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

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Sorry, I guess. I didn’t want anyone else to know about my visit. There’s a few things I need to tell you, Sensei, but I couldn’t with those knights hanging around. They’d probably get violent if I mentioned it.”

  “Something you need to tell me? But didn’t you say you don’t care about us, Nagumo-kun?”

  Aiko’s eyes glimmered with hope. Perhaps he really would come back to them after all. Regardless, listening to her student’s worries was the job of a teacher.

  Sadly, Hajime’s next words dashed her hopes.

  “Yeah, I still don’t, so please don’t look so expectant... Anyway, I wanted to tell you because I think you’d be able to handle it the most calmly, Sensei. You’re free to do what you want with the information after I tell you.”

  With that preface, Hajime launched into the story he’d heard from Oscar about the Liberators and the crazed gods that were toying with the world.

  There was a reason Hajime had thought to tell Aiko all of this.

  He doubted those insane gods would let Kouki and the others return to their original world even if they did everything they asked. “Save the humans from the demons,” was what they had decreed, but this entire war was just a part of those very gods’ mad game. And they surely wouldn’t want to let go of a piece as interesting as a hero. In fact, they’d probably want to make the hero an integral part of their next game too.

  Of course, Hajime had no intention of tracking Kouki down just to tell him that. He really didn’t care about what happened to the others anymore, and to be quite frank, taking a detour to go to him would just be a pain. Besides, even if he did tell Kouki, Hajime doubted that ball of misguided justice would believe him anyway.

  It was obvious who the other students would believe too. Between an old classmate who had drastically changed and the hero everyone relied upon, it wasn’t even a contest. Chances were he’d just be branded a heretic for slandering the “Great Lord Ehit.” For all those reason, Hajime did not want to seek out Kouki.

  However, by sheer coincidence, he had run into Aiko again. Hajime understood her quite well. Aiko was always thinking of her students, so she wouldn’t be easily swayed by the pope’s honeyed words like the students had been, and do what was best for them. And because of her overwhelming popularity, he was sure that her words would have more of an impact on them than his would.

  Just how much of an influence that would be, he didn’t know.

  Though if Kouki and the others started straying from the gods’ plan because of this, they would surely draw the gods’ attention.

  Eventually, tales of Hajime’s labyrinth conquest would spread, and he was certain the gods would eventually do something to intervene. So, by having Kouki stray from their plan, Hajime hoped to delay the gods’ interference in his own business, or at the very least split their attention.

  And the very faint hope that they too might start searching for an alternative way back home after learning they couldn’t rely on the gods. Lastly, he knew that the Liberators had been defeated because the gods had manipulated the people and turned them against them, so in order to avoid having that happen with his former classmates, he wanted to plant the seeds of doubt early.

  Though this was all something Hajime had just come up with after seeing Aiko again, so he wasn’t exactly expecting much.

  Hajime didn’t hold any particular grudge toward his old classmates, but he also didn’t really care about them. If they could be of use to him, he’d use them, and if not he’d leave them alone. He’d found a way they might help, which was the only reason he bothered to pass this information along.

  Aiko was stunned speechless after she heard Hajime’s tale. She wasn’t even sure how to process it. Frankly, it would probably be some time until she’d managed to digest it all.

  “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. That’s what I learned at the bottom of the abyss. What you do with that information is up to you, Sensei. You’re welcome to believe it or not as you wish. I don’t care.”

  “N-Nagumo-kun, does your journey have something to do with those... crazed gods?”

  “Hah, no way. I don’t give a shit about what happens to this world. I just want to find a way home. That’s the only reason I’m on this journey. I only told you because I figured you knowing might help sometime down the road.”

  Hajime snorted at her absurd question. Aiko was relieved that he wasn’t sticking his head into anything dangerous, but she grew angry again when he talked about how willing he was to disregard the lives of strangers. That being said, she too valued the students’ safety over the salvation of this world, so she didn’t have the right to say anything. Instead, she changed topics.

