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

by Ryo Shirakome

  A short while later, Hajime sent out his Ornises to scout the area the previous adventurers had supposedly been requested to examine. About three hundred meters to the east, he found signs of large-scale destruction. Hajime hurried over, forcing everyone to go even faster to keep up.

  They found a river larger than the almost-stream they’d stopped at earlier. There was even a small waterfall further upstream. Normally, said river would flow all the way down to the foot of the mountain, but something had gouged huge furrows into the earth, diverting its flow. The furrows were so precise that it looked like they’d been cut by a laser.

  Not only that, but the earth and trees around the gouged earth had been scorched black. Some of the trees had been snapped clean in half, the upper halves of their trunks sometimes tens of meters away. Thirty-centimeter long footprints remained in the muddy riverbank.

  “So this is where the fight really picked up... Judging by the footprints, we’re dealing with some huge monster that walks on two legs... Supposedly, Bulltaurs roam around the area two mountains over, but the way the ground was cut clean through...”

  The Bulltaurs Hajime was referring to were a kind of cross between the Orcs and Ogres usually found in RPGs. They weren’t very intelligent, but they always roamed in packs, and their special magic was an inferior version of Diamond Skin, Steel Skin. They were a powerful race known for their high defensive capabilities. However, adventurers had only ever encountered them after cresting the second set of mountains, and even then they never crossed the peak to the village side of the second mountain range. More importantly, they didn’t have any magic that would let them make such precise cuts into the ground like that.

  Hajime squatted down and examined the footprints. He wasn’t sure if they should head downstream or upstream next.

  So far the traces of battle they’d found had suggested Will and the others had fled upstream, but he found it hard to imagine they’d continue heading in that direction after such a fierce fight. Considering their physical and mental exhaustion, it would have made little sense for them to flee away from town.

  Having come to that conclusion, Hajime sent his Ornises upstream, electing to take the downstream path himself. Since the footprints were all near the riverbank, it was possible Will and the others had escaped into the river. Exhausted by the fighting as they must have been, they’d probably opted to let the current carry them away.

  The others agreed with Hajime’s hypothesis, and they began trekking down the mountain.

  Eventually, they came across another waterfall. This one was far larger than the tiny drop they’d seen earlier. Hajime, Yue, and Shea all jumped off the cliff and landed nimbly on the rocks below. The misty breeze characteristic to all waterfalls blew past them. It was a refreshing reprieve, tired as they were from searching all day.

  It was at that moment that Hajime’s Sense Presence detected something.

  “Wha...! No way...”

  “Hajime?” Yue was the first to react to Hajime’s outburst. Hajime closed his eyes and concentrated. A few seconds later he opened them again, the surprise evident in his voice.

  “Man, you’ve gotta be kidding me. My Sense Presence detected something, but it feels human. And it’s... coming from behind the waterfall.”

  “There’s a living person down there!?”

  Hajime nodded in response to Shea’s question.

  “Just one?” Yue asked, to which Hajime’s response was a simple confirmation.

  Aiko and the others looked shocked as well. It was only natural, as while it was still theoretically possible someone had survived, Hajime hadn’t actually expected to find anyone alive. Five days had passed since Will’s party had gone missing. If the survivor was one of them, it’d be a miracle.

  “Yue, I’m counting on you.”

  “...Okay.”

  Hajime didn’t take his eyes off the pool of water surrounding the waterfall. Guessing what Hajime wanted, Yue raised her right hand and activated her magic.

  “Liquid Rampart. Wind Wall.”

  The water around the waterfall was pushed to either side, the wind wall keeping the resulting spray from soaking them. Yue looked like Moses parting the Red Sea with her hand outstretched like that. The spell Liquid Rampart made barriers of water, and Yue had used the existing river water to create hers.

  Aiko and the students’ jaws dropped open in shock yet again as they watched Yue cast two different elemental spells without an incantation or even a magic circle. The ancient Jews had probably been just as surprised when Moses had performed his miracle.

