I Said Make My Abilities Average! (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

A New Request 

“Now then, I wonder if there are any interesting jobs here…” 

The Crimson Vow looked over the job request board, uttering words that would surely draw the ire of any low-ranking hunters struggling to make a living, if they overheard. 

The last job they had done was a personal matter, and they weren’t hurting for money, so this time, they wanted, for a change of pace, to pick a job that was interesting or unusual—not the kind of minor work you did by rote. 

However, they had to take care not to let any parties who were hurting for money overhear them saying such a haughty thing. Inevitably they would be chewed out, in a “Just who do you think you are?” sort of way. To put it in terms of the idioms Mile knew from her past life, they were being so boastful that, “Even Gandhi would run up and slap them.” 

Thankfully, no one nearby seemed to find fault with their comments, and simply ignored them, continuing to browse the board themselves. 

“Oh, this one…” 

At Mile’s words, the other three felt a sense of déjà vu. 

Indeed, it reminded them very much of the time they had found the posting for the rock lizard hunting job… 

On the advertisement that Mile pointed to was written the following: 

Wyvern Hunting. Reward: 30 gold pieces. 

“This is the ooooooooooooooone!!!” 

Among draconic types, wyverns were in the class of what were called pseudo-dragons. 

Unlike the so-called elder dragons, which were at the apex of that taxonomy, and then the more standard dragon varieties such as earth and water dragons beneath them, pseudo-dragons, while still dragons, were vastly inferior in rank. 

To defeat even a normal dragon—even below the class of elder dragons—one would need to dispatch at least tens, or more likely hundreds of fighters for the sake of safety and certainty. Even then, felling the dragon was not a done deal. 

A serious extermination effort would need to include several spirited dragoons and employ a fairly complex ballista. It had to have a “primary force,” as well as a “secondary” force, proportionate in size. 

In a nutshell, while pseudo-dragons still carried the name “dragon,” they were, as the tag “pseudo” implied, significantly inferior creatures. In other words, they were weak. So much so that even a team of only six to eight hunters, with the right formation and technique, could fell one. 

Of course, whether or not a group of that size could fell one without taking any injuries was another matter entirely… 

As a result of that—and because they did still have the classification of “dragon” attached to them, the pay for hunting pseudo-dragons was quite good. 

With just a few people in a party, the probability of grave injury or death could be fairly high, and naturally, the more fighters who were included, the more expenses added up, with the pay-per-person falling accordingly. 

Furthermore, materials from such a hunt would sell at a fairly good price. Not only was the work interesting; when it was done, one could then say, “I felled a dragon.” 

This was the first time that the Crimson Vow had laid eyes upon a wyvern-hunting request. 

This region was not especially close to where wyverns dwelled, so if they let this chance slip by them, who knew when they might have another chance to take advantage of such an opportunity? 

They absolutely could not let this one pass them by. 

“I really would advise against…” 

At the clerk’s words, the girls once again felt a sense of déjà vu. 

Yes, indeed, this was just like the time when they tried to take on the rock lizard hunting request… 

“Come on, have we not proved our skills to you already?!” 

“Even if you claim—” 

Undeterred by Reina’s haughtiness, the clerk tried to explain. 

“First of all, to hunt a wyvern, you need to pull it out of the air, down onto the ground. In order to do that, not only do you have to have the power to bring it down, you need to be fast, have a lot of stamina, and have ranged attacks that can strike upward at a long distance. If the majority of your party cannot fulfill these conditions, then you must give up on this job.” 

“We have three mages, all of whom can use strong attack spells! We’re fine!” 

Ignoring Reina’s retorts, the receptionist continued. 

“Furthermore, even if you manage to land a good deal of damage upon it, the wyvern will run.” 

“Wh…?” 

The four were stunned. The clerk explained further. 

“Wyverns aren’t the type to keep fighting stubbornly until the end. If they feel they’re outnumbered or outclassed, they fly away at top speed. After that, they will remain in their nests. Then, once some time passes, they will emerge, but even then, they won’t return to the location where they were attacked for a very long time. Most wyverns have very wide territories. 

“Plus, the wyverns will remember any human who harmed them. Even if they encounter them in an entirely different place, they won’t approach any hunter who faced them with malice ever again. And furthermore…” 

“Furthermore?” 

“A wyvern’s hunting ground covers an area of dozens of kilometers in every direction. Where, in all that space, do you intend to find one?” 

“Uh…” 

The Crimson Vow all stood slack-jawed. 

“You’re facing an opponent who can fly through the air at top speeds, with an immense territory amidst which you can’t know when or where they will appear. Once you finally encounter one after ages of lying in wait, then the battle can begin. After your allies have been killed or sustained grave injuries, just when you think you’ve got it on the ropes, then the wyvern runs away. And after that, it will never come near you ever again. 

“You’d fight for days in vain, sustain casualties, and fail to complete your assigned task, meaning that you don’t get paid, and also have to pay the job-failure fee. Then, there would be medical bills for your party members, and you’d have to deal with the bereaved families of the fallen… Please think carefully about why this job is still here, even when the pay is relatively good. If you don’t, you may not have a very long life before you.” 

“…………” 

The four were stunned even further into silence, but the clerk was not yet finished. 

“As far as dragon classifications go, it’s true that wyverns are still considered to be pseudo-dragons. If a well-composed party with the right compatibility battles one head-on at full power from the outset, then a wyvern isn’t such a fearsome foe. Indeed, for a party with sufficient power and experience, winning in and of itself would not be all that difficult. However, what is difficult is snagging the opportunity to fight against a wyvern in earnest, and often, when you finally get one, it will run just when it looks like the fight is in the bag. A wyvern is a troublesome foe of a very specific ilk. 

“This is a job that is practically blacklisted, probably posted by some desperate client who couldn’t get anyone from their local guild branch or the surrounding ones to take it. Neither their local lord nor the Crown would help them, so they came here to the capital branch, thinking that among all of the hunters on our roster, there would be someone just foolish or starved enough to take it. 

“We have a name for jobs like this, ones that are likely to result in your allies’ blood flowing like rivers, where the cons far outweigh the pros… A ‘red mark.’ Jobs like these are only for stupid beginners and heroes.” 

As she finally wrapped up her explanation, the Crimson Vow looked at one another. 

They nodded as one, and then Reina replied for them all. 

“We’ve been waiting for something like this. We’ll accept this ‘red mark’ job!” 

“Wha…?! Did you not hear a word I just said? What in the world are you thinking?” 

“My, my! Isn’t it your job to allow us to accept jobs?” 

“Gngh…” 

At Reina’s prodding, rage began to simmer up within the clerk, but then she remembered her place, swallowing her words. 

“Wh-why exactly do you want to take this job?!” 

“Does it really seem so strange to you? You just said so yourself, didn’t you?” 

“What?” 

The clerk tilted her head in confusion, so Reina elucidated: “It’s. Because. We’re. A. Bunch. Of. Stupid. Beginners… And we’re heroes!” 

Ignoring the clerk, who was utterly speechless, Mile shouted from beside her, “Wait a minute, Reina! How come when you said ‘stupid,’ you were looking at me ?!” 

And so, in the end, the Crimson Vow accepted the wyvern-hunting job. 

As much as the clerk might be able to advise them, she was in no position to refuse a legitimate job acceptance based on her own misgivings, as long as the party in question met the appropriate qualifications. If she had justifiable reasons to refuse them, or prior approval from upper management, it would be one thing, but this incident did not fall under either of those scenarios. 

And so with a heavy heart, the clerk, who was quite fond of the Crimson Vow, processed their request. 

*** 

“All right! First, let’s stop by the guild.” 

They were five days’ walk from the capital. Having arrived in the town from which the wyvern-hunting request was originally issued, the regional capital of Helmont, the Crimson Vow headed to the local guild branch. They explained to the clerk there that they were the ones who had taken on the job, and, after a short wait, they were directed up to the guild master’s second-floor office. 

“So you all are the hunters from the capital who accepted the wyvern-hunting job…?” 

As the girls entered the office, the guild master greeted them with a despondent, almost angry expression. 

“I take it you accepted this job knowing full well what wyvern hunting entails…? Did any of the staff at the capital branch properly explain this task to you?” 

The girls were somewhat annoyed that the middle-aged guild master had started the conversation this way the very moment they entered the room, without even a greeting. However, there was no particular ill intent behind his words. He probably was merely concerned about these rookie girls doing something so dangerous, so they ignored his tone and continued to listen. 

“If I send hunters from the capital off to a pointless death, my reputation will take a huge hit. Worse, if I let four cute young girls get killed, everyone’s going to start talking about me.” 

“…………” 

Apparently, the only one he was worried about was himself. 

“We are a C-rank hunting party, the Crimson Vow, who have accepted the wyvern-hunting job from the capital guild branch.” 

As Mavis was still too stunned by the guild master’s words to reply, Reina took the lead. 

Compared to her fellow party member, she had a much lower boiling point; however, she was also well aware of the impression her appearance gave. Based on her looks, she knew, people tended not to take her seriously on first meeting her. This particular problem did not anger her. 

Or really, that was not fair to say. It was just that she was accustomed to it. That was all. 

Besides, this time, Mile was with them. Telling herself that Mile’s presence must be the reason the guild master was looking down on them, Reina’s spirits remained high. 

“What? The Crimson Vow, you say?” 

The guild master seemed a bit shocked at the introduction. 

“You are the ones who…” 

It seemed that he had heard rumors of them. Maybe it was about the mock battle at the graduation exam, or about the bandit-slaying, or the wicked merchant… No, actually, that last incident had been handled by the mysterious party, the “Order of the Crimson Blood,” so that couldn’t be it… Anyway, he could have heard about them anywhere. 

As far as the merchant incident went, anyway, it would still be some time before rumors about them made it from Talwess to the capital, and then from the capital out into the other regions. Public officials and nobles were one thing, but it took much longer for rumors to reach the ears of the common folk. 

“Um, I don’t know what you are insinuating. But, yes, we are the Crimson Vow.” 

This time, Mavis was the one to reply. At least for now, she was the party leader. Even though it was easy to forget about that now and then… 

“I have heard rumors of you. About the strength of your mages and the skill of your swordswoman… If you’re the ones facing the wyvern, then perhaps there is a chance that you might be able to strike it down and land the finishing blow once it has fallen. However, I’m not confident that you’ll be able to land enough damage to strike down the wyvern in the first place. Don’t you think this might be a pointless venture? Not only might you get hurt, but you’ll have to pay the penalty fee…” 

“Even so,” Mile interjected, “we’ve already accepted the job!” 

The guild master grimaced, knowing this to be the case. 

Finally, recognizing that they were no ordinary rookie hunters, he explained to them the details of the job. 

They had already heard the gist of the assignment from the staff at the capital branch, but what had been written on the job-request ticket was a simplified summary to begin with. Moreover, there was new information that had come to light since the job was posted, and there were a number of small details to inquire after. 

Usually, this sort of briefing would be the clerk’s job, but in this case, it was an important request, one that had been recirculated all the way from here in Helmont to the capital branch. In short, because the Crimson Vow had been dispatched from the capital to handle a job request at the Helmont branch, this task became the guild master’s personal responsibility. 

That said, it was still generally the case that after a brief discussion with the guild master, a clerk would go over the finer details. Yet in this situation, it seemed that the guild master had taken a personal interest in the Crimson Vow, making this an exceptional instance where he himself would explain everything in detail. 

Because the contents of this request were of a rather formidable nature, the guild master explained it all to them frankly, holding nothing back. Throughout, the expressions of the Crimson Vow were impassive… 

“So, let’s get this sorted.” 

After leaving the guild behind, the girls headed to an inn and booked a four-person room, then began their team meeting. As always, Reina was the moderator. 

“First of all, our client is the local lord. However, the lord is only paying the reward. He gave the guild free reign to handle the details, so we don’t need to worry about arrangements. There won’t be any need for us to meet with the client, either.” 

This much they had heard from the guild master. 

It seemed that this lord had no interest in meeting with such lowly creatures as hunters. 

This was completely normal. Indeed, times when nobles actually took time to meet with hunters—such as when Count Amroth, the presiding lord from the bandit incident, had met the Crimson Vow—were few and far between. 

To tell the truth, all of the Crimson Vow were far more comfortable with it being this way. The only one who wouldn’t be troubled by meeting with a noble was Mavis, who was, of course, accustomed to that sort of thing. 

