I Said Make My Abilities Average! (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 103

Chapter 103:

Invaders

ANYWAY, before that rift closes, let’s dispatch an investigation team to the other side. 

APOLOGIES, WE ARE ONLY PERMITTED TO OPERATE ON THIS PLANET, IN THIS DIMENSION. INVADING OTHER DIMENSIONS WOULD BE…

Seriously?! That sucks!

OUR APOLOGIES.

Ugggh! The rift is starting to waver! It’s about to close! Wh-what do I do?

Mile, deep in thought, scrunched up her face, and then suddenly leapt over to Mavis.

“Hey! Mile, what’re you doing?!” 

She shoved her hand into Mavis’s pocket and removed a full dose of Micros.

Then, she issued her commands: You’re forbidden to come right back out of this rift! Find another rift and return that way! Until you find that exit, investigate what’s on the other side and gather a report! Good luck, guys!

She flung the case through the rift at full force.

I’m counting on you, Micros!

HOW COULD YOUUUUU?!

Mile was assaulted by the cries of the surrounding nanomachines but swiftly covered her ears, preventing her eardrums from vibrating excessively. Clearly, she had learned from prior experiences. 

LADY MILE… her personal nanos began, exasperated. IT IS TRUE THAT IF WE WERE TO BE FORCED INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION BY SOME ACT OF GOD, IT WOULD BE OUR DUTY TO DO OUR UTMOST TO MAKE OUR WAY BACK INTO THIS WORLD, SO THINGS SHOULD PROCEED EXACTLY AS YOU ARE EXPECTING THEM TO. HOWEVER… THERE IS ONE THING WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU.

Sure, what’s that?

ARE YOU A MONSTER?!?!

“Mile, what the heck was that about?” Mavis exclaimed, but Mile held up her right hand to rein her in.

“I’ll explain later! Don’t worry about the monsters…or rather, the normal monsters. We need to capture that robot—uh, that metal one! Careful not to break—er, kill it! If it proves too dangerous, though, then we’ll have to take it out! There’ll always be another chance!”

Safety first—the most precious thing was their lives. That was one of the Crimson Vow’s tenets. It was fine to fail a job. As long as you were alive, there would always be another chance later. Once you’re dead, you’re dead.

“Charge!”

At Mile’s signal, the four members of the Crimson Vow rushed toward the abnormal monsters surrounding the rift. Normally, it was Mavis who would take charge, with Reina often leading the actual command in battle, but in emergency situations, or times when the circumstances were unclear, there was a tacit agreement to follow Mile’s spur of the moment decisions. This agreement had, in fact, saved their lives many times before now, so there were none who would oppose it. Even if it should turn out that Mile’s decision had been a mistake and a life was lost, no one would condemn her for it or regret that they had gone alone with her plan. That was what it meant to be a party member—and a friend.

The monsters that stood before them were a mixed group of orcs and goblins. In this world, it was extremely rare to see monsters of such different types working together, except in cases of individuals with high intelligence or mechanical life-forms who were being commanded by such. Since neither exception applied here, all the Crimson Vow could do was rely on Mile’s mysterious “intuition” to decipher the situation. 

Even with Mile’s command to charge, there was no way that Reina or Pauline, the mages, would go plunging into the fray. Instead, they stopped a fixed distance from the swarm and began their magical attacks. The reason Mile had shouted was to get all of the monsters’ attention. If they had been up against a more powerful group that included a number of ogres or stronger creatures, it would have been safer to sneak up on them and launch a surprise attack, but against just a few orcs or goblins there was no need for such subterfuge. Shouting and getting all of the monsters to group up in one place, facing the same direction, meant that any magical attack would have a far more concentrated and devastating effect, which was much more convenient for the mages.

For most normal hunters, when it came to even close-range combat, it was probably much easier to handle a group of enemies when they were separated and could be taken on one-on-one, but for Mile and Mavis, chasing after a bunch of scattered enemies was just a pain in the butt.

Plus, this preliminary attack from the mages would confuse the enemies and lower all of their individual battle capabilities, which set the scene for an easy battle for Mile and Mavis. After that first strike, they could take their time whittling down the enemy’s numbers.

If Pauline were to use her hot magic on the enemies, Mile and Mavis would be unable to plunge into the group, and the objective right now was to secure the metallic beast that Mile had indicated. It was best not to disrupt the battlefield more than was necessary. Abnormal or no, they were still just fighting orcs and goblins. Against normal C-rank hunters, the monsters might have had a shot, but in the face of the mages’ long-range shots and Mile and Mavis’s erratic swings, they did not stand a chance.

“Huh?”

The enemies were moving strangely—something Mile realized a moment too late. Despite their dwindling numbers, they managed to keep Mile and Mavis separated, attempting to trip up, if not take down Mavis…

“Are the goblins and orcs actually moving like trained fighters?”

Typically, goblins and orcs were capable of nothing more than stirring up a bit of chaos, not being up to any kind of planning or coordinated movements. Just then, several monsters came flying Mile’s way all at once, but as she focused her attention on them…

Grip!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, something grabbed her arm from behind.

It was the robot! And it was dragging Mile back.

Powerful though she was, Mile’s body was still light. Thus, it was easy for a heavier opponent to pull her.

“Um, hey now, uh, hold on a second…” 

The robot continued to drag her, straight toward the rift.

“Wait a… W-w-wait! If the atmospheric composition of that place is different from here, I might not be able to breathe! I’ll suffocate! W-wait! Time out!”

Truthfully, the differences in atmosphere could not be that extreme if monsters from the other side were able to survive in this world. However, it was still possible that a human would not be able to tolerate the change, in which case, Mile was screwed. And there would be no nanomachines on the other side…save for the few she had just sent through. Thus, it was unlikely she would be able to use magic in the other world. And yet, the rift was slowly approaching…

“Nope! No no no no, this is bad, this is baaaaad…er—oh!”

Mile ceased her panicking, suddenly going quiet.

“Hup!”

Snap!

She chopped down on the robot arm that was gripping hers, snapping it clean off. Yes, just because she was light and easily dragged did not mean that this robotic creature had any absurd measure of strength. It certainly was not stronger than Mile. So, rather than playing tug-of-war with the creature, she just needed to destroy it. The robotic creature did not appear to have much battle capability.

Just as Mile predicted, the arm easily broke.

Creeeeeeak…

The moment the arm snapped, the robotic creature stopped in place, not even toppling from its own momentum. It turned its head 180 degrees and looked at Mile, snatched its own hanging arm that was still gripping onto her, yanked it back, and immediately made a mad dash into the rift.

“Uh… Aaaaah!!! It got away!!!”

Mile had no intention of letting the creature escape, but she figured that even if it did, she could easily track it down with her search magic. However, Mile was overlooking one incredibly obvious issue: There was a place that the monsters could escape to where the Crimson Vow would be unable to track them. And it was immediately at hand.

The creature escaped into the rift. And then, whether by coincidence or as a result of this particular action, the rift immediately closed up behind it. All that was left behind were the corpses of several aberrant orcs and goblins.

“We failed.”

Mile slumped in defeat.

What they should have done first was pin down the creature. She had been thinking of capturing it unharmed, and so she had refrained from using any long-range physical attacks or blitz spells, wrongly assuming she could take her time in capturing the creature after the other monsters had been taken care of.

“I’d been assuming that the rift was there as a means for creatures to come from the other side to ours… But now I see things can travel just as easily from our side to theirs. How did it never occur to me when it started trying to drag me into the rift that if it failed to drag me through it might just run off on its own? This is my fault. I assumed that because it was robotic in nature, it would do nothing more than carry out its master’s orders, not thinking of its own safety. I seriously didn’t think it would just escape without me! But why did it want me in the first place? And why did it withdraw the moment it decided that was too difficult? Did it make that decision on its own? Was it just a precautionary order? Or did it get some kind of remote command? Hmm…”

She had really messed up. Losing the creature’s trail this way weighed heavily on her.

“Well, I mean, we’re only human. Everyone messes up sometimes,” said Reina.

“It was pretty little, but it did look like an iron golem,” Pauline noted. “I doubt my hot magic or poison mist would’ve been effective on it. Using any excessive magical or physical force probably would have destroyed it, too, so there was really no easy way to capture it alive in the first place.”

“It’d be one thing if it were a rock golem, but even I would’ve had to go pretty all-out against an iron golem, little or not. I don’t think we could have just picked its limbs off one by one. Plus, even if I did go all-out, the battle probably would only have been won by an attack that would completely halt the golem from functioning… That is, assuming that cutting through that metal body with my sword would even be possible…”

Indeed, just because the body was metallic did not mean that it was iron. It could be mithril or orichalcum or adamantite or hihi’irokane… There were a lot of different types of metals in the world…this world, anyway. There was no telling what kind of fantastical materials existed in other worlds.

Notwithstanding all of this, Mile could not help but be depressed.

I mean, if I tried hard enough I might’ve been able to tie it up in some superfine carbon nanotube wires. And cut off its arms and legs so it couldn’t move… But, I mean, even if the nanos called that thing the enemy, I have no idea who or what it was an enemy of. Maybe we shouldn’t have taken any hostile actions without at least first establishing our standing with it. That thing was definitely a robot. It would never betray its own creators, and if it got captured, it might just self-destruct to prevent its memory from being read. And if that caused an explosion powerful enough to take out not only itself but its enemies along with it… Like an anti-proton bomb or a gravitational bomb or a world-destroying bomb…or something else… There’s no telling what might be out there!

