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

  “Haaah... Really?”

  It wasn’t a very scientific explanation, but it seemed that Hajime had at least given it some thought. Shea stared blankly at Hajime, wondering where he was trying to go with this. Hajime pulled Shea close and ruffled her ears some more.

  “Basically, you’re not the kind of person that would have one of those. Besides, even if you don’t have a weird illusion behind you, you have two perfectly good bunny ears on top of you. You should be proud of those. At the very least, they’re good enough for me.”

  “Ugh... I wish I had more experience. I never know what to say during times like these. If only I was more girly...”

  Shea blushed and fidgeted absently for a few seconds before deciding to lean into Hajime. Her ears perked up, and she pulled Hajime’s hand closer.

  “Fufu. You don’t let any opportunity slip by, do you, Shea?”

  “Yeah. She got us there. Though it was a splendid surprise attack... I can’t believe you would try and surpass your master.”

  “Huh!?” Shea’s ears shot straight up. She turned around to see both Yue and Kaori smiling at her.

  “Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  “Rooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!”

  Kaori’s demon and Yue’s dragon growled ominously at her.

  Shea bolted. Naturally, Yue and Kaori gave chase. For some reason, the residents of Erisen cheered whenever they heard another explosion.

  “I’m so glad this city is peaceful.”

  Hajime’s words were drowned out by the sound of rumbling thunder.

  A Falcon’s Daughter is Still a Falcon

  There was a loud bang, and several flashes of crimson light shot through the sky. Hajime’s railgun-accelerated bullets shot straight through the wolf-shaped monsters. Each bullet blew up a monster’s head.

  “Aww. Thanks to your artifacts, the only time we ever get to fight is when we’re in a labyrinth, Hajime-san.”

  “That’s just how it is. Master’s artifacts are so powerful that at long range, they make magic look like a joke.”

  Shea and Tio chatted while they watched Hajime mow down an entire pack of wolves. Kaori smiled awkwardly and said, “I’m not sure you could even call those artifacts... They’re more like weapons out of a sci-fi.”

  Yue tilted her head in confusion and muttered, “Sci-fi?”

  “It’s short for science fiction. Basically stories that are based off of science but aren’t very realistic. There’s guns in our world, but they’re not like the railguns Hajime-kun’s made. You’d only see something like that in books or movies.”

  “Well, I had to use the cheat known as magic to make them work so I’d say they’re more ‘fantasy’ than sci-fi.”

  Hajime walked up to the girls while reloading Donner. He’d already wiped out the monsters. Myu was sitting on his shoulders. She seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit. She’d just had front row seats to a monster massacre, and it appeared she’d quite liked what she’d seen.

  “Daddy, I want to try using that thing that goes bang, too!”

  Yep, Myu was really enjoying herself.

  Kaori, who tended to be sensible in all things not involving Hajime, furrowed her brows.

  “Hajime-kun, you’re a bad influence on Myu-chan. She’s saying some really ominous things with a smile on her face now. I’m worried what kind of woman she’ll grow up into.”

  “Well, you’ve got a point, but... this world’s pretty dangerous.”

  “Yeah. You’re being naive, Kaori. Here it’s kill or be killed. Even if your enemy doesn’t look like they’re going to kill you, kill them anyway. In fact, if your eyes meet, kill them. It’s best to have at least one kill a day. You can only get what you want by wading through a sea of blood and climbing over a mountain of corpses. That’s the kind of place this world is.”

  “You’re way too bloodthirsty, Yue! We’re not in Fist of the North Star! It’s true that this world is more dangerous than ours, but it’s not that violent!”

  Yue ignored Kaori and turned to Myu. In an imposing voice, she asked, “Do you desire strength?”

  “Wait, Yue, that line’s supposed—” Before Hajime could finish, Myu interrupted. “I do! I want to be able to make bad people explode like Daddy!”

  Yue nodded solemnly.

  “Very well. Then Hajime shall grant you strength.”

  She implored Hajime with her gaze to let Myu shoot Donner. Hajime’s expression stiffened. Not only would letting her shoot Donner be dangerous, it really wasn’t good to teach a little girl how to kill. Hajime hesitated, showing a rare display of common sense.

