Arifureta Zero: Volume 1

by Ryo Shirakome

  After a few seconds, the older sister replied.

  “Are you two from the Holy Church?”

  “Hell no.” Oscar and Miledi answered in sync, their contempt obvious. Such an open display of malice would have been dangerous had they been talking to devout believers.

  Fortunately, the two girls seemed relieved when they heard Miledi and Oscar’s disgust. Unable to hold back any longer, the younger sister leaned forward and blurted out something.

  “Onii-san, Onee-san! Do you know where the guardian deity is!? Me and Sue-nee really like him! We’ve been looking for him this whole time! We really want to see him again!” The older sister hurriedly tried to cover her younger sister’s mouth, but it was already too late.

  Miledi and Oscar exchanged glances. She’d called him a guardian deity, not a fairy. This was something they needed to know more about.

  Especially when the younger sister, who didn’t know when to shut her mouth, added, “Sue-nee is really popular with the boys, but she turned them all down because she’s in love with him!” Poor Sue blushed as she tried to shut her sister up.

  Oscar and Miledi nodded to each other.

  “Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

  “We’ll treat you to dessert too.”

  They bribed the sisters with food.

  The sisters loaded their plates, the younger with gusto, the older with a little more hesitation. She was still embarrassed by what her younger sister had said.

  Over the course of breakfast, Miledi and Oscar learned that the older sister’s name was Susha Liv Doumibral and the younger’s was Yunfa Liv Doumibral. They were, as Oscar had guessed, residents of the village.

  It was customary for people in the desert to take the name of the region and village they were born in, which was why their middle and last name were Liv and Doumibral respectively. She was from Liv village, in the Doumibral fiefdom.

  That reminds me, where’s Naiz from? As Oscar hadn’t known too much about the desert customs before, he hadn’t given much thought to Naiz’s last name. He’d asked Susha if she knew, but she hadn’t even known that his first name was Naiz.

  When Oscar had told her, she’d repeated it to herself like some kind of charm. Damn, this girl’s serious about him.

  Miledi asked how the girls had met Naiz, and it turned out their first encounter was pretty much the same as Miledi’s.

  They’d been under attack by monsters when he’d shown up and teleported them to safety.

  However, one of the monsters had caused Yunfa’s mana to go berserk. When Susha told Naiz that, he vanished and came back with stillstone for her.

  They’d been so surprised by Naiz’s constant teleporting that they hadn’t even been able to thank him before he’d disappeared with his customary “Don’t tell anyone about me.”

  “Since then, we’ve been looking all over for him. I still haven’t been able to give him my thanks.”

  “And you want to confess and marry him too! I’m fine with being his mistress!”

  Susha blushed again. She wrapped an arm around her sister’s mouth and gagged her.

  “We actually spread the rumors that he was the Fairy of the Desert on purpose. I thought that since Naiz-sama didn’t want people to know about him the least we could do was say that someone who looked completely different saved us. I knew word would spread eventually, so I made sure to tell all the adventurers and bards that visited this place my version of events first.”

  “I see. So your way of thanking him was turning the guardian into a fairy.”

  Miledi nodded in understanding. However, Oscar noticed something off about Susha’s story. Yunfa’s next words solidified his suspicions.

  “I helped Sue-nee out too! I told everyone exactly what Sue-nee told me to!” So this was definitely all her idea... Oscar came to a conclusion. He pushed up his glasses and asked a question to help confirm his theory.

  “Sorry for asking such a sudden question, but do your parents run this bar?”

  “No?” Susha instantly followed up with an explanation.

  “Our parents were killed by monsters when we were young... Right now we’re living with our parents’ friends.”

  “And they run this bar?”

  “Yes.” This time she didn’t deny it. Now Oscar was certain. Susha had been the start of the rumors.

  “You were the one behind the fairy rumors?”

  “Yep.” Susha grinned.

  Oscar and Miledi exchanged glances. According to Susha, Naiz had saved them around two years ago. In other words, she’d come up with this elaborate plan to create the Fairy of the Desert when she’d been just ten years old. All on her own.

