Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest: Short Stories (Premium) Read online

  Chapter I: Detour Compilation

  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 laid 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.

  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 snuck 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 wear 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.

  A Man’s Dream

  �
�To me, research is whatever I can pour the most of my passion and enthusiasm into.”

  Those were the words written at the beginning of his research notebook. The faded gray binding and peeling yellow pages spoke of the book’s age, while the numerous smudges and ink blots spoke of its extensive use. Such wear and tear spoke just as much about its owner’s passion as the words written down in it.

  Every single page was crammed to the margins with neat, slender handwriting. Research results, hypotheses, experiments; they were all recorded between the dull gray covers. But at the very end was a footnote whose very letters seemed steeped in frustration with the way they were written. It told of how the owner of this notebook had been unable to complete his research.

  “Unfortunately, I was unable to achieve the ideal that I sought. I suspect most of it is that guy’s fault. Actually no, I’m sure of it. It’s all that damn bastard’s fault.”

  Halfway through, the note went from being solemnly written to a grade schooler’s whining. But if one has the forbearance to ignore such childish writing and turn the page, this is how it continues:

  “To whoever ends up finding my notebook, I pray that you, like me, are one who chases after the truth. I leave all of my research behind in the hopes that you will complete what I could not. That you will be able to achieve the ideals I sought. I beg of you, don’t let my research end in vain.”

  A faint, “Hmmm” broke the silence as the boy reading the notebook finished the last sentence. He closed the book with a slight thump and gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll clear up any lingering regrets you have. I’ll inherit your will and finish what you started.”

  The boy’s whispered mutterings were soon swallowed up by the vast silence of the room, but the determination behind them lingered. From the corner of the room, a pair of lifeless, mechanical eyes quietly watched over the boy.

  Clanking noises echoed throughout the room. Hajime Nagumo was currently engrossed in putting together a plethora of newly crafted mechanical parts. He was sitting in Oscar Orcus’ workshop, located at the very bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth.

  Gouts of crimson mana illuminated the room at odd intervals as he continued transmuting. There was a golden-haired beauty sitting next to him, watching the whole spectacle. At the same time, her slender fingers were skillfully sewing something. Said beauty was none other than Yue— the vampire princess Hajime had rescued in the depths of hell.

  While Hajime was busy checking over his new equipment, Yue was putting the finishing touches on their wardrobe. She had sewn them some sturdy travel clothes, some more comfortable everyday wear, and even some more suggestive outfits for their night adventures. Sewing had become like second nature to her after so many days spent practicing.

  “...Perfect, it’s done.”

  Hajime’s satisfied voice echoed throughout the quiet room. Yue stopped what she was doing to look over at him, and saw that he was experimentally flexing his artificial arm.

  “You finished your arm upgrades?”

  “Yeah. I’m gonna give it a test run. Wanna watch?”

  “Okay.”

  The artifact Hajime had created combined his knowledge of modern weaponry with his game sense and the magic of this world to create something truly fearsome. Because it all used knowledge from another world, Yue found each and every one of his inventions to be fascinating. It had been even more exciting recently, as ever since Hajime had finished transmuting all the necessities they’d need for their journey, he’d been spending a long time thinking about what else to add to his arm to make life simpler.

  Hajime made a metallic fist with his hand and thrust it out toward one of the practice targets lying around the workshop. Though it was still a bit rough around the edges, his fist boasted quite a large amount of firepower.

  He grinned playfully as he saw how excited Yue was.

  “Here we go! This is every man’s dream! Rocket punch!” With a low bang, his left fist burst out of its socket and flew toward the target. It left a trail of sparks in its wake as it rocketed forward. Then, with a thunderous crash, the fist pulverized its target.

  Hajime grinned like a little boy and poured mana into his left arm. As if connected by an invisible thread, his hand zoomed back into place. There was a satisfying robotic clunk as it reattached itself to his arm.

  “What do you think?” Hajime asked Yue. He was certain she must have been just as moved as he was. However...

  “...That’s it?” All he received was a somewhat puzzled reply. If anything, she seemed a little disappointed, even. Her indifference left Hajime nearly speechless.

  “Wh-What do you mean, ‘that’s it’? Wasn’t that amazing? I just threw out a rocket punch! It’s the kind of awesome move that one-shots your enemy and then comes flying back to you!”

  “But... your railgun’s stronger.”

  Hajime was left scrambling, trying to explain the appeal of his rocket punch, but he only succeeded in leaving Yue even more confused. Her unintentionally cutting reply left him mentally defeated.

