“Fire-works?”
“Fireworks are... giant explosions.”
“Ex-plo-sions?”
Hajime couldn’t figure out a good way to explain it, but it didn’t matter since she’d see for herself in a few seconds. He cradled Myu in one arm as he pulled a ring out of his Treasure Trove with the other. The ring was actually a remote detonator he’d made with spirit stone. While he’d been searching for Myu, he’d left some bombs here and there.
“Alright, here we go. Bombs away~”
“Bombs away?”
Their voices faded away into the evening breeze. A second later, there was a boom so loud that it could be heard throughout the entire city.
The art museum that doubled as an illegal auction hall was blasted to kingdom come. Not a trace remained of the probably beautiful and historic art that had adorned its halls. The surrounding buildings that had all belonged to Freidhof were toppled by the shockwave following the explosion.
He’d shaped the charges upward so the fire wouldn’t spread to the rest of the city. Pillars of flame rose up to the heavens, dying the sky a deep crimson, though a different shade than that of the sunset. It looked as if a volcano had erupted in the heart of the city.
“Whaaaaaaaaat!?”
“Well, Myu? Surprised? Those are fireworks.”
“Fireworks are scary.” Trembling, Myu clung to Hajime as she watched the spectacle. However, Hajime wasn’t done yet. The party was just getting started, after all.
“O-O-Onii-chan! There’s something over there!”
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“Huh!?” Dark clouds had gathered where Myu was pointing. Four dragons composed of pure lightning burst from the clouds with a thunderous roar, further scaring an already terrified Myu.
Each one was about half the size of Yue’s single dragon, but their ferocity hadn’t changed at all. The faint of heart passed out at the mere sight of them as they circled above the city.
The four dragons split off from each other, heading to different districts.
Chances were, everyone in Fuhren saw them.
They flew majestically through the burning sky, heading for the remaining four major Freidhof bases. Upon reaching their destination, they plummeted to the ground, swallowing the buildings whole.
The ground shook as they struck. There were four blinding flashes of light and with another roar, the four bases were wiped out of existence.
Plumes of smoke rose from the rubble, the debris and ash choking out the light of the setting sun. From up above, the city of Fuhren looked like it had been hit by a disaster.
That being said, Hajime and Yue had taken great precautions to make sure no innocents were harmed. Hajime had sent his Ornises to scout out all of Freidhof’s bases and made doubly sure no one unaffiliated with the group had been present. So despite the destruction, the only casualties had been Freidhof’s members.
It was possible some of the members had been forced to join the gang, or maybe could have been reformed, but... Hajime didn’t feel the need to investigate the individuals of an organization that had made themselves his enemy.
“Hajime-san! Is Myu-chan safe!?”
“W-Wait for me, Shea. God, you’re fast. Were your physical abilities always this high!?”
Hajime received a telepathic message from Shea as he was surveying the damage. Since he hadn’t mentioned the fireworks to her, she had been rather surprised when half the city exploded.
“Yeah. Safe and sound. And it looks like we got most of their bases too... Oh, right, let’s all meet up at the adventurer’s guild. Ilwa’s probably tearing his hair out over how much paperwork this is going to mean for him.”
“Oh, thank goodness~ You said we’re meeting at the guild? Roger. I’ll be right there. I want to hurry up and see Myu-chan.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see her real soon. Alright, meet you there.”
“You got it.” Myu looked up at Hajime as he suddenly fell silent and gazed off into the distance. When he finished his conversation with Shea, he told Myu she’d get to see her soon. Myu exclaimed “Onee-chan!” and her face broke out into a smile.
As he descended to the ground, Yue came up to meet him. She’d already seen the kids to the safety department. She stared intently at the little girl in Hajime’s arms. Myu uncomfortably glanced around before looking up at Hajime again. He could guess what the unspoken question in her eyes was.
“Myu, this is Yue. She’s my lover.”
“Huh? Lover...? What about Onee-chan?”
“She’s my comrade.”
“She’s not your lover?”
“Nope, she’s not.”
“But...”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. Yue’s my lover.”
