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

by Ryo Shirakome

  “Wh-What are you doing here...”

  “That’s hardly what’s important right now. So... how does it feel? To be a murderer? To remove your love rival permanently by killing him in the confusion of our escape?”

  The figure snickered, as if watching a particularly funny comedy. Hiyama knew he wasn’t really one to talk as he’d committed the murder, but it was amazing how unfazed his classmate was at the death of another person. Until just moments ago, the person had seemed just as exhausted and shocked as his other classmates, but there was not even a trace of that any longer.

  “...So this is what you’re really like?” Hiyama muttered, utterly dumbfounded.

  The shade sneered haughtily at Hiyama.

  “What I’m really like? Please, there’s no need to make such a big deal out of it. Everyone masks their true selves somehow. But we’re getting off topic here... What do you think would happen if everyone found out? What would she think of you?”

  “Wha—!? N-No one... would believe you... You don’t have any proof...”

  “You’re right, I don’t. But everyone trusts me, so they’d still believe me. Especially if I’m accusing you, who caused this whole disaster in the first place.”

  Hiyama suddenly found himself cornered. His adversary was just teasing him at that point, playing with an already trapped rat. No one would’ve imagined this hidden side of their classmate, so they would never have sided with Hiyama. It would’ve been far more believable if someone had just told Hiyama that the person standing in front of him had multiple personalities. The sadistic expression he saw looking down at him sent shivers down Hiyama’s spine.

  “Wh-What do you want with me!?”

  “Hm? Now now, don’t be like that. You’re making it sound like I’m blackmailing you. I actually don’t want anything from you right this minute. I guess if I had to say, I’d like for you to become like my hands and feet.”

  “Y-You can’t mean...”

  Hiyama was practically being asked to become a slave, so he naturally hesitated to agree. He wanted to refuse, of course, but he knew if he did that the figure in front of him would tell everyone Hiyama had killed Hajime in cold blood.

  Trapped between two unacceptable choices, Hiyama slowly began thinking, Someday I’ll kill you too. However, it appeared his adversary had anticipated even that and tempted him with the one thing Hiyama couldn’t resist

  “Don’t you want to make Kaori Shirasaki yours?”

  “Huh!? Wh-Whatever do you...”

  His dark thoughts vanished in an instant, and Hiyama stared in slack-jawed shock. The figure grinned wickedly, then continued pouring out honeyed words.

  “If you swear your loyalty to me... I’ll give her to you. I had originally planned to give Nagumo-kun this offer, but... well, you killed him, didn’t you? Though I guess you’re more suited for these tasks than he is, so all’s well that ends well.”

  “...What are you after? What’s your endgame!?” Hiyama’s words were frantic as he still couldn’t grasp the situation.

  “Fufu, my goals have nothing to do with you. Let me just say there’s something I want... So? What will it be?”

  He’d been made a fool of the whole time, and Hiyama couldn’t stand that, but his fear at his classmate’s sudden transformation greatly eclipsed his vexation. And either way, he realized he didn’t really have a choice, so he nodded, resigned to his fate.

  “...I’ll listen to you.”

  “Ahahahaha, perfect! Truth be told, I really didn’t want to incriminate my fellow classmate. Well, let’s get along now, Mr. Murderer. Ahahaha.”

  The blackmailer spun around and headed back to the inn, laughing heartily. Hiyama watched as his living nightmare walked away, then softly muttered, “Damn it...”

  No matter how much Hiyama wanted to forget it, to pretend it didn’t happen, the memory of what he’d done refused to leave him. And the same could be said for the sight of Kaori’s face when she had seen Hajime fall. Her expression had shown her feelings more clearly than any words ever could.

  Once his tired classmates had rested up, they too would calm down a little and the reality of Hajime’s death would hit them. And then, they too would realize Kaori’s feelings. That she had hung around Hajime out of more than just goodwill.

  Once they realized how hard it had hit Kaori, they would focus their anger on the cause of it. On the person who’d carelessly ensnared them in that trap.

