* * *
It appeared the scorpion’s toughness had come from building its shell from shtar ore. Since the scorpion had probably been able to pour a huge amount of mana into it, it made for a perfect defense.
If it’s classified as ore, I should be able to duplicate it myself, right? He had tested that theory and had found he could replicate the ore quite easily. After which, a truly depressing thought had run through his mind. Wait a minute, if this is ore, I could have just transmuted that stupid scorpion’s shell off to save us a ton of trouble.
In the end, they had still succeeded and he had gotten his hands on some interesting new materials, so he supposed it was alright. Once he had analyzed the ore’s properties, he had instantly gotten to work making Schlagen’s barrel. His skills had progressed considerably since the time he had built Donner, and his work went far more smoothly than before.
He was very precise with how he made his bullets too. He used taur for the shell’s core, and applied an outer coating of shtar over it to harden it. It was his fantasy version of a full metal jacket bullet. He also made sure his ratio of compressed blastrock for the new bullets was perfect. Thanks to his Duplicate Transmutation derivative skill, he was easily able to mass produce the bullets once he had finished a satisfactory prototype to work off of. He talked Yue through the entire process as he worked, and the time flew by quickly as he finished Schlagen.
It looked quite intimidating once it was all put together. He gazed at it proudly, satisfied with the quality of his work. Having finally finished, he realized he was quite hungry and grilled some of his cyclops and scorpion meat.
“Yue, you want some— Er, wait, you probably shouldn’t eat this, should you? I really don’t want to let you experience that kind of pain... Actually, since you’re a vampire, can you eat monster meat just fine?” Eating monster meat had become a natural routine for Hajime by that point and he almost invited Yue to eat with him out of habit before correcting himself. He glanced over to her and saw she was fiddling with his new weapon. When she noticed his gaze she put it down for a moment and shook her head saying “I don’t need any food.”
“I guess that makes sense. You survived 300 years without it after all... Still, do you not get hungry at all?”
“I do... but I’m full for now.”
“You are? You already ate something?” He tilted his head in confusion at Yue’s declaration. She pointed at Hajime.
“...Mhmm. Your blood, Hajime.”
“Aah, I see. So does that mean as long as they’ve got blood, vampires don’t need to eat?”
“We can absorb nutrients through food as well, but blood is more efficient.”
He supposed it only stood to reason that a vampire would be fine with just blood. So Yue’s full from the blood she sucked out of me. As he nodded to himself in understanding, Yue licked her lips suggestively.
“...Why are you licking your lips like that?”
“Hajime... you taste good...”
“Th-That’s not true, I’ve eaten so many monsters by now that I probably taste disgusting.”
“Your blood tastes very rich...”
“......”
According to Yue, Hajime’s blood tasted like a very savory soup. Come to think of it, she looked pretty happy when she was sucking my blood last time too. He imagined it must have been akin to eating a first class meal after starving for weeks.
But when she licked her lips like that, she looked eerily seductive, so Hajime wished she would cut it out. It was times like those that he remembered she was far older than him. But her outward appearance was still that of a young girl, which made Hajime feel guilty for thinking dirty thoughts.
“...Delicious blood.”
“Please, just give me a break.” His new partner was quite dangerous, in more ways than one.
The same day that Hajime and Yue had met, and fought off the scorpion, Kouki and the others had returned to the entrance of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. This time, though, it wasn’t the whole class, but just Kouki’s party of four, Hiyama and his band of thugs, and a judo club member called Jugo Nagayama along with his five burly party members.
Their reason for returning was quite simple. Even if they avoided talking about it, Hajime’s death had still been weighing down on most of the students. They had realized they might really die fighting here in this world, and that fact had greatly shaken their confidence in their abilities. Hajime’s death had traumatized them.
Naturally, the Holy Church was not happy with the turn of events. They urged the students to go back and gain more practical fighting experience, thinking time and familiarity would heal their wounds.
