The Crimson Vow’s adventures continue with the ninth light novel of FUNA’s Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. Continuing their work as hunters, they have some unusually powerful foes to face, and Mavis feels that she is getting left behind in terms of abilities when compared to the rest of the party.
Front cover of the ninth volume of Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, featuring Pauline and Reina
A Knight’s Tale
The Crimson Vow’s arrogance is nearly their undoing when they run afoul of a horde of unnaturally powerful monsters! As they investigate the creatures’ origins, another crisis arises: Mavis, increasingly aware of how outclassed she is by the other members of the party, breaks off on her own quest to find a teacher who can take her swordplay to the next level. Can the magic-incapable aspiring knight ever compete with her spellcaster friends, or is she forever doomed to play second fiddle?
This volume of Abilities Average – oh, wait, apparently it is getting shortened even more by FUNA to just Average now – is ticking a lot of boxes when it comes to races from fantasy genres. The Crimson Vow aid some dwarves against a particularly nasty pack of ogres, and their next mission has them helping out some elf researchers and coming under attack from orcs.
Oddly enough, the fight against the ogres actually goes about as one would expect when the Crimson Vow are involved. That may lead them to getting complacent, though, because a fight against some orcs proves to be almost fatal for Mavis.
That’ll be the catalyst that makes Mavis realise that Mile, Reina and Pauline are leaps and bounds ahead of her. As such, Mavis ends up getting some solo focus.
Before that, though, the Crimson Vow do meet some new characters. The dwarves were introduced in the previous volume, so instead I’ll focus on the elves Aetelou and Sharalir, as well as C-rank hunting group Blue Meteors.
Aetelou and Sharalir are researchers, and whilst they are quite eager to obtain all sorts of flora and fauna from out in the field, it is Mile herself that really sets off their researcher instincts. Shame that the other three members of the Crimson Vow would never let her go, even if Mile is tempted by the elves’ offers.
Also accompanying the Crimson Vow and the elves for a mission is the Blue Meteors, who are a more typical hunting party. Their intentions don’t seem to be too pure at first, but they quickly learn just what the Crimson Vow are capable of. At least the Blue Meteors take the job seriously, if nothing else.
After everything with the elves and Blue Meteors, it is Mavis’s time to shine. An opportunity to better her swordplay arises, and she has the Crimson Vow’s blessing to pursue it. Thus Mavis develops her skills further.
She also happens to encounter a young woman with a serious injury. Mavis being Mavis, she stops to help, and immediately has another girl fall in love with her – I mean, Mavis does kiss the lass, and even gets to fight off some attackers.
That kiss is even a colour illustration right at the beginning of this light novel. The other one is the Crimson Vow accompanying the elves.
This volume ends on a cliffhanger, as Mavis faces down thirty enemies on her own. Because after all, a hero has to save a princess.
Average continues to be an enjoyable read as the Crimson Vow continue their adventures. Reina and Pauline didn’t have much to do in this volume, but that’s fine. We are nine volumes in, and they have both had opportunities to shine before – and will probably get more again. Mile and Mavis are very much the main stars of of this volume, though you probably wouldn’t guess that based on the front cover alone.
The Crimson Vow have a couple of rough encounters here, but that is ultimately only going to lead to them growing stronger, both individually and as a team. The Blue Meteors may not make a great first impression, but they do improve. An all around fun volume, I’d say.
Rory Muses 