I Said Make My Abilities Average! (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Pushing the Limits 

“What a formidable foe!” 

“This isn’t fair!” 

“I don’t think we can beat them…” 

“Should we retreat?” 

Rookie C-rank hunting party, the Crimson Vow, was embroiled in a fierce battle. Their enemies were a horde of kobolds, about twenty of them in total. These were not strong creatures at all. However… 

“Meeew” 

“Cooo cooooo…” 

They were adorable. Incredibly so. 

On Earth, Mile thought, kobolds are hideous and evil spirits! Why are these so endearing?! 

The creatures were roughly the size of a human child, with dog-like heads, and all the cuteness of a puppy. Still… 

Slash! 

“You jerks!!” 

They had a strong attack instinct, turning them into monsters. 

And, although it was true they weren’t particularly strong, this was only from the perspective of Mile and her party of C-rank hunters. It would be dangerous for the women and children of the village to take on one of these creatures one-on-one, and an adult man, or even a group of people, could be in a lot of trouble when surrounded by a horde. 

And so the Crimson Vow had taken on the job of clearing the kobold dwellings near this village. And yet… 

“We can’t stop! This isn’t a standing order—it’s a real job. If we give up now, we are admitting failure on behalf of the dispatch office. We will have to pay the fine, and our reputation will suffer!” 

Indeed, in order to prevent parties from failing to complete jobs for which they were not well suited—or to avoid a single party taking a number of jobs at once and leaving them unfinished—parties taking a job were required to pay a bond that was generally about 10 to 30 percent of their promised pay. 

This rate varied from job to job. In the case of monster culling, or other matters that were not time-sensitive, the bond was cheap. But for jobs with a tight deadline, or ones that might cause harm to the client if left unfinished, the fee might even exceed 30 percent. 

If victory was impossible, that would be one thing. However, if they abandoned a job on the basis that kobolds are too cute to kill, what would they say to the parents of children these kobolds might murder? 

They were all well aware of their circumstances. 

“We gotta do it! We’re C-rank hunters now—this isn’t playtime. It’s a job! People’s lives are at stake!” 

At Reina’s words, the others felt a pang in their chests. 

She was right. Their duty was one of life and death. 

It was not only their own lives at stake, but those of all the villagers, as well as any travelers passing by. 

“O raging flames of the deep, burn my enemies to the bone!” 

This was not the forest, but a cliffside beside a highway. Thrilled to finally be able to use fire magic after so long, Reina let off her trademark spell. 

The goal of today’s job was extermination, and none of them would have had the heart to skin the kobolds, even if their pelts were worth something. Fortunately, kobold skins weren’t particularly valuable, so it didn’t matter if they were burnt to a crisp. 

Reina’s fire ripped through the spot where the kobolds were gathered, and when they tried to escape in a panic, Pauline cut them off with a Fire Wall. Mavis’s blade dealt with the rest, while Mile sniped any bolder souls with her slingshot. 

On top of the ten Reina took out with her initial attack, more and more kobolds fell victim to pursuing girls, their movements slowed by the burns they’d suffered. One by one, they were eliminated. 

*** 

“Now then, let’s have our daily review…” 

The discussion was started, as always, by Reina. It wasn’t the usual private conference in their room, but rather an informal chat over dinner in the inn’s dining room. Their food was already laid out on the table. 

“First of all, what was with that battle today? We got serious in the end, but early on, we were pretty messed up by the cuteness. We can’t be making a mockery of our profession!” 

At Reina’s words, Mavis and Pauline hung their heads, poking at the food on their plates. 

“Um, but…weren’t you the one who was the most taken, Re—” 

“Don’t you finish that sentence!” 

Reina slapped her hands down on the table to cut Mile off, a bit red in the face. 

“Anyway, I think that we have a considerable amount of ability as a party. The problem lies with our resolve. I mean, we’re still young and inexperienced, so maybe it’s to be expected, but I’m worried people might think that we’re soft. Or that we don’t take things seriously…” 

Wow, Reina really is thinking hard about this… 

Mile was moved. She had been considering the same thing. 

At first, Mile had been ignorant of the ways of the world. She’d thought that she could rely on her powers if something went wrong. But, even with her limited self-awareness, she had the presence of mind not to say that out loud. 

The problem was that Mavis and Pauline—unlike Reina—had almost no experience. All they had under their belts was their field training, and the F-rank jobs they’d taken on their days off at the prep school. 

As a hunter, so long as you earned a living with your work, you managed. Even if you were unwell, you’d still put your life on the line to earn your keep. But Pauline and Mavis didn’t have that sense of urgency and resolve yet. 

Thanks to Mile, they were blessed with combat prowess superior to that of an average rookie C-rank hunter. However, that meant nothing when compared to the strong will and experience of a veteran. 

The battle against the Roaring Mithrils had not been a real fight; it hadn’t even been a game. No matter how you looked at it, it was a test. There was no sign that the Roaring Mithrils even recognized it as a real match. 

They were just doing their job—carefully holding back their power and creating opportunities for the newbies to shine, drawing out their full strength. They had merely let a little of that strength slip through the chinks in their armor. If the Roaring Mithrils had really meant to fight, they’d had more than enough chances. 

“So, I’ve been thinking. What if, just once, we faced a formidable foe that wasn’t concerned about status?” 

“Huh…?” 

The other three were surprised, but Reina explained. 

“If we only keep hunting the low-ranking monsters that D and C-rank hunters take on, and only accept jobs of that level, it’ll be too easy. There’s no challenge. Won’t that end up dulling our senses? If that happens, then one day we’ll slip up, and someone is going to end up dead—or at least seriously injured—because of it.” 

“……” 

Mavis and Pauline were silent. Mile already knew her own mind, so she hung back, watching. 

“Now, I’m not saying that we should do reckless things all the time. All the lives in the world wouldn’t be enough for that. But just once we should do a job where we can barely scrape by unscathed so that we know our own limits. From then on, we can choose our jobs based on that knowledge. I’d say that the jobs we choose on a daily basis should be at about 70 percent of our reasonable limit.” 

“All right. Let’s do it!” 

“I’m in too!” 

After thinking on it a while, Mavis finally agreed. Pauline nodded. 

It seemed that both of them were unsatisfied with the current state of things as well. 

“All right then!” Reina said. “Tomorrow, let’s take a good look at the job postings at the guild and make all the necessary arrangements. The day after tomorrow, our real career begins.” 

“Okay.” 

“Got it.” 

“Hey, um, I didn’t get to voice my opinion yet…” Mile said. 

“But, you do agree, don’t you?” 

“W-well, I suppose I do, but…” 

“Then it’s fine!” 

“Sure. I guess.” Somehow, Mile was still a bit dissatisfied. 

The girls chattered on. “If we use this as a chance to take on higher level jobs, our earnings will increase immensely. Then we can move to an inn with a bath, not a cheap old place like this! Once we graduate from this dive, we’ll be in the big time! I mean, we never meant to remain at a cheap place like this in the first p—” 

“Will you stop calling us cheap?! This inn isn’t a ‘cheap place.’ We made it cheaper for you!” Lenny shouted from the other side of the reception desk. 

Indeed, this was the same inn that Mile had stayed at for her first six days in the capital, before she moved into the prep school dorms. 

“Wasn’t it you who came to us, begging, ‘Oh, we’ve just graduated and we’ve got no money, could you give us a cheaper rate until we’re earning a steady wage’?! So we gave you the unprecedented rate of three gold a month for a four-person room, regardless of whether or not you came back every night! We hoped that you’d give us the image of being a safe, comfortable inn that young girls could be happy to come home to…but here you are, shouting ‘cheap hotel, cheap hotel!’ 

“Whenever you’re in town, please eat your meals here! That’s the profit we need! And since being known as a safe inn to stay at is great for drumming up business, please don’t stay in your room all the time! Come down to the first floor and mingle with the other guests! Was that not the agreement we made when we negotiated the rate?!” 

Little Lenny, the innkeeper’s daughter, was only ten years old. And already, she had all the presence of a matriarch. 

“Please forgive uuuuusss!!!” 

*** 

After that, the Crimson Vow did their part—wandering around the first floor to make conversation with guests when they didn’t have anything else to do. 

It was Lenny who had persuaded the master and mistress of the inn to give them a discount in the first place, talking about their “marketing potential.” Whether or not other fledgling female hunters would receive a discount in the future hinged directly on the girls’ performance. 

For the sake of all the female hunters that came after them, they had to prove their worth, even if it killed them. 

“H-hello mister, is this seat free?” 

With a tray full of food in hand, red-faced and trembling, Mile smiled at the man. 

“You don’t have to do all that, Miss…” 

Lenny watched in disbelief, while Mavis, Reina, and Pauline went utterly pale, realizing that they might be next. 

*** 

A bit before noon the day after, the four girls made their way to the Hunters’ Guild. 

Because the hall was crowded in the early morning and they were looking for jobs that started the following day, they decided to hang back until things quietened down. 

Besides, if people saw still-green Crimson Vow looking to take on a high-level job, the other hunters would rush over to stop them. That was a hassle they would rather not deal with. No matter how good people’s intentions, they weren’t interested in being lectured over something they had already set their minds on. 

“Ugh, there’s nothing good here…” 

Reina looked over the job board, pouting. 

It looked like the day would be a wash. They had no choice but to take a low-stakes job—one that would not cause trouble for the client or anyone else if they failed. That is to say, the Crimson Vow could not possibly be linked to a loss of life or the loss of a great sum of money. 

“Orcs are too easy, but the four of us aren’t strong enough to take down a rock golem. The wyvern hunting job is too far away, and worms and spiders are super gross…” 

One might think that Reina was being too picky, but with their lives and their futures at stake, it was good to be cautious. Mavis, Pauline, and Mile studied the job board with serious expressions. 