  Hiyama would have to tread very lightly. Or else he would lose his place among them. He knew he had already crossed a line, so there was no stopping now. So long as he followed his classmate’s orders, a future he had thought no longer possible, a future where he made Kaori his own, might still exist.

  “Hehehe... I-It’ll be alright. Everything will work out. I didn’t do anything wrong...” He buried his face in his knees once more, then went back to muttering.

  This time, no one interrupted him.

  Chapter II: The Monster of the Abyss

  The sound of water dripping reached his ears. A chilly wind blew past his cheek, and his whole body shivered. Hajime groaned softly as he opened his eyes. His cheek was resting on something hard, while the lower half of his body was freezing cold.

  Groggily, he pushed himself up off the ground, an aching pain running throughout his entire body all the while.

  “Owwww, where... I thought I...” He steadied his head with one hand, then tried to recall how he’d ended up in that position.

  His surroundings were relatively dark, but thanks to the green crystals scattered about, it wasn’t pitch black. He looked behind him and saw a river five meters wide, and noticed that he was still half submerged within it. His upper body was resting on a boulder that jutted out from the riverbank.

  “Oh yeah... the bridge broke, and then I fell. And then...” A haze lifted from his mind, and his brain finally started working again.

  A stroke of luck had saved him from falling to his death.

  Halfway down the cliff he had seen an opening in the wall from which water was flooding out. A waterfall, basically. There had in fact been numerous little waterfalls as he continued to fall, and Hajime had found himself swept away by them, until eventually they had guided him into one of the openings in the cliff, much like a water slide from hell. The fact that he was still alive was nothing short of a miracle.

  Especially considering that halfway through his water ride, something smacked into him and knocked him out. Honestly, even he didn’t comprehend just how miraculous his survival was.

  “I don’t really remember what happened, but I guess I’m not dead at least... Achoo! I-It’s really cold.” His body temperature had dropped dangerously low due to how much time he’d spent in the cold water. He ran the risk of developing hypothermia if he stayed submerged much longer, so Hajime quickly pulled himself out. Shivering, he stripped and started wringing out his clothes.

  Then, in nothing but his underwear, he cast a transmutation spell. He used it to carve a magic circle into the hard earth.

  “Gah, I’m so cold that it’s hard to concentrate...” He was trying to inscribe the “flare” spell. It was a very basic spell that even kids could cast with a ten centimeter magic circle.

  However, not only did Hajime have no mana crystals with which to enhance the magic circle, he also had a magical affinity of zero. As such, he needed a complicated magic circle over one meter in diameter just to cast a simple flare spell.

  After ten grueling minutes he finally finished his magic circle and chanted the incantation.

  “Mine desire is fire. Fire, imbued with the essence of light— Flare... Gah, why does such a simple spell have such an exaggerated incantation? Can’t believe I have to chant something so embarrassing... Haah...” He sighed again, something he’d been doing quite frequently as of late, and brought himself closer to the fist-sized flame. He also laid his clothes out next to it to dry.

  “Where am I...? I fell pretty far down, so can I even make i
t back up?” Worry gripped his chest as he calmed down and considered his situation while warming himself by the fire.

  He felt like bawling his eyes out, and tears did form in the corners of his eyes, but Hajime knew he would break down completely if he let himself cry, so he held them back. He stubbornly wiped his tears, then slapped his cheeks.

  “I’m gonna do this. I’ve gotta get back to the surface somehow. It’ll be fine, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.” He gave himself a pep talk and renewed his determination, wiping the sullen expression off his face. After that he simply gazed into the flames, mulling over his options.

  After about twenty minutes he warmed himself sufficiently and his clothes were mostly dry, so he decided to head out. He didn’t know what floor he was on, but he was clearly deep in the labyrinth, and it wouldn’t be strange for monsters to pop out at any time. Hajime walked as cautiously as he could down the long passageway.

  The path Hajime was going down resembled a cave of sorts.

  It was nothing like the orderly rectangular passageways he’d been on in the upper floors. Boulders and other obstructions showed up at random intervals, and the path itself was twisting and winding. Much like the path they had found at the end of the twentieth floor.

