Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 5

by Ryo Shirakome

  The party headed east, toward the great oasis.

  They arrived at a vast sparkling expanse of pure blue water. It was hard to believe something that looked so clear was poisoned. However...

  “Hm?”

  “Hajime?”

  Hajime narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze on a certain location. Yue tilted her head, noticing the slight shift in his demeanor.

  “It’s just, my Demon Eye sensed something... Duke, what areas did your investigation team check?”

  “According to the report, they examined the oasis itself, the rivers that split off from it, and the nearby wells. They also examined the underground reservoir. I’m sure my son already told you what we found. The underground reservoirs were the only places that hadn’t been poisoned. Basically, we examined everything within a few meters of the oasis. Though we haven’t explored the bottom of it yet.”

  “Is there an artifact or anything sitting at the bottom of the oasis?”

  “Huh? No. We use a few artifacts to secure the oasis, but nothing’s been placed inside the oasis itself. Normally, the barrier artifact we have in place would make it impossible to pollute the oasis. This is the first time something like this has ever happened.”

  The barrier artifact Lanzwi was referring to was known as the Judgment of Truth. It was also the source of the dome of light that protected Ankaji.

  It allowed things essential for life, like air and water through, while keeping sand and other nuisances out. The wielder of the Judgment of Truth decided what could and couldn’t pass through it. Not only that, it could be used as a sensor. Like its barrier component, what it was set to detect was up to its wielder. As it incorporated dark magic into its design, the Judgment of Truth could even be set to react to certain thoughts.

  In other words, if Lanzwi had set it to detect anyone who meant the oasis harm, it should have reacted when the person who poisoned the oasis entered the city. That was if Lanzwi had set it like that. Only he knew how he’d formatted the Judgment of Truth. At present, security around the oasis was thin. It had already been polluted, and so many people were going to and from the oasis that Lanzwi had seen little point in keeping a tight guard around it.

  “Huh. So what’s that, then?”

  Hajime turned away from Lanzwi, who was clenching his fists in frustration, and pointed to the center of the oasis. His Demon Eye had sensed something emitting mana from the bottom of the oasis.

  Lanzwi looked up in surprise. He couldn’t believe there was something he wasn’t aware of inside there.

  Hajime walked up to the water and pulled out something shaped like a water bottle from his Treasure Trove. He then started pouring mana into it. Once he was done, he casually threw it into the oasis, backing up toward Yue as he did. Lanzwi shot him a questioning stare, but Hajime didn’t say anything. Just as Lanzwi was about to run out of patience, there was a huge explosion and a massive pillar of water erupted from the center of the oasis. Lanzwi’s jaw dropped open.

  “Tch, it’s faster than I thought... Or wait, maybe its defense is just really high?”

  Hajime pulled out a dozen more of his water bottle-shaped explosives and tossed them into the oasis. A few seconds later, another massive spout of water erupted from the center of the oasis.

  What he’d thrown were actually custom torpedoes that he’d designed. He’d made them in preparation for their expedition into Melusine. According to Miledi, the sunken ruins were, shockingly, underwater, so Hajime had designed a few prototype torpedoes. And this mystery object had seemed like a perfect test dummy. So far, it appeared while their firepower was sufficient, his torpedoes were lacking in speed and tracking capabilities. Guess I need to refine my design.

  Hajime had added ore enchanted with Sense Presence and Tracking into his torpedoes. Once they locked onto a target, they would chase after it until they got within the blast radius and then explode. Right now he’d had them lock onto whatever that mysterious thing in the water was.

  “Hey! What are you doing, Hajime-dono!? Ah, you just destroyed the pier! I can see chunks of fish floating up from everywhere! The whole oasis is turning red!”

  “Tch. Still not good enough? Fine, maybe fifty will do the trick...”

  Hajime ignored Lanzwi’s anguished screams and stepped forward, preparing for an even grander attack. Lanzwi’s guards clung to Hajime, begging him not to do it.

