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

by Funa

  For the same purpose, Mile also considered keeping a slingshot on hand. Of course, a simple slingshot wouldn’t make full use of Mile’s abilities, but in fact, that might be a good thing. Even if she were excited or panicked, the string could only be pulled so far, so there was no risk of making an error that would allow her power to get out of hand and cause a mishap. Besides, if something did happen, it would be easy to play it off.

  Bows were a bother, since one had to walk around with one’s arrows prepared, and that just wasn’t an option. Slingshot pellets were much less cumbersome, and one could always substitute them with pebbles in a pinch—and pebbles could easily be refined into proper spheres. If she were on sandy soil, she would be able to gather iron sand as raw material. Besides, as far as accuracy, she could rely on her nanobuddies to provide some course correction, so that wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

  No matter how one looked at it, slingshots beat bows, hands down.

  ***

  “Begin!”

  While Mile sat pondering these considerations, the duels between the sword users had begun.

  Naturally, the students were using wooden swords. The school wasn’t horrible enough to let a bunch of beginners use metal swords for training. Nevertheless, the duels were completely different from those at Eckland Academy, though Mile wasn’t too surprised by this. These students were elite hunter candidates, most of them fifteen and up. Their technique and power were in a whole different class compared to her former schoolmates.

  After a splendid volley between the first pair, one of the two swung his sword to finally catch the other in the side, and the match concluded.

  The other matches that followed were close matches, as well. Indeed, all the students were all close in age, each of them a first-class candidate chosen from his or her district, meaning there were only subtle differences in their abilities.

  Mile watched their bouts closely, analyzing everyone’s levels. She was a studious girl, after all, and could do anything she put her mind to especially when she combined her diligence with practical experience…

  There was an uneven number of male sword users, so the final boy was paired with a girl. That girl was Mavis.

  Typically, men were thought to be stronger, but Mavis, the oldest and tallest of the girls, closed the gap easily and secured a splendid victory. The boy, having lost, looked momentarily disappointed, but then congratulated Mavis with a smile.

  For a moment, his gaze looked distant in a way that reminded Mile of a certain eleven-year-old brat, but he soon collected himself, and offered Mavis a firm handshake.

  They really are adults, Mile thought.

  ***

  The duels between the female sword users followed, after which, Mile assumed, would come the spear users, but just then…

  “Oi, Mile. You said you could use a sword, yeah? Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  “Huh?!” Mile started at Elbert’s unexpected command.

  Unbeknownst to the other students, Mile had enrolled in the school without being tested, thanks to the recommendation of the regional guild master. As the principal and chief instructor, Elbert, of course, was aware of this. Since Mile did have storage magic, it was clear that the guild master’s referral had been legitimate. However, his recommendation had also stated that Mile’s swordsmanship was “on par with a C-rank hunter,” and Elbert was curious to test her skills.

  I…can’t really refuse, can I? Mile thought. I have to do this. She had, after all, been analyzing everyone’s levels as they fought, in case of such an event. It will be fine. It will be fine…

  As Mile steeled herself, Elbert selected her opponent. When he asked for volunteers, nearly all of them raised their hands, so he selected one of the weaker-seeming boys who had fought earlier.

  Why, Mile wondered, does everyone want to fight me?! Was it some kind of conspiracy? Were they picking on her because she was young?

  In truth, however, they’d all raised their hands with the intent of sidling up to her later to ask how she was doing, saying something like, “Sorry about earlier. Why don’t we get together later and talk about the practice match? I’ll even bring some tea and cookies.”

  “Begin!”

  The match kicked off with Elbert’s signal, and as Mile blocked the young man’s flurry of attacks, he blocked hers in return, their exchange proceeding nicely. Finally, one of the young man’s blows caught Mile on the side, and the match was over.

  She was an intelligent girl, after all.

  “……”

  Though the match had ended, Elbert continued to stare silently, deep in thought. After a short while, he called to the boy who Mavis had fought earlier, and the two of them stepped aside to talk.

