Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 3

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Hiii!”

  She noticed Sona had spotted her, so she beckoned gently, a mother calling to her child, like a devil beckoning her down into hell.

  “It looks like a hundred spanks wasn’t enough. Perhaps more will work.”

  “Nooooooooo!” Sona let out a terrified shriek as she thought back to other spankings she’d received when she had been caught. Her buttcheeks were going to be swollen come breakfast time. Hajime sighed again. He was getting tired of repeating this farce every night.

  After handing Sona over to her mother, Hajime went back up to his room and flopped down into bed.

  “...Well done.”

  “Welcome back.”

  Yue and Shea greeted him as he returned. The faint moonlight pouring through the window, the only lighting inside the room, dimly outlined the two girls.

  Both of them were sitting on the bed across from his. And both of them were wearing nothing but their negligees. Their beauty was such that even a second-rate painter would be able to create a masterpiece simply by using them as models.

  “Yo. I don’t get it, why’s that girl so hell-bent on peeping on us... Normally, you wouldn’t rappel down the roof just to catch someone having sex, would you? I’m starting to think we should pick a different inn, even if the food isn’t as good.” Shea let out a small chuckle, walked over to Hajime’s bed, and sat down next to him. Yue too, headed over to Hajime’s bed and lifted his head onto her lap. Hajime let himself momentarily enjoy the sensation of being given a lap pillow. It really was quite wonderful.

  “Our relationship must have sparked Sona-chan’s teenage curiosity, is all. You can’t really blame her, can you? Besides, I think it’s kind of cute.”

  “Though, I am a little... worried about how elaborate her schemes are becoming.”

  “Yeah, yesterday she made a snorkel and tried to hide in the bath... Finding a pair of eyes staring at me from the bottom of the tub was quite a shock.”

  “Yeah, having the innkeeper’s daughter basically stalk us is kind of... Especially since it seems like she’s only after us...”

  Shea snuggled closer to Hajime while they talked. She inconspicuously put her hand over his and tried to guide it to her breasts. A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she nervously thought about what would come next.

  Hajime gave Shea’s hand a little squeeze. Shea jumped in surprise. She happily increased the strength of her own grip. In return, Hajime squeezed back even harder.

  This cycle repeated itself a few times until Shea finally noticed what was happening.

  “Hey, Hajime-san! You’re crushing it! You’re crushing my hand!” Creak!

  “Hiiii! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I got too full of myself, okay!? It won’t happen again! Please let me go! You’re breaking my hand! I can feel it cracking!”

  “I saw you casually trying to set up a good mood, you know? Why are you even here, anyway? Your room’s over there.” Shea struggled to free her hand, but Hajime’s grip was as tight as a vice.

  “I-I was hoping to slowly sneak my way into bed with you. Come on, we’ve already kissed. Can’t we just have a little alone time?”

  “Hell no. I only did that to save your life.”

  She was, of course, referring to the time Miledi Reisen had flushed them out of her labyrinth like they were unwanted pieces of offal. Because of the strange fish creature Shea had seen, she’d nearly drowned and had to be saved via CPR by Hajime. She had somehow had enough of her consciousness left to know she was being kissed, and upon waking had assaulted Hajime with all her inhuman might, which had resulted in Hajime being kissed over and over.

  He’d pulled her off and thrown her into the fountain quickly enough, but for Shea that was still the precious memory of her first kiss.

  No matter how coldly Hajime brushed her off, this worthless rabbit just didn’t know when to give up. Shea smiled smugly, like a famous detective that had finally deduced who the criminal was.

  “No, I can tell. You’ve already started to fall for me, Hajime-san! You’re way nicer to me than you used to be! If we think about all the evidence piled up it’s clear that... Guhehe.” Creaaaaak! “Owww! You’re bweaking me!” Unwilling to hear any more of Shea’s blabbering, Hajime squeezed harder.

  Shea let out a garbled shriek and finally managed to pull her hand away. She nursed her throbbing fingers as she sulked over in one corner of the bed. Her rabbit ears flopped about dejectedly.

