Surprised, Altina looked up at Hajime. His gaze was colder than ice. He didn’t seem the least bit happy that a beautiful girl like her was trying to flirt with him. “Just take us to the conference hall already,” his eyes said.
Crestfallen, Altina dejectedly led them out of the square. She’d known from the start that she had no chance against Shea, who’d gone through all sorts of hardships together with Hajime, but she’d still wanted to have hope. And Hajime had crushed that hope so ruthlessly that everyone aside from Yue gave him a somewhat reproachful look. While they didn’t want any more girls vying for his affection, they still thought he could have been nicer about it.
When they arrived at the hall, the elders took their customary seats at the head of the room. Cam and a few of the Haulia sat across from them. They sandwiched Gahard between themselves, and Hajime, who’d sat to their right. It was only when the emperor himself confirmed that he had indeed surrendered to the Haulia and agreed to their demands that the elders finally had to admit this was all real. They all reacted to this historic event in different ways. Some howled with joy, others looked up at the roof, while yet others covered their eyes and sighed deeply.
One of the elders, the tigerman Zel, narrowed his eyes and glared at Gahard. He didn’t like how the emperor was still smiling fearlessly despite being smack in the middle of enemy territory.
“For a defeated emperor, you sure look pleased with yourself. Do you even realize how much most of the people here despise you? You don’t honestly think we’ll let you go home in one piece, do you?”
Zel’s pupils narrowed to slits, and he made no effort to hide his hatred. Bloodlust oozed from his every pore. Most of the other elders and beastmen soldiers in the room were the same. Gahard was their sworn enemy. It was impossible for them to stay calm in this situation. However, Gahard didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by their glares.
“Of course I do. There’s no way you’d dare to kill me. Unless you’re all just a pack of morons anyway.”
“What was that, you bastard!?”
Ulfric held out a hand to hold Zel back.
“Calm yourself, Zel. I understand full well how you must be feeling. But remember, the reason the Haulia brought Gahard here was to prove to us that his oaths are as binding as they claim. If we kill him here, the victory the Haulia risked their lives for will become meaningless.”
“Grr...”
Zel’s face twisted in frustration, and he slammed a fist into the ground. Gahard simply harrumphed in response. The atmosphere in the room was quickly becoming dangerous. In an attempt to smooth things over Ulfric gave Gahard a warning.
“Gahard, you will afford us the proper respect. Or else we may have to become the morons you claim we are. Many of the people here are having a difficult enough time holding their emotions in check as is. Know that that is the extent of the pain you caused us.”
Ulfric’s voice was even, but his words carried weight. Enough weight to wipe the smirk off Gahard’s face. He had lived longer than any other beastman in the room. That also meant that he’d experienced the most pain, the most suffering, the most anger, and the most hatred.
Gahard stretched his legs lazily and observed Ulfric for a time. Finally, he straightened his posture and spoke.
“If you want my respect, then draw your sword.”
Ulfric looked at him suspiciously, and Gahard explained,
“I, along with everyone else in the empire, only pay respect to the strong. If you don’t like my attitude, then make me obey by force. Petty words alone mean nothing to the emperor of Hoelscher.”
Gahard felt absolutely no remorse about enslaving beastmen. Unlike Heiligh, he didn’t look down on them because they were an inferior race that couldn’t use magic and had been abandoned by god. Nor did he have any issue with their bestial nature. He simply looked down upon them because he considered them weak.
“I didn’t lose to the beastmen of Verbergen. And so, I have no obligation to show you any respect. The ones who risked their lives to defeat me are the Haulia, and the Haulia alone! It’s only their strength that I recognize!”
Gahard’s spirited shout sent tremors across the room. His stare clashed with Ulfric’s, and invisible sparks danced through the air. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The two of them were engaging in a silent battle of wills. In the end, the one who broke this strained silence was none other than Hajime.
“Oi, Gahard. You’re making everything a huge pain, so you can go back now.”
“Huh?” As always, he didn’t even bother trying to read the atmosphere.