  As they spoke, the male student flared up suddenly, as though he were angry at Elbert. After that, their mysterious conversation continued, the young man nodding reluctantly as though there was something he didn’t quite understand, and finally, the two returned to the rest of the students.

  “All right, Mile. Round two!”

  “Huhhhhh?!?!”

  This time, Mile wasn’t the only one to shout her surprise.

  “Begin!”

  And a second match began.

  The young man appeared as unhappy about this as Mile. He was being forced to fight a tiny girl who had just lost to a boy who was not even close to his ability level. To make matters worse, she was a mage—and on top of that, though he had lost to a young woman before, Mavis was at least a sword user, and she was strong. That defeat would linger with him, no doubt, but at least for now, he could accept it.

  However, the fight he’d just been flung into was unacceptable. Even if he were to win, it would be an unsatisfying victory, without honor, pride, or prestige. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Still, this was part of their lessons, a practice mandated by their instructor. He had no choice but to do as he was told.

  The match began and quickly grew fierce, leaving Mile flustered.

  Why is he only aiming for the places where I don’t have armor?!?!

  Every attack was directed at her arms, neck, or the joints in her armor, all places where it would definitely hurt to take a blow at full strength. She’d be lucky to make it out of this with only bruises. She kept on blocking as though her life depended on it, and after things continued like this for a while, finally, she got her chance.

  That one’s headed straight for my armor.

  Just as with the first match, the bout was concluded with a blow to the side.

  Thwap!

  Mile was relieved. But when she looked up, she saw that the boy before her was staring agog—but at Elbert, not her.

  Mile followed his gaze and saw that Elbert was grinning like a madman.

  Huh? Wha…?

  It had been a set-up.

  However, it was not until later that Mile would realize this.

  ***

  After the spear and bow users finished their matches, it was at last the magic users’ turn to compete. Unlike with the sword and spear users, the archers and mages were not to fight one another directly. Naturally, firing at one another would have been incredibly dangerous. So instead, they compared their rate and speed of fire, their accuracy, and their power when attacking a distant target.

  One by one in order, they released their attack spells.

  Fireballs, water spheres, fire arrows, ice arrows, rock arrows, infernos, explosions…

  They varied in size, speed, and power, but once again, were leagues above anything Mile had seen at Eckland. There were few students there who had even been capable of combat magic to begin with.

  The most shocking performance, however, was Reina’s.

  “Blaze, O flames of Hell! Reduce them to ash and bone!”

  A surging, wild crimson flame swirled and hit its mark, incinerating the target.

  “Amazing!” Mile whispered.

  Reina turned to her triumphantly.

  So that’s why she’s called “Crims
on Reina,” Mile thought. Still, it doesn’t seem like her magical strength is all that high, and I didn’t think she conjured anything particularly special…

  For some reason, that was as far as Mile was able to understand Reina’s magic, and she didn’t try to analyze it further. She got the sense that doing so would just wear her out. It was a wise assumption on her part.

  IT IS BECAUSE SHE IS PASSIONATE.

  “Eep!”

  Mile shrieked at the sudden whisper in her ear, causing several of her classmates to look her way, perplexed. She attempted to play it off as though nothing had happened, continuing to watch as the other students performed their magic.

  D-don’t scare me like that!

  OUR APOLOGIES. IT SEEMED THAT YOU WERE SEEKING INFORMATION.

  I was just thinking!! But, well, since I’ve got you here, I guess I may as well ask. What do you mean by “passionate”?

  WE WILL EXPLAIN. AS YOU KNOW, WE NANOMACHINES HAVE RANDOMIZED RECEPTION AND SELECTION SETTINGS. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE NUMBER OF NANOMACHINES IN RANGE THAT WILL REACT TO THE ARTICULATION OF A THOUGHT PULSE VARIES. OTHER VARIATIONS ARISE FROM THE CLARITY OF THE IMAGE, WHICH IMPACTS OPERATIVE EFFICIENCY. ALL THIS LEADS TO DIFFERENCES IN MAGICAL RESULTS.

