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

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Huh, is that really true, Hajime-kun?”

  “Look at Master’s eyes, Yue, Kaori. He has not had his fill just yet, but he doesn’t want us to stand out.”

  “Yeah, I guess I can’t wear something like this to the front gate~” Shea twirled around, showing off her belly dancer’s outfit. She was wearing a choli top and harem pants. With how provocative the outfit was, it was a given that it’d attract attention.

  It was apparently traditional in Ankaji, though. Lanzwi had gifted it to the girls, and the first time they’d worn them Hajime could hardly keep his eyes off them. Outfits like these hit all of his buttons. For the first time, he’d been captivated not just by Yue, but by Shea and Tio and Kaori too.

  It really was the first time that had happened ever. Having finally tasted success, the other girls wore the dress for an entire day. Naturally, Yue kept it on as well, and successfully seduced him multiple times.

  In the end, they’d worn the dresses during their entire stay. One of Hajime’s fetishes had finally been revealed. He was both happy and a little troubled by the fact that they’d continued wearing them for so long, but he really needed them to change by the time they reached the gate.

  Two days after they left Ankaji.

  On the road, they encountered a band of brigands attacking a merchant convoy near Horaud. There, they reunited with someone they hadn’t expected to see...

  Epilogue

  Yuka Sonobe barged into the palace’s mess hall. She seemed rather irritated. She glared into the soldier’s quarters, her slanted eyes giving her a demonic appearance. The off-duty units winced as her gaze passed over them.

  “Not here either, huh? Jeez... Why do they always vanish at the most important times?” She scratched her chestnut-colored hair, her frustration plain for all to see. The soldiers jumped a little as she stomped back out.

  “They’re not in the training grounds, not in the barracks, not in the mess hall... Did they go to the town?” Yuka marched off to the castle’s main gate as she muttered to herself. Her loud footsteps echoed across the hallway.

  “Yukacchi!” Nana Miyazaki dashed up to her.

  “I couldn’t find them. You?”

  “No one in the mess hall. I just checked with Tamai-kun and Taeko, they didn’t find them either. They’re off checking other rooms right now... but I don’t think they’re in the palace.”

  “Makes sense. I just talked to Aikawa-kun, and he hasn’t seen them either. Sheesh, where are they loitering around? This is important. And they call themselves Ai-chansensei’s bodyguards!” Nana cradled her head in her hands and screamed.

  The two of them, or rather the entirety of the Ai-chansensei escort squad, were searching for David and his knights.

  Aiko hadn’t shown up for three days straight. According to the pope, she’d headed up to the main cathedral in order to get Hajime’s heretic announcement rescinded. He’d claimed she’d have to stay there for a while, and that they wouldn’t see her for a few days.

  However, according to Shizuku, Aiko had something important she’d wanted to tell them the night of her disappearance. So naturally, they were suspicious. They’d asked to be allowed into the main cathedral as well, but Ishtar had told them friends of heretics wouldn’t be allowed, so they’d been cooling their heels for the past few days.

  Still, after three days of no contact, the students had gotten fed up. The elevator to the cathedral remained dormant, and none of the priests were giving the students straightforward answers. Tired of waiting, Yuka had tried to seek out David and the others and demand an explanation.

  However, though he and his knights had been around yesterday, they were nowhere to be found today. Yuka couldn’t find any trace of them no matter where she searched. The only plausible explanation was that they’d gone into town, but she found it hard to believe they’d go fool around in the city with Aiko missing.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” She ground her teeth and looked around warily. It was as if some kind of formless evil was creeping up on her and taking her friends one by one.

  Just as the fear was starting to take over, someone called out to her.

  “Yuka? Nana?” It was Shizuku. She glanced about the hall, as if she were searching for someone.

  “I wanted to ask if you’ve seen David and the others... though judging by your expressions that’s a no.”

  “Yeah. Looks like you didn’t find the captain either.”