  Yue’s mana supply wasn’t infinite, so Hajime ushered everyone along. They walked past the waterfall into the cavern behind it.

  The cavern angled upward, and it opened up into a rather spacious room after they got through a narrow passage. Water and light poured into the room from above, the water creating a large puddle in the center. Seeing as the puddle didn’t overflow, it stood to reason that it connected to the river somehow.

  They found a man in the furthest corner of the room. As they approached, they could make out his features better. He was young, probably no more than twenty, with graceful features. At the moment, though, that graceful face was pale as a sheet, ruining the effect. However, he didn’t seem to be injured, and his bag still had a little food left in it. From the looks of it, he was just asleep. His pale features were probably due to the terror of hiding out alone.

  Aiko looked at him, clearly worried, but Hajime was in a hurry to find out who he was. He flicked the sleeping man on the forehead with his artificial arm.

  “Guwah!” He awoke with a scream and covered his forehead with both hands. Aiko shuddered at Hajime’s callousness.

  Hajime ignored Aiko and crouched down in front of the crying man. He didn’t bother mincing words.

  “Are you Will Cudeta? The third son of the Cudeta family?”

  “I, uhh... Who are you guys? What are you doing here?” The man’s eyes darted about wildly. Hajime got his hand ready for another flick and rested it against the man’s forehead.

  “Answer the question. Every time you tell me something other than an answer, I’m going to flick you twice as hard as the last time.”

  “Huh!?”

  “Are you Will Cudeta?”

  “Umm... Uwaah, yes! I am! I’m Will Cudeta! That’s me!” The man stammered for a moment, but Hajime’s sharp glare silenced any protests he might have, and he answered with more vigor than his pale face would suggest.

  So he really is Will Cudeta. By some miracle, he had actually survived.

  “I see. I’m Hajime. Hajime Nagumo. I’ve come looking for you at Chief Ilwa Chang’s request. I’m glad you’re alive.” That’ll make life much easier.

  “Ilwa-san sent you!? I see. I guess... I owe him another debt for this. Umm, thank you for coming here. If Ilwa-san sent you, you must be pretty strong.”

  There was a mixture of gratitude and respect in his gaze. It seemed he wasn’t too bothered by that earlier flick to his forehead. He seemed like a surprisingly nice fellow. Completely unlike that other pig-faced noble Hajime had encountered.

  Glad he didn’t have to beat an answer out of Will, Hajime motioned for Yue and Shea to introduce themselves before asking what had happened.

  In short, this was what happened to them:

  Will and his party were climbing up the same mountain path Hajime had taken when they were set upon by ten Bulltaurs.

  Unwilling to take on such a force, the party began to retreat. However, more and more Bulltaurs kept on coming and, before long, they had been driven up to the river a little over halfway up the mountain.

  Surrounded and driven into a corner, the party’s paladin and swordsman gave their lives to let the others escape. Forced further upward by the advancing horde of Bulltaurs, the party arrived at the second river, only to meet their doom.

  A black dragon was waiting for them.

  The moment they burst out on the riverbank, it had fi
red its searing breath at them, sending Will flying into the river. As he was being washed downstream the last thing he’d seen was one member of the party get completely incinerated, while the remaining two were trapped between a dragon and a horde of Bulltaurs.

  After falling down the waterfall he’d stumbled into this cavern, and had been hiding inside ever since.

  His tale sounded pretty similar to a certain someone’s.

  Will’s emotions got the better of him halfway through his story, and by the time he finished he was in tears. He’d basically forced his way into their party, and yet the adventurers he’d traveled with hadn’t so much as looked annoyed when he asked them to teach him their skills or share stories about their adventures.

  And yet he hadn’t even tried to save them. He’d just hidden down here in this cave like a coward, praying for someone to come save him.

  He hated himself even more for feeling relieved when help had finally arrived, even though his comrades had all died.

