Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 8 Read online

  Chapter I: The Hero Returns

  It was a truly surreal sight. Hundreds of beastmen stood huddled together, pinching their cheeks or slapping their faces or staring out the window in disbelief. The wind howled past their ears and an endless sea of clouds spread out beneath them. From the few gaps in cloud cover, they could make out the ground speeding past them at an unbelievable rate. Unbelievable as it seemed, they were actually flying through the sky.

  More specifically, they were riding Hajime’s gravity-manipulating airship Artifact, the Fernir. He had attached a large gondola to its bottom, which was where they were currently stationed. The reason they were riding the first airship in Tortus’ history was because of another historical event that had concluded just yesterday. All of Hoelscher’s slaves had been freed following a battle that would later come to be known as “The Haulia Rebellion” or “The Crimson Ball” by the people of the empire.

  Shea’s father, Cam, had led the Haulia in an attack on the empire’s capital and felled it in a single night. He’d demanded the emperor free all of the empire’s slaves, and those former slaves were now riding Hajime’s Fernir back home to Haltina.

  Hajime had actually already set up a warp gate in the sea of trees, so he could have teleported them all home instantly if he’d wanted to. The reason he’d chosen not to, and instead brought Fernir down outside the capital was because he’d needed to make a big show of the whole emancipation. Basically, he’d wanted to emphasize to the citizens of Hoelscher that freeing all the slaves really was something that god himself had decreed. And it had worked as intended. Seeing a giant flying ship descend to take the beastmen back home had left the empire’s residents in awe.

  Naturally Hajime was just using god’s name. In truth, Ehit had nothing to do with this. Hajime was just following through with his principle of “When in doubt, just pin all the blame on god.” Whether or not Ehit took issue with that wasn’t something Hajime particularly cared about. At any rate, while it did make for an impressive spectacle, moving an Artifact as complex as Fernir took up a lot of concentration.

  “Aaah...”

  Hajime sighed lazily as he lounged on the bridge’s sofa. He didn’t look like he was concentrating in the slightest. His arms and legs were sprawled across the sofa, and he looked more like an office worker on break than someone piloting an airship. However, the fact that he was enveloped in layers of crimson mana made it obvious that even now he was still expending a lot of energy to drive Fernir.

  In truth, he was actually having a bit of a hard time. The more weight there was loaded on Fernir, the more difficult it was to pilot. That being said, his posture, combined with the fact that he was surrounded by beautiful girls, made it seem like he was just lording his superiority over people.

  “Oi Hajime Nagumo, don’t you think you’re being rather rude, relaxing like that in front of the emperor?”

  The bridge’s door slid open with a mechanical whir, and Hoelscher’s emperor, Gahard D Hoelscher, strode into the room, glaring angrily at Hajime. With Yue and Shea to either side of him, and Kaori behind him, Hajime really did look like a king indulging in his harem. Especially considering how closely the three of them were sticking to him. They claimed it was so they could keep replenishing his mana, but everyone knew they didn’t need to be glued to him to do that. Considering that Hajime was burning through vast quantities of mana each second, and operating an extremely complicated machine on top of that, one could say he was training seriously, it just didn’t look like that at all. It was a bit of a shame, really. Neither Gahard nor any of the other people present realized just how much effort Hajime put into getting stronger.

  “I wish I could be the— Ahem, you shouldn’t act so indecent in public, Nagumo-san.”

  “Liliana-sama, your letting your real intentions slip again.”

  The princess of Heiligh, Liliana S B Heiligh, and her maid Helina followed in behind Gahard. The reason she was also coming along to Haltina was because she needed to be a witness to Gahard’s oaths.

  The battle the other day hadn’t been between the empire and Verbergen, but between the empire and the Haulia, which was why Gahard needed to head to Verbergen and swear the same oaths he’d given to Cam. That had been one of Cam’s conditions, after all.