Even for Mile, her experience talking and dining with nobles outside of her family was more or less limited to the time they had spent with Count Amroth. Plus, now that her memories of her previous life had returned, talking with nobles made her very tense. While it would not be outwardly apparent to most, Mile was a bit tense to begin with. Of course, when she was at the academy, she was comfortably conversing normally with a noble classmate, but that was another matter entirely. 

“The wyvern has been active across roughly thirty percent of this region. The wyvern’s active area has also included about half of the neighboring region, but that’s a largely uninhabited area, so most of the casualties have actually been from this region. Likely, the lord of that region did nothing about it because they figured it would be handled by the people over here. Honestly, I would do the same in that lord’s shoes. It’s stupid to waste your soldiers and resources on a pointless task,” said Reina. 

The other three nodded in agreement. Of course, they had all heard this information from the guild master, but it was important to review everything aloud as a group like this. It would eliminate any miscommunications and make certain that they were all on the same page, smoothing out the proceedings going forward. 

“And so, the problem is this.” 

With these words, Reina spread the copied materials that they had received from the guild master out across the table. 

It was a crude map of this region and the next, with notes marking the towns that the wyvern had attacked, the other places it had been sighted, and the dates and times of these incidents. 

The marks were, for the most part, concentrated within a particular radius. This much was fine. This much was completely normal. However… 

“How weird…” 

“Yeah, that’s a little unnatural.” 

“It’s a little different from what we heard in the capital about wyverns’ usual habits…” 

Just as Pauline, Mavis, and Mile had all noted, this wyvern’s territory appeared to be in a slightly—no, an incredibly —strange location. 

First off, compared to your average wyvern, the apparent scope of this one’s territory was very small. Normally, they hunted across a far wider area. And since wyverns rarely appeared in this area to begin with, it could hardly be the result of a turf war or something similar. 

Next, there was the fact that the reported sightings of the wyvern formed a perfect circle. 

Now, that they formed a circle was not all that strange in and of itself. However, the circle that they formed, in this case, was too perfect. Normally, the dots would be a bit more scattered, the sort of shape that was vaguely, mostly a circle. This was far too much like an actual geometric shape. 

Yet the clincher was the times and dates of the appearances. 

They were precise. 

This wyvern appeared systematically in the same key locations at excessively punctual intervals. 

The wyvern had chosen when and where to appear as though it had a comprehensive knowledge of the human calendar and the different days of the week. 

This was, of course, suspicious. Indubitably so. 

However, the wyvern itself was not the only thing that the Crimson Vow found suspicious here. 

“Naturally, other hunters have found this strange as well, and countless parties have accepted this job. And yet, they’ve all ended up with casualties and zero results. There’s just a string of red marks. Of course, that isn’t so strange. We could come up with plenty of reasons why that might happen—the hunters weren’t skilled enough, or the wyvern was too strong, things like that. However, if it is relatively easy to encounter…” 

“Then,” Pauline muttered, “shouldn’t the regional forces have been deployed?” 

Indeed, the primary reason that local armies were not usually deployed for wyvern hunting was that wyverns were relatively difficult to locate. Mobilizing a great number of soldiers for many days required a lot of money. If one were to embark on such an operation fruitlessly, the army’s entire budget could be wasted. 

An opponent with an incredibly low encounter rate was not one that a lord would be interested in taking on. 

However, if there was a relatively high chance that one would be able to encounter the wyvern, that should be a different story. 

Defeating the wyvern would put a stop to further casualties in the region, provide good battle practice for the soldiers, strengthen one’s reputation amongst the other lords, raise one’s standing in the eyes of the Crown, and improve the general morale of the populace. With these aims in mind, it would be worthwhile to spare both a bit of the budget and even a few casualties. 

Even if the wyvern escaped after they shot it down, it likely would not appear in that town again, so it would effectively be driven away—another appealing outcome. 

If the wyvern was making such regular appearances, why hadn’t the troops been dispatched? 

“There must be some reason why they haven’t sent the army out…” said Mavis. 

Mile continued: “Or they did send them out, and they were already defeated. And now, they’re just covering that up?” 

Silence fell across the room. 

The next morning, the four gathered up their things and left the inn, headed for a certain village. 

Naturally, the place they were headed was where the wyvern was scheduled to appear tomorrow. There were no carriages that ran there, and it would take half a day to reach on foot, meaning that they would be arriving in the early afternoon. 

The Crimson Vow had ridden in their client’s wagons or in a passenger carriage many times, but in truth, this would count as a luxury for most hunters. Barring instances where they had a lot to carry, had injured or otherwise incapacitated party members, or some other limiting circumstance, hunters typically traveled on foot. 

As they walked, the girls discussed their current job. 

“What’s the story with the lord, do you think?” 

“Well, the pay is right. It just seems like, after countless parties were annihilated, there was no one left here to take the job. Eventually, it got transferred to the capital… But as long as we’re involved, that won’t happen again.” 

“Yeah. If he were scheming, then he would probably want to meet up with us. If you’re trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes, it’s important to meet them in the flesh. Conjecturing based only on assumptions is dangerous, but really, I don’t think anything suspicious is happening here.” 

Pauline and Mavis agreed with Reina’s assessment. Mile, who was rather removed from the thoughts and motivations of other people, merely nodded in agreement. 

“Plus, there is a strong correlation between sending out more soldiers and registering more casualties, isn’t there?” 

“That’s true.” 

“Indeed, if they took one-sided losses, without conquering or driving the thing away, then they couldn’t possibly approve any more casualties. Losing multiple times would just cause them to lose face… By sending the job to the hunters’ guild, all you lose out on is the payment for the job, and for a lord, it’s much safer to say, ‘I’ll just pay the money, and have someone else take care of it for me.’ They only have to pay for a success, so no matter how many times the mission fails, that’s all they’ll ever lose.” 

Leaving Mile in the dust, the other three continued their conversation. 

“So then, this begs the question: If everything is normal, and the lord expects that the wyvern can be eliminated, then why hasn’t it been eliminated yet? A wyvern is a dangerous opponent for a normal party, but any party who took on the job would have known at least that much, and only taken it if they felt they had a strong chance of succeeding. Right? As for the soldiers, even if they’ve specialized in fighting other humans, without much experience in beast-hunting, they’re still combat professionals. I’m sure they would have done enough preliminary preparation and planning, most likely with a veteran hunter along to advise them. Which means…” 

“Oh oh oh! There’s a lot of the wyverns, or they’re very strong!” 

Now that they had finally come upon a topic she understood, Mile chimed in. 

She had leapt in at the juiciest moment, but Reina could understand Mile’s desire to contribute to the conversation when it finally came around to something that she understood. Gently, she acknowledged her. 

“Well, something like that, yes…” 

Such was the way of a leader… not . Mavis was the leader. Even if it was easy to forget that sometimes. 

“Anyway, we must assume that our enemy is strong, and proceed with discretion. As Mile told us before, um, yes—‘Life is a precious thing,’” said Reina. 

The other three nodded. 

“Will we really be all right? It’s not that I don’t believe in everyone’s magic, but if you don’t pull the wyvern down to the ground, I won’t have any way to lend you my strength in the battle, so…” 

“It’ll be fine! We’ll figure it out somehow!” 

For some reason, Mavis had a bad feeling about Mile’s confidence… 

It was already well past noon when they reached their destination. They had taken their time as they walked, discussing not only their job, but other frivolous things, and the journey had stretched on longer than they expected. 

The four of them planned to get to bed early that night in preparation for the next day, so on arrival, they decided to go straight into reconnaissance. After that, they would eat their fill at lunch-slash-dinner and head straight to bed. 

First, of course, they needed to find an inn. There was only one inn in the village, so there weren’t exactly a lot of choices. They told the innkeepers that they did not need to have dinner provided, and headed out to find an eatery or bar. 

In a rural village like this, which was not even big enough to have a guild branch or post office, the best places to gather information were at a bar, the village elder’s house, and the marketplace. 

However, in this case, as their job request had not come from this particular village, they did not expect that the village elder would have any pertinent information. Besides, they weren’t looking for any favors, so they decided to skip that step, at least for now. 

“Here’s the place.” 

After walking around for a bit without finding anywhere that resembled an eatery, they heard from the passersby they asked that the village had but one saloon, which served food as well as drink. However, it wasn’t very well marked… 

This was the sort of little village that had very few visitors besides traveling peddlers, who already knew the place well, so there probably wasn’t much need for signage. 

Upon entering the building, the girls found ten or so villagers inside. 

“Huh?” 

The four made a noise of surprise, not expecting the place to be so crowded at such an odd hour. The villagers were just as surprised to see them. 

“What? You girls… you’re hunters, aren’t you?” 

“Yes. We’ve taken on the job of hunting the wyvern. We’re a hunting party from the capital—the Crimson Vow,” Mavis replied. 

The villagers clamored. 

“W-w-we’re so grateful that you took on this job,” one of the villagers started in a slightly troubled cadence, then continued mincingly, “but, well…” 

This was not an unreasonable response. Within the radius of the wyvern’s attacks, this village was the closest to the regional capital. In other words, most of the parties that had taken on this job had probably tried to use this village as an interception point, and perhaps the local troops had even used it as a temporary base. 

This, of course, meant that the villagers knew the results of all these expeditions. 

If they had known that the next hunting party to appear would be a group of four young girls, they would have been discouraged, or overtaken by fear. So, the girls did not feel too bad about surprising them. 

“Please don’t worry. We are already well aware of the circumstances. Three of us are mages, able to use strong attack magic, and the last is a strong swordswoman, able to defeat even a top knight. We will most definitely take down that wyvern! If you all can tell us everything that you know, our victory will be all the more certain!” 

Hearing Pauline’s forceful speech, the villagers raised a cheer of joy, and one after the other came to share what they knew. 

It seemed that the reason that so many villagers had gathered while the sun was still high was not only for the food and drink, but also to discuss the wyvern that was due to strike again the next day. In fact, the only things atop the tables were pitchers of water and wooden cups. 

As the girls suspected, the villagers reported that a number of parties, as well as a dozen or so soldiers from the regional militia, had taken stabs at felling the wyvern, but all of them had sustained grave casualties. 

Though the wyvern naturally defended itself from people who attacked it, outside of that, it rarely harmed anyone, most often simply grabbing the cattle, horses, or sheep it had decided to hunt that day in its claws before flying away. As a result, there had been no casualties among the villagers to date. 

Because of this, the villagers did not personally fear the wyvern. However, having their livestock carried off at regular intervals meant that they could not make a living. For the village, this was still a matter of life or death. 

And so, they had devised two plans. The first was to take the oldest, thinnest animal they had, and place it somewhere conspicuous in order to minimize the damages. The second was to chase the wyvern away, in order to protect all of the livestock. However, the first plan was not a long-term solution, as they would still be losing more and more livestock, which would hurt the village in the long run. And as for the second plan, if it went poorly, the wyvern might decide to switch its prey from livestock to humans. Whichever path they chose, it did not change the fact that the village’s prospects were looking dim. 

“Hm? Cows and horses? Are wyverns really that big?” 

Mile was utterly shocked. 

Her surprise was not unreasonable. In order for birds to fly, their bodies had to be as lightweight as possible. They simply could not muster the power to fly while lifting something exceeding their own body weight. 

Though clearly wyverns were not birds, just how immense would they have to be in order to fly carrying an entire cow…? 

“What are you talking about? They taught us all about the standard monster sizes at prep school…” Reina groaned, exasperated. 

Mile replied, “No, I do remember that much, but there are different types, so… Anyway, I didn’t think that they would be big enough to fly away with a horse or cow! If they were a bird attempting to carry prey that size, they would have to be…” 

“But birds can’t use magic.” 

“Huh?” 

“I said, birds can’t use magic, can they?” 

“Magic…?” 

“Dragons use magic to fly. Wyverns have large wings, so that’s one matter, but do you think that something with a body as large as an elder dragon’s could fly with their wings alone? Plus, things like dragon’s fire would have to be magic, wouldn’t they? Just how exactly did you think that all worked?” 

“Maybe inside their bellies they have some kind of organ that works like a fire sac…?” 

“Absolutely not!!!” the other three shouted in unison. 

The villagers behind them nodded, too. 

