“How’s Shea?” Hajime brought himself back to the present and looked up at Yue.
“Still sleeping. I drank a lot of her blood, so she probably won’t wake up for a while.” According to Yue, the amount of mana she got from Hajime’s blood and the amount she got from Shea’s blood were different. Hajime was the one she’d made a blood oath with, so his blood gave her exponentially more mana than Shea’s.
Yue’s blood oath was a double-edged sword. The mana she obtained from the person she made a pact with rose drastically, but the amount of mana she obtained from others fell.
“I see. Well, we can take it easy for a bit. We have no idea how far we are from the continent, so there’s no telling how long it’ll take to get back. It’s better to rest now while we have the chance. Who knows what else we might have to deal with later.”
“Yeah.”
The ocean was to the west of the continent, so Hajime was sure he’d reach it eventually if he just went east. Yue could make water for them with her magic, and they could catch fish to eat. There were no fish in the sea that could escape Hajime’s submarine and Yue’s magic, so though it looked like they were stranded in the middle of the sea with nothing, they’d be able to get by easily enough. Plus, it was safer to wait until night so they could use the stars to confirm their bearing. Hence why they were resting for now.
Hajime laid back and relaxed. Yue watched him closely.
“Yue, may I ask what you’re doing?”
“I’m giving you energy.” Yue smiled seductively and leaned in close. She was definitely giving him energy. Only to a certain part of his body, though. As Hajime stared into her eyes, all thoughts of resisting melted away.
“Mmm...Fufu, looks like you’re ready.”
“Never thought I’d be doing this in the middle of the ocean half a year ago.”
Hajime and Yue enjoyed themselves thoroughly, savoring the feeling of still being alive. For a while, the submarine rocked from more than just waves.
“It sounded like you two were having fun...”
The two of them were met by a glaring Shea as they entered the submarine.
“Hm? I didn’t know you woke up. How’re you feeling?”
“Thanks for glossing over that like it never happened. All of your rocking and moaning woke me up. All that loneliness and sadness gave me strength, so I’m feeling a lot better now. Well, enough to smack you right now, in fact.”
“That’s good.”
Shea groaned at how casually Hajime took her pointing out that she could hear their sexual escapades. Realizing he was being a bit too cold to Shea, Hajime smiled and invited her to sit next to him.
Shea had felt really left out when she’d woken up to the sounds of Hajime and Yue having sex on top of the submarine, and she made up for it by clinging to Hajime even more than usual.
Yue, too, took a seat beside Shea instead of her customary place by Hajime. She started stroking Shea’s ears in an attempt to improve her mood.
With that, Hajime started pouring mana into his sub and propelled it eastward.
Monsters still came out to attack them occasionally, but Yue was able to fend them off with ease.
Hajime drove them through the night, and he spotted land finally around the time dawn was beginning to break.
He’d triangulated their position from the stars during the night. By his estimation, they were somewhere north of Erisen. That meant if he followed the coastline south, he’d eventually reach Erisen and the port that connected the sea to the Gruen Desert.
Relieved, the party followed the coastline south for two days. Around noon on the second day, Hajime stopped the submarine and the group went up to the deck to eat lunch.
Lunch consisted of fish, just like it had for the past two days. Hajime was reminded of his days in the abyss as he used Lightning Field to grill the fish. Since he’d given Tio his Treasure Trove they didn’t have any seasonings or dishes.
Still, the three of them enjoyed their meal as they gazed out at the sea. In a way, the spectacular scenery provided flavoring for their meal. It was the same way food tasted different on a beach, or at a festival.
Just as Shea was finishing off some unknown species of fish, her ears twitched. She instantly began moving.
A split second later Hajime noticed it too. His mouth, which was full of giant fish, turned toward the water.
A number of human-shaped silhouettes surrounded the submarine. They leaped out of the water and pointed their tridents at the three of them.
