Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 2

by Ryo Shirakome

  “I’ll fill you in on the way.”

  That was all Hajime said before gunning Steiff’s accelerator, sending them speeding through the gorge. Shea let out a terrified scream as she watched the bike effortlessly tear its way through the rough terrain. The canyon walls sped by as they raced through the ravine.

  Shea had her eyes firmly shut for the first segment of the ride, but her fear slowly began to give way to excitement as she got used to Steiff’s speed. Every time Hajime rounded a curve or dodged a boulder she’d let out an excited squeal, since she’d finally plucked up the courage to open her eyes and all.

  On the way, Hajime briefly explained what Steiff was, how Yue could use magic inside the gorge, and that his weapons were something akin to artifacts. By the time he’d finished his explanation, Shea’s jaw was hanging wide open in surprise.

  “W-Wait... does that mean you two can also directly control mana and use specialized magic?”

  “Yep, we can.”

  “...Yeah.”

  Shea stared at them in astonishment for a few seconds before suddenly burying her face into Hajime’s shoulder, and then subsequently bursting into tears.

  “...Now what? First you get all excited, then you get depressed, and now you’re crying... You’re just one big bundle of emotions, aren’t you?” Hajime said.

  “...Is it too late to save her?” Yue added.

  “What do you mean too late to save me? Save me from what? I’ll have you know that I’m a perfectly normal girl... I was just so glad to find out... to find out that I’m not alone...”

  “......”

  She must have felt terribly alone thinking she was the only person in the world with the same power as a monster.

  Obviously, her family must have showered her with a lot of love if they were willing to hide her for sixteen years and then even abandoning their home for her sake. However, despite all that, or perhaps precisely because of it, Shea must have always been tormented by the fact that she was different from everyone else, which led to her loneliness.

  Shea’s words must have resonated with Yue, as she suddenly lapsed deep into thought. And while it was slight, her expressionless face grew even paler than usual. Somehow, Hajime could just tell what she was thinking about. Chances were Yue saw a lot of herself in Shea. They both had the ability to use specialized magic and control mana directly, and neither of them had anyone they could have truly called a “comrade” in their own time.

  However, there was one definitive difference in their circumstances. Yue hadn’t even had a family that loved her. She wasn’t exactly jealous of Shea per se, but there still were a lot of complicated feelings swirling about inside her. And besides, Shea had been able to find her comrades far sooner than Yue ever did. From Yue’s perspective, Shea must have been quite blessed.

  Hajime gently patted the top of Yue’s head. For Hajime, who had been born in the peaceful country of Japan and raised with love by both of his parents, it was impossible to truly understand the despair Yue must have felt at not only being the only one of her kind, but also being forced to bear the solitary title of queen. Which was why he didn’t know what to say to her. All he could do for her was remind her that she wasn’t alone anymore.

  He may have been transformed in that labyrinth, but he still had enough of his old self left to remember to be kind to those close to him. And the one who had preserved that humanity of his was none other than Yue. Had he not met Yue when he had, there would certainly have been nothing human about him left. Hence, Yue was currently Hajime’s only remaining pillar of support. As proof, the only reason Hajime planned on keeping his promise with Shea was because of her. He was even ready to fight back against the empire if they started targeting the Haulia clan.

  While Hajime’s attempts at comforting Yue were pretty clumsy, his heartfelt feelings got across to her, and she relaxed the tension she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in and leaned back into Hajime’s lap. She was just like a cat looking to be stroked by her owner.

  “Umm, did you forget about me again? Shouldn’t you be saying something like ‘You must have had it tough, being all alone this whole time. But it’s okay now, because I’m by your side,’ or something? I’m clearly depressed right now, so shouldn’t you be cheering me up? This is like the easiest opportunity to get on a girl’s good side. But no, you just go and ignore this perfect chance and start flirting with someone else. You guys are starting to make me feel lonely! Let me in too! Besides, you two...”

  “Shut up, you worthless rabbit!”

  “...Okay... Hic...”