In her previous life, her father would have said something like, “They’re awfully dis-organ-ized.” 

In that same life, Mile would have been ashamed by this ripe old dad joke, but thankfully, she had no friends back then, so he’d never had the chance to embarrass her in front of them. 

That was perhaps the only benefit to not having any friends… 

There was no doubt that there existed a subset of monsters that was capable of using magic, such as fire-breathing dragons and dire wolves that could leap with a force unimaginable on Earth. However, Mile had always simply assumed that those creatures were capable of such things because they lived in a fantasy world. She had never thought to question it very hard. 

While yes, wyverns were still within the class of things that might reasonably be able to fly, it was an absolute mystery that elder dragons could do it, given their immense bodies and tiny wings. 

In reality, these creatures surpassed humans in that, though they could not form the words with which to craft magic through complicated spells, they could merely “think intensely about their desired result” and make the same thing come about. And of course there were many that held immense magical power. 

The (so-called) God had said of the nanomachines that “they react to the thoughts of living things and bring these desires into reality.” Not just “humans,” but “living things.” 

That was when Mile recalled the very first time she spoke to the nanomachines. They had told her, “INCLUDING HUMANS, THE AVERAGE CREATURE IS SET AT A BASIC LEVEL 1.” 

Returning to the conversation at hand, the Crimson Vow continued to listen to the villagers’ stories about the wyvern. 

Putting all of their stories in order, the situation was, in brief, as follows: 

Starting about two and a half months ago, the wyvern had begun appearing once every twelve days, taking with it a single cow, horse, or sheep each time. 

At first, everyone was too frightened to do anything, but after it showed that it was no threat to the humans, they began to grow a bit more optimistic, and on subsequent visits they mustered all their courage to try and protect their livestock. Still, every time they faced the angry wyvern, their determination evaporated. 

Perhaps realizing that the villagers lacked the basic means by which to attack it in the first place, and could only huddle together to defend themselves as it chased them off, the creature did not launch any deadly attacks. Instead, it appeared to be toying with them. 

At first, when they informed the area guild branch and the local lord about this, the lord appeared uninterested. However, once he heard that the wyvern was appearing at regular intervals, his attitude changed. 

Indeed, if encountering the wyvern was a sure thing, he could secure important battle practice for his troops, increase his reputation as a lord, and make the strength of his army known across the land, all at relatively little cost. 

Plus, protecting his lands from harm was a lord’s duty, in the first place. 

Unless a state of emergency had been declared, it was a policy that the guild could not issue its own job requests. In this case, as long as there had not been a request from the lord himself, there was, fundamentally, nothing they could do to act. They were not a charitable organization, and without anyone to pay the fee, no hunters would take on the job. It was not the guild, but rather, the lord or the Crown who was expected to be in charge of eliminating things like wyverns. 

Unless there was an emergency, the guild acted only once a job had been filed. Such was the nature of things. 

However, a rule of thumb also existed that indicated the guild should be informed of the appearance of a strong monster, for, if all the hunters within the region were to combine their forces, they could likely outdo even the regional army. It was with this in mind that the villagers contacted the guild. 

The lord had dispatched an extermination force of eighteen soldiers, including combat mages, archers, and javelin throwers, who could bring the wyvern down to the ground, as well as lancers and swordsmen who could strike it once it was down. 

Normally, excluding those who were A-rank or above, or perhaps the highest of B-ranks, your average soldier was stronger than a hunter with the equivalent years of experience. Therefore, this should have been more than enough soldiers to comprise an extermination force. 

Even though they did not have a veteran hunter experienced in fighting wyverns along as an advisor, no one would complain about a team that strong being sent out to fight a single wyvern. 

And so came the day of the wyvern’s next attack. 

The villagers were instructed to remain in their homes for safety’s sake, and when they emerged, several hours later, what they saw was a bedraggled band of soldiers and a group of equally bedraggled mages, desperately using healing magic to patch up the more dire wounds. 

The seriously wounded: six soldiers. The mildly wounded: five soldiers. MIA: a single cow. 

About half of the seriously wounded were in such a state that the healing powers of these mages, who specialized in combat spells, would not cut it. Later, they would require multiple treatments from mages who specialized in healing. Of course, once they returned to the capital, there would be healing specialists who were in the lord’s employ, mage hunters who specialized in healing magic, and clinics that served the common folk, as well as those healing mages who had stepped back from the front lines for the sake of aiding the elderly. Once they arrived in the capital, those soldiers would be fine. 

Still, an enemy who they assumed could be dealt with easily had wiped out their extermination force. 

Moreover, the wyvern had clearly been holding back, toying with them. If it hadn’t, there was no way they could have escaped with zero deaths on their hands. 

While their commander was flabbergasted that his soldiers had taken so many injuries, he judged that, while they had not defeated the wyvern, they had at least driven it away, saving the village from further injury. Thus, their duty was complete. He reported this to the villagers, and the news put a spring in everyone’s step. 

Even if the wyvern decided to use villages in other territories as its hunting ground, that would be a problem for that region to deal with, and no further concern of theirs. Or so their hearts told them. 

The villagers were relieved. No longer would the wyvern bring despair to their doorstep. 

And then, twelve days after the battle against the soldiers, the wyvern reappeared. 

In other words, the wyvern clearly had no thoughts such as “I lost” or “My opponent is a threat” running through its head. It had completely overlooked those weaklings who had come to harass it and flown home with its head held high and its prey in its clutches. It hadn’t the slightest reason to avoid this prime hunting ground from here on out. 

The villagers had made no special arrangements and watched in panic as the wyvern took the youngest, most valuable of their heifers. Once again, they hurried to inform the officials and the guild, but the lord’s reaction was less than favorable, and so after that, one party at a time, the hunters began to appear. 

They heard from the hunters that rather than sending out more troops, the lord had issued a request to the guild for the wyvern to be exterminated. 

As far as the villagers were concerned, it did not matter who felled the wyvern. If the lord was willing to pay for someone else to do so, then they were all the more thankful for that. 

However… 

The first party. The second party. The third party. 

One after another, the hunters failed. 

They even heard tell that there were hunters who tried to face the wyvern at other locations as well, and that already, several other parties had been forced to retreat due to their injuries. 

Fortunately, though there were many who had taken injuries, the villagers had yet to hear of anyone being killed, likely because, as always, the wyvern was only playing with them, holding back its true power. The wyvern could easily afford to do so, after all. 

And then, just when it seemed that all the hunters nearby had been defeated, and none had appeared in the village for some time, the Crimson Vow had suddenly arrived. 

“It’s all more or less as we predicted. Nothing really stood out to me in any of their stories. Except for one thing…” 

“Yeah, you’re right. Everyone acted as they were equipped to, and handled themselves accordingly.” 

“Indeed. It’s just that…” 

The four came to the conclusion as one: 

“The wyvern is way too strong and way too smart!” 

Indeed, that was the only thing that was particularly strange. 

“I guess it makes sense that the request didn’t have the full details on it when it made it to the capital.” 

Yes, just as Reina implied, there had been no extra information written on the job request slip. After all, most of the “facts” were still confined to the realm of rumor, while the rest would have been inconvenient for the client to relate. 

Lying on a request was strictly forbidden, and intentionally withholding crucial information was taboo as well. 

In those cases, if the client meant anything malicious by their omission, the deposit would be seized, and they would face the penalty of increased deposits and handling fees for any requests filed in the future. Furthermore, if the client’s omission put hunters in danger, they would be judged by a government official independent of the guild. In that case, it could become an incident of “attempted murder via willful negligence.” 

However, in this case, the fact that the request was to “eliminate one wyvern,” as well as the general danger of the situation, had not changed. The fact that the soldiers had been defeated and the hunters had failed amounted to nothing that required special disclosure. If the opponent was not actually a wyvern, or there were multiple wyverns, that would be another matter entirely. 

But in this case, it was simply that the wyvern was strong, or perhaps that the soldiers and the hunters were weak. No one could know for certain, so they had no responsibility to go out of their way to include this information in their request. 

Plus, if the hunters did any investigating, such things would be easy enough for them to confirm for themselves. 

If everyone were to share prolific details of indeterminate veracity on their request forms, their job acceptances would grow scarce, and those who would take on such clients would have more than enough information to try and negotiate a rate increase. 

If the lord had included a note about the systematic nature of the wyvern sightings, the number of takers for the job might have increased; however, if they did so, it would also have awakened suspicions, inviting questions which would be inconvenient to address, such as, “Why is it so systematic?” “Why doesn’t the military handle it?” 

“So, the question is… what should we do?” 

“Normally, the only choice would be to face it head-on and bring it down.” 

“Yeah. There isn’t really any other way…” 

As Reina, Pauline, and Mavis had all suggested, even if the wyvern was a fairly intelligent creature, and even if there was something else at play, “exterminating the wyvern” was still the task that the Crimson Vow faced. 

The Crimson Vow were neither royal spies nor official investigators. Without any special authority, they had no right to take on that sort of task. 

The task they had accepted was simple: defeat the wyvern. That was all. 

Later, they went back over the information that they had gathered from the villagers. However, since no one had been brave enough to peek around the battlegrounds where the soldiers and hunters faced the wyvern, and no one had been stupid enough to interrogate anyone who was injured and preparing to retreat to the capital as soon as they could, the particulars of the previous battles were unclear. 

The local guild branch likely would have investigated all of this, but what the guild master would not have expected was the fact that there was nothing special to report. 

They probably already knew that the wyvern was strong, but that much could be guessed from the failed hunters who came back with nothing more to report than the fact that their enemy had been a powerful one. If there had been something else to report, like the fact that there were three wyverns, or that this one could breathe fire and shoot laser beams from its eyes, then that would have been a different story… 

Once their information-gathering mission had concluded, the Crimson Vow ate their lunch-slash-dinner at the saloon and retired to the inn. 

Aside from Mavis and Pauline, who ate comparatively little, the villagers were agog to watch such small girls wolf down such large mountains of food. However, they had gone without lunch, and whenever a hunter could eat, she should always eat her fill. Particularly while they were in a completely safe place, where there was no worry of them cramping up from a full stomach. 

Pauline and Mavis were a little embarrassed to be eating while the watching villagers were not, but Mile and Reina did not even appear to notice. 

Reina would have written it off as nothing, since even while they were eating they were still on the job. As for Mile, she was merely hungry, and did not think anything of it at all. 

Apparently, compared to her previous body, in this life Mile’s body was not very fuel-efficient… 

*** 

The following morning, a single cow was taken from the village to the top of a short hill, a little bit away from the village, then fastened in a clearing of trees. 

Naturally, the Crimson Vow was there as well. 

If the Crimson Vow were to stand alone atop a hill, that alone might have been enough to attract the wyvern’s attention; however, on the off chance that the wyvern were to develop a taste for human flesh, it might become a problem. They could not deny the villagers’ request to send a cow up as an offering as well. 

Perhaps the villagers were considering the girls’ safety. If a cow, which was far more appetizing than a human, was present, and if the girls handled themselves properly, then it wasn’t impossible that the wyvern might simply grab the cow and fly right away. In that case, of course, they would not have succeeded with the extermination; however, compared to the possibility of the still-young girls becoming martyrs and seeing one or two of them dragged away by the wyvern, losing a single cow was nothing. So thought the kind-hearted villagers. 

Once the cow was secured in the clearing, the villagers headed home, and the Crimson Vow waited silently for the wyvern to arrive. 

Because their quarry was flying in from far off in the sky, it wouldn’t have been a problem for them to speak in quiet voices, but as hunters, they were trained not to speak while waiting to ambush a target… 

As it happened, they were not alone. A courageous youth, who was “incredibly fond of cute girls,” was watching stealthily from behind a tree, waiting to run and alert the village the moment the wyvern flew away, should any of the girls sustain serious injury. 

He was the sort of youth who, so far unsatisfied with the rough country girls of the village, would face any danger for the sake of a “pure and beautiful” young maiden. He was not bad-looking, and was often seen caring for children, but for some reason he had not been very popular with the women of the village. Perhaps that was because the only children he took care of were always young girls… 

Still, the youth thought, compared to someone who never looked after children at all, he was a far better catch, so he was hard-pressed to understand what was so unappealing about his behavior. 