  The other people in the room included Kouki Amanogawa, Ryutarou Sakagami, Shizuku Yaegashi, Suzu Taniguchi, and Tio, who was lying on the ground twitching in pleasure. The reason she was on the floor this time was because she’d tried to leap into Hajime’s arms a few moments ago. Disgusted by the perverted dragon’s antics, Hajime had reflexively kicked her away, then strangled her until she nearly fell unconscious. As she seemed to be enjoying it, no one had bothered to stop him. In fact, her ecstatic expression had caused everyone to look away in disgust.

  Following Liliana’s remarks, Shizuku and the others started to rebuke Hajime as well. Unwilling to listen to their nagging, he quickly changed the subject.

  “Gahard, did you finish exploring the ship?”

  “Yeah. This thing is insane. I don’t even understand how this giant lump of metal can fly. Either way, this is one hell of an Artifact you made! Oi, Hajime Nagumo. Make one for me too. I’ll pay you as much as you want.”

  Gahard settled into the sofa across from Hajime, his eyes brimming with excitement. Hajime frowned in annoyance.

  “I don’t need money. Give it a rest already. This is the only time I’m letting you ride Fernir. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

  “Come now, don’t be like that. I’m just asking for one measly ship. It can even be a small one.”

  “There’s nothing in it for me, so no.”

  “Mrr, fine if you don’t need money how about women? One of my daughters is of marriageable age now. Her name’s Tracy, and she’s a bit of a battle nut, but she’s definitely a looker. She’d make a good addition to your harem, right? What do you say?”

  Gahard seemed to think Hajime was a hardcore womanizer. Considering how Hajime was surrounded by three girls at the moment, it was a hard claim to deny. That being said, the last thing Hajime wanted was Gahard’s battle-crazy daughter pushed onto him. He looked disdainfully down at Gahard, but before he could refuse, his harem came to his defense.

  “I’ll turn you into ash if you try.” “I’ll crush you!” “That was a joke, right emperor? Right?” “Please don’t put Nagumo-kun in the same category as you, Your Majesty.” “Absolutely not! I won’t allow it! Hajime-kun belongs to me!”

  Hajime shrugged and continued.

  “There you have it.”

  “Tch, showoff... Hm? Wait, did I hear Princess Liliana’s voice mixed in with the rest?” Gahard clicked his tongue, then suddenly turned back toward Liliana. The others followed his gaze.

  “Huh? O-Of course not. You must have been hearing things.”

  “Kuku. Come to think of it, you ignored Baius entirely during the ball too. Though you seemed to be enjoying yourself dancing with a certain someone. Hey, Hajime Nagumo. Just how fast do you work? Even I’m getting tired of seeing everyone fall for you.”

  “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you saying, Your Majesty!? N-Nagumo-san and I don’t have that kind of relationship. Isn’t that right, Nagumo-san?”

  “Yeah. Hell’ll freeze over before that happens.”

  “You didn’t have to be so blunt about it...” Liliana’s shoulders slumped. She sulkily looked away, making it obvious that she wasn’t against the idea of being Hajime’s lover. Though, everyone who’d seen her dance at the ball had already known she was enamored with him.

  Naturally, Hajime wasn’t oblivious either. Yet he’d still
shot her down without mercy. Yue and the others gave Liliana sympathetic looks, then turned to glare at Hajime.

  “Why’re you all looking at me like that? Besides, the princess’ already engaged. I mean, her fiance got beheaded, but she still needs to get married to someone from the empire, right? Gahard’ll just find another prince for her to marry.”

  “Oh, about that...”

  Liliana trailed off, and Gahard turned to Hajime with a bitter expression.

  “To be honest, my family’s in no position to be making political ties right now. We’re kind of busy dealing with these cursed necklaces that’ll kill us if we break our oaths.” He pointed to the ruby dangling from his neck. The Necklace of Vows was an artifact that forced its wearer to adhere to any oaths they made. It carved the vow into the pledger’s soul, so any attempt to break their promise or take the necklace off caused them to go insane and die.

  “According to our contract, if my subjects try to attack beastmen, we won’t lose our lives as long as we punish them for it. But that doesn’t change the fact that the entire empire is being held hostage. I need to make radical changes to our government and start imposing strict punishments on my people. On top of that we still have to inform the rest of the empire about our new policy and find a way to free all the remaining slaves. Me and my family are too busy to think about marriage.” Gahard leaned back in his seat and scratched his head.

