that the higher-ups were indeed corrupt, they could be dealt with at a later juncture. Thus went Mile’s thinking, at least.

  As for “dealing” with a corrupt official? Well, they could be poisoned, or jumped when they were on some outing, or shot, or set ablaze, or caught in a trap—the possibilities were endless.

  Anyway, if things continued this way, most of the farmers would likely be killed, and the rest of them captured. There would probably be a few injuries and even d
eaths among the soldiers as well. Were that to happen, neither the captured famers nor the other villagers would simply be able to let this go. Thus, it was far preferable to see all the famers captured, unharmed.

  Even if Mile were to ally herself with the farmers and help repel the soldiers, the soldiers would just return later with an even stronger force. If the farmers managed to repel them again, then they would face an even stronger force, and the situation would continue to deteriorate further and further.

  It was also worth noting that Mile had no intention of sticking with the farmers for all that long in the first place—nor did she have very much interest in facing down the lord and his entire army. If that happened, she would probably have her qualifications as a hunter revoked and end up a wanted girl. At that point, if her true identity as a noble from a foreign land was revealed, it was sure to become quite the problem for international relations.

  In order to draw this all neatly to a close, she had no choice but to face the farmers and uphold the decision that the soldiers had made in order to quash this insurrection.

  “My good soldiers, you have my gratitude for your fine service. I would like to see your enemies captured unharmed, so please leave this matter to me, Superior Mask!”

  “S-sure…” the commander agreed against his better judgment, nodding hesitantly.

  Seeing how this mysterious masked girl, who they had thought to be their ally, was now on the side of the soldiers, the farmers were unmistakably shaken.

  “Whatever, she’s just one little girl! That’s no big deal!” the leader of the farmers shouted, not realizing that this was a line that had only ever been spoken by villains.

  “Here I go!” said Mile, a single wooden sword appearing from out of nowhere in her hand…

  ***

  “It’s over.”

  “Y-yeah…”