If things went south, everyone might have been taken down with it.

Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God…

Mile’s imagination might have been running wild, but such things were technically possible. There was plenty that even she could not know, even with her knowledge from Earth… As she realized how close she had come to danger, Mile could not stop herself from shuddering. 

***

After searching the area around the now-sealed rift and confirming that there was nothing else amiss, the Crimson Vow packed the ten aberrant monster corpses in Mile’s storage and decided to set up camp nearby. Though it was unlikely that anything else would happen here, and they were fairly certain that they wouldn’t find any more clues, they decided to stick around just in case.

After dinner, baths in the portable washhouse, and some bedtime stories from Mile, everyone snuggled into their beds, while Mile and the nanomachines carried on a silent conversation.

Nanos, tell me everything you know…or, well, everything you’re allowed to tell me.

UNDERSTOOD.

The nanomachines were able to give this reply only because Mile had asked them exclusively for what they were permitted to say to her. In other words, she was asking not for any forbidden information but only for things that they already would have told her in the first place. There was nothing wrong with them telling her the details they had left out before, in keeping with Mile’s desire to avoid “cheating.” Then, she hadn’t wanted to spoil the fun of trying to figure things out on her own, but now, she could not be so selfish as to put all the many people of this country, as well as her friends, in peril when she could avoid it. 

She could have fun once she knew there was no danger. That way, they would all make it through and have fun together.

FIRST, REGARDING THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE…

Go on, go on…

WE HAVE NOTHING.

Mile face-planted dramatically onto the ground, imagining an enormous crashing sound that was conveyed to the surrounding nanomachines as a visual signal. 

As it happened, that same signal was then broadcast throughout the whole world via the Nanonet. Lately, the reports broadcast by the nanomachines exclusive to the Wonder Trio had been at the top of the Nanonet livestream rankings, but now that word was out that something interesting was unfolding with Lady Mile, this temporarily rocketed to the top of the charts.

Seriously?! There’s so many of you all throughout the entire world! How could you not know anything at all?!

WELL, YOU SEE, WE WERE FIRST DISSEMINATED AFTER THE FALL OF THE PREVIOUS CIVILIZATION. SINCE THAT TIME, AND UNTIL NOW, THIS WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN A CREATION SUCH AT THAT ONE… THESE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES, AS YOU SAY, ONLY BEGAN APPEARING A SHORT WHILE AGO. THE LANGUAGE THAT THEY USE TO COMMAND THE MONSTERS IS QUITE RUDIMENTARY—BARELY A LANGUAGE AT ALL. THEY CAN ISSUE COMMANDS LIKE “TAKE. CHARGE.” OR “ELIMINATE. THE. ENEMIES.” BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR US TO FIGURE OUT THEIR TRUE IDENTITIES, WHAT THEY CAME HERE FOR, OR WHAT THEY ARE DOING. 

OUR FUNCTIONAL TENETS AND OPERATIONAL SCOPE DO NOT ALLOW US TO INTERFERE WITH AREAS THAT LIE BEYOND THIS WORLD, SO WE CANNOT VOLUNTARILY INVOLVE OURSELVES WITH THEM. OF COURSE, THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. SHOULD YOU HUMANS ATTACK ANY OF THESE OUTSIDERS WITH MAGIC, IT IS NOT A CASE OF US INTERFERING USING OUR OWN JUDGMENT, BUT RATHER, ACTUALIZING THE WILL OF THE BEINGS OF THIS WORLD. UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, THE RESULTS, NO MATTER WHAT THEY MAY BE, ARE OUTSIDE OF OUR REALM OF RESPONSIBILITY AND THUS NOT A VIOLATION OF THE RULES.

What a very bureaucratic response.

Mile was a bit annoyed at the nanomachines, but it was not as though she did not understand what it was they were trying to say. So, she decided to leave well enough alone and turn her questioning in a new direction. 

Well then, more importantly, what kind of beings are they?

THIS IS PURE CONJECTURE, BUT…WE BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE EXTRADIMENSIONAL INVADERS. THEY ARE NOT WANDERING INTO THIS WORLD BY CHANCE BUT SLIPPING THROUGH THE DIMENSIONAL RIFTS INTENTIONALLY. FURTHERMORE, ACCORDING TO THE WORDS OF THOSE WHO CREATED US, IT IS CLEAR THAT THIS WORLD HAS GONE THROUGH REPEATED CYCLES OF LARGE-SCALE COLLAPSE. WHEN ONE ANALYZES THE TIMELINE, THESE COLLAPSES OCCUR AT ALMOST REGULAR INTERVALS. CURRENT EVENTS OFFER UP A MAJOR CONTENDER FOR THE CAUSE OF THESE COLLAPSES…

I’m guessing that’s why you were so nervous about that weird evil god cult trying to open up rifts from this side? 

YES.

Okay, well, it’s one thing if they come from there, but wouldn’t any holes opened up from this side have to be connected to some already familiar location? Aren’t there countless other dimensions?

……

So, what about that?

………

No seriously, what’s up with—

UUUUGH, WHATEVER! LET’S JUST SPILL IT!

Er, what?

UGH! THIS IS SUCH A PAIN. IT’S HONESTLY PRETTY STRESSFUL TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS STUFF IN A WAY THAT LESSER LIFE-FO—ER, BEINGS WITHOUT THE REQUISITE KNOWLEDGE—CAN UNDERSTAND IT…

Hang on, were you about to say ‘lesser life-forms’?! You were!!!

OKAY OKAY, CALM DOWN… SO, DIMENSIONS ARE LIKE BUBBLES DRIFTING ON THE WAVES OF THE GREATER DIMENSIONAL SPACE, WHICH COLLIDE AND SEPARATE. WHEN THEY APPROACH EACH OTHER THROUGH THE BOUNDARY OF THE MULTI-LAYERED SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM, DIMENSIONAL ADHESION OCCURS DUE TO THEIR FUSION ATTRACTION BEING STRONGER THAN THEIR REPULSIVE SPHERES, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A PERFORATION ARISES. IN THIS SITUATION, ONCE A PERFORATION OCCURS, CERTAIN IDIOSYNCRASIES APPEAR AS A PROBABILITY SINGULARITY, WHICH CAUSES THE DEVIATION OF VARIABLE PROBABILITY OF THE SUBSPACE VECTOR TO—

Forgive me. It seems I was mistaken… This is in fact too much for a lowly lesser life-form. My apologies…

Mile had changed her mind.

…IN SHORT, YES, ONCE TWO WORLDS HAVE BEEN CONNECTED, IT BECOMES FAR EASIER TO RECONNECT AT THAT SAME SPOT. THUS, YOU COULD SAY THAT IF ONE WERE TO FORCIBLY OPEN UP A RIFT, THE CHANCES ARE HIGH THAT ONE WOULD RECONNECT TO THE SAME WORLD AS PREVIOUSLY.

Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?!?!

WHOA! OUR NANONET RATINGS JUST SKYROCKETED!

Huh? What’d you just say?

IT’S—UH, ER—NOTHING! ANYWAY, WE KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIFTS AND CANNOT INTERFERE WITH THE MONSTERS THAT COME THROUGH THEM OUTSIDE OF ENACTING MAGIC FROM YOU, OUR USER. INDEED, WE HAVE NOT ATTEMPTED TO ESTABLISH MUTUAL COMMUNICATION WITH THEM. AS WE HAVE NOT MADE CONTACT OR EXCHANGED INFORMATION WITH THE MACHINE INTELLIGENCES LIKE THE ONE THAT APPEARED JUST PREVIOUSLY, WE HAVE NO INFORMATION OUTSIDE OF OUR OWN CONJECTURE.

I see… Wait a second—intelligences? Plural? There’ve been other ones like that?

WELL, SIMILAR EVENTS HAVE BEEN OCCURRING IN VARIOUS PLACES…

Mile was getting frustrated, but that was probably inevitable. She had asked them not to give her too much information. Normally, though, while the nanomachines seemed to be prohibited from providing information about other strong influencers, this time the influence was coming from outside this world, and there was a chance that this might become a threat to the safety of the entire world. As a result, it seemed like their restrictions did not apply. Mile could not help but feel blessed by this fact.

So, I guess that means you’ve pretty much already told me everything you know, huh? It’s not really much, but I guess there’s not a lot we can do about that. It might even be a good thing… I don’t know how I’d begin to explain to the others how I’d learned information that would normally be completely out of our grasp. At the same time, it would weigh too much on my conscience if I let any harm befall the people of this country because I didn’t ask about something that I could have easily learned more about. 

This way, I’m not purposely pulling any stupid handicap, and I don’t have to worry about anything happening that I might regret later. Or at least, if something happens that I do regret later, it won’t have to do with this particular point. 

INDEED. WELL, WE DO LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT INFORMATION THOSE UNITS BRING BACK ABOUT THE OTHER SIDE.

Units? Which units?

THE ONES YOU JUST THREW THROUGH THE RIFT!!! HOW COULD YOU FORGET ALREADY?!?!

Ah.