  At a loss for words, Hajime could only stare blankly at Yue for a few minutes before going, “Wait, there’s still more!” and suddenly smiling.

  “It’s true that it doesn’t have much power compared to the railgun, but there’s a huge surprise factor associated with having a fist suddenly come flying at your face.”

  “But the railgun’s faster, too. Wouldn’t it be an even better surprise attack?”

  Another flawless rebuttal. Hajime was swaying unsteadily, but he wasn’t down yet! He refused to abandon his romantic notions of the rocket punch.

  “I-It’ll come in handy in case I ever lose my weapon!”

  “So losing your hand as well counts as coming in handy?”

  “......”

  “Besides, even if you did lose your gun, it’d be faster to use Supersonic Step to get in close and hit them directly with your Steel Arms skill or something.”

  Hajime detached his left hand and threw it to the ground. He then reached into his Treasure Trove and pulled out a different left hand before smiling dangerously at Yue and brandishing his new hand.

  “Fine, Yue. Challenge accepted.”

  “...What? I’m sorry Hajime, I have no idea what you’re saying.”

  “You might be right, the rocket punch might just be a little too weak a weapon for me, though I’m sure for anyone else it would be perfect... but anyway, let me show you my other new weapon. Feel free to faint in awe at any time.”

  “...Umm, I still don’t—”

  Yue was only getting more confused by Hajime’s nonsensical declarations. But for the sake of a man’s dream, he couldn’t back down. He started pouring mana into his arm, and his hand started glowing a hot red. His fist was burning bright with the heat of a man’s dreams. This was his second new weapon.

  “Heat knuckle!” Hajime’s expression was as dazzling as his blazing fist. However...

  “Umm... so what else does it do?” For some reason, Yue was asking for more. She was scratching her cheek awkwardly, and it was clear her soul had not been in the least bit moved by Hajime’s stunning display.

  Hajime’s smile stiffened a little.

  “...Okay, so see here, Yue. This is a fist that can melt literally anything it touches. Isn’t it cool?”

  “...Why melt them when you can just kill them?”

  A very apt question. Hajime’s brute strength and skills would be more than enough to annihilate most enemies. There was no need to add insult to injury and melt the opponent too. In fact, his vibration cannon and railgun were already strong enough. That was why most of his previous additions to his arm had been developed with convenience in mind more than anything else.

  However, somewhere along the way he had let his boyish dreams get the better of him, and had started adding these useless features. Now he had to stare down Yue and prove their worth. Hajime turned off his heat knuckle and put both hands on Yue’
s slender shoulders.

  “Think about it, Yue. What if we have to fight something that resists physical attacks really well, like that scorpion from before? If I have this, just touching it will still cause it damage. Or if we somehow get trapped inside a dungeon somewhere, this’ll help us quickly dig our way out.”

  “...Okay.”

  Yue could feel the passionate fervor in Hajime’s voice. But still, she thought to herself, Couldn’t you just use Lightning Field or Transmutation or something to get us out of those situations anyway?

  She didn’t say it aloud this time though, realizing it must have been important to him somehow. And because she loved him, Yue smiled awkwardly and tried to reassure Hajime’s flagging confidence.

  “...Y-Yeah it’s pretty cool.”

  “......”

  Hajime wordlessly took off this hand too, then threw it to the ground. Clearly, he wasn’t looking for sympathy. Undaunted, he pulled yet another hand out of his Treasure Trove. He gave Yue a smile that screamed, “This one’ll knock your socks off for sure!” and activated it. This hand turned his arm into a drill.

  “Behold, Yue, my final form! Everything you saw before was nothing more than the prelude. Be swept away in a torrent of emotion as you regale my final arm!”

  His speech was getting more and more cringeworthy by the second, though he wasn’t aware of it himself. He then poured mana into his arm, activating the third of his “real men’s weapons” series—

  “This is the power of my transforming drill!”

  He looked over at Yue triumphantly while his drill-arm began spinning. This time for sure, she has to be impressed. Or so he thought.

  “...Yeah. It’s cool. It’s okay, you can stop now.”

  “......” There was an almost cruel kindness in Yue’s eyes as she gently told Hajime it was okay.

  As far as Yue was concerned, all of his new items seemed pointless. That being said, there was no telling what the future had in store for them, so maybe even useless looking things might have some value later down the road. Surely their time to shine would come eventually. Deep inside her heart, Yue hoped it would, for Hajime’s sake if nothing else.