Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 4

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Are you saying killing her was the right thing to do?”

  “No... I don’t think murder can ever be ‘right.’ No matter the circumstances, murder is murder... I can’t really justify that, and I don’t think anyone should.”

  “Then...”

  “But you know, I don’t think we have the right to judge Nagumo-kun for it. After all, the reason he did it was because we were too weak to do it ourselves...”

  They, who’d just powerlessly watched from the sidelines, had no right to complain. It was their own fault that they hadn’t been strong enough to guide things to a conclusion they’d wanted. They could hardly blame Hajime for his choice when they’d left the decision to him.

  When Kouki thought back to how he hadn’t been able to do anything, he fell silent. Shizuku had a point. Hajime was the one who’d saved them. But still, murder is wrong! Kouki scowled again.

  Seeing his unwillingness to relent, Shizuku finally talked about all of the things she’d implicitly understood when they’d come to this world.

  “You know, I actually like that straightforward and righteous side of you, Kouki.”

  “Shizuku...”

  “But still, that doesn’t mean you can just assume you’re always right.”

  “You want me to doubt myself?”

  “Yes. You need a strong will to achieve your goals. But blindly believing in yourself and rushing forward without thinking about anything will warp even the purest of ideals. That’s why you need to learn to think about the situation you’re in, and the people involved at all times. You need to really question whether your will is still ‘justice’ or not. And if it’s not, is it something you still want to do regardless? Sometimes what you want to do isn’t always the objectively right thing to do. In fact, I think living a just life is one of the hardest things to do. Ever since coming to this world, it’s something I’ve been thinking about... After all, even we’ve killed monsters.”

  Kouki was shocked. He hadn’t thought Shizuku would have been worried about killing monsters, of all things.

  “Kouki. You have to understand that you’re not always right. And sometimes, even when you are, that sense of righteousness is dangerous. Though this time, you weren’t right at all. Just jealous.”

  “I-I wasn’t jealous, I was just...”

  “You look pretty lame when you try to make excuses like that.”

  “......” Kouki hung his head and once again examined the moon’s reflection in the water. This time, though, his expression wasn’t as dark. He seemed deep in thought.

  Shizuku heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed she’d stopped him from drowning in a negative spiral of his own emotions this time.

  Thinking he probably wanted some time to himself, she quietly started heading back to their inn. Kouki called out to her retreating back.

  “Shizuku... You won’t leave me, right?”

  “Where’d that come from?”

  “Please don’t go anywhere, Shizuku.”

  “......”

  He was practically begging her now. Had he said those words to any of his fans back in Japan, or the noble ladies here who were infatuated with him, they’d probably have fainted with joy. Sadly, all Shizuku felt was disgust.

  He’s probably just depressed over losing Kaori. Shizuku looked down at the shimmering reflection of the moon. The crescent floating on the water’s surface seemed very different from the one she’d been looking at until now.

  “I’m not as ephemeral as that moon you’ve been staring at, but... I’m not very fond of clingy guys.” With that, Shizuku walked out of sight. Kouki stared at the alleyway she’d disappeared down for a few minutes before turning back to the moon’s reflection. A certain saying came to mind.

  “The moon’s reflection, huh...”

  The moon’s reflection is forever out of one’s reach. It meant there were things people could see, like the moon’s reflection, but never make their own. For Kouki, Kaori was the same. Like the reflection he was staring at, he could never make it his.

  However, Shizuku had said she wasn’t. In other words, she was still within Kouki’s reach. Though her words right after had been pretty harsh. Kouki smiled bitterly to himself. Why on earth had he spilled his guts out to Shizuku?

  Kouki stopped looking at the illusory moon in the water, and stared up at the real one in the sky. The things he’d always believed were within reach felt so very far away now. Sighing, Kouki began to ponder his stern but kind childhood friend’s words.

  Whether he changed his attitude or not was all up to him in the end, and so he spent a very long time mulling over his recent experiences.