  “Do you have an idea of how you’re going to get back?”

  “Sorta. The labyrinths hold all the answers. If you guys are interested, you’re welcome to explore them yourselves. After you clear the first hundred floors of the Orcus Labyrinth, you’ll finally make it to the real deal. Though judging by what happened today, you’d all die instantly the moment you wandered in. If you can’t even handle that level of Intimidation, you won’t last five seconds.”

  Aiko thought back to the immense pressure Hajime had radiated at dinner. She looked up at him with a mixture of sympathy and admiration, realizing how harsh a path he must have walked to survive in such a hellish place.

  They both fell silent, and that silence stretched on for a few minutes. Finally, Hajime turned back to the door. He’d told Aiko everything he’d come here to say. The words Orcus Labyrinth had stirred something in Aiko’s memory though, and before he could leave she called out.

  “Shirasaki-san still hasn’t given up on you, you know!”

  “......” Hajime stopped, his hand hovering over the door handle. Aiko continued talking.

  “Everyone else thought you were dead, but only she didn’t give up. She believed you were still alive. Even now, she’s fighting through the Great Orcus Labyrinth, looking for you. Amanogawa-kun and the others are only down there to get stronger, but she’s with them because she’s determined to find you.”

  “...Is Shirasaki safe?” Hajime asked, after a long pause. Seeing him show concern for someone else gave Aiko hope that the old Hajime might still be alive somewhere deep inside.

  “Y-Yes. The labyrinth is a dangerous place, but it seems the party inside is steadily progressing as they grow stronger. At least, that’s what the letters they send us say. Are you worried about her? Shirasaki-san was your friend, right, Nagumo-kun?”

  Aiko’s tone was cheerful. Instead of responding to her question, Hajime turned around and said,

  “I wouldn’t exactly say that, but... if you guys exchange letters, you should let her know that her real enemy isn’t the monsters in the labyrinth. It’s one of her so-called comrades.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “I could tell from Tamai’s attitude. Sensei, everyone’s saying I fell during my fight with the Behemoth because of an accident, right?”

  “W-Well... yes. Someone’s spell misfired and... So you do bear a grudge against everyone, Nagumo-kun?”

  “Nah, I don’t give a damn about that, really. Anyway, they’re wrong. It wasn’t a misfire. Someone was quite clearly aiming for me.”

  “Huh? They were aiming for you?”

  Aiko repeated, confused. However, Hajime continued mercilessly, adding another huge worry to Aiko’s list of worries.

  “One of my classmates tried to kill me.”

  “Wha—!?” Aiko paled at his words.

  “The only thing I can think of that might have caused it was my relationship with Shirasaki, so whoever did it was probably someone jealous of me. If she’s still safe, you have to tell her to watch out. That person is probably going to try and make her his by force.” That was all Hajime said before leaving the room.

  A sudden chill crept into the room, and Aiko wrapped her arms around herself. One of her precious students had tried to kill a classmate. Worse, he’d
been a coward that had stabbed Hajime in the back. For Aiko, who wished to believe in all of her students, it was a hard pill to swallow, but she had no reason to believe Hajime had lied to her. Her desire to believe in her students, and her belief that her students were all good people were warring with each other.

  Aiko knew she wouldn’t get any sleep that night.

  Chapter II: A New Meeting

  Dawn.

  The glimmer of the moon was fading rapidly, its light being siphoned by the sun rising to the east. Hajime, Yue, and Shea were already ready to depart. The three of them were standing outside the Water Sprite Inn, their packs filled with riceballs for the road.

  Despite the extremely early hour, Foss had prepared breakfast for them without complaint.

  Truly a first-rate inn. Always one to give credit where credit was due, Hajime thanked Foss profusely for the riceballs and the service.

  They quickly left for the north gate, the morning mist still clinging to the ground. The path beyond the gate stretched on toward the mountains. The foot of the mountains was a hard day’s ride on horseback, so on Steiff it would take them only a few hours.