  Shizuku looked down sadly. It hadn’t been just Aiko who’d vanished that night. Captain Meld and Princess Liliana had as well. Even Shizuku’s maid, Nia, was nowhere to be found. A number of the other servants and knights had gone missing too, all friends of the students.

  “Hey Yukacchi, Shizukucchi... Are we going to be alright?”

  “.....”

  Nana looked scared. Unfortunately, neither Yuka or Shizuku could reassure her.

  They didn’t know what was happening either, and that vague unease had them on edge.

  If only he was here... If only that guy was here... Yuka and Shizuku’s thoughts turned to the same direction. They looked out at the western sky, a single man on their minds. He was ruthless, not always the nicest person to be around, and unbelievably blunt, but he was also the one person they knew they could trust.

  A number of figures stood in a wide, dimly-lit room. They look liked wraiths due to the darkness of their surroundings. They were all completely still, with not even one so much as twitching.

  Further inside the room, a short distance away from the others, stood two other figures. Unlike the rest, these two seemed human. Not sane, perhaps, but at least human.

  There was a crazed look in their eyes.

  “The preparations are finally complete. I’m getting excited. The moment I’ve been waiting for is almost here. I’m truly glad I was called to this world! I know now that this is what happiness truly is!” Loud laughter rang out through the room. Though the voice spoke of happiness, its tone dripped with malice. The speaker was clearly mad.

  The figure standing next to the person who spoke stared on with cold eyes. It was obvious they didn’t see the other as their comrade, but like the other figure, they too were grinning cruelly.

  Around the same time, something was happening in the kingdom on the southern tip of the continent.

  A massive army of monsters stood lined up in formation. There were easily ten thousand strong. Waves of power rolled off of them. Each of the gathered monsters was as strong as the ones lying at the bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. They were a force that could trample anything that got in their way.

  Surprisingly, there were a few people mounted on horses among them. It was clear this gathering was no unorganized mob.

  A single, massive monster descended from the heavens and landed in front of them. Its gleaming white scales looked majestic in the sunlight. There was a humanoid figure riding on its back. His red hair fluttered in the wind, and the men down below cheered on his arrival.

  “The demon king has received a divine revelation! He has given our armies a single command... Destroy the heretics.” Though the man’s voice sounded dignified, there was a tinge of insanity to it as well.

  The army burst into cheers once more.

  “It is time we show them the strength of our faith. Let’s teach those fools strutting about the Northern Continent who the true rulers of this land are!” The monsters stamped the ground so hard the earth shook.

  Interestingly, the figures hidden in the dim room spoke the same time the demon riding the white dragon did.

  “Now then, let us begin. In order to achieve happiness, we must carve our own story into the annals of history! Let me hear your war cries! It’s time we fight, for the sake of our lord!”

  Eight thousand meters above sea level, a giant steel spire rose up from the Divine Mountain’s peak. A weak groan echoed in one of the tower’s prison cells. Blood dripped from Aiko Hatayama’s fingers and she stared at the ground, her br
ow furrowed in concentration.

  She had drawn a magic circle with her own blood, and tried chanting dozens of different spells, but no matter how hard she tried, no matter which spell she chose, her flow of mana was interrupted by the shackles on her wrists.

  She slumped her shoulders and looked down at her hands. There were dozens of small cuts on them, one for each attempt.

  “How many times do I have to tell you it’s futile before you get it?”

  “Ah...” Aiko shivered as she heard a mechanical voice next to her. She looked up and saw a nun wearing a hood low over her eyes. The nun was carrying a tray of food.

  Aiko noticed the nun had left the door open behind her when she’d entered, and made a mad dash for freedom.

  “I believe I already told you it was futile.”

  “Agh!”

  The nun punched Aiko in the stomach as she tried to escape. The attack had come so fast Aiko hadn’t even been able to see it. She gasped in pain and crashed into the wall behind her.

  “L-Let me out of here. What do you plan on doing to my students?” The nun didn’t react to Aiko’s words. She placed the tray of food in the room, her movements robotic, and walked out of the room.