  And it had worked. At the very least, everyone talked about a Fairy of the Desert, and not a guardian.

  “Th-That’s pretty impressive.” Miledi spoke her honest opinion.

  Susha blushed and replied.

  “It’s all for Naiz-sama’s sake.” Considering her age, it was conceivable that she would have hit puberty already. Still, the fact that she was so set on Naiz from the age of ten was rather impressive. She was really serious about him.

  “What kind of relationship do you two have with Naiz-sama? You said you’d met him.” Susha definitely wouldn’t let any leads out of her grasp. Yunfa stared expectantly at the two of them. They both really wanted to meet him again.

  “Hmm... You could say we run into him a lot these days.”

  “R-Really!? Where is he staying!?” Susha leaned forward excitedly. Neither she nor Yunfa had expected them to be able to meet him at will.

  “We’ll have to ask him if it’s okay to tell you first. We’re going to see him again today too, so we’ll ask him then. I promise you’ll get to meet him soon, so just wait patiently, okay?”

  “Miledi-san... I suppose we’ll have to. Yeah, we’ll wait.”

  Though she was a little disappointed, Susha had to admit Miledi was right. She nodded.

  Yunfa looked from Oscar to Miledi. After thinking to herself for a few seconds, she dropped another bombshell.

  “By the way, are you two a couple?” Susha turned back to her sister in a panic. You can’t just ask that!

  Miledi stared blankly at Yunfa, while Oscar grinned.

  “Hahaha... That’s a good joke, Yunfa-chan.”

  “O-kun? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Even if you’re not going to admit it, you could at least not deny it so cleanly like that! As Miledi glared at Oscar, Yunfa continued dropping bombshells.

  “You’re not? It would have been better if you were, though~”

  “Huh? Why’s that, Yunfa?”

  “Because you said you’re always talking to the guy Onee-san’s in love with. And you’re going to meet him again today... If you two aren’t lovers, then maybe you’re seducing him!”

  “......” Susha fell silent. Her expression was thunderous. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes.

  “It’s a misunderstanding! I don’t have any interest in that guy, promise!” Miledi hurriedly tried to explain herself. Susha’s glare was absolutely terrifying, so much so that Miledi broke out in cold sweat.

  Oscar simply watched the whole exchange with a grin. Miledi turned her reproachful gaze onto him.

  “Besides, O-kun’s been with me the whole time! I promise it’s really not like that. What we’re going to see him about is something a lot more serious than that.”

  “A lot more... serious? You mean your future together?”

  “Shit. I should have known it would end up like this!” This was the first time Oscar had seen Miledi, who was always the one teasing others, so flustered. It was the most fun he’d had in ages. Plus, Yunfa wasn’t done yet.

  “It’s okay, we have Sue-nee anyway! Her boobs are way bigger than yours! Once he sees them he’ll totally fall for her!”

  “Huh?”

  “Huh?”

  Miledi looked at Susha’s chest. Susha looked at Miledi’s.

  It was
hard to make out the shape of Susha’s body through her bulky robe. Despite that, her chest still stuck out a little bit.

  Miledi compared that to her own chest. She ran her hands over her washboard-flat boobs. Her head drooped. She looked crestfallen.

  Oscar was honestly impressed.

  “Yunfa-chan, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you. Not many people can say they’ve made Miledi cry...”

  “Huh? Umm, ehehe, it was nothing.” Yunfa didn’t really get what Oscar was saying, but she could tell she was being praised.

  The real question is, was she doing it all by instinct, or was that planned? Seeing as Yunfa’s older sister had been a master of information manipulation at the age of 10, Oscar was certain she had a lot of potential.

  He had a sneaking suspicion that Yunfa had torn Miledi down just in case she’d been thinking of taking Naiz from Susha, but he didn’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest, so he didn’t ask.

  Oscar watched while Susha consoled Miledi and wondered how the presence of these sisters would change the relationship between himself and Naiz.

