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

by Ryo Shirakome

  It was then that a savior descended among the gathering of hardened warriors.

  “Excuse me, miss. I’m sorry, but you need to at least be eighteen to purchase these goods. Can I kindly ask you to leave?”

  It was the advent of the manager. The thirty-something manager had decided it would be bad for business if a part of his store got turned into a mountain of corpses, and had wisely chosen to interfere. The remaining warriors were all certain his authority would be enough to deter the two interlopers.

  However, their opponent was stronger than any of them had realized. Shizuku was bowing her head furiously in apology, her words choked with tears, as she tried to drag Kaori out of the section. However, Kaori was not so easily turned away. Even with tears streaking down her face, she still thrust the game box out at the manager and made her request.

  “I-I’d like to buy this, preashe!”

  The manager’s expression faltered and he tried to insist that you needed to be eighteen to purchase this product, but Kaori came back with a most unexpected counter.

  “I-It’s for my dad!”

  What kind of dad would make their daughter buy their porn! Everyone present thought the same thing. Kaori herself must have realized how flimsy an excuse it was, as she then continued, saying things like “It’s his birthday present!” and “We were going to play it together!” Her excuses only made things worse, though. At this point Shizuku was so embarrassed that she buried her face in her hands, wishing she were dead. Finally, Kaori ended things with a “Please, won’t you let me buy it?” Her puppy dog eyes and pleading drove the manager to his limits.

  “Excuse me for a moment.” That was all the manager said before running behind a shelf and spurting out a torrential nosebleed. He was just as much of an otaku as anyone else there, and thus just as susceptible to Kaori’s charms. Wails of “Bossssssssss!” could be heard coming from the few warriors who were still left standing.

  On that day, in her quest to purchase a single game, Kaori piled up a mountain of corpses of both customers and store clerks alike.

  A Case of What If

  There exist an infinite amount of possibilities and timelines in this world. If we were to imagine some of those what if scenarios in Arifureta, they might go something like,

  Case 1: What if, when Kouki was fighting Emperor Gahard, he did things a little differently?

  “Prepare yourself, Hero. If you hold back again...”

  Goosebumps coated Kouki’s arms. The bodyguard’s tone of voice clearly conveyed what awaited him if he held back.

  “AAALaLaLaLaie!”

  “What the hell!?”

  Were Hoelscher’s emperor a bit more like a certain other ruler, then surely all the demons would surrender and begin calling him “bro.”

  Case 2: What if, when Kouki was fighting Emperor Gahard, he did things a little differently? v2

  “What on earth are you doing, Gahard?”

  King Eliheid yelled out as he leaped in between the two fighters and blocked Gahard’s blow. Gahard was thrown off balance by the fact that Eliheid had discovered his identity, but he nevertheless smiled fearlessly and prepared to charge again. Sighing, Eliheid realized Gahard had no intention of backing down.

  “All thing of this world, turn to ashes, Ryujin Jakka!”

  “Wai— stop— no—”

  If king Eliheid was actually the captain of the 13 Court Guard Companies, then all the demons would most likely be crying in fear.

  Case 3: What if the second fight with the Behemoth went a little differently?

  The Behemoth, enraged that a pair of mere humans had stopped its assault, stamped impatiently on the ground. Seeing this, the other students took advantage of its momentary distraction.

  “Peerless swordsmanship that rends even the heavens— Hiten Mitsurugi style, Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki!”

  “What?”

  If Shizuku Yaegashi was a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, she would probably be the hero, not Kouki.

  Case 4: What if Kouki’s sacred sword was a little different?

  “Let’s go! Sacred sword, lend me your power!”

  “Moron, this is why I can’t handle country hicks. I told you not to bother me during my afternoon tea.”

  “......”

  If Kouki’s sword was as annoying as a certain other world’s Excalibur, then Kouki probably wouldn’t be so nice.

  Case 5: What if things were a little different when Hajime first found the Divinity Stone?

  “This... is...”