  They couldn’t see the thing Hajime was trying to destroy, so to them it looked like he’d just suddenly started throwing explosives into the oasis. He’d already destroyed the pier and killed countless fish, and they needed to stop him before the damage got any worse.

  As the Judgment of Truth didn’t react, Lanzwi could tell Hajime wasn’t trying to harm the oasis. However, that only made his destructive actions more confusing. Regardless, Lanzwi and his guards had a duty to protect the oasis.

  Annoyed, Hajime brushed Lanzwi’s guards off. But before he could throw his next batch of torpedoes—

  “Ah!?” Countless tentacles of water suddenly shot out of the oasis and headed straight for Hajime.

  Hajime pulled out Donner and Schlag and started shooting them down. Yue froze as many of them as she could, while Tio evaporated the rest with fire magic.

  Lanzwi stared, slack-jawed at the surprising chain of events that had unfolded one after another. Infuriated by Hajime’s constant bombardment, the water rose up. Seemingly defying gravity, it created a mound ten meters high.

  “What... in Ehit’s name...” Lanzwi’s hushed voice carried surprisingly far.

  The water morphed from a mound into a horrific creature. Numerous tentacles wriggled all over its body, and there was a glowing red mana crystal at its center. It resembled the slimes Hajime had seen in video games.

  However, its size was on a completely different level. It was ten times larger than any slime Hajime had ever seen. Also, the slimes Hajime remembered hadn’t possessed the ability to manipulate water. Nor had they shot water tentacles at people.

  “What... What kind of monster is this? Some kind of... Bachulum, maybe?” Lanzwi tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Bachulum was the scientific name given to the slime species of monsters in Tortus.

  “Well, it doesn’t really matter what it is. That’s the thing that’s polluting your oasis. It’s unique magic probably has something to do with releasing toxins or something.”

  “That would certainly make sense. Still, how are you going to defeat it?” The Bachulum had been attacking continually, even while Hajime and Lanzwi had been talking. However, Yue and Tio had kept its tentacles at bay.

  Hajime, too, had been firing Donner and Schlag continually while talking. He was trying to find an opening to shoot the Bachulum’s core, but it kept moving around inside the slime, making it hard for Hajime to get a clear shot. It was as if it had a will of its own.

  Lanzwi had gotten so used to being surprised that Hajime’s insanely powerful artifacts, his guns, didn’t even faze him. Instead, he calmly asked whether or not Hajime had a plan to deal with the Bachulus.

  “Hmmm... Ah, don’t worry. I’ve got it.”

  Hajime barely registered Lanzwi’s question and gave a perfunctory reply. His entire focus was on the whizzing mana crystal inside the slime. After a few seconds, he holstered Schlag and held Donner with both hands.

  Then, he wrapped his left arm around his right, bent his left elbow, and spread his feet slightly apart, with his right foot slightly in front of his left. He was copying the Weaver Stance he’d seen back on earth. If he wanted to get the mana crystal, he’d need ungodly precision.

  Hajime’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk, and he’d finally grasped the crystal’s movement patterns.

  He held the stance for a few seconds, silently waiting for the perfect opportunity.

  Bang! A single streak of light trailed through the sky. The mana crystal moved directly into the bullet’s path, as if it had been magnetically pulled toward it.

  It was a clean hit, and
the crystal shattered into a thousand pieces. With the slime dead, there was nothing left to control the water. It fell back into the oasis with a splash. Waves of water rippled out from the point of impact, as if signaling an end to the town’s pollution problem.

  “Is it over?”

  “Should be. I don’t sense any mana in the oasis anymore. Though I don’t know if getting rid of the monster also purified the water.”

  Lanzwi couldn’t believe Hajime had solved their crisis so easily. Ankaji had been on the verge of ruin and he’d just waltzed in and fixed everything. One of his attendants hurried over to the water and appraised the oasis’ quality.

  “How is it?”

  “The water’s still polluted...”