  Shea suddenly started yelling in Hajime’s ear in a tearful voice, but she was quickly silenced by Yue and Hajime. Though, to be fair, it was pretty cruel of the two of them to keep flirting when there was a crying girl sitting right behind them. Worse, they got mad at her when she was well within her rights to get mad at them. However, Shea’s one redeeming feature was her hardiness. She had already mentally switched over to a new goal. That was how fast she rebounded from failure. Alright, first I’m gonna get them to call me by name. I finally found the comrades I’ve been looking for, so there’s no way I’m letting them get away that easy!

  They continued like that for a while, alternating between Shea growing noisy and Yue and Hajime yelling at her to pipe down, until finally they heard the roars of monsters in the distance. Quite a few of them, too.

  “Ah! Hajime-san, we’re almost to where everyone else is waiting! Those monsters’ howls must mean that... th-they’re close! Father and the others are very close!”

  “Quit yelling in my ears! I can hear you just fine. I’m gonna speed up now, so hold on tight.”

  Hajime poured more of his mana into Steiff, accelerating it even further. The canyon walls merged into a gray blur as they sped by at an incredible pace.

  There was so much mana going into Steiff that the entire bike was glowing crimson. It took only thirty seconds to get to the source of the howling. Hajime rounded one final curve, drifted around a boulder, and saw a number of rabbitmen under attack by a group of monsters.

  Screams of terror echoed throughout Reisen Gorge. The rabbit ears were all scurrying to hide behind boulders or squeeze into crevices. A number of rabbit ears could be seen sprouting behind various boulders. From what Hajime could tell, there were around 20 pairs. All told, it seemed like there were around 40 people running around.

  Terrorizing them from above was a group of flying monsters, a breed that had been rare even in the depths of the abyss. They resembled the wyverns common in fantasy games. Their bodies were around three to five meters long, and sharp claws studded their legs like the spikes on a morning star. Their tails too, were spiked.

  “H-Hyverias...” Shea said in a trembling voice. It seemed those wyvern-like raptors were called Hyverias. There were six of them in total. Currently, they were circling high above the rabbitmen, as if appraising their prey.

  Finally, one of them decided to make a move. It dove toward one of the boulders some rabbitmen were hiding behind, did a flip in midair, and sent its tail crashing down onto the boulder with all the force of gravity behind it. With a thunderous impact, the boulder was shattered to pieces, and screams echoed from the exposed individuals as they scurried away as fast as possible.

  Tired of waiting, the Hyveria opened its jaw wide, attempting to eat the slowest of the rabbits. Specifically, two of them. One of the youngest children’s legs had given out on them and one of the men had stayed behind to try and protect him.

  Despair flickered in everyone’s eyes. Everyone thought that the both of them were doomed to be Hyveria fodder in another few seconds. However, someone had arrived who wouldn’t allow that.

  The monster of the abyss had given his word that he would protect them, so protect them he would. Bang! Bang! Two gunshots reverberated throughout the gorge. At the same time, two crimson streaks shot through the sky. The first passed cleanly between the brows of the Hyveria that was trying to eat the pair of r
abbitmen. Its head exploded into a thousand flesh chunks, and its body veered to the side of the cowering group as it fell to the ground, raising a dust cloud in its wake as it slid across the canyon.

  There was a terrifying howl behind them at the same time. Without even the time to process what had just happened, the rabbitmen all turned to the source of this new noise to see that another one of the Hyveria’s had gotten a claw blown clean off. It had somehow managed to sneak right behind the cowering pair of rabbitmen.

  It had probably hoped to launch a sneak attack on the pair while their attention was focused on the Hyveria coming at them from the front. The second bullet was what had blown its arm off. With its balance destroyed, the second Hyveria crumbled to the ground, writhing in pain.

  “Wh-What...” The adult rabbitman’s gaze flitted from the dead Hyveria in front to the one screaming in pain behind him, his jaw open wide in absolute amazement.

