Arifureta Zero: Volume 1 Read online

“But I still believed. I thought Ehit’s design would surely lead most of us to happiness eventually. Even as I dealt with the grief and rage of the people, the bishops still told me ‘You did well leading the people today,’ every time.”

  It must have felt awful. Belta smiled bitterly at Miledi. Ah, I understand now.

  “Pretty similar to your own situation, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yes...”

  “Thought so,” Belta said as Miledi nodded.

  “Though to be honest, I didn’t expect the heir of the ruthless Reisen household to be so kind-hearted.”

  I didn’t expect it either, Miledi thought with a smile.

  “Just like with you, I needed to see something shocking before I realized.” Before she’d realized how twisted this world truly was.

  “One day I saw a certain someone’s fate. No, that’s not quite right. Rather, I couldn’t see it. There was a girl whose future I couldn’t read. All I saw ahead of her was darkness. It was as if she was alive, and yet not. She was... She wasn’t human!” Belta practically screamed those last words. Miledi realized Belta was shivering, as if she was terrified of the past she was remembering.

  “Belle... Belta!”

  “Ah.” Belta took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Her eyes were focused on the present again, and she looked at Miledi. What could have terrified a cheerful girl like her so badly? “That... That thing wearing the Holy Church’s robes was unbelievably beautiful, but it was also not of this world. I was so scared when I saw it that I prayed.”

  It was then that she received Ehit’s words.

  “You see too much.” When she returned to her senses, there was a shortsword sticking out of her chest.

  Still confused, she’d slumped to the ground. It felt like not just her blood, but the very source of her life was flowing out of her. She was almost certainly going to die.

  Before she lost consciousness, she asked something in a hoarse voice.

  “Lord Ehit, why?” The reply he’d given was beyond her expectations.

  “We’re free to do what we want with our toys, no?”

  “I definitely died that day. Yet for some reason, I awoke in one of Elbard’s back alleys, even though I should have been dead. All I was wearing was rags.”

  “So then...”

  “I didn’t know who brought me back or why, but I knew it hadn’t been Ehit’s mercy that saved me. He’s not that kind of god. When I awoke, I heard a kind man’s voice tell me to run.”

  From then on Belta lived as an orphan, her only possessions her life, and the knowledge of what Ehit truly was. Her brush with death had divested her of her special magic, and had taken most of her regular magic skills as well. Still, Belta had tried to gather comrades to fight against this unfair world and its hateful gods. Eventually, she’d found enough people to form a proper organization.

  “So when you came here...”

  “In order to save my comrades, and any prisoners who might join hands with us, I infiltrated the mansion.”

  Though, Belta hadn’t expected to meet a girl who reminded her of her old self here... She smiled at the thought.

  “Miledi... I decided to fight back of my own free will. That’s something I’m never going to give up, even if it means my death.”

  Miledi understood that Belta would never give in. Miledi’s words couldn’t dissuade her from her chosen path.

  “I-I can definitely save you.” Miledi sounded like a spoiled child. She couldn’t even meet Belta’s eyes.

  “Miledi-tan... Smile.” Instead of replying, that was what Belta said.

  How can I smile?

  Miledi just mumbled “I know I can save you,” one last time and walked away. She told herself over and over that there had to be a way. However, no solutions came to mind.

  She sat on her bed and thought. The question of what to do swirled in her mind, but nothing she came up with seemed likely to work.

  She didn’t know how long she sat there. Though eventually, with no other ideas available to her, Miledi decided to beg Colt to spare Belta. She tried not to think of her previous failure as she headed to his room.

  My only purpose is to fulfill the duties of the Reisen family. I’m just a cog in the execution machine. That’s all. And that’s absolute. A cold, unfeeling part of her mind whispered that to her and she stopped in her tracks.

  But she didn’t want to give up on the person who’d shown her how to feel. She started walking again and before she knew it she was in front of her father’s office. Miledi took a deep breath, her palms slick with nervous sweat.

  She steeled her resolve and knocked on the door.

  “Huh?” But there was no reply. Normally, her father would still be in his office.

  “What’s wrong, Milady?” A passing servant called out to her.

  “Where is my father?”

  “Were you not informed? He left for the execution grounds just recently.”