  Those feelings had all come to a head when he recounted his tale, which was why he was a sobbing mess.

  “I-I’m the worsht. Everyone died, but even though I wash usheless, I survived... and then... I even felt happy when I learned I wash shaved!” Will’s sobs echoed through the cavern. No one said anything. No one knew what to say to the sobbing young man who blamed himself for his comrades’ deaths. Yuka and the others especially so, because they understood exactly what he was feeling.

  Aiko gently patted Will on the back, her expression pained.

  Yue was as expressionless as always, while Shea was at a loss for words.

  But when Will finally paused to take breath, the person everyone had least expected to say anything comforted him.

  Hajime.

  He walked over, grabbed Will by the collar, and hoisted him up into the air. When he spoke, his tone was surprisingly gentle.

  “What’s so wrong about wanting to live? What’s so bad about being happy that you survived? Those feelings are the most natural thing in the world. For a human, wanting to survive is a praiseworthy trait.”

  “B-But... I...”

  “If you feel bad for your dead comrades... then live on. Even if you have to crawl on the ground dredging for scraps, survive. As long as you keep struggling... eventually, the day will come when you realize there was meaning in you surviving this day.”

  “Live... on.” Tears still in his eyes, Will blankly repeated Hajime’s words.

  Hajime thrust Will back to the ground and mumbled some words.

  “What the hell’s wrong with me?” His speech had been half-directed at himself. When he’d heard Will lamenting his own survival, it had somehow felt like he was saying it was a mistake for Hajime to have survived. That was what had gotten Hajime so worked up.

  Of course, that was just his persecution complex rearing its ugly head. What he’d done wasn’t much different from a kid throwing a temper tantrum. Despite how mature he tried to act, Hajime was still a seventeen year old boy. He still had a lot of growing up to do.

  Having realized his mistake, Hajime was stewing in a rare moment of self-loathing. Seeing his expression, Yue walked over and gently took him his hand in hers.

  “It’s okay. You said the right thing, Hajime.”

  “...Yue.”

  “Live, with everything you’ve got. We’re going to survive together, right?”

  “Haha, you’re right. No matter what comes our way, we’ll make it through alive. I promise I won’t leave you alone.”

  “...Good.”

  Before long, Hajime and Yue were lost in their own little world, Will’s existence completely forgotten. I’m really no match for her, Hajime thought as he gently stroked Yue’s cheek. She nuzzled happily against his hand. Shea was, of course, glaring at them reproachfully. Her ears were twitching angrily, as if to say “How dare you leave me out again!”

  Meanwhile, Hajime’s words had really hit home to Aiko and the others. They were the words of someone who’d had to change his appearance and even the very core of his being to crawl out of the abyss alive. Ever since their reunion he’d always been cold and aloof, but for the first time they’d seen him get heated up.

  His passion resonated just a little in the hearts of Yuka and the others, who were still trapped by the fear of death. His words felt like the first rays of spring after a long and cold winter.

  For a while, the students all stared at each other, lost in their thoughts. Will was still in a daze after being unfairly yelled at and then unceremoniously thrown away. Shea was still desperately trying to get Hajime and Yue’s attention, while the latter were still lost in each other’s eyes. The mood was so sickeningly sweet that one would think Hajime had transmuted the air to sugar.

  Finally, Will managed to get everyone’s attention, and the party began preparing to descend. There was still an hour until darkness fell, so if they hurried they could reach the foot of the mountain before the day was up.

  True, the sudden appearance of a Bulltaur herd and a black dragon were worrying developments, but they weren’t part of Hajime’s mission. Besides, it was unreasonable of anyone to expect Hajime to investigate those incidents while protecting such a weak group.

  Will realized he’d just be a burden too, so he agreed that they should withdraw. Atsushi’s sense of justice compelled him to argue that they should investigate further and save the townspeople from their plight, but with such dangerous monsters as Bulltaurs and black dragons roaming about, Aiko was having none of it. So, in the end, it was decided they would leave the mountain.

