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

by Ryo Shirakome

  Once they’d prepared themselves, Hajime took them down to the deck and they entered the same door Aleister had in the vision.

  The interior of the ship was pitch black. It was bright outside, so Hajime had expected light to be pouring in through the windows, but for whatever reason it wasn’t, so he pulled a green glowstone lamp out of his Treasure Trove.

  “About that vision from before... The king betrayed them after they’d already made peace, right?”

  “Looks like it. But don’t you think it was a little weird? It looked like everyone really respected the guy... Would they have really looked up to him like that if he secretly hated all the beastmen and demons?”

  “You’re right. Based on what he said, it had been a year since the war ended. Something must have happened in that time that changed him so drastically. The question is, what?”

  “There’s no doubts the gods were involved somehow. You heard what he was saying. He sounded pretty crazy at the end.”

  “Yeah, he reminded me of Ishtar-san... It was like he was in a trance. It was almost pitiful to watch.”

  Hajime almost felt a little bad for Ishtar. A high school girl thought the pope of the Holy Church was cringeworthy.

  They walked forward for a while longer until Hajime’s lamp illuminated something. A white, fluttering something.

  The pair stopped in their tracks. Hajime pointed the light upward. It revealed a girl, wearing a pure white dress. She was swaying back and forth, her head pointed downward.

  Hajime and Kaori both had a bad feeling about this, and Kaori’s face was frozen stiff.

  Hajime had no idea what a little girl was doing here, but he pulled Donner out anyway. He wasn’t taking any chances in a labyrinth.

  Just then, the girl crumpled to the floor. Her joints bent at inhuman angles, and she started scuttling across the floor toward them like some kind of grotesque spider.

  “Kakakakakakakakaka!” Ominous laughter rang out through the hallway. Her eyes, partially hidden by her bangs, glowed with an eerie light. She looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “Whoa!? Calm down, Kaori! Let go of my arm!”

  This was as cliched as it got, but that didn’t make it any less scary. Kaori clung to Hajime’s arm for dear life. Hajime tried to shoot down the monster, but Kaori ruined his aim.

  “Kegyaaa!” With a strange scream, the monster girl leaped at Hajime’s face.

  Hajime gave up on trying to shoot her and kicked her in the stomach. He enhanced the kick with Steel Legs just in case a regular one wasn’t enough.

  The girl doubled over as she flew backward into the darkness. She bounced off the walls like a pinball, landing in a crumpled heap at the end of the hallway. Her limbs were bent at even odder angles now, and she didn’t get back up. Instead, she melted into the ground and vanished.

  Hajime sighed and patted Kaori’s trembling head. She jumped at his touch and looked timidly up at him. There were tears in her eyes, and her lips were quivering. Damn, I guess that really scared her.

  “Are you bad with horror stuff, Kaori?”

  “Is there anyone who isn’t?”

  “Just pretend they’re all monsters.”

  “Hic... I’ll try.” Kaori finally let go of Hajime’s arm, but she still kept hold of the hem of his shirt.

  Hajime’s words had given her a lot to think about, and she’s been less clingy after their discussion. However, now that ghosts and the like had shown up she’d thrown her reservations out the window. She wouldn’t let go until they were out of here. She was terrified. Absolutely terrified. Even more so than when she’d first confessed to Hajime, really.

  They encountered a number of unsettling events after that. Bloody handprints on doors, noises coming from behind walls, water dripping down from the ceiling, ominous scratching noises, a strange monster with a severed head and an axe, the list went on. Hajime easily shot and kicked his way through most of them, but it was still slow going.

  “I hate this. I want go home. Shizuku-chan, I want to see you again.” The countless scary events had left Kaori clinging to Hajime’s back. Her mental state had regressed to that of a child’s.

  The reason she wanted Shizuku specifically to come save her was because when Kouki had taken them all to a haunted house long ago, Shizuku had been the one to protect her. That was why she trusted Shizuku the most.