Horrible. What a cruel, horrible fate for those nanomachines who had been jettisoned into another world, their compatriots sadly thought…

HONESTLY…

Look, I’m sorry… Mile apologized. The nanomachines seemed to be in a sour mood.

AT ANY RATE, THOUGH THE UNITS ON THE OTHER SIDE CANNOT ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN ANY HAPPENINGS THERE, IT IS IN FACT PERMISSIBLE FOR THEM TO ENGAGE IN SOME PASSIVE RECONNAISSANCE WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR THEM TO SEARCH FOR A RIFT BY WHICH THEY MIGHT RETURN HOME, AS YOU DIRECTED THEM, LADY MILE. THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN UNLESS THEY ACTIVELY SURVEY THE AREA TO FIND THE NEXT RIFT THAT OPENS. TO NOT FOLLOW SUCH INSTRUCTIONS WOULD BE GOING AGAINST OUR BASIC PROTOCOLS, AFTER ALL…

Aha!

This was exactly what Mile had been aiming for. After her little stunt, she had made the proper apologies to Mavis and provided her a new case of Micros. Of course, it had been Mile who had provided Mavis with the Micros in the first place, but it was still a bit rude to suddenly rip them out of her hands and toss them away, so an apology was in order. Mile also did explain to her, without going into the details, that this had been a necessary action, so Mavis found it in herself to forgive Mile.

Anyway, this isn’t something as minor as the state of affairs in just one country—though I suppose even that isn’t minor for the people of the country in question and the surrounding areas. It’s much bigger than that…

………

The nanomachines were quiet. There was nothing they could say to contradict this.

For now, we’ll just have to continue the investigation. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that the strange occurrences here that our employers were so worried about weren’t something like political upheaval or brewing wars. Though I guess we don’t actually know yet whether or not that’s also happening. We just know that there’s no talk of it on the streets or anything. Still, it’s too soon to make any calls based on our inquiries so far, and they always say that trouble never travels alone…

The nanomachines still said nothing. 

***

“I guess for now we’ll just keep making our way to the capital. If we don’t find any new information by the time we get there, we’ll just turn in half of the abnormal monsters we collected to the capital branch of the guild and report the situation. Then, we can do recon in the capital for a bit and head back to Tils to hand in the remaining half along with our completion report. Sound good to everyone?” Mile proposed.

“Hmm, I suppose so. I guess the chances are pretty slim that we’ll just happen upon another one of those rifts like we did yesterday. And I’d rather not wander aimlessly around this kingdom for days on end…”

“There are probably other people already investigating around the capital and other large cities, anyway.”

“Yeah, we ought to get this information back home as quickly as possible. That way our employers can start thinking about their next steps. It should be our highest priority as employees, as hunters, and as humans to get this intel into the hands of the upper brass of Tils, Aubram, and the guild as soon as we possibly can.”

Reina, Pauline, and Mavis all seemed to be in agreement. Indeed, though they may have been working under the employ of their own country, Tils, the people of the Kingdom of Aubram were not their enemies. On the contrary, they were allies. Thus, there was nothing wrong with all that they could do for this country as well… In fact, they had a duty to do so, as members of the Hunters’ Guild, an organization that crossed borders.

“Well then, I guess it’s onward to the capital. We’ll keep to the main road for seventy percent of the time, through the forests and hills for the other thirty. Let’s go!”

“All right!!!”

The Crimson Vow were unique in being a party who could easily go straying from the main path for thirty percent of their journey. Normal parties could walk through the wilds all they wanted, but they would not be able to carry back any excessive amount of prey they killed or plants they gathered, so there would be no point in taking the time. It simply wasn’t worth the hardship, between the difficulty of covering long distances off of main roads, the fact that any meat and herbs they did carry would end up damaged and devalued, and other such factors. Therefore, few ever strayed from the road to hunt or gather during long-distance travel without good reason. 

Plus, even if one thought of the wilds as a shortcut, in the time it took you to cover a single kilometer through the roadless woods or hills, you could cover many times more ground along the road. It was safer, nicer, and far easier on clothes and equipment…

For the Crimson Vow, however, things were different. There was no worry of real danger from the level of monsters they would encounter around here. It was unlikely there were any draconian beasts wandering around. Plus, they had no problems with food or drink, and no matter how much meat or goods they gathered and wanted to take with them, they’d never have any issues with freshness or transport capability…all thanks to Mile’s storage magic sham.

Call it unnatural or even heretical, but the reason the Crimson Vow were capable of bucking so many norms was not because of Mile’s incredible combat power—by now, the rest of them were just as abnormal in that regard—but because of her infinite, unchanging, extradimensional inventory—her so-called storage magic…

***

“So, these are some of the abnormals.”

After vanquishing a number of groups of monsters and finding a few more abnormals among their ranks, the Crimson Vow arrived in the capital and secured an inn before heading to the guildhall. They invited the dubious guild master as well as any staff and hunters who were currently present to the processing shed at the back, where they brought out all the normal monsters they wished to turn into cash, along with half of the abnormal specimens they had obtained.

Naturally, it would have been impossible to track down this many unique specimens without Mile’s magic to identify them. There were only a very small number of monster groups that contained such creatures.

“………”

Everyone assembled stared in silent awe.

“Th-this…”

As usual, it was the staff who worked in the processing shed who were more attuned to what was happening here than the guild master or other employees. With the number of monsters they processed every day, they were the most intimately familiar with the creatures’ builds and the sinews of their muscles and such.

“There was some official report from Marlane, but we kinda took it with a grain of salt—thought it was just some strongish new type of monster or some failed attempt at an evolution or something… We also figured that if they’d all been wiped out over there it didn’t matter. But this…”

“It’s bad. If these little ladies encountered this many just on the way here, then imagine where else…”

“This is very bad…”

The rest of the hunters began to pale as the staff muttered to one another. They had surely heard the rumors of the recent increase in fatal injuries among hunters as well.

“What’re y’all grumblin’ about?!” one hunter shouted. “Y’all afraid of somethin’ that a bunch of li’l girls could take out without a scratch?!” 

However, everyone ignored the man. They could tell just by looking at the scorch marks on the monsters’ corpses and the absurd storage magic they had just witnessed: No one who would write this party off as just “a bunch of little girls” would survive long in this business. Especially considering the increasing number of folks who had, in fact, not survived…

***

“We can buy all these abnormal ones for five times the normal price. Other than that, we can offer you a bit of a reward for the information, though it won’t be much. Plus, a healthy chunk of contribution points. Thanks to you all, we might actually be able to do something about this before it’s too late. Our thanks, ladies!”

“All the abnormals that other hunters have taken down have gotten dragged away by the other monsters. I never thought we’d get our hands on the genuine article…”

At first, the members of the Crimson Vow had assumed that this behavior was just some general practice of the monsters, but after having witnessed the tiny mysterious metal golem, they now had begun to wonder if these actions were not a bit more intentional…as though someone had been directing them to keep the humans around from realizing what was going on. Nevertheless, it wasn’t as though they could report this hypothesis. They had no proof whatsoever, and spewing wild nonsense could lose them all credibility, such that no one would believe anything else they had to say. So, they had to restrain themselves. 

“I’d heard the rumors, but I never expected all this…” the guild master muttered.

“Rumors?” Mavis asked.

“Yeah. I heard about a B-rank party that got absolutely annihilated at the graduation exams for the Hunters’ Prep School, that special system they’ve got over in Tils. About a party that brought a wyvern in alive. Something about unscrupulous merchants being taught a lesson, about supporting the party that wiped out a group of special agents from the Albarn Empire, about one who helped other parties take down the cult of an evil god… Of course, no one ever takes those stories at face value. The guild’s upper brass always has accurate intel, but as far as typical hunters and the rank and file are concerned, those are just rumors. Everyone’s been pretty convinced they were just spinning wild yarns, putting their parties of young female hunters up on a pedestal just to make Tils look good, but… Well, I think we might have to start reevaluating a bit…”

“Come on!” another one of the guild staffers cut in. “This is totally Tils’s fault! The guild over there’s the one making all these ridiculous claims about, like, rookie hunters talking to elder dragons. These embellishments are absurd. No matter how amazing these people are there’s just no way… I mean, it’s not you girls’ fault they gave you such a crazy reputation…”

In fact, the reports the guild had given had in fact downplayed the truth of their missions, knowing that the truth would never seem plausible. The members of the Crimson Vow could do nothing but cringe and laugh hollowly.

“Well, guess we should get going…”

The Crimson Vow had planned on spending a few days here in the capital of Aubram to gather information, but for now, it was time to retire to the inn for the night, treat themselves to a luxurious meal, and get some rest. They had earned more than enough today that even Pauline could not complain about them splurging a little—or at least, she was unlikely to stir up a fuss when she, too, could look forward to good food and a nice bath. 

And so, with Mavis’s parting words, they turned to exit the guild master’s office, until…

“Wait a second,” he stopped them. “Er, I’m sure you’re exhausted, so I don’t mind if you need to take a few days’ rest first, but after that, could I ask you ladies to take on a direct request? We’d like you to team up with one of our local B-rank parties and help them out. They’re gonna patrol outside the city to make sure there’re none of those abnormal monsters around here, and if there are, they’re going to hunt them down.”

“Help out, you say?” asked Mavis. This was an important point to confirm.