“Oh, hey! What about this one…?” 

The rest of them turned to look at the posting Mile was pointing at: 

Rock Lizard Harvesting. Reward: 15 half-gold apiece, up to 5. Dependent on condition of returned parts. 

Rock lizard meat was edible, and their livers were prized for their medicinal value. The hides could also be used to make armor and the like. The way the request was written, it was clear that they were primarily after the meat, but also likely that they wanted to extract the livers and use them for gourmet cuisine, or sell them off to an apothecary. The hide would go to an armorer or workshop. 

There was a reason Mile’s eyes had fixed on this posting. 

First of all, rock lizards were not particularly strong. Yet despite their sluggish appearance, they were fairly fast, with rock-hard scales, and could make sweeping strikes with their powerful tails. Even so, a group of even just two or three C-rank hunters could probably manage to defeat one. 

The issue lay in the location. Unlike a rock golem, a rock lizard’s body was not actually made of stone. Instead, they earned their name from living on rock faces deep in the mountains, where stronger monsters such as rock serpents, rock golems, or sometimes even iron golems might appear. 

“Rock lizards, huh? The reward is pretty good…” 

Reina did not appear especially interested. They would have to bring back the bodies, so she couldn’t use her fire magic and, even if they encountered golem-type monsters along the way, her sort of magic wouldn’t be much help with them, either. 

Plus, it was a two-day journey each way. At minimum, this venture would take them five days and four nights—longer if things proved difficult. 

Still, there were also advantages. 

First, because the hunting ground was distant and perilous and the quarry itself was such a difficult foe, the reward was substantial. Netting just three lizards would be enough to cover the party’s minimum food and lodging expenses for a month. Part of the reward was probably compensation for carrying a bulky and easily bruised creature such a very long way, but for the Crimson Vow, who had Mile and her absurd abilities with storage magic, that wasn’t a big deal. 

Plus, there was plenty of time before the deadline, and the penalty for non-completion was low—only two half-gold. At most, they could get five rock lizards, but given the dangers and the difficulty involved in transport, they were only expected to get one at a time. 

It was also incredibly convenient: rock lizards were not a strong monster that would serve as their trial of strength. So as long as they bagged at least one, they could retreat whenever they liked. 

“We have a lot of freedom here and not much to lose. What do you think?” 

“I have no objections.” 

“I don’t either.” 

“Me neither!” 

Mile quickly tacked on her agreement after Mavis and Pauline. 

“Well, then. Let’s do this! The Crimson Vow will give it our all!” 

“Yeah!!!” 

“I would really advise against this…” 

As expected, the guild clerk tried to stop them. 

“I am aware that you all fought bravely against the Roaring Mithrils. However, this is a completely different matter. I cannot stand idly by and watch as you recklessly take on jobs that may be the death of you.” 

Ah, she didn’t say “won,” just “fought bravely”… I guess that’s how they saw it. 

Mile understood that this was probably what others thought of their mock battle at the graduation exam. 

“We already know that! But we’re not asking to do this kind of job all the time—just this once. If the going gets tough, we’ll retreat. It will be fine. This is a trial that we of the Crimson Vow must overcome!” 

“W-well…” 

While the receptionist could advise them on their best course of action, she did not have the authority to refuse a job assignment request from C-rank hunters. As long as the applicants themselves fulfilled the basic requirements, the guild had no choice but to honor that request, as long as it did not violate a mandate from the guild master. 

“Please!!!” begged Mavis, Pauline, and Mile. 

The receptionist reluctantly processed the request. 

“Please, if you do find yourselves in danger, run away as quickly as you can.” 

“We will! Of course. We value our lives, and we aren’t the kind of fools who would get injured just to protect our own pride!” 

With the fretful eyes of the receptionist, the guild officials, and the other hunters watching over them, the four girls left the guildhall. 

“All right. It’s time to get our equipment in order! We’ll need cooking tools and bedding, food, rain gear, toiletries, and a few other things. And since we’ll be using all of these for the foreseeable future, we had better find some good stuff.” 

Because of their considerable magical abilities, the Crimson Vow could easily take care of things like water, flint, kindling, and medicine. Indeed, it was a huge advantage over parties without magic users. Furthermore, thanks to Mile’s storage skills, they could journey unburdened by even their minimal amount of luggage. Honestly, it hardly seemed fair. 

Mavis and Pauline nodded at Reina, but Mile shook her head. 

“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve slept outside plenty of times, so I’ll just use the gear I already have.” 

“Oh yeah? And where in the world are you keeping all of… w-wait, don’t tell me…” 

“Ah, yes. It’s in storage!” 

“………” 

They looked at Mile with utter weariness. 

“Fine. But you’re still coming shopping with us! We need to help Mavis and Pauline pick out what they need, and we still need your input on purchases that affect the whole party!” 

“Oh.” 

Naturally. This was not an “every man for himself” sort of situation. They were a party of four. 

Not having realized that, Mile was a bit crestfallen. 

Reina patted her on the head. “C’mon, let’s go!” 

“O-okay!” 

They made their rounds at the used clothing shop, the general store, the grocer and the like, purchasing cloaks, saucepans, cooking tools, preserved food, and other accessories before returning to the inn. 

At dinner, they notified the mistress at the inn of their upcoming absence and requested that their lunchtime meal for the following day be left in a box at breakfast time. Then they retreated to their room on the second floor. 

Tomorrow was a big day, and they had no time to play hostess to the other guests. 

“All right, we want to get an early start tomorrow, so let’s eat breakfast as soon as we get up. And let’s all try and get a good night’s sleep.” 

In spite of Reina’s words, she was the most restless of all of them—far from ready to fall asleep. There was still plenty of time before the night’s second bell at 9 PM, and so they sat up and talked. The night ended with Reina raging at Mile—who was telling a story called “The Weeping Red Ogre” from her Altered Japanese Fable series. 

“Why would you tell us a story like that right before we go kill monsters?!” Reina cried. 

*** 

The next day, after finishing their breakfast and washing up, the Crimson Vow departed the inn. By all appearances, they were nearly empty-handed. Except for their weapons, armor, and water skins, everything—including the boxed lunches they had received—had been stowed away with Mile’s storage magic. 

In truth, Mile only pretended to use storage magic, instead stashing their lunches away in the time-frozen world of her loot box where they wouldn’t spoil. 

“That sure is handy,” said Reina, worrying what would happen if they grew too used to it. 

Their destination was two days’ walk. 

Normally, the number of days a trip would take was calculated according to the pace of an average adult male. That was nothing for Mavis and Mile, but Reina and Pauline would have taken longer if not for the benefit of the storage magic. 

It was no question that between full-grown men wearing weapons and armor, carrying water, food, and tons of other equipment on their backs, and women carrying nothing but armor and weapons, the latter would move much quicker—especially if said women were hunters. No matter how much slower the rear guard might be, their weapons were light staves and rods, which nearly made up for the difference. 

The Crimson Vow left quite early that morning, planning to stop only one night along the way. They should be able to reach the foothills by the evening of the following day. 

After they arrived, they would camp and spend the next day hunting. Then they would camp for one more night and set off home the morning after. 

If all went well, the trip should last five days and four nights—perhaps a day or two longer if they were delayed. They hadn’t packed very much food, but that wasn’t a problem; there was plenty to gather along the way. With their magic, they didn’t have to worry about water, either. Finally, although the other girls didn’t think they’d brought much food, Mile stashed plenty away in her loot box. 

They took a nice long rest at noon and dined on their boxed lunches. Then the Crimson Vow proceeded down the highway where, suddenly, they noticed two wagons following behind them. 

A wagon should move quicker than someone on foot. Even Mile and her company, who were reasonably quick, would be a little slower. But, for some reason, the wagons never tried to pass, always keeping a fixed distance behind. 

When they stopped for a rest, the wagons stopped as well. 

When they started moving again, so did the wagons. 

“Looks like we’ve got a parasite,” Reina said, peevishly. 

“A parasite?” asked Mile, clueless as usual. 

Reina replied, “Ah, I guess they never brought it up at school. ‘Parasites’ are merchants who are too cheap to pay for an escort, but think they can just shadow hunters or other parties traveling the same route and get free protection. If they’re near enough, the chance of them being attacked falls significantly, and even if they are targeted, it’s unlikely that the hunters will just ignore them. The merchants are compatriots for the time being, after all. Just standing by would leave a bad taste. 

“The problem is that when you allow this sort of thing, it means fewer job requests for small escorts and more unpaid work for hunters. It’s a huge nuisance for the merchants who pay for an escort like they’re supposed to, as well as the hunters who put their lives on the line for someone that isn’t their employer.” 

While it would be clear to anyone that these four young women were novices, they were obviously still hunters. Besides, to be traveling this far they must be D-ranks at least, and their positioning indicated they had two advance guards and two magic users. That would be sufficient to fight off several orcs, and lesser parties of bandits would think twice before ambushing them. Even if the bandits thought they could win, they wouldn’t want to chance serious injury. If even a few of them were injured, a small group could be wiped out entirely. 

“Parasites, huh? Well, what do we do?” 

“We don’t do anything. Or rather, we can’t. Even if we go yell at them, they’ll just shrug and say, ‘We’ve got business in this direction, too,’” Reina replied. 

“I guess you’re right…” said Mile, understanding. 

Well, it was an underhanded thing to do, but at least they weren’t interfering with them directly. At least for now. 

When the sun starting going down, the girls moved into the woods near the highway and set up camp. 