“Mrrrr~” Myu looked petulantly over at Yue. Yue hadn’t taken her eyes off Myu during that whole exchange. This time Myu met Yue’s gaze. She stared at Yue intently, trying to figure out what kind of person she was.
They continued staring at each other for a few minutes. Yue was the first to break contact. She suddenly started walking forward.
Myu watched her cautiously. Yue stopped in front of Hajime, took Myu from his hands, and hugged her tight. Myu yelped and struggled to break free of Yue’s grasp, but Yue wouldn’t let go. After a few seconds, Yue spoke.
“This is cheating. You’re too cute.” It looked like Yue had taken a liking to Myu. Myu finally managed to wriggle her head out Yue’s chest and gasped for air. The two stared at each other once more.
“Hi there, Myu. I’m Yue. You did great, enduring all that. Good job.” Yue’s eyes softened and she patted Myu’s head.
Her gentle warmth melted away Myu’s wariness, and she started bawling in Yue’s arms. When Hajime had first rescued her, she’d still been too nervous to cry properly. It was only now that she could vent all of her frustration and sadness without worry of what might happen to her.
Hajime smiled awkwardly as he watched the two of them. Once Myu had calmed down, the three of them headed to the adventurer’s guild.
“Fifteen buildings were destroyed, thirty suffered serious damage, and nine of them were completely leveled. On top of that, thirty-eight of Freidhof’s members are confirmed dead, forty-four are mortally injured, twenty-eight are seriously injured, and one hundred and nineteen are unaccounted for... Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“They pissed me off, so I crushed them. I don’t regret it, either.”
“Haaaaaaaaaaaah...” They were sitting in the guild’s waiting room. Ilwa held a stack of reports in one hand as he glared at Hajime. For his part, Hajime was sharing the snacks they’d been served with Myu, who was sitting on his lap. Seeing how Hajime had no intention of reflecting on his actions, Ilwa let out a tired sigh.
“Please tell me the fishman escaping from the Meerstadt Aquarium by flying out of a hole in the wall had nothing to do with you at least... It didn’t, right?”
“Myu, these are pretty good too? Here, try some.”
“Damn it... Haaah...” Hajime feigned ignorance and casually continued feeding Myu, but Shea shifted guiltily in her seat, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Ilwa. Ilwa heaved another sigh, deeper this time. He grimaced and rubbed his stomach. Dott, his secretary, gave him a sympathetic look and passed him some stomach medicine.
“Well, while you may have gone too far, you did destroy a massive criminal organization for us. Honestly speaking, we had no way of dealing with them. They never left any trace of their illegal dealings, and on the off chance we managed to catch a few of their underlings in the act, the main organization would just cut them off. We didn’t think it was even possible to put a stop to them. Though this also means the balance of Fuhren’s underworld has been completely toppled... Haaah, we’re going to be rather busy in the coming weeks. Especially since we offered our support to the safety department.”
“Well, normally it’s the government’s job to handle stuff like this
anyway. This time was a special case. They tried to hurt one of my comrades, so I gave them a little payback.”
“That ‘little payback’ being destroying Fuhren’s largest criminal organization in just half a day? You guys are crazy.” Ilwa smiled bitterly. He looked like he’d aged twenty years in a day. Combining the ten years he’d aged when he first saw everyone’s Status Plates, he may as well have turned into an old man by now. Even Hajime felt a little bad for putting him through so much, so he offered a suggestion.
“Part of the reason we were so flashy about it was because we wanted to make an example out of them. You know, to make sure no one else would try the same thing. So why not use our names to your benefit? If you say the gold ranked adventurer that did this is part of your branch... wouldn’t that work as a good deterrent?”
“Oh my, is that really alright? That would save us a great deal of trouble but... weren’t you the kind of person that hated their name being used by others?” Ilwa looked at Hajime in surprise. He sounded hesitant, but his gaze made it clear he was dying to use Hajime’s name. Hajime smiled wryly and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, you scratch my back, I scratch yours, right? You’ve been a great help already, so I don’t mind if it’s just using my name. If you’re smart enough to make it all the way to branch chief, I can trust you’ll use it wisely. Plus, I do feel a little bad about getting innocent people involved in our personal vendetta.”