  But of course, it was too much to hope everything would go according to plan. The moment the group exited the waterfall cavern using Yue’s magic, they were greeted by a fearsome sight.

  “Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” A dragon, its scales jet black and its eyes glinting a cruel gold, glared down at them from the sky.

  It was easily seven meters long. Claws as big and sharp as swords jutted from its forelegs. The wings sprouting from its back were glimmering faintly, covered in a sheen of mana.

  That explains it. Every time the dragon flapped its wings, an unbelievably powerful gust of wind blew past them. Still, what stood out most of all were the two eyes that glowed as gold as the moon amidst a sea of pitch black. Its pupils were slitted, giving them a reptilian appearance, while its eyes were narrowed in a dangerous glare, making the light they emitted all the more beautiful.

  It let out another low roar. The overwhelming pressure it exuded was far greater than the wyverns Hajime had fought at the bottom of the Reisen Gorge, the Hyverias. Most people considered Hyverias among the most dangerous monsters that roamed the surface, but this black dragon made them feel like nothing more than little birds. Truly, its majesty made it fit to be called the ruler of the skies.

  Aiko and the others froze in place, deer caught in headlights. Will was trembling so fiercely that he looked ready to collapse on the spot. He was probably having flashbacks to the last time he’d been attacked.

  He had expected a suitably powerful monster when he saw the furrows in the ground, but he hadn’t expected something as deadly as the black dragon currently in front of him. This was at least three times more powerful than what he’d anticipated.

  He was sure its strength couldn’t compare to the Hydra he’d fought at the bottom of the abyss, but it was at least as powerful as the monsters he’d found 90 floors down.

  Upon spotting Will, the dragon’s gaze focused on him. Then, it suddenly reared its head back and opened its jaw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. It began focusing a tremendous amount of mana into its mouth.

  Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaa! A strange keening sound echoed throughout the sunset orange mountains. Hajime suddenly remembered Will describing the breath that had gouged out part of the river and incinerated an adventurer on the spot.

  “Everyone, run!” Hajime leaped to the side as he screamed. Yue and Shea followed suit. However, most people... No, everyone else didn’t react to
Hajime’s warning.

  They couldn’t. Aiko, Yuka, the other students, and even Will were still frozen in place. Aiko and the others were too surprised to react properly, but Will was frozen in fear. He couldn’t even summon the presence of mind to look away.

  “Tch!”

  “Hajime!”

  “Hajime-san!”

  Hajime used Telepathy to relay orders to Yue and Shea, then used Supersonic Step to return to the spot he’d been in seconds ago, putting him directly between the dragon and the students.

  Normally, he would have just left them to fend for themselves, but he didn’t hate Aiko and the others enough that he’d be comfortable just watching them die. And if he let Will, who by some miracle had survived, die, then what was the point of him accepting this mission in the first place? He’d taken on a contract to bring Will back if he found him alive, and he wasn’t one to renege on his promises.

  Hajime pulled a two-meter tall coffin-shaped shield out of his Treasure Trove and connected it to his prosthetic left arm. He started pouring mana into it, and a giant spike popped out of the bottom half with a pneumatic hiss. He thrust it into the ground as hard as he could.

  A second later, the dragon’s black breath cut through the air with the precision of a laser. It traveled faster than sound, smashing into Hajime’s shield with a thunderous roar not even a second after it had been fired. The waves of heat radiating off the black laser were so great that they melted the ground around him.

  “Guoooooooh!” Hajime let out a bestial roar as he pushed back against the breath’s force. Hajime’s body, along with the shield, began to glow a deep crimson. He was using his Diamond Skin. His magic held out for a while, and even pushed the breath back a short distance, but finally the breath broke through and slammed into the shield once more.

  And yet, his shield withstood the impact. Heat powerful enough to break through his Diamond Skin assailed the shield, slowly melting through it. However, every time it looked like the breath would break through, Hajime mended his shield with his transmutation.