However, Aiko had vehemently opposed that plan.
She hadn’t been present for the fateful excursion where Hajime fell. Because of the rare and valuable job she possessed, the Holy Church wanted her to focus on cultivating the land over building up combat experience. So long as they had her agricultural powers, they could easily solve their food problems.
When she had learned of Hajime’s death, Aiko had fainted from shock. She had felt responsible for the students, and couldn’t forgive herself for hiding back at the castle where it was safe while one of her students had fought and died. She blamed herself for not being able to bring everyone back to Japan safely. Hence why she firmly refused to allow her students to be exposed to any further danger.
Her job was special enough that she was capable of single-handedly revolutionizing the agricultural standards of this world. So when she protested any further practical training exercises, the Holy Church had no choice but to acquiesce. They couldn’t afford to antagonize Aiko.
As a result, only Kouki’s party, Hiyama’s party, and Jugo’s party, who had willingly volunteered to return to the battlefield, were at the labyrinth. In order to grow stronger, they had chosen to once more challenge the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Captain Meld and a contingent of knights were escorting the students this time as well.
Today marked the sixth day of their expedition.
They had made it all the way to the sixtieth floor. After only five more floors, they would arrive at the deepest point humans had ever explored.
However, Kouki and the others were currently stuck. It wasn’t that there was no way forward, but rather the sight before them brought back old fears that kept them frozen in place.
A huge cliff spread out in front of them. Though it wasn’t the same one Hajime had fallen from, it was similar enough to bring back unpleasant memories. In order to advance to the next floor, they would have to cross the suspension bridge that spanned the length of the room. Normally that would have been no problem, but past memories bound the students in place. Kaori especially just stood there, gazing intently down into the abyss.
“Kaori...” Shizuku worriedly called out to her friend. Kaori slowly shook her head and turned to smile at Shizuku.
“I’m fine, Shizuku-chan.”
“Okay... but don’t push yourself, yeah? You don’t have to pretend to be strong in front of me.”
“Ehehe, thanks, Shizuku-chan.”
Shizuku returned Kaori’s smile. A powerful light still dwelled deep within Kaori’s eyes. She was no longer in the grips of despair. Shizuku, who was gifted with above average powers of observation and a knack for understanding the feelings of others, realized Kaori was telling the truth when she said she was fine.
Kaori really is strong. It was all but certain that Hajime was dead. His chances of survival were honestly less than hopeless. Despite that, Kaori chose neither to run from that fact nor to deny it. She simply kept going forward, determined to see the truth for herself. Shizuku admired her strength.
But as always, the class’s thickheaded hero was unable to realize that. To Kouki, it seemed as if Kaori was doing nothing more than grieving at the death of her classmate. She truly must be kind if she’s still sad over his death. Thus, when she smiled to Shizuku, he concluded she must be forcing herself to look cheerful.
&n
bsp; He didn’t even consider the possibility that Kaori had feelings for Hajime, or that she still thought he could be alive, and walked up to offer some unnecessary words of consolation.
“Kaori... I really admire how kind you are. But you can’t let yourself be depressed over your classmate’s death forever! We have to move forward. I’m sure that’s what Nagumo would want too.”
“Hey, Kouki...”
“Please let me finish, Shizuku! I know she may not want to hear this, but as her childhood friend, I have to open her eyes! Kaori, it’ll be alright. I’m still here with you. I won’t ever die. And I won’t let anyone else die either. I promise I won’t let anything make you sad ever again.”
“Haaah, this guy never changes... Kaori, I—”
“Ahaha, don’t worry about it, Shizuku-chan. Umm... I get what you’re trying to say, Kouki-kun, so you don’t need to worry either.”
“You do? I’m so glad I got through to you!” Kaori smiled awkwardly, feeling a little guilty for fueling Kouki’s misunderstanding. But even if she tried to explain herself to him, she doubted he’d understand.
Hajime was already long dead in Kouki’s mind. So it would have been impossible for him to fathom that the reason Kaori threw herself into training so fervently, and was so eager to return to the labyrinth, was because she wanted to look for him. Because he never once doubted that his own beliefs were the absolute truth, he would simply think Kaori was unable to face reality, or that Hajime’s death had somehow mentally damaged her were she to tell him her real feelings.
She’d known Kouki for long enough that she understood how he thought, and therefore decided it was far simpler to just go along with his interpretations.
That having been said, he had no ulterior motives in trying to cheer Kaori up either. He was seriously concerned for her well-being. Shizuku and Kaori were both used to his behavior, so they usually just ignored him, but had that line been directed at any other girl, she would have fallen for him in an instant.
Kouki was smart, kind, handsome, and athletic; the kind of perfect guy that no girl normally thought to resist. However, there was a reason his two childhood friends had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. Shizuku had spent her childhood training in her father’s dojo under his strict tutelage, along with many other adults. Her upbringing, combined with her naturally observant disposition, had led her to quickly realize Kouki’s fatal flaw: his misguided sense of justice. A sense of justice that had brought nothing but trouble for Shizuku. Of course, she still cared for him as a friend.
For her part, Kaori was naturally dense when it came to matters of love, and she’d heard enough complaining from Shizuku to be more or less aware of Kouki’s true nature. She did think he was a nice person, but his cliched lines failed to set her heart aflutter, and she had no romantic interest in him.
“Kaori-chan, I’m here for you! If there’s anything I can do to help, just ask.”
“Yeah, we’re your friends, Kaorin!”
The two girls, Eri Nakamura and Suzu Taniguchi, walked over to Kaori to try and cheer her up.
Kaori had only met the two of them in high school, but they had hit it off immediately, and were now counted among her best friends. In addition, they were powerful fighters that were strong enough to fight in Kouki’s party.
Eri was a beautiful girl that kept her black hair cut in a tiny bob, and wore glasses. She was a quiet and gentle girl that usually observed things from a distance. She loved books, and resembled the stereotypical bookworm. She had, in fact, also been the class librarian.
Suzu, on the other hand, was a tiny girl, barely 142 centimeters tall. Despite her short stature, she had a boundless supply of energy, and always looked like she was having fun. She kept her hair in braids, and was constantly jumping around. Her hyperactive personality had made her into the class mascot.
The two of them had seen how distressed Kaori had been when Hajime had fallen off the cliff, and they both understood and approved of Kaori’s decision to see things through for herself.
“Yeah. Thanks Eri-chan, Suzu-chan.” She smiled reassuringly at her two friends.
“Ohhh, you’re so brave, Kaorin! Nagumo-kun, you better not make Kaorin any sadder than this. If you’re not alive, I’ll kill you myself!”
“U-Umm, Suzu? You can’t kill him again if he’s already dead, right?”
“Who cares! Fine, if he’s dead, we’ll just use your necromancy to revive him, Eririn!”
“S-Suzu, don’t say that! Kaori still thinks Nagumo-kun’s alive, remember? Besides, my necromancy isn’t...” Eri scolded Suzu for her tactless behavior. That interaction was indicative of how the two usually were.
Kaori and Shizuku smiled happily as they watched their two noisy friends. Kouki and the others had gone on ahead, so they didn’t hear the conversation between the four girls. Along with his overbearing sense of justice, he was also blessed with the ability to conveniently go deaf whenever someone said something that didn’t fit with his worldview.
“It’s okay, Eri-chan, I don’t mind.”
“But Suzu, you should still tone it down a little. You’re bothering Eri.”
Suzu puffed up her cheeks and pouted at Shizuku’s words. Though relieved to hear that Kaori wasn’t hurt by Suzu’s words, Eri was nevertheless still pale.
“Eririn, are you still uncomfortable with using necromancy? It’s such a cool job, too...”
