Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 1

by Funa

In particular, she took an interest in Marcela, who showed a level of ability that would be impressive even for an adult magic user. Before long, her fascination with Adele, who could use only standard apprentice-level magic, dissipated.

  ***

  It had been one year and two months since they first entered the academy.

  During this time, Adele, now a second-year student, had managed to lead a fairly peaceful life without standing out from her peers. The majority of their classmates had remained in Class A after their promotion—just a handful had been transferred to other classes due to falling grades.

  Adele, whose birthday fell early in the year, was now twelve years old.

  In a little over a year, she had earned 144 silver pieces from her job at the bakery, half of which was banked away in her loot box. Were it not for Marcela’s generous gifts, she probably wouldn’t have been able to save even this much. Undergarments, after all, could be expensive.

  As for her body, Adele’s chest was not as prominent as it had been at twelve years old in her previous life, but it was starting to grow a little…

  The undergarments that Marcela had gifted her over a year ago included some camisoles and brassieres, but until very recently, these had slumbered away inside the loot box with Adele’s old clothing and her silver coins.

  The thoughtfulness Marcela had shown in choosing padded garments made Adele’s heart ache.

  Adele excelled in academics. In sports, her technique was lacking, but her strength and speed made her a strong backup player. In terms of magic, she was a perfectly normal “amateur with potential.” The only time she had produced anything the least bit remarkable was the piddling fireball she had silently cast during the initial assessment.

  That was the state of things for Adele at school.

  Marcela, on the other hand, had become something of a rising star ever since her magic had begun to blossom.

  Once her family learned of her new abilities, they began sending frequent letters with advice such as, “Don’t be hasty,” and, “Take care to surround yourself with only the best.” Naturally, they hoped to ensure that she would make the best marriage possible. Marcela herself declared that she would wait until the right man struck her fancy and settle for “nothing less than a wonderful gentleman.” As a result, there had yet to be any talk of an engagement.

  “This is all thanks to you,” she told Adele. “I would never have thought that I’d have the power to choose my fiancé.”

  “No, no, I should be the one to thank you. You were the only one who could draw the boys’ attention away from me.”

  Marcela and Adele grinned at one another.

  As soon as others became aware of her aptitude for water magic, Monika also began receiving proposals from the sons of her father’s trading partners and a clerk in the family’s business, an ambitious young man who hoped to begin his own enterprise.

  Yet she chose to wait, also, declaring, “The life of a merchant is risky! Five years from now, my betrothed could be bankrupt, and then what would I do?!” In this, too, Monika was truly a merchant’s daughter.

  Meanwhile, Aureana, having received a scholarship, would be required to work as a civil servant or teacher in the future. Though the magic she could use was still very much of the “everyday” variety, suitable for housework and other small tasks, the fact that she could use magic at all continued to delight her.

  She would never have to worry about water again, for even if she were stranded somewhere, she would always be able to summon enough to drink. In addition, Adele secretly taught her how to use magic to make water colder, which was quite useful as well.

  Of course, chilling magic had always been around, but the method Adele taught Aureana was far more efficient. Even with her relatively modest abilities, she was able to make drinks colder, as well as preserve meats and fish. All of this was very useful.

  ***

  “Hey! You already know, right?”

  “We know. It’s match day.”

  At Adele’s response, Kelvin, who had approached the girls aggressively a moment before, turned back with a flat expression.

  “There’s no deterring that one, is there?” asked Marcela.

  “I guess not…” Adele replied, her smile bitter.

  Ever since their practice bout at the start of their first year, once a month, Kelvin had challenged Adele. He even made arrangements with Mr. Burgess to hold a practice match during their physical education lessons, so time was no problem. Still, as far as Adele was concerned, the whole thing was an ordeal.

  She knew that he was putting in an enormous amount of effort, and it wasn’t as though she didn’t understand his feelings, but she hated seeing the way his eyes burned with animosity, or his blank, speechless face when he inevitably lost. They were classmates, so Adele put up with it, accepting his challenges each time, but she certainly didn’t enjoy them.

  Besides all that, however, Kelvin seemed like a decent sort of boy who got along easily with his classmates. Adele often wondered why he treated her the way he did, and the longer she pondered this, the more her discomfort increased.

  She could no longer lose on purpose, not after Burgess’s lengthy private lecture on the “fragility of man.”

  “Come on now, you can’t just fake it!” her teacher would tell her. “If you keep doing this, he’ll know for sure. Honestly, try to consider the man’s pride…”

  It was hard to meet Kelvin’s eyes each time one of their bouts ended.

  However, Burgess’s lectures on “the nature of boys” had helped Adele—indeed, had helped her quite a bit.

  ***

  It was time for combat practice.

  As always, the class began with Adele and Kelvin’s match, and as always, the victory went to Adele.

  In terms of technique, Kelvin was leagues beyond her, but that meant nothing in the face of the overwhelming difference between them in terms of power and speed.

  Of course, the strength she showed wasn’t truly superhuman, but now that Adele had abandoned her “normal mode”—in other words, the amount of power that might be expected of a girl her age—there was no way a preadolescent boy could best her, no matter how talented he was. Not unless she lost on purpose.