Mile was scanning the perimeter with her location magic, so naturally, she knew that the youth was there. However, she assumed that he was a witness sent as a representative of the village and had already considered the possibility that there might be a messenger present to send for relief. So, she ignored him. 

In any case, even if he were to see something odd in the ensuing scene, people would merely assume that he was overexcited by seeing a wyvern extermination for the first time in his life, or that he was exaggerating what he had witnessed for the sake of spinning a yarn. No one was likely to believe him. 

Unless a number of people corroborated his testimony—or the listener was particularly gullible—no one was likely to believe a ridiculous story of what some villager had supposedly witnessed. If it was something that affected their own lives, people might be inclined to do a bit of investigation before waving it off as a lie, but if it was something like, “I saw an incredible battle!” they were likely to just laugh and ignore it. 

In other words, he was harmless. Not a threat. That was the sum of it. 

“It’s here!” 

Of course, the first to spot the approaching wyvern was Mavis. 

This was less a matter of her having a higher vantage point and wider field of vision because of her height, and more because of her innate abilities. 

The other three looked in the direction that Mavis was pointing, and sure enough, there was a dark speck in the sky, growing larger by the second. 

“Huh?” 

Mile, whose abilities were even greater than those of Mavis, raised her voice in confusion. 

“What’s wrong?” Reina asked suspiciously. 

“It looks like the wyvern is already holding something…” 

When they looked more closely, they saw, sure enough, that the wyvern appeared to be clutching something that looked vaguely like a cow in its talons. 

“That’s weird… If it already got its prey somewhere else today, wouldn’t it just pass by this village?” Reina muttered. 

And yet, the wyvern continued to fly straight toward them. 

Then, when it was very near to the hill, it dropped in altitude and disappeared beyond the grove. 

“Huh…?” 

The four were stunned at this unexpected maneuver, but they quickly collected themselves and began to prepare. 

When the wyvern rose above the trees again, it was no longer gripping the cow-like object in its talons, but instead a log about 30 centimeters in diameter. 

“It’s coming!” said Reina. 

“All right!!” the other three cheered. 

It was not a particularly girlish battle cry, but they were hunters, after all. 

It seemed that the wyvern had deemed the Crimson Vow to be a threat from the start. 

Perhaps it could tell from their gear and weapons that they were not villagers, but of the ilk of those people who had launched attacks against it so many times before. It was in attack mode from the get-go. 

In its talons it gripped a log, probably a fallen tree. The method that the wyvern had chosen to attack most effectively with this implement was a loft bombing attack. 

Compared to a horizontal bombing, this method had a much higher rate of accuracy, and though it was a far greater burden on the body, if one could withstand it, the results were worthwhile. 

A drop bombing attack of higher than a 30-degree angle, such as could be called dive bombing, would prove too difficult for a fleshy creature incapable of aerobraking, so the wyvern continued downward at a leisurely angle of less than 30 degrees, its large body accelerated by gravity and trembling violently against the pressure of the wind. 

It would not need to pierce through any bulky shielding, so it did not require an immense amount of speed. On the contrary, the more slowly it descended, the more precisely it could aim at an enemy that was running around until the very last moment—and moreover, enjoy prolonging the fear it caused in its target for as long as possible. 

There was no time for the girls to duck into the trees to avoid the attack. 

Mile, judging from the fact that the wyvern was performing this trick so handily, deduced that this must be its preferred method of attack, and shouted directions to the group. 

Hearing this, the other three did as she said. Normally, she was a bit of a scatterbrain, but when it came to magical abilities and other such miscellaneous trivia, everyone happily followed her lead. Even though they might poke fun at her for her sillier moments, no one thought Mile was stupid. 

She was merely sheltered, couldn’t read a room, lacked common sense, was absentminded, made unthinkable mistakes, and was much too soft-hearted. 

Basically, she was what most people in the world would call a fool. 

The wyvern was fast approaching, but the four of them stood unmoving. 

Then, just as the wyvern appeared to enter the final stage of its throwing attack, Mile shouted, “Run!” 

As she had previously instructed them, they turned and ran with all their might in the opposite direction to the approaching wyvern. 

Seeing this, the wyvern opened its beak, as if to grin. 

Yes, its prey always ran. Then, the log would barrel forward, striking the running prey down from behind. 

As long as it aimed a little ahead of its prey’s current position, the log would either hit them or else land just a little behind, before rolling in their direction. That was what it had learned from its master, and it had seen the effectiveness of this method confirmed time and again in real life. 

From behind the point where its prey was running straight forward… Now! 

“About face!” 

At that moment, Mile, who was coolly keeping watch over her shoulder, saw the practiced movement of the wyvern’s claws and shouted. 

The next moment, the four of them skidded to a halt and turned about, toward the wyvern, then ran at it at full tilt. 

The log, which had already left the wyvern’s grasp, sailed over their heads and behind them. 

“Attack!” 

At Mile’s next signal, Reina and Pauline, who had been incanting as they ran, let their attack spells fly. 

“Fire Bomb!” 

“Water Bomb!” 

Whoosh! 

The wyvern, overcome with panic, twisted its body, barely managing to avoid the spells that came flying. The first one, and then the second… 

“We did it.” 

Watching the wyvern desperately dodge the magic, then take a swift upward turn to return to a higher altitude, Mile crossed her arms, looking on proudly. 

“What do you mean, ‘We did it’?! It just got away! What do we do now?! I guess that did save us, at least…” 

“It’s fine. It still hasn’t taken any damage, and it doesn’t seem like the sort of opponent to run away just from that little attack.” 

As if it had heard Mile’s reply, the wyvern did not flee, but rather began circling in the sky above them once it had attained a sufficient altitude. 

And then, Reina’s shout rang out. “Why is it that you can’t read people at all, but you can read monsters just fine?!?!” 

The wyvern continued circling at an altitude their spells could not reach, peering down at their party. Apparently, now that the hunters had avoided its special attack and nearly scored a direct hit with their combat spells, it was remaining vigilant. 

However, it had no intention of shamelessly running back home, or abandoning this valuable feeding ground. 

“This time, we have to let off a preemptive strike,” Mile suddenly said. 

Reina’s response was reflexive. “Preemptive strike?” 

“It means that we have to make the first move,” Mile clarified. 

“I know that much! What I was asking was, how do you expect us to attack an enemy that’s so high up our spells won’t reach it?! Guhuh, hff hff hff…” 

Apparently, Reina had screamed her throat raw. A mage’s windpipe was a valuable asset. 

Next time, I’ll make her some lozenges , thought Mile. 

“Are you saying that your magic can reach it?” Reina asked, having recovered at least a little bit of her voice. 

“Hmm. I don’t know about all that, but if we can’t reach it by attacking from the ground, then all we have to do is just get to somewhere where we can reach it,” Mile answered. “Therefore, Reina, would you please start the incantation for an attack spell? Just before you let it off, I’m going to make you fly with magic. And then, please fire your spell directly at the wyvern. We only have one shot at this, so please use the strongest spell you have!” 

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean, ‘fly’? Wait a minute, just what are you…” 

“Now! Hurry and start the spell! There’s no time!” 

“Huh? A-all right, then…” 

Now was not the time to sit and chat. Knowing this in her heart, Reina decided to trust in Mile. Even if she was talking nonsense, Mile was still a fellow party member and a reliable friend who had saved them many times before. If she couldn’t put her unconditional trust in her now, then what was their friendship for?! 

Plus, she was rather interested in this alleged flying magic. 

She was going to fly through the sky, free as a bird. Deep down, her heart was aflutter. 

With this thought in mind, Reina began her spell. There was no choice here but to use her magnum opus, “Crimson Hellfire.” 

Reina began the incantation, and when she had reached the halfway point, Mile grabbed her around both sides from behind. 

“Eep!” 

Reina was startled at this sudden gesture, but she was still a pro hunter, so she did not allow the flow of her spell to be broken. This was surely a part of the procedure for the flying spell, so she ignored the tickling sensation. 

“Here we go! Thunderbird No. 1, prepare for liftoff!” 

With that announcement, Mile swung her around in a huge circle. 

“Wh-hwa-whaaaaaa-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!” 

As Mile swung Reina with all her might, finally, Reina let out a scream. 

“Swingby!” 

The moment that Reina had amassed enough centripetal force, Mile launched her toward the wyvern, at full strength. 

“Magical Fireblaster, Reina Gun!!!” 

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” 

The wyvern was trembling. 

A human, which was not supposed to be able to fly, was flying in a direct line toward it. At considerable speed. 

It was making a hideous expression and baring its fangs, letting out an awesome roar as it approached at high velocity. This was the one that launched the attack earlier. Oh no!! 

Momentarily forgetting its wyvern pride, the creature dodged. 

And yet, the human did not alter its course, soaring directly past. 

Roaring all the way. 

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” 

“Reina, why didn’t you hit it with your spell?!” 

Mile pouted and complained, performing her next spell a bit grudgingly. 

“Rising air currents! Give Reina a soft landing!” 

As she said this, a whirlwind whipped up counterclockwise in the spot where Reina was expected to land, and a strong upward current rose… Apparently, they were somewhere in the northern hemisphere. 

Whether the air had begun to move in an upward current because of the counterclockwise spiral, or whether the counterclockwise spiral had arisen because of the air current, was not certain, but at any rate, Reina was cushioned by the strong upward draft and made a successful safe landing. 

“All right, Pauline, you’re up next. Please don’t you fail me, too!” Mile said, approaching, but Pauline thrust both arms out, refusing her with a dire expression. 

“N-no! Absolutely noooot!!!” 

Mile inched slowly nearer, and Pauline inched slowly away. 

“The name of this attack is ‘Flesh-Ravaging Halo, Pauline’!” 

Inch, inch… 

Inch, inch… 

Inch, inch… 

As she slowly closed in, sweat poured down Pauline’s neck, when finally a voice of salvation rang out. 

“I’ll go next!” 

Mile turned around to see Mavis, a broad smile on her face. 

With Mile’s attention redirected at Mavis, Pauline took the opportunity to escape. 

She couldn’t run away from the battleground, so she ran instead to check on Reina. When she arrived at Reina’s landing spot, she saw that Reina appeared safe and was using some kind of magic. 

“Reina, are you hurt? I’ve got my healing magic ready!” 

It was not that Reina could not use healing spells herself, but Reina, who specialized in combat magic, was nowhere near as strong a healer as Pauline. Pauline was running toward her in a panic, but Reina stopped her frantically. 

“St-stay back! You can’t come over here!!!” 

It was then that Pauline noticed. The spell that Reina had been using when Pauline approached, her face bright red, was the body and clothing cleaning magic that Mile had taught them so long ago. 

“Oh……” 

Pauline stopped in her tracks. Her expression was uncertain and delicate. 

And then, Reina’s scream rang out. 

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!” 

The wyvern, meanwhile, continued circling in the sky above, its heart pounding like a freight train. 

It had been afraid. The face on that approaching human had been truly frightening. That in and of itself was terrifying. 

It was the first time the wyvern had felt fear in a very long while. 

And, just a little—just a little —it had wet itself. For a strong and proud wyvern, this was incredibly embarrassing. 

It would have no choice but to defeat these humans, to wash itself of this disgrace. 

So as not to violate its master’s orders, it would not kill them, but it would send them fleeing in terror! 

“Are you ready?” 

“Yeah, ready whenever.” 

“Do you need to go to the bathroom? Have you prayed to your god? Is your heart ready?” 

“Look, I said I’m ready whenever, didn’t I? What in the world are you going on about, Mile?” 

Mavis was jittery with anticipation. 

She was going to fly. 

She was going to soar through the great heavens above and strike down a wyvern, lord of the skies, on a battlefield far above the ground. 

She was going to achieve something that no knight in existence had ever done before. 

She was going to do it. Mavis was going to be the one. Look at her now, Father and Big Brothers! 

Mile grabbed her gently beneath her arms. And then, she began a mysterious spell. 

“Thunderbird No. 2, prepare for liftoff! Use your No. 1 weapon, the shortsword!” 

Whoom. 

Her body was being swung around. 

Whoom whoom. 

However, this was nothing for a body as strong as hers. 

Whoom whoom whoom whoom whoom. 

Just a little more… 

“Swingby!” 

She could hear Mile’s voice. And then… 

“Mavis Cutter!!!” 

Ka-whoosh! 

Mavis was soaring through the air. 