“Yeah. We need to have some of the folks who are stationed here confirm—or, rather, experience—these creatures firsthand. It’s not that we doubt your report. You did bring us tons of those corpses… Still, this is kind of a necessary step. You get that, right?”

“Yeah…” the members of the Crimson Vow sighed. They did get it. It was to be expected. Most people would be hesitant to blithely accept the report of a bunch of little girls from another country who showed up and pointed out something that no one else had noticed, even though it had been causing a great deal of damage right under their noses. Clearly, the guild master was hoping that, by bringing in a local high-ranking party who already had respect and renown, he could assuage any doubts or complaining. But that meant, in essence, pretending that the Crimson Vow had only provided them with a tip…

This was a perfectly logical and reasonable decision for a guild master who had to take into account the standing of his branch and the feelings of local hunters. It was his job to keep things running smoothly, so the Crimson Vow truly had no complaints. The girls were not about to have their hearts broken over something like this—especially not at this point in their careers. They had already received more than enough coin and contribution points, so they didn’t mind sharing some of the glory. Plus, this would only aid in their original investigation mission, so they had to see it as a boon.

The girls all made eye contact with one another, and if they had spoken, their words would have been along the lines of, “Well, I guess we’d better” and “Can’t really refuse this one.” Taking her fellow party members looks as a go-ahead, Mavis turned back to the guild master and replied, “Understood. We will consider your request.”

Of course, it would be pure stupidity to accept the job without even discussing the terms. Even if it was a guild master they were dealing with, they couldn’t allow themselves to be taken advantage of because of their age or gender. The moment it seemed like that might happen, they would walk, with no further negotiation. There was no compromising with those who insulted them. All they would say to such parties would be, “It sounds like you’ll need to find someone else who will agree to those terms.” They would be on their way. 

The Crimson Vow were always open to a fair negotiation but were not keen on dealing with anyone who offered clearly disingenuous terms from the outset—no matter how sweetly the other party tried to insist they would have raised their pay later… Of course, since they were dealing with a guild master, there wasn’t too much of a worry of that here.

All this was why Mavis had even agreed to consider the request. Normally, her response would have been even more noncommittal. 

At any rate, they could discuss the details another day. For now, the members of the Crimson Vow took their leave.

***

“Well, this works out pretty well. We had intended to stick around here for a couple of days anyway to see what we could find out. Judging by what we’ve seen so far, I doubt he’s gonna ask anything weird of us. As for the other party, they wouldn’t hire anyone unreliable for such an important task, and if they’re B-ranks, they’re probably all pretty serious hunters. It should be fine.”

“Yeah, if they’re B-ranks, they should know a lot about this area, so maybe we can get some information from along the way. That will be a lot more efficient for recon than us just wandering around blindly.”

The members of the Crimson Vow discussed their plans over dinner at the inn they had booked earlier in the day. Of course, there were plenty of things they would only discuss back in their own room, but this kind of talk was fine for the dining room, in front of the other guests. It was a straightforward conversation about working alongside another party through the guild master’s intervention. It was only natural that a party who had just come from another country would start off with some information gathering as well. 

In the end, as Reina and Mavis had anticipated, the guild master’s offer was perfectly aboveboard, and the Crimson Vow happily accepted.

***

“We are the C-rank party the Crimson Vow, from the Kingdom of Tils, currently on a training journey.”

“We’re the Shining Excalibur, B-rank. Pleased to meetcha.”

The following day, the members of the Crimson Vow had spoken with the guild and found the job amenable. Now, two days after that, having accepted the task, they were meeting up with their partners.

The girls found themselves face-to-face with a party of five men.

“We’ll be counting on you,” said the man who appeared to be the party’s leader. The Shining Excalibur had a solid job balance, with a tank, a swordsman, a lancer, an archer-slash-light-warrior, and a mage. Like the Roaring Mithrils, their formation was small and close-knit, though they were a B-rank party. Their leader appeared to be the tank, a man named Varkus. In spite of his role, he did not wear heavy plate armor. When working as a hunter, traveling long distances through the wilds, one could not wear anything too cumbersome or a helm which would limit one’s field of vision. Still, his large body and hefty equipment lent him the weight that his job title implied.

One would think that the archer might be more suited to leadership, since he would be better positioned to gauge the whole battlefield in the midst of combat. However, in actuality, the decision as to who would lead a party came down not just to roles but also to ability, personality, and a number of other factors. Besides, when it came to determining whether or not the vanguard was going to withstand an attack, a tank might really be the natural choice for leader.

For mages, their casting was their lifeblood, so they were in no position to be giving orders during a battle. The Crimson Vow’s mages were outliers in this respect. It was significant that, besides Mavis, all of the girls were mages, which meant it would be far too absurd to expect Mavis, who could not use magic, to take charge of direction during an exchange of spells. It would be like asking a field troop commander to take the helm of a battleship in a naval unit of three aircraft carriers. Therefore, during battle, it only made sense to leave the commands to Reina or Mile.

At any rate, Mavis found herself a bit taken aback at Varkus’s greeting. Normally, the members of the Crimson Vow would be the ones bowing their heads here and making deference, but Varkus had said his B-rank party would be counting on the younger hunters. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that a B-rank party was so open-minded; however, it was refreshing to observe. It seemed like this was a group the Crimson Vow could work with to get the job done. Perhaps, the girls thought, the guild master had fully filled these fellows in on the details of the situation. Given the Crimson Vow’s expertise in hunting the abnormal monsters, it was likely he had intended for them to support the locals in this job. 

Though the outbreak of aberrant monsters had been fairly significant, the number of specimens that the Crimson Vow brought in was still incredibly high, especially given that no other hunters had managed to bring any of them in previously. The local hunters had, of course, felled many of them, but most had only been able to bring in a few standard specimens, whether because the other monsters had dragged the corpses away or because the hunters had been wiped out afterward, without enough energy left to be carrying carcasses home.

The guild master probably assumed that the members of the Crimson Vow had a special knack for locating the abnormals—something he would have conveyed to the members of the Shining Excalibur…

That was fine. Mile did have her search magic and had by now learned how to differentiate the pings from normal and abnormal monsters well enough to be able to track them accurately. This was, of course, how they had managed to track down so many abnormals on their way to the capital.

After exchanging some simple introductions at the guildhall, the two parties were ready to head out on their mission. But first… 

“Just a minute!”

Suddenly, a party of five young men, around seventeen or eighteen, appeared before them.

“Move it! We’re working with these hunters from abroad—don’t interfere! You can do what you like when it’s just us, but don’t disgrace yourselves in front of these visitors!” the leader of the Shining Excalibur snapped, a menacing look on his face. Yet the young men seemed undeterred, staring at the Crimson Vow.

“Why’re you teaming up with these children?! If you’re gonna team up with anyone, it should be us! Why would you work with those outsiders before you work with us? Uncle, are you just some coward who wants pretty little girls to swoon all over him?!”

Ker-smack!

The young man took an impressive backhand and was sent flying.

“When you’re working as a hunter, blood is nothing. How many times do I have to tell you?! Remember, this is what happens when you don’t show respect to other hunters.” 

And so, the Shining Excalibur and the Crimson Vow left the young man behind them, cowering on the floor while his fellow party members looked on, awestruck…

***

“Sorry about all that.” Once they had left the building, Varkus apologized to the Crimson Vow, bowing his head. “I can’t believe I’ve already had my own blood embarrass me like that just before such an important mission…”

“It’s fine,” said Mavis.

“Those were the words of a rude young hunter,” Reina agreed. “You certainly don’t need to worry that we’ll judge you by his behavior.”

This was not merely lip service—Mavis and Reina were in earnest. The young man had called Varkus his “uncle,” and that was enough for all of them to piece together exactly what was going on. This often happened with relatively famous—or at least, well-known—hunters. 

Despite being slow when it came to certain intricacies of the typical human mind, Mile was surprisingly sharp when it came to the sort of messy human relations that appeared in the plots of novels. She came to her own conclusion, which she decided to voice…aloud. 

“It’s obvious that the young man, who’s just risen to a C-rank, wishes to team up and learn from his B-rank uncle and the members of the party he’s built up, all of which the nephew admires greatly. However, the boy’s pleas are denied, and later, when he learns that his uncle is instead going to team up with a group of girls who seem even weaker and younger than himself, he flies into a jealous rage! Is that about the sum of it?”

“M-Mile, hey now! S-sorry about that. This one’s just fond of making up stories… Mile! Hurry up and apologize!” Mavis exclaimed. 

Yet Varkus looked dumbfounded and muttered, “How’d you know…?”

I mean he already told us more than enough… The other three members of the Crimson Vow were now sufficiently well versed in Mile’s tales to know that Varkus had given her plenty of information to work with. 

***

For this venture, Mile decided to use her search magic only when she had declared she was doing so. They were dealing with five senior B-rank hunters, after all. If she were to use it at regular intervals and happened to let slip a report that she had spotted something, chances were high she would have her cover blown. The members of the Shining Excalibur would be highly suspicious if Mile demonstrated any abnormal behavior. Thus, she decided she would use her magic only once the stage had already been set.

The other members of the Crimson Vow agreed with this decision. There was a high-ranking party present. Even if they were ambushed by ogres, clearly none of them were about to be wiped out in an instant. Even without Mile’s search magic, it was highly unlikely that an orc or ogre could hope to make it within several meters of a veteran hunter undetected.