  Hajime ignored her and turned toward Yue. Since he was still resting in her lap that basically meant looking straight up. Yue, too, looked down at Hajime.

  “By the way, Yue. You haven’t been stopping Shea as much. Did you have a change of heart or something?” Yue tilted her head to the side, thinking. As Hajime had said, her attitude toward Shea had grown far more tolerant since they’d cleared Reisen’s Labyrinth.

  In the beginning, Yue had mercilessly stopped Shea anytime she’d attempted to get close to Hajime, but lately Yue had become a lot more lax about Shea’s overtures. Even when Shea went for something big, like a kiss, Yue just pouted unhappily.

  “Shea worked hard. And she’s going to keep working hard to stay with us. Plus, she likes both you and me.”

  “Well, I guess, but...”

  “...And I... kind of like her.”

  “Figured as much. It’s obvious just by looking that you get along pretty well.”

  From what little Yue had said, Hajime could tell that she treasured Shea a great deal.

  It made sense, honestly. Since mana was dispersed with far more intensity within the labyrinth than even in the gorge, Yue hadn’t been able to exhibit her full strength. The same had gone for Hajime. With just the two of them, conquering the labyrinth would have been quite a hassle. Sure, Hajime might have been able to tackle the labyrinth on his own, but he’d probably have had to burn through a few of his Ambrosia vials in order to do so. It was only thanks to Shea that they’d been able to clear it without wasting any resources.

  What was truly amazing was that Shea had never held a weapon in her life until just a few weeks ago. In fact, she’d actively avoided conflict as much as possible. She was one of the rabbitmen, the race known as the weakest of the beastmen species, that hated fighting above all else.

  She must have been scared that entire time in the labyrinth, and yet she’d never once said that she wanted to go back. In order to stay with Hajime and Yue, she’d braved the hell known as a labyrinth. She’d grit her teeth and pushed valiantly onward, crying all the while.

  Because she cared that much about Yue and Hajime, her devotion had let her overcome her fear.

  It wasn’t that Yue hadn’t been jealous. In fact, that was precisely why it had been so hard for her to accept Shea’s feelings for Hajime. After all, she’d been pretty harsh on Shea too. But no matter how many times she was rebuffed, Shea kept on trying to befriend Yue. On top of that, she’d shown her determination when she’d stuck with them through the entire labyrinth. Her constant efforts had moved Yue.

  Come to think of it, Yue didn’t have any friends, did she? Even before she had been sealed, she’d been busy leading her country. Her position hadn’t allowed her to make any friends. She’d been a loner the whole time.

  And so, the appearance of Shea, who had no ulterior motives in wanting to become Yue’s friend, was a true blessing. That was why Yue had justified it to herself with “Well, if it’s Shea, it’s okay...” and let her get away with more and more.

  “...Besides.”

  “Hm?” Hajime looked back up at Yue. Her eyes were a whirl of emotion. Confidence, charm, resolution, sincerity, all mingled together as she smiled down at him. She looked so majestic that Hajime involuntarily held his breath. He found himself lost in her gaze, her eyes deep pools that sucked him in. They stared unblinkingly at each other for a long time.

  “...Your heart already belongs to me.”

  “......”

  No matter who falls in love with him, no matter who else he
decides to let into his bed, the one most important to him will always be me.

  Of that, Yue was sure. And so, this was her declaration of war. Her declaration of war against all those Hajime had already met, and all those he might come to meet.

  Hajime was speechless. Bewitched, he gazed intently into Yue’s sparkling eyes. Gently, ever so gently, he placed a hand on her cheek. She covered his hand with her own. Dim moonlight framed the two figures as they drew close together, their shadows merging on the wall behind them.

  Just before they completely overlapped—

  “Ugh... You could at least pretend to remember I’m still here. I feel so lonely... Hic...”

  Shea was hugging her knees on the other corner of the bed, tears streaming from her eyes, bunny ears drooping sadly. Even Hajime felt a little uncomfortable seeing her so depressed. Yue awkwardly beckoned her over.