With her sword held fast in both hands, poised at the ready, she was flying straight toward the wyvern. 

“True Godspeed Blade, Second Form, Heaven Blade. Attack!” 

Here comes anotheeeeeeer!!! 

The wyvern was in a complete tizzy. 

Naturally so. Yet again, a human, who should not have been able to fly, was now shooting directly toward it. The fear it felt before came roaring back. 

However, this individual was not one of the humans who had fired a magical attack at it before. 

Judging by its appearance, and based on the types of humans who had challenged the wyvern in battle before, this one was not the magic type, but the type that brandished an iron stick. In that case, this one was less formidable. As long as the wyvern took care not to let its wings be damaged, its body and tail could not be badly hurt. 

The only choice it had was to drop down from above. 

If it had considered this more fully, it would have realized that, unlike a magical attack, where a bit of distance was no object, if the wyvern just dodged a sword attack a little bit, it would be over. Probably, Mile had predicted that the wyvern would choose to attack head-on… Probably. 

“Hiyaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!” 

Mavis swung her sword straight ahead at full strength, aiming for the wyvern’s neck. However, the wyvern, predicting this all too well, twisted its body and swung its tail at full force toward… or rather, it tried to, but Mavis’s attack was a lot quicker than it thought it would be! 

The wyvern tried desperately to twist its body some more, keeping its neck away from the approaching sword. Quickly, quickly it had to strike the human with its tail! 

Ka-shunk! 

After a moment’s clashing, both of the parties’ bodies separated and flew apart. 

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” 

Mavis, seeing the tail approaching, had given up on aiming for the neck. The wyvern was hurt, its proud tail damaged by the redirected attack. It was stunned by the pain. 

And then, Mavis, who had now begun her descent, looked down at the ground below. 

Both of them screamed until their throats nearly burst. 

“Oh… ah…” 

The wyvern continued circling shakily in the sky, so once Mile had set up her upward draft cushioning magic to break Mavis’s fall, she had nothing to do but go to check on Mavis, once she landed. For some reason, she was on her hands and knees in the grass, groaning. 

“Oh no! Are you hurt somewhere?” Mile asked, worried. 

Mavis weakly replied, “I-It’s nothing. Just… please, please give me a moment…” 

After a short while, Reina and Pauline reappeared. 

Reina looked incredibly displeased, but for some reason, after she glanced at Mavis’s lower half, she appeared all the more irritated. She stomped toward Mile. 

Whack. 

“Oww!” 

Mile let out a cry as Reina suddenly jabbed her in the head with her staff. 

Whack whack! 

“Ow! That hurts! What are you doing, Reina?!” 

Whap whack whack whack whack! 

“St-stop! Please stop iiiiit!!!” 

Whack whack whack whack whack whack whack whack whack! 

“I-I was wrong! I apologize. Please stop it alreadyyyyyyyyyyy!!!” 

Thanks to her naturally high stats, this attack did not truly hurt Mile, but seeing Reina’s expression, feeling a sort of intellectual pain along the lines of “I’m pretty sure this should hurt,” and recognizing the seriousness of Reina’s anger from a vigorous attack that normally should hurt a great deal, Mile apologized profusely. 

“Mile, do you really understand why I’m angry with you?” 

“Of course!” Mile quickly replied. “I should have launched you more accurately, and at a much higher speed, so that the wyvern couldn’t have dodg—ow! Owwwwwwwwwww!” 

Whack whack whack whack whack whack whack whack whack! 

“Hff hff hff hff…” 

When Reina, Mavis, Mile, and Pauline—who, besides Pauline, were all exhausted for some reason—looked up into the sky, they saw that the wyvern, which had been unsteadily circling up until now, had begun to move more purposefully. It seemed it was preparing to do something else. 

“Looks like this is Round Two…” Mile muttered. 

The other three nodded. 

The wyvern was shaken to realize that the wound it had received was deeper than predicted, but its tail had not been cut off, and it was far from a life-threatening injury. As yet, its movements were unhindered. As long as it left it alone, the wound would heal up soon enough. 

However, while the blow to its body would heal naturally, the wound to its pride was not so easily mended. The wyvern would have to stitch up that gash itself. Indeed, by defeating its enemies. 

It had never had to get serious against the enemies it had faced so far. They were trifles, little things that it only needed to toy with. It had never needed to get down and dirty, and pull the ace from its sleeve. 

However, this time… Finally, it had encountered a foe that would require it to summon its full strength. 

The wyvern was rather pleased about this. 

Now, playtime was over. It was time for a real battle. 

It began its descent. Then, it began to inhale. It was time to launch a serious attack, against an opponent that the wyvern itself had deemed neither prey nor plaything, but a true enemy. 

“A direct attack?” 

“Yes!” 

Seeing that the wyvern was going to launch a direct attack, using either its claws, its tail, or its teeth, everyone was thrilled, and Mavis was particularly delighted. She laughed out loud at this perfect chance, brandishing her sword. 

However, seeing how the approaching wyvern had opened its mouth wide, Mile went pale. 

I’ve seen something like this before! It was on an anime VHS that was in my father’s library! 

“Dodge!!!” 

Seeing Mile leap and thrust Pauline, who stood beside her, out of the way, Mavis and Reina quickly moved as well. Just then… 

Blam! 

There was a sensation like the air trembling, and then the ground where the girls had been standing burst open. 

After that, the wyvern quickly pulled its body up and ascended again. 

“What?! A ranged attack?!” 

“Dragon Breath? But I didn’t see anything!” 

“I-I’ve never heard of them having an ability like that!” 

Mavis, Reina, and Pauline were all utterly awestruck, but Mile folded her arms and spoke with apparent comprehension. 

“Of course…” 

“Y-you knew about this, Mile?!” Mavis asked. 

“The Stomach Flute Technique…” 

The what?!?! 

This ultrasonic barrage was probably a kind of Breath attack. 

A wyvern using a Breath attack was an incredibly rare occurrence, but it was not entirely unheard of. 

Though they may have been pseudo-dragons, they were still a variety of dragon, and masters of flight-assisting magic. Thus, a particularly intelligent creature might be able to learn a Breath technique by watching and imitating other dragon types. Such things had been observed many times in the past. That said, none of them had expected to bear witness to such a rare occurrence on this occasion. 

They had already concluded that this was an abnormally intelligent specimen, so they should have anticipated the possibility. Yet there had been no reports of anything like it from the other hunters. If there had been, the guild master most certainly would have told them. 

And so, it would be overly harsh to criticize the Crimson Vow, who could not have been expected to assume that the wyvern possessed the wisdom to conceal its strongest technique until the very end of the battle. There were scarcely any hunters who would ever assume such a thing… 

“Wh-what was that ‘Something’ Technique you were talking about…?” Reina asked. 

“Stomach Flute Technique. Please think of it as a type of Breath attack,” Mile replied, thinking. 

This is bad… This wyvern can use ranged attack magic…and it has a much farther range than Reina and Pauline… 

Until now, Mile had been careful about her magic so that everyone else would not come to rely on her. If they relied on her magic for everything, they would never grow, and they would not be functioning as a party in the first place. Plus, she would hate to have that sort of relationship with others. 

As a result, she had resigned herself to a supporting role in this battle, thinking that Reina, Mavis, and Pauline could take center stage in defeating the wyvern. 

Yet these new circumstances were making that stance more difficult. 

The enemy’s attacks could reach them, but no one’s attacks but hers could reach the enemy. The wyvern had no intention of entering the range of the others’ attacks. Plus, with her carefully devised “Thunderbird Plan” having ended twice in misfires, Reina and Mavis would have absolutely no interest in flying again. 

At this rate, the wyvern was going to remain at a distance where its attacks could reach the Crimson Vow, but theirs could not, meaning that they would continue to face a one-sided assault. That said, letting themselves be defeated here would be a stain on the Crimson Vow’s record. 

What to do? 

“I-I’ll go next!” 

“Huh?” 

As Mile pondered, Pauline suddenly announced herself, looking a bit queasy. 

“Are you sure about this?” Mile asked. 

“I mean, do we have any other choice? Plus, I’m a member of the Crimson Vow, too!” said Pauline. 

Mile nodded emphatically. 

“All right then. Fly now, Pauline!” 

And so, Mile outlined some key items. 

“I’m going to aim you straight for its jaw. It’s going to get away quick, so you can’t use any continuous spells. Strike it with an ice javelin, and if we’re lucky, that will give it a concussion and knock it from the sky. At the very least, please try to injure its throat or palate, so that it can’t use that special breath again!” 

“U-understood!” 

This time, there was a chance that Pauline might take a ranged attack while approaching. Plus, unlike Mavis, Pauline did not have the durability to take a blow from the wyvern’s tail, talons, or pointy teeth straight on. To ensure her safety, Mile whispered to herself, “Lattice Power Barrier!!!” 

Then, Mile grabbed Pauline under the arms and began her mysterious spell once more. 

“Thunderbird No. 3, prepare for liftoff!” 

Whoom! 

Whoom whoom whoom! 

“Swingby!” 

Ka-whoosh! 

She blasted off, at a far higher speed than even the previous two. 

“Chin Bombing Thunderbird, Argo!” 

Another ooooone!!! 

The wyvern, which had just started on its attack path yet again, was momentarily distressed at the appearance of another “flying human,” but it quickly regained its cool. This was the third time this had happened now, so the wyvern was starting to grow accustomed to it. Even if it was still a bit frightening… 

Seeing that this opponent was one of the individuals that had launched a magical attack, the wyvern opened its mouth and drew in a breath in order to launch a preemptive strike. 

Shiiiiiiiiing… 

Boom! 

It should have been a direct hit, but, the enemy was still speeding toward the wyvern, its path unchanged. The wyvern panicked. The human had blasted through its special technique, in which the wyvern had absolute confidence, without moving a muscle. Furthermore, unlike the previous two, this human was flying silently, without making a sound. 

The truly strong ones never roared. This was the thought that crossed the wyvern’s mind. 

It was already too late to launch a second attack. All it had left now were its tail and its claws… 

At this thought, the wyvern glared at its enemy, and that was when it noticed. 

The flying human’s eyes were closed, its body completely limp. 

Yes, it was unconscious. 

Bang! 

In spite of the wyvern’s tail attack, Pauline, who was surrounded by the sturdy lattice power barrier, retained her kinetic energy and crashed into the wyvern. 

And then, they both fell toward the ground. 

“Waaaaaaah! Upward Draft! Air Cushion! Gravity Control!!!” 

Pauline and the wyvern were falling together, so it was difficult to cushion only Pauline’s fall. Plus, if the wyvern were to fall on top of her , Pauline would be crushed. Mile had to ensure that both of them landed softly. She hurriedly set off her spells. 

As a result, the descent speeds of both rapidly declined, and somehow, they successfully made a soft landing. 

“Boss! A wyvern just fell from the sky!” 

“Don’t you think I can see that?! Also, who’s this ‘Boss’?!?!” 

Apparently, Mile had returned to her usual self. 

Still, naturally, she did not attempt to catch the falling wyvern in her arms. 

Because Pauline was so light, and because Mavis, ever the gentlewoman, caught her in her arms, Pauline took no damage, even though she was still unconscious. However, it was possible there were still some aftereffects from her collision with the wyvern, and Mile applied healing magic silently. 

As for the wyvern, even if Mile had used her magic to cushion its fall, it was still quite heavy, and in order for it to be lightweight enough to stay aloft, its body was rather brittle. As a result, it did appear to have taken at least a bit of damage from the fall. 

While the wyvern was still twitching on the ground, Mile pulled something like a spool of thread from her loot box and bound the wyvern’s mouth, limbs, wings, and tail. 

When the wyvern came to shortly thereafter, it tried to break the bonds, but it could not shred the seemingly thin cord that it was wrapped in. 

Carbon nanotubes. 

Yes, it was the same powerful material that Mile’s slingshot was made of. Nothing bound with that carbon nanotube thread would be able to break free with such halfhearted strength. 

After a short while, Pauline regained consciousness, staring widely, perplexed, when the others told her that she had felled the wyvern. 

“So, I guess we should transport this guy to the lord. Capturing a wyvern alive is a pretty rare occurrence, and this one is pretty smart, so if you clipped its wings, broke it in, and put it on display, there could be a use for it. Well, actually, they might have to do a public execution in order to appease the citizens—but as long as we get our completion stamp and our pay, the rest of it’s none of our business. If we can collect an extra free for bringing it in alive, they can do whatever they want with it after.” 