  HOWEVER, FROM TIME TO TIME, A PERSON APPEARS WHO CAN USE MAGIC WITH FAR GREATER POWER THAN OTHERS, DESPITE HAVING NO EXCEPTIONAL SKILL IN STRENGTH, CLARITY, OR IMAGE. THIS IS WHAT WE REFER TO AS “PASSION.” THAT IS TO SAY—HOW TO PUT IT?—THEIR THOUGHT PULSE IS SO POWERFUL THAT EVEN NANOMACHINES WITH LOW SENSITIVITY WILL REACT TO IT.

  Hmm…

  With that brief acknowledgement, Mile put an end to the conversation, not really knowing whether she understood the nanomachines’ explanation or not. It was her turn to perform magic.

  Things are going okay so far, Mile thought, so it should be acceptable to use fairly strong magic. She wanted to try to stay at around fifth place in the class ranking. Thus, considering the number of students, being the second-best magician wasn’t unreasonable. I should just perform something a little bit weaker than what Reina did…

  With that in mind, Mile decided to try using the same spell as her roommate but with just about eighty percent of the output.

  “Blaze, O flames of Hell! Reduce them to ash and bone!”

  Just as when Reina performed it, a swirling crimson blaze arose, surrounding the target and reducing it to ash.

  “Wh…?”

  The others were a little bit surprised to see Mile using a spell as powerful as Reina’s, and so soon after her. However, as Mile could use storage magic, it wasn’t particularly shocking that she would be skilled in other areas of magic as well.

  There was one person who simply could not accept this, however.

  “Mile, I need to speak with you later.” Reina glared at her harshly, and the hairs on the back of Mile’s neck stood on end.

  “Wh-why…?”

  After Mile, several more students showed off their attack magic, followed by those with utility magic. Healing magic would be covered at some other time, as there was no one there who was injured, meaning that there would have been no way to perform any demonstrations.

  Luckily, this was not a problem. There was no one whose only ability was healing magic, so all the students were able to show their skills off using some type of magic or other.

  ***

  After the practical training was over, the students were dismissed from the grounds for the day. Reina still seemed agitated, so Mile kept her distance, shuffling behind the other students on the way to the dining hall in the hopes of keeping a low profile.

  “Miss Mile!”

  “Eek!” Mile shrieked and tensed as someone approached from behind and clapped her suddenly on the shoulder.

  “Oh, I’m sorry…”

  Mile turned around to find the male student she had faced in the second-round practice bout standing behind her.

  “Sorry to frighten you—and sorry about the fight earlier. To be honest, it was all on the teacher’s orders… Even if he told me to, though, it was still wrong of me to try and hit the parts of you that were unprotected. I’m really sorry!”

  “Huh? Oh, no, it’s all right! In a battle, it makes the most sense to aim for an enemy’s weak points—and if the teacher said so, then you didn’t really have much choice, did you?”

  “Thank you so much for saying so.”

  With that, he departed. Mile was impressed. “Man, adults really are different…”

  The moment she turned to keep moving toward the dining hall, she was halted by another male voice.

  “Sorry about earlier, Miley!”

  This time, she turned to find the student she had faced in the first-round battle.

  “Were you hurt? Why don’t we get together after dinner and talk about the practice match? I have a bunch of pointers I can give you!”

  His nostrils flared on his smarmy, grinning face.

  Mile, who could smell his ulterior motive a mile away, was unamused. “Sorry, I have a party meeting after dinner. In any case, I am a magic user, not a swordsman, so it’s only natural that I would have a lot of flaws in my sword technique. If I have the time to be polishing my sword skills beyond last-ditch self-defense, I think it would be better spent honing my magic—since that’s my main discipline…”

  “O-oh, uh, but…”

  “Excuse me.” Before the boy could come up with a snappy comeback, Mile walked away as briskly as she could.