There were at least twenty of them. Upon closer inspection, Hajime noticed they all had emerald-green hair and fins for ears. They were all dagons. They watched Hajime and the others warily.
The one standing directly in front of Hajime thrust his spear out and asked a question.
“Who are you people? Why are you here? And what is that thing you’re riding?” Hajime’s mouth was still full of fish, so he couldn’t answer. It was rather unfortunate as he had no intention of fighting these dagons, but the fish was surprisingly tough and hard to chew through. It would take some time to get it all down.
Hajime wanted to take this conversation seriously, but even he knew it must’ve looked like he was making fun of them. Instead of talking, he was just casually eating his lunch.
A vein pulsed in the man’s forehead. His anger seemed a bit overblown for just having found humans in the sea. Realizing the situation could blow up at any minute, Shea tried to placate the man.
“U-Umm, please calm down. We’re just—”
“Silence! A mere rabbitman like you has no right to speak!”
It seemed even outside the sea of trees, rabbitmen were looked down upon by the other beastmen. There was also the fact that they wanted Hajime himself to answer. To them it seemed as if he were looking down on them by continuing to eat his lunch. The man turned his trident on Shea and thrust at her.
The man’s attack would likely not even have scratched her due to her body strengthening, but she still dodged out of the way. He’d aimed for her cheek, hoping that injuring Hajime’s comrade would make him take the encounter more seriously.
He seemed almost desperate. From what Hajime remembered, the dagons weren’t such an aggressive race.
But regardless of what circumstances they had that had driven them to such aggression, they shouldn’t have turned their fangs on Hajime or his friends. Even if it was just meant as a warning, Hajime didn’t like anyone attacking his friends. And so, he unleashed a wave of Intimidation so strong that it sent ripples through the ocean.
The lead dagon man turned to Hajime, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. A second later, there was a loud thud. The dagon man flew through the air in a tailspin and bounced off the surface of the sea a few times before sinking into the ocean.
The other dagons turned to look back at Hajime. He was holding one of his grilled fish, and it looked like he’d just smacked a golf ball with it.
The sea glimmered in the sunlight. Hajime’s dead fish glimmered, too.
“Wh-What?” The dagons still couldn’t grasp what had happened.
Hajime slung the half-eaten fish over his shoulder and glared at the dagon man standing next to the one he’d sent flying. He’d already been scared senseless by Hajime’s Intimidation. The added pressure of his glare made him snap, and he charged forward with a wild yell.
“Zaaaaaah!” It was perhaps the most noble moment in that man’s life. In the face of certain death, he’d unleashed the strongest attack he could. However, Hajime blocked it with his dead fish. The man’s trident stuck fast inside the fish’s mouth.
“Huh? Wh-What the...” Hajime spun the fish, pulling the trident clean out of the man’s hands. The trident’s shaft struck the other dagons as it spun, leaving them reeling.
Then, Hajime swung the fish again as they clung to their bloody noses.
The dagon who’d lost his spear stared dumbfounded at this human boy who was glowing dark red and slapping them aroun
d with a fish.
“Bwah!?” Hajime sent this one flying the same way he had the last. A faint stream of water trailed behind him as he flew off into the ocean.
“Gulp. Okay, now I really don’t want to fight you guys, so let’s calm down and talk this through. I won’t hold back if you try and hurt my comrades, but... Oh, I went easy on those guys I sent flying, so they should still be alive.” The red glow surrounding Hajime faded and he released his Intimidation.
Even Hajime didn’t want to fight Myu’s people. He wouldn’t be able to face her if he accidentally ended up killing her neighbor or something.
However, it seemed the dagons weren’t interested in talking. Even if he hadn’t killed their comrades, he’d still knocked them around. More importantly, however, it hurt their pride that Hajime didn’t even consider them worth fighting when he was the one at a disadvantage in the sea.
Plus, they were still wary of humans and didn’t trust Hajime’s words. They weren’t going to let their guards down around him. The dagons backed up and prepared to throw their tridents.