  “Yue-saaaaan!” Shea cried out as she leaped into Yue’s bosom, sniffling. Yue patted her head gently, and soon enough the steady breathing of a sleeping bunny girl could be heard. Hajime smiled wryly as he looked down at Shea.

  “You’re more like her mom than her friend.”

  “If I’m going to have kids, I want them to be yours.”

  “......”

  “Don’t be too hard on Shea, okay?”

  “Alright, I’ll try.”

  “Mmm... I love you.”

  “Me too.”

  In the end, Hajime ended up sleeping sandwiched between the both of them.

  From that day onward, Yue gave Shea permission to sleep in the same room as them. Naturally, Shea let this get to her head and tried to assault Hajime every night, to no avail.

  Shea’s screams of pain served to stimulate Sona’s imagination even further, and she went to even greater lengths to spy on the trio’s nightly activities.

  The Brooke adventurer’s guild’s door opened with a cheerful clang. Three people walked inside. Hajime, Yue, and Shea, who had grown famous around the town.

  As always, there were a few people sitting around inside the guild. A few of them raised a hand in greeting as Hajime and the others walked by. Many of the guys still gazed at Yue and Shea with longing, and glared at Hajime with burning envy, but there was a distinct lack of malice in their stares.

  In the week they’d spent back in Brooke, countless scores of men had tried to profess their love to Yue and Shea, but they’d all been shot down. Some of them still remembered Yue’s ball crushing incident, so instead of going to her directly, they had tried to get on Hajime’s good side first.

  Hajime had, of course, ignored them entirely. The truly desperate ones had tried to challenge Hajime to a duel, only to find themselves on the receiving end of his rubber bullets. Many an unfortunate soul had found themselves spinning through the air and kissing the dirt before they’d even drawn their weapon.

  Rumors had begun to spread about Yue the ball crusher and her partner, Hajime the duelist crusher. Their fame had steadily been on the rise.

  Though they hadn’t registered a party name with the guild, people had taken to calling them the “smashers,” much to Hajime’s chagrin.

  Meanwhile, Shea was lamenting the fact that no one seemed to remember she was part of their group too.

  “Oh, all three of you are together today?” Old lady Catherine was manning the reception desk. The reason for Catherine’s surprise was that this past week, Hajime had either come alone, or Yue and Shea had visited as a pair.

  “Yeah. We’re heading out tomorrow, but we wanted to come thank you for everything you’ve done for us first. Oh, and to see if there’s any requests related to our destination.” That “everything” had included lending Hajime one of the guild’s rooms for free. He had wanted to see what kind of stuff he could do by combining his newfound gravity magic with his creation magic, but he’d needed a wide open space for that. When he’d come to Catherine to ask where he could find one of those, she’d offered to let him use one of the guild’s rooms for free.

  In the meantime, Yue and Shea had been spending time outside the town training their gravity manipulation abilities.

  “I see. Leaving already? Guess it’ll get lonely here again. The town’s been a lot livelier since you three returned.”

  “Give me a break. I’ve had enough of peeping perverts, clothing store perverts, perverts begging Yue and Shea to step on them, perverts stalking them and calling them ‘onee-sama,’ and idiots challenging me to duels... This town’s full of nothing but them. Seventy percent of the people I’ve met are perverts, and the other thirty are idiots... There’s something seriously wrong with this place.” Hajime’s complaints were more or less on the mark. Sona was one thing, but every time he’d gone to Crystabel’s shop, he could feel a hungry gaze devouring him.

  There were also three factions in Brooke that were constantly feuding with each other. The first was the “I want to be stepped on by Yue-chan” faction, the second was the “I want to be Shea-chan’s slave” faction, and the last was the “I want to become Onee-sama’s apprentice” faction. Their names were rather self-explanatory, and the three factions were constantly competing for members.

  Hajime and the others did their best to steer clear of all of them, though.

  Yue was already having nightmares about all the guys that prostrated herself before her, begging her to step on them. And Hajime had no idea just how some of the other guys had come to the conclusion that they wanted to be Shea’s slave. Beastmen were supposed to be discriminated against, and it wasn’t clear how becoming her slave would help their chances with her, but trying to understand their motives was more effort than it was worth, so Shea just eliminated them.

