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Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 2 Page 11


  “Crystal Coffin.”

  “Fweh!? W-Wait—” Realizing her folly, she quickly tried to call for a ceasefire, but naturally her opponent wasn’t going to listen. Thinking quickly, she dropped her hammer and tried to jump back, but the ice magic had already frozen her feet and was crawling up her legs... Before long, everything but her head was encased in a tomb of ice.

  “I-It’s so cold! Please let me out... Yue-saaan.”

  “...I win.”

  Of course, the two girls that had been fighting so ferociously were Yue and Shea. After their ten harsh days of training, Shea’s final challenge had been to fight a mock battle against Yue. Her conditions for passing had been to land even a single scratch on Yue. The end result being...

  “Waaah... I didn’t— Wait, right there! There on your cheek! There’s a scratch, Yue-san! My attack hit you! Ahaha, I really did it! I won!”

  There was indeed a small scratch on Yue’s cheek. One of the pieces of gravel must have gotten past Yue’s defenses and grazed her. It was barely even noticeable, but a win was a win. Shea had cleared her trial.

  She smiled triumphantly as she pointed at Yue’s cheek. Snot was dribbling out of her nose from how cold she felt, but her smug smile stayed plastered to her face. Her rabbit ears were twitching happily too. It was only natural. Not only did this signify her graduation from training, but a very important promise she’d made with Yue had been riding on her victory.

  Though Yue was not very keen on seeing it fulfilled. Thus—

  “...I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thanks to the fact that her automatic regeneration healed it almost instantly, Yue was able to play dumb. Pouting, Yue turned away as she said that.

  “Wha—!? You cheater! I saw it... I mean, it’s gone now, but still! I know it was there! Quit playing dumb, you meanie! And hurry up and get me out of this! It keeps getting colder and colder... Huh, I’m starting to feel a little sleepy too...” Shea’s head started drooping and more snot dribbled out of her nose. She might’ve died from the cold if that kept up. Reluctantly, with a big sigh, Yue dispelled the magic she had cast.

  “Achoo! Achoo! Waah, that was cold. Think I nearly crossed over to the other side there.” Shea sneezed cutely a few times before blowing her nose on some nearby leaves. Once she was done, she looked back at Yue with a serious expression. Noticing her gaze, Yue’s own expression turned steadily more sour. Enough that her poker face actually crumbled, in fact.

  “Yue-san, I won.”

  “...Yeah.”

  “You promised, remember?”

  “...Yeah.”

  “That if I hit you even once in these ten days... you’d let me join you guys on your journey. That was the promise, right?”

  “......Yeah.”

  “Or at the very least that you’d try and help me convince Hajime-san.”

  “......I wonder what’s for dinner today.”

  “Hey! Don’t try and change the subject! And if you’re going to do it, you could at least be a little less obvious about it! Besides, you only ever drink Hajime-san’s blood for food, don’t you!? Why do you suddenly care about dinner!? You better help me, okay!? Because if you say we should do something, Hajime-san almost always says yes!”

  Yue was starting to get annoyed by Shea’s incessant badgering. But as Shea had said, Yue made a promise. If Shea managed to land a single blow on her, no matter how glancing it was, it would count. And Yue would allow Shea to accompany them on their travels. On top of that, she’d help try and convince Hajime together with Shea to get him to consent.

  Currently, Shea’s greatest wish was to travel together with those two. Half of it was because she didn’t want to burden her family any longer, but the other half was just because she wanted to spend more time with Hajime and Yue.

  However, she knew no matter how she asked she’d just be coldly turned down. That much was clear from their attitude. That was why she’d come up with the idea of having Yue make that promise.