Ulfric looked at Hajime in confusion, while a suspicious frown formed on Gahard’s face. Ignoring Kouki and Liliana’s incredulous looks, Hajime grabbed Gahard by the scruff of his neck and opened a portal in front of him using spatial magic. Beyond the portal, the familiar landscape of the imperial capital was visible.
“H-Hey! You’re not really gonna just throw me outta here are you!? Wasn’t this supposed to be a historic meeting between our two countries!? I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but read the damn atmosphere for once!”
“Like I give a shit. I only brought you here so you could testify to the elders. I’m not here to babysit your meeting. I was gonna have to send you back eventually anyway, so there’s no point in waiting.” Hajime didn’t bother waiting for a reply, and further drove his point home.
“You guys have had different values and been at odds with each other for centuries... It’s not like a single talk’s going to make all the bitterness and resentment magically go away. Or are your feelings really that shallow?”
In truth, Gahard and the elders’ discussion was going nowhere. They wanted him to show remorse, or at least promise to change his ways, while he continued to assert the righteousness of his doctrine to the bitter end. They were two parallel lines that would never cross. It would take a number of long conversations by level-headed leaders on both sides to work through the massive gulf between races, governments, and ideologies. And Hajime had no interest in sticking around to wait for them. Like Gahard had said, it was the Haulia who had defeated him, not Ulfric and the others. He was only hear to corroborate their story as per his contract. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Ngh, you do have a point, but...”
“And so, I’m gonna send you back before you start a fight.”
“You bastard, don’t treat me like some rebellious kid! Hey, stop pulling! Let me go!”
Hoelscher’s emperor struggled with all his might, but he was no match for the inhuman strength of Hajime’s artificial arm.
“Nagumo-san, that’s the Emperor you’re holding by the scruff of his neck. You shouldn’t treat him like that~”
“Why do you look so happy about this, Princess Liliana!?”
Liliana remonstrated Hajime in a singsong voice; she clearly wasn’t the least bit mad about his treatment of Gahard.
“Even an emperor’s just a kid to Nagumo-san~ I’m not the only one he treats like that~” Liliana hummed softly to herself in an impromptu tune. Were she to give a name to this new song, she would have called it ”Comrades in arms.”
“Lily... Oh, you poor thing.”
“Hajime-kun, you could at least be a little nicer to Lily!”
Shizuku dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, while Kaori tearfully pleaded with Hajime. Unable to watch their princess, Helina and Heiligh’s royal guards turned away. Reality was too cruel to their poor mistress.
Even Yue felt so bad for Liliana that she tried to heal the princess with spirit magic. One of spirit magic’s signature spells was one that stabilized a person’s mental state. A sympathetic golden light washed over Liliana. However, it appeared to have no effect, and she continued singing her deranged song.
Desperate, Tio tried to help with her own spirit magic. It was just as ineffective, however. The princess had been scarred deeper than anyone expected. Even Gahard gave her a pitying look. He then turned to Hajime and said
,
“See, look. It’s because you don’t treat royalty with the respect they deserve that your princess ended up like this. Now hurry up and let me down—”
“Not my problem,” Hajime replied bluntly. Then, without warning, he threw Gahard through the gate.
“I won’t forget this, Hajime Nagumooooooooo!” Gahard yelled as he vanished. Hajime’s irreverent treatment of Gahard had given Verbergen’s elders a vicarious sense of satisfaction, temporarily satiating their desire for revenge. Kouki was the first to realize this, and he leaned close to Ryutarou and muttered,
“Don’t tell me this was his plan from the start?”
“Nah, I think that’s just how he is.”
“I’m with Ryutarou-kun on this one.”
Though neither Ryutarou nor Suzu agreed with him, Kouki still wasn’t convinced. It was only when Hajime then tried to throw the still humming Liliana through the same gate that Kouki was forced to admit defeat.
Fortunately for Liliana, she narrowly managed to convince Hajime that she still had unfinished work here and that he couldn’t send her back just yet.