The wyvern, which had either given up on breaking its bonds, or simply relaxed, thinking that no immediate danger was likely to befall it, was lying quietly, but at this, it eyed Reina uneasily, as though perhaps, it could understand her words. 

Nodding at Reina, Mile called to the youth who had been standing beneath the trees watching them, in order to ask him to call the villagers, who could help them transport the wyvern. That was when he appeared. 

He had white hair and a white beard. An older man wearing a robe and holding a wand, looking very much like a stereotypical mage, appeared from between the trees and said to the four, “I can’t bear to see that poor little wyvern being picked on by all these people. What do you say? I’ll give you a gold piece if you hand the creature over to me.” 

Hearing this, all four of them had the exact same thought at once. 

Wh-what a shady guyyyy!!! 

And then, Mile alone thought, It’s Urashima Taro!!! 

“Do you think we’re stupid? If we bring this thing in, we’ll get paid 30 gold as a reward, plus an additional fee for bringing it in alive. Why should we turn it over to you for just one gold piece?! You just want to say that you captured it yourself and collect the reward, don’t you? Plus, if our job is treated as failed, then not only will we have to pay the penalty, our party’s reputation will suffer. There’s no way you’re taking it!” 

The man’s brows knitted at Reina’s words, but Mile tossed him a lifeline. 

“But if you’ll let us take just part of the wyvern as proof of the extermination, we might be able to hand it over for just ten gold pieces… couldn’t we, Reina?” 

“Huh? Yes, well, if we did that we wouldn’t get the bonus for bringing it in alive, but we’d still get our completion stamp, so, well, I guess that would be fine…” 

It was ten times what he had intended to pay, but that should not have been an issue. The man appeared relieved, and asked, “Yes, that’s splendid! Well then, which part of it would you need to take as your proof?” 

The four of them answered in unison. 

“The head!” 

“Wh…” The man was nearly speechless. 

Naturally, Mile had never had any intention of turning the wyvern over to such a shady old man. She had merely hoped that he would let some information slip if they agitated him. 

“But if you take that, it’ll die!” the man shouted. 

Reina gave the natural response. “That’s expected, isn’t it? We have to prove that we eliminated it, so…” 

“But I want to take Lo—ahem, the wyvern back alive!” 

“So we’ll compromise. All told, the elimination reward, along with the bonus for bringing it in alive, plus damages for us having our job treated as a failure would total somewhere around 100 gold.” 

So said Reina, but honestly, no matter how much money he paid, she had no intention of turning over the wyvern. Even if the man were to offer them heaps of money, there was no amount of gold that would make up for having the mark of a failed job on their record and the blow to their reputations that would come with it. 

Plus, if the wyvern were to attack the village again later, and anyone died because of it, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. 

“Grrrrrrngh…” 

Obviously, to pay one hundred gold or more—the equivalent of over one million Japanese yen—would hurt quite a bit. The man thought hard. 

Just then, Pauline asked completely naturally and nonchalantly, “By the way, what was the deal with that cow-like thing that the wyvern was carrying?” 

“Oh, that was the dragon-drawn carriage I was riding in. It’s disguised so that if anyone sees it, it will just look like a… sto… len…” 

The man had begun speaking confidently, but his voice grew small, and then petered out. 

There was an idiot in their midst. 

“Say, Mile, is this man your father?” asked Reina. 

“Just what does that meeeeeeeaaaaaan?!” Mile shouted back. 

“So, is that wyvern named Low or something?” Mavis snarked. 

“It’s Lobreth!” the man snapped back. “And though it isn’t comparable to the Breath of an elder dragon, he can still use Dragon’s Breath. That is incredibly rare for a wyvern, so I decided to make that part of his name. ‘Low Breath,’ or more concisely, ‘Lobreth.’” 

Compared to the frivolous, unusual names that modern parents liked to give their children, this was far more straightforward reasoning. It gave them a sort of affection for the man. Mile was genuinely moved. 

“The Mysterious Bird Lobreth…” 

“I told you before, a wyvern isn’t a bird!” 

“Oh, yes…” 

“Anyway, that’s not the problem! What kind of villain uses a wyvern to attack people?! What’s your angle?” Mile was angry. 

“None in particular…” 

“Huh?” 

“Well, I’m saying that I wasn’t really trying to do anything.” 

“Whaaaat?!” 

His response to Mile’s accusation was not what the Crimson Vow had expected. 

“B-but, you attacked the village…” 

“But wyverns always attack villages that are inside their territories, don’t they?” 

“Er…” 

Unable to form a response to the man’s words, Mile went silent. 

“B-but the wyvern…” Mavis started. 

“It’s Lobreth,” the man interrupted. 

Apparently, he was very invested in this name he had come up with. 

“Anyway, this Lobreth is in your care, isn’t he?! In which case, his attacking the village would have to have been at your command…” 

“I’m not taking care of him!” 

“Huh???” 

“I’m telling you I have nothing to do with caring for Lobreth.” 

“Th-then, just what exactly is Lobreth to you?!” Pauline asked, raising her voice for once in a blue moon. 

The man replied, “He’s my friend.” 

“What?” 

“He and I are friends. Now and then he carries me around in that carriage, and I heal his wounds whenever he gets hurt. If my friend wants to eat things that are within his territory, what business is it of mine?” 

“…………” 

All four of the girls were stunned, their mouths agape, not able to manage another word. 

“Furthermore, I have asked him never to harm anyone who doesn’t harm him, particularly not any women or children. If someone were to ask him, please don’t harm any creatures except wolves in the forest who attack people, and people who attack you, and even when you are attacked, try your best not to kill or seriously injure anyone, especially women and children, then what’s the crime in that? On the contrary, if that is a criminal act, then what would you call a virtuous one?” 

“Uh…” 

This was suspicious. 

This was clearly suspicious, and the things he said were nothing more than trickery. 

Even though this was what they were all thinking, if they couldn’t disprove what the man was saying, then they had no right to apprehend him as a criminal. 

On the contrary, apprehending him without proof would make them the criminals. 

What to do? 

Reina, Mavis, and Mile thought hard, but then Pauline chimed in. “Well then, why don’t we just hand the wyvern over to the guild!” 

“Wha…?! But I just told you that Lobreth is my friend…” 

“And?” 

By daring to call the creature “the wyvern” and not “Lobreth,” Pauline had emphasized that to them, “Lobreth” was nothing more than some monster. 

“Our job was to ‘Capture and hand over the wild wyvern that attacked the village and stole their livestock, wounded tons of soldiers and hunters, and just so happens to have a human acquaintance,’ yes? What would you have to do with any of that? Would you walk up to a guard who’s about to arrest a murderer and say, ‘That person is my friend, so you can’t apprehend and punish him?’ He doesn’t belong to you or anything, does he?” 

“Gnh…” 

Pauline was still Pauline, after all. If the man wanted to say that he took no responsibility for the wyvern, then he should be treated accordingly. Yet he had taken the trouble to show himself, so this probably bothered him. 

And then Pauline landed the coup de grâce . 

“It would be awfully hard to transport this thing alive. It might break free along the way and hurt someone… How about this? We give up on turning it in alive and just kill it now? Even if there would be a bonus for bringing it in alive, I’d rather lose the ten gold than run the risk of it escaping during transport. Why not just take the surefire thirty gold and the job completion mark, along with the rank-promotion points?” 

This man was middle-aged, and so had probably been a mage for many years, with the knowledge and ability to match. However, considering the way he was speaking and behaving, his interpersonal skills were lacking. Overwhelmingly so. Indeed, it was quite fair to ask whether he was Mile’s father. 

Perhaps, in his years of research and practice, he had lived a life of almost no human contact. 

Realizing Pauline’s plan was to rile the man up, Mavis and Reina joined in with that assumption in mind. 

“You know, you’re right. Losing everything just for the sake of trying to get a bonus is probably pretty stupid of us.” 

“That’s true. Let’s do it, then!” 

“Wha…?!” 

“Huh? But we don’t need to do that…” 

Naturally, Mile was on the man’s side. 

“Hm… I can tell that you aren’t like those others. You possess a kind heart. Plus, you have that silver hair, and those looks—so adorable, but a bit forlorn, as though you’ve lost something along the way, and that humble, moderately-sized bosom…” 

“Sh-shut up!” 

The man’s demeanor suddenly changed, and though he seemed to be praising her, his comments were incredibly rude. Mile was, understandably, indignant. 

“All right, I’ll take you. I’ll gladly use that body of yours as a vessel for the mind of my beloved Elsie!” 

“What the heck are you talking abouuut?! And, why would I be happy about thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!” Mile screamed. 

Reina, Mavis, and Pauline all stood agape at the speed with which this conversation had escalated. 

And Lobreth, sensing that the discussion had somehow turned away from him, appeared relieved. 

“It was three years ago…” 

The man began to tell some sort of tale. 

The Crimson Vow were surprised at first, but as they considered it, they supposed that getting an explanation from the man was a welcome turn of events. They had plenty of time, so they decided to sit and listen closely. Even if it took a little while, nothing about the situation was going to change. 

“Three years ago, my dearest Elsie passed away… In order to try and resurrect her, I removed the part of her body that holds her mind, and I froze it. Unfortunately, my storage magic only holds ten kilograms, so I couldn’t store her entire body…” 

Apparently, this man had been putting into practice the excuse that Mile gave as to how she could keep the rock lizard for such a long time with storage magic: namely, by “insulating the exterior and applying ice magic at regular intervals.” 

Even if he could only hold a small amount, the fact that this man could use storage magic at all put him in a league above your average mage—and the fact that he had come up with such an idea on his own meant that he was exceptionally talented. 

“After that, I just needed to get my hands on a young and healthy body, but transporting one back to my abode deep in the mountains would be troublesome, so…” 

Suddenly, this tale was growing unsettling. 

“Anyway, to ensure that I had a means of travel and transportation, I thought that I might employ a wyvern.” 

Ah, so that’s why we’re talking about this… 

Finally the dots had been connected. 

“I painstakingly sought out a wyvern’s dwelling, waited until brooding season, and then infiltrated a nest, settling in the shell of an egg that had already hatched and covering myself. When the mother returned, I pretended I was a chick, hatching from the egg. Wyverns, not known for their intelligence, are impressionable enough to think that anything that hatched from their own egg must be their young.” 

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!!! 

The four girls interjected internally. 

“And then, as I ran for dear life…” 

“You just left out the most interesting paaaaaaart!” they all screamed at once. 

The man hung his head and muttered, “I don’t want to remember that part…” 

“O-of course.” 

They understood. 

“As I cowered there, covered in blood, a demon appeared…” 

“D-demon?” 

Mavis sounded shocked. 

Demons dwelled mainly in the northernmost reaches of their continent, cut off from human-inhabited realms by the wide mountain range that ran between the two regions. 

It was not that these mountains were entirely impassable, but it was extremely difficult to try and cross them in a wagon. No one ever attempted it unless they had an extremely compelling reason to do so. 

Plus, demons and humanoids—in other words, humans, elves, and dwarves—rarely got along. 

In fact, even though they were called “demons,” they had no interest in worshipping the devil or trying to overthrow mankind. They were merely a slightly different species. As a race, they also possessed far greater magic than humans. That was the real difference. 

Over time, their name had actually been shortened from its original form, “decidedly magical persons,” to “demagicians,” to merely “demons.” 

There was not a huge distinction between them and humans, so fundamentally, it would not be a stretch for all four races—humans, elves, dwarves, and demons as well—to be considered humanoid. So there could only be one reason why demons should be put in a separate category: 

Jealousy. 

That was all there was to it. 

They had greater magic than humans, better constitutions than elves, and were more skilled than dwarves. 

The differences were subtle. It was an incredibly nuanced talent that they possessed. 

As far as humans were concerned, elves were beautiful and had strong magic, but they were frail and delicate. This was permissible. 

Dwarves were sturdy, and skilled craftsmen, but their magic was weak, and they were short and stumpy. This was permissible as well. 

However, demons were not markedly inferior to humans in any way, and in fact exceeded them ever so subtly by most measures. This was unforgivable. 

Elves and dwarves felt the same way. 

They hadn’t done anything to deserve it, but something about the demons drove the other races mad… This happened often. 