  Shea had realized how soft Hajime was on Yue, and had decided to weasel past his defenses using her as a weapon. More than anything, Shea was also a girl. She knew exactly how Yue felt about Hajime. After all, she felt the exact same way. Naturally, that meant the reverse had to be true too. Yue must have realized how Shea felt about Hajime, and chances were she probably wasn’t happy about it. Hence why Shea needed Yue to accept her first, before anything else

  She had no intention of stealing Hajime away from Yue. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind, honestly. Even leaving Hajime’s feelings aside, Shea really did respect Yue, and wanted to get closer to her. Her feelings were most likely influenced by the fact that Yue and Hajime were the only “comrades” she had ever found. Put simply, Shea just wanted to be friends with them. That way she could be close to the man she loved, and the girl who also loved the man she loved. That was the future she dreamed of.

  The real question was why Yue consented to making such a promise. There was nothing in it for her. Something like 20% of it was just because she felt some sympathy for Shea. When she had first heard Shea’s story at the bottom of Reisen Gorge, she had initially thought that Shea had been far more blessed than she had been. But even then, she couldn’t help but feel like Shea really was a “comrade.” And that faint feeling of camaraderie had led Yue to spoil Shea just a bit.

  The remaining 80% was... simply because she was stubborn. Shea had taken advantage of that to lure Yue into making the promise. She had framed it like this: “If you really think I’m just in the way, then force me out. If you can’t, then that just proves I deserve to be with Hajime-san.” Shea had hoped to goad Yue into agreeing by using her feelings for Hajime. Had it been any girl other than Shea, Yue wouldn’t have cared. But, however slightly, Yue had still accepted Shea as a comrade. And when she’d seen how zealous Shea had been in her training, showing just how strong her feelings were, Yue couldn’t back down. As a result, the promise had been made, and Shea won.

  “...Haaah. Fine. I’ll keep my promise.”

  “Really!? No taking it back now! You’re going to have to help me!”

  “......Okay.”

  “You still don’t sound all that convincing, but... you’ll really help me, right?”

  “...So annoying.” Grudgingly, ever so grudgingly, Yue conceded the win to Shea. Shea was still a little worried about Yue’s reply, but from the looks of it, Yue was just like Hajime in that she would never go back on her word.

  It was nearly time for Hajime to finish training the other Haulia as well. Shea, who was smiling happily, and Yue, who was frowning unhappily, both made their way over to where Hajime was.

  They found Hajime leaning against a nearby tree, his arms folded and his eyes closed. When he sensed their presence, he opened his eyes and turned to look at them. He found it curious that they were wearing completely opposite expressions, and he raised a hand to them in greeting.

  “Yo. How’d it go? Did you two finish your duel or whatever?” Hajime knew they had some kind of bet riding on a match of some sort. It would be odd if he didn’t, as he was the one who had crafted Shea’s hammer. He still remembered the night Shea had come up to him, begging him to make her a weapon that could help her defeat Yue. Yue herself had no objections to it, and all they would tell Hajime when he asked was that there was a bet of some kind they’d made. He’d figured even with a strong weapon Yue would have no problem winning, so he’d made the hammer for Shea.

  After all, 9 times out of 10 Yue would’ve won. Hajime had seen just how strong Yue was back down in the abyss. Even if she had the same ability to manipulate her mana freely, Shea had lived a peaceful life thus far.

  However, judging from their expressions, it seemed to Hajime that his guess had been off the mark. He internally marveled at the fact that Shea had been able to win. Still beaming, Shea started talking to Hajime.

  “Hajime-san, Hajime-san! Listen to this! I finally beat Yue-san! It was amazing! Man, I wish I could have shown you
how cool I was! When Yue-san found out she’d lost, she— Guooh!?” With sweeping gestures, she started excitedly recounting the details of her fight. Annoyed by how Shea was getting carried away, Yue jumped up and delivered a slap so powerful that it sent Shea flying through the air. She fell to the ground with a thud and lay there twitching awkwardly. Yue harrumphed unhappily and turned her back to Shea, while Hajime grinned knowingly before turning back to Yue.

  “So? How’d it go?” He was more interested in the contents of the match than their outcome. Frankly speaking, he found it hard to believe Shea could ever have beaten Yue. That was why he wanted to hear Yue’s appraisal of her. Yue’s expression clearly implied that she didn’t want to talk about it, but she answered reluctantly nonetheless.

