Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 7

  Prologue

  “Commander. Is what the messenger said... really true?” A pair of men walked through the dense white mist. The younger of the two was dark-skinned, and his ears tapered to a point. He was a demon.

  The older man turned to his companion and considered the question. He had a stern expression, which was only befitting of his age, and wrinkles deeper than the Reisen Gorge.

  “Vice-Captain Celeka. Do you mean to imply that our messengers are lying to us?” the man intoned gravely.

  “N-No, of course not. I would never even think of... My apologies, Commander Davros.” The young man named Celeka shook his head hurriedly.

  Davros glared at Celeka, the rebuke in his gaze clear. Celeka was a high-ranking member of the army. Someone of his station shouldn’t have been making careless remarks like that. Especially not in earshot of the army marching behind them.

  “Our messengers were willing to sacrifice the monsters they’d been given to deliver us that report. There’s no doubt it’s all true.”

  “But... I can’t believe Freid-sama really was injured that badly... and to think—” To think that the enemy survived Freid trapping them in the Grand Gruen Volcano while it was erupting. Celeka didn’t finish the rest of his sentence.

  However, Davros understood exactly what he was trying to say.

  “All that means is that the humans have someone that powerful on their side.”

  “I can’t believe it. This is Freid-sama we’re talking about here! He had Uranos with him, along with a personal army of monsters... Could he really have lost?”

  Though he kept his voice low, Celeka couldn’t hide his distress.

  Davros once again glared reproachfully at his vice-captain. Celeka gulped and clamped his mouth shut. Though if he was being honest, Davros didn’t blame the boy for being so worried.

  It had been two months since Davros had taken his elite squad out of Garland, the demon kingdom, and headed to scout the Haltina Woods. They were searching for the true entrance to the labyrinth that was hidden within.

  The entire forest was an unmapped region inhabited by beastmen and monsters. Dense fog blanketed the trees year-round, confusing the senses and making navigation impossible. Only the beastmen and the monsters native to the forest were immune to the fog’s effects.

  Freid Bagwa, supreme commander of Garland’s forces, had ordered elite squads to seek out the other labyrinths and conquer them. The source of his own strength had come from conquering one of the labyrinths and obtaining the secrets of one of the ancient magics held in its depths.

  Freid wanted as many of his brethren as possible capable of using ancient magic, so he’d sent the best of his men out to find the others and absorb their strength.

  Davros was one of Garland’s oldest commanders, and both Freid and the demon lord trusted him implicitly. They had selected him for this mission because they believed he was capable enough to handle the sea of trees and the true labyrinth that was in its depths.

  Davros placed great faith in the opinions of Freid and his king, and he believed in his own strength. Though he knew the labyrinths’ trials were dangerous, he believed he could take on whatever was in store.

  Especially because he had an unbeatable trump card.

  “Grrr.”

  “Screeech.”

  The monster mounts that Davros and his unit were riding growled, their hackles raised. Their cries sounded like metal screeching on metal.

  They were powerful creatures, granted to Davros by Freid. Not only were they immune to the befuddling effects of the fog, they were far stronger than most monsters. And they were the demons’ trump card.

  All of the other units Freid had sent out to conquer key cities and discover the locations of the remaining labyrinths had also possessed monsters he’d created himself.

  So long as they had Freid’s monsters, they would be unbeatable. Every demon Freid had sent out had been confident of that fact.

  Davros’ faith in his god and the supremacy of his race had been absolute, and he had been certain they would be able to prove the superiority of the demons’ ideals through their inevitable victory.

  But now, Davros wasn’t so sure. Not after all the reports he’d heard.

  In order to find their way through the forest, Davros had needed to rely on Freid’s monsters. On top of that, he’d needed to bring a sizable force with him. There was no telling how many beastmen and monsters he’d have to face along the way, and facing all of that alone would have been difficult. That had meant they couldn’t rely on airborne monsters to transport them.

  After all, no matter how strong Davros was, and no matter how powerful Freid’s monsters could be, he didn’t want to alert Verbergen of their presence. A large flock of airborne monsters passing over the forest would have done just that. Fighting Verbergen head-on with his numbers would have been unwise, so he’d stuck to stealth.

  He’d started by following the south edge of the Reisen Gorge east, and entered the forest from the southern side. The Haltina Woods stretched a few hundred kilometers into the southern continent, so getting in had been a simple task

  After that they had traveled north, sticking to places where the trees were less dense.

  Maintaining contact with Garland had been easy, as the demons controlled the southern fringes of the forest.

  Davros had been expecting to hear triumphant reports of how each demon had flawlessly carried out their respective mission. Instead, this was what he’d received:

  —Mission to cripple the humans’ agricultural capacity and assassinate the Fertility Goddess. Failed. Lace, the demon in charge of the mission, has been gravely injured. He will not be returning to active duty. All monsters under his command were annihilated.

  —Mission to conquer the true Great Orcus Labyrinth and solicit the human heroes onto our side. Failed. Cattleya, the demon in charge of the mission, was killed in action. All monsters under her command were annihilated.