  Myu hopped off of Hajime’s shoulders, ran over to Yue, and turned back to Hajime. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, and his common sense vanished.

  “Alright, you can shoot.”

  “Don’t you think you gave in a little fast there!?”

  Hajime pulled some ore out of his Treasure Trove and began transmuting. Red sparks flew from his hands as he worked. All of the guns he possessed had too much recoil for Myu. So he made a toy gun that she could fire safely. He crafted this gun with even more care than he’d crafted Donner. He named his newly forged toy gun Donna. It wasn’t strong enough to kill anything, but it was still powerful enough to have some fun with. The exquisite craftsmanship of the toy revolver showed just how skilled a Synergist he really was. Myu’s eyes began to sparkle as she looked at it. It was as if she’d received the birthday present she’d always wanted. Though, not many four-year-old girls wanted a revolver as a present.

  “Alright Myu, I’m gonna teach you how to shoot. But first you have to promise me you won’t pull the trigger without my permission.”

  “I promise!”

  Her cheerful reply was at odds with the murderous weapon she held in her hand. “Haah, I’m not sure this is a good idea...” Kaori’s muttered worries were swept away by the wind.

  And so, Hajime began teaching Myu how to shoot. He set up a target ten meters away, and showed her the Weaver Stance.

  “Alright Myu, this may be a weaker gun, but it still has a lot of recoil. If it hurts too much to hold, just let go of the gun.”

  Myu nodded. Then, without hesitation, she fired. There was a soft pop, and Donna bucked in her hands. She didn’t even scratch the target. Myu pouted, and Hajime consoled her with a smile.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not that easy to hit a target. You’ll get better with practice.”

  He pulled out another set of practice bullets.

  “Hajime-san, Hajime-san, I want to try shooting too, if possible...”

  It looked like watching Myu shoot had piqued Shea’s interest.

  “You have Drucken’s bombardment mode, don’t you?”

  “I know, but that’s different. I want to try the precision shooting you do.”

  “I said this to Myu earlier, but it’s not easy to hit a target.”

  Hajime was sure Shea didn’t really want to practice precision shooting. If anything, he suspected she just wanted to experience the feeling of shooting a gun. And it looked like Yue, Tio, and Kaori were all interested as well, judging by the expectant look in their eyes. Hajime sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and lent the girls Donner and Schlag.

  “Here I go! Take that!”

  Shea wasn’t prepared for the recoil, and her shot went wide.

  “Hmm, despite the simple principles it works off of, this weapon is quite difficult to handle.”

  Thanks to Tio’s draconic strength the recoil didn’t affect her, but her aim was still off.

  “Kaori, the target’s over there.”

  “I could say the same to you, Yue. You’re supposed to be shooting in front of you.”

  Neither Yue nor Kaori could hit their targets either. After a few shots, Yue at least got the hang of it enough to graze the edge of the target.

  “Well, I expected that to happen,” Hajime said with a wry smile.

  What he didn’t expect though, was the speed at which Myu learned.r />
  “Daddy, I need a new target.”

  Hajime had been watching Myu out of the corner of his eye to make sure she didn’t do anything dangerous. So he hadn’t properly seen her shots. He pulled out some bullets, not realizing at first that she’d asked for a target, not more ammunition. He looked over at Myu’s target, and saw that she’d pulverized it already.

  “Myu, let’s try putting the target a little farther away this time.”

  “Bring it on!”

  Hajime made a mental note to speak with Tio about the kinds of words she taught Myu and put the target twice as far out this time. Twenty meters away. Myu took the stance Hajime had taught her and fired.

  Her first shot missed by a mile. Just as Hajime thought he’d overestimated her, he watched her second shot graze the edge of the target. Yue and the others were watching her now as well. Myu’s third shot was only ten centimeters away from the center.

  “Hey, are you kidding me?”

  Myu’s fourth shot hit the target dead center. Her fifth and sixth shots were a few centimeters off, but they were still within the bulls-eye.

  “M-Myu, you think you’d be interested in shooting a moving target now?”