  Three weeks had passed since Kouki and the others had learned of Hajime’s survival and Kaori had left their party.

  They had all returned to the capital. There was one very important thing they had to do before they headed out again. Help Kouki overcome his reservations against killing people. If he was to fight in this war, he would need to be able to kill, one way or another. Otherwise, he would likely find himself dead before long.

  There wasn’t much time left. Kouki and the others had heard about the events at Ur. It was clear the demons were gathering their forces. The battle would start soon. And so, it was imperative that Kouki overcome his aversion to killing as fast as possible.

  He was currently training for anti-personnel combat with Meld and his knights. Ryutarou, Kondou, Nagayama, and the others had all been somewhat prepared to kill, but their resolve had been shaken when they’d seen Hajime blow the demon’s brains out. They accompanied Kouki for his training, wondering all the while if they’d really be able to do it when the time came.

  The knights were worried as well. They needed the kids to be ready to kill, but it was meaningless if the mental strain of it broke them.

  It was in the middle of this that good news finally reached the castle.

  Aiko and her guard had returned. Normally, it fell to Kouki and his charisma to keep everyone in high spirits, but now that he himself was dejected, the other students had no one to turn to. An air of gloom had fallen over the castle. Demoralized from their loss, and still grappling with the issue of murder, the students were on the verge of breaking. The only things holding them together were Shizuku and Nagayama’s calm leadership, and Suzu’s cheerfulness, but they weren’t able to lift the heavy fog that had settled on the students’ hearts. That was why they were all extremely grateful for Aiko’s return.

  Shizuku was the first to act when they learned she’d come back. She ended training early and ran off to see her. She wanted to exchange information with Aiko before the other students talked to her. Shizuku was worried their opinions about Hajime would bias her objective viewpoint.

  She dashed through the halls of the palace, the jet-black sword she’d received from Hajime dangling at her waist. For some reason, the maids all stared longingly at her when she passed by. Even in another world, Shizuku was more popular with the ladies than the guys. Worse, everyone, including older ladies, had taken to calling her “Onee-sama.”

  Shizuku had read reports about Hajime’s exploits in Ur, but she wanted to hear the details directly from Aiko. It was possible her opinion of Hajime could tilt the scales of Kouki’s heart in an undesirable direction. So as always, it fell to Shizuku to make sure everyone was taken care of.

  “I bet he pulled all sorts of crazy antics in Ur too. I mean, he’s strong enough to hand out weapons like this like they’re nothing. What do you mean ‘It’s just sharp and unbreakable?’ This katana’s probably stronger than any artifact in the kingdom’s treasury!” Shizuku traced the jet-black sheath as she mumbled to herself. As she ran to Aiko’s room, she recalled the conversation she’d had a few days ago. In order to learn how best to maintain her new sword, she’d visited one of the king’s personal blacksmiths.

  For lack of a better term, she’d christened her new katana “Black Blade.”

  At any rate, she’d gone to the best blacksmith in the cou
ntry and showed them the Black Blade. They’d been respectful at first. She was one of Ehit’s chosen warriors after all. However, when they’d appraised her weapon, their manners had gone out of the window. They’d grabbed her shoulders and demanded to know where she’d gotten it from, and whether or not it was something she’d found, or something someone had made for her.

  Confused, Shizuku had asked what had gotten the blacksmith so worked up. According to them, the holy sword Kouki was currently using was the only thing that could even compare to the splendor of her weapon. Black Blade didn’t have the same capacity to deflect magic that Kouki’s holy sword did. Nor could it output as much energy. However, the precision of the craftsmanship and the strength of the weapon itself far surpassed that of the holy sword’s.

  Furthermore, by pouring mana into it, Shizuku could elongate the katana. More specifically, a 60-centimeter long blade of wind sprouted from the tip. Not only that, she could sprout more blades from the hilt and fire them off like shockwaves.

  Even the sheath had additional features built into it. By pouring mana into that, Shizuku could wrap the sheath in a veil of lightning. Then, by pressing a switch, she could fire needles at supersonic speed from the tip of the sheath.