  —Mission to conquer Ankaji. Failed. Logan, the demon in charge of the mission, returned safely. Most monsters under his command were annihilated.

  One after another, Davros heard reports of his comrades being defeated. Whenever someone from the messenger squad came to report, it was with a grim expression on their face.

  However, the most unbelievable report had come in just as Davros’ squad was closing in on Verbergen.

  —General Freid crossed forces with an unknown enemy at the Grand Gruen Volcano. He suffered grievous injuries and was forced to abandon the volcano. He is currently recuperating.

  Freid, the invincible demon hero, had suffered his first defeat. Davros had been utterly shocked when he’d heard. He was glad now that he’d instructed the messenger to only inform his lieutenants of this report.

  His men’s morale would have been in tatters otherwise. The fact that his vice-captain had come to him about it right after they’d met up proved that keeping quiet about it had been the right decision.

  Naturally, Davros himself was greatly disturbed by the news too. Still, more than that, he was furious. Furious at this upstart human who dared oppose the chosen race and spit on what should have been their glorious conquest.

  “Commander, there appears to be a settlement in front of us. We’ve entered beastmen territory.” Davros nodded at Celeka’s report. He was determined to send the first positive report back to the capital, to make up for his comrades’ losses.

  “Listen up, men. Right now, General Freid will have begun the invasion of Heiligh’s capital, while Divoff’s squad should be in place to assassinate the emperor. They will surely suc
ceed and bring glory to our great nation. There would be no greater shame than to return home empty-handed while our peers succeed!” Celeka and the others began burning with an unquenchable thirst for blood. Their monsters roared their approval with their strange, metallic screeching. These were a new species Freid had only recently created.

  Unfortunately for Davros, his conviction came from ignorance. He wasn’t aware that the same enemy who had defeated Freid would once again appear at the capital and thwart their ambitions. Or that an army of extremely powerful and bloodthirsty soldiers, trained by that very same man, called this place their home.

  Little did he know that this invasion he believed to be simple would turn into the worst nightmare of his life.

  Chapter I: Haulias Assemble!

  Shizuku Yaegashi watched the thick clouds roll by below her. She occasionally caught glimpses of plains, forest, and villages through gaps in the clouds, but they flashed past too quickly to make out details.

  Despite the speed they were going at, the breeze was quite mild. Her ponytail fluttered in the pleasantly cool air as she took in the scenery. After a while, she looked up and saw the sun dazzling brilliantly above her.

  It looked close enough that she felt she’d be able to reach it just by stretching her hand out.

  She brought a hand up to shield her eyes and leaned back against the guardrail. Expression pensive, she muttered something in a tired voice.

  “I can’t believe he built an entire airship too. When it comes to him, I don’t think anything could surprise me anymore.” Indeed, Shizuku was currently standing on the aft deck of Hajime’s personal airship, Fernir. He had crafted it primarily out of gravityrock and spirit stone, and it served as his newest mode of transportation. It possessed a multitude of features, and was about 120 meters in length. From above, it vaguely resembled a manta ray. The ship’s bridge sat near the front of the craft, while the center served as a massive living room of sorts. There was also a residential quarter, and each of the rooms came furnished with its own kitchen and bathroom.

  It was easily the largest and fastest vehicle in existence, at least as far as Tortus was concerned.

  “It’s like I’m dreaming...” She was soaring above the clouds. The world’s greatest view was all around her.

  She breathed another long sigh. Despite the magnificence around her, Shizuku didn’t seem too impressed.

  Hajime had declared that he wouldn’t lift a finger for the people of this world, so Kouki had begged him to help them conquer a labyrinth so he could gain the strength to do it in Hajime’s stead. As a result, he and Shizuku had decided to join Hajime on his quest, though each for different reasons.

  All that aside, the airship was just too amazing. There was so much to take in that Shizuku had gone from wonder to a strange sort of resigned acceptance. Normally, the trek to Haltina would take a party three months on foot. Hajime’s airship could get them there in two and a half days.

  The Hoelscher Empire, which sat between Haltina and Heiligh, was a little over a day’s travel.

  Liliana, Heiligh’s princess, had almost fainted in shock when she’d seen the airship and heard how fast it could travel. It had been quite unbecoming of someone of her stature. She was heading to Hoelscher to discuss what countermeasures the humans should take against the demons.

  On an unrelated note, Hajime had actually wanted to make an airship ever since he’d cleared Miledi’s labyrinth. However, he hadn’t been skilled enough to do so until just recently.

  Enchanting ore with gravity magic was a difficult process, and the larger the object you wanted to enchant the more skill it required. At first, the biggest things Hajime had been able to enchant with gravity magic were his Cross Bits.

  Not only did enchanting larger objects require more skill, it also made remotely controlling that object with spirit stone more difficult.

  The larger the object made of gravityrock was, the more it took out of you to operate.

  An otaku like Hajime had dreamed of making an airship ever since he’d discovered it was possible, he just hadn’t possessed enough skill to do so.