  “I wanna try it!”

  Within ten shots, Myu was able to shoot down the practice plane Hajime was moving around for her. Even when he tried moving the planes in unpredictable patterns, Myu would be able to read their movements after a few missed shots.

  “Want to try sniping now?”

  “Yeah!”

  Myu held out her hand and Hajime crafted a miniature sniper rifle for her. He gave it to her and showed her the proper posture for sniping. Myu did as she was instructed and tucked in her elbows, stood up straight, and pressed the gun’s stock against her cheek. She looked through the scope at her target and saw a dummy plane hovering one hundred meters away. No matter how good she was, no one was expecting Myu to hit this. But she betrayed all expectations. With a shot even a pro sniper would be proud of, she shot down Hajime’s dummy plane.

  “Daddy, what’s next?”

  “Oh, uh, here, try this.”

  Hajime looked at Myu with newfound respect. Myu proceeded to cheerfully shoot down the next ten planes Hajime prepared for her. It was only the moment she pulled the trigger that Myu’s eyes narrowed into the sharp glare of a falcon. Once he started moving the targets again, even Myu couldn’t get them every time. Still, her accuracy was uncanny. Enough to leave Hajime and the others dumbfounded.

  “Hajime-kun. Are you sure Myu-chan isn’t your real daughter?”

  At Kaori’s words, everyone turned to Hajime. It was clear to everyone that her talent as a marksman was unparalleled.

  “Mmrgh, I’m not as good as Daddy yet. I was off by five millimeters.”

  “......”

  Most people wouldn’t even have noticed they were off by five millimeters. After seeing his daughter’s unbelievable talent, he couldn’t bring himself to deny Kaori’s accusation. He simply stared off into the distance, wondering what the future held.

  The Evolution of the Bunny Girl

  Hajime and the others were currently heading from Brooke to the independent merchant city of Fuhren. They’d taken on a request to guard a caravan heading to Fuhren, and they were in the middle of taking a short break before resuming their journey. The fields around the road were overgrown with weeds which swayed gently in the mild breeze.

  The highway they were on took them roughly westward, but it snaked through the fields in a convoluted series of twists and turns. Far to the north, mountains dotted the horizon. To the south, one would normally be able to see the Reisen Gorge, but right now the magnificent view of the gorge was blocked by a series of low hills.

  “Haah! Hiyaah! Take thaaaat!”

  The merchants and the other adventurers hired to guard the caravan were all lounging around, smoking or drinking. But a short distance away, one could hear a cute girl’s spirited yells. Wondering what was going on, the other adventurers all turned to see a bunny girl doing a rather strange dance. She was wearing one of those revealing outfits members of the rabbit tribe were fond of, and every time she jumped her massive knockers bounced up and down. Naturally, all of the male adventurers and merchants found themselves unable to look away.

  “Hey, whitehead. What’s Shea-chan doing?” One of the adventurers asked Hajime. He was from Brooke so he’d been around for all the fuss Hajime had caused back in the town, and they’d talked enough along the way that neither of them felt any need to stand on formality. Incidentally, whitehead was the nickname the adventurers had unanimously given Hajime.

  “She’s practicing martial arts. Though it’s all stuff I taught her and I don’t really know martial arts myself, so it’s probably not the correct forms or anything.”

  “Huh...? Never thought I’d see a rabbit girl trying to learn martial arts. Her hair’s a weird color too, so maybe she’s just different.”

  Considering most rabbitmen were timid, peace-loving creatures, it certainly was strange that Shea was actively trying to master martial arts. Some of the other adventurers who’d been listening in on the conversation nodded in understanding, then turned back to Shea.

  “Hiyaaaaa! Haaah! Uryaaaaaaaah!”

  Though her shouts were somewhat lacking in vigor, her movements were impressive. As she dashed forward and launched an elbow strike, her boobs jiggled. As she followed that up with a powerful roundhouse kick, her boobs jiggled. From there she jumped into the air and fired off another roundhouse kick. Upon landing, she shot out a palm strike, and naturally, her boobs jiggled.

  “Nice going, Shea-chan! You look great!”