  The creator of the Sunken Ruins of Melusine, Meiru Melusine, had been determined to mentally unnerve challengers to her labyrinth as much as possible. Hajime had already spent months in the darkness of the abyss, surrounded by monsters who would attack him without warning, so he wasn’t too affected by Melusine’s tactics. However, he had to admit a normal person would be pretty unsettled by her tricks. Though he couldn’t imagine Yue or Tio being scared, either.

  What happened to all those serious visions about the folly of man? Despite her fear, Kaori was holding up pretty well. She mowed down hordes of supernatural apparitions with her Binding Blades of Light as they continued to move forward. Hajime had to keep her from fainting a few times, but he was still impressed by her grit.

  After some time, the two of them arrived at the ship’s hold. Hajime pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside. There was still cargo scattered here and there. The pair picked their way around crates and barrels as they headed further inward. Once they were about halfway, the door closed behind them with a slam.

  “Hiii!?”

  “......”

  Kaori shrieked and turned back around. Hajime was beginning to wonder if she even remembered what they talked about anymore. He really didn’t want to have that conversation again.

  Hajime sighed again and patted Kaori’s shoulder. It was then that he noticed something odd. A thick fog had suddenly sprung up around them.

  “H-H-H-H-H-Hajime-kun!?”

  “Your voice is starting to sound pretty weird. Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter what we’re up against, all we’ve gotta do is blow it away with magic like everything else.”

  There was a sharp whistling noise, and something flew out of the dense fog. It was heading straight for Hajime. He raised his left hand up to block, and found a very fine thread wrapped around it. More whistling noises followed. This time, they came from all directions.

  “A physical trap after all those magical ones? God, what a pain! Why’d all the Liberators have to make such annoying dungeons!”

  “Guardian of light, lend us thy aid— Holy Shield!” Though Hajime was taken aback by the physical nature of the attack, he quickly recovered. He was easily able to knock down the threads, while Kaori protected herself with magic. A second later, the fog began to swirl around, and a powerful gale struck the pair.

  Hajime transmuted spikes from the bottom of his shoes to keep him locked in place. He tried to grab Kaori too, but her shields worked against her here. He missed her by a split second, and she was carried away by the wind.

  “Kyaaa!?” The gust dragged her into the center of the fog. Hajime clicked his tongue and tried to pinpoint Kaori’s position with Sense Presence.

  However, it seemed this fog possessed the same properties as the fog surrounding the Haltina Woods. It interfered with one’s sense of direction, and nullified sensory magic.

  “Tch... Kaori, don’t move!” Before Hajime could do anything though, a knight stepped forward, sweeping away the fog surrounding him with his longsword. Hajime didn’t know what kind of style he was using, but the knight was clearly proficient.

  He blocked the oncoming strokes with Donner. Then, once he saw an opening, he stepped in and fired a magic bullet at point blank range with Schlag. It punched a giant hole through the knight’s stomach, making him vanish without a sound.

  After that, he found himself up against a gauntlet of powerful knights, each a master of their chosen weapon.

  “God, what a pain...” Hajime grumbled to himself and set a number of his magic bullets
to circle around him. He then activated Supersonic Step, and went about defeating the knights. He was worried, since Kaori hadn’t responded to him.

  Around the same time, Kaori was trembling in fear since she couldn’t see Hajime.

  Horror was the one thing she just couldn’t deal with. She’d just freeze up whenever she encountered anything remotely scary, and she hadn’t been able overcome her phobia. Kaori had wanted to prove to Hajime she wasn’t just wallowing in her own inferiority, but she’d just ended up clinging to him again. She hated how weak she was.

  She berated herself for being so pathetic and forced herself to stand through sheer willpower.

  Just then, something laid its hand on her shoulder. Kaori hoped it was Hajime. He was fond of tapping her shoulder, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it was.

  “Hajime-k...” She was about to turn around, but then she realized the hand on her shoulder was lacking in warmth. In fact, it was ice cold.

  A shiver ran down her spine. That’s not Hajime behind me, is it? She was sure of it.

  So then, who was behind her? She turned around slowly, her head creaking like a badly oiled door. What stared back at her was a girl’s face. It was no ordinary face, though. Her eyes, mouth, and nose were all dark, bottomless pits.