  Miledi’s veins turned to ice.

  “Now?”

  “Indeed, Milady. He claimed the heretic was dangerous and needed to be dealt with immediately. Not only did she serve as your maid for months, she was apparently the head of an anti-church organization...”

  Miledi dashed off without listening to the rest. The servant yelled after her, but Miledi was long gone.

  Cold sweat poured down her back. Sheer desperation lent strength to her legs.

  This was too soon. Far too soon. Her father’s interrogation of Belta shouldn’t have finished yet. So why is he doing this already...

  She finally arrived at the execution platform.

  A crescent moon hung in the night sky.

  Colt was standing before the platform, together with his soldiers.

  Belta was nowhere to be seen. The execution platform was empty.

  “Haaah... Haaah... Father. Wh-What happened to Belta?”

  Please let me be in time—

  “The execution has been completed.” Miledi’s world went silent. Everything grew blurry.

  Colt continued talking. Something about how the noble backing Belta had confessed everything, which was why he’d executed her immediately. He hadn’t wanted to give her a chance to negatively influence the Reisen family any further. Miledi started running.

  “Miledi! What do you think you’re doing!?” She jumped off the execution platform without hesitation.

  The wind whistled past her ears. Casting oneself into this gorge that silenced all magic would normally be suicide, but Miledi had so much mana that she could cast spells dense enough that the gorge couldn’t disperse them.

  “Obsidian Vortex.” This was the most basic of gravity spells. It allowed the caster to create a localized gravitational field and thus adjust their weight.

  Miledi decelerated rapidly and landed lightly at the bottom of the ravine.

  The moon’s light only faintly reached the depths. This dark gorge was where countless sinners had met their end. Miledi found it disconcerting.

  She made a ball of light with light magic and examined her surroundings.

  “She’s not here...” Miledi had prepared herself to see Belta’s broken body lying at the bottom of the gorge, but there was nothing there. Don’t tell me monsters already ate her... Just then, she heard a monster’s roar a short distance away.

  “It can’t be.” Miledi dashed off toward the sound.

  After rounding a corner, Miledi saw her.

  A girl slumped with her back to the wall. It seemed she’d somehow managed to survive the fall and had tried to escape, but now she was surrounded by a few dozen wolf-like monsters. She must have been chased from the very moment she fell.

  “Bel!”

  “Hm? Mi...ledi...tan?” Her voice was weak. Miledi sent the ball of light ahead of her, illuminating the area around Belta. It was then that she noticed... Belta was sitting in a pool of her own blood. Miledi could tell with a single glance. She’d lost too much.

  “Graaaaaah!” The wolves were ov
erjoyed to have more meat to feast on. Their claws and fangs were dripping blood. Belta’s blood.

  Miledi felt something inside her snap.

  “Die.” She said that single word in a voice colder than ice.

  A second later, the wolves had been crushed flat. The ground underneath them was sunken. They hadn’t even had time to scream.

  “Ahahaha. You’re... amazing, Miledi-tan.”

  “Bel! Bel, keep it together!” Miledi rushed over to Belta.

  When Miledi saw her up close, she grew certain. Belta’s wounds were fatal. Still, she cast healing magic on her anyway. She picked the strongest spell she could cast instantly and used it. However, because of the gorge’s special properties, her magic was greatly weakened.

  “Shit, shit, shit!” That was the first time in her life she had ever cursed.

  Tears in her eyes, Miledi poured even more mana into her healing. She’d burn through it all if she had to. Belta raised a blood-soaked hand and raised it to Miledi’s cheek.

  “Hey, Miledi. Is working together... a sin?”

  “Huh?”

  “What about... opening your heart? Or... laughing together? Or... telling the person you love... that you love... them?”

  “It’s not a sin.”

  Miledi took Belta’s hand into her own.

  “Exactly. These aren’t... things you can make fun of... and trample over... We are... humans are... not their... toys.” Miledi watched as the light slowly dwindled in Belta’s eyes.

  No matter how much she cried, no matter how much she screamed, she couldn’t change fate.

  Miledi saw her own tear-stained face reflected in Belta’s jade eyes.

  “You were like... a little sister to me.”