  Lanzwi had been hopeful, but his attendant shook his head. People who’d drank directly from the oasis had gotten sick as well, so everyone had known it was poisoned from the start. Still, it was disappointing that killing the slime hadn’t also purified the water.

  “Now now, there’s no need to feel so depressed. Now that the source is gone, poisoned water will stop spreading everywhere. The underground reservoir should still be clean, so if you dispose of all the infected water you can replace it with that. Then, you’ll have your old oasis back.” Tio tried to comfort Lanzwi and the others. Their gloomy expressions perked up a little, and they started thinking about how to revive their city. Their determination and unity showed Hajime just how much the citizens and their lord cared about the city. Even in these dire straits, no one was thinking of abandoning Ankaji.

  “But just what kind of monster was that Bachulum-like thing...? Was it some new species that found its way to the oasis through one of the underground tunnels?” Lanzwi tilted his head and stared at the oasis.

  Hajime was the one who provided him with an answer.

  “It was... probably the work of the demons, right?”

  “Demons!? Hajime-dono, you must have some basis for making that accusation, right?” Lanzwi quickly recovered from his initial surprise and pressed Hajime for more information. After seeing how swiftly Hajime had dealt with both their water issue and the monster, Lanzwi had a lot of respect for him. Never again would he doubt Hajime’s abilities.

  Since the Bachulus they’d encountered was a type no one had seen before, Hajime had guessed it must have been some new species the demons had created with their ancient magic. The slime had a lot of peculiarities that had matched up with the monsters that had attacked Ur and the ones that had attacked Kaori in Orcus. Chances were, the demons were building up their monster army still. And they wanted the humans as weak as possible before the war started in earnest so they were striking preemptively at the most important assets. Aiko had the potential to revolutionize the kingdom’s agriculture, while the heroes the Holy Church had summoned were the humans’ strongest trump card. They were definitely people the demons would want to eliminate as soon as possible.

  Ankaji, too, was an important lifeline for the kingdom. It was a major crossroads where almost all of the northern continent’s seafood passed through. Best of all, since it was in a desert and all it was comparatively isolated. It made for a perfect target. That was why Hajime’s first thought was that demons were responsible.

  When Hajime explained as much to Lanzwi, he groaned.

  “I’ve heard about the other monster attacks. We did conduct our own investigation into the affair, but... we never thought they’d be able to launch an attack like this... We were too naive.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Even people in the capital couldn’t have guessed they’d be making new species of monsters. The hero party was attacked barely a few days ago. The whole kingdom’s probably in an uproar and hasn’t had time to properly spread information.”

  “I guess the demons are finally making their move. Hajime-dono, you said you were an adventurer. But given that inhuman strength of yours, and those artifacts you carry, I can only assume that like Kaori-dono, you too are one of Ehit’s warriors.”

  Hajime simply shrugged. Lanzwi guessed that Hajime had his own reasons for not elaborating, so he didn’t pry. Regardless of what secrets he was hiding, Hajime was still Ankaji’s savior. Besides, there were more important matters that had to be dealt with at the moment.

  “Hajime-dono, Yue-dono, Tio-dono. I, Duke Lanzwi Feuward Zengen, humbly thank you for saving the city of Ankaji and its people. We will forever be in your debt.” Lanzwi and his attendants bowed to Hajime and the others.

  It was rare for the duke of a city to bow their heads to anyone, but Hajime had definitely earned that honor. It didn’t matter if he was one of Ehit’s warriors or not, his actions had saved thousands of lives. Hajime hadn’t known Lanzwi for long, but he could tell the duke cared deeply for his people and his country. His attendants knew that as well, which was why they didn’t try to stop him when he bowed to Hajime, electing to join him instead. Hajime could tell where Bize got his personality from. Even their mannerisms were similar.

  Hajime grinned to himself and addressed Lanzwi.

  “That’s right, you guys owe me now. Don’t forget it.”

  He could make use of their gratitude here too. When it came to turning things to his advantage, Hajime had no shame.