No one would stay outside cover where bandits and other travelers could see you. Since the starlight couldn’t get through the treetops, the forest got dark fast. 

Reina had the most experience, so she gave directions and the members of the Crimson Vow scurried about, preparing an efficient sleeping shelter and a nice bonfire, and making ready for dinner. 

But just then… 

“Hey there! Good evening!” 

They were greeted by a rather portly, grinning, middle-aged man, flanked by two guards—most likely, the merchant parasite. 

There was only one guard for each wagon, but it seemed this caravan did have escorts after all. Perhaps they were the man’s personal bodyguards. That was only sensible—even if the wagons were lost along with his wares, if a merchant worked hard, he could earn that money back again. His life was not so easily recovered. 

Presumably there were also drivers, who had probably been left at the campsite. 

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dewberry. I’m a merchant from the capital. We’ve made camp just over there, and I saw your bonfire, so I thought I would come and say hello.” 

He was a parasite after all. It was a bald-faced lie, but there was no use in calling him out. 

“Ah, that’s courteous of you. We are the C-rank hunting party, the Crimson Vow. I am Mavis, our leader.” 

Normally Reina would take the helm, but when it came to formal exchanges, Mavis—the official leader—was in charge. Even Reina knew that her abrasive manners could be misconstrued and that her appearance gave a certain kind of impression. However, her face still twisted at Mavis, who’d slipped up by announcing their rank to a total stranger with unclear intentions. Mavis didn’t seem to notice. 

“Perhaps you girls would like to dine with us?” 

The merchant smiled, but there was no mistaking he was planning something. No typical merchant would share his precious food with strangers he’d just stumbled upon. He’d surely packed only enough for himself and his staff. 

He was underestimating them, planning to take advantage of their inexperience—or perhaps his intentions were more sinister… 

Whichever it was, Reina was certain that nothing good could come from the man’s invitation. She gave a sign to the other three—one of the many hand signals they had devised—which meant, Let’s show them how much stronger we are. Being underestimated or swept up into something weird meant trouble, and the others agreed immediately. 

“As far as I can tell, you don’t appear to have any food. My own supplies may not be sufficient, but if you come along with us we’d happily share our stores.” 

“Actually, we have plenty of food.” Reina responded. “In fact, if you don’t have enough, then I suggest you share some of ours.” 

And so the merchant’s invitation was rejected in a single blow. 

“Huh? I don’t see any—” 

“Mile, please bring out the food!” Reina cried, cutting the merchant off. 

“Yes, ma’am!” 

Mile reached into her loot box and pulled out a number of ingredients. 

Vegetables, fruit, and even meat, which had been magically “kept on ice” (that is to say, stored inside the loot box), so it was not dried, but raw. 

“Wh…” 

The merchant and his two guards were completely lost for words. 

“S-so you have storage magic, then…” 

“And you’re C-ranks…” 

Glancing at the stunned merchant and his guards, Mavis quickly sliced the meat with her short sword and Reina roasted it over the bonfire. Pauline used magic to funnel boiling water into a pot. Watching them, Mile thought fondly of the night of their field trip. 

And secretly, the nanomachines wept to see the short sword they’d worked so hard to craft make its debut as a cooking knife… 

Reina used the bonfire instead of her fire magic to cook the meat. While flash-roasting it with her spells would only blacken the outside and leave the inside raw, food cooked over a normal fire was much tastier. 

“So, as you can see, there’s no need to worry about us,” said Reina. 

The merchant retreated, dejected. 

“So what d’you think?” asked Mavis, her cheeks stuffed with roasted meat. 

Reina’s mouth was downturned. 

“Well, I don’t think they’ll try anything funny, but if they’re attacked by bandits or monsters they’ll definitely come running with their tails between their legs.” 

“That’s still unpleasant. It’s one thing to come across some merchants who are under attack and give them a hand, but to be used by penny-pinching strangers…” 

It was a way of forcing hunters to work for free, something they were not especially interested in doing. Pauline was particularly offended. 

“Well then, let’s just ignore them!” 

“Huh???” 

Mile’s words startled the others. 

“We aren’t actually working for them—or even traveling with them, right? We just happen to be traveling in the same direction? It would be uncomfortable to watch them get attacked by beasts or bandits right before our eyes, so we just have to not see it.” Mile grinned. “If some strangers somewhere get hurt… well, that’s none of our business!” 

*** 

“We’re under attack! A horde of orcs is coming this way! I can’t tell how many!” 

Late that night, the merchant, the drivers, and the guard who’d just completed the first watch were startled awake by a cry from the other guard. 

“Dammit! We should’ve been fine around here! We’ve got no choice!” 

“Got it!” 

The guards had been hired to handle this sort of situation. The merchant listened, then followed their commands. 

The plan, as always, was to drive the attackers ahead towards their “hosts.” In this case, that meant four young and seemingly inexperienced women, but they were C-ranks, and they even had storage magic, so they must be at least somewhat capable. And rookies were always soft, their hearts filled with thoughts of justice. They wouldn’t easily abandon someone in need, even a complete stranger. It was a stupid way to live, but quite convenient for the merchant and his crew. 

They called out to the party of young women. They hadn’t been able to convince the girls to camp with them, but at least they had managed to change from “total strangers” to “passing acquaintances.” 

The wagons were empty and the horses were lashed to trees, so the orcs would attack the humans first before they ran away. All they had to do was draw the orcs toward the girls’ campsite. After that, they’d probably be drawn into the fight. 

Veteran hunters asked for payment afterward, but if you charmed a bunch of young ladies, you could probably get by without giving them a single coin. Sure, if the girls lived, there was a chance you might run into them again, but they could cross that bridge when they came to it. 

For now, the young women would fight desperately, and the merchant’s party would cry out something valiant like, “We’ll attack from the rear!” Then make a detour back to their campsite, escaping with the wagons. They would make their getaway, leaving the hunters to deal with the orcs. 

Indeed, it was fortuitous that the hunters were all young girls and that the enemies were orcs. Given the proclivities of those creatures, the orcs were much more likely to be interested in the young women. 

But then again, thought the guards, why have the orcs attacked us first, instead of heading towards girls and the smell of cooking meat? Don’t tell me the orcs already ransacked the other camp? That’s not possible… even if they’re only C-ranks, they couldn’t have been annihilated without a sound… 

Yet as the guards arrived at the spot where the hunters had camped, all they found were marks of a dismantled campsite and the ash of an extinguished fire. 

“They…got away…?” 

Orcs preyed on women. Four girls should have easily attracted them. The merchant’s party should be running back to the wagons to make their escape, but now… 

The guards stood there, dumbfounded. The distant cries of the approaching orcs rang in their ears. 

*** 

The Crimson Vow walked the night road, starlight their only guide. 

Yet, as long as they stuck to the main highway, they were relatively unhindered. 

“Reina, orcs and goblins are carnivores, right?” 

“They’re omnivores. Didn’t they teach us that in school?” 

“Huh. Did they…?” Mile asked, sounding concerned. 

Reina poked her in the head. “Why are you asking about this all of a sudden?” 

“Well, we were cooking a lot of meat over there, weren’t we? I figured the smell would reach pretty far, but we didn’t seem to attract any monsters, did we?” 

“What are you saying?” 

Reina looked stunned. Mile shrank back timidly. 

“Of course we did.” 

“Wh…” Mile’s face twitched. 

“Huh?” said Pauline, surprised, “You didn’t realize, Miley? From the moment we started cooking meat we…” 

“Huh?” 

“Huh?” 

“…………” 

“We have to be realistic about this. If monsters follow the smell of burning meat, they’re sure to notice the smell of horses, people’s voices, and other noises, too. But without that smell, the chance of them noticing is much slimmer. When you’re cooking meat, if you’re attacked then you’re attacked, and if you aren’t then you aren’t. It just depends on your luck. 

“Of course, in our case, luck wasn’t much of a factor. Those guys should have known this better than us. In spite of the fact that we had cooked meat, they chose not to relocate their campsite. They prioritized leeching off of us over their basic safety. So really, it’s none of our business. We simply took a nice break to eat our meal, then packed up and started moving again. That’s all,” Reina explained, seeing Mile’s strained expression. 

This put Mile a little more at ease. 

“You really do know a lot of things, Reina,” Mile teased. “I can’t believe you were only an E-rank when you started at the prep school!” 

“And you don’t know a lot of things?” Reina asked flatly, her expression suddenly blank. 

Oops. I feel like I just stepped on a landmine… 

Even Mile could see that Reina was clearly in a bad mood. 

Things didn’t look up until they had traveled far enough from the merchant to settle on a new campsite and set up for the night. 

*** 

The next morning, the Crimson Vow woke up bright and early so that the merchant party, whom they had long outstripped, couldn’t find them. 

They didn’t know if the other party had set out late or if they were looking for the girls. But when noon came and there was still no sign, the girls finally breathed a sigh of relief. They came off the main road, onto a small path that led to the rocky mountains. During the night, Reina’s foul mood resolved itself, and she was back to her usual self. 

To pass the time as they walked, Mile told another of her Altered Japanese Fables, “Gon, the Little Kobold,” and Reina asked again, “Why would you tell us a story like that right before we go monster hunting?” 

They trundled along, eventually reaching the foothills. With sunset already fast approaching, they made camp as they’d planned. It would have been nice to track down some smaller animals for dinner, but hunting at sunset in an unfamiliar place could prove dangerous—plus, they could hardly risk the smell of cooking meat again. And so the girls resigned themselves to a quiet meal of preserved food. Another part of life as a hunter. 

Preserved meals could be quickly prepared—especially for the Crimson Vow, who could summon hot water in an instant. 