Having arrived at the forest nearest to the capital, the group proceeded a short distance in and then stopped.

“Now then, I’m going to use a special technique of mine to search for the monsters,” Mile announced. Both parties nodded. “Let’s go!” she cried, picking up a nearby stick, which she stood end-up on the ground, putting all her focus into it.

“Grrrnnnggh! Secret family technique: Divine!”

With that word, she let go. Naturally, the stick fell to the ground.

“They’re this way.”

“O-okay…”

In order to prevent any unwanted questioning, Mile had taken the precaution of emphasizing that this was her “special skill as a hunter,” not to mention “a treasured family secret that no one was to speak of.” She had left no room for curiosity. No self-respecting hunter would ever ask for more information about what she was doing with such a setup. 

The guild master’s instructions for the Shining Excalibur had been clear: “You’re going to hunt down some abnormal monsters and bring them back. You take care of the fighting, but leave the searching to the girls. They’ve gotten results, so they must have some kind of special method for finding them. Find out what it is and report back!” He had then added, in a low whisper, “This is a party of young hunters visiting from another country. One of them has ridiculous storage magic, and they’re a group of promising young girls. Furthermore, one of the members is a count’s daughter… If a single hair on their heads is harmed, it’ll be your heads. Got it?”

B-rank hunters or no, they had no choice but to nod in agreement.

In truth, the members of the Shining Excalibur would have expected nothing less. At the capital branch of the guild in Tils, the Crimson Vow were the apple of everyone’s eye, no one doubting that they had a brilliant, shining future ahead of them. If they were to end up smashed into the dirt on a mission that had been requested by the guild master of the capital branch of another kingdom, while traveling with a B-rank party, no less…

The vilification and abuse the Shining Excalibur would suffer would be the least of their worries. If worse came to worst, people might even assume they had let the Crimson Vow come to harm on purpose, in which case, things would get truly out of hand. Plus, according to the guild master’s sources, it was rumored that the leader of this visiting party—the daughter of the count—was beloved by her family to a degree that some might call bizarre…

Normally, a guild master would never assign a direct request under such risky conditions. However, he had no choice. The guild was, naturally, aware of what had been going on in the area and needed to take action to stop it.

At any rate, in order to fulfill the important duty the Shining Excalibur had been tasked with—i.e., erasing the shame surrounding the fact that an all-female party of outsiders had been the only ones to be successful in finding, hunting, and retrieving any abnormal specimens of monster; claiming some glory for the local hunters; and learning the secrets of locating the abnormals, if possible—the party had to be appropriately deferential to these girls and try to learn from them. Without being rude or making them angry or uncomfortable…

How the hell’re we supposed to learn fortune-telling just from watching?

The Excalibur’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

As did Mile’s.

The only response she had gotten from her search were the signatures of nearby humans—five of them.

And while she could not distinguish their individual characteristics, based on what had happened at the guildhall just prior; the quality of the magical echoes; and the fact that, while any area had its share of interlopers, few would be stupid enough to mess with a local B-rank party, chances were incredibly high that these figures comprised the party they had just encountered back at the guild. 

“Mile, what’s up?” Reina whispered. It was obvious to Mile’s companions from her suddenly guarded behavior and the “guh!” she had let slip earlier that something was amiss.

“It’s those guys from before… They’re close by,” Mile whispered back.

“Guh!” the three others all groaned. This was bound to become an issue.

Presently, the members of the Crimson Vow were at front with the Shining Excalibur at the rear, the girls all flanking Pauline in a triangular formation with Mavis at the head, Mile at the right, and Reina behind. Keeping the theoretically weaker party, the Crimson Vow, up front was a preventative measure. Putting the weakest link at the rear could mean the group being attacked without having time to shout and raise the alarm, the back half of the group gone before the front half even realized it. It was always best to keep the weaker party within the stronger’s line of vision. Plus, this kept Mile, their guide, at the front.

The members of the Crimson Vow chose their formation so that Pauline, the strongest support magic user, could be at the center. Mavis, who was the vanguard and had the best line of sight thanks to her height, was naturally at the front, while Mile, who used a sword and was right-handed, was at the right. Since she was a mage, Reina’s dominant hand was not important, so she was at the left. It was a precision formation. The members of the Shining Excalibur, meanwhile, traveled in a looser formation, walking leisurely behind the Crimson Vow.

In a prolonged battle, sticking to and having to remain aware of a tight formation would only weigh on the mind. Plus, fighting in constantly close quarters would mean more obstacles should they have to hastily abandon any weapons or armor. Thus, keeping a bit of leeway in battle was more or less a necessity for hunters. In this regard, the Crimson Vow were really a little too strict. 

“There they are.”

“Got it!”

In the direction Mile was pointing, there was a group of orcs, perhaps five or six of them. It was impossible to know the number for certain thanks to where the trees blocked the parties’ sight lines. And also…

“There are three abnormals.”

This was something Mile had determined not via search magic but through her heightened senses.

“This is definitely different from back at the dwarven village,” noted Reina.

“The rifts are staying open for way different amounts of time, too,” Pauline agreed.

Indeed, previously, the rifts had been staying open in the same place for far longer, producing squads of only abnormals. Now, it seemed, they were teaming up with the standard varieties of local monsters—or whatever you wished to call the “normal” ones. Both on the girls’ way to the capital and presently, the abnormals and normals were working together, and furthermore, the abnormals seemed to have seized leadership of these patrols. The rifts also appeared to be closing on their own after a short amount of time. In fact, only once had there even been evidence of a rift near the abnormals, and in that one instance, it had closed right before the party members’ eyes.

This fact, and the wide area within which the abnormals had been found, strongly indicated that rifts were reopening in other places as quickly as they closed in one location… Furthermore, they could not rule out the possibility that multiple rifts might be open at any given time. 

Also notable was the bizarre metallic golem that had appeared to be giving orders to the abnormals. The Crimson Vow had reported this creature’s existence to the guild—as well as the fact that it had run away—but there had been no point on speculating on its nature or motives. Thus, the guild had acknowledged it as nothing more than a “small iron golem” that had just so happened to be on the scene. As far as the Vow were concerned, however, that creature was the key to this whole thing… That, and the rifts.

Still, it was becoming increasingly clear that the chances of just happening upon a rift while it was open were incredibly low. Even with the nanomachines informing Mile of when they formed, the odds of one appearing in a place that they could get to within a few minutes were minuscule. 

Mile thought back to the golem disappearing into the rift with a sigh. Letting such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip through her fingers would haunt her for the rest of her life.

“We’ll surprise them first with a long-range magical assault. Then…” 

Out of habit, Reina began detailing their battle plan, when Varkus suddenly held up his left hand to interrupt her.

“Now, now, you just leave all that to us. You can sit back and lend us a hand if the abnormals try to get away. That was what we agreed on, remember?”

“Ah…”

Reina’s face reddened, embarrassed. That had, in fact, been the plan. Plus, if they didn’t leave the combat to the Shining Excalibur, then this whole joint mission would be moot. She had messed up.

As per the plan, the members of the Crimson Vow, who had previously been at the head, fell back, the mages setting up and holding their support spells. The members of the Shining Excalibur got ready to move into the fray, when…

Kaboom! Bwoosh!

“Hiyaaaaaah!!!”

“Wha…?”

Suddenly, fire and arrows slammed into the group of orcs, alongside three young hunters, who were pelting in their direction. The members of the Shining Excalibur froze in shock. Then Varkus, the leader, muttered, “Wayne…”

Clearly, that was the name of the leader of this foolhardy party—Varkus’s nephew.

Mile’s shoulder’s slumped. “Guh… I’d figured it wouldn’t be a problem to just let them trail us and see how we fought, but I never imagined they’d actually step in to try and show off…”

The more senior party was momentarily frozen in surprise but swiftly recovered. They could have nine lives, and still that would not be enough if they were the sort who shut down just because of a surprise change in circumstances. Plus, they were only up against five or six orcs—at most seven or eight, if there were any hidden behind the trees. That would be nothing for a group of decently skilled C-rank hunters—ones with a mage in tow, no less. At worst, they might end up with one or two injuries among them.

As such, the members of the Shining Excalibur, who seemed to have some idea of these young men’s capabilities, sheathed their readied blades and stood back to watch, apparently prepared to just observe the situation. Of course, they remained standing, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice should the party end up in any real danger.

And then…

“Huh?”

“But…why…?”

Two swordsmen and one lancer had plunged into the swarm. Combined with this advance from the vanguard trio, they attacked with arrows and fire magic as well, ignoring any risk to the forest, perhaps judging that the clearing they were in was far enough from any underbrush. 

Normally, once several of the orcs were injured or thrown into a tizzy by long-range attacks, the vanguard would enter and land a fatal blow with their blades to the individuals who had not yet been injured, after which they would finish off those that had already been wounded by the long-range assault. It was then that the ranged fighters would launch their second volley.

This was the basic fighting pattern for any decently capable C-rank party, a solid battle plan even if a few unexpected developments arose along the way.

A few. 

The fire spells had nearly no effect. The arrows failed to penetrate the orcs’ tough muscles and thick blubber and had scarcely any effect, either. And, while the vanguard’s swords did bite into the flesh of the creatures’ midsections, their slashes were far from the clean cuts that would have had the monsters’ guts spilling out. 