“Is that how you tricked her? Are you here to kidnap more of our children!?”
“We won’t let you use magic again! The sea is our domain! Don’t think you’ll be making it home in one piece!”
“We’ll get her location out of you even if we have to rip your limbs off!”
“Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. We need you as a hostage to trade with the kingdom, after all.”
There’s definitely something strange going on here. They weren’t just wary of Hajime, they hated him. Judging by what they’d said, Hajime could guess it had something to do with Myu. Did they mistake us for the criminals that kidnapped her? They’d come in on some strange machine, with what seemed to be a rabbitman slave in tow. It was only natural that they’d be suspected.
Beastmen were known for being extremely close-knit. They were protective even of other species, but especially so of one of their own.
The Haulia tribe had abandoned the sea of trees for Shea, and the bearmen had ignored the council’s decision to try and get revenge for their leader. The dagons were no exception. Even if Myu wasn’t their daughter, they were just as protective of her.
She had all of these guys to choose as her dad, so why’d she pick me? Hajime smiled bitterly to himself. He decided to bring up Myu in order to solve the misunderstanding.
“Uh, about that girl that was kidnapped—”
“Get him!”
But before he could, the dagons threw their tridents at him. They were all swimming in the ocean, and yet they still managed to put a lot of force behind their throws. From the way they aimed at his shoulders and legs, Hajime guessed they really didn’t plan on killing him. They attacked the submarine from below as well, making it shake.
Any normal opponent would have lost their balance and been unable to dodge. They might even have fallen into the sea to be torn apart by the waiting dagons. Of course, Hajime was no normal opponent.
“Liquid Rampart.” The sea rose up around them, knocking down all of the tridents. While the dagons were still marveling at Yue’s ability to cast magic without an incantation, she created twenty balls of electricity.
As the walls of water crashed back into the sea, the dagons saw the electric balls flying at them.
“Ah!? T-Take coveeer!” One of the dagons cried out. Their faces paled and they quickly tried to swim away, but it was already too late.
The balls homed in on each of the dagons and hit them with a powerful shock. They spasmed and screamed for a few minutes before floating limply to the surface.
“Nice job, Yue.”
“Yeah... Hajime, the thing they were talking about.”
“Yeah, they probably meant Myu.”
“You just have to cause a commotion wherever you go, huh? I guess I should expect this by now. We haven’t gone through a single town without making a stir...”
“Oh come on, Shea. To be honest, I do feel a little bad about this. Damn... This wouldn’t have happened if we’d had Myu with us...”
Hajime sighed and started collecting the dagons’ unconscious bodies.
Hajime dumped the dagon men into the impromptu trunk he’d crafted into the submarine and headed toward the city.
Yue had kindly held back, so they woke up relatively quickly. Once they were awake, Hajime explained the situation to them.
A few of them had thought he might still be the culprit because he was able to describe Myu’s features so well. They tried to jump at him, but he slapped them silly with a fish until they calmed down. Eventually, they were convinced as well.
Patience is an important virtue when it comes to persuasion.
Their cheeks were swollen, but the dagon men were finally willing to listen to Hajime. When he told them Myu was waiting in Ankaji, they requested to first stop by Erisen and then choose a few members to accompany Hajime.
Though they still weren’t sure they could trust Hajime, they chose to believe his words. However, they were still going to accompany him to make sure he was telling the truth.
Hajime agreed to their request and started steering the submarine to Erisen.
He learned along the way that all of the dagons who had attacked him knew Myu personally.
Myu’s kidnappers had hurt Myu’s mother pretty badly as well, so the men held a deep-seated resentment against them. Hajime didn’t want Myu to see all her friends with Afro hair and bruises, so he reluctantly healed them all.
After a few hours, they spotted Erisen.
“Ah, Hajime-san! There it is! I can see a city, and people!”
“Hm? Wow, it actually is in the middle of the ocean.”