  Today would mark the fifth day since Will Cudeta’s party disappeared in the mountains. Chances were they were long dead. Hajime doubted he’d find anyone alive, but there was always the possibility they’d survived against all odds. If he did bring them back alive, that make Ilwa like Hajime all the more, so he wanted to start looking as fast as possible. Fortunately, the weather was fair. The perfect day for a search.

  The sounds of a town waking up could be heard as they headed down the main street. After a few minutes, they reached the north gate.

  As they approached, Hajime sensed a few people standing by the exit and narrowed his eye. They weren’t moving.

  As the morning mist cleared... he saw Aiko, Yuka, and the other six students.

  “I think I can guess what you’re here for, but I’ll ask just in case.” Hajime glared at Aiko.

  Aiko faltered under his withering gaze, but she stood her ground. A few feet away the students were stroking their horses and talking about something. They noticed Hajime and the others and walked over to Aiko.

  “We’re coming with you. You’re looking for a missing person, right? It’s better to have more people looking, then.”

  “No thanks. If you want to come, you’re welcome to, but we’re not going together.”

  “Wh-Why not?”

  “Because of the difference in our speed. I’m not going to match your slow place, Sensei.” Hajime stared pointedly at the horses standing behind Yuka. From the looks of them he doubted they could even handle having people ride them, but he didn’t say anything. Even if they’d been the fastest horses in the realm, they couldn’t hope to match a motorcycle’s speed.

  At Hajime’s words, Yuka looked around, then tilted her head in confusion. As far as she could see, there wasn’t any other means of transportation in sight.

  “You’re saying we’re too slow, but... hey, Nagumo. You’re not going to say something crazy like you can run faster than these horses or anything, right? Just because you don’t care about us anymore doesn’t give you the right to lie to us, you know? And if you really can run faster that’s even worse... Honestly, that crazy pressure you released yesterday was like that too, it’s like you’ve stopped being human.”

  Hajime was taken aback by Yuka’s bluntness. Though he couldn’t deny that he probably could outrun a horse just by running. In a sense, he really had stopped being human. Yuka hadn’t actually intended to say that, but her annoyance had just boiled over and she’d let it slip. However, her observations had been rather astute.

  Hajime met Yuka’s gaze. She was glaring at him, whether warily, antagonistically, or something else altogether he couldn’t tell, but he let out a very deliberate sigh. Realizing explaining would be too much of a pain, Hajime wordlessly pulled Steiff out of his Treasure Trove.

  Everyone’s jaw dropped open as they saw a motorcycle appear in thin air.

  “Get it yet? Even if they sound like lies to you, they’re not. Hell, I probably could run faster than those horses. I’m not trying to bullshit you guys. There literally is that much of a difference in our travel speed.” Everyone was still too shocked by Steiff’s sudden appearance and its otherworldly, at least as far as this world was concerned, nature to say anything.

  Finally, the motorcycle enthusiast of the class, Noboru, spoke up, a quiver of excitement in his voice.

  “D-Did you make this yourself too Nagumo?”

  “Yeah. Anyway, we’re going so get out of the way.” Hajime made to mount Steiff, but Aiko, as always, stopped him. She was determined to join them by any means possible.

  There were two reasons for her stubbornness.

  First, she wanted to be sure what Hajime had told her last night was the truth. That a classmate had tried to kill him was a serious allegation, and she had to be 100% sure Hajime hadn’t just been mistaken. And if he hadn’t, she had to know who he thought this would-be murderer was. She needed more information. If there was even the slightest chance of preventing further misfortune, Aiko wanted to do everything in her power to help. And since there was no guarantee she would ever see Hajime again after their search was over, this was her only chance to catch him.

  The second reason she wanted to tag along was to search for their own missing student, Yukitoshi Shimizu. They’d been looking high and low for him, but no one in the outlying villages had seen anyone matching his description.