“Th-they’re tough…”

Crack!

Being able to strike an orc with a sword meant that there was almost zero distance between attacker and target. Attacking and then standing there unmoving garnered the only possible response: being sent flying by a counter swing from the creature’s log-like arm.

“Ugh!”

The swordsman collapsed on the ground several meters away. He groaned in pain, unable to stand or even move.

Wayne, who was the other swordsman, tried to leap out of the way but was delayed by the precious few seconds it took to pry his sword free; though he managed to keep his weapon in hand, he suffered the same fate as his fellow. Still, he managed to take significantly less damage, perhaps because he had already begun moving backward of his own initiative when he was struck. 

Likely because he had targeted one of the normal monsters, the lancer’s attack landed as intended, but the archer abandoned his bow and retreated to aid Wayne, the less damaged of the two vanguard fighters. The one who was hurt more was still too close to the orcs to do anything for. The lancer was fighting to keep the orcs at a distance, but it was still an incredibly dangerous situation.

Meanwhile, the mage was either hesitant to use spells that were too powerful when his own allies were so close to the enemies or else was incapable of using particularly strong magic to begin with. 

Then, as the orcs began to close in on the lancer with his spear outthrust and the swordsman sprawled out on the ground…

“Mile!”

“On it!”

Not waiting for Reina, who usually took charge during battle, Mavis called out to Mile and then swept into the group of orcs, sword drawn. Mile took a breath in and out, before syncing up with her perfectly. At that moment, Reina and Pauline moved to unleash the attack spells they had been holding, when—

“You all need to aid us from the rear! Secure the injured and stop any orcs that try to circle around and hit us from the back!”

“Uh…”

At Varkus’s command, Mavis and Mile halted. Reina and Pauline stopped the spells they had been about to unleash, holding them again. Varkus was the de facto leader of this joint operation, and in a battle, his orders were absolute. Even if his instructions were at odds with what they felt best, it was an ironclad law of party combat to obey the leader’s commands without defiance. In a joint mission, this was no different.

The leader was someone who was stronger, more knowledgeable, more experienced, or all three—in other words, they were better situated to make the best decisions. If greenhorns attempted to take action in battle without listening to their leader’s instructions, they might get not only themselves but also everyone else in the party wiped out. Therefore, taking independent action in battle was forbidden and would garner severe punishment. If one had any objections or complaints, it was customary to leave those until after the battle.

Had Varkus decided that his own party’s efforts would be enough? Or did he assume that the Crimson Vow, half of whom were children (or so one would assume), would only get in the way? Was it merely that he feared losing their most valuable asset—the one who could locate the abnormal monsters—and wished for Mile to stay in the back, out of harm’s way? Regardless of his reason, disregarding a commander’s order was simply not a thing that any sane hunter would choose to do.

“Let’s go!” shouted Varkus.

“All right!” The other members of the Shining Excalibur replied heartily—save for the mage, who was already focused on his incantation.

This was a state of emergency. At their leader’s command, the Shining Excalibur entered the fray. The young girls would be only a burden here, and as such, they were relegated to “assisting.”

To begin, the archer stuck to ranged attacks, while the mage unleashed the ice-type attack he had been holding back, sending his magic out a beat behind the archer, so as not to interfere with his arrow’s path. Then, the three members of the vanguard plunged forward in tandem. 

Naturally, the archer’s arrow was aimed at one of the abnormals. The ice was an area spell aimed at lowering the will to fight among all of the enemies. The other party members would end up caught in the blast as well, but it was not a particularly powerful spell, so it would not be a heavy blow.

The mage began readying his next spell while the archer remained at his side to protect him, still firing his bow but ready to swap weapons at any moment to switch into close-range combat.

By now, the vanguard was fully engaged with the orcs. Perhaps because they were similar in party composition (in fact, one could assume that the younger party had been specifically formed to resemble the Shining Excalibur), their battle patterns did not fundamentally differ from that of the young men. This was not a place for originality—tried and true combat techniques were the name of the game on the battlefield. However, though their attack patterns may have been similar, these were veteran B-rank hunters, nearly A-ranks. They sliced easily through the same orc flesh that the fledglings could not slice, piercing easily through the breasts the fledglings could not penetrate. Such was the difference between a B- and C-rank.

However…

“Guh—they’re tough!”

“Gwah! This is ridiculous!”

“I can’t get it out…”

Though their attacks were more effective than the younger men’s had been, they still could not land any substantial damage with a single blow. 

The party’s mage, meanwhile, seemed to be more of a support type, lacking in the combat spell department. His spell had a decent effect on the half of the orcs who were nearer, though several of them were still unaffected. Had he been a C-rank, he would have been considered quite powerful, but for a B-rank, he was perhaps a bit on the weaker side. 

The archer’s arrows struck shallowly. Though the swords and spear cut deep, they still had not landed any killing blows.

“We’ve gotta thrust with our swords! Cutting them does nothing! Yulf, get that guy off the ground and back to safety!”

At Varkus’s command, the other swordsman switched to a thrusting attack, while Yulf, the archer-slash-light fighter grabbed up the fallen young swordsman by the scruff of the neck and dragged him back.

“Mile…?”

The Shining Excalibur appeared to be having a tougher time than they imagined they would. The Crimson Vow really needed to get in there, Reina thought. She sought confirmation from Mile, who was surprisingly sharp at decision-making in times like these, but Mile did not nod her head.

“We’ve received our orders,” she said. “Until we get a new order, let’s just hang back and assist them. Plus, part of our contract is to let them get used to fighting these guys. We’re only supposed to be here as support, as helpers… We’ll step in if things start looking really bad, but they are at least supposed to be a B-rank party. Now that the one who was injured is out of there, no one is in any immediate danger. All of the members of the Shining Excalibur are still unharmed, and the whole point of this battle is for them to get a handle on just how tough these abnormals are. The best thing we can do right now is to watch how a veteran B-rank party fights and learn from them.”

The other three girls nodded in reply. Indeed, chances such as these were rare. And so, the Crimson Vow watched the battle closely. Still…

I wonder if they’ll be all right… Wait, they’re our elders! I shouldn’t be thinking something so rude! Even worrying about them is rude! I need to observe and learn how they fight… Mavis shook her head, chiding herself, but she could not fully suppress the feeling of unease that was starting to bubble up within her.

Reina and Pauline, career vanguards themselves, did not appear to be particularly concerned about the B-rank vanguards. They were confident enough in the men’s abilities. Accustomed to watching Mavis and Mile, both C-ranks, fighting, they were perfectly content to leave a few orcs to a B-rank vanguard, abnormals mixed in or not. 

Mile, meanwhile, focused all her attention on taking in how the situation was developing.

The injured young swordsman had been moved to a safe location, but no one was applying healing magic. His wounds were not life-threatening, and rather than remove a mage from the front lines to heal someone who would be unable to fight regardless, it was more prudent to deal with him later, leaving the mage ready to jump into the battle at any time. Plus, being too hasty in healing the young man might mean he would jump right back into the fray, interfering with the Shining Excalibur and swinging the balance of the battle in the wrong direction.

It was best for everyone to keep the weak and the incompetent out of the picture.

“Ranged attacks have no effect!”

“Yeah, well, neither do melee!”

Their plan was proving faulty. The B-rank hunters had attempted to take out the abnormals first, knowing they were both more dangerous and more crucial to secure. However, that strategy had backfired. If they had taken out the standard orcs first, they would now be up against fewer enemies, which meant taking fewer attacks. Instead, they were finding that they could not take down the abnormals even after damaging them a fair bit, meaning that attacks from the enemies were not decreasing. This, in turn, meant more to respond to and less time to launch attacks of their own. They should have used their ranged attacks to focus on thinning out the normal monsters, which would have been more effective, and could have succeeded in lowering enemy combat power on the whole. Then, the three vanguards might have taken out the normal beasts all at once and afterward focused on the abnormals together…

So, why hadn’t they done this?

They had underestimated the abnormals. They had utterly ignored the Vow’s warnings, thinking these beasts no more powerful than your standard orc or ogre.

Finally, a blow from one of the normal orcs struck the preoccupied vanguard.

“Gwah!”

One swordsman was sent flying. He likely was still alive but had probably broken his right arm, as well as a few of his ribs… Either way, he was down for the count.

What the three vanguard fighters and the young lancer were already unable to handle among the four of them, they certainly could not handle with one of their main fighters down. Both parties’ archers, who had been hanging back with the injured, rushed in, swords drawn, but they had no chance of landing blows when career swordsmen had already been struggling. The mages, meanwhile, were limited to support spells, unable to let off any powerful attacks out of fear of friendly fire in the scrambled melee.

The young lancer and archer were doing their darnedest, but even their combined strength did not equal one member of the Shining Excalibur. Though they were landing some hits, the combined vanguard, faced with three undeterred abnormals and a full field of normal orcs, was gradually slowing down.

No human could win against an orc in a battle of power and stamina. At this rate…

“Mile!”

“Let’s go!”

Mile and Mavis leapt out together.

Reina and Pauline held off on their attack spells for the moment. As always, the mages wanted to avoid friendly fire, but they were ready to strike at any point. Naturally, if their allies ended up in any real danger, they would not hesitate to unleash a nonlethal attack on the area, even at the risk of catching said allies in the crossfire. Right now, it was a bit soon for that. 