  “And it’s not like I can marry the princess off to someone who might die at any minute. Besides, without slaves we’ve lost our biggest supply of labor. Your speech might have worked for the capital, but I guarantee the other cities will riot. My soldiers are going to be busy getting the empire under control, so we wouldn’t be able to send reinforcements to the kingdom anyway. If anything, we’re the ones who need help now.”

  “I see. So basically, the princess isn’t getting married anymore.”

  “More or less. Once things calm down and the imperial family isn’t in danger of being wiped out, Prince Lundel will probably be old enough that it would be better to give him one of my daughters to cement our alliance instead.”

  Hajime and the others nodded in understanding. Incidentally, the reason Gahard’s family was willing to follow along so obediently was because one of his relatives had tried removing their necklace earlier. As expected, they’d gone crazy, rampaged around the palace for a few minutes, then fell limp, like a doll with its strings cut.

  “That’s wonderful, Lily!”

  “Yeah... I don’t know if you’ll be able to marry someone you truly love now, but at least you’ve bought yourself some time.”

  “Yep! Isn’t it great, Lily!?”

  Kouki, Shizuku, and Kaori all said excitedly. Even Yue and the others congratulated Liliana on getting her engagement annulled.

  “Th-Thank you,” Liliana replied awkwardly. While she was glad she didn’t have to get married to Baius anymore, his father was sitting in front of her, and Baius himself had been decapitated the night before. Still, she was happy she wouldn’t have to deal with the man who’d tried to rape her anymore. Normally she hid her feelings, but this time she let her happiness show. Even Gahard couldn’t help but smile.

  “Anyway, that’s how it is. So Princess Liliana’s free to do as she pleases. Hajime Nagumo. If you really want her, I’ll use my authority as emperor to make it happen.”

  “Wha!? Your Majesty, what are you saying!? I-I don’t...” Shaken, Liliana looked to her maid for help.

  “This is your chance, Princess! Make him yours!” she replied excitedly.

  Not noticing Yue’s dangerous glare, Liliana looked bashfully toward Hajime. The slight blush that colored her cheeks gave her just the perfect amount of cuteness. Naturally, Hajime wasn’t fazed by it in the slightest. Her charms did nothing to sway him, and he casually turned back to Gahard.

  “And in return you want me to make you a ship, right? How many times do I have to say it, there’s nothing in that for me. In fact, I’d only be losing out in an exchange like that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean, Nagumo-san!?” Liliana screamed. Hajime ignored that too.

  Shocked, Gahard replied.

  “Come on, we’re talking about the princess of a kingdom here! How can you call yourself a man if you don’t want her!?”

  “Don’t lump me in together with you. I’m not trying to collect a bunch of girls here. If anything, the fact that she’s a princess would make things more of a pain.”

  “Heeey, over here! I’m still here you know! Please stop talking about me like I’m not in the room! Listen to me!”

  Liliana waved her hands in the air, trying to remind people she existed. Unfortunately, she was still ignored.

  “You really have no interest in authority, huh? Or perhaps you’re just not interested in the princess.”

  “Both.”

  “Okay okay, I get it, you’re ignoring me. I’m not important enough for anyone to listen to. I guess it’s because you’re not interested in me, huh...Sniffle... Even though I’m the princess...” Tears trailed down Liliana’s cheeks and the hope vanished from her eyes.

  “Liliana-sama... you poor thing...”

  “Lily... Even though you’re the princess. I’m so sorry...”

  “L-Lily! I’ll listen to you! Please, cheer up!” Helina dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief while Shizuku and Kouki tried to console her.

  Hajime watched them out of the corner of his eye while simultaneously monitoring Gahard’s reaction. Seeing as he had no intention of giving up, Hajime sighed and spoke.

  “Right now, there’s nothing I want so give it up. Maybe you’ll stumble across something you can use as a bargaining chip later... so just wait until them.”