They had already talked through tomorrow’s hunting plans at length along the road, so there was no need to go over them again. Now it was too early for sleep, but there was nothing else to do. 

At times like this, a particular scene often unfolded: 

“How about another from my World Tales series: ‘The Three Little Orcs’! Followed by ‘Kobold in Breeches’!” 

“Stop iiiiiit!!!” Reina screamed, a vein protruding from her forehead. 

Mile tilted her head, wondering if Reina’s mood had righted itself after all. 

“Say, Mile, this has been bothering me for a while,” Mavis asked. “Where exactly did you hear all of those stories?” 

“I’ve been curious about that, too,” said Pauline. “I’ve never heard 

any of these tales before, but they’re all so interesting! I bet they’d fetch a pretty good price if you sold them to a minstrel troupe.” 

“It’s a family secret!” Mile replied smugly. 

Before the sun had fully risen, and after a simple breakfast of hardtack and soup (or rather, ingredients for soup boiled in hot water), the girls set out again. They planned to get an early start and hunt all the way until lunchtime. 

Depending how well things went, they’d either start back tomorrow or the day after. During daylight, they wouldn’t waste their time on cooking. If they wanted, they could take a leisurely meal late in the evening, when it was too dark to hunt. 

The rock lizards lived a bit higher up, so the girls ascended the mountains, keeping a close watch on their surroundings. 

They hunted rock rabbits and any other creatures they came across, which doubled as practice for Pauline and Reina. Mile stored their prey in her loot box, pretending to use storage magic. 

They reserved most of their strength for the real deal. To avoid sapping their magical power, they used only the weakest spells and quickly recovered their energy. 

“Mavis, ahead to your left! There’s a rock wolf!” 

“On it!” 

Rock wolves rarely hunted in packs. When the solitary figure appeared, Mavis heard Mile’s cry and leapt out, cleaving the wolf in half with one stroke of her sword. 

“Uh…” 

“Mavis! Didn’t I tell you that rock wolf pelts sell for good money?! If you cut ’em up like that the price goes way down!” wailed Pauline, whose forcefulness always emerged when talking about their finances. 

“S-sorry. Th-the edge on this sword really is something… it reminds me of when I used to watch my big brother practicing…” Mavis muttered, feeling blood rush to her face. 

There was a strange sort of sultriness to her voice, the sort of tone a young woman would take when she’d fallen head over heels… 

“M-Mavis, stop that! The sharpness is only there to compensate for your current lack of strength! If you rely on the blade’s power, you’ll fool yourself into thinking that it’s your own!” Mile said in a flustered voice. She had also been bewitched by the blade’s motion. 

“I know, I know. And if I’m weak without this sword, then I have no value as a knight. Power is meaningless if I don’t possess it myself. I know that. Don’t worry.” 

Mile breathed a sigh of relief. Mavis was still Mavis, after all. 

“Reina, can I ask you something?” 

“What’s that?” 

“Rock rabbits, and rock wolves, and rock snakes, et cetera—why do they have such uncreative names?” 

“How should I know?!?!” 

Reina always seems to be shouting these days, thought Mile. 

“There it is.” 

Mavis, both tallest and walking at the front of the party, was first to spot their prey. 

Everyone followed her gaze to see the massive lump of a single rock lizard. It looked as though it was sleeping peacefully—perhaps sunning itself, as it was early in the morning and the air was not yet warm. 

“About three meters long… that’s small, but a lizard’s a lizard. If we can get it, then we don’t have to go back empty-handed. Let’s do it.” 

The other three nodded. 

Even though it was small for a lizard, three meters was about twice as long as Mile was tall. It probably weighed ten times as much as she did and would be impossible to carry without a cart. Even with storage magic, you’d be lucky to accommodate just one such creature. 

But one lizard still wouldn’t earn enough when you took account of their numbers, the time they’d spent, and the distance that they’d traveled. Without Mile’s absurd storage abilities, this job wouldn’t be worth the time. No surprise that the job was still there when the Crimson Vow found it. 

Calling a rock lizard a “lizard” didn’t give a particular impression of strength, but it was basically a land crocodile. 

It had a thick hide and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. It could easily be outpaced by a human running at full speed, but proved quite agile when it came to battle—with its quick bites and the snappy whip of its tail. 

Even the strongest adult hunter couldn’t withstand a lizard’s crushing jaws, and if you took a whack from that tail, not even leather armor would protect you from shattered bones. 

Particularly troubling was the phrasing of the job request. 

Harvesting Parts 

As the name suggested, rock lizards lived in stony places, so extermination requests were slim to none. The bulk of the jobs—like this one—were for harvesting. 

Rock lizard meat was edible, and their livers could be used medicinally. Their claws and teeth were used to make weapons and craft tools. Their hide could be used for armor, boots, and more. It was essential to avoid damaging the lizard in the hunt, so hanging back and blasting magic was out of the question. 

“Mavis, you got this?” 

“Yep! Leave it to me!” 

Though Mavis tried to act normal, her heart was already whipped into a frenzy. With her beloved sword—which would not break, bend, or chip no matter how hard she swung it—her time to shine finally at hand, how could she not feel the adrenaline? 

“…Maximum Freeze!” 

Pauline had started her incantation ahead of time and released her spell with these final words. 

Because it wasn’t the flashy sort of spell that sent a projectile flying toward the enemy, the rock lizard failed to realize it was under attack. But it did shift its weight, uncomfortable at the sudden drop in temperature. 

“Icicle Javelin!” 

Reina let off her attack. It wasn’t her specialty, but that couldn’t be helped. Burning the lizard would cause the price to plummet. 

The ice spell flew towards the creature’s neck where, even if it damaged the body, it would not greatly affect their returns. The conjured icicle bounced right off of the lizard’s thick hide. 

“What the…?” 

Even if it was not her strength, Reina had a decent command of ice magic. Coupled with her usual power and accuracy, the attack should do considerable damage. She was taken aback. But, as she considered the matter, she realized it was to be expected. It would be unthinkable for a hide used to make armor to be pierced so easily. Reina prepared her next spell. Pauline was in the middle of her second incantation. 

“Now!” shouted Mavis. 

“On it!” Mile shouted back, leaping toward the lizard. 

This time, Mile would fight as a swordswoman as well. 

If she used her magic, the lizard would probably end up worthless. That was the majority opinion—and given that this had been the “majority” of a four-person group, it meant that everyone except Mile had agreed. 

The lizard, lazing in the sun, was aware of its opponents the moment the icicle struck. It assumed a battle stance. Seeing Mile and Mavis advancing with swords drawn, the lizard began to move, but its progress was slow and awkward. 

Rock lizards were not speedy outside their attacks, but this one seemed especially sluggish. 

Is Mile’s plan working? Mavis wondered as she dashed forward. 

“Rather than launching a direct attack, we should chill it in order to cripple its movements.” Honestly, how did Mile come up with these things? 

Reina and Pauline kept their focus on their spell casting, but surely the thought flashed through the back of their minds. 

Mavis aimed for the neck to avoid damaging the body as much as possible. As long as they focused on the neck, legs, or tail, that wouldn’t be much of an issue. However, striking anywhere but the neck would only make it struggle more violently. Its neck was the only viable target. 

Mavis lifted her sword to strike, when suddenly she was caught by the lizard’s tail, moving much more quickly than she’d anticipated. 

“Argh!!” 

In a panic, Mavis tried to block it with her sword, but it wasn’t enough. The powerful blow sent her flying. 

The others couldn’t worry about Mavis yet. That would have to wait until the final blow was struck. 

“You jerk!!!” 

Mile aimed for the lizard’s neck, and the tail came flying at her, too. 

This should be no big— 

If she truly had half the strength of an elder dragon, Mile should have been able to stop the rock lizard’s tail with one hand—but when she tried to do just that, she went flying spectacularly into the air. Just as Mavis had. 

“…Huh?” 

“MIIILE!!!” 

Reina screamed. Mile was thrown into a cliff face nearly ten meters away. Unlike Mavis, who was just tossed onto the ground, Mile seemed to have taken a lot of damage. 

Reina dashed forward—not toward Mile, but the rock lizard. 

The moment that Mavis was thrown to the ground, Pauline moved to offer her healing magic. Now, she ran toward Mile. 

No!! I can’t lose a friend already! No no no no no no no no nooooo!!! 

Reina recited a spell, tears streaming down her face. 

“O raging flames of the deep! Consume my enemy and burn them to the ground!” 

A deep crimson flame whipped up, enveloping the lizard. 

“Mile!!!” 

Ignoring the lizard thrashing in the flames, Reina rushed to Mile’s side, only to find her grinning bashfully and Pauline standing beside her, gaping. 

“H-how…?” 

Reina was utterly stunned. Mile seemed to be completely unharmed. 

Mavis hobbled over, rubbing her side where the lizard struck her. Somehow, by deflecting the tail with her sword, she’d avoided being killed. And, because she flew back the moment she was struck, she hadn’t broken any bones, either. Thanks to Pauline’s healing spell, it appeared that she was already recovering. 

“…Family secret?” 

“YOU LIAAAAAAAAR!!!” 

Naturally, not one of them bought Mile’s explanation. 

Behind them, the rock lizard burned to a crisp. 

*** 

“All right, emergency meeting!” 

As usual, it was Reina who kicked things off. She had already wiped the tears from her face. 

Initially, they’d thought not to cook anything until dinner. However, they needed rest after the battle, and right in front of them sat a great big lizard, roasted to perfection. 

“First off, we need to discuss the failings of Mile’s plan,” said Reina. “The ‘lizards move slower when they’re cold’ plan. While it certainly appeared to have some sort of effect, the explosive force of the tail wasn’t affected.” 