  The Red Dragon’s Mountain was a dome volcano. That meant its eruptions were usually just outpourings of viscous lava instead of violent explosions. It also meant the mountain itself was shaped like a gently sloping trapezoid. It was a mere three kilometers tall, but it spanned a length five kilometers wide.

  After parting ways with the sisters, Miledi and Oscar headed over to the volcano. They could feel the lava’s heat as they landed on the summit. White smoke rose up from holes in the summit, and it really looked as if a red dragon might live there.

  There was an entrance to Naiz’s house from the top. They approached the glowing orange crater that doubled as Naiz’s front door. The lava’s heat was kept at bay by Naiz’s barriers.

  “Let’s go, O-kun.”

  “No matter how many times I do it, I’ll never get used to jumping into the mouth of an active volcano.”

  “Says the guy who rode his umbrella down a lava river.”

  The pair bantered with each other as they leaped into the crater. Miledi sped them up with her gravity magic as they headed down to the terrace Naiz made his home.

  As they drew closer to the ground, the air grew cooler. Naiz’s barriers kept the heat out around his house more effectively than elsewhere. They were quite an impressive achievement. Oscar had learned over a night of drinking that it had taken Naiz a lot of time to master barriers that precise.

  “Nacchaaaaaan! You home? We’ve come back to play~”

  “Sorry for coming over all the time. We brought you some wine today. It’s still mid-afternoon, but how about a drink?”

  They waltzed into Naiz’s house like it was their own. The pair found him sitting cross-legged on the floor, grinding something down with a pestle and mortar. He sighed and turned to his unwanted house guests.

  “It’s already been more than a week... How long are you planning on doing this?”

  “Until you agree to become our comrade.”

  “So you’ll keep coming for the rest of your life?”

  “Ahaha, I feel like someone else said that to me before too!”

  “That’d be me.”

  Oscar gave Naiz a sympathetic look and helped him clean up his workspace.

  “Is that stillstone?”

  “Yes. It’s difficult to harvest, so most villages are always short.”

  “Except you live where it grows, so it’s a piece of cake for you. I’ve taken the liberty of harvesting some for myself too.”

  Oscar eased himself into the chair he’d brought to Naiz’s house. Miledi sat down next to him and idly swung her legs. She seemed bored. Whenever Oscar and Naiz started talking about these kinds of things, Miledi found herself left out of the conversation.

  “I wanted to see if I could grind the powder so fine it would turn into a liquid.”

  “You what?”

  “There’s a lot of monsters around here that make people’s mana go berserk. Stillstone is considered the only cure, since it suppresses people’s mana.”

  “I mean, yeah, but why would you need to liquify it?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but maybe it’ll be easier to ingest if it’s a liquid. Also, you could change the concentration if it’s liquified. And if you’re trying a dangerous magical experiment, you could make your magic circle out of liquified stillstone.”

  “Hmm... So basically, you’re looking for ways to use it other than as medicine.”

  “Precisely. So—” As the conversation grew more technical, Miledi interrupted them with a yell.

  “Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I can’t believe you two are ignoring me and having fun on your own! It’s not good to ignore your friends like this!” Miledi crossed her arms in an X shape.

  Oscar and Naiz shared a knowing smile. Miledi sulked when she saw them getting along so well.

  She muttered something angrily.

  “I’ll tell Sue-chan that Nacchan’s more into O-kun than he is into me.”

  “Hey, don’t make it sound like we’re gay. Also, I get the feeling she’ll take you seriously, so please don’t say that.” Oscar shivered.

  Naiz looked over at Oscar with a questioning gaze.

  Oscar and Miledi exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

  “Sue-chan’s this girl who lives in Liv. She has a little sister called Yunfa.”

  “Hmm?”

  “They’re the ones that spread the rumor that you’re the Fairy of the Desert.”

  “What? What does...”

  Naiz suddenly looked interested. He was always interested in the rumors spreading about him. He looked puzzled as to why anyone would change them, though.

