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

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Please don’t glare at me like that, I’m just doing my job,” the attendant said in a panicked voice. But when Hajime suggested killing them, he still diligently tried to stop him.

  Grumbling to himself, Hajime decided to try and forcibly wake the two up. The guild attendants were in the middle of trying to stop him when a new voice cut through the crowd.

  “What are you doing? What’s going on here?” A slender man in glasses stared sternly down at Hajime.

  “Chief Secretary Dott! Perfect timing! You see...” The attendants all rejoiced at the appearance of this man called Dott. After he listened to their explanation of what happened, he returned his sharp gaze to Hajime.

  Looks like things are just getting more and more complicated. Hajime sighed to himself.

  Dott adjusted his glasses with his middle finger and calmly addressed Hajime.

  “I more or less understand the situation now. And it appears there really are quite a few witnesses. I do think you might have overdone it a little, but... well, they’re still alive, so it’s fine. I was hoping you would at least be willing to stay inside Fuhren until they wake up. May I at least ask for your identification and the address you’re be staying at... I’m sure that’s not too much to ask, right?” His tone was surprisingly firm. Hajime shrugged his shoulders.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. In fact, if that pig starts causing trouble again, I’d like you to contact me. I’ll be gentler next time, don’t worry.” Hajime tiredly handed over his status plate.

  “As for where we’re staying, we haven’t decided yet, so... ask that tour guide over there. We were planning on staying wherever she recommended.”

  Rithy got a little startled when Hajime mentioned her name, then sadly muttered, “I guess I’m stuck guiding you after all...”

  “Hmm, very well... I see your rank is blue. That man lying on ground over there is black... May I ask for your two companions’ status plates as well?” Dott raised his eyebrows when he saw Hajime’s rank was only blue, the lowest rank. But since the eyewitnesses had said it was Yue and Shea who had defeated Reganid, he thought maybe they were a lot stronger.

  “Well, Yue and Shea both lost their status plates, and we haven’t been able to get replacements yet. I mean, they’re pretty expensive, aren’t they?” Hajime lied without batting an eyelid. Hiding their strength after they’d displayed so much of it already was pointless, but Hajime still wanted to avoid letting anyone know exactly what they were capable of.

  “However, we must confirm their identities. In the event that you start constantly causing trouble for the guild, regardless of whether you’re the victim or the aggressor, we will need to blacklist you. Thus, we need a record. If you would like, the guild will pay for their replacements.” It appeared Dott wished to confirm their identity no matter what.

  But if Hajime got them new status plates now, he wouldn’t have time to hide their stats and skills column. Everyone would see they could use special magic. Worse, they’d know they both could use magic from the age of the gods. There was no doubt in his mind that it would cause a huge uproar. Even if that did happen, Hajime wouldn’t mind killing everyone that came after them. The problem was that it would make it impossible for them to stay in towns anymore.

  Man, this whole thing’s turning into more of a pain than I’d have liked. As if reading his thoughts, Yue offered a suggestion.

  “Hajime, the letter.”

  “Huh? Oh yeah, that letter...”

  Yue was, of course, talking about the letter Catherine had given them before they’d left Brooke. The one Catherine had said would help them out if they ever got into any trouble with other adventurer’s guild branches.

  Not like we have anything to lose. Hajime pulled the letter out of his pocket and gave it to Dott, thinking they could just flee town if things really turned south. After all, while Catherine had explained what it would do, he had no idea what was actually written in it. He regretted not checking the contents now.

  “I’m not sure if this will work in place of identification, but a friend of ours from another guild branch told us to show this to someone high ranking if we found ourselves in any trouble.”

  “Hm? A friend from another guild branch...? Let me take a look.” Dott found it somewhat suspicious that Hajime was unwilling to pay for new status plates considering he and his companions were rather well dressed and didn’t seem strapped for money. However, he still obediently took the letter and skimmed through his contents. When he reached the end, he let out a startled gasp.

  His gaze shifted from the letter to the trio multiple times. With the way he kept poring over the words, it looked like he was trying to determine the authenticity of the letter.

  Finally, he folded it back up and placed it neatly into the envelope it had come in.

  “If this letter is authentic, then it will indeed serve as identification... However, I myself am unable to determine whether the sender is really who she claims she is. I shall confirm the details with our branch chief, so could you please wait inside the guild until? I promise it won’t take long. Ten, fifteen minutes at most.”

  Who on earth is Catherine, really?

  “Alright, if it’s only that long I don’t mind. We’ll wait.”

  “The attendants can guide you to a waiting room. I’ll be back shortly.” Dott called an attendant over and instructed him to guide them before vanishing inside the guild building. The attendant motioned for Hajime and the others to follow him. As Hajime and the others followed after him, Rithy asked him a question in a confused, but somewhat hopeful voice.

  “Umm, what should I do?” Since they were now entangled with the guild, she was hoping she wouldn’t have to guide them anymore. With how dangerous they seemed, she wanted to be free of them as soon as possible.

  Hajime nodded and replied to her question with some questions of his own.

  “Wait for us... You won’t run, right? You’re a professional, right?”