Mile shrank back. “I-I’m sorry. That’s supposed to be how reptiles work…” 

“There’s no need to apologize,” Reina continued. “We knew from the start that if that plan did work, it would be a godsend. It’s possible that maybe we just didn’t chill it enough. Anyway, let’s skip that bit next time. Pauline, you should use a different spell.” 

“Sure thing!” Pauline agreed, nodding. 

“The problem is how to take one of those things down without damaging the body, but also while dodging the tail attacks—which are a lot faster and stronger than we thought.” 

Simply defeating the creature would be a small feat for the Crimson Vow, but the issue was how to kill it without damaging the hide or meat. 

Thanks to the previous lizard’s fiery end, its value was now almost nothing, so the girls made the decision not to even try to sell it. Instead, they’d eat it themselves. 

Reina, who had cast the decisive spell, couldn’t be blamed for this. And there were still plenty of lizards to hunt, so no one worried over it. 

“Um… So, wouldn’t it be best for us to just cut the tail off first?” 

“Unfortunately it’s not that simple…” 

“I’ll do it!” Mile volunteered. 

“Wha…?” 

Reina was dubious. 

“No matter how fast and strong you are…is it really safe?” 

“Yes. Probably.” 

“………” 

“Very well. Let’s start with that next time. However, if it starts looking dangerous, pull back immediately. It’s not like we don’t have other options… come to think of it, Mile, you still owe us an explanation. Why didn’t you get hurt?” 

“F-family secret?” 

“WILL YOU LAY OFF WITH THAT ALREADY?!” 

In the end, Mile explained that her sword cut some of the power from the lizard’s blow and that she’d flown back of her own accord. She was fairly light, and since the tail hadn’t broken bones, when she landed she was able to use wind magic to cushion her impact. 

Thankfully Mavis, who had been nearest, had been preoccupied with her own concerns, so she hadn’t watched Mile closely. 

Mile had already worked out why she was thrown back so easily, against her own expectations. No matter how strong she was, there was no way that a girl weighing 40 kilograms could absorb so much kinetic energy and hold her ground. 

If the blow came down from above, she might be able to withstand it. However, if it came from the side, or from below, no amount of physical strength could prevent her from going flying, even if she wasn’t hurt. 

“Even if we did poorly,” said Reina, “the two of you managed to avoid grave injury while facing a rock lizard, a creature that an average party of C-rank hunters couldn’t take down unscathed. Perhaps we got a little carried away with minimizing injuries to the lizard…” 

The other three nodded meekly. 

Having covered all there was to discuss, the girls set to work handling the heap of lizard meat. 

Thanks to its time inside the maelstrom of Reina’s fiercest fire magic, the outside of the lizard was in a piteous state, black and ashen. However, the intense heat hadn’t made it all the way through, so once the outer parts were removed there was plenty of meat that was barely cooked at all. Now that they had the chance, they took some of the more delicate cuts of meat and roasted them over a gentle flame. 

Mile decided to eat hers rare, as she generally did. In truth, though Mile’s mother in her past life was not a particularly bad cook, she was the sort of person who always cooked meat well done. She came from an old family and likely inherited the technique from when it was dangerous to eat rare meat. Regardless, no matter how high quality the meat was, she always overcooked it until every last piece ended up rubbery and dry. 

Because Misato, Mile’s previous self, had eaten that way all her life, she just assumed that was how it was meant to be. Coming to this world and experiencing the delectable tenderness of a rare cut of meat had opened her eyes. 

Although the food preservation in this world was far inferior to Earth, the time between slaughter and table was also far shorter. More than that, Mile was aware of her body’s strength and unconcerned with such trivialities as food poisoning. Eating rare meat brought out the most flavor, so that’s what she was partial to. 

Even if she did eat something bad, as long as she had healing magic, she could get by. Of course, she still kept an eye out for anything still pale or blue—that was just raw meat. But rock lizard, cooked rare, often looked like this. 

At first glance, it seemed that only the outside was cooked and the inside was still raw. However—somewhat like seared tuna—the heat did get through, warming the meat and allowing the fat to melt on your tongue, leaving a lingering savory taste. The only seasoning here was rock salt, sprinkled on just before roasting. It wasn’t like when you went to a strange shop in Japan and asked for rare meat, only to receive something that was raw, still cold, and dripping blood and juices. 

Mile cut off a bite-sized piece of meat and placed it gently into her mouth, chewing. 

“D-delicious!” she exclaimed. 

If you took really high-quality chicken and made it a little firmer… Yes, it had the same toothsome quality as a chicken breast, with almost the same neutral flavor. Yet just a hint of the sharpness of rock salt brought out a truly delicious, indescribable taste. 

Most of a meat’s flavor came from its fat composition, but although the rock lizard didn’t have any obvious fat—such as a beefsteak’s marbling—it still melted on your tongue. And with such flavor… No wonder it was such valuable prey, from its rich, leathery hide all the way down to its meat. 

“This is delicious.” 

“Yeah, it’s pretty good…” 

One would think Mavis would be accustomed to eating delicious foods, but, like most nobles, Mavis’s family would never serve monster at their dinner table. All the same, as far as Mavis was concerned, there was no better spice than killing something with your own hands and enjoying it with friends. 

In the end, the four of them decided to take some more out of storage and roast up seconds. After that, they settled on a new plan and the magic Pauline would use next. Then they set off again. 

Their expressions were resolute. The talking, eating, and subsequent break had prepared them to hunt again. 

They continued their search, catching rock rabbits along the way. 

“There it is.” 

Yet again, Mavis was the first to spot the rock lizard. This one was larger than the first, just under four meters long. 

“Let’s do it.” 

Reina and Pauline began incanting their spells. 

Mile and Mavis drew their swords and readied themselves to attack. 

“Condensation!” 

“Freeze!” 

As they spoke the last words, the spells went flying. 

Reina caused water droplets to appear all around the lizard, drenching the creature’s body and the air around it. Pauline’s magic caused that same water to freeze. 

“Now!” 

This time, at Mile’s command, both Mile and Mavis jumped forth. 

The lizard whipped its tail at Mile, who ran towards it, brandishing her blade. 

The water froze, and a thin layer of ice clung to the lizard’s body, but of course this only affected the hide. Since the cooling didn’t reach any deeper, the speed of its tail wasn’t greatly slowed. 

However, that was not the point of the plan. 

Swoosh! 

As the rock lizard launched the tail attack, its feet slipped. 

Rather than losing its balance, the beast flailed its tail powerlessly in one direction and then another. Mile swung her sword down with all her might. 

From her previous experience, Mile understood that, no matter how strong she was, without the weight to withstand an attack, she couldn’t land a decisive blow. As she could not increase the weight of her own body or her sword, she decided that she would attempt to compensate with speed. Yes, once again, it was the law of ½mv 2 . 

The moment the sword struck, she drew it back toward herself. 

Unlike Japanese swords, western-style swords weren’t used for clean cutting, but for hacking with weight and power. But Mile’s sword also possessed a sharp and sturdy blade. Even though there was no curve to it, it could be used like a katana. 

Snap! 

Like a hot knife through butter, the rock lizard’s tail was detached from its body in a single blow. 

The rock lizard did not appear to be in much pain. Instead, it looked around nervously, perhaps distraught to be robbed of both its greatest weapon and its source of balance. Whipping its head away from the girls, the lizard prepared to run. 

But—it was too late. Mavis was already leaping toward it, swinging her sword. 

Slash! 

Naturally, a single blow was not enough to cut clear through the thick protective hide of the neck, but the blow Mavis delivered was more than enough to end its life. With that, the rock lizard perished. 

“We did it!” 

“We did!!” 

Though Mile accomplished the most difficult task in cutting off the tail, Mavis beamed with pride as well. She had felled a rock lizard in a single blow. What’s more, they hadn’t laid a hand on the lizard’s torso, so they’d be able to collect the full reward. 

Reina and Pauline walked over looking satisfied. This time all had gone according to plan, and both the magic and the melee squads had worked together splendidly. 

“Well, while we’re in the swing of things, let’s keep at it!” 

“Yeah!!!” 

Their hunting proceeded splendidly. They bagged one rock lizard after another, snagging plenty of rock rabbits, rock wolves, rock snakes, rock tanuki, and even rock candy along the way. 

Sometimes they swapped responsibilities: Mavis taking on the tail and Mile the neck. Sometimes they even slipped and fell on the frozen ground. But they bagged a massive amount, surpassing even the five-lizard maximum stated in the posting. Even if the client didn’t want to purchase the extras, the guild would probably pay. There was no such thing as too many rock lizards. 

Besides, if it came down to it, Mile could always tell her companions that the meat in her storage space would never go bad. Then they could store it until the next time there was a rock lizard request and pretend they’d hunted it when they were outside the capital for some other job. 

The next morning, they decided they’d depart for the journey back home. They would spend the rest of the day hunting leisurely, until it grew dark. Everyone was in high spirits. 

However, after their fearsome fight with the rock lizards, they’d forgotten something. 

That something being the entire reason they had taken this job and traveled all this way. 

That something, which materialized, quite suddenly, before them. 

“It’s a r-r-rock golem…” Reina stammered, staring at the beast. 

They’d chosen the rock lizard job partly to earn some money and cover their living expenses. But the real reason they selected this particular job was to test their skills and determine their own limits. 

While the first battle had been tough, once the Crimson Vow got into the groove of things, they’d focused all their attention on hunting rock lizards, and the possibility of fighting stronger monsters completely vanished from their minds. 

Now, whether they liked it or not, they happened upon just such a monster—one of many that called these mountains home. 

A rock golem. 