  “...Her aptitude for magic is the same as yours.”

  “Now that’s a surprise. What a waste, considering her abilities... So? That can’t be all, can it? After all, she’s able to use that massive hammer.”

  “Yeah. She’s really good at body strengthening. Insanely good, even. She’s a monster in her own right.”

  “...Wow. How strong compared to us?”

  Hajime narrowed his eyes in curiosity. Yue’s assessment of Shea was a lot higher than he’d expected. And her sour expression answered Hajime’s question far better than any words could have. After a moment of thinking about it, Yue met Hajime’s gaze and gave him a more concrete answer.

  “Maybe close to 60% of your strength, Hajime... When you’re not using Limit Break, anyway.”

  “Seriously? Is that the strongest she can make herself?”

  “Yeah... For now, anyway. She could get stronger with more training.”

  “Wow. That is pretty crazy.”

  Though he didn’t show it, Hajime was shocked at how monstrous Shea’s strength was. He looked down at the monster in question.

  60% of his strength without Limit Break still meant that all of Shea’s stats could easily clear 6000. That was more than 1.5 times the stats of an average hero using Limit Break. Calling her strength monstrous was no understatement. No wonder she’d been able to land a hit on Yue. You’d never be able to guess it with how she looks now, though. Hajime thought, as he watched tears well up in Shea’s eyes as she cradled her cheek.

  Half-dumbfounded, half-amazed, he watched as she finally noticed his gaze, stood up, and walked over while struggling to keep her emotions in check.

  A few feet away from him, she straightened her back and squared her shoulders. Her blue-white hair was fluttering in the wind and her rabbit ears were standing straight up. This was going to be the most important request of her life. Or perhaps... confession would be the better word for it. Trembling, her expression stiff, she nevertheless took a few more determined steps forward. Finally, she looked him straight in the eyes, and Hajime saw the resolve burning within them.

  “Hajime-san. Please let me accompany you on your journey. Please!”

  “No.”

  “Just like that!?”

  Considering the atmosphere, Shea had expected him to at least ponder her request a bit before replying. She opened her eyes wide in surprise at his sudden response. Hajime just looked down at her with an expression that all but screamed “where the hell did that come from?”

  Shock gave way to anger. You could at least take my request a little more seriously!

  “Y-You’re so cruel, Hajime-san. I was being so serious, and you said no just like that...”

  “Didn’t look all that serious to me. Besides, what are you going to do about Cam and the others? You can’t expect me to take them all with me.”

  “N-No, that’s not it! I meant just me! I asked you before too, remember? Back then you said me not wanting to burden my family wasn’t a good enough reason to take me, but now...”

  “But now what?”

  Shea fidgeted awkwardly. Her fingers trembled and a faint blush crept up her cheeks. How sly. She truly was a master of her craft. Unfortunately for her, Hajime just looked at her suspiciously. Next to him, Yue was glaring angrily at her.

  “But now... I’m asking to go with you because I want to, so...”

  “Huh? Why do you want to come with us? You won’t even be a burden to your family anymore with how strong you’ve gotten. Hell, you could probably take on any kind of enemy that shows up on the surface.”

  “I-I know, but...”

  “......” She fidgeted silently for a few minutes before Hajime finally grew impatient and drew Donner. Realizing she had to say something soon, Shea quickly gathered her courage and opened her mouth, deciding to let her feelings do the talking for her.

  “I want to stay with you, Hajime-san! Becaushe I like you!”

  “You what?”

  Crap, I bit my tongue! Flustered, Shea tried to compose herself, while Hajime just looked on in complete shock. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Eventually, the gears in his brain started turning again and he parsed her words.

  “Wait, wait... Wait. This doesn’t make any sense. Where’d I even trigger any of your flags? I mean, even I know I’ve been pretty mean to you this whole time... Hold on, don’t tell me you’re into that?” Though he thought his conjecture couldn’t possibly be true, he still took a step back just in case. Naturally, Shea denied his accusations.