Like she did with Gahard, Liliana explained to Verbergen’s elders what had happened in the kingdom along with the truth about Ehit. She then went on to discuss what kind of relationship she wanted to have with Verbergen in the future. While the kingdom hadn’t kept slaves like the empire, it was only because they’d considered beastmen subhuman. Naturally, the beastmen were aware of that too, and it made it difficult for talks to proceed smoothly. However, the beastmen still had less hatred for Heiligh than they had for Hoelscher, meaning they were at least willing to hear Liliana out.
“Haaah, fine. We’ll go exploring Verbergen for a bit, so just find me once you’re done talking. And don’t cause any trouble, Princess. If you make a scene, I’ll throw you back to Heiligh on the spot.”
“Nagumo-san, I’d like to remind you once again that I am the kingdom’s princess.”
“And?”
“Yes yes, I already know you don’t even care about status or royalty. It’s my fault for expecting anything different from you. Fufu, I guess you just throw princesses back into their castles on a daily basis. Ahahaha.”
Liliana was obviously sulking. It would be a difficult road, conveying the love that had blossomed during the ball. In an attempt to cheer Liliana up, Helina brought her one of her signature teas, while Shizuku and Kaori comforted her.
Meanwhile, Kouki and Liliana’s guards glared at Hajime, but he ignored them.
In truth, Hajime had long since guessed Liliana’s feelings for him. He’d had to have been colossally dense not to figure it out after the dance. But he had no desire to nurture those feelings, so instead of treating her with halfhearted kindness he just cut her off at every turn. Whether that was because he was loyal to Yue, or just because he was cold by nature was anyone’s guess.
He sighed wearily to himself and turned to Cam.
“Cam, it looks like the princess wants to keep talking with the elders, but what about you guys? If you’re not planning on staying, could you guide me back to your village? Driving Fernir across half a continent with thousands of people on board was exhausting. I want to rest for a bit.”
“Hmm. Well you will be challenging the labyrinth starting tomorrow, so rest certainly would be a good idea. We’ll take you back, Boss.”
Cam still had to take care of inaugurating all the new recruits and leading the Haulia left in Verbergen, so he decided to have one of his men guide Hajime and the others. But before he could snap his fingers and call his subordinates from the shadows, he was stopped by Ulfric.
“Please wait, Nagumo-dono. We have yet to repay you for all you’ve done for us. Would you mind staying here just a while longer?”
“Like I said, thank the Haulia, not me. They’re the ones who did this.”
“Naturally I intend to reward them as well. However, that doesn’t change the fact that we owe you a great debt. We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if we didn’t at least do something.”
“I mean if you want to believe you owe me, you’re welcome to think that, but... There really isn’t anything I need right now.”
“Mmm... Then at the very least, let us provide you lodging and food while you’re here... Would that be acceptable?”
Hajime shot a questioning glance back at Yue and the others. None of them seemed to mind, and Shizuku and Suzu looked like they wanted to stay and explore the beautiful capital filled with fluffy beastmen. All the other elders seemed like they were fine with it as well. In fact, they showed none of the hostility that they had to Gahard, or any of the wariness they were showing Liliana. When it came to Hajime, it seemed all of the elders loved him. From the bottoms of their hearts, they seemed to sincerely want Hajime to stay.
Looking at it objectively, Hajime had rescued countless beastmen, had healed all of their injuries and even repaired their city. Furthermore, so long as none of the beastmen opposed him, he wouldn’t hurt any of them. Compare to when he’d first met the elders, they had a lot more reasons to like him. However, Hajime hadn’t done any of this to earn their goodwill, so it made the situation a little awkward. Still, he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“If that’s what you want, then I guess we can stick around,” Hajime said with a shrug.
Ulfric breathed sigh of relief, then turned to Cam.
“Now then, Cam. Though you were exiled from Verbergen, you saved our capital, and then went on to defeat the empire and force them to return our enslaved brethren. These are debts that must be repaid. To begin, I would like you to know that the elders have unanimously agreed to rescind the Haulia’s exile. That was decided in the meeting following the demons’ attack. You and your clan are free to visit Verbergen as you please. If you so desire, we would even be willing to create a residential quarter for your kin.”