  Yet not only had Burgess forbidden her from doing that, but Adele had, by now, become painfully aware of her own lack of acting skills.

  Kelvin’s expression was unpleasant, and that day, seeing him glare at her the way he always did, Adele began to grow agitated. Why did he have to look at her like that? She had never done anything to deserve it. They had been through this routine at least ten times now, and every time, he had made that face and given her that look. This time, somehow, it angered her—as though the rage had been accumulating inside her and now escaped all at once.

  “I’m not going to fight you again,” she said. “We’re through!”

  “Huh…?”

  For a moment, Kelvin stared at her blankly, as though he could not comprehend her words. Then, he flew into a red-faced rage.

  “Wh-what are you talking about?! Until I beat you, I…”

  “Can you not see how selfish that is?! What does that have to do with me?”

  Kelvin opened his mouth to reply, but Adele cut him off before he could do so. “After all these times, are you really going to be satisfied and think, ‘Oh yeah, I’m the strongest!’ after winning just once? If you’ve got one win to twelve losses, are you really just going to stop? Are you stupid?!”

  “Wh…”

  “What, exactly, is it that you would gain from beating me? From beating someone who’s not even aiming to be a knight? What would you say to them? Yes, that’s right, my three years at the academy were occupied by attempting to defeat a little girl who works at a bakery. And now, that girl is preparing to be a bride.’ Is that really what you want to say?!”

  “Pfft!”

  A number of their classmates burst out laughing. Even Mr. Burgess had to hold back his laughter. A c
onscientious teacher mustn’t be seen laughing at such a thing. Certainly not.

  “You’re aware that I’m a magic user, aren’t you? I’m not great with swords. Are you going to tell them that, too? Just proudly announce, ‘Oh yes, I had fourteen sword battles with a mage who sucks at swords, and on the fifteenth try, I finally seized victory!’?!”

  “Gaha! Bwah ha ha ha ha!” The conscientious Burgess finally caved.

  “Wh-what are you…?”

  “That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it?! You’ve never once battled me at magic, which is my specialty; you only come at me when we’re practicing something you’re good at. What’s so great about beating a mage at a sword fight?”

  “Uh…”

  “Uh?”

  “Uh-I, I…… Waaaaaaaahhh!”

  Kelvin went running.

  “Adele, my girl…” Burgess looked troubled. “Can we chat a minute? There are some things in this world you shouldn’t say to someone, no matter how justified you are…”

  The remainder of the class turned into another one of Burgess’s lesson for Adele about “being considerate of boys’ egos,” with the other students piping in now and then.

  “So, I was wrong?” she asked.

  “I’m not going to bother punishing Kelvin for leaving. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to bear that dressing down.”

  Everyone in the class nodded in agreement with the ruling. Except for Adele.

  “After that though, hmm…” Burgess turned to Marcela and company. “Wonder Trio, follow me.”

  “W-wonder Trio? Do you mean us? What is that…?”

  The girls look perplexed at their new title.

  “Aah, sorry. That’s the nickname we teachers have for you all. A commoner, a merchant’s daughter, and a noble—despite coming from three very different backgrounds, the three of you get along wonderfully. More unbelievably, all three of you have seen your magical abilities blossom. It’s like you caught the attention of the spirits who control magic, or the goddess was smiling on your friendship. So yes, Wonder Trio, Miracle Trio, Magic Trio… We have a lot of different names for you three.”

  “Huh?” The three were stunned and began to blush.

  “But that’s not the point. There’s a certain delicate boy who needs comforting, and I’d like to enlist the help of the Three Popular Beauties of Class A, Plus One.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  The three were surprised, but seeing the state that Kelvin had been in, they couldn’t possibly refuse.

  “I suppose we must—if there’s anything we can do to help…”

  Yet as one might expect, these three girls still hoped for something in return, even if their actions were for the sake of a classmate.

  “Oh, all right,” Burgess conceded. “Next time something comes up, I’ll take care of it for you.”

  “That’s a promise then. And by the way…”

  “Hm? What is it?”

  “What did you mean by ‘plus one’?”

  “Oh, that.” He pointed to Adele. “Though I guess, for now, we had better keep the culprit out of this.”

  ***

  And so, as though the three girls had worked some kind of miracle, Kelvin showed up for afternoon lessons.

  After the final class was over and the teacher left the classroom, he approached Adele’s seat.

  At the sight of this, Adele wrinkled her nose, knowing trouble was brewing.

  I wish he’d just leave me alone already!

  “I won’t lose! I am the fifth son of Baron Bellium, and on my name, I…”

  “Oh?” Adele’s low voice echoed through the quiet classroom. Her anger had begun to build again as soon as Kelvin started speaking.

  It was then that her classmates knew: the morning’s long talk about being considerate of Kelvin’s feelings hadn’t exactly sunk in.

  “Who are you?”

  A series of gasps echoed around the classroom, as everyone else was shocked right alongside Kelvin.

