Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium)

by Ryo Shirakome

  Hiyama had most likely already guessed Hajime’s stats from Captain Meld’s expression, but he simply wanted an excuse to bully Hajime some more. He possessed quite a nasty personality. His three flunkies all jeered at Hajime as well. They were the kind of stereotypical thugs that bullied the weak and groveled before the mighty. Their actions were so clearly malicious that Kaori and Shizuku both glared at them, eyes full of disdain.

  Despite how smitten they were with her, none of them seemed to realize she disliked such bullying. Hajime lazily handed his plate over to Hiyama.

  When he saw the stats engraved on it, Hiyama burst out laughing. He passed the plate down to his other underlings and they all sneered or laughed at Hajime as well.

  “Bwahahaha... What the hell, man! You’re like totally average! Actually, 10’s exactly average, so I bet there are even some babies out there stronger than you!”

  “Hyahahaha, you’ve gotta be kidding me! This guy’s not even gonna last ten minutes! He’d die so fast that you couldn’t even use him as a meat shield!”

  Unable to stand it any longer, Kaori opened her mouth to give them a piece of her mind. But before she could get out a single word, someone else began yelling at them. That someone was Aiko-sensei.

  “Hey! Stop laughing at him! I won’t allow anyone to laugh at their classmates on my watch! As a teacher, I absolutely will not condone it! Now return Nagumo-kun’s plate this instant!”

  The boys were all taken aback by how much anger was visible in Aiko-sensei’s small frame. They hurriedly returned Hajime’s plate in order to avoid her wrath. Aiko-sensei turned to Hajime and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

  “Nagumo-kun, don’t worry about your job! Look, I got a non-combat job too! And aside from my job, most of my stats are pretty average too! You’re not alone!”

  Aiko-sensei then showed her pink colored plate to Hajime with a “Here, look!”

  * * *

  * * *

  Hatayama Aiko Age: 25 Female Level: 1

  Job: Farmer

  Strength: 5

  Vitality: 10

  Defense: 10

  Agility: 5

  Magic: 100

  Magic Defense: 10

  Skills: Soil Management — Soil Restoration — Large-scale Cultivation — Enhanced Fertilization — Selective Breeding — Plant Appraisal — Fertilizer Production — Mixed Breeding — Auto Harvesting — Fermentation Proficiency — Wide-area Temperature Control — Farming Barrier — Fertile Rain — Language Comprehension.

  * * *

  * * *

  Hajime’s eyes resembled a dead fish’s once he finished reading Aiko’s plate.

  “Huh? What’s wrong, Nagumo-kun!?” Aiko asked as she shook Hajime back and forth.

  It was true that her overall stats were low, and that she did not possess a combat class, but her exceptional magic stat and large number of skills meant that she would reach the level of other heroes with just a little training. And lest everyone forget, an army marches on its stomach. Aiko-sensei’s job was nothing like Hajime’s. His was so commonplace that there were myriad others who were more proficient in it. In other words, even Aiko-sensei was plenty overpowered.

  Hajime felt doubly betrayed for getting his hopes up even a little.

  “Oh my, Ai-chan, that was the final nail in the coffin...”

  “N-Nagumo-kun! Are you alright!?”

  Shizuku smiled sadly as she watched Hajime shut down, while Kaori worriedly ran over to him. Aiko-sensei tilted her head in confusion. As always, she tried her best, but ended up being completely unhelpful. The students smiled at her unchanging ditziness. Aiko-sensei had managed to achieve her initial goal of preventing Hajime’s bullying, but he still smiled emptily as he thought of the difficulties that lay ahead, and the treatment he would definitely receive.

  Two weeks had passed since Hajime was labeled the weakest and most useless member of the class. He was currently in the library using the break time he had between training sessions to investigate something. In his hands was a book labeled “Monsters of the Northern Continent, a Picture Book.” As its name suggested, it was a picture book about monsters.

  As for why he was reading such a book, that was because he had not grown at all after two weeks of training. In fact, the past two weeks had only served to highlight how pathetically weak he was. Hoping to cover his physical deficiencies with knowledge, Hajime spent most of his free time in the library.

  He perused the picture book for a while before suddenly breathing out a sigh and throwing it down on the desk. The librarian happened to be passing by right as he did that, so Hajime was met with a glowering stare.

  Hajime jumped, as he was clearly startled, and hurriedly apologized. The librarian’s angry glare implied that he wouldn’t tolerate it happening a second time. What on earth am I doing? Hajime thought with a sigh.

  Hajime suddenly took out his status plate and stared at it, his hands resting on his chin.

  * * *

  * * *

  Hajime Nagumo Age: 17 Male Level: 2

  Job: Synergist

  Strength: 12

  Vitality: 12

  Defense: 12

  Agility: 12

  Magic: 12

  Magic Defense: 12

  Skills: Transmute — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  That was all the growth he had to show after two weeks of harsh training. I can’t even say I’ve gotten much stronger! Hajime screamed internally. For comparison, Kouki’s stats had grown at an astronomical rate.