  Oscar chimed in with an explanation.

  “You saved a pair of sisters from monsters two years ago, right? The younger had her mana go berserk and you healed her. Remember them?”

  “...Those two, huh?” Naiz combed through his memories for a minute before replying.

  “So you do remember them.”

  “Nufufufu. You’re one smooth operator, Nacchan. The older sister’s totally head over heels for you, and she’s a real cutie to boot.”

  “She’s what now?” Naiz, who didn’t recognize the expression, tilted his head in confusion.

  After having been so thoroughly demolished in the morning, Miledi was dying to tease someone.

  “Well, you see, ever since you saved them, those two girls have been looking allllll over for you. They said they want to thank you for saving them back then. But the truth is, the older sister’s in love with you! Even though she’s only thirteen years old!” Miledi didn’t mention that despite being only thirteen, Susha had bigger boobs than her. She wasn’t a masochist, after all.

  “The little girl from back then is in love with me?” Naiz had remembered how young the children he’d saved were. He found it hard to believe that in just two years that girl had run a mass misinformation campaign because she’d fallen in love with him.

  For her part, Miledi found it hard to believe that she’d been beaten by a girl many years younger than her. Worse, Susha was still in the middle of her growth spurt, while on the other hand, Miledi had long since passed through puberty.

  “Since you said you didn’t want people to know about you she went and made up a story that the person saving travelers was a dainty fairy. All because she loves you.” Naiz grimaced as he heard Oscar’s follow-up explanation.

  Miledi grinned and pointed at Naiz.

  “Hey, how does it feel? Hey, Nacchan, tell me. How does it feel knowing a thirteen-year-old girl’s totally in love with an older guy like you? Come on, Nacchan, you can tell, I won’t spill your sec—” Naiz grabbed Miledi’s face in an iron grip.

  “Oscar, do you mind if I throw your partner out of this volcano?”

  Oscar pulled his chains out of his sleeves.

  “Owwwwwwww! Hey, Nacchan, could you loosen your grip a little!? I can feel my skull cracking! And O-kun, you’re my
partner! You’re supposed to be helping me not him!”

  “This is your fault!”

  “Why are you two always in sync like thiiiiiiiiiiiis!?” There was a loud creak and Miledi’s body went limp. When Naiz let her go she fell into her chair with a thud. After that, Oscar and Naiz ignored her and began drinking through the wine he’d brought.

  Some time later Miledi awoke to find Oscar’s umbrella raining healing light down on her. Once her headache had gone away, Oscar returned to the topic of the two girls.

  He explained how sincere their wish to meet Naiz was. Oscar had expected that Naiz, who had made helping people such a big part of his life, wouldn’t have minded meeting them. However, contrary to expectations, he looked troubled.

  “She already knows about your powers. Plus, they’re trying harder than anyone to make sure no one finds out about you, so what’s the problem with going to see them?”

  “Even if you don’t have much to say, I think you should go see them. If you don’t, I’m pretty sure Sue-chan will keep searching for you for the rest of her life. She’s that serious about you.”

  Naiz spoke in a despondent voice.

  “Those girls think I’m some kind of hero or guardian deity, don’t they?”

  “I think some of the other locals think you’re a guardian deity too, but yes.”

  “Well, they’re wrong. I’m no guardian. I’m only doing this for myself... to atone for my mistakes.”

  Oscar and Miledi looked at each other, then Miledi sat up straighter.

  “Did something happen in the past? Is that why you can’t meet Sue-chan, or come with us?”

  “......”

  “Nacchan. You asked how long we’re planning on coming here. I won’t leave until you at least tell us why you won’t come with us. That’s how much recruiting you matters to me. I know this is a rude thing to ask, and I know it probably hurts to talk about, but that’s precisely why we can’t leave until we know.”

  Her implacable gaze pierced through Naiz. He turned to see Oscar wearing the same serious expression. His quiet eyes held a deep resolve. They knew what they were asking of Naiz, but this time they wouldn’t back down.