Shea pointed excitedly at the city. Hajime looked over and saw a city literally floating on top of the ocean.
He headed to one of the many docks he saw jutting out of it. Dagons, visiting human tourists, and traders all watched in awe as his mysterious vessel rode past. Hajime ignored them all and stopped at an empty dock.
The dagons specifically began murmuring worriedly to each other when they saw a few of their unconscious brethren riding in the trunk.
“Hey, explain the situation to them. The more time we waste dealing with stuff here the longer it’ll take to get to Myu.”
“O-Okay!” One of the dagon men nodded, trembling. He didn’t want to face Hajime’s fish slaps again.
The youth spotted a contingent of human and dagon soldiers making their way over to them and quickly intercepted. Hajime wanted to hurry up and rendezvous with Tio, Kaori, and Myu, so he didn’t want to have to waste any time here. He watched impatiently as the dagon youth talked to the soldiers’ captain.
Sadly, things were never as simple as Hajime wanted them to be. The soldiers shoved aside the youth and marched up to the sub. They surrounded Hajime, leaving him trapped on the tiny dock.
“Until we know what your intentions are, we’ll have to detain you. Don’t resist.”
“Hey, did you even listen to that guy?”
“I did. We will send some of our own men to confirm your story. You, however, will stay here.” The man spoke curtly. Hajime didn’t like his attitude one bit, but he restrained himself. Remember, this is Myu’s home.
“Okay, look here. I’ve got comrades waiting for me back there. I was planning on heading straight back there, but I took a detour to deliver these guys to you. They’re the ones who attacked me, you know?”
“And we have yet to verify whether or not they were justified in doing so. If the kidnapped child really isn’t in Ankaji, you’re just a suspicious boy who came in on an unknown vessel. What proof do we have that you won’t try and run once you leave Erisen?”
“That’d be kind of pointless, don’t you think? If I wanted to run, I could have just left these guys in the ocean and gone somewhere else.”
“About that. You are within our territory without permission. Furthermore, you attacked one of our patrols. We cannot let you move freely within t
he city.”
“They’re the ones who attacked without even listening to us. What, did you want me to just sit there while they chopped my limbs off? Gimme a break.” Hajime narrowed his eyes dangerously. The man frowned, seemingly unperturbed by the enormous pressure radiating from Hajime.
Hajime recognized the crest on the man’s uniform. It was the Heiligh Kingdom’s coat of arms. That meant he was the captain of the peacekeeping force assigned to Erisen. That explained why he wasn’t affected by Hajime’s glare. Hajime wasn’t even using Intimidation yet, after all. Though the dagon captain’s face paled, he also held his ground against Hajime.
Hajime really didn’t want to cause a stir in Erisen. Not only was it Myu’s hometown, he would likely spend some time here searching for the Sunken Ruins of Melusine’s entrance. It was another one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, so he needed to conquer it.
He knew Myu was in Ankaji, so there was no worry of them finding nothing there. But after everything this world had thrown at him, it was almost a reflex to fight back against anything that tried to stop him. He’d sworn he wouldn’t back down to anyone when he’d crawled his way out of the abyss. He wasn’t feeling like breaking that oath here.
Still, he also didn’t want to cause an uproar, which made the situation rather dicey.
Just when he’d convinced himself that he should accept their conditions for Myu’s sake, he heard something.
“Hm? What’s...” Shea’s bunny ears perked up and she started scanning the sky.
Hajime turned away from the captain and followed her gaze.
“What’d you see?” he asked. However, before she could reply, Hajime heard a familiar voice.
“...dy!”
“Huh? What was that?”
“...dy!”
“Wait, no way!?”
“Daddy!”
Hajime looked up and saw a vaguely human-shaped object falling from the sky. She had her arms spread wide and was smiling happily.
“Myu!?” It was indeed Myu. It seemed she’d gone skydiving without a parachute.
He then noticed Tio, in her dragon form, following closely behind with Kaori riding on her back.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 5 Page 13