Unlike other beasts of the “rock” type, rock golems didn’t get their name from their rocky habitat. They were called rock golems because they were made of rock. Since they also dwelled in rocky places, they could have been called “rocky rock golems,” but somewhere along the line, someone had probably decided that was too unwieldy. Besides, you never heard about “sand rock golems” in the desert or “earth rock golems” underground. 

The minimum requirements for felling a rock golem without injury were: 2 or 3 B-rank hunters; 4 or 5 C-rank hunters if they were skilled; or 6 or more C-rank hunters if they were less so. 

That didn’t mean a smaller party couldn’t defeat one of these creatures, only that the chances of making it out unscathed were greatly diminished. They could do it—assuming they were not opposed to the idea of grave injuries or death. 

From the beginning, Reina had vastly overestimated their strength—having annihilated the Roaring Mithrils, a top-class B-rank party under the direction of an A-rank hunter, she had assumed that toppling a rock golem would be a breeze. 

Now, having slogged through battle after battle with the lizards, she realized that perhaps she’d been a little bit prideful. 

“We have to retreat!” 

“Huh? But isn’t this what we came here for?” asked Mavis, looking perplexed. 

Reina’s mind was made up. “Please, just shut up and do as I say!” 

“Got it.” 

Seeing the serious look on Reina’s face, Mavis shut her mouth and obeyed. 

There was no time to shoot the breeze, and Reina was the most experienced in their group, so in times of battle, she was the most reliable commander. 

But things weren’t resolved quite so easily. 

“I don’t think we can…” 

When they turned to look at Pauline, they saw yet another rock golem approaching from the rear. 

“We’re surrounded!” 

“It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get away without a fight,” said Mavis. 

“This can’t be…” Reina murmured, her voice far weaker than usual. 

The others couldn’t understand why Reina was shrinking away from a battle they’d all meant to fight from the start. But, because of her experience, they figured she must have her reasons. 

Mile, for her part, had never even seen a rock golem outside of pictures. 

It truly had a body made of stone, massive and almost four meters tall. It had a tiny head and spherical joints. 

That’s right—it had ball joints! 

You might expect Mile to remember the jointed doll exhibition she’d attended with her mother and her younger sister, back in her previous life. Instead, what came to mind were the giant, ball-jointed robots from the midnight creature features she watched with her father. 

“Their weak points are probably their joints or their narrow legs…” 

At least, she recalled learning something like that. 

“It looks like we’ve got no choice but to fight! We’re not looking to defeat them, just to clear an escape route! Prioritize protecting yourself from injury, not damaging them!” Reina issued snappy directions, her manner changing completely. 

“Got it!!!” 

“Pauline,” Reina continued, “hold back the golem in front! Mavis and Mile, attack the rear golem’s legs! Slice them horizontally through the gaps!” 

They didn’t reply this time, but nodded as Pauline began her spell. Mavis and Mile both readied their blades. Reina took to the rear, directing a spell at the golem blocking their way out. 

There’s something strange here, Mile thought. 

She recalled something that had puzzled her during their lessons at the prep school. 

Goblins, kobolds, orcs, ogres? 

Yes, well, of course those kinds of creatures existed. This was a fantasy world, after all. 

Wyverns, land dragons, elder dragons? 

Yes, well, those weren’t so strange either… 

But, rock golems? Iron golems? 

What were they? Were they alive? Were they artificial lifeforms? Did they have a consciousness? 

Weren’t they rather implausible in an environment filled with carbon-based life? Had they been specially made by the gods? 

No matter how much she thought about it, her imagination only stretched so far. 

Surely, if she asked, the nanomachines would have an answer for her. But where was the fun in that? This was a riddle she would have to solve for herself. 

Yes, some mysteries just have to remain mysteries, Mile decided. And yet…she was still so curious about them. 

I really want to take one apart!!! 

“Green Mist!” 

Pauline used water magic to conjure a haze, obscuring the golems’ vision. 

As always when she heard this spell, Mile wanted to protest that the incantation should be “fog,” but that was probably not something that anyone in this world would understand. 

After Pauline, Reina released her spell. 

“Flame Orb!” 

This was a type of fire spell that exploded on impact. It was a higher-level magic than fireballs, which were simply moving balls of flame. However, since the people of this world had little familiarity with explosions caused by something like gunpowder, their idea of an explosion was only a small thing, lacking in destructive force. Half of the damage came from enveloping flames that erupted after impact, which meant this spell had little effect on monsters such as golems. 

Nevertheless, it was more than enough to distract them. 

“Now!” 

Mile leapt forth at Reina’s command. 

Four meters might not sound like that much, but in reality, the golem was more than twice Mile’s height. Even Mavis could not reach its head with her sword. 

A slashing attack would have little effect on the creatures’ sturdy torsos and arms, and any normal sword would be shattered if it came into contact with their rocky bodies. There was no logical place to strike besides at the joints. 

If I recall correctly, the spheres of the joints themselves will probably be hard. But if I can damage the area around the spheres, where the rock is thinner, that should make it hard for the spheres to move… 

Mile reviewed her strategy, then slashed at the golem’s left knee. 

At the same time, Mavis struck the golem’s right knee. 

If they’d struck at its hip joints, they’d be able to impair its movements much more, but those were higher up and it would be difficult to inflict enough damage in one blow. And the golem’s hips appeared much sturdier than its knees. 

This should be fine. Just damaging the knees would impede its movement and create an opening for them to escape. 

Ka-thunk! 

Ker-snap! 

“…Huh?” 

Mile and Mavis said simultaneously. 

The golem’s left knee was blown away, and its right knee crumbled as the sphere rolled right out of its joint. It made a spectacular sound as it toppled onto the ground face first. 

Having felled a rock golem much more easily than they had imagined, Mavis and Mile were momentarily stunned. They looked down at the swords in their hands. 

No matter how sturdy the blades were, just flinging them should not have produced enough power to destroy anything. Destroying objects required specialized power and skill. No one could just simply smash a copper sword with a steel one…besides Mile. 

Before the girls could be thrilled with their results, which far surpassed what they were expecting, they were stunned again by the power of their own weapons. Even Mile, the swordsmith, was taken aback. 

They hadn’t even swung at full strength, yet they’d smashed through the solid joints of a rock golem in a single blow. 

These were nothing less than the legendary blades of a mythical hero… 

“Mavis!” 

Mavis had been drowning in the sea of her own thoughts, but she snapped back at Reina’s shout, rushing toward the golem she and Mile had felled. From behind, they slashed, pierced, and twisted the hip and shoulder joints away. 

Snap! 

Rumble rumble… 

One after another, they demolished the joints until the rock golem couldn’t move. None of this should have been so easily accomplished with a normal sword—no matter how sturdy. 

Reina watched, slack-jawed, before snapping to attention. Hastily, she issued another command. “Change of plans! Forget running. Let’s take down the other one! Pauline, blast the head with fire! Mile and Mavis, that one’s done—come take care of this guy!” 

Reina fired off a quick fireball spell at the other golem, creating a diversion. A moment later, Pauline’s Fire Wall obstructed its vision. Mavis and Mile ran toward the blinded golem at a dash, brandishing their swords. 

Thunk! 

Snap! 

Rumble… 

“……” 

The rock golem’s knees broke, and it toppled to the ground. Mile and Mavis shared a momentary glance, then silently destroyed the other joints. 

As they pierced the rock golem’s head, it ceased to move, seemingly devoid of any further function. Just in case, they returned to pierce the skull of the first golem as well. 

Though this was easy enough, no normal sword would be able to pass through the skull of a rock golem. At best, the blade would break. It was just common sense. When striking a golem’s weak points, you aimed at the frail joints. The head was strong and difficult to reach. 

“Are we just…super strong?” 

“Assuming that the golems weren’t weak, then…I guess so.” Mile muttered doubtfully. 

“……” 

Reina and Pauline appeared equally perplexed. 

“A-anyway, we should see what we can harvest. I think we can call quits on the hunting for now, so after this we’ll go back to camp…” 

Reina spoke quietly, all the pep gone out of her, and the other three nodded silently. 

It seemed like there was a lot on her mind. 

As it turned out, the only things that were worth gathering from a rock golem were the spheres of its joints. Mile puzzled over what these could possibly be used for, but Reina explained that if you sorted them by size, they could be used for some sort of tool. 

I guess there’s not much use in taking the body home. You can’t eat it, it doesn’t have the size or shape to be useful as building material, and it’s not even especially durable… 

However, the spheres were fairly large and heavy. Furthermore, there were several of them on each body. If they didn’t have storage magic, carrying them would be quite a hassle. 

At least there was no worry of them rotting or getting damaged as time went on. If they had a cart or wagon, they could leisurely drag them back home. 

It would be great if these fetch a high price, Mile thought, but she was not especially hopeful. 

*** 

The members of the Crimson Vow returned to their campsite and began preparing dinner. 

They’d finished hunting a little earlier than planned, but had plenty of prey. 

The roasted rock lizard from earlier would serve as their main dish, accompanied by the fruits, vegetables, and dehydrated soup blocks they’d purchased in the capital. It was fairly luxurious, as far as camping went. In celebration of a job well done (as well as their victory over the rock golems) a feast only seemed suitable, and rock lizard was what they had—excepting, of course, the enormous store of food Mile had stashed away in her loot box. 

Besides, the rock lizard meat they’d eaten that morning was so delicious. And the price of meat that had been burnt to a crisp on the outside would be considerably lower. Saving it to sell was a fool’s errand. It was a no-brainer that they should just eat it themselves. Rock lizard was a mildly luxurious ingredient and would cost a pretty penny in any normal restaurant. 