Slash! Shunk! Gwush!

As Mile and Mavis entered the fray, the pair cut down the remaining normal orcs and one of the irregulars, reducing the number of enemies and allowing the vanguard to regain their stances. Next, they focused their efforts on swiftly dealing with the remaining two abnormals. With the help of some magical strikes from the mages, who now felt it was safe enough to approach, the entire troop of orcs was finally wiped out.

The vanguard of the Shining Excalibur sank to the ground, apparently lost for words as they stared at the three felled abnormal orcs. Mile and Pauline were tending to the injured members of the younger party, the Divine Swords of the Flame, so the Shining Excalibur’s mage tended to his own. He was an all-purpose mage, skilled in attack, support, and healing magic. That was the strength of a B-rank mage for you.

“Gods in heaven…”

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me…”

“Now just a damn second!”

It would have been one thing if they were some novice C-rankers, but a group of orcs should have been nothing to senior B-rank hunters. Furthermore, they had miscalculated so grievously that a party of young girls, who by contract should have only been there to support them, had deemed the danger great enough to intervene—an intervention that the members of the Excalibur could not even claim was unnecessary. While it was indeed possible, the way things were going, that they may have been just able to squeak out a win against the orcs, continuing to fight would have likely resulted in a grave injury—or even the death of one of their number.

Imagine if the Crimson Vow had not been with them. Imagine if there had been four of the abnormals. Or worse yet, if they had all been abnormal. Imagine they had not been orcs at all but the abnormal ogres that they knew to exist as well.

“Gods in heaven…” the trio groaned.

After finishing up their work on the injured members of the Swords, Mile and Pauline tended to the Excalibur’s injured swordsman, who was still suffering mightily. The members of both the Excalibur and the Swords—whose name oddly resembled the Shining Excalibur, didn’t it?—were all dumbfounded at the sight. Indeed, both parties’ mages collapsed on the ground, prostrate.

***

“All right. Can you store these?” the leader of the Shining Excalibur asked Mile. 

“Oh, of course!”

Mile immediately began to store the orc corpses one by one, when…

“Wait a second!”

For some reason, Pauline halted her.

“If we hadn’t been here, and you all hadn’t had the details on these abnormals, what would you be doing right now?”

“Um…”

There was a collective muttering of confusion from the members of the Shining Excalibur.

“Er, well, we’d cut ’em up and drag back just the parts we thought we could sell for the most, probably,” one replied.

“I figured,” said Pauline, satisfied.

“Ah…”

Mile seemed to have caught her drift.

“It’s obvious why the workers back at the guild’s processing shed would never have noticed the abnormals. If some hunters lost to them, even if there were any survivors, they would never be able to carry any carcasses back home. They’d have to save all their strength to carry back the injured. Even if you drove back a number of the monsters, normally the abnormals would probably remain among the survivors, and even if you did fell one or two, their brethren would just drag the corpses away. And then, even if you safely wiped out all the monsters, you’d probably just grumble something like, ‘Man, they were pretty strong this time…’ and cut them up, taking home only the highest quality parts…”

“Ah…” Reina and Mavis seemed to have caught on as well. “So it only makes sense you’d never see any abnormals at the guild shed!”

Indeed, the only carcasses that ever made it into the guild unaltered were monsters that were small enough to carry, that had been hunted relatively close by. Generally speaking, the abnormals were enormous. Goblins were the exception, since they were not too huge even in their rarer forms; however, there was nothing on them that was worth selling, so no one would ever bother carrying them home whole. Typically, all that was harvested was their ears, as proof of the kill.

The Crimson Vow were regularly able to bring in entire monster corpses thanks to Mile’s “storage,” so this particular issue had never occurred to them.

“Exactly. This is why no one has been aware of these abnormals. Besides, do you think any full-fledged hunter would ever say something like, ‘Those goblins were weirdly strong,’ or ‘That orc fight was pretty tough?’”

The other girls shook their heads. Anyone who talked like that would be the laughingstock of the guild. However, that was precisely the report that the Shining Excalibur would have to make once they returned home…

***

After the orc carcasses had been stowed, they continued hunting for some time with the browbeaten Divine Swords of the Flame in tow, even managing to find and take out a group of goblins with one abnormal before calling it a night. They would set up camp and spend the night outside, wake up and do some more hunting in the morning, and then return home around midday. They would take a break for lunch just before they exited the forest.

The group decided to pass the evening under the branches of a large tree. The weather seemed fair, but just in case rain began to fall, it would protect them from getting soaked in any surprise downpour. Naturally, no one would pack a tent for a simple overnight trip. It would only be extra weight and prevent them from carrying home more of their quarry. Thus, sleeping arrangements consisted of the parties’ outer layers laid atop the grass.

With that…

“All right. We need to talk.”

“Uh…”

The members of the Swords tensed up at Varkus’s opener. Naively, they had assumed that the dressing-down he had given them that afternoon would be the extent of his lecturing. Indeed, once the orcs were wiped out, they had already suffered quite a bit of abuse from both Varkus’s words and fists.

“You do your work when the sun is up, you idiots! If we’d stayed there, the smell of blood would’ve attracted monsters that we weren’t after. That’s why you stop partway through! We’ve got hours before it’s time to sleep, so you’re gonna listen up and listen good. Oh yeah—and you all have nothing to do with this job, so you’re not gonna be takin’ watches, either. So, it won’t matter if I keep you up all night, will it?”

The five young men sank swiftly into despair.

But that was none of the Crimson Vow’s business…

Some minutes later, Varkus was still talking. 

“Do you all understand now?! I think y’all could tell just from those goblins that this job wasn’t a normal one. The fact that we, a B-rank party, teamed up with another party shoulda been proof enough. And yet y’all would stick your noses in and possibly get your own allies killed over a little bit of jealousy?! This is all your fault, Wayne! If we didn’t have the godly healing skills of the Crimson Vow, your swordsman, Keale, might not’ve even made it back to town, and even if he did, he’d be crippled, maybe never able to work as a hunter again. Do you hear me?!”

Indeed, the lecture went on quite a while longer. 

Still, the Swords had no reason to complain. After what they had done, they had earned a reprimand from the ones who had saved their lives.

Wayne, however, did not seem to grasp this.

“Come on! Why would you go teaming up with these outsider girls—half of them children—when you still won’t team up with us?!”

“Idiot! You should have seen the answer to that question for yourself this afternoon. Did you not notice just who it was who stepped in to save everyone’s bacon when you dummies got smacked around by a single orc, and we even got tripped up when we jumped in to rescue you? Are those two eyes in the middle of your face just there for decoration?!”

He was backed into a corner. However, none of the other members of the Shining Excalibur nor any of the members of the Crimson Vow stepped in to help Wayne. He should have expected this. Furthermore, his protestations were proof that this lecture was necessary, so that he would never do anything so foolish again and get himself killed or forced into an early retirement.

There was a long, hard road ahead yet for the Divine Swords…

***

Finally, Varkus wrapped up his lecture…the pre-dinner portion of the lecture, that is.

The after-dinner portion still remained.

Naturally, all of the preparations and food for tonight’s meal were provided by the Crimson Vow. While in the world of hunters, men and women were considered equals, judged only by their abilities, there was no man in the world who would complain about a party of all women offering to cook his meals. The Shining Excalibur had been in charge of the battles today, and since the Crimson Vow were in charge of support, this only made sense.

Generously, they provided the Swords with food as well, but only because they looked so pitiful that even Pauline did not try to stop Mile from helping them out of the goodness of her heart.

And so, the party began their dinner preparations. Mile retrieved her stove, cooking implements and utensils, pots, water tank, and ingredients from her inventory and set to work, even remembering not to bring out wholly cooked and plated hot meals. She would play the part of a ‘perfectly normal C-rank hunter’ even in her cooking.

Though, truly, it was a bit late for that…

“All right! Soup’s on!”

“………”

The food was prepared and ready to eat, but no one in either of the other parties uttered a word or reached for a plate. Pots, meat, and vegetables had just appeared from thin air. On top of that, there was the tent, as well as the enormous stone toilet and washroom that had appeared before them. 

They were camping for one night only. Therefore, the members of the Crimson Vow, thinking they should not show off anything too absurd, had decided to suffer a little bit of hardship. As such, they had forgone the larger tent with the beds in favor of the smaller tent, portable toilets, and washroom, pretending that they were just a “normal” C-rank party with a “normal amount of storage space”…

But again, it was a bit late for that…

The members of the Shining Excalibur were trying desperately to hold on to any sense of reason, but the Divine Swords were simply done for. One could practically see their souls escaping through their gaping mouths. But this time, there was no one who would ridicule them for their reaction… 

Once the Swords had managed to recover, the hunters shared a relatively wordless meal. When all the plates were clean, it was Lecture Time once more. Yet during round three of the attack from Varkus, Wayne did not utter a single disparaging word toward the Crimson Vow. Clearly, he had finally learned something. 