  But of course, he was a Synergist at heart. He refused to compromise by making his craft any smaller or less complex. Instead, he’d continued training at every opportunity, until finally his transmuting skill had reached the point where he was able to craft it to perfection.

  Once it was complete, he’d unveiled his creation to the others the day they’d left the capital.

  “You always get air travel in the final act of an RPG, right?” He’d tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, but he hadn’t been able to hide the grin on his face.

  Yue and the others had taken it in stride as they were used to Hajime’s antics by now, but the other students were surprised to see such a childish side of Hajime.

  Their surprise grew when they discovered how much mana it took just to make the ship float. Making it go at the speeds Hajime did took so much that the students couldn’t even wrap their head around the idea. Operating it for any length of time would require an unbelievably large mana pool and a ridiculous rate of mana regeneration. Only a scant few people could even make it move.

  “I never knew the sky was so blue...” Shizuku muttered absentmindedly, trying not to think of the logistics that were making this flight possible. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “So this is where you were, Shizuku.”

  “Kouki...” Shizuku looked back down at the deck. Kouki was in the process of clambering out of the top hatch.

  Once he was out, he walked over to Shizuku and placed both hands on the guardrail.

  For a few moments, he just silently watched the clouds fly by.

  “This is... amazing.”

  “Yeah. I’m actually getting tired of getting shocked every time.”

  Kouki was of course referring to Fernir. Though he was praising the airship, he seemed more terrified and frustrated than impressed.

  Shizuku could guess the source of his dissatisfaction, but she didn’t want to talk about it, so she changed the topic.

  “Did you come up here alone? What’s everyone else doing?” Kouki, Shizuku, and Liliana weren’t the only ones who’d joined Hajime on the ship. Liliana had brought her personal maid and ten royal guards with her, while the rest of Kouki’s party had followed him on.

  Aiko had stayed behind, as she hadn’t wanted to leave the other students unsupervised. The members of Nagayama’s and Yuka’s parties had remained behind to protect the rest of the class and the capital. They hadn’t wanted to leave the people there completely defenseless.

  Still, there was a possibility Freid might return with another army, so Kouki had convinced Hajime to leave behind a long-range teleportation artifact in the capital so that they could return at a moment’s notice if necessary.

  “Ryutarou and the royal guards are eating the dinner Shea-san made for them. Suzu and Lily are talking in their room. Nagumo’s... flirting with everyone. He’s just lazing about on the bridge...”

  Shizuku examined her friend’s face. Kouki’s lips were twisted in a strange grimace, a plethora of emotions showing on his face.

  Shizuku smiled playfully at him.

  “What, mad that Nagumo-kun’s more popular than you now?”

  “As if...” Kouki frowned at Shizuku’s ribbing and replied in a curt tone. Finally, he spat out what was really eating at him.

  “He can make all these amazing things... and he’s so strong... yet he acts like it’s all nothing to him. And how can he just abandon the people of this world like that?”

  “......” Kouki still wasn’t able to come to terms with Hajime’s decision to ignore the gods and go back home.

  He’s got all this power, so why doesn’t he use it to help these people and kill the gods? Shizuku could read his thoughts like an open book.

  “I think... that’s because he’s made his choice.”

  “What choice?” Kouki looked Shizuku in the eye
s. She kept her expression neutral and picked her words carefully.

  “I don’t think... he has it as easy as he makes it look. I’m sure he’s just trying to make it seem like nothing’s bothering him, while in reality he’s quite desperate. Desperate to protect the ones he loves, and make it out of this ordeal alive.”

  “......”

  “Remember what he said? You don’t do something because you’re strong enough to do it, you get stronger to accomplish what you want to do... Well, something like that, anyway.”

  Deep furrows formed in Kouki’s brow as he frowned. He averted his gaze, unable to meet Shizuku’s yes.

  After all, he’d been thinking differently. If I was that strong, I would definitely save the world. It seemed similar to Hajime’s way of thinking at first glance, but was fundamentally different.

  “Kouki, I know you’re feeling frustrated at the gap in your strength and his. But remember, he didn’t start out that strong. He earned that strength by crawling out of hell despite being the weakest one of us. Everything he has now is a result of his unbreakable determination. And what he’s determined to do isn’t kill the gods or save the world. It’s something a lot simpler. He’s fighting for the sake of those close to him.” Shizuku observed Kouki’s profile, gauging his reaction. Normally he’d meet her gaze, but he didn’t now. He continued looking anywhere but at her.

  However, Shizuku continued talking, hoping that her words might lead her friend to make better choices.

  “He’s different from us, who decided to help because we could. So you can’t expect him to agree to save the world just because it’s something he can do. That’s not what he worked so hard for, and he knows that if he uses his power for something he doesn’t care about, he might lose the things he does.”

  “I don’t get it...” Kouki’s expression grew more complicated. This was the first time he’d had to deal with a set of values so completely different from his own, and it was confusing him.

  However, he didn’t ignore Shizuku’s words, and did his best to make sense of them.