  * * *

  * * *

  Kouki Amanogawa Age: 17 Male Level: 10

  Job: Hero

  Strength: 200

  Vitality: 200

  Defense: 200

  Agility: 200

  Magic: 200

  Magic Defense: 200

  Skills: Elemental Affinity — Elemental Resistance — Physical Resistance — Advanced Sorcery — Swordsmanship — Superhuman Strength — Armor Proficiency — Foresight — Increased Mana Recovery — Detect Presence — Detect Magic — Limit Break — Language Comprehension

  * * *

  * * *

  His growth rate was roughly five times as fast as Hajime’s. And to make matters worse, Hajime had discovered he had no real affinity for magic.

  What exactly did having no magical affinity mean? Well, it had to do with how magic functioned in this world. In the world of Tortus, magic functioned in a very specific manner. By chanting an incantation, one could transfer their mana into a magic circle, and the spell inscribed within that circle would activate, thus casting magic. It was impossible for anyone to directly manipulate their mana, so each spell needed its own corresponding magic circle.

  Additionally, the length of an incantation was directly proportional to how much mana one could pour into a magic circle, so the effectiveness of a spell was directly proportional to the amount of mana used to cast it. And the more complicated a spell was, or the larger an area of effect it had, the more inscriptions needed in the magic circle to complete the spell. Which naturally meant that the magic circle itself needed to be larger too.

  For comparison, the standard fireball spell that appeared in most RPGs and the like normally required a magic circle about ten centimeters in diameter. Every spell needed the basic inscriptions for the element, strength, range, span, and magic absorption (the amount of mana someone needed to provide the magic circle in order to activate the spell). If one wanted to add additional parameters such as length the spell is maintained, then extra inscriptions were needed for that as well.

  There was, however, an exception to this rule. And that exception was magical affinity.

  Magical affinity was basically a measure of how well one’s natural constitution allowed them to shorten inscriptions. For example, someone with an affinity for the fire element would no longer need to add the element portion of the inscription to their spell as long as it was a fire-based one. People with
an aptitude for something were able to use a mental image to take the place of the inscription. They didn’t need to carve the inscription anywhere into the magic circle. By simply imagining flames while chanting the spell, they were capable of adding the fire element to it.

  Most people had some level of magical affinity, which meant that the above mentioned ten centimeter magic circle would generally be smaller. However, Hajime had absolutely no affinity for magic whatsoever, meaning that on top of inscriptions for the basic five properties, he had to include inscriptions for the trajectory, spread, and even conclusion for each of his spells. For him, the standard fireball spell required a magic circle two meters in diameter, making magic completely impractical in combat.

  On a somewhat related topic, magic circles came in two different types. The more common of the two were magic circles drawn onto a special kind of disposable paper. The other type were magic circles carved into specific minerals. The former allowed for many different variations of spells, but they burned out after one use and their power was generally on the low side. On the other hand, the latter were bulky and limited in the spells they could cast, but they were reusable and far more powerful than their paper counterparts. The staves Ishtar and the other priests carried all had mineral-type magic circles engraved into them.

  Because of his low stats, close combat was impossible, and because of his lack of magical affinity, he could not rely on magic either. The only skill his job had provided him, Transmute, simply allowed him to transform the shape of various ores, or forge them together into alloys. It was effectively useless. He was also told there were no useful artifacts for Synergists, and was simply given a pair of gloves with related magic circles inscribed into it.

  After a lot of training, he was finally able to make pitfalls and protrusions in the ground, and the more he trained, the larger he was able to make their sizes, but... he had to be in direct contact with the target to activate them. Running up in front of an enemy and then squatting down to put his hands on the ground was no better than suicide, so even those skills were of no real help to him in combat.

  Over the past two weeks, Hajime had come to be treated as a complete waste of space by his classmates. He had attempted to increase his knowledge as a last ditch attempt to somehow become useful, but even that prospect seemed to have dim hopes, so he sighed more and more frequently as time went on.

  If I’m going to be useless around here, I might as well just go out on a journey or something, Hajime thought as he stared out the library window. He had reached the end of his rope. Hajime had spent the last two weeks devoting himself more than anyone else to the lectures they were being given about the world, spending all his time thinking of where to go.

  I’m thinking the land of demi-humans would probably be best... I can’t really say I’ve been to another world if I haven’t even seen a single pair of animal ears. But supposedly their territory is really deep within the sea of trees. And they’re apparently discriminated against everywhere, so aside from a few slaves, you don’t really see many of them outside their homeland.

  According to what Hajime had learned so far, the demi-humans were harshly discriminated against, so they lived deep within the Haltina Woods to avoid contact with other people. They were supposedly discriminated against because they didn’t possess any mana.

  Legend stated that starting with Ehit, each of the gods shaped the very foundations of the world with magic. The magic everyone used now was supposedly a deteriorated version of the power the gods once held. For that reason, it was common belief that magic itself was a gift from the gods. Of course, said belief was strengthened by the fact that the Holy Church preached it as the truth. Because of that, demi-humans, who didn’t possess mana and were unable to use magic, were seen as wicked creatures who’d been abandoned by the gods.