But the meat of even one lizard was still an immense amount, and no matter how diligently they tried, they could only manage small portions. Still, they should be able to sell some cheaply to the inn—or even offer it as a gift. They had plenty of other lizards that were still completely intact. Either way, Mile couldn’t keep taking the meat in and out of the time-static loot box if she wanted to hide her abilities from her companions. 

Unlike their unintended lunch, this time they had plenty of time to prepare. Therefore Mile didn’t merely roast the meat, but tried her hand at a number of different cooking techniques. It was not often that you got a chance to have a leisurely meal of rock lizard in the great outdoors, and she desperately wanted to find out more about what kind of ingredient they’d collected. More than anything, she wanted to eat some delicious food. 

Reina and Mavis could not cook. Mavis was the daughter of a noble family, so that was one thing, but it was curious that Reina had never cooked much—neither while traveling with her father on his peddling ventures, nor as a member of the Crimson Lightning, the party where she had been the only girl. 

When Mile had asked about this, Reina’s reaction made it very clear that they should not broach the subject again. And so Pauline was in charge of the main course, while Mile experimented. 

A while later, dinner was ready. Mile and Pauline laid the food out before the others. 

Pauline’s dish was just standard roasted meat. The only seasonings were rock salt and various herbs. Mile’s dishes, meanwhile, were rock lizard au vin and fried rock lizard. 

Since Mile couldn’t drink alcohol, the red wine she used for the au vin was only a cheap cooking wine that she’d stored away in the loot box. To that she added salt, garlic, onions, shimeji-like mushrooms, whole wheat flour, high quality spices, and a number of other ingredients, including vegetable oil which Mile had pressed herself, creating an enjoyable, complex flavor. It hurt not to have soy sauce available, but she made do as well as she could under the circumstances. 

And then there was the fried lizard. To the flour, she added salt, seasonings, and garlic, as well as leeks and egg whites that she’d freeze-dried and powdered using magic. She mixed those and various other things together into a breading mix, then dredged bite-sized pieces of the meat, using wind magic to mist them with a small amount of oil. If it were chicken, the fat in the meat would have been enough, but somehow she could tell that there wasn’t much fat in the rock lizard. 

Finally she fried it, without oil or a pan. 

In Mile’s previous life, her father had been given a hot air fryer for his thirtieth work anniversary. It was a useful cooking gadget that could make fried foods with just heated air, not oil. In that life, Mile—then Misato—used it now and then to make fried potatoes and gyoza as a snack. Mainly, though, her mother used it to make fried chicken. Now, imitating its principles, Mile whipped up a hot wind. 

180º C for 12 minutes. Half the work was just preparing the breading—the cooking itself went fairly quickly. 

Afterward, she took some vegetables out of the loot box, chopped them up, drizzled the dressing she had prepared, and added the fruit. Her dish was complete. 

“Th-th-this is delicious!” 

The outside was crunchy, but when you bit into the rock lizard, the inside was soft, juicy, and flavorful. It had the savory nature of meat and the tang of spices, as well as the warm fragrance of garlic. Together, these flavors satisfied the whole palate. 

“What is this?! Mile, have you always been such a talented chef?” 

With just one bite of Mile’s experimental fried lizard, Reina and Mavis were raving. 

The praise put Mile at ease. She was lacking certain seasonings, so she hadn’t been very confident. Pauline, however, appeared rather uninterested—Reina and Mavis hadn’t said a word about the dish she’d prepared. But the moment Pauline tasted the au vin and fried lizard, her eyes opened wide, too. 

“It’s delicious…” 

Mile hurriedly set aside a portion for herself so that she would not miss out. 

“Mile, you’ve got to handle the cooking from now on—at least sometimes!” 

“Yes, yes, please!” 

“You have to show me how to cook like that! I’m begging you…” 

However, there was something they didn’t know. The seasonings she’d used were incredibly expensive, and it would be difficult to recreate the process without Mile’s magic… 

Eventually, they had all more or less eaten their fill, and their bellies were stuffed. 

“So, are we actually strong?” Mavis asked quietly. “Or are we weak?” 

“I guess it’s best to say that it depends on the situation.” 

“Such as?” 

Mile and Pauline listened as Mavis and Reina talked. 

“In terms of swordsmanship, we’re probably a low-level B-rank. In terms of magical ability, when we aren’t limited it’s a high-level C-rank. When our powers are limited by restrictions, like being unable to use fire magic in the forest, we’re probably a mid-level C-rank. We rely on magic for defense, so we’re weak against physical attacks that can’t be staved off with a sword…” 

They didn’t have a dedicated shield bearer, and given the size of their party, this couldn’t be helped. Still, it was a clear weakness…or it would be, if they didn’t have Mile. 

Though Mile had, to some degree, demonstrated her magical knowledge to the others, she hadn’t shown them her full strength. Nevertheless, the other three recognized her magical knowledge was considerable—comparable to a court magician—and her actual power was at least two levels above Reina’s. In terms of swordsmanship, she vehemently insisted: “Gren was just playing around, lowering himself down to my level,” but it was clear that she was still at least a B-rank. 

“If you include the value added by Mile’s storage magic, as well as factoring in our dearth of experience, our weak points, and whatever else, I’d say that we’re still a solid mid-level C-rank. Wouldn’t you? For novices we’re incredibly strong, but we’re still average as hunters. That’s about our current level.” 

“You don’t think our magic’s any higher than that?” 

“Only in terms of raw power. If you factor in our maneuvers and experience in magical battles as well as our various weaknesses, taking one-on-one combat into account, I think that’s about right. Hubris is forbidden here!” 

There was still one thing that Mavis couldn’t grasp. “But didn’t we just topple some rock golems like it was nothing—with only four people?” 

“That was just because we had an advantage,” Reina said, stopping Mavis’s objections in their tracks. “Rock golems are known for their sturdiness, not their speed, so against you two—with your god-like speed, and those ‘cheap swords’—they didn’t stand a chance. But what if it were something like a wyvern? Attacking from the air where your swords couldn’t reach? Or an iron golem that those swords couldn’t pierce? What if it were a toxic mouse, which is much smaller and quicker than you both? Can you really say that you have any special qualities beyond the strength of your sword?” 

“Er…” 

“I guess that’s how it is, then.” 

“That’s how it is.” 

Mavis seemed to have accepted this, but Reina continued to speak. 

“Actually, there is one more weakness in our party.” 

“What? What’s that?” asked Mavis. 

Reina looked all of them over slowly. “Well, have any of you ever killed a man?” 

“Uh…” 

“Those faces tell me all I need to know… when the time comes, if you can’t kill another person without hesitation, you’ll be the one to die. Even if they’re an acquaintance or a friend…” 

As Reina spoke, her eyes were fixed not on the others, but on her own hand, gripping a small stick pierced through a piece of meat. 

*** 

Late that night, a small form slipped out of their camp. 

It was Mile. 

A worry had taken hold of her, and she couldn’t shake it. She crept through the night back toward the place where they’d fought the rock golems. 

When she arrived, she approached the rock golem’s lifeless body and sliced off the pierced head with her sword. 

Were this any other monster it would have been grotesque, but thankfully, rock golems were nothing like other living things, so blood and guts were not a concern. 

“Hm…” 

The head was fixed solidly to the body, four eyes evenly spaced around the perimeter so there was no need for it to turn around. 

She cut the head into four parts and peered inside, scooping out one of the eyes… 

“I see… The head is just a sensor. In that case, destroying the cranium isn’t necessarily needed to stop its—” 

“What are you doing?” 

“Gaaaaaah!!!” 

Mile screamed as a voice emerged out of the night. 

Reina, Mavis, and Pauline stepped out of the shadow of a tree. 

“Wh-what are you all doing here?” 

“You went sneaking off in the middle of the night! We followed you so that you wouldn’t get snatched up by a monster!” 

“Huh? But you said we were coming to see what she was up to—” 

“So, what did you come here for?!” 

Reina took no heed of Pauline’s confusion. 

“Um, er, well, I was, picking flowers…?” 

“Oh? Picking flowers, hm…?” said Reina, staring at the extracted golem eye in Mile’s hand. “Well, it looks like you have an eye there. I suppose a tooth will be next, and then perhaps a noseto add to your bouquet?” 

Mavis let out a snort. 

Eventually, Mile confessed that she was so curious about the inner workings of a rock golem that she couldn’t help herself and came to investigate—thinking that perhaps she might discover a weakness that would help them defeat other golems in the future. 

“That’s stupid. You should have just told us. Wouldn’t it be better if we all came to investigate together?” Reina asked. 

As the night wore on, the girls dissected the rock golem’s body, searching for weak points. But the golem was stone through and through, without a weak spot to be found. All they found inside was a round object—a bit like a gold coin—which Mile stored away in her loot box. 

Despite their late-night excursion, the three girls got to bed at a reasonable hour and had plenty of sleep. They greeted the next morning with vim and vigor. 

All except for Mile. 

Something else had weighed on her mind the previous night, and she had barely slept a wink. In fact, it was because she couldn’t sleep that she’d gone to investigate the golem in the first place. 

What concerned her was the question: 

Am I…invincible? 

Until now, she’d avoided getting hit as much as possible, even in practice battles. She hated pain, so even when she lost on purpose, Mile made sure to take only weak blows on the thickest parts of her armor. It was probably why her opponent always saw right through her ruse. 

In any case, thanks to all this effort and scheming she hadn’t really known pain up until now… no, in fact, she had never known it. 

Never? Even when we were deep in physical combat training? Did I ever once feel pain? 

In the battle with the rock lizard the previous morning, she was struck by its tail and dashed against the rocks. But, despite the clever excuse she gave her teammates, she had not blocked with her sword. She hadn’t leapt back to neutralize the attack, and she hadn’t cushioned herself on impact with wind magic. She had taken all of that damage, full force. 