“I see... Is it just me, or have you changed, Hajime-kun? When I first met you, you struck me as the kind of person that didn’t care at all about others. Did something happen at Ur?”
“Well, I guess you could say that.”
Ilwa wasn’t a branch chief for nothing. He could see through people better than most. That was why he’d been able to pick up on the slight shift in Hajime’s mentality. Hajime becoming a kinder person was better for Ilwa too, and he gladly accepted Hajime’s offer to use his name.
As Ilwa had expected, days after Freidhof’s destruction new criminal groups would spring up, hoping to take advantage of the power vacuum that had been created. However, Ilwa would manage to keep them quiet by skillfully spreading rumors of Hajime’s ferocity.
Some time later, people would begin referring to him by nicknames like “Fuhren’s Ultimate Weapon,” “White-haired Flame Master,” “Lady Killer,” and so on. However, that was of little concern to Hajime. Or rather, no concern at all.
Thanks to Ilwa’s frantic efforts, the safety department ruled that Hajime had acted in self-defense, thereby making him innocent of any crime. Normally it wouldn’t have gone over so smoothly, but they were pretty mad about Freidhof’s bombing of one of their buildings.
In fact, the director of the safety department had given Hajime a not-so-subtle thumbs-up for destroying Freidhof. The organization had flaunted the safety department’s authority at every turn, expanding their illegal activities into every industry they could get their hands on. The chief, who’d just celebrated his 60th birthday, had been more than happy to acquit Hajime of all charges.
“Also, about Myu-kun...” Ilwa looked down at the tiny girl who was happily gnawing on a cookie.
Myu gave a little start. She looked worriedly between Hajime, Yue, and Shea. She didn’t want to be separated from them again. The reason she didn’t look over at Tio was because, well, everyone was trying to keep her away from Tio’s harmful influence.
“Either we can take care of her and send her back to Erisen through the formal routes, or we can make this an official guild request and ask you to take her back... Those are your two options. Well, which do you prefer?” Hajime tilted his head in confusion. He had assumed the safety department would have requested he return her to their custody. According to Ilwa’s explanation, however, they were willing to let him handle the case if he so desired. Because of his guild ranking, and the fact that he’d destroyed an entire organization to save her, they believed he was trustworthy enough.
Ultimately though, this too was Ilwa’s handiwork. It almost seemed as if he was eager to prove how helpful of an ally he could.
“Hajime-san... I promise I’ll protect her. So please... let her come with us.” Shea bowed to Hajime. She wanted to be there for Myu during her journey home. Yue and Tio remained silent, deciding to leave the decision up to Hajime.
“Onii-chan... please?” She hit Hajime with her irresistible puppy-dog eyes. Though she hadn’t needed to. From the moment he had sworn to get Myu back, Hajime had decided he’d be willing to let her come with them if that was still what she wanted.
“I was planning on taking her with me regardless, so I’m glad you’re on board already. Even I couldn’t abandon her after all we’ve been through.”
“Hajime-san!”
“Onii-chan!”
Shea and Myu beamed at him. There was still the little problem of how they were going to clear the Grand Gruen Volcano, which came before Erisen, with Myu in tow, but Hajime figured it would work out somehow. He’d decided to take Myu, and that was that.
“But there’s just one thing, Myu. Could you stop calling me onii-chan? Just Hajime is fine. It’s kind of embarrassing to be called that...” Hajime scratched his cheek awkwardly as Myu hugged him. He was still an otaku after all. Being called onii-chan... Well, it just didn’t sit right with him.
Myu stared at him. After a while, she came to some sort of understanding and nodded. However, her response was something no one present had expected.
“Then I’ll call you daddy.”
“Wh-What? Sorry, Myu. I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say that again?”
“Daddy.”
“U-Umm, is this like a dagon word for onii-chan or Hajime or something?”
“Nope. Daddy means daddy.”