  The source of the liquid was a basketball-sized crystal that emitted a pale red light... A few days later after conquering his loneliness, starvation, and pain, Hajime took down his first enemy, the Twin-tailed Wolf.

  “What a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice sound that was. Truly, wonderful! Is it not wonderful, o philosopher’s stone?”

  Had the stone Hajime discovered really been the philosopher’s stone, he might have ended up like Kimblee.

  Case 6: What if the scorpion fight had gone a little differently?

  “...Thanks for the meal.”

  Suddenly, Yue got to her feet and brandished a hand at the scorpion thing. As she did so, a tremendous amount of mana, golden in color, poured out of her tiny body, chasing away the darkness. Then, clad in a wondrous golden light, with her golden hair fluttering around her, she muttered a single phrase.

  “Forbidden Barrage ‘Catadioptric.’”

  If Yue was actually the little sister to the master of the scarlet devil mansion, then she’d surely be this story’s last boss.

  There a countless amount of possible timelines for every world... so why not try and think of a few yourself?

  A Nightmare in the Abyss

  Two people were standing around, facing each other in a vast hall that looked like a grand temple. One of them was wearing flowing silvery robes with matching silver hair, and had in their hand a silver sword to match. The other was dressed in all black, had an eyepatch, and a prosthetic arm. The black-clothed figure had a revolver in their hands.

  “I congratulate you on making it this far, Madness Parade of the Crimson Fang. Or would you prefer I call you Chaos Disaster?”

  “Hmph, call me what you will. That name is naught but what others have heaped upon me. Though I am willing to admit my capacity for destruction rivals such a moniker. You shall meet your demise here, God of Origin. Or would you too, prefer to be called by your more commonplace name, Chaos of Darkness?”

  —Holy crap, why do these names sound so nonsensically cringy?

  The black-robed man tore off his eyepatch to reveal a dazzlingly blue eye.

  “Now is the time to awaken, my steel-clad demonic arm!”

  At the same time as he shouted out, the silver-clad figure grew silver wings from their back and their silver sword glowed with a distinctively silver light.

  “Very well. I admire your arrogance. Few so brazenly challenge god. As a reward, I shall engrave eternal suffering into the essence of your very soul!” That was all the silver figure shouted back.

  Oh my god, it just keeps getting worse.

  As their fight began, the black-clad man screamed out an incantation.

  “Oh crimson flash, heed mine call and devour thy foes— Crimson Cutter: Sacrosanct Resonance!”

  The silver-haired man replied in kind, and shouted how on spell.

  “Hmph, pathetic... Return all of creation to the primordial abyss— Karmic Absolution!”

  They continued going back and forth like that for some time, their intense attacks creating a grand battle that would probably be the only one of its kind.

  I can’t take it anymore... Make it stop, please.

  Finally, after the silver-clad man’s third transformation, and the black-robed man had awoken to his ultimate true power, after they had unleashed not only both of their trump cards but both of their finishing moves, the black-clad figure let out a resounding cry of victory. He smiled triumphantly, covered from head to toe in wo
unds no mere mortal could ever hope to withstand...

  “Heh, that was quite the enjoyable fight. In deference to your formidable strength, I shall grant you a gift to take with you to the afterlife. My true name, the name no one else knows... I am the Crimson Flame White Demon’s—”

  Please, just kill me now. Anything, anything to make it stoooooop.

  “Make it stoooooooooooooooooooop!”

  “Hajime!? What’s wrong, are you okay?”

  Deep within the labyrinth, Hajime threw off the sheets covering him and leaped to his feet, his breathing rough. Yue also got up in a panic and gently hugged Hajime in order to calm him down.

  “Th-That was a terrifying nightmare... Yue, can I ask you something?”

  “...What?”

  “If I ever start becoming one of those delusional crazies, use your Azure Blaze to bring me back to my senses, please.”

  Yue realized Hajime must still have been suffering from the effects of the nightmare, as whatever he was saying didn’t make any sense. Still, she nodded in order to reassure him.