  “Wait! Please wait! At least tell me whether or not my students are safe!” The nun slowly closed the door, her expression unchanged. Just before she shut it completely, she stopped.

  “This is all the will of my lord. There is nothing you, who have been removed from the game board, need to know.” With an air of finality, the nun shut the door.

  Aiko struggled to her knees and cursed her own powerlessness. Something terrible could happen to her students, and she wouldn’t know it. Even though she was their teacher, there was nothing she could do to help.

  Her thoughts turned to the boy who’d overturned one hopeless situation after another back in Ur. She looked up at the moon through the small skylight covered with bars, and murmured his name.

  “Nagumo-kun...”

  The nun heard Aiko’s whisper as she walked away. She walked out to a nearby terrace and looked down at the ground below.

  “Come if you dare, you anomaly. It will mean your end if you do.”

  The monster of the abyss continued onward to a place of betrayals, madness, and divinity.

  It was as if he was guided by fate itself.

  Extra Chapter: Sunny with a Chance of Thunderstorms

  Four days after Hajime and the others had conquered the Sunken Ruins of Melusine and returned to Erisen, the party was still resting in Remia and Myu’s house.

  Remia’s house was pretty big by Erisen’s standards, but it was still just a house. True, there were enough rooms for everyone, but the bathroom, laundry room, and other locations weren’t huge or anything. The bathroom only had a single shower, which was enchanted to take in seawater from the ocean and convert it to freshwater. There was only enough space for two people to bathe at once.

  Today, Tio and Shea were taking a shower together. Yue and Kaori had already finished theirs. Though they were always at each other’s throats, they always tended to group up for things like that. Tio found their relationship rather interesting.

  “Hm? What’s this?” Shea stopped undressing and turned to where Tio was looking, her rabbit ears tilting forward inquisitively.

  Tio stooped down between the clothes basket and picked up what seemed to be a notebook.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m not sure. I found it in the corner there... Perhaps it belongs to Remia?” Tio looked the notebook over. It was bound in high-quality leather. Such bindings were commonplace in human cities, but Tio didn’t think dagons would have something like it around.

  “Was it a gift from someone? Remia-san’s really pretty, so maybe an admirer gave it to her.”

  “Hmm... That does seem plausible. I suppose we should return— Ah!?” Tio nodded and idly opened the notebook. When she saw what was written in its pages though, she froze.

  “Tio-san? What’s the matt— Aaaaaaaaaaaah!?” Shea came over and took a peek at the contents over Tio’s shoulder. She was also shocked.

  This was what was written in the notebook they’d thought belonged to Remia:

  Yue’s Diary.

  They stared at those two words in silence. Yue had never mentioned to anyone that she was keeping a diary, and no one had ever seen her writing.

  After all, Yue didn’t speak much. That wasn’t to say she didn’t join in conversations, or play pranks, but she definitely spoke less than the others. If they read her diary, they would finally have a window into her enigmatic mind.

  Tio and Shea gulped nervously. Then, they exchanged glances.

  “I know a person’s diary is not something others should rifle through simply to satisfy their own curiosity...”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It’s the most tactless thing you could do.”

  The two of them nodded. They both agreed it was rude to read Yue’s diary.

  “But let’s read it anyway!” “However, this time my curiosity is too great!” Still, they also had no tact.

  Shea, who was buck naked, and Tio, who was half-undressed, squatted over the diary and flipped through the pages.

  “Hmm... It seems Yue found this notebook at the end of the Great Orcus Labyrinth.”

  “Yeah. It looks like she wanted to start her own diary after reading Oscar-san’s record of his adventures. This way she’d have a written record of all her travels with Hajime-san.”

  “However, it appears she’s too embarrassed to tell Master. If even he is unaware of this, it stands to reason that we wouldn’t know.”