  “You got this, Shea-chan! Keep going!”

  “Yeah! Show us another jump! Give it all you’ve got!”

  “You’re the best, Shea-chan! Puff your chest out for more oomph!”

  “You’ve gotta raise your legs higher when you kick! High enough that we can see it all!”

  The adventurers, or more specifically the male adventurers, were all entranced by Shea’s martial dance. Naturally, Hajime wasn’t going to just let these adventurers catcall her. If they wanted to watch, they’d have to pay the price of admission. Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang.

  “Bwah!” “Gah!” “Ngh!” “Novembeeeeeeer!” “Fothermuckeeeeer!” The adventurers who’d been cheering a second ago flew through the air. As they landed on the ground, the female adventurers and merchants all gave them cold stares.

  “Huh? Why’d you suddenly start firing your gun, Hajime-san?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Keep practicing, Shea.”

  “O-Okay... If you say so.”

  Shea had cut her training short when she heard Hajime fire his revolvers. Though she had no idea why several adventurers were currently lying on the ground, she nevertheless did as Hajime said and resumed her training.

  “Damn erotic rabbit... It’s scary how she doesn’t even realize what she’s doing.”

  “Like you’re one to talk, Yue.”

  Yue looked genuinely awestruck by Shea’s natural ability to seduce people, even though she was no different. Hajime had gotten used to ignoring how lacking in self-awareness his companions were, but he couldn’t help but mutter, “You’re just as erotic you know...” For the next half an hour or so, Hajime split his time between correcting Shea’s forms and shooting the male adventurers every time they regained consciousness. The female adventurers, on the other hand, spent most of the break chastising their male companions.

  “Huh?” “Mmm?” “Hweh?”

  Just as their break was wrapping up, Hajime, Yue, and Shea suddenly glanced toward the hills. Noticing the sudden change, one of the adventurers asked Hajime, “What’s up, whitehead?”

  “Looks like we’re under attack. There’s an armed group headed toward us.”

  Veteran adventurers that they were, no one asked Hajime how he knew that. Instead, they just simply drew their weapons and shouted out warnings to the adventurers farther back. A
second later, thirty or so bandits crested a nearby hill and loosed battle cries as they charged toward the caravan. The merchants hurriedly retreated to the safety of their wagons while the adventurers prepared to fight. But before they could loose any spells or arrows, Hajime held out a hand to stop them. They shot him confused looks, but Hajime ignored them and turned to Shea.

  “Shea, these guys are the perfect training dummies to test your martial arts on. Wipe them out.”

  “Huh? Ummm, you mean by myself?”

  “Yeah, by yourself.”

  “Barehanded?”

  “Yep.”

  The other adventurers gave Hajime incredulous looks. Surely he wasn’t going to ask a single rabbit girl to take on thirty bandits all by herself? Even those who had an inkling of how strong Shea really was were aghast. “He’s a demon...” they muttered to themselves. As expected, Shea didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

  “Shea. I’ll consider rewarding you if—”

  “Hell yeaaaaaaaaaah! Bring it on, bitches!”

  Hajime didn’t even get to finish saying, “you beat them all” before Shea cut him off. She turned to face the charging bandits and, with a fearless smile, slammed her fists together, creating a massive shockwave. A huge gust of wind rippled outward, and the bandits all turned to Shea. A vulgar smile spread across their leader’s face.

  “Oi, don’t lay a finger on that white-haired kid’s bunny, you louts. I’m gonna make her my—”

  “Dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

  Before he could finish his statement, Shea dashed up to him and punched him in the face with all her might. He was lifted into the air and sent flying past the far side of the hill. Shea had leaped forward with such force that there was a crater where she’d been standing a moment before. The other bandits shivered in fear. But they quickly recovered their wits. While Shea’s punch may have been powerful, they were certain they could take her as long as they surrounded her and fought cautiously. In response, Shea dropped into a proper stance. She kept her hands high, near her face, with one foot slightly raised off the ground. One of the bandits charged her, his sword held high. But before he could swing it down on her, Shea fired off a lightning-quick front kick. It hit the poor bandit with the force of a cannonball.