  “...Okay. Leave it to me. If you ever start becoming one of those delusional crazies, I’ll make sure to stop you.”

  Neither of them realized they had been misunderstood by the other, Hajime talking about the sight from his dreams and Yue about him becoming a monster, but... Hajime calmed down after that, which was enough to satisfy Yue, so they both went back to sleep in each other’s arms.

  As long as Yue was around, Hajime was safe from falling over to that side... probably.

  The Liberators’ Game

  “Flame master on 12-4 attack the swordsman on 8-6. Flame spear, magical attack, fire element.”

  “Hmm...”

  Within the depths of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, inside Oscar Orcus’ private room, a young boy smiled triumphantly while the girl next to him sunk deep into thought. Her voice was oddly seductive. The two people were, of course, Hajime Nagumo and Yue. The two of them were sitting on sofas across from each other, with a transparent table laid out between them. There was a square metallic board on the table, and around 64 pieces lay out on various parts of it. They were enjoying a game of otherworldly chess before bed.

  As one might have guessed from the different number of pieces, the rules were slightly different. For one, there were 256 squares on the board. For another, the board was split up into various terrains such as mountains, rivers, forests, hills, plains, and the like and the pieces were categorized either as magical or physical fighters. Each piece could learn various skills and the damage they dealt with each attack depended on the skill and element. Players also had to keep track of various resources such as mana as well.

  The most fascinating aspect was that thanks to some magical contraption, the pieces all played out their actions. Even now, Hajime, who was still a beginner at the game, marveled at how his flame master fired a mini-spark at Yue’s soldier, who then doubled up in pain screaming, “H-How can this be!” before collapsing. In response, one of Yue’s mages moved all on its own to carry the defeated piece off the board while screaming, “So this is how your side does things, huh!?”

  “I’ve been wondering, but is there any way to take off these little cutscene type things?”

  “...If you can’t do it, Hajime, I don’t think anyone left alive can. This is probably the joint work of all the skilled Liberators.”

  It certainly was impressive. A colossal waste of skill, but impressive nonetheless. Hajime’s impression of the Liberators had changed a little when he’d found this.

  Now that it was Yue’s turn, she sent her knight charging forward to cut down Hajime’s flame master. The knight made a splendid show of spearing the flame master on his lance, crushing him to pieces. A few seconds later, the destroyed pieces of the flame master regenerated and he cheerfully walked himself off the board.

  When his flame master was destroyed, Hajime flinched a little. Not because he was sad at losing a piece, but because there was one other interesting feature built into this version of chess called Pain Trace. Each of the two players would register their mana on the game board beforehand, and whenever one player lost a piece, they’d suffer a small static shock.

  “Assassin to 13-9. Attack the enemy crusader. Slash, skill, increased critical.”

  “Nhaah.”

  Hajime’s assassin sneaked up behind Yue’s crusader and mercilessly beheaded it. As the crusader’s head rolled to the ground, Yue’s queen cried out in despair.

  “My dear knight!”

  Next to her, the king bore down on her in an accusatory tone.

  “What? My dear knight? And just what did you mean by that, huh dear?” And so, the queen’s adultery was exposed.

  After a few more turns it was discovered that the king had his own bastard son, and the mother was none other than the other side’s queen. Jealous, Yue’s queen had an affair with her court magician, but then later on it was discovered the court magician had a secret lover of his own, and that he was a man, and that man was none other than Hajime’s army’s court magician. Love blossomed between them, and the whole royal family got involved. Honestly, it felt more like a drama than a chess match.

  “Yue, how come you moan like that every time you lose a piece? It’s not that painful, is it?”

  “...You just keep attacking all of my weak points, Hajime.”

  “Liar. There’s no such... No, wait. For some reason today the shock’s always been focused on my—”

  “Fufufu, that was all my doing. I turned on the feature that probes the player’s subconscious and stimulates the one place they feel it the most. I found out about it in the user’s manual. By the way, you can control the voltage output too, and I set it to max today.”