  “Wh-what…? Are you…?” Kelvin was flustered but tried to save face.

  Adele ignored his babbling.

  “The one I’ve been fighting is a boy named Kelvin, a classmate who, no matter how many times he loses, keeps forcing me into one challenge after another. The one who I put up with time and time again, in spite of his mysterious grudges and creepy glares.

  “And now? You aren’t the one called Kelvin, my opponent and classmate, the one who keeps fighting and wants to be a knight, you’re some creature called the ‘baron’s fifth son’? What business do I have with a thing like that?”

  “Huh…?”

  “What is a ‘baron’s fifth son’ anyway? Is that impressive? Is that supposed to mean something? All it means to be a noble is that a long, long time ago, your ancestors did something the king liked. Until then they were just normal peasants like everyone else.

  “Sure, maybe that person was amazing, but just being their descendent doesn’t make you special. Or does your blood run a different color than a commoner’s?”

  There was an intake of breath as Adele and Kelvin’s classmates reeled at this scathing critique.

  “Um, actually, being a noble doesn’t mean that you were born a noble,” Kelvin said. “It means that you were born to become a noble. You’re raised with your parents’ example, and educated as a noble, and your heart is filled up with a noble’s spirit—noblesse oblige, a ‘noble’s obligations.’”

  The tables were turning! The classroom breathed a sigh of relief, but Adele continued. “What are you right now? You’re studying among commoners, you haven’t been trained as a noble, you haven’t contributed anything to this country or its people. You haven’t done anything but live off our taxes. What right have you to declare yourself anything at all?

  “You think you deserve to call yourself a noble, when your only qualification is that special family name? Really? And you’re willing to take the chance of sullying that name?”

  “Uh…”

  This was not going well. Seeing Kelvin backed into a corner, the students began to panic. It was beginning to feel like a repeat of that morning.

  “…Is your heart burning?”

  “Huh…?” Kelvin stared blankly, unsure of what she meant.

  “Was all the passion you’ve poured into practicing combat really born of your own desires? Or was it something you were duty-bound to do, to protect your pride as a noble’s fifth son?

  “Did you even enjoy your training? Were you glad to grow stronger? Or was it difficult and painful—did you have to force your way through?

  “And when you did, did your heart grow dark and cold? Or did you burn hotter and brighter, believing in a future when your own strength would shine through, regardless of your family name?”

  Kelvin was silent, his face bright red again.

  “To me, you aren’t just a noble or a ‘baron’s fifth son.’ You’re a boy, one who believes in his own power, who keeps training because of his own will, and who keeps on fighting to improve himself, regardless of his upbringing. That was what I believed, and that is why I always answered your challenges.

  “Did you know that there’s a place where the word ‘Kelvin’ is used to measure the temperature? It isn’t a nice little scale, where water freezes at zero degrees, and boils at 100.

  “In Kelvin, it’s 273 degrees below zero. That is the temperature at which all matter freezes solid—even the motion of time. It’s a terrifying sort of scale that fixes that point as zero degrees—or as they call it, ‘absolute zero.’

  “As for high temperatures, they’ll give you a blazing world where even rock and iron melt and evaporate!”

  With a snap, Adele pointed a finger at Kelvin.

  “Are you a meaningless child with no merit outside of your position as a ‘baron’s fifth son’? Or are you a man who lives beyond that family name, who has a heart that blazes fiercely and a soul that shines with brilliant light—’Kelvin, the Inferno’?!�
�

  “Uh—I… I…”

  Seeing Kelvin’s eyes beginning to well with tears, Adele snapped back to her senses. She looked around her to see her classmates gazing in awe, as though they had just witnessed something unbelievable.

  Oh dear. Had she overdone it?

  Flustered, Adele looked to Marcela, but Marcela simply shrugged her shoulders and pointed silently toward the door.

  Following that admirably succinct advice, Adele hurried out of the room.

  ***

  The following day, Adele entered the classroom timidly to find an atmosphere of unexpected calm. The other students greeted Adele normally, as they always did.

  She was relieved.

  However, the strange part came later.

  Not that it was a bad thing.

  It was just that everyone seemed to be putting forth an exceptional amount of effort.

  During their classroom studies, during physical education, during magic practice…

  They worked enthusiastically and asked productive questions. The noble students’ efforts were particularly noticeable.

  This was a good thing, surely. However, their attitudes were completely different from those of the previous day. Adele was greatly confused.

  Even Kelvin had an oddly calm demeanor and seemed perfectly normal as they sat for lessons. There wasn’t a fragment of the irritation or agitation he had shown every day for the last year.

  Mr. Burgess was convinced that this was due to the efforts of the three girls, and news spread amongst the teachers that these three were particularly useful. More and more teachers began to put various requests upon them until it began to be a bit of a bother.

  Adele couldn’t help but comment on the changes.

  “You know, Marcela… You managed to draw all the boys’ attention away before, but lately it seems like it’s started to turn back toward me, hasn’t it?”

  Marcela shrugged and replied, “Miss Adele, have you ever heard the expression, ‘You reap what you sow’…?”

  Chapter 5: