“...Okay. Are you alright?”
“Not really, but if I don’t push myself past my limits, there’s no point to training, is there? Sorry for dragging you along with me, Yue.”
“It’s okay.”
Yue had burned through a great deal of mana too, but she could still keep going thanks to her magic accessories. Hajime was the one who was more exhausted, as continual use of Limit Break and Riftwalk had taxed his body immensely, but Yue didn’t have the heart to try and stop him after seeing how determined he was.
He pushed himself off Yue’s lap and walked a good distance away. He then pulled out Donner and Schlag, and got into his stance.
“Don’t hold back! Give it everything you got, you damned monster magician!”
“Okay. Take this: Lots of Fireballs!”
That can’t seriously be the actual spell name! Hajime thought, extremely confused. But though crude, the name was rather apt as countless fireballs started chasing Hajime down. The reason she wasn’t using her relatively more harmless water balls was because Hajime had told her he couldn’t get into it if the danger wasn’t real.
The barrage of fireballs closed in on him like a wall of flame, and he quickly activated Riftwalk. The world began to lose all color as things started moving in slow motion. His Demon Eye clearly grasped the location of each ball’s core.
Each of his bullets accurately pierced through the center of each spell’s core. He teleported bullet after bullet into the air, rotating his chamber to make sure each fell perfectly in place. He fired and reloaded so fast that the movements blurred together into one smooth motion. By the time he finished ejecting one round’s spent shells, the next set of bullets were already on their way.
Donner and Schlag’s chambers were spinning almost constantly, giving off the illusion that Hajime was holding a round shield in between them.
Both the number and speed of the fireballs gradually began to increase. Hajime inwardly marveled at how much mana Yue possessed, but didn’t lose focus for even a second. He ignored his pounding head and eyes, and increased the intensity of his Riftwalk even further.
“Yue, can I ask you something?”
“Sure?”
The two of them didn’t let up at all as they began talking. Hajime was slowly getting a headache that had nothing to do with his overtaxed body, but it seemed like Yue genuinely didn’t realize she was doing something wrong.
“Why exactly are all your fireballs heart-shaped?”
“......” Yes, for some reason, all of the fireballs hurtling toward Hajime were shaped like hearts. While she was speeding them up, she also changed how they looked. Each one was crafted with the utmost precision, and it was a marvelous display of useless skill. When asked about her strange proclivity, Yue’s response was rather unexpected.
“Aww... You shot them down.” She manipulated the hundred odd fireballs with just one hand while strangely rubbing her cheek with the other. Hajime naturally shot down the fireballs. Each heart-shaped fireball let out a depressed sputter of sparks before being snuffed out.
“I’m taking this training seriously, you know?”
“...So am I. I’m serious about pushing you— Ahem... Beating you down.”
“You were totally about to say pushing me down, weren’t you!?”
“...Your body’s at its limit from all this never-ending training, Hajime. You need to rest. But I know you won’t stop until you collapse.”
“...I see. You’re just going to ignore my last comment, huh? So?”
“...Yeah. That’s why, I’m going to defeat you and make you rest... In bed.”
“Quit licking your lips like that! I don’t think I’m going to get any rest in bed tonight!”
It appeared Yue was serious about defeating Hajime this time, in order to force him to rest. She still hadn’t answered why she was shaping her fireballs like hearts, and the way she was licking her lips suggested to Hajime that while she did mean to put him in bed, she had no intention of letting him rest.
Yue grinned wickedly and started getting serious with her magic. She started mixing in extremely fast wind blades, along with lightning balls that curved along strange trajectories. All of which were heart-shaped.
“Ugh, are you holding a grudge because I’ve been training this entire past week and haven’t slept with you even once!?”
“...I’m not holding a grudge. I’m just a little lonely.”
Hajime felt a pang of guilt as he saw Yue pout slightly, and he quickly realized he was going to be beaten around until he couldn’t move, and then toyed around with in bed until Yue was satisfied.
Hajime was a healthy young boy, so there was no reason for him not to look forward to sex, but... he still had his pride as a man, and didn’t want to be one-sidedly played around with. Therefore, he honed his concentration to the limit, focusing on intercepting each of Yue’s attacks. If he could just hold out until Yue ran out of mana, then victory would be his, and he could protect his flimsy pride. However...
“Are you kidding me, Yue!?”
“Nope!”
Since this was still precision training, Yue wasn’t using any of her intermediate class spells, but she was clearly giving it her all, judging by the force and speed of her multi-elemental barrage. The barrage of spells already looked like something out of a Touhou game. Yue’s breathing was beginning to grow a little labored, but she still smiled seductively as she pushed down on Hajime, and cold sweat began pouring down his back.
“Even I won’t stand for getting beaten down every time! I’ve got my pride as a man too, you know!?” Even he wasn’t sure if he meant it in the context of their mock battles, or their nighttime battles.
Hajime’s scarlet mana spiraled around him. He activated the skill he’d stolen from the Hydra, Limit Break. His stats all tripled.
“Mngh, you’re good, Hajime. This is the first time anyone’s stopped my full power barrage.”
“I’m honored.”
“Yeah... You always take my firsts, Hajime.”
“Do you have to turn everything into a dirty joke!?”
Hajime’s words were punctuated by short pauses as he fended off wave after wave of spells. Yue was taking this just as seriously, though. Her words had even been calculated to try and shake him mentally. She knew he would fall unconscious before long if he continued to use Limit Break in this exhausted state, so she wanted to defeat him as quickly as possible before he collapsed and needed Ambrosia again.
That being said, constant use of mana was wearing Yue down too. Thanks to the fact that they were all elementary spells, she managed to keep the barrage going for a decent amount of time, but she’d still been burning mana constantly while keeping up with Hajime’s training. And even if her mana could hold out, her stamina couldn’t. While Yue’s automatic regeneration healed wounds, it didn’t recover lost stamina or mana. However, precisely because she didn’t want Hajime to burn himself out, Yue pushed her strength to the limit.
“That wasn’t your strongest!?”
“Nope. Anyone can use Limit Break as long as they have the power of love.”
“I think that’s just you!”
Not only was Yue’s magic overpowered, her love was overpowered too. A curtain of bullets bore down on Hajime with increased speed.
Hajime still wasn’t used to manipulating his prosthetic arm or using two guns, so he was finding himself unable to keep up even with Limit Break. Even if he could still see everything, his body couldn’t keep up. There wasn’t a single monster in the abyss that could pull off such a feat, so Hajime couldn’t even count on past experience to help him. It was, in a sense, the perfect training for him.
Yue’s spells slowly drew closer and closer before being intercepted. She began walking toward him, both hands outstretched as she pummeled Hajime with magic. She licked her lips seductively and tottered toward him like some kind of vengeful ghost. Hajime was determined not to lose, but even with her mana-deprived body, the Limit
Break granted to her by the power of love made Yue unstoppable. Finally—
“Dammit! Stop alreadyyyyyyy.”
“But I refuse.”
Hajime was defeated. His slip up was something he could have covered for in less than a second, but the sexy vampire princess wasn’t going to give him even that much time. She stepped into his guard and quickly grabbed hold of him. Then...
“I win. So now I get to take my prize.”
“Hey, wa— Aaah!”
Hajime’s scarlet mana dispersed, and not because he ran out. The barrage of spells scattered into nothingness, leaving only faint traces of mana hanging in the air.
The monster of the abyss added another defeat to his record today. Had he just switched to dodging, he would have easily been able to escape Yue’s grasp, but the fact that he didn’t showed just how much Hajime cared for her too. In other words, the real reason he could never beat Yue wasn’t because he was physically weaker, but because he couldn’t bring himself to mentally.
The fragrance of meat and the sizzling noise of food being grilled wafted through the air. The pair were currently standing inside Oscar Orcus’ kitchen. As one would expect of a master craftsmen, Oscar’s kitchen was so well outfitted that it seemed more like a modern-day kitchen than a fantasy one. Numerous artifacts that aided in the process of cooking were installed in various locations.
Hajime was currently grilling a massive steak in a frying pan. Next to him, Yue was making a grilled fish salad. She had her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing a white apron.
The vegetables added into the salad had been grown in Oscar’s fields. There was some kind of artifact in the soil that grew crops at an accelerated pace, so the seeds Hajime had taken out of the Treasure Trove had borne fruit in only a week. That being said, activating that artifact had required a huge amount of mana, so only someone like Yue or Hajime would have enough to use it often.
Hajime hummed cheerfully as he sprinkled salt and pepper over the nicely browned steak. The spices were another thing he’d found in Oscar’s Treasure Trove.
He gave Yue a sidelong glance, and caught a glimpse of her pale neck. He couldn’t explain why, but he found the nape of her neck, barely hidden by her golden hair, extremely erotic. Perhaps the aftereffects of their previous “break” were still influencing him.
The word newlyweds suddenly popped into his mind, and Hajime shook his head, trying to banish the idea.
Yue saw him shake his head and tilted her own quizzically. Hajime bashfully turned away, and Yue smiled playfully as she grabbed the hem of her apron and daintily lifted it up.
“How do I look?”
“...Really cute.”
Yue twirled around like a ballerina, and Hajime found himself unable to lie to her. Even though she was the one who’d asked, Yue blushed brightly at Hajime’s unexpectedly honest response. Happy at being praised so, she decided to give him a little reward.
“...Then how about I only wear this apron?” An electric shock ran through Hajime’s body.
Is this the legendary naked apron I’ve heard so much about? Hajime thought, looking at Yue. She was staring up at him, timidly fidgeting with the hem of her apron. The look in her eyes agitated him even further. At this rate, Hajime would end up taking another “break,” so he reluctantly shook his head. Yue didn’t seem disappointed at all, and instead muttered, “I’ll save this for another night, then.” Hajime pretended not to hear her.
Finally, their meal was cooked, and the pair began setting the table. They placed the dishes on a clear table made of crystal and sat down on some nearby sofas. The two sofas had originally sat facing each other, but Hajime and Yue had dragged theirs together so they sat eating next to each other. This wasn’t just limited to the dinner table: Yue refused to sit anywhere that wasn’t next to Hajime. It seemed she enjoyed being next to him.
“Alright, time to eat...”
“Yeah. Good luck, Hajime.”
Hajime had a look of deep resolve on his face as he stared down at the meat. Yue was looking at it worriedly too. Hajime bit into the meat while Yue watched.
“Guh... Gaaah.” He groaned painfully as his entire body stiffened. He was biting down hard enough to break through his own teeth, and was trembling incessantly. He continued eating despite the pain, and every new bite brought forth new waves of agony. Yue worriedly patted him on the back and poured him a cup of Ambrosia.
“God, it’s been a month and it still hurts this much to eat... Just how powerful was that snake bastard!?” Hajime was currently working his way through a piece of Hydra steak.
Every other monster he had eaten thus far had ceased to give him pain after the initial meal, but not only was his body still suffering every time he ate more of the Hydra, his stats continued to grow as well. Considering recent monsters had ceased to increase his stats at all, the Hydra must have been something special.
“...Hm. That monster really was different. I think all the Liberators must have worked together to make something like that.”
“Yeah. It’s a miracle we even managed to beat the damn thing. Seems to me like this labyrinth was designed to be beaten after conquering some of the others. You’d need magic from the Age of the Gods at your disposal to beat something like that normally.”
Hajime was right. Even with his monster strengthened body, beating something like that Hydra would normally have been impossible.
The primary reason they had won at all was because of his weapons. His railgun and explosives boasted a strength that far surpassed his actual stats. Had he fought with traditional fantasy weapons like swords or magic, he would have been defeated for sure.
The other huge factor that had contributed to their victory was the Ambrosia. Without it, he wouldn’t have even been able to make it to the lower floors. He would have died from the wounds the Claw Bear had given him. If not that, the Basilisk’s petrification would have done him in. And even ignoring those, there were countless other situations where he would have died if not for the Ambrosia.
Last, but not least, was the fact that Yue had been with him. She could bring to bear the full force of her considerable mana instantly without having to chant an incantation or use a magic circle. She was the one who had covered for Hajime’s weaknesses in wide-area attacks, and had saved him numerous times even before they’d reached the Hydra.
In other words, the three main things that had contributed to his victory were not his stats, but his overpowered weaponry, his overpowered healing rock, and his overpowered ally’s magic.
Hajime finally finished his Hydra steak and looked longingly at the normal food laid out before him as the pain gradually faded. The fish had been harvested from the underground lake, while the vegetables were ones they’d grown themselves.
“I’ve only been eating monster meat until now, so even this tastes like heaven, but...”
“...Yeah. It would be better if we could get some actual food,” Hajime said, a hint of longing in his voice as he stuffed his face full of vegetables. Yue agreed wholeheartedly as she stuffed her face full of fish.
Hajime had come from a culture that respected the art of cooking, while Yue was formal royalty that had tasted the bounty of this world’s culinary arts before. Both of them were getting tired of simple grilled, boiled, or fried vegetables and fish with just salt for seasoning, and had discovered just how hard cooking truly was.
“...I’m sorry Hajime. If only I knew more about cooking...”
“It’s not your fault, Yue. You don’t have to apologize. Besides, you used to be royalty. No one expects a princess to cook for herself. If anything, I wish I’d spent more time learning how to cook.”
Both of them, one because she was royalty and the other because he was a student, had little skill with the culinary arts. Yue, however, was doubly depressed because she couldn’t cook for the man she loved. She frowned, wishing her master had taught her how to cook too, and not just how to please someone in bed. Hajime scratched his cheek
as he watched Yue pout and sink further into depression.
“Well, you know, my mom’s a really good cook, so I’m sure you can just ask her to teach you.”
“Ah...! Yeah. Yeah! Cooking with your mom sounds like fun, Hajime.”
Yue’s eyes began sparkling at Hajime’s suggestion. She envisioned an idyllic scene where she was cooking with Hajime’s mom while Hajime and his dad both watched from the living room. Then they’d all eat together, and his parents would praise their daughter-in-law’s delicious cooking. Her fantasy played out for quite some time, and her usual expressionless mouth slowly loosened into a smile.
“Yeah, then I can count on you to make breakfast and lunch. My mom’s the kind of person that only cooks dinner, so I always just had leftovers and stuff for every other meal.”
“Yeah... Just leave it to me.”
Since Hajime’s mom was a popular manga artist, she was always sleeping through breakfast time and busy with work during lunch. Hajime was usually busy either helping his parents with their work or playing games until late into the night himself, so for him breakfast and lunch were always a groggy affair he paid little attention to.
But if Yue was willing to learn how to cook and cook him breakfast and lunch, then he could ask for nothing more. Back when he was still a student, he would never have imagined he might one day eat handmade lunches cooked by a blonde beauty.
Though I guess I did once eat a beautiful girl’s handmade lunch. She kind of forced it on me, though, so I don’t remember how it tasted.
He wasn’t sure what kind of life he was going to live once he made it back to Japan, but the idea of going to school and eating Yue’s handmade lunch certainly did seem appealing. In fact, the mere thought of it brought back faded memories that felt decades old. Memories of when Kaori Shirasaki had offered some of her lunch to him when he had been about to take his afternoon nap. She’d also given him some of her lunch on the fateful day that they were summoned. Rather forcibly, too. Her actions broadcasted that bombshell of an announcement to the whole class, in fact.
Hajime had reluctantly accepted the offer. Of course his classmates wouldn’t stand for him eating the school goddess’ lunch, but... they would have hated it even more if he had refused. Besides, Kaori had looked rather dejected as she got ready to put away her lunchbox.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 1 (Premium) Page 31