  A few more gunshots followed right after, and the Hyveria that was writhing on the ground was turned into a pincushion. It gave one last pitiful high pitched scream before it died, its torso more or less blown to bits by that point. There was another resounding thud as it collapsed.

  Enraged at the deaths of their comrades, the remaining Hyverias all attacked at once. The rabbitmen, frozen stiff with fear, suddenly heard a noise completely alien to them.

  Their sensitive rabbit ears picked up on a strange high-pitched keening, like the sound of something letting off steam. As they all turned as one to see what was the source of the sound, they saw a strange black vehicle of some sort rushing toward them at high speed. There seemed to be three people riding atop it.

  One of which was a girl they all recognized. She had disappeared earlier this morning, and the entire clan had been out looking for her. Worried about her family as she had been, there was none of the usual cheer in her expression that morning. She must have felt responsible for her clan’s plight, as her expression had been filled with guilt. Everyone had assumed the reason she’d vanished was because she was worried about them and had headed out to try something rash. Because of that, they had foregone caution in their haste to find her, and had been caught by the Hyverias. They had expected to be wiped out there without ever finding her, but... There she was, standing at the back of the weird black vehicle, waving happily. Her usual innocent smile was plastered on her face again. Everyone stared at her in disbelief.

  “Everyone... I’ve found help!” Her familiar voice brought them all back to reality, and the fact that they really were saved finally hit them. And as it did, they all yelled out her name.

  “Shea!?” Hajime clicked his tongue irritably as he watched Shea happily wave to her family. He, of course, didn’t let Steiff’s speed drop at the distraction.

  It wasn’t her happiness that bothered him, but the fact that she was leaning all her weight against him in order not to fall off, which of course meant that every time she happily jumped up and down, her dreadnought-class boobs whacked into the top of Hajime’s head. In fact, the reason he had missed his second shot earlier was because her boobs had distracted him.

  Annoyed by her continued jumping, Hajime grabbed Shea by what remained of her clothes. She looked down at him questioningly. Because he was still facing forward, she couldn’t tell what kind of expression he had, but for some reason she had a bad feeling about this. She questioned him in a timid tone.

  “U-Umm, Hajime-san? What’s wrong? Why are you grabbing my clothes like that?”

  “If you’re just going to get in my way, I’d rather put your energy to good use in helping me out.”

  “Wh-What do you mean... P-Put it to good use how?”

  “Oh, nothing much, just throw you to the pack of starving monsters.”

  “W-Wait, what...? Ah, please don’t lift me up like that. Please stop looking like you’re about to throw meeee.” Shea struggled helplessly against Hajime’s iron grip, but his strength stat was over nine thousand! She never had a chance.

  Hajime drifted Steiff with just one hand, then used the centrifugal force of his turn to lob Shea at the group of Hyverias flying overhead.

  “Have at them, you worthless rabbit!”

  “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

  Shea flew through the sky with a surprising amount of speed. Her screams could be heard throughout the gorge. Her family all yelled out in alarm, their eyes open wide. In fact, this turn of events was so surprising that even the Hyverias were taken aback. Even when she was right in front of them, they did nothing more than stare at her, their bodies stiff with surprise.

  That moment of hesitation was what Hajime had been waiting for. The still Hyverias made for great target practice. Four gunshots rang out, and four Hyveria heads were blown into oblivion.

  It was all so sudden that they didn’t even have time to cry out in pain before they were dead. And so, four headless corpses fell to the ground. Hyverias were considered even more dangerous than the Dihedwa Shea had encountered earlier, but Hajime dropped the entire flock like it was nothing. Having seen such an overwhelming display of power, the rabbitmen were at a complete loss for words.

  But the screams of a familiar girl brought them back to their senses.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Save me pleaseeee! Hajime-saaaaaaan!” They all quickly started running to where Shea was landing, but Hajime easily outstripped them all with Steiff, and drifted to a halt underneath her landing point before suavely plucking her out of the air. He then unceremoniously dropped her onto the ground.