Even so, it seemed that at some point in the past, they had all lived together. But now, no one could say when the division occurred that resulted in the demons moving away. No one in the present day knew what had happened, or the reason for it, but it was clear that the negative feelings were mutual. 

However, while it did seem that they had clashed in the past, there was no specific conflict to speak of in the present. Now and then, you might even see a demon merchant or researcher stop by a humanoid settlement. 

Furthermore, as there were few differences between demons and humans, if they hid themselves behind a hat or hood and made sure that no one noticed their narrow, elongated pupils, it was not so difficult for demons to simply blend in. 

Incidentally, though beastpeople were rather weak at magic, for some reason, they were closer to demons than to humanoids. Therefore, beastpeople rarely showed up in human settlements, either. Not that they didn’t ever appear. 

While Mavis, as a noble, and Mile, as a noble-slash-bookworm, had some knowledge of these circumstances, Reina and Pauline, both commoners, knew nothing about them at all. At best, they thought that demons were evil people who could use strong magic, and that beastpeople were the demons’ violent pawns. 

Clearly, this was the reason that Mavis was surprised that a demon might have appeared in this area. 

Why would they show themselves in a place like this…? 

“He patched my wounds and shared his food and water with me. He asked me how I got so injured, and when I answered, he let out a big laugh, and said, ‘All right, let me handle this.’ Several days later, he brought me this.” 

The man pointed at Lobreth. 

“Huh??” 

This story was incredibly bizarre. 

No matter how much they questioned this plot-hole-filled tale, though, the facts of the man’s explanation did not change. 

They knew that something had happened. They just could not fathom what the demon’s aim could be. 

However, they decided to leave that alone for now and focus on the matter at hand: the old man and Lobreth. 

“Lobreth was much smaller at that time. However, he was naturally intelligent, and quite accustomed to people, or at least, to the demon. Once the demon turned him over to me, he embraced me as well. I fed him, and taught him many things, and once he grew old enough, he left the nest. And of course, by ‘nest,’ I mean the nest that I built near my house. The demon had used Lobreth like a horse to ride, or livestock, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. So Lobreth is simply my friend. That is how I think of him.” 

“What a nice story… not!!! Weren’t you just intending to scoop out my skull and replace my brains?!” Mile raged. 

“Your brains? What are you talking about?” 

The man looked perplexed. “I thought I explained this! I need to exchange your mind with Elsie’s!” 

“Oh, right. A heart transplant, then. I guess that wouldn’t really have anything to do with something like the brain, an organ that doesn’t do anything but produce snot, would it?” 

“Huh?” Mile said. 

Beside her, Reina, Mavis, and Pauline all nodded, as though this were a completely natural conclusion. 

“Whaaaaaaaat?!” 

Apparently, people in this world thought along the same lines as the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. Even though none of the books that Mile had read up until that point had said anything along those lines… 

Though, thought Mile, back in the Kingdom of Brandel, where I was born, I got the impression that the theory was that your mind is in your head… 

At one point, Marcela even said to me, “Miss Adele, just what goes on in that head of yours?!” 

But, now that I think about it, even in Japanese we have a separate word for the heart as an organ, which means that in ancient times, even Japanese people probably thought that your heart—as in your mind—was in your actual heart… 

And I guess it’s true that when you think inappropriate thoughts, it’s your heart that’s fluttering, not your brain… 

In any case, it seemed that Mile’s brains were safe. That was, as long as her transplanted heart could pump enough blood to it. 

“So what do you think? Will you do this for me? It’s not such a horrible idea, is it?” 

“It’s absolutely horrible!!! Worse than horrible—it’s unthinkable! Who would possibly agree to that?!?!” 

They had no idea what the old man was even saying anymore. 

Mile had thought herself completely reasonable, but apparently, in the old man’s view, this was not the case. 

The man would not let up. 

“I’m begging you! I want to live with my precious Elsie once more! I want to hear that adorable little bark of hers again…” 

“She’s a doooooooooooooog?!?!” Mile’s scream rang out. 

“Why would you put a dog’s heart into me—a human ?! If she’s a dog, shouldn’t you put her heart in a dog’s body?!” 

“Huh? Well, I mean, that was certainly my intention up until just a little while ago, but somehow, you’re just the spitting image of her… Plus, a young girl’s body is clearly much more interesting, for a number of reasons…” 

“Whether or not it’s interesting is not the issue here! Plus, how do you expect a dog’s mind to function in a human body?! What happens when it wants to go to the bathroom?!” 

The man stopped and stared at her, apparently pondering something. 

“ Are you imagining iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit?!?! ” 

Her breath ragged from screaming with so much rage, Mile got the feeling that she finally understood exactly how Reina always felt. 

“Anyway, I absolutely refuse! If the heart was frozen normally, then its cells would have broken down on freezing. No matter how much healing magic you used on an orc steak, it wouldn’t bring it back to life, would it? Even if you could successfully transplant something with healing magic, that magic doesn’t have any effect on the dead. That’s because the basis of healing magic… is…” 

Even if she were to simply tell him that this heart transfer was impossible, Mile realized, he wouldn’t believe her. Therefore, she abandoned her explanation mid-thought. 

“Sh-shut up! Don’t act like you know everything! You couldn’t possibly understand the way I feel! To me, Elsie is—Elsie is…” 

“To me , she’s just some complete stranger’s pet dog!” 

“Guh… Y-you… Fine, Lobreth, do it!” 

With a screech, Lobreth stood up and spread his wings. The cord binding his legs, wings, and mouth had been completely undone. 

“H-how…?” Mile asked, surprised. 

The man explained with a sneer. 

“Did you really think I was just talking your ear off for no reason? Bwahaha! While I was talking, I was using part of my mind for silent casting, blasting those ropes with miniscule but powerful fire magic in places you all couldn’t see! That’s how I burned through Lobreth’s bonds! You stupid little girls know nothing about battle—you have a thing or two to learn!” 

Carbon nanotubes were still carbon, after all. They were not particularly flammable, but that meant nothing more than saying it was difficult to ignite coal with a single match. If the thin cords were exposed to high-powered flames, they would burn like anything else. Just as even diamond might burn. 

Because he was at such a close range, Lobreth did not use his Breath, but instead launched a direct attack. 

However, perhaps because his opponents were women, and he had been told to take it easy on them, he attacked not by biting or clawing at them, but by flapping his wings. He was a sporting fellow. 

But then, Lobreth saw Reina and Pauline brandishing their staves and beginning to chant spells, and Mavis wielding her sword. Remembering the magical attack he had desperately dodged earlier, and the pain in his tail, he began beating his wings frantically, whipping up a powerful whirlwind. 

And then, whipped by the winds, Reina, Pauline, and Mile’s skirts began to rise. 

“Eeeeeeeek!!” 

Reina and Pauline stopped their incantations and hurriedly pushed their skirts back down. 

Unconcerned by her own fluttering skirt, Mile muttered, 

“There it is, his ‘Kamikaze Technique’…” 

Mile had been pondering this since she had first seen Lobreth use his “Stomach Flute Technique.” If he could use the “Stomach Flute Technique,” then surely he could use the “Kamikaze Technique” as well. 

“Don’t just stand there talking nonsense and nodding to yourself! Hurry up and attack hiiim!!!” 

Brought back to the present by Reina’s scream of rage, Mile quickly drew her sword. 

However, Lobreth had been trying his best to never kill anyone so far, and he never attacked anyone except those who hurt him first. 

That extended even into this moment. He was still holding back. 

Mile was hesitant to launch a fatal attack on an opponent like that. 

Yet just as she had that thought, a biting attack came her way. It did not seem like Lobreth intended to kill, but merely to clamp down and toss her away. 

As she tried to field the rapidly descending bite attack with her sword, suddenly, Lobreth’s tail came whipping around from the side. 

A side attack was bad. The only force she had to steady her was the friction of her own weight pressing her feet into the ground, so it would be easy to send her flying. 

To cut it off with her sword would be too cruel, and as for magic, water or fire combined with the physical energy of the tail would… 

Snap! 

“Oh…” 

Time was up. 

Too deep in thought to react in time, Mile took a direct hit from Lobreth’s tail and went flying. 

“Mile!!!” the other three screamed. 

The distance she flew this time was much shorter than when she had been struck by the rock lizard, and this time there was no cliffside for her to crash into. 

However, a wyvern’s tail was much thinner than a rock lizard’s and supple like a whip. Therefore, the damage done by the rock lizard’s tail could not compare to the damage done this time. 

Still, now was not the time to go rushing over to Mile. As long as she wasn’t dead, Pauline should be able to do something with her healing magic. Knowing this, the other three turned to face Lobreth. 

Even if his opponents were female, landing some damage on them was unavoidable if it meant that he and his master could escape safely. Having come to this conclusion, Lobreth decided to finally unleash his claw strike along with his tail and his teeth, and charged at the girls brandishing all three. 

Mavis bided her time in an attempt to somehow block this, while Reina and Pauline started their spells. But then… 

“Water Impact!” 

The silently cast spell that flew out then was not Reina’s, Pauline’s, nor (obviously) Mile’s. 

The spell that was cast while the Crimson Vow were preoccupied with Lobreth had come from the suspicious old man. 

It’s over! the old man thought, grinning at his spell, which had gone perfectly according to plan. Just then… 

Ka-shing! 

It bounced back at him. 

The water spell was meant to strike the girl closest to him, the one with the big chest, and envelop both her and the others, then blow them away, knocking the fight out of them without hurting them too much. Yet just before it struck the first girl, the spell came flying back as though it had been repelled by something. 

“Wh…” 

“Ah, I forgot to remove that barrier…” said Mile, who, after she had been sent flying and crashed into the ground, hopped to her feet completely unharmed and ready to return to the fray. 

Of course, this was Mile’s doing. Even if it was unintentional. 

“Tch! Water—” 

Slash! 

There was no more time for that. 

Reina fired off a spell to keep Lobreth in check, Mavis thwarted the tail attack with her sword, and Pauline redirected her offensive from Lobreth to the man. 

And then, as the man was blown away, crashing into the ground, they saw Lobreth stiffen up with a crackling sound, and collapse. 

“Bwuh… Just one hit…?” 

Mile, judging that a close-range battle would be dangerous, and figuring that allowing her fellow party members to capture the wyvern on their own once was enough, had stricken Lobreth with a magical electric shock. 

“Now then, what to do with them…?” 

Once again they bound Lobreth, along with the mysterious man. As Reina glared at him, the man pleaded. 

“I-I’m begging you! Please don’t kill him!” 

Tossing another glare at him, Reina said, “If you try anything funny this time, it’s off with your heads. Both yours and his!” 

The man nodded, his face pale. 

None of the Crimson Vow had ever had any intention of killing the captured wyvern in the first place. Naturally, there was no sense in needless killing, and it meant more money for them if they brought it in alive. 

In truth, until this man had cloistered himself away in the mountains to begin a life of magical research, he had been a fairly well-known mage. Even now, his past renown carried some influence, and the people he had aided over the course of his career still held fairly important positions in the royal palace. If he played his cards right and cooperated in his role as the mage who successfully tamed a wyvern, he could probably avoid punishment for any of his crimes. In fact, the probability of it was quite high. 

But in order for that to happen, Lobreth had to be in good health. For his own sake—and because the wyvern was his good friend—Lobreth’s survival was paramount. 

Transporting Lobreth by manpower alone would have been impossible, but they figured that if the man told him what to do, the wyvern would obediently follow instructions. While the man considered Lobreth to be his friend, as far as Lobreth was concerned, this man was probably more like his owner or master. So Mile undid only the wires that were wrapped around Lobreth’s legs so that he could walk on his own. 

Just in case, Mile bound a thin wire around both Lobreth’s neck and the man’s, then brought Lobreth back to consciousness with awakening magic. The man whispered something or other into Lobreth’s ear, and Lobreth began walking dutifully ahead. Perhaps they had some sort of magic with which to understand each other, or perhaps, Lobreth merely had a high enough intelligence to understand human speech… 

The strength of the wires was clear to the man. He recognized that, should Lobreth try to run, or make any other sudden moves, the wire would squeeze their necks, or even—because it was so thin—cut straight through them. The man had no intention of risking his life on stupid gambits with a low chance of success. The man was no fighter, after all, just a scholar and researcher. 