“Okay, hold on a second.” Hajime started massaging his temples, while Shea hesitantly asked Myu why she’d chosen to call him daddy of all things. Apparently—
“I don’t have a daddy. He went to heaven before I was born. All of my friends have one, but I don’t... That’s why you’re my daddy now, Onii-chan.”
“I kind of get it, but at the same time, I kind of don’t. Anyway, Myu. I’m begging you, anything but daddy. I’m still only seventeen, you know?”
“No, I like daddy!”
“Okay, fine. Even onii-chan is okay! I’m not asking for much, so please, just not daddy!”
“Nooo! You’re my daddy now!”
Hajime tried everything he could to get her to stop calling him daddy, but he struck out. She seemed to like it even more than onii-chan, so the name stuck.
Finally, Hajime gave up. His only choice now was to ask Myu’s mother to get her to stop when they finally reached Erisen. Myu had managed to inflict more damage on him than anything else since he’d left the abyss.
They finished talking to Ilwa and headed back to the inn. Once there, a heated debate began over who would become Myu’s “mama.” In the meantime, Hajime tied Tio up and hid her somewhere so she couldn’t be a bad influence on Myu. Naturally, Tio saw her punishment as a reward. In the end, it seemed Myu only wanted to call her real mother mama, so Yue, Shea, and Tio all became onee-chans.
That night, depressed that Myu wouldn’t call her mama, Yue said something shocking.
“Hajime, I want a baby.” Judging by his reaction, the day where Yue would get to be called mama wasn’t too far off.
Shea tried the same trick, but Hajime ignored her. And, of course, the perverted dragon lady couldn’t resist adding her two cents after that.
“Master, I am prepared to bear your children as well. We can begin at—”
“Your existence is already enough of a joke, I don’t need you spouting them as well.”
“Why am I the only one to receive such a harsh rejection!?” Despite her indignant reply, Tio writhed happily on the ground when Hajime shot her down.
The next morning, Hajime said his goodbyes to everyone who’d come to see him off. Ilwa, the people at the safety department,
and the Cudeta family. He looked just like a real father, carrying Myu on his shoulders. She was happily hugging his head as he grabbed her legs to make sure she didn’t fall off.
Today was the day the monster of the abyss became a father.
And so, his adventures continued, now with a daughter in tow!
Chapter II: A Looming Shadow
Sounds of battle filled the dimly lit underground room. Explosions and the steel of swords were illuminated by the faint green light. The fighting was so fierce that it shook the walls around them. At times, the reverberations could even be felt by those far out of sight of the combatants.
Silver blades of light, fireballs, flaming spears, wind blades, and water jets flew in every which direction, a never-ending barrage of projectiles. Frantic yelling, the sounds of bodies slamming against bodies, and battle cries all mingled together into a chaotic cacophony. The once quiet room had been transformed into a raging battlefield.
“Light that tears through all creation, Wind that erodes time itself, rage like a thousand flower petals and coalesce into a blinding storm— Heavenrend!” In the middle of all the fighting stood Kouki Amanogawa, the hero. With a flick of his wrist, countless blades of light shot out of his holy sword. A dozen of the bat-like creatures flying at him were shredded to pieces. They were reduced to chunks of flesh in a flash, without even a chance to defend themselves.
“Vanguard, ten more seconds!”
“Roger!” The party was facing off a veritable army of huge ant-monsters, giant bats, and massive sea anemone-like things with wriggling tentacles. All in a circular room only thirty meters in diameter. Eight tunnels led into the room. It was from there that the monsters continued pouring in.
The hero’s party was currently exploring the 89th floor of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. The party’s vanguard was composed of the Hero Kouki, his childhood friends, the Monk Ryutarou Sakagami and the Swordmaster Shizuku Yaegashi, the Heavy Knight Jugo Nagayama, the Fighter Daisuke Hiyama, and the Spearmaster Reichi Kondou. Lastly, though he wasn’t technically part of the vanguard, the Assassin Kousuke Endou flitted around the battlefield, picking off targets.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 4 Page 7