  The two discussed Yue’s reason for starting a diary. The next few pages were filled with accounts of the special training she’d done with Hajime, her night life with Hajime, her conversations with Hajime, the food she ate with Hajime, watching Hajime transmute things, surprising Hajime with sex, making Hajime’s clothes, Hajime’s sleeping habits, spending time with Hajime in the bath, Hajime’s fetishes, Hajime’s weak points, Hajime’s...

  “She’s way too clingy!” Over 90% of it was about Hajime. It basically detailed their month-long honeymoon. In just a few pages, Shea and Tio were throwing up. Naturally, they threw up sugar and rainbows, not vomit.

  “Ugh, I feel like this is just rubbing their relationship in my face. Is all the stuff after they leave like this too? Just accounts of how much she flirted with Hajime-san?”

  “W-Well, it might be... Wait, Shea, look, they’re finally about to leave Orcus’ house. Start from the part that says ‘Our adventure starts here.’”

  “Oooh, that means Reisen Gorge is next! That’s where they met me! Ehehe, I wonder what Yue-san wrote about me?” Shea urged Tio to turn the page, a mixture of trepidation and excitement on her face.

  “No need to be so impatient,” Tio said with a smile, and turned the page.

  —O Month. X Day.

  We found a worthless rabbit in the wild. I can’t imagine anything more worthless than her.

  “Stop treating me like I’m some kind of animal! And quit calling me worthless!” Shea slapped the diary’s pages. Tio calmed her down and continued reading.

  —O Month. X Day.

  I’m in charge of training the worthless rabbit now. She’s totally in love with Hajime. I can understand why, since he looked really cool when he talked down the elders at Verbergen. Still, I don’t like the tricks she uses to get close to him. I’m gonna trap her in ice again today...

  —O Month. X Day.

  I haven’t been able to spend much time with Hajime these past few days. It’s all this worthless rabbit’s fault. I think I’ll trap her in ice. I am Yue, a woman who never goes easy on crafty rabbits, even if it is just training. Actually, this fog is pretty thick. Maybe I can kidnap Hajime without anyone noticing?

  “Ugh, I definitely remember being frozen in ice every day... And can you stop calling me worthless and crafty all the time?”

  “Shea, shouldn’t you be more worrie
d about the last thing she wrote? She was planning on kidnapping our master.”

  Tio shuddered as she read the account of Shea’s ten days of hellish training. She turned the page, and continued reading.

  —O Month. X Day.

  This worthless rabbit’s surprisingly tough. She always starts crying at the littlest thing, but she still hasn’t given up. The fire in her pale blue eyes still burns bright. I can’t help but admire her a little. That kind of pisses me off. Well, I guess I’ll just trap her in ice again. Also, I’m running out of Hajimenium. I’m starting to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. I’m going to ride him all night once this rabbit’s training is done. I am Yue, a woman who never lets her prey escape.

  “Yue-san... I never knew that was what you thought about me... Ehehe!”

  “Shea, you’re looking at the wrong thing again. Our poor master is about to be hunted down. What even is this Hajimenium!?”

  Shea was blushing, but Tio grew even more worried as she read on. And so, she flipped another page.

  —O Month. X Day. Hajime was delicious.

  “She hunted him down! She really did it! When did she have time for that!? Poor Master... You were assaulted in the thick fog...”

  Tio began to pity Hajime, and fear Yue. She turned the page again.

  —O Month. X Day.

  I lost to Shea. I actually lost. I lost to a worthless rabbit. How? What on earth is she? This doesn’t make any sense. She’s crazy. She threw entire trees at me, and she actually knocked down my magic with her hammer, and every time she jumped the earth shook and... This can’t be happening...

  “Yue’s totally lost it! I’ve never seen her write like this, or talk like this! Is this really the same Yue!?”

  “W-Was it really that much of a shock to lose to me, Yue-san?”

  Tio looked shaken. Shea, too, was frozen in shock. She couldn’t believe that one glancing blow she’d basically landed by sheer luck had depressed Yue that badly. She wondered how much more of a shock it must have been when Shea had confessed.