  Lastly, since both the blade and the sheath were made of azantium, they wouldn’t ever break, and didn’t require maintenance. All Shizuku needed to worry about was occasionally replenishing the stock of needles in the sheath.

  The only problem was there were no magic circles anywhere that Shizuku could use to transfer her mana to Black Blade. Hajime had originally designed this for himself, and he could directly control his mana, so as far as everyone else was concerned, it was just a very hard sword that could cut through anything.

  Once their amazement had died down, the blacksmith had actually been rather puzzled over this oversight. Why would the weapon’s creator add all of these amazing features, but then make them unusable?

  Their pride as a blacksmith couldn’t let such a defect go unfixed. They’d never be able to make a sword that well-crafted, but they could at least modify this one so it was usable. After three days and three nights of ceaseless work, the kingdom’s best blacksmiths had managed to add magic circles to Black Blade. They’d ignored all other work, and had neither eaten nor slept during that time.

  Thanks to their efforts, Shizuku could utilize the full potential of Black Blade. Exhausted, the blacksmiths had all been out of commission for the next few days. But each and every one of them had slept with a contended look on their face.

  Shizuku brought her thoughts back to reality as she spotted the door to Aiko’s room. She knocked, but there was no reply. One of the nearby servants explained that Aiko had gone to give her report to the king and not yet returned. Shizuku leaned against the wall and decided to wait.

  Aiko finally returned after half an hour. Her mouth was a grim slash, and she was heedless of her surroundings. It seemed she was pondering something serious.

  She passed by Shizuku, and the door to her own room, without even noticing it. Wondering what on earth had her so lost in thought, Shizuku loudly spoke up.

  “Sensei... Sensei!”

  “Hwuh!?” Aiko started and looked around wildly. After a few seconds, she spotted Shizuku leaning against the wall. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

  “Yaegashi-san! I haven’t seen you in ages. How are you doing? You’re not hurt, are you? Is everyone alright?” Despite the fact that she was quite clearly struggling with her own problems, she put her students first as always. Shizuku smiled, glad to see that “Ai-chan-sensei” hadn’t changed at all.

  The two made small talk for a few minutes before moving on to the main reason of Shizuku’s visit. The two of them went inside Aiko’s room to swap stories.

  “I see... So Shimizu-kun was...” A cute claw foot table separated the two girls. They both sipped their black tea and lapsed into thought. Aiko had just finished telling Shizuku what had happened at Ur.

  Shimizu’s death weighed heavily on Aiko and Shizuku, too, was saddened to hear of it. Aiko’s shoulders drooped as she thought back to that day. Shizuku didn’t know what to say. Considering how much Aiko valued her students, Shizuku knew it must have been a heavy blow. Even if Hajime’d had a valid reason for killing him.

  Still, she did her best to cheer Aiko up.

  “What happened to Shimizu-kun is truly unfortunate. But still, I’m glad that you’re okay, Sensei. Thank god Nagumo-kun was around to help you guys.” Shizuku smiled at Aiko, and Aiko smiled back. She didn’t want to burden her students with her own problems.

  “Indeed. You know, when we first reunited with him he acted like he didn’t care about any of us, or this world at all... I can’t believe he’s changed so much that he came to save all of you. To think he’s become the guardian of a little girl too... Hehe, I guess his old self is finally starting to come back. Or maybe he’s simply learning to be kind all over again... Either way, I’m glad to hear he’s not as apathetic as before.”

  For some reason, a slight blush spread up Aiko’s face as she said that. Shizuku shot her a puzzled glance. There’s something off about her expression. She doesn’t look like that when she’s thinking about any of her other students.

  Noticing Shizuku’s gaze, Aiko quickly cut short her reminiscing and cleared her throat loudly. However, the damage had already been done. Shizuku saw the need to probe into this a little further. Her expression wooden, she glared at Aiko. She didn’t want to believe it was possible, but for Kaori’s sake she needed to make sure.