“...Yeah, sorry. I know I’d be more useful if I could use it properly.”
“Eri, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. You also have a really high magic affinity, so don’t worry too much about it, okay?”
“That’s right, Eri-chan. The fact that it’s your job just means you have an aptitude for it. It doesn’t actually mean you have to force yourself to use it if you don’t want to. You’re already more than helpful enough with just your magic.”
“I know, but I still think I should try and master it. I’ll be even more helpful that way.”
She curled her small hand into a fist and solidified her resolve. Suzu hopped around Eri going “That’s the spirit, Eririn!” while Shizuku and Kaori watched on.
Eri’s job was Necromancer. It used dark magic to alter the minds and spirits of others, and was primarily a magic debuffer class. The most advanced of its skills involved using dark magic to recall the lingering attachments of the deceased. The Holy Church employed a number of necromancers as mediums, and they used their powers to converse with the dead and relay their final moments to their families and friends. It was regarded as quite the sacred job.
However, necromancy’s true strength didn’t stop there. The proper way to use a necromancer’s magic was to wrap those people’s lingering thoughts in magic, then use them to possess their corpses. The corpses revived through this method were capable of using the skills they possessed when they were alive, to an extent. Furthermore, necromancers could possess the bodies of the living, and copy their skills to some extent.
However, the revived corpses were not truly brought back to life. Though they could respond to basic commands, they retained little of their original personality, and their skin remained pale and lifeless. They were more zombies than anything. Furthermore, Eri’s conscience prevented her from doing something as immoral as resurrecting the dead, so she had trained her necromancy abilities very little.
While the girls discussed Eri’s powers, a certain figure watched them, or rather Kaori, from the shadows.
Daisuke Hiyama. A few days after their return to the capital, Hiyama began to be shunned by the other students. Once they had calmed down a little, as he had expected, they began to resent him for leading them all into that trap.
He had planned for this, and once the insults started flying he instantly got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. He knew trying to argue back would only make things worse. To make sure it had the maximum amount of impact, he had chosen a particular time and place to give his apology.
Specifical
ly, he made sure to do it publicly, in front of Kouki. He knew that Kouki was likely to forgive him if he apologized sincerely, and would then smooth things out with the rest of his classmates.
His plan succeeded perfectly, and people quickly stopped directing their scorn at him. Kaori was fundamentally kind by nature, and even she forgave him when he got down on his knees and begged with tears in his eyes. Everything so far had gone according to plan. However, Shizuku was still vaguely suspicious of Hiyama, and disliked him for manipulating her friends.
Meanwhile, Hiyama began surreptitiously carrying out the orders he’d received from the figure that day. They were quite frightening orders. Orders he would normally have never accepted. But now that he’d crossed a line, there was no looking back. As much as he hated it, he had agreed to carry out his master’s orders.
He was terrified of this classmate of his, who was capable of plotting something so dreadful and could still mingle in with the rest of their classmates somehow. Still, mixed in with the terror was a small seed of joy at the sheer brilliance and audacity of the plan.
That monster is totally insane. But if I do what they say, Kaori’ll be mine... If he followed orders, Kaori would eventually be his. He felt a surge of fierce joy, and his lips curled up into a wicked grin.
“Hey Daisuke, what’s wrong?” Kondou, Nakano, and Saitou all looked at Hiyama with puzzled expressions on their faces. Those three stooges were still hanging around Hiyama. As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together. Their relationship had become slightly strained when Hiyama had come under attack, but his contrite apology had restored their friendship. Whether it could still be called friendship if they only got along when it was convenient was debatable, but that was just how it was.
“O-Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just happy we made it all the way to the sixtieth floor.”
“Oh, yeah, I get what you mean. Five more floors and we’ll be the greatest dungeon delvers in history!”
“We’ve gotten pretty strong, haven’t we? Man, those guys who stayed behind have no balls.”
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium) Page 20