To think the elders would actually reverse their old decision, Hajime thought with some surprise, I guess that’s just how big Cam’s achievements were.
However, Cam’s response was surprisingly lackluster. ”I see,” was all he said flatly. He didn’t seem particularly happy about no longer being exiled.
Ulfric cleared his throat awkwardly and went on to list the other rewards Verbergen’s elders had decided to bestow upon the Haulia.
“Furthermore, I would like to propose that the council open a new seat to be filled by the current head of the Haulia, Cam Haulia, as a reward for his meritorious service. Do the other elders agree?”
The other beastmen in the room looked at Ulfric in shock. For the past few centuries, the number of elders and the clans from which those elders were chosen had remained unchanged. The elves, tigermen, bearmen, foxmen, dwarves, and harpies were the six most prominent beastmen races, and the ones from which elders had traditionally been chosen. For the rabbitmen to be included into the council of elders would be a historically unprecedented honor.
The other elders conferred with themselves for a few seconds, then nodded to each other and unanimously confirmed Ulfric’s proposition.
“Well, there you have it, Cam. Will you accept this seat on the council?”
“Absolutely not.”
“...What?”
The elders’ jaws dropped open. Considering the festive atmosphere, they’d all been accepting Cam to agree. But he refused without a second thought. It made no sense to the elders.
“May I ask why?”
Ulfric quickly recovered. He kept his voice level even as he wondered why anyone would want to refuse the greatest honor a beastman could be awarded.
“It’s not really a question of why. In the first place, you guys seem to be under a fundamental misconception about our position.”
“And what would that be?”
“You probably think our goal was to save all the beastmen, but that was just an unintended consequence of our true aim. The reason we attacked the empire was to save our brethren, the other rabbitmen. In all honestl
y, I could care less about all the other beastmen.”
“What did you just say?”
The elders looked at Cam in disbelief.
“Don’t get the wrong idea here. We Haulia aren’t your allies. If you let our victory get to your head and start thinking you might stand a chance against the empire yourselves, our next targets will be you. We won’t allow you to act recklessly and cause us or our boss any trouble.”
That wasn’t a threat. It was a mere statement of fact. Cam’s tone made it clear he really would raze Verbergen if he felt it necessary. After all, if the other beastmen did something to Gahard or his family, it would destroy everything Cam and the Haulia had fought for. Without their contract with the empire, all that awaited the rabbitmen was a dark future. And while Cam’s decision was a rational one, the blunt way in which he said it made it difficult for Verbergen’s elders to swallow.
“Y-You would turn your blades on your own people!? Are you insane!?”
“Hmph, you other beastmen persecuted us rabbitmen as much as the empire did. Don’t try and pretend like we’re old friends. Well you can if you want, but it won’t change anything. Point is, we fight only for the sake of securing a better future for rabbitmen. You’d do well to remember that.”
Cam resolutely stared down Ulfric and the others. At the same time, he gave the Haulia behind him a thumbs-up over his shoulder, as if to say ”I sure told them!” His subordinates returned his thumbs-up and grinned in satisfaction. They were all thinking the same thing. Don’t think you can trick us into joining your council and then use our strength however you please, you damn cowards!
Part of the reason Ulfric had invited Cam was because he had wanted to add the Haulia’s strength to Verbergen, so he couldn’t deny it.
Meanwhile, the people around Hajime all simultaneously turned to glare at him. Cam’s statement bore a striking resemblance to Hajime’s ideology of protecting what was important to him and ignoring everything else.
“You make it sound as if the rabbitmen are walking down a different path than other beastmen.”
“I’m glad you’re so quick on the uptake, Ulfric. That’s exactly it. From now on, rabbitmen will only be following their own rules. We have no interest in joining with Verbergen, and thus being subjected to the nation’s laws and regulations.”
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 8 Page 4