  “Awah!” Kaori was so overwhelmed that her brain did the only thing it could to protect her. It shut down.

  In only two minutes, Hajime had succeeded in destroying almost fifty knights. Each knight only took a few seconds to dispatch.

  As the fiftieth knight met his end, Hajime stopped. Was that all of them? However, the trial wasn’t over yet. Another figure appeared from the fog. The knight this time was massive, and he carried a greatsword taller than Hajime himself.

  Hajime sidestepped the knight’s giant swing. The knight had seemingly predicted that Hajime would dodge. He utilized the rebound as his sword slammed into the ground to follow up with a lightning-quick attack.

  Hajime leaped into the air and used his Diamond Skin enhanced prosthetic arm to grab onto the sword mid-swing. He swung himself up onto the flat of the sword and fired a mana bullet at the knight’s head.

  As the giant knight faded into mist, the nearby fog began to fade as well. Alright, now it’s definitely over.

  “Kaori! Where are you!?” Hajime once again cast Sense Presence. Though that proved unnecessary, as he spotted her almost immediately.

  “I’m over here, Hajime-kun.”

  “Oh good, you’re safe...” Hajime breathed a sigh of relief as Kaori walked up to him. She smiled cheerfully and sidled up close.

  “I was so scared...”

  “That bad, huh...?”

  “Yep. So, won’t you comfort me?” She wrapped her arms around Hajime’s neck and hugged him. Her face was so close that their noses were practically touching. She looked up at him with pleading eyes and leaned in closer. However, Hajime casually pressed Donner against her forehead.

  “Wh-What are you doing?” She looked at him in confusion. There was murder in Hajime’s eyes.

  “Isn’t it obvious? Killing my enemies, just like you tried to do to me.” He pulled the trigger without hesitation. A crimson mana bullet shot straight through Kaori’s forehead, sending her sprawling backward.

  A rusty knife fell to the ground with a clang. It had been hidden up Kaori’s sleeve.

  Hajime walked over to Kaori’s prone figure. She raised herself into a sitting position and looked up at Hajime with fear in her eyes.

  “Hajime-kun, why are you doing—” He mercilessly fired another bullet into her.

  “How dare you talk in Kaori’s voice. How dare you take over her body. I can see right through you. Trash like you has no right to even touch Kaori. Don’t speak. Don’t even move.”

  Hajime’s Demon Eye could clearly see the female specter that had taken over Kaori’s body. The ghost grinned wickedly. Now that her identity had been discovered, there was no reason to continue pretending to be scared.

  “Ufufu. So what if you know? This woman is already mi—” Hajime knocked Kaori to the ground and straddled her.

  “Wait, what do you think you’re doing!? This woman is your lover, isn’t she!? Can you really bring yourself to hurt her!?”

  “You’re not a very good listener, are you? I said don’t speak and don’t move. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt Kaori. These mana bullets pass right through physical things. The only one suffering right now is you.”

  “If you destroy me, you’ll destroy this girl’s soul too! Are you willing to take that risk!?”

  Hajime hesitated. It was possible she was bluffing, but Hajime had no way of knowing for sure. Thinking about it logically, he would surely hesitate to strike again. That was definitely what the specter assumed as well. She grinned and ordered Hajime to get off.

  Contrary to expectations though, Hajime just fired another mana bullet into her.

  The specter’s pain was conveyed through Kaori’s twisted expression. Panicking, she yelled at Hajime.

  “Are you insane!? Don’t you care what happens to her!?”

  “Shut up, ghost. If I stop attacking, you’ll get to keep Kaori’s body forever. Besides, if only killing you will destroy Kaori’s soul, then I can do anything to you as long as you remain alive, right? I’ll just have to torture you until you’re begging to leave.”

  The specter was at a loss for words. She’d never faced anyone so hell-bent on killing her.