  “How dare you call me a pervert! I’m nothing like that! And if even you’ve realized you’re being mean, don’t you think you could stand to be a little nicer to me?”

  “I don’t see why I have to be nice to you in the first place... Do you even really like me? Are you sure it’s not just some heat of the moment thing?”

  Hajime still couldn’t believe she really liked him, hence his assumption that the suspension bridge effect had come into play. And considering how he’d treated her until now, it was hardly surprising. However, it looked like Shea was pretty unhappy that he was doubting her feelings.

  “I can’t say I was completely unaffected by the situation. After all, you saved us from so many terrible predicaments, and you’re an outcast just like me... and I was definitely happy when you told the elders you’d protect your promise no matter what... But whether it was because of all that or not, the fact that I like you now hasn’t changed. Even I think it’s kind of strange. Why you, of all people? You don’t even call me by my name, any time you get mad you instantly start shooting people, you’re mean, you don’t care about other people’s feelings, you just throw people into hordes of monsters, you have no mercy, you’re mean, you never do anything nice, you’re only kind to Yue-san, you’re mean... Huh? Really, why do I like you? Huh?”

  Partway through her tirade, Shea began questioning her own feelings. She tilted her head in confusion, and while Hajime desperately wanted to whip out Donner, he held himself back. Nothing she’d said had been wrong, after all.

  “Either way, no matter what your feelings are, I don’t plan on taking you with us.”

  “No way! Look, all that was just a joke, okay? I really like you, so please take me with you!”

  “Look here, even if... Even if your feelings are real, I already have Yue. Actually, I’m surprised you confessed all that when she’s standing here in front of you... Come to think of it, the really scary thing about you isn’t that body strengthening ability, but how shamelessly bold you are. Is your heart made of azantium or something?”

  “Excuse me, my heart isn’t that hard! Aww, I knew this would happen... but that’s okay. I already knew I couldn’t deal with you through normal means, Hajime-san.” Shea snickered triumphantly, which made Hajime look at her suspiciously.

  “I already planned for all this! That’s why I put my life on the line! Now, Yue-sensei, if you would be so kind!”

  “Huh? Yue?” Hajime blinked at this sudden turn in the conversation. Annoyed, Yue nevertheless faithfully turned to look at Hajime. Her expression made it look like she’d just swallowed a hundred cockroaches, and she very reluctantly she opened her mouth.

  “......
Hajime, let’s take her with us.”

  “Wait, uh... What? What’s going on here? You obviously don’t like the idea, but... Wait, is this what the bet was about?”

  “...I was careless.”

  Yue shrugged her shoulders despondently, and Hajime, who’d finally guessed what happened between them, couldn’t help but be amazed.

  Shea must have known asking him directly would only get her a prompt refusal, so she’d done everything in her power to get her request across to him. She’d even understood Hajime well enough to realize that he would listen to Yue, even if he didn’t listen to her.

  That was why she’d tried to enlist Yue to help her cause. In a very real sense, she had risked her life to obtain such a powerful ally. Half-baked feelings would never have gotten through to Yue, after all. Hajime had barely seen her these past ten days, but he was certain she must have trained like her life depended on it in order to beat Yue. And that meant her feelings were undeniably real.

  Hajime scratched his head awkwardly. Even if Yue had approved of her, albeit unwillingly, there still wasn’t any good reason to take Shea along with them. So, in the end, it still boiled down to Hajime’s feelings.

  Though Yue had agreed to help only reluctantly, it looked like she’d already given up. She’d seen her up close these past ten days, and knew just how hard Shea had trained to get past the obstacles Yue had thrown her way. That was why she was willing to take her along. Besides, leaving aside Shea’s feelings for Hajime, Yue had very little reason to hate her.

  Shea had smiled triumphantly when she’d asked Yue for help, but now worry lined her face once more, and she gazed uneasily at Hajime. She’d done everything she could, and now all that was left was to wait for his decision.

  Finally, Hajime took a deep breath and locked eyes with Shea. Each of his words were picked very carefully. At each turn, Shea replied with conviction.