  However, the size of this one was on a completely different scale. Even with boulders and the like obstructing parts of the path, it was twenty meters wide. In fact, even the “narrow” stretches were still at least ten meters wide. Though it slowed his progress, Hajime moved from cover to cover, making sure to stick to the shadows as he advanced.

  He had no idea how long he walked for. Around the time Hajime was starting to grow tired, he found himself at a fork in the road. Though it was more like a street intersection than a fork. Hajime hid behind a boulder as he deliberated which way to go.

  While he was thinking, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and he hurriedly shrank back, behind the safety of the boulder.

  He timidly peeked out from behind the boulder and saw a giant white ball of fur hopping down the passage directly across his. It had rather long ears and looked just like a rabbit. However, it was the size of a dog, and it also had very thick hind legs. Plus, there were veins of pulsing dark red mana trailing down its body. It looked quite disturbing.

  It was clearly deadly, and Hajime decided to go down one of the paths to avoid running into it. Judging by the position of its ears, Hajime determined that it would have a harder time spotting him if he went right.

  He held his breath and waited for the perfect moment to run. Eventually the rabbit turned around and lowered its head, busily sniffing the ground. It was at that moment that Hajime attempted to leap out from behind the boulder.

  But then the rabbit suddenly twitched, rising back up as it did. It warily looked around, its ears twitching.

  Crap! D-Did it see me? O-Or am I safe? Hajime had quickly retreated behind the safety of the boulder, and he tried to calm his pounding heart as he clung to the rock face for dear life. He broke out in a cold sweat, afraid the rabbit’s exceptional hearing would be able to pick up on his pounding heartbeat.

  However, it was not Hajime that had spooked the rabbit.

  “Graaaaaah!” With a bestial roar, a white-furred wolf monster leaped out from behind a different boulder, heading straight for the rabbit.

  The wolf was as big as a large dog, and had two tails sprouting from its behind. Just like the rabbit, pulsing veins of dark red mana ran down its body. Then, out of nowhere, two more Twin-tailed Wolves suddenly leaped out into the open.

  Hajime peeked out from behind the boulder once more to see what was happening. The wolves were clearly attacking the poor bunny, though the creature was nowhere near cute enough to warrant a description like “bunny.” Hajime slowly got to his feet, planning on escaping during the confusion of the fight. However...

  “Kyuuu!” The rabbit let out a cute squeal, then leaped up, did a turn in midair, and caught one of the wolves with a powerful roundhouse kick.

  Boom! It didn’t sound anything like how a kick should, and connected squarely with the face of its target.

  A second later— Crack! Together with a very ominous sound, the wolf’s head was turned to a very unnatural angle.

  Hajime stood stock still as the battle raged on.

  The rabbit then used the centrifugal force of its spin to turn itself upside down and hurtle toward the ground like a meteor. Then, a mere instant before impact, it righted itself once more. A powerful axe kick came down on the wolf standing at the rabbit’s point of landing.

  Smash! The second wolf didn’t even have time to cry out before its head was pulverized.

  Two more wolves came out of hiding and charged the rabbit.

  Hajime thought that was the end for the rabbit, but it flipped itself upside down, and like a breakdancer, stood on its ears while spinning, legs spread out. The two new wolves were sent flying by the tornado kicks and slammed into the wall. And they hit that wall with a splat, spraying blood everywhere, and slid to the ground, unmoving.

  The last wolf growled menacingly, its tails standing straight up. Suddenly, electricity began running down its tails. It looked like that was the magic the wolves could use.

  “Graaaah!!” The wolf roared, and bolts of lightning flew toward the rabbit. But with nimble steps, the rabbit swiftly dodged the incoming bolts of lightning. Then, at the moment the lightning attacks stopped, the rabbit hopped forward and hit the last wolf with somersault kick. The wolf’s head bent back with a sickening crack, and it fell to the ground, utterly still. It was yet another wolf with a broken neck.