  “You hurt someone important to me. Don’t think you’ll get off lightly. Trust me, I have ways of making sure you won’t die no matter how much you suffer. I’ll make sure you’re perfectly lucid for every minute of it, too. Hell will seem like paradise once I’m through with you. You’re one of my enemies... but hey, at least you won’t die.” Ribbons of dark red mana swirled around Hajime, and his white hair stood on end. His gaze was as cold as ice.

  Hajime was furious, more than he had ever been. Just killing this specter wouldn’t be enough for him. He would make her suffer every way he knew how.

  The specter just stared at Hajime, frozen in terror. She couldn’t even muster the courage to say anything in her defense.

  She had realized too late that she should never have picked a fight with the monster staring down at her. Now, she had no choice but to pay the price for her mistake.

  Hajime pressed Donner against Kaori’s forehead again. The specter began to pray. Please let this end quickly. The mere thought of what Hajime would do to her already left her wishing she was dead, except she already was.

  She was nothing more than what remained of a human’s particularly powerful grudge. Now though, she was even willing to forgo that grudge if it let her leave this plane of existence.

  I don’t want to exist anymore! I don’t want to exist anymore! I don’t want to exist anymore! I don’t want to exist anymore! I don’t want to exist anymore! I don’t want to exist anymore! Just as Hajime was about to pull the trigger, Kaori’s body began to glow. She was enveloped in the light of the healing spell Consecration. It was one of the delayed cast spells she’d held in reserve for emergencies.

  The specter looked down in surprise.

  Don’t worry, I’m exorcising you. This way you’ll be able to pass on.

  The light surrounding Kaori grew brighter. It wrapped itself around the specter, and she slowly began floating up to the ceiling. Her consciousness began to fade, and her spirit along with it.

  A second later, Kaori opened her eyes. It seemed the specter had been banished.

  Hajime looked down at Kaori. He’d confirmed the specter’s disappearance with his Demon Eye, so there was no reason to be on guard anymore. He checked over Kaori, making sure the possession hadn’t left any lingering effects.

  Kaori could feel the intensity of Hajime’s gaze. She could tell just how worried he’d been. It almost surprised her how serious he looked.

  She met his gaze and lifted herself up. Then, she brought her face close to his, and kissed him on the lips. It was a brie
f one, but it was nevertheless Kaori’s first kiss.

  Hajime had been too worried making sure Kaori’s soul really wasn’t going to be destroyed to dodge the kiss in time. After a brief moment of surprise, Hajime pulled away.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Giving you my answer?”

  “Your answer to what?”

  “Remember, you asked me why I even decided to come with you... Well, I found the answer to why I decided to travel with you, and why I’ll keep traveling with you.”

  She smiled, and it was the usual bright smile Hajime had begun to miss. This was the first time since entering the labyrinth that he’d seen her smile like that.

  The whole time Kaori had been possessed, she’d actually been conscious. It was as if she’d been locked inside her own mind, forced to watch her body act against her will. However, since she’d been aware of everything that had been happening, she’d seen just how mad Hajime had gotten for her sake. She’d heard him call her someone important to him.

  Seeing him like that had really moved her. She remembered how she had felt when she’d confessed to him.

  No matter what anyone else said, no matter how much trouble it caused others, this was the one thing she wasn’t going to give up on. She would make him reciprocate her love. That resolve hadn’t changed.

  She didn’t want to be the only one left out of Hajime’s group. She didn’t want to be the only one not by his side. Even if she wasn’t nearly as strong as Yue or the others, she wanted to prove her feelings for Hajime were every bit as strong as the other girls.

  “I love you, Hajime-kun. I love you so much. That’s why I want to stay by your side.”

  “Won’t that just make it hurt more? Like I told Shea, I have no intention of being with anyone other than Yue.”

  “Maybe. I do want you to look only at me. I want to be the only one special to you. I’m definitely jealous of Yue, and I feel like I’m not as good as her... It’ll definitely be painful if I stay.”

  “Then you should...”

  “But I know if I back down here, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I’m sure of it. You’re right that after coming here, I saw the difference between me and everyone else, and I started to lose faith... I began to doubt whether or not coming with you really was for the best. But I’m not worried anymore.” She cupped Hajime’s cheeks and smiled.