  “Owie! Ugh, you don’t have to be so rough with me, you know? I demand better treatment. I want you to treat me nice like you do with Yue-san.” Teary-eyed, Shea began protesting her rough treatment. It wasn’t like Shea had any particular romantic feelings for Hajime. She had just met him a few hours ago, after all.

  However, the fact that he was the “hope” she had seen in the depths of despair led her to have a great deal of unwarranted trust in him. Regardless of how brusquely he treated her, she seemed certain he wouldn’t break his promise. Besides, Hajime was the same kind of anomaly that Shea was. That alone was enough to make her feel a sort of kinship with him.

  Furthermore, he treated Yue, who was also an anomaly like her, very tenderly. Despite the short time they’d known each other, that much was obvious to Shea. Frankly speaking, Shea was jealous of their intimacy. So it wasn’t love, but just a desire to be pampered.

  Her short stint as a flying bunny girl had left her clothes even more tattered than they already were. She really did look pitiful, sobbing on the ground dressed in nothing but rags. Maybe I did go a little too far... Hajime thought. Reluctantly, he reached into his Treasure Trove and pulled out a spare coat that he then dumped on Shea’s head. He was tired of her bursting into tears at every little thing.

  However, Shea was surprisingly pleased by the gift. She stared at him blankly for a moment before realizing that he’d given her a coat, and beamed happily as she wrapped it around herself. It was a white coat, and looked identical to the one Yue was wearing. Yue had sewed the extra in hopes of getting Hajime to match outfits with her.

  “O-Oh my! Hajime-san, you should be more honest with yourself! Giving me a coat that matches with Yue... Are you trying to make a move on me? Well, unfortunately, I’m not that easy. There’s an order to these things, you know?” Shea fidgeted shyly as she played with the hem of her coat. Feeling his annoyance rise up again, Hajime silently pulled out Donner and fired it at Shea’s forehead.

  “Hakyun!” The bullet he had fired was coated with a rubbery leather farmed from monsters and was packed with far less blastrock. It was meant for non-lethal shots. However, it still hurt, and Shea arched back from the impact of the blow before she collapsed to the ground and rolled around in pain, screaming “My head... My heaaaad!”

  Of course, being as sturdy as she was, Shea quickly recovered and started hotly protesting her treatment once more. Hajime shut her up in the usual fashion, and the rabbitmen all started crowdi
ng around Shea before the cycle could continue further.

  “Shea! You were safe!”

  “Father!”

  The first one to reach Shea was a rabbit-eared man in his mid-forties, with cropped navy blue hair. Though as far as Hajime was concerned, there was no value in putting bunny ears on an old dude. He watched as Shea spoke with her father, taking in how strange this looked from an earthling’s perspective. Once they were done reaffirming each other’s safety, they both turned to face Hajime.

  “You would be Hajime-dono, correct? My name is Cam Haulia. I’m Shea’s father, and the chieftain of the Haulia tribe. You have my deepest gratitude for saving both my daughter and the rest of my tribe. And I’ve heard that you’re even going to assist us in our escape... As both a father and a chieftain, I simply cannot thank you enough.” The rabbitman named Cam bowed his head deeply as he finished. Behind him, the rest of his tribe followed suit.

  “Well, thanks are all well and good, but don’t forget, you’re going to be guiding us through the sea of trees after this. Also, I’m surprised you all trust me so easily. I thought humans and beastmen didn’t get along too well...” He had almost forgotten because of how eclectic Shea was, but the beastmen were supposedly being persecuted by the other races. In fact, the reason they were stuck in this gorge in the first place was because of humans. Yet despite that, they were all bowing their head to Hajime, another human, and truly seemed to believe he would save them. While it may have been true that he was their only hope at this point, he still found it suspicious that they seemed to harbor no resentment toward him at all, and that they were so easily willing to accept him.

  Cam smiled awkwardly as he replied.

  “You’re someone Shea trusts. That’s why we’re also putting our faith in you. We’re all one big family, so...” Hajime was half amazed, half completely dumbfounded. No matter how kind a people they might be, trusting a complete stranger simply on the word of one of their own showed an utter lack of wariness.