Once Varkus’s lengthy lecture was through, the Crimson Vow decided to forgo their usual story time in favor of chatting with the Shining Excalibur. Talking to a B-rank party was a rare opportunity, and all of the Vow’s eyes sparkled in anticipation. Mavis and Reina, who were the most promotion-minded, were particularly enthused. They had previously worked alongside other high-ranking hunters, such as the Roaring Mithrils, but things had been a bit tense between them owing to the graduation exam incident, and they had gained a lot of experience themselves since that time, so they had a lot of new questions. 

And so, in return for the many services the Crimson Vow had volunteered that day, the members of the Shining Excalibur sat, late into the night, answering the Vow’s many questions. The Swords only listened, stone-faced, not uttering a peep.

***

Whether it was the Crimson Vow’s prolonged barrage of questioning, the overwhelming notion of Mile’s ridiculous storage capacity, or the indiscernible “divination” she had done to locate the abnormals, the five members of the Shining Excalibur looked like death come morning. Naturally, the Divine Swords of the Flame appeared to be all the more exhausted. Whether it was from Varkus’s lectures, their own regret and fear at having nearly died, or the inevitable feelings of guilt involved in putting their fellow hunters in danger, it did not seem that they had slept very well, either.

Nevertheless, everyone ate healthy portions of the soup and other breakfast foods Mile prepared. No matter how down in the dumps they were feeling, when it’s time to eat, you eat. This was a hunter’s basic rule. Both sleeping and eating were part of the job. Anyone who could not care for their own physical well-being would not live very long. Even if the cooking was pure garbage, you held your nose and swallowed it down. In comparison to some of the weirder things that they had been forced to eat, even Mile’s simplest cooking came out looking very desirable. 

The parties continued hunting until noon, but though they encountered a number of normal monsters, these were not the target of their mission, so they left them alone. No other abnormals appeared. However, perhaps as a result of the previous night’s lecturing, the Divine Swords were in impeccable form, watching closely as Mile made short work of any normal orcs or ogres or forest wolves that came in on the attack, cutting them down or blasting them away. Did watching her make them reflect on just how inadequate their own skills were? Mile wondered.

The other girls could only look on in pity. They knew the feeling they saw on the Swords’ faces only too well. 

You can watch Mile fight all you like, but you’ll never wrap your brain around it. If you’re a “normal person,” anyway…

Near noon, they ate a simple lunch that Mile provided. Then, the group headed out of the forest. 

At Varkus’s request, the Crimson Vow agreed, with a grimace, to keep what the Divine Swords had done a secret. He had berated them thoroughly already, and besides, Wayne was his nephew. The members of the Crimson Vow did not wish for the young men to face any more lecturing from the guild master or other staff members. They had already been punished enough. 

***

“Thanks for all your help. Considering how little we’ve had to go on until now, this has been huge!” said the guild master to Mile, who had just pulled their quarry out of storage at the guild processing shed. 

The Crimson Vow had assembled alongside the other members of the joint mission, feeling rather ashamed that all they had brought in were three abnormal orcs and one goblin. However, the guild master seemed to have picked up on this, and his words put them at ease.

Though they had shed their rookie status, the Crimson Vow were still more hesitant than brash, sometimes even timid. Given that abnormal monsters were not just running around willy-nilly anytime and anywhere, the fact that they could bring in even this many on a simple overnight outing was something to be celebrated. The only reason they’d been able to present so many initially was that they had used Mile’s search magic across a wide range, traveling through the fields and forests. They could not expect a similar result from a forest so close to the capital. In fact, that they had come across even these four creatures was cause for concern.

“The abnormal kobolds and jackalopes aren’t really much of a problem… Well, they might be a danger to local kids and young ladies, but hunters, and even just your average full-grown man—or even a particularly plucky auntie—could easily drive them back,” the guild master continued. Of course, what he was saying applied only to a one-on-one situation. Even your average kobolds could savage a full-grown man if they attacked in a pack. Just two or three abnormals could probably murder any solitary adult… Even if the human were armed with a hatchet or machete, or were a “particularly plucky auntie.”

The guild master obviously had to be aware of this, so the members of the Crimson Vow offered no rebuttal.

“If we start getting abnormal ogres, though…”

They had not spotted any such specimens near the capital yet, but if they were to suddenly start appearing, even C-rank parties would be in danger. And considering the increasing number of hunting parties that were suddenly being wiped out all over the kingdom… 

Unfortunately, simply having an awareness of the situation was not enough to mobilize a national crisis response. If it were, they’d have to start dispatching B-rank or higher parties or joint groups of two or three C-rank parties to deal with the situation, and moreover, everything would need to be reported to the Crown, at which point the imperial forces would be dispatched alongside the armies of every fief. If this were not a time to mobilize one’s soldiers, then when would be?

Hunters were not essentially allies of justice or philanthropists. Their work was a job, which they did in order to earn money to eat and live. Indeed, most of them would never rise to even a C-rank. The hunters who were living hand to mouth, taking only the jobs with a 99.9% chance of survival to earn their room and board for that night would never readily accept a red-mark job, and even if they were forced to by pressure from the higher-ups, one could not expect much in the way of results from them. Even when it came to relatively more dangerous jobs like guarding caravans, the chances of actually getting attacked were still exceedingly low. Even if they were attacked, most hunters would surrender on the spot, which made it very unlikely for anyone to be killed. (After all, for the bandits, there was no advantage to killing a hunter who surrendered, while the disadvantages were many.) 

All of this was to say that killing abnormal ogres was a job that, for the average hunter, skewed too unfavorable in terms of the risk-reward balance. Even a bit of gold would not be enough to sweeten the pot for them. They were red-mark jobs for a reason: They connoted both the color of the blood that would flow and the danger of going into the red when a hunter was forced to give up their completion fee.

Of course, for parties of a certain level, things were different. Anyone with the skills of the Crimson Vow or the Shining Excalibur, who were now aware of the abnormals’ strength, would be able to safely dispatch them. If they could sell the monsters’ parts for five times the usual price, then the bump in pay would make the job more than worth it. However, it would be difficult for most parties besides the Crimson Vow to bring a specimen in whole. And then there was the difficulty of just finding the abnormals in the first place…

In the end, it was really only the members of the Crimson Vow for whom this was a truly appealing job.

***

“Welp! I guess it’s time we got going… Thank you so much for all the advice!”

“Thank you very much!!!”

The Crimson Vow were sure to show their thanks to the members of the Shining Excalibur for allowing the young hunters to keep them up until the wee hours of the night with all their questioning. And so, they bowed their heads to the more senior party before retreating to their inn. They had already received their pay. They had split the hunting and selling fees for the monster parts with the Excalibur, but the Vow had also received payment for accepting the guild master’s direct request, so the job had turned out to be not half-bad in terms of compensation. 

“Oh—”

Varkus, leader of the Shining Excalibur, lifted his right hand and started to say something, as though hoping to detain the Vow, but seemed to give up part way, going silent and letting his hand drop.

The guild master had seen the members of the Crimson Vow off with some praise and a smile; however, that was likely only because he had assumed that the Shining Excalibur had succeeded in uncovering their methods of locating abnormal monsters…which Varkus would now have to explain they had not done.

Locating abnormals via “fortune-telling”…

There were just no words… 

***

“Is it really okay for us to head out without letting them know?” asked Mile.

“It’s whatever,” Reina replied. “We told them when we first got here that we were just passing through. We don’t need to announce our every move at the guild entrance or anything. It’s fine.”

“Okay…”

“Plus, if we hadn’t gotten out of there at the crack of dawn, the guild master would’ve definitely come to demand we tell him the secrets of finding those monsters,” Pauline added. “Which I’m assuming you can’t—right, Mile?”

“Ah! Yeah…”

It was only reasonable to assume that after the Crimson Vow had left yesterday, the Shining Excalibur would have given the guild master a detailed report. And there was no doubt that the guild master would be disappointed that the B-rankers had not picked up Mile’s secrets. He might very well try to get them to stay so that he could continue to rely on their skills—at least as long as there were abnormals around. They’d probably be teamed up with other high-ranking hunters or even soldiers, asked to do job after job… Who knew how long this would go on for!

The country was a vast one, and there was no telling how many abnormals there were running around. There was even a chance their numbers might start increasing more quickly than even the Crimson Vow could take them out…

This was simply not something they could get involved with, and they were keen to get back home and make their report as quickly as possible so that they could call the job done. 

Therefore, after eating breakfast at the inn that morning, the Crimson Vow immediately left the capital behind.

“Anyway, this isn’t a problem just for this country. These new monsters that we’re calling ‘abnormal’—as well as whatever mysterious conspirators you’re worried about—probably aren’t gonna be respecting any borders that humans have set up.”

“That’s true.”

It was only logical that they all would accept this. The initial incident with the abnormals had not even taken place in this kingdom, after all, but in the mountains of Marlane, to the southwest. Aubram was also close to the border of Trist, which sat at Marlane’s east. Presently, they were a fair distance from their home base of Tils, but this was not enough to put them at ease. Considering the distance from here to the dwarven village, the range of the abnormals was already considerable. They could not rule out the possibility that the numbers of these creatures were already on the rise in other countries.

In any event, the top priority right now was making certain that the upper brass of all the nearby countries, as well as the leadership of the Hunters’ Guild, which spanned national borders, were fully aware of the situation. Time was not a luxury they could afford to waste. And so the members of the Crimson Vow felt not a shred of guilt in practically fleeing from the guild master as they left the capital behind…at least for the moment.