  “Okay...” Rithy drooped her head sadly and went to sit down on one of the empty chairs in the cafe. No matter what world one was in, employees had to take on unpleasant jobs for their company.

  Ten minutes after Hajime and the others were led to the waiting room, there was a knock on the door. Hajime called for whoever it was to come in, and the door opened. Dott entered the room, accompanied by a man in his late thirties. He had slicked back blond hair and a discerning look in his eyes.

  “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am the head of the Fuhren branch’s adventurer’s guild, Ilwa Chang. You three are... Hajime-kun, Yue-kun, and Shea-kun, correct?” Ilwa introduced himself and offered his hand to Hajime. He shook it and responded.

  “Yeah, that’s right. Were our names in that letter?”

  “They were indeed. My old master’s letter told... or rather, warned me about you three. She said that you show a great deal of promise, but that you’re rather troublesome kids, so we should keep an eye on you.”

  “Troublesome, huh? I guess Brooke was nothing but trouble. Well, whatever. Does that letter settle our identification issues or no?”

  “Yes, she said that you three aren’t a threat to the guild, so that’s good enough for me. She’s a very good judge of character. If it’s a letter from her, it’ll serve as sufficient identification. After all, she wouldn’t write one for people of dubious character.”

  It seemed Catherine really did hold a lot of clout with the guild. Everyone really trusts her. Since Ilwa called her his master, they must know each other pretty well. Shea seemed especially curious about Ilwa’s relationship with Catherine. She’d gotten along rather well with the old lady, so it made sense.

  “Umm, what kind of person is Catherine-san?”

  “You didn’t ask her yourself? She used to be the chief secretary of the adventurer’s guild’s main branch. After that she became a guild instructor. More than half of all the branch chiefs learned their trade from her.”

  Hajime looked up in surpr
ise. Smiling wryly, Ilwa continued.

  “I was one of them. Though I’m nowhere near her level. Back then her unparalleled beauty and skill captivated everyone who studied under her. Later she ended up getting married and transferred to the Brooke branch. She said she preferred to raise her kids in the countryside. Her marriage announcement was really sudden too. I was pretty shocked when I heard it. In fact, the whole guild, no the whole capital was.”

  “Haah, I didn’t realize she was such an amazing person.”

  “Yeah... Catherine’s incredible.”

  “I knew she wasn’t just some ordinary old lady... but to think she was that important. So if she was so good looking back then, how come... Actually, never mind.”

  Yue and Shea were astounded to discover just how impressive Catherine had been. Only Hajime looked away wistfully, lamenting what the ravages of time had done.

  “Well anyway, if there’s no problem with identification then we’re free to go right?” Hajime had only agreed to wait so that they could get their identification issues resolved, and now that they had been, he saw no reason to stay. However, Ilwa’s eyes sparkled mischievously as he called out to them.

  “Actually, could you please wait a moment?”

  Hajime felt a sense of foreboding.

  Ilwa gestured to Dott, who handed Hajime a certain request flyer.

  “The truth is, we were impressed by your skill so we were hoping you would be willing to undertake a task for us.”

  “No thanks.”

  Hajime refused instantly and made to leave. Yue and Shea followed suit, but Ilwa’s next words brought them back.

  “Hmm, are you sure you won’t even listen to what it is? We’ll overlook this whole incident if you agree to just listen.”

  “......”

  That of course had the unsaid implication that they would make this whole affair far more of a pain than it had to be if he didn’t stay to listen.

  Thanks to all of the eyewitness testimony, Hajime and the others wouldn’t be charged with a crime. But because of how overboard they’d gone, the guild could force them into a long and tedious hearing about what had happened and require an account from both sides.

  In the end, they’d still probably not be punished, but it would still waste a great deal of their time. And if they ignored the guild’s orders, they’d be blacklisted everywhere. Not being able to access the information at various guild branches would be rather inconvenient.

  Hajime glared at Ilwa for a moment. He’d only asked that they hear him out, not that they accept the request. If that was all it took to avoid weeks of legal proceedings, then it wasn’t such a bad deal. Hajime sat back down.

  “So you’ll listen. Thank you.”

  “You’re not a branch chief for nothing I see. You’re pretty gutsy.”

  “I could say the same to you. Now then, as you can see on the flyer, this particular request is to search for some missing people. Some time back, a party of adventurers set off to investigate the northern mountain range. When they didn’t return, one of the adventurers’ family put out a search request.”

  The rest of Ilwa’s explanation could be boiled down to the following:

  There had been reports of increased monster activity in the northern regions, so the guild had issued an investigation quest.

  Only the mountain nearest to town was well charted, the rest of the range was marked simply as wilderness. While they weren’t as strong as ones encountered in the labyrinths, the mountains were still inhabited by powerful monsters. So the party that had accepted that request had been rather high rank. However, before they embarked someone else had begged to join them. They were rather forceful in their entreaties, and in the end they were allowed to tag along.