  The only place they hadn’t been able to gather much information from was the mountain region, where people normally didn’t live anyway. Regardless of whether he’d been caught up in some kind of incident or left of his own volition, it was unlikely that he’d ended up in the mountains, so they’d avoided it until now. However, as the opportunity had presented itself, Aiko was hoping to join up with Hajime in order to search for clues about Shimizu’s whereabouts.

  Though it was half-coincidence that Yuka and the others were here too.

  In order to ambush Hajime on his way out, Aiko had gotten up even before the crack of dawn. Yuka, who’d slept very little because of the previous day’s events had just happened to spot Aiko leaving her room.

  Dressed in traveling gear as she was, there was no way she could have fooled Yuka. After learning that Aiko was going to try and join Hajime on his quest, Yuka had said “Then I’ll come too! Just give me 40 seconds to get ready!”

  She insisted that if Aiko was going, the Ai-chan defense force would too, and she woke up all the other students and got them to tag along.

  They didn’t wake the knights, though, as they figured they’d just get into another fight with Hajime, so they just left a letter telling them to wait at the inn. Whether or not they actually would was a different matter... Aiko sidled up to Hajime and whispered to him quietly.

  It was obvious she didn’t want others hearing what she had to say. This close up, Hajime could tell that she was hiding the dark circles under her eyes with makeup. Did she not sleep at all last night?

  “Nagumo-kun. As a teacher, I have to know more about what you told me last night, so until you agree to sit down and have a proper talk I’ll never let you out of my sight. And if you do manage to escape, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth. I’m sure you’d like to avoid that, right? It can be while we’re traveling or searching even, but I need you to make time to talk. If you do that, then I’ll be willing to say our farewells once your job here is done... for now.” Seeing the determination in her eyes, Hajime regretted telling her that last bit of information the previous night. Despite how much she ended up running around aimlessly, Aiko was stubborn to a fault. Even if he slipped away here, he could easily see her organizing the entire knight corps of the kingdom to search for him.

  He looked up at the sky, and saw it was quickly growing brighter. If he wanted to find Will alive, he didn’t have time to waste on a long question and answer session.


  I guess you reap what you sow. Hajime sighed deeply, then met Aiko’s gaze.

  “Fine. You can come with us. Though I doubt we’ll have any time to really talk.”

  “That’s fine. There’s just some things I want to confirm with you directly.”

  “Haah, you just don’t give up, do you, Sensei? No matter what you do or where you are, you’re still our teacher.”

  “That’s right!” Aiko proudly puffed out her chest. Seeing that negotiations had ended favorably, Yuka and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hajime, we’re taking her with us?”

  “Yep. Because no matter what happens, she’ll never stop being my teacher. She never compromises when it comes to her students. If we leave her here now, she’ll just get more annoying later.”

  “Hmm, she sounds like a really nice teacher.”

  Yue and Shea were surprised at how easily Hajime gave in. And when they heard his grudging praise of her, their respect for Aiko rose considerably.

  For his part, Hajime admired her dedication to her students, too. Even if he no longer considered himself a regular human, or his former peers his classmates, he still believed Aiko was one of the few adults who deserved his respect.

  “But that motorcycle can’t fit more than three people. What are you going to do?”

  Yuka pointed out a fatal issue. The horses would be too slow and Hajime would never dream of making Yue or Shea stay behind so Aiko could ride in their place. Hajime casually put Steiff back into his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out the other vehicle he’d made, Brise.

  It resembled the Hummers the American military once used. Not only did it have a thick armor plating, but there were numerous deadly weapons installed onto its frame. The entire thing was painted matte black, too. Minus the rear turret, it was modeled after those pick-up trucks, and looked like it could easily run over anything in its path.

  The students had already figured out Hajime must be using some type of artifact to materialize and dematerialize these massive objects at will, but they were still impressed. Seeing him now it was hard to imagine anyone had once called him incompetent.