And yet, she was uninjured. It had barely even hurt. It was similar to getting local anesthesia, a feeling like: I know something is touching me, but it doesn’t hurt a bit. 

Did that mean all the effort she’d made to avoid pain had been for nothing? 

No, that wasn’t the problem. 

Just how durable is my body? I’m going to guess it’s at least half as impervious as an elder dragon. But then again, if there was something even sturdier, then… 

Mile couldn’t recall taking even a scratch since the day of that fateful migraine. Her mind began to race. If she revealed this fact to others, would they treat her as inhuman? Would they use her as a test subject? Or would they try to use her as a weapon that could smash even a rock golem? One after another, terrifying scenarios cycled through her head until she could not sleep at all. 

That morning, the four enjoyed a breakfast soup made of the now-customary roasted rock lizard. Then they packed up their camp. All that really meant was stowing their bags in Mile’s storage space and extinguishing their campfire. 

Eating meal after meal of roasted rock lizard probably didn’t make for the most balanced diet, but no one ever said that camping meant enjoying a variety of cuisines. Besides, the lizard meat was delicious. Incredibly delicious. And it wasn’t as though they would always acquire goods that they couldn’t sell—at least if they could avoid it. It was possible they might never get a chance to eat lizard meat again. 

Certainly, they could seek it out on purpose or pay money to eat it at a restaurant in the capital. However anything they caught that could be sold, they would sell. For the price of even a single plate of rock lizard meat at a restaurant, they could order a small feast of more affordable dishes. 

Poverty. That single word could quash all of their dreams. 

“All right! Back to the capital!” 

“Yeah!!!” 

Everyone cheered Reina’s decree, and finally, they were back on the road again. 

A lot had happened, but all four of them were beaming. They had safely completed their first job away from the capital and hunted enough to earn far beyond what the job had promised. It was decided: they would no longer take jobs for novice C-rankers, but those for mid-level C-rank hunters. Jobs that would test their mettle. 

Mavis was thrilled at the prospect of finally facing real battles. 

Pauline grinned at the idea of boosting their earning potential. 

Reina seemed deep in thought, but in a good mood. 

And Mile’s head swirled as she tried to decide what to say to the others about her impervious nature—or the times that she accidentally used something beyond ordinary magic… 

The capital was still two long days away. 

They made camp in the same spot they’d used on the way out. There was still some time until sundown, but it was better to rest in a place they were already familiar with—to increase their chances of survival if something dire occurred. 

Even the littlest things could become a matter of life and death, so they avoided anything that would lower their chances of survival. Even if the possibility of dire injury fell just one percent every time they encountered a dangerous circumstance, if it happened ten times then that was ten percent, and if it happened a hundred times… 

After they ate, Reina kicked off the discussion, as always. 

“About what I was saying last night… I want you all to get some experience in interpersonal combat—and soon. I don’t just mean practice. I mean real battles, to the finish.” 

“Wh…?” 

The other three were stunned, but Reina continued. 

“From now on, we’re going to start taking escort jobs. Even if we don’t, there’s still a chance that, as a party of young women, we could be targeted and attacked by bandits, disgraced hunters, or even fellow active hunters—some of whom are more than happy to break the law. Should that happen, even a moment’s hesitation could mean death. 

“This is not just about you. Are you prepared to leave others to fend off an attacker if you get captured or cut down?” 

The other three were silent as she spoke. 

“B-but,” Pauline piped up, “can’t we just incapacitate our opponents without killing them?” 

“The only times you’ll have that kind of luxury is when there’s an immense difference in power between you and your opponent. For example, if you were a B-rank and your opponent a D-rank or lower. Even then there’s still a chance that something could go wrong and cause a humiliating defeat. Isn’t that so, Mavis?” Reina asked. 

“Yes. In a normal contest, there’s a pretty strong chance that you’ll be able to win if you’re stronger. But if an opponent comes with the intent to kill, and you meet that with the intent to incapacitate, then no matter what your strength difference is, it’ll be a difficult fight. And if your enemy can sense that, you’ve already lost. Once he knows his opponent has no intention of killing him, he’ll attack at leisure—fighting recklessly without any attention to defense. Once it comes to that, there isn’t really much you can do. 

“I have no intention of sacrificing my own life, that of my friends, or that of someone I’m meant to protect, just to honor the life of a criminal.” 

“……” 

At Mavis’s words, Pauline fell silent. 

Mile merely watched, but inside she agreed with Mavis. 

“I’m surprised…” said Reina, looking Mile’s way. 

Mile tilted her head. 

“Huh? About what?” 

“I would’ve expected you to start shouting, ‘We can’t hurt people!’ right away…” 

“What are you talking about?” Mile laughed. “My motto is, ‘No mercy for villains!’” 

In truth, Mile had a very straightforward manner of thinking. 

In her previous life, when people showed her good will (or at least no particularly ill will) she was always as kind as she could be. She didn’t bother herself with people who showed spite or animosity, but she wouldn’t do them any favors. And when it came to people who meant her harm, she would respond in turn—within the bounds of the law, but in such a way that they would never dare touch her again. 

She was an attractive honors student, and plenty of people had tried to entangle Misato in their schemes. She’d had no choice but to devise coping methods. 

Of course, in this world she’d decided to live a carefree life unfettered by the worries of her previous existence. But she had been unable to shake her old philosophy. There’s nothing you can do about bad people, so it’s best not to worry. That was what she told herself. 

Besides, the “bad people” in this world killed others without a second thought, for petty cash or just for kicks—and given that the laws were far less strict than those in her past life, reacting “within the bounds of the law” gave Mile more options than she had previously. That was just how it was. 

Anyway, Mile thought, if you let bad people escape, then they might kill tens or even hundreds of innocent people in the future. And they might even attack again for vengeance. Not just you—but your allies and your friends… 

Such an outcome would be truly regrettable, so it was prudent to nip those possibilities in the bud. Then you could rest easy. Nevertheless, Mile was not certain whether she would be able to kill another human if it came down to it. For now, she could only guess. 

“I want us to take on an escort job as soon as we can,” said Reina. “If we’re acting as guards, we’ll fight to defend our employer from any bandits who come calling, and there won’t be any time to negotiate. We’ll have no choice but to face them, whether we like it or not. If you don’t have this experience at least once, you might hesitate when suddenly attacked, and it will be the death of you.” 

“That’s true,” said Mavis. “We’ll leave it to you, then.” 

“I’ll follow whatever you say,” Mile added. 

After a brief pause, Pauline finally agreed too, looking somewhat grim. 

“…I-I guess I’m fine with that…” 

Mile assumed Pauline would have answered happily, but she stopped for a moment, reflecting on her three friends. Glancing over at Reina and Mavis, she was a little bit relieved to see their faces. 

Ah! It looks like I wasn’t the only one thinking it… 

*** 

The following evening, the Crimson Vow arrived safely in the capital and headed for the guildhall. If nothing else, they had to show that worried clerk they hadn’t died. 

When they entered, she was at one of the counters. 

“We made it back safe!” Mile shouted, waving her hand. 

Everyone gathered on the first floor of the guildhall turned to look at them. 

“Eeek!” The four girls shrieked at suddenly being the center of attention. 

“Aha! You all came back safely!!!” the clerk shouted from the counter. “That job was in a dangerous place—just after you all left, some merchants were attacked by orcs along that same road, and we were extremely worried. I’m so glad to see you back.” 

“A merchant was attacked by orcs?” asked Reina, a mite concerned. 

The receptionist laughed softly. “Yes, a merchant we’ve been keeping an eye on because he has a history of parasitic traveling. His party was attacked by a horde of orcs while he was camping, and he lost his wagons—goods and all. One of his guards was injured, but it seems that the whole group managed to get away safely. 

“Apparently they complained that some nearby hunters ran off without coming to their aid, but a hunter who isn’t on their payroll has no obligation to assist. This man’s a known offender as far as parasites go. According to the hunters who were serving as his guards, by the time they were attacked, the other hunters had already moved on. 

“The guild master investigated their claim and warned that if they tried to slander other hunters they would be stripped of their qualifications. When he asked for the truth again, they panicked and spilled the beans!” 

Judging by the way she was snickering, the clerk had no idea that those other hunters were Reina’s party. 

The girls were relieved to hear the situation was resolved with no loss of life. The only thing that pained Mile was that something might have happened to the horses. 

“Well,” said Reina, “Let’s turn these in and get someone to sign the job completion certificate.” 

The girls left the guildhall behind. They’d only stopped there to let everyone know they were back, anyway. 

Once they delivered the rock lizards, their client would inspect the goods and decide on a rate of pay. They’d record that amount on the job completion certificate and sign at the bottom. Then, the girls could take the certificate back to the guildhall and withdraw their earnings. 

To prevent anyone from skipping out, the guild handled all the money. If they didn’t get a signature, they wouldn’t hand over the goods. 

The girls’ other catches would be inspected by the guild officials when they came to exchange the certificate. With no fewer than five rock lizards in good condition, they’d earn at least 75 half-gold pieces—three quarters of their monthly goal. And they had a ton of other catches stored away in Mile’s storage space. At this rate, they’d be able to relocate to an inn with a bath soon. 

They faced the client’s shop, smiles bursting at the seams. 

“When we see the client, please don’t tell them we have tons of rock lizards. Let’s bring out the first one and have them inspect it before we get the other four. And wait until we find out what they will pay for the first five before you let them know that we have even more available.” 

Mile tilted her head at Pauline’s request, but she trusted Pauline when it came to matters of business just as she trusted Reina when it came to battle, and she nodded in reply.