  This newcomer was the third son of the noble Cudeta family, Will Cudeta. Count Cudeta had secretly sent someone to follow after his son, who’d basically ran away from home to become an adventurer. But even the person he’d sent to tail his son had vanished, so he had sent out a search request to the guild.

  “The count sent out his own independent search party as well, but he asked the guild for help because he wanted as many people out looking as possible. This all happened just yesterday. The party that had gone out to investigate was among the most experienced in the guild, so if they ran into something they couldn’t handle, most adventurers wouldn’t stand a chance. So the only people we can afford to send out on this quest are those of considerable skill. However those that fill that criteria are all out on other quests at the moment. Fortunately for us, you happened to show up just at the right time.”

  “I thought you needed people of considerable skill? Sadly I’m just a blue rank adventurer.”

  Ilwa didn’t fall for Hajime’s feeble attempt at feigning weakness.

  “You just took out Reganid, a black rank adventurer without even breaking a sweat. Besides... anyone who can survive down at the bottom of the Reisen Gorge can’t be that weak.”

  “How did you... The letter? But I never told Catherine...”

  Hajime hadn’t told anyone they’d gone to explore the Reisen Gorge. The only way Ilwa would have known that was if it was written in the letter. But then that begged the question of how Catherine had learned of their trip. As Hajime was scratching his head in confusion, Shea timidly raised her hand.

  Hajime looked suspiciously at Shea.

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I may have accidentally told her... Tehe?”

  “Looks like I’ll need to punish you later.”

  “Y-Yue-san was with me too!”

  “Shea, you traitor.”

  “Guess I’m punishing both of you.”

  So it was Yue and Shea’s fault. While both of them looked outwardly calm, they were sweating at the thought of what Hajime might do to them. Ilwa smiled knowingly and continued.

  “It’s unlikely any of them are still alive, but the possibility isn’t zero. The count is a personal friend of mine, so I’d like to begin the search as soon as possible. Please. There’s no one else I can ask. Will you please accept the request?”

  It was obvious from his tone that Ilwa was very personally invested in this particular request. If he was friends with the count, it was quite possible he was close to the missing Will as well. He was probably just as worried for their safety.

  “I get that, but we’re in the middle of our own journey too. We only stopped here because it was on our way. The northern mountains are pretty far out of our way, so I’m afraid I’ll have to refuse.” Hajime could care less about some noble’s brat. Ilwa must have realized that as well, since he headed Hajime off before he could get up.

  “I promise you’ll be rewarded handsomely. There’ll be a bonus from me waiting for you along with the reward already offered. I’ll even raise your rank. Considering your skills, I could even bump you up to black in one go.”

  “To be honest, I don’t need that much money, and I don’t really care about my rank.”

  “Then how about this? If you ever get into any trouble with the guild from here on out, I’ll personally vouch for all of you. The title of Fuhren’s branch chief holds a lot of clout you know. And I have a lot of personal connections within the guild as well. You three seem to attract quite a lot of trouble so it’s not a bad deal, right?”

  “You’re being quite generous. I can’t imagine it’s worth going that far just for your friend’s son.”

  For the first time, Ilwa’s facade of calm crumbled. He looked deeply remorseful.

  “Well... the one who recommended Will take that particular request was me. I was the one who also convinced the party to let him join. While it was a rather difficult request, I thought he would be fine if he was together with a strong party. He’d never actually fought before, you see. From the start, Will was never interested in living a noble’s life. He always dreamed of being an adventurer... Sadly, he didn’t possess the requisite qualities for one. So I hoped that by sending him on a mission together wi
th a strong party, he’d see the dangers adventurers face, and realize he wasn’t fit for such a life. That he’d give up on becoming an adventurer. I’ve known the boy for quite some time, you see... that’s why I wanted him to see his limits and give up, but...” Hajime lapsed into thought as he listened to Ilwa pour his heart out. Ilwa and Will are even closer than I thought then. He tried to look calm, but it’s obvious he’s really desperate. After all, the longer it took to find them, the greater the likelihood that they had died in the meantime. The fact that he’d offered such an extravagant reward was proof that Ilwa was starting to run out of options.

  Hajime was starting to get tired of making excuses for Yue and Shea’s lack of status plates, and having the support of an influential guild member would make their future town visits a lot less of a hassle.

  Especially since Hajime had no interest in playing pretend believer for the Holy Church, so there was no telling when they’d brand him a heretic. When that did inevitably happen, it would make traveling between towns rather inconvenient. But if he had guild connections, they might be able to help with that issue as well.

  After weighing his options, Hajime decided it would be more beneficial to explain his circumstances to Ilwa, make sure he wouldn’t speak about them to others, and use his influence to deal with any problems that might arise. Considering how much he seems to care for this Will guy, he probably wouldn’t turn on us if we brought him back alive.

  “If you’re willing to go that far for him, I guess I might be willing to do it... but I have two conditions.”

  “Conditions?”

  “Yeah. They’re nothing huge. First, I’d like you to get status plates for Yue and Shea. And I want you to swear not to tell anyone what you see displayed there. Second, regardless of whether they’re part of the guild or not, I want access to all of your connections. Those are my two conditions.”