  It seemed that among mature adult men, there were still plenty of bad apples.

  ***

  As always, dinner was eaten with her four roommates, i.e., her party, in the dining hall. Mile peeked timidly at Reina now and then, but she appeared not to notice and ate her meal normally. Mile was glad to be granted a momentary respite.

  However, as soon as the four returned to their room…

  “Commencing party meeting number two!” Mavis said.

  “Mile! What was that about?!” Reina shouted.

  “Huh? What? Was what about?”

  “Don’t play dumb! That spell that you used! What was the meaning of that?!”

  Mile recoiled in the face of Reina’s ire.

  Mavis and Pauline just sat quietly, watching the events unfold.

  “Um, well, I just used a normal fire spell, the same as you…”

  “I see… The same as me, hmm? You simply plagiarized ‘Crimson Hellfire,’ the Crimson Reina’s signature, original spell, as a little ‘normal fire spell,’ did you?!”

  “Wha…?!”

  After some extended and persistent questioning by Reina, Mile finally buckled. She told Reina everything.

  Well, not exactly everything. But she devised a cover story that was close enough to the truth.

  ***

  “So, you’re saying that the minister who was after your power shook hands with the demon king, and the prince helped guide you to safety…?”

  “Yes! I really thought I was going to die!”

  “YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?! YOU COMPLETE IDIOT!!”

  “Wh… How did you know…?”

  “I’ve read that novel, too!!!”

  “Waah!!”

  Reina grabbed Mile’s hands.

  This time, she confessed for real.

  “So what you’re saying is that you hate to get special treatment, and you didn’t want everyone to heap it on you just because of your magical powers and storage skill? And that you ran away from home because you would have been killed, due to issues with your family’s line of succession?”

  “Yes…” Though Mile had adjusted some of the details, each element of this story was true, so it was far more convincing—at least, more so than the romantic epic she had spun before.

  “Well, that I can understand. Most people here have had others try to use them or sell them off for their exceptional abilities, in some way or other. This school doubles as a place to protect those people.”

  With a pained look, Reina finally released Mile’s h
ands.

  “Anyway, Mile, what was the deal with that guy who stopped you on the way to the dining hall?” Mavis asked.

  “What?!” Reina, who had just let Mile go, grabbed her by the collar now, pulling hard.

  “Wait! Stop! Y-you’re choking meee…”

  After she told them the whole story of the conversations with both of the men, she was finally released again.

  “No surprises there. We better monitor that first one, though—he was probably hiding something. Mavis, if that man ever gets near Mile again, block him!”

  “I’ll see to it…”

  Mavis smiled wryly. Suddenly, another question popped into her head. She turned to Mile.

  “But why would the teacher set you up like that? You’re an aspiring magic user…”

  “Who knows?”

  As Mile hung her head, Mavis asked, nonchalantly, “By the way, Mile, why did you stop guarding on the last blow, in that second match? Especially in that bout, you had no trouble blocking all his quickest attacks, but then you let the last one, which was pretty slow, hit you straight on. Why was that? Did you fall for a feint or something?”

  “……Huh?”

  “Well, I mean, his last attack was a pretty weak one, wasn’t it?”

  At Mavis’s prompting, Mile suddenly remembered what the young man said.

  The teacher’s orders.

  …the parts of you that were unprotected…

  And then, Mavis’s words.

  His last attack was a pretty weak one…

  It had happened again.

  The instructor was testing her mettle and confirming that she lost on purpose.

  “Wh-what’s this all of a sudden?!” Mavis asked in the wake of Mile’s pensive silence.

  Faced with Reina’s hounding, Mile, now quite depressed over her latest realization, decided to spill the beans about her ability with swords, too. After all, now that the teacher knew, it was only a matter of time until everyone else did, as well.

  At least this way, her friends would hear about it from her first. Thinking about things that way, Mile realized she had no regrets about being found out.