  “Nnngh, is there really nothing you want? Nothing I can do for you? Tell me truly. All humans want something. The only people who say they want nothing have stopped being human, or are plotting something. Then again, I suppose you are a devil.”

  “You trying to pick a fight? Well, I guess I get what you’re saying. But...”

  Hajime wrapped his arms around Yue and Shea.

  “As you can see, everything I want is already in my arms. What else could I possibly ask for?”

  So stop wasting your time trying to negotiate. Yue snuggled up to Hajime, while Shea was still in shock over the fact that Hajime had hugged her just as tight as he’d hugged Yue. A second later, her ears and tail started twitching happily, and she hugged Hajime back. Her eyes met Yue’s and the two of them giggled happily to each other.

  “Ah, so that’s how it is. Tch, I can’t stand to watch this flirting. I’m going up to the deck for some fresh air...”

  Gahard got to his feet with an annoyed huff and stalked off. Hajime once again leaned back into the sofa and returned to looking like he was doing nothing. Shizuku and Suzu snuck bashful glances at him, while Kouki and Ryutarou were unable to look at him. Flirting so openly had made the atmosphere rather awkward. It didn’t help that Liliana was looking up at the ceiling with dead eyes. However, the girl standing behind Hajime and the one at his feet were unaffected by the uncomfortable atmosphere.

  “Uuu, how come it’s only Yue and Shea!? H-Hey Hajime-kun, when you said everything you wanted was already in your arms, you meant that figuratively, right? It’s not just Yue and Shea you care about, right?”

  “M-Master. I understand it’s an odd request to make moments after being kicked by you, but would you please embrace me as well? I, too, wish to be in your arms...”

  Kaori hugged Hajime from behind while Tio lifted herself off the ground and begged. Yue lifted her head off Hajime’s chest, looked at the two of them, and said, “Too bad.”

  “Wh-What’s that supposed to mean!?”

  “Wha!? I cannot let that go unchallenged, Yue!”

  Kaori and Tio bristled at Yue’s remark. Yue titled her head and put a finger on her chin, thinking. Then she pointed to herself and Shea.

  “Winners.”

  Then she p
ointed to Kaori and Tio.

  “Losers.”

  She then went back to nuzzling Hajime’s chest. It was at that point that Kaori snapped.

  “Fufufufu...You’re a weird one, Yue. Sometimes you say things that just don’t make any sense... Did you hit your head somewhere?”

  Kaori swayed back and forth, and her sword-wielding demon stand flared to life behind her in a flurry of wind and snow.

  “Indeed, there appears to be something wrong with Yue. It falls upon us to correct her, Kaori.”

  Tio staggered to her feet. A black dragon wreathed in an aura of pitch spread its wings and roared behind her.

  “And there’s one simple way to do that.”

  “Indeed, when something is broken...”

  “You beat it back into shape!” “One must beat it into shape!”

  Fighting spirit started oozing out of the two of them. Kouki, Ryutarou, and Suzu hugged each other tight, terrified of the pressure Kaori and Tio were emitting.

  “I-Is that really Kaori?” Kouki muttered.

  Yue once again lifted her head off of Hajime’s chest and grinned faintly at the two of them.

  “Don’t do it. You know you don’t stand a chance if I got serious, right?”

  It really irritated them to hear that familiar phrase come from Yue’s mouth.

  “Bring it on!” “I’d like to see you try!” As expected, neither of them were backing down.

  “Mmm, do your worst.”

  Yue provoked them even further. Dark clouds formed behind her, and her trademark lightning dragon appeared to complete the trio.

  “W-Wait, you three! Calm down! And Nagumo-kun, don’t just sit there, help me stop them!”

  Shizuku desperately tried to mediate between them. Unfortunately, even though they should have just been illusions, the pressure coming off of the demon, black dragon, and lightning dragon was all too real. She backed off and looked to Hajime for help. However, Hajime’s response was none too promising.

  “Can’t do it. Too tired...”

  He sunk deeper into the sofa. He obviously wasn’t going to move. In the first place, fights like these were an everyday occurrence. It was how the three of them communicated, really. Hence why Hajime didn’t particularly mind.