  Hajime suddenly shivered. The user’s manual was 500 pages long, so he hadn’t had the patience to read more than a few of them. He wasn’t sure if she just read through the whole thing, or if she found all the features she wanted by accident, but Yue now had an advantage over him.

  But what was truly frightening was that every time he lost a piece, Hajime could feel his family jewels tingle. S-So that’s what she was after. Thanks to his resistances, the shocks had been mostly mitigated, but with how seductively Yue was moaning every time she lost a piece, it was only a matter of time before his little man decided to poke its head out. No matter how superior his army was, he wouldn’t be able to win at this rate. Thus, Hajime raised his voice, eager to end this as quickly as possible.

  “Earth master to 16-7. Line attack from 16-8 to 16-10. Rock slide, magical attack, earth element, advanced skill.”

  He was sacrificing his ability to move for a few turns by carrying out this AoE attack. As the attack went off, Yue moaned once more, falling limp on the sofa after the shock finally ran its course. She was twitching a little now, and her black one piece shuffled up a little to reveal her bare legs.

  “Sorry, Yue, but I’m taking this one. I can’t afford to lose when my dignity as a man is at stake.”

  “...Mmm, so you’re finally coming at me seriously.”

  Beads of sweat were forming on Yue’s forehead and her cheeks were slightly flushed. After thinking for a moment, she proposed something interesting.

  “If you’re so sure of this game, how about we make a little bet?”

  Hajime warily questioned her for further details, and Yue said that the winner could make any one request they wanted of the loser. Apparently Yue’s request would be that they were a matching set of clothes one day after they made it back to the surface.

  While the mini-soldiers down below were yelling death threats at each other and waging a violent war for survival, Hajime and Yue were discussing their next date. It felt utterly surreal. It also really broke the tension. For his part, Hajime didn’t want to do something so embarrassing, so he made an audacious move.

  “Queen to 14-5! Activate the queen’s special ability, Ruler’s blessing!”

  He risked sending his strongest piece into the line
of fire in order to allow all his nearby pieces to do a coordinated simultaneous attack. All of his units within a certain amount of tiles began attacking at once! The king’s illegitimate child died during the battle! Yue’s king and Hajime’s queen both lamented his loss greatly, but the battle still raged on! And lastly, Yue’s moans grew louder than ever before!

  That battle ended up becoming the turning point for the game, and eventually Yue was defeated. Yue’s king and Hajime’s queen’s love story continued, and they ended up impaling each other on their swords. Finally, Hajime’s king, who hadn’t spoken a word during the entire play, declared his side’s victory and the game was over.

  Hajime breathed a sigh of relief, glad he wouldn’t be embarrassing himself on the surface anymore. But because Yue was pouting, he ended up compromising anyway and agreed to wear any one outfit she requested of him, improving her mood instantly. So this is what they mean when they say you’ve won the battle, but lost the war.

  As always, Hajime could never win against Yue.

  Dreams of Family

  The pleasant aroma of grilled meat and soy sauce wafted through the air. There was a forty-odd year old lady standing in the kitchen, an apron wrapped around her waist and her hair tied back in a ponytail.

  The woman, Sumire Nagumo, was busy skillfully preparing a meal. She raised her head up to the ceiling and yelled.

  “Hajime, Dear, it’s feeding time!”

  After a brief silence, a pair of footsteps could be heard heading down the stairs.

  “Can you please just call it dinner like a normal person, Mom?” Hajime Nagumo displayed an annoyed face as he entered the kitchen... There were dark bags under his gentle eyes. He took a peek at what his mom had made while helping her set the table, and his eyes began to sparkle.

  “Awesome, you made Hamburg steak today. No wonder the house smelled so good.”

  Hajime’s father, Nagumo Shuu, popped in with his two cents. He was a slender man with short, cropped hair. Like his son, he too had bags under his eyes.