Plus, having learned from her previous mistake, this time Mile had bound them not with the carbon nanotube fiber, but with steel wires. It was a superfine material made of piano wire, more durable than even a standard steel line. Even if fire were put to this wire, it would not be destroyed. 

Of course, she still had no intentions of letting them out of her sight. 

The young villager who was a little too fond of children watched as the five humans walked alongside Lobreth, who wobbled, unable to balance with his upper half bound. The young man was trembling. 

Th-they’re scary! City girls are absolutely terrifying!!! 

Perhaps, he would have one of the familiar village girls as a lover, after all. Women from the city were scary. However, the rough, crude ladies of his generation were also… 

“Yep, I’ll just have to make friends with a little girl and raise her how I like!” he concluded. 

If Mile had heard him say this, she probably would have said something like, “Are you Hikaru Genjiiiiii?!” 

When the group returned to the village, they were surrounded by villagers, who, though initially petrified at the sight of the wyvern, were soon rejoicing, praising the Crimson Vow. The girls called the village elder and requested that a messenger be dispatched to the regional capital in order to bring them a transport team. 

Though the royal capital was far away, the regional capital was much less so, and in order to increase his popularity by “doing things for the citizens,” the lord, who was also their client, would absolutely comply with the request. It was possible that a transport unit led by the lord himself might even meet up with them before they entered the city, so that he could lead the triumphant return through the gates. They could safely expect a bonus for capturing the wyvern alive, too. 

The Crimson Vow, having achieved even more than they had set out to, enjoyed the feast provided by the grateful villagers and swiftly forgot about two things: 

The suspicions they held about the existence of the demon. 

And the worry in their hearts over what that demon might be trying to do… 

It was still morning when the messenger set out from the village, so by the evening of the following day, a transport team arranged by the guild had arrived at the lord’s request. They would depart again for the capital early the next morning. 

All of the members of the transport team were hunters, so a high-ranking guild employee had accompanied them as their lead. He seemed to be a former B-rank hunter, someone whose orders the other hunters would not go against. 

The Crimson Vow were relieved to see that no commander from the regional army or the like had shown up to try and steal their thunder. 

On the contrary, the hunters all bowed their heads in deference to the Crimson Vow, captors of the wicked wyvern who had struck a huge blow to so many of their fellow hunters in the form of medical costs for the injured and job failure penalties. The previously defeated hunters had been forced to replace broken equipment and seen their finances go up in smoke, some of them even having to disclose their newfound bankruptcy to their families. 

The hunters had wished to take a stab at eliminating the wyvern themselves, for the sake of their pride as local hunters, and regretted that they could not. However, they couldn’t be expected to take on a reckless job that might land their party members or their families in the depths of misfortune. 

“Countless promising but stupid young parties ended up way in the red thanks to this thing, between having to replace their gear, get their injuries healed, and other things like that—not to mention the significant delay to their next promotions. Plus, morale was at an all-time low among us hunters and guild employees. The local villages were being attacked, and there was nothing that we could do about it. So sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for capturing this fiend,” the commanding guild employee said, bowing his head, and signing the girls’ job completion slip. 

They had handed the wyvern over to the guild on the condition that it could be killed at any time, and now their job was over. 

In truth, as far as the killing went, the Crimson Vow had asked the staff leader, “If we wanted him alive, what would you think about turning him over just like this?” to which he replied, “Gladly!” 

Because they’d gone through all the trouble of bringing Lobreth in alive, they decided to relinquish the wyvern there, and leave the rest in the guild’s hands. 

The benefits of this outweighed the risk of the wyvern escaping, or stirring up a fuss and killing someone, so naturally, everyone agreed. 

Thus, the Crimson Vow had completed their job with an A-grade and the promise of a bonus for their successful capture—and without of the burden of transporting their quarry. However… 

“Oh, who is that?” 

Seeing the man bound beside the wyvern, the commander of the transport squad asked the obvious question. 

Indeed, they had yet to tell him the tale of the mysterious man. 

“I am Byrnclift. I was once in service of the palace, as a court magician.” 

“Huh? A-are you that Byrnclift? The head of the royal court magicians?” the transport commander asked in surprise. 

“Indeed. To think that anyone still remembers my name…” 

They were humble words, but the old man’s expression betrayed him completely. He was clearly very pleased with himself. 

“In truth, I was living deep in the mountains, researching ways of training wyverns not to attack people, and to understand human speech. As a result, I successfully prevented this wyvern from attacking any of the villagers that live within its hunting grounds. Unfortunately, he was still forced to employ a bare minimum of countermeasures against the people who came to attack and kill him… I thought that the results of this research might be able to be put to good use for the sake of this country, but…” 

Truthfully, this man had made a request to the Crimson Vow. 

“I’m going to tell the transport team the truth, so please don’t interrupt me. 

“I won’t tell any lies. Once I’m finished talking, if you think any part of it is false, feel free to point it out then. Don’t make any conjectures of your own—merely present them with the objective facts, as you witnessed them yourself.” 

In fact, most of the information was the same as what the man had told them himself, so they would not truly be able to dispute it. 

At this juncture, there were no clear falsehoods for them to contest. 

“Even though the results of my research were fairly effective, those girls there came to capture and kill this wyvern. I tried to pay them to take the wyvern off their hands, but the job they accepted took priority, they said, so we could not negotiate an exchange… 

“Then, I tried with all my might to rescue him. And so, I intend to go with this wyvern and plead for his life. Please reconsider this! I thought it would be good for me to care for this wyvern, and put him to use in your lord’s service, should he be so inclined…” 

Indeed, there were no lies. And now… 

“That is all.” 

“Huh?” The Crimson Vow were stunned at this incredibly simple explanation. 

Indeed, it was all as he had said. 

He had not lied. 

However… somehow, the four of them felt dissatisfied with this tale. 

“………” 

The guild employee and the hunters looked rather concerned as well. 

This was understandable. The man was talking like a would-be villain out for revenge, speaking out against the hunters who had tried to attack and kill a supposedly innocent wyvern in the course of duty during a legitimate job they had taken, risking dire physical and financial damage along the way. 

“Is that all true?” the guild employee asked the girls, who could only reply, “Y-yes… There is at least nothing false in what he just told you… Even though I feel like there’s something more to it…” Reina replied, reluctantly. 

The comments about Mile’s body and so forth were stories that Byrnclift had told only them, so for now, they had to uphold his request. 

Plus, if he said that he wasn’t being serious, only buying time to save Lobreth, there was nothing more they could do. That they had attacked him was clear, so they would have to apologize… 

Of course, interfering with a hunter’s work was still illegal, so at least they were in the right as far as that went. Normally such disputes would be handled by the parties involved, or the hunters’ guild would intervene and decide if any reparation or disciplinary action was needed. 

However, in this case, the assailant was not a hunter, so the guild had no authority, and there was no choice but to leave it all in the hands of the officials. He had not done any real damage to them, so there would be minimal repercussions. 

The incident, so far, was nothing more than a reason to keep Byrnclift’s movements restricted. His crimes in relation to the wyvern would have to be investigated later. 

The exchange went on for a bit longer, but in the end, it was judged that Byrnclift, the former court magician, would travel along with the transport team not as a captured criminal, but as a benevolent third party. 

Attacking the girls had only been for the sake of saving Lobreth, he claimed, and he had no intention of threatening, killing, or even injuring them; in fact, Lobreth had clearly been holding back, and the spell that Byrnclift had fired off was one that would have only blown them back with water, causing little injury. 

Perhaps, he truly wasn’t such a bad person after all. 

Besides, Reina, Mavis, and Pauline were all familiar with people like him. So, none of the three were in a position to make a strong objection to his release. 

“It was only because he didn’t want to harm my body,” Mile thought to herself, but she did not voice her theory aloud. 

In any case, these people were only a transport team. They did not have much authority of their own. No matter how much they said to these hunters, it would be of little use. At best, it changed nothing more than how they might treat the man while escorting him, so they decided to give up on explaining the situation to the team any further. 

In the first place, most of what they knew was what Byrnclift had told them, so if he himself objected to any of it, then that was that. The fact that he had done everything in his power to rescue the wyvern was simply the honest truth. They had nothing else that they could convey to the transport team that was “an objective fact they had witnessed themselves.” 

Plus, any detailed testimony that the Crimson Vow gave would be delivered to their client via the guild. In other words, they would have to write down everything, including what Byrnclift said. If they did that, this information would certainly make it to the ears of the lord, their client, who was responsible for everything that went on in this region. 

The Crimson Vow wanted nothing more to do with Byrnclift after this point, and they couldn’t bear the thought of having to share their journey with him, or take some share of the responsibility if something happened. So, they decided to separate themselves from the situation as quickly as possible in order to focus on something else. Other than the commander, who was an essential part of the operation, all the members of the transport team were active hunters, and even the commander himself was a former hunter, so there was absolutely no need for the Crimson Vow to accompany them as an additional escort. 

Plus, while they had traveled here fairly swiftly, having to return while transporting a cart with a wyvern on it would take considerably more time. None of them were raring to stick along and keep Lobreth company. 

The next morning, the Crimson Vow left the village a little before the transport team, headed for the regional capital. 

They would feel awkward about leaving at the same time as the transport team, and then leaving them in the dust, and leaving later and then passing them would be just as bad. Therefore, they had no choice but to leave ahead of the other group. 

It was then, along the road to the capital, that the four of them finally remembered that concerning piece of information from earlier. 

“That demon… I wonder what he was trying to do. Really, what was he even doing in a place like that in the first place…?” 

“Good point… I wonder if he was plotting something…?” 

“I have a weird feeling about this…” 

This time, not only Mavis, who knew a bit about demons, but also Reina and Pauline, began to feel a creeping sense of doubt. 

“Well, we don’t even know if that man was telling us the truth, and anyway, it has nothing to do with our jobs. There’s no point in investigating it—or even thinking about it anymore.” 

The other three were shocked that Mile could be so nonchalant, but as they thought about it, they realized that she was correct. 

“I guess it’s true.” Reina agreed with Mile’s assessment. “We completed our job with an A-grade, and we’re getting a bonus. I’d call this a huge success—let’s just enjoy it!” 

There was still something unsettling about that man, Byrnclift, but there was nothing to be done about that. No matter what had happened, in the end, the matter was out of the Crimson Vow’s hands. They would report everything they knew, including the matter of the demon, to the guild, and the rest would be for the lord to handle. There really was no more point in them worrying over it. 

The man would be dealt with according to the laws of this territory. That was all there was to it. 

They were laws that could far too easily be bent by someone in a position of power, but that was none of their affair. 

Later that day, just before noon, the Crimson Vow arrived at the capital. They proceeded to the guildhall to process their job completion forms and report the details of their job to the guild master. They then received their payment, along with the bonus that the guild master had negotiated with the lord on their behalf. Apparently, even the lord, who always pinched pennies, was in good spirits and had been more than happy to open his purse. 

After that, they excused themselves from the guild, receiving the blessings of the staff and all the hunters present, and ate their fill of luncheon at an inn, before the four of them, exhausted, went straight to bed. 

The next day, they headed out toward the capital to begin the journey home. 

*** 

“All right, it’s been a while! It’s time for another ‘Japanese Folktale’!” Mile announced, thinking that everyone could use a change of pace. 

This time, however, she was strapped for material. 

Hmm, hmm… What would be a good allusion to make here…? 

Lobreth, Urashima Taro, bottom… stripes… huh? No no… 

Lobreth, Urashima Taro, Uramima Taro… No no no no no! That’s too far away from Lobreth! 

Sales Princess… Is this Comiket?! 

Unbuying Lady… Is this the Handmade Bride?! 

The Hard Old Man… Is there such as thing as a “Soft Old Man”? And there’s the Sleepy Old Man… 

“Are you ready yet?” 

“Hurry up and start, please!” 

As the requests flooded in, Mile became more and more aggravated. 

She was in a slump. Mile was ailing. 

Dr. Slump? Ailing-chan? No no no no no no no no no! 

It was five more days until they reached the capital. 

Was little Lenny safely making use of the baths? 

Had she turned them into some kind of black-market orphan sweatshop? 

Hoping that a least a momentary peace awaited them in the capital, the four marched on, leaving the great, wide mountains to unfurl at their backs … 

“Are you ready yet? ” 

“P-please just give me a moment!!!”