  Lanzwi had been expecting Hajime to be humble about it while covertly trying to curry favor with him, so he was taken by surprise when Hajime just laid it out like that. Still, he’d been planning to repay his debt regardless, so it wasn’t a big deal.

  Honestly, Hajime didn’t feel he did anything all that altruistic. Saving Ankaji had been Kaori’s request, and he’d had a personal stake in ensuring the city’s safety. After all, he would need to leave Myu here while he explored the Grand Gruen Volcano.

  However, if Lanzwi was showing him gratitude, he would’ve been a fool not to capitalize on it. The more allies he had when the time finally came to deal with the Holy Church, the better. Lanzwi had been planning on returning Hajime’s good faith regardless, but as a politician he understood that it was important to officially promise such things.

  “Y-Yeah, of course. I’ll never forget the service you did us... Unfortunately, my city is still suffering. Could I request your help in healing the patients?”

  He’d grown accustomed to dealing with odd people in his time as a politician, and so he recovered from his surprise relatively quickly. Then, he smiled ruefully and agreed to Hajime’s demand that they pay him back. Though he wanted his citizens restored to good health before he would do anything.

  “I was planning on heading to the Grand Gruen Volcano anyway, so I don’t mind. How much stillstone do you need me to harvest?”

  “Thank you so much... Hey, someone get me the medical reports.” Lanzwi sighed in relief and ordered one of his attendants to get him the reports on how many patients there were, and how much stillstone they’d need to cure them all. It turned out they needed quite a bit.

  “We’ll be needing quite a lot. Would you like me to send porters with you?”

  “Nah, no need. I’ve got a transportation artifact that merchants would kill to have.”

  “At this point you could tell me you command the heavens themselves and I’d believe you. It must be the blessings of Ehit that guided you to us.”

  Lanzwi threw his arms up in amazement. Is there anything this boy can’t do? he thought to himself with a wry smile.

  Around the same time, Kaori and Shea were working frantically to treat the patients.

  Starting with the ones in the worst condition, Kaori absorbed their mana in batches, her Sanctorum reaching everyone within a radius of ten meters. Her area of effect healing spells had about the same range, so she could cast healing magic on them at the same time.

  Meanwhile, Shea carried away the patients Kaori had already treated and carried in new ones. Shea would fill an entire cart with people and transport them en masse. And instead of running through the buildings, she’d hop over their rooftops to save time. It was faster to bring patients in critical care t
o Kaori than to have her running around to each and every makeshift hospital that had been set up.

  It was quite a sight, watching a diminutive girl carry entire carts of people across rooftops. Many of the patients thought the disease had made them start hallucinating, and a fair few of them started panicking. Because of that, a few of the hospitals descended into chaos.

  All of the doctors were amazed at how effortlessly Kaori juggled multiple high-level healing spells at once. Before long, she’d taken charge of the entire treatment operation and all the healers were taking orders from her.

  Kaori was still in the middle of healing patients when Hajime and the others showed up. When they saw Lanzwi following behind Hajime, the patients and healers tried to bow to him. However, he raised up a hand to stop them.

  “Listen to me, everyone! Just now we eliminated the source of the poison! It will still take some time, but we can get our oasis back! Not only that, we have secured a new source of water! Furthermore, it’s large enough to sustain us until relief arrives. Best of all, this gold adventurer here has agreed to harvest stillstone for us! Hang on for just a few more days, everyone! Together we’ll weather this storm!” His deep voice echoed through the room. Hajime could see why the kingdom had entrusted such an important city to his rule. He possessed both wisdom and charisma.

  At first the patients were confused, but Lanzwi’s smiling face convinced them that this was no joke, or a white lie to raise their spirits.

  Cheers rang out throughout the hospital. The citizens had been in despair, but now hope colored their faces once more. This ordeal could end without more lives being claimed. Families hugged each other, weeping openly. The healers patted each other on the back, relieved that their efforts would not be in vain. A number of people thanked Hajime and Kaori for saving them.

  Lanzwi glanced over at Hajime. Noticing his gaze, Hajime turned over and grimaced.