  Meanwhile, the female group’s primary objective was trying to remove Hajime. One of them had even tried to stab him with a knife, going “How dare you leech off of Onee-sama, you parasite! I’m gonna cut your balls offfff!”

  Obviously killing a young girl in the middle of the street would’ve led to some complications, so Hajime had just stripped her naked, tied her up bondage style, and dangled her from the roof of the tallest building in town. To top it off, he’d stuck a sign to her that read “I’ll kill the next person that tries that.” That managed to scare the girls into submission.

  Hajime grimaced as he thought back to his time in this town, while Catherine smiled sympathetically.

  “Now now, you can’t deny things were interesting at least.”

  “Interesting in a bad way, maybe.”

  “So, where are you headed next?”

  “Fuhren.” They continued chatting idly while Catherine rifled through the requests, looking to see if any involved Fuhren.

  Fuhren was the independent merchant state Hajime had read about when he’d first arrived. Hajime’s next destination was the Grand Gruen Volcano, which was located within the Gruen Desert. As the desert lay on the western edge of the continent, the trio had decided to make a quick stop in Fuhren, as it was on the way. Once they cleared the volcano, their next destination was the labyrinth located at the bottom of the sea, the Sunken Ruins of Melusine. Those were even further to the west, past the desert.

  “Hmmm, oh, here we are. Found something. There’s a merchant convoy looking for guards. They’ve got room for one more person... What do you think? Want to accept it?” Hajime scanned the document Catherine handed to him. Like she’d said, it seemed to be an escort mission. His job would be to escort a medium-sized caravan, and it looked like they wanted around 15 guards. As Yue and Shea still weren’t registered adventurers, having one slot open was just perfect.

  “It’s fine if I bring these two with me still, right?”

  “It should be alright. Bringing a large crowd with you would be a different story, but most adventurers bring along a porter or slave to carry their luggage anyway. Besides, Yue-chan and Shea-chan are quite strong. They’re getting a steal, hiring all of you for the price of one. I’m sure they’d happily let them tag along.”

  “I see. Hmmm, what do
you guys think?”

  Hajime turned around, seeking input from the two girls behind him. He’d personally been hoping for a delivery request. That way he’d be able to use his magic motorcycle to get them to Fuhren way faster than any caravan could. Purposely slowing down his pace just for a quest didn’t really sound all that appealing.

  “We’re not in any hurry.”

  “Yeah. Besides, it might be fun to travel with other adventurers for once. Who knows, some of the veterans might be able to teach us a few things.”

  “I suppose it’s true we’re not in any real hurry, and it might not be so bad traveling with others...” Hajime nodded pensively and accepted the request. Like Yue had said, they were in no rush to conquer the labyrinths. Hurrying too much could lead to a fatal mistake, and Shea was right that some of the adventurers might be able to teach them useful tricks for the road ahead.

  “Very well. I’ll let them know, so make sure you’re at the main gate first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “You got it.”

  While Hajime was filling out the paperwork, Catherine shifted her gaze to Yue and Shea.

  “Make sure you take care of yourselves, alright? If this brat ever makes you cry, then make sure you drag him back here. I’ll wallop him good for you.”

  “Okay, we will. Thanks.”

  “Bye, Catherine-san. Thanks for everything!”

  Yue and Shea smiled at Catherine. Shea’s smile especially was dazzling.

  The way Catherine and the people of this town had treated her had almost made her forget how beastmen were usually treated in human settlements. Naturally, not everyone had been so accepting, but Catherine, Sona, Crystabel, and even her fans had treated her like a normal girl. She wasn’t sure whether more tolerant people just gravitated toward this town in particular, but to her this place had felt like a second home.

  “You better not do anything that’d make these girls cry, you hear? Even if you manage to escape my wrath, God will surely punish you if you do.”

  “You sure like lecturing people. Don’t worry, I know.” Hajime smiled wryly. Catherine handed him a piece of paper. Puzzled, Hajime took it.