  This had naturally led Hajime to question, “But what about monsters?” However, it seemed that monsters were simply thought of as natural disasters, so no one considered them creatures who had received “God’s blessing” or anything along those lines, and they were seen as nothing more than wild beasts. What a convenient interpretation, Hajime thought, clearly disgusted.

  Even worse, though the demons all worshiped a god different from the humans’ “Lord Ehit,” they too discriminated against the demi-humans.

  Demons supposedly had a far higher magical affinity than humans, so they were able to cast spells with much shorter incantations and smaller magic circles than them. They resided in the center of the southern continent, in the demon kingdom of Garland. Though few in number, it seemed that even children in the kingdom were capable of wielding powerful offensive magic. So, in a way, every single citizen of the kingdom was a soldier.

  The humans of this world saw the demons who worshiped a different god as their mortal foes, thanks to the teachings of the Holy Church, and despised the demi-humans as godless vermin. And apparently the demons were no better. Though he couldn’t be sure, Hajime guessed the demi-humans just wanted to be left alone. It made sense considering how exclusive the other two groups seemed to be.

  Hmm, if navigating the huge sea of trees seems impossible, then maybe I should try for the western ocean instead? If I’m remembering right, there’s a city called Erisen that sits by the sea. If I can’t get my fill of animal ears, then I at least want to see some mermaids. Fantasy creatures like those are every man’s dream. Plus, I want to see what the seafood’s like in this world.

  The coastal city of Erisen was home to a group of demi-humans known as seamen, and rested on the shores of the western ocean. They were the only group of demi-humans that the kingdom sheltered. The reason being that the city produced about 80% of the kingdom’s seafood. Such a practical reason.

  What happened to them being a godless race? Hajime had thought sarcastically when he had first heard about them.

  But in order to get to the western sea from his location, one first had to cross the Gruen Desert. Two important locations that were used as waypoint markers for traders in the desert were the oasis Dukedom of Ankaji and the Grand Gruen Volcano. And the Grand Gruen Volcano was one of the seven labyrinths of the world.

  The seven labyrinths referred to the seven highly dangerous locations scattered throughout the world. To the southwest of the Heiligh Kingdom, between the capital and the Gruen Desert, lay another one of them, the Great Orcus Labyrinth. The previously mentioned Haltina Woods was also another one of these labyrinths. Though they were called the seven labyrinths, in truth, only three of them had ever been documented. The rest were places that were believed to exist due to evidence provided in ancient books and other such manuscripts.

  Though their existence had not been confirmed, they’d still been provisionally marked on maps. The Reisen Gorge that divided the northern and southern continents was one such place, while the Frost Caverns that lay in the Schnee Snow Fields was another potential candidate.

  I probably won’t be able to make it across that desert... In that case, the only way I’ll ever get to see demi-humans is if I go to the empire and see the slaves they have, but I’m not sure I could bear to see those poor animal ears suffering as slaves. The empire he’d referred to was the Hoelscher Empire. It was a country that had been formed three hundred years ago, during one of the larger wars between the humans and demons. It had been formed by a certain mercenary group, and was a militaristic country that boasted a large population of adventurers and mercenaries. They held to the doctrine that might makes right, and were a country of rather unsavory repute.

  Its citizens believed in using everything they could to further their own ends, whether that meant demi-human slaves or anything else, so the slave trade flourished there.

  The empire lay to the east of the kingdom, and sandwiched between them was the independent merchant republic, Fuhren. As the name suggested, they were a neutral city that didn’t rely on either country for support. Being a merchant republic, they boasted a vast amount of wealth, and the flow of money
played heavily into their politics. It was also what allowed them to remain neutral. It was said that anything one’s heart desired could be bought in that city, such was its economic clout.

  Haaah, but if I ever want to get back home, I can’t just run away... Wait, crap, it’s almost time for training! Realizing that he was simply trying to avert his eyes from reality, Hajime shook his head and quickly left the library so as to not be late for training. It was only a short distance from the library to the palace, but the bustle of the capital could be seen even in such a short trek. The voices of merchants hawking their wares mingled with the happy laughter of playing children and the angry scolding of their parents. The capital was a quaint, peaceful city.

  Since it doesn’t look like a war’s going to break out anytime soon, maybe I can just convince them to send me back... Hajime dreamed of the impossible as he walked back to the palace. He’d just wanted to avoid thinking about the despair that awaited him once he arrived.

  When he arrived at the training grounds, Hajime found a few other students already there, chatting with each other or getting some early practice in. It looked like he had arrived surprisingly early. Hajime decided to pass the time doing a bit of practice of his own, so he took out the slender longsword he’d been given.

  As he did, he felt a sudden impact hit him square in the back and he stumbled a few steps forward. He managed to avoid falling, but chills ran down his spine as he saw how close he had been to impaling himself on a drawn sword. He frowned as he turned back and saw the usual group of four all wearing the same obnoxious expression.