  “Sensei. You mentioned that Nagumo-kun saved you from certain death. Can you go into a bit more detail about that?”

  “Huh!?”

  “I’m just curious how he managed to heal such a fatal wound.”

  “W-Well...”

  Shizuku had already guessed Hajime had used the same medicine he’d used to heal Meld, but she feigned innocence. Aiko’s blush grew more pronounced. Her eyes darted about the room, and she clearly didn’t want to talk about it. Suspicious. Too suspicious. Shizuku went in for the finishing blow.

  “Sensei. Did something... happen between you and Nagumo-kun?”

  “N-Not at all! Wh-Why would you even ask such a thing? We’ve got a perfectly normal student-teacher relationship!”

  “Sensei. Calm down. I didn’t even say anything yet.”

  “Ah!”

  Aiko started mumbling “I’m a teacher he’s a student, I’m a teacher he’s a student...” over and over to herself. It was obvious she was rattled.

  Shizuku’s worst fears had been confirmed. She wasn’t sure how deep they ran, but she was certain Aiko had feelings for Hajime. What on earth did you do to Ai-chan, Nagumo-kun!? Her eyebrows twitched menacingly.

  Hajime’s tendency to unconsciously make girls fall for him had become even worse than Kouki’s. The only difference was, Hajime wasn’t as dense as a black hole. Though in this particular instance, it was possible he hadn’t noticed either.

  Shizuku looked up at the ceiling and sighed. This was the last place she’d expected to find one of Kaori’s rivals. Maybe I should start spreading rumors about Hajime’s chuuni nicknames after all... Shizuku only just managed to reign her anger in.

  The two of them cleared their throats and moved on as if nothing had happened.

  “Anyway, Sensei. How’d your report to the king go? It seemed pretty serious from what I heard.” Aiko frowned angrily. Whatever had happened in there, it wasn’t good.

  “The Holy Church has branded Nagumo-kun a heretic.”

  “What...!? Why? Actually, I can probably guess why, but... aren’t they being too hasty in their judgment?”

  Hajime’s strength was unparalleled. His tiny party had wiped out a monster army 60,000 strong. Each of his companions was strong beyond measure, and they all wielded artifacts no one had seen before. Despite which, the Holy Church had decided they were going to oppose him. Shizuku could understand why the nobles and priests considered hi
m dangerous.

  However, it was still too reckless to declare him a heretic without even considering the consequences.

  Now that he was considered an enemy of the gods, anyone could try to kill him at any time, and it would be sanctioned by the government. It was entirely possible they would mobilize holy paladins, or even the army to purge him, which meant that Hajime would see them all as his enemy, and likely slaughter the lot of them. The nobles and the priests should have realized this danger. And yet, they still chose to oppose Hajime. Their decision baffled Shizuku.

  Aiko nodded sympathetically.

  “I feel the same way. Besides, Nagumo-kun was the one who saved Ur and its people. I told them they shouldn’t make an enemy out of him just because he won’t follow their orders, but they wouldn’t listen. I thought I’d have more influence with the king after Nagumo-kun worked so hard to make me famous, but it seems that’s not the case.” Aiko looked down and shook her head.

  “According to my guards, rumors of ‘The Fertility Goddess and her Holy Knight’ have already started spreading through the land. To the people, declaring him a heretic is the same as declaring me one. That’s why I’d thought my words would carry some weight with them. But they still passed down that decree. Now that I think about it, it’s strange. Ishtar-san was always a devout believer, so his behavior is understandable, but there was something off about the king and his nobles when I was giving my report...”

  “That’s certainly worrying. What could they possibly have been thinking... At any rate, our problem now is who they’re going to send to kill Nagumo-kun. Considering how strong he is, they only have one option.”

  “That’s right! They’ll probably...”

  “Ask us to do it, yep. But there’s no way I’m doing that. I like living. Just the thought of fighting Nagumo-kun sends shivers down my spine.” Shizuku shivered, and Aiko gave her a sympathetic smile.