  The Kickmaster Rabbit let out another squeal.

  “Kyu!” Is that supposed to be a victory cry? After that, it started scratching its ears with its leg.

  You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me. Hajime smiled in disbelief, his body still completely still. “Dangerous” didn’t do the beast justice. That thing made the Traum Soldiers Hajime and the others had fought earlier look like nothing more than toy skeletons. In fact, it might’ve even been more dangerous than the Behemoth they had fought, since the Behemoth’s attack patterns had at least been easy to read.

  Hajime trembled in fear, knowing that his life was forfeit if he were discovered. Due to his fear, he unconsciously took a step back. But that was a mistake.

  Clatter. The noise reverberated throughout the cavern.

  He had accidentally kicked a pebble when he’d stepped back. He couldn’t believe he’d made such a basic blunder. Rivulets of cold sweat were pouring down his forehead after the fact. The rabbit’s neck creaked like a badly oiled machine as it turned to look in the direction of the kicked pebble.

  The Kickmaster Rabbit clearly saw Hajime. Its glowing red eyes glared at him. His entire body stiffened, like a deer caught in headlights. His brain was yelling at him to run, but it felt like his nerves had all been cut, so his body refused to listen.

  The rabbit turned its whole body around, then began gathering strength for a leap. Here it comes! Hajime instinctively managed to guess the moment of the rabbit’s leap. The speed of its jump was so ridiculously fast that it left afterimages behind it.

  Driven purely by instinct, Hajime threw himself to the side. An instant later, a kick with the force of a cannonball slammed into the ground Hajime had been standing on. The force of it gouged the earth below. Hajime rolled over and over on the hard ground before coming to a stop in a sitting position. His face paled when he saw the pulverized ground and he quickly started running.

  The rabbit leisurely got back up and dove toward him with another earth-shattering leap. Hajime hurriedly transmuted a wall behind him, but the rabbit easily blew it away and aimed another kick at Hajime. He instinctively brought up his left arm to shield himself from the blow. That somehow helped him avoid getting his face blown apart, but the shockwave of the kick sent him flying backward. Waves of excruciating pain ran down his left arm.

  “Gaaaah!” When he looked down, he saw h
is arm was dangling at a very unnatural angle. His bones had been completely shattered. He crouched down in pain, then looked over at the rabbit. This time it wasn’t lunging forward, but leisurely hopping toward him. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but it felt almost like the rabbit was looking down on him. It was toying with him.

  But even then, all Hajime could do was unceremoniously continue backing up. Finally, the Kickmaster Rabbit stopped right in front of him. It glared down at Hajime as if it were looking at a worm. It then raised one if its legs up high, as if to show off before slaughtering its prey.

  So this is where I die... Hajime thought, sinking into the depths of despair. He looked up at the rabbit with defeated eyes. Its leg came swinging down, together with a whoosh of wind.

  Hajime closed his eyes, terrified of what was coming.

  “......” However, the blow he was expecting never came.

  Hajime timidly opened his eyes to the sight of the rabbit’s foot inches from his face. The rabbit had stopped just before hitting him. Hajime despaired, thinking the rabbit intended to toy with him further, but then he noticed there was something off about it. A closer glance revealed that the rabbit was trembling.

  Wh-What? Why’s it shaking? It almost looks like it’s scared... It wasn’t “almost:” it actually was scared.

  A new monster had appeared from the right-hand corridor Hajime had tried to escape into. And said monster was massive. It stood over two meters tall, and like everything else on that floor so far, had white fur. And just like the others, it had veins of dark red mana running down its body. The closest thing it resembled was a bear. However, unlike a bear, it had massive forearms that went all the way down to its feet, which ended in wicked sharp claws over thirty centimeters long.

  The Claw Bear had closed in while the rabbit had been focused on Hajime, and it glared down at both of them. A moment of silence enveloped the corridor. The rabbit had gone stiff out of fear and stopped moving. Rather, it couldn’t move. It was in the exact same situation that Hajime had been in mere moments ago. It was staring up at the bear, completely immobilized.