  “I thought of you like my big sister, too.”

  Belta smiled.

  “I pray... the time comes... that humans can live... freely. I pray for a world where you can... smile...”

  Belta’s hand went limp.

  A young girl’s cries echoed throughout the gorge.

  Miledi took Belta’s body into her arms and used gravity magic to fly back to the execution stand.

  Colt was waiting for her. Not just him, either. Her mother, her grandfather, her uncle, and her cousin were there too, along with a contingent of soldiers. Behind them was a row of people shackled together.

  Colt stared icily at her. He had never really treated Miledi like his daughter, but he had never looked at her like she was trash before, either.

  “Do you realize what you’re doing?” Miledi ignored him and looked over the row of prisoners behind him.

  They were all disheveled and were watching Miledi in awe. No one had ever come back up out of the gorge. However, what surprised them even more was that the daughter of Earl Reisen had leaped into the gorge to save someone.

  When she didn’t reply, Colt threw up his hands and gave Miledi her final warning.

  “Dispose of that trash.” Miledi turned back to her father upon hearing his words.

  “Trash?” she muttered.

  Colt didn’t hear her, and continued.

  “This is my final warning. Fulfill your duty as a Reisen. Pass judgment on that heretic’s comrades with your own hands.” To him, that was the only value her life had. Miledi hung her head.

  She looked down at Belta’s face, and came to a decision.

  “I’m sick of this.”

  “Excuse me?” Colt’s eyes twitched, and he pointed a finger at her. The Reisen soldiers unsheathed their weapons. They were planning on fighting her, but Miledi wasn’t fazed at all. She looked up at Colt and declared her new beliefs.

  “I am Miledi Reisen. I am my own person. The only one who decides my life’s purpose is me.” Those were words of rebellion. Miledi had just declared she would no longer follow the Reisen family’s orders. After all, to live as an individual meant discarding the family’s ideals.

  Colt sighed, then his soldiers began chanting.

  “It’s a shame to lose the power your ancient magic offered us, but a rotten branch must be cut off lest it infect the whole tree. Eliminate her.” Up until the very end, Colt had never treated Miledi like his daughter.

  Miledi hugged Belta’s corpse and steeled her resolve. Remembering how her friend had always smiled, she grinned at Colt.

  It was a forced, misshapen grin, but Colt and the others had never once seen her so much as smile before, and they hesitated.

  Miledi looked down and spoke in a tone laden with emotion.

  “Eliminate me? I’d like to see you try.” There was no turning back after this.

  The sun had long since set, and night blanketed the sky.

  After she finished her tale, Miledi fell silent.

  “After that, I destroyed the Reisen family and freed Bel’s comrades, the Liberators. They’re the same organization I belong to now. A lot happened, honestly. I had a run-in with a silver-haired nun while trying to find out if the gods really were evil. I barely escaped that encounter with my life. Then, I spent a long time training so I could get my revenge the next time I see her, saved a lot of other Liberators, protected people who came to us, scouted others with the same ideals as us... until at some point I became the leader.”

  Miledi laughed and Oscar gave her a sidelong glance. Though she was always acting cheerful, he could tell her resolve was unbreakable. She wouldn’t falter, even if she had to fight Ehit himself. The events that had built up her resolve were so heavy that Oscar didn’t know what to say.

  She looked at him, her eyes clear as a mountain spring.

  “Bel was telling the truth, so I’ve been searching all this time for comrades who will help me fight against the world. Comrades strong enough to fight on even terms with me.” She repeated the same words she’d said when she first met him.

  “And now I’ve finally found you.” Silence. Miledi had laid everything out for him. All that was left was to wait for Oscar’s reply.

  Oscar pushed up his glasses, hiding his expression.

  “Miledi.”

  “That’s me.”

  Oscar refused to meet her gaze, as if doing so would weaken his resolve.

  He paused for a second.

  “I... can’t go with you.”

  “Ah...” He noticed Miledi tightly grip her hands.

  “Just like that girl was important to you, my family is important to me. Even if what you say is true, I can’t afford to get them wrapped up in this.” Oscar stood up, which made Miledi gasp.

  “I don’t want to be seen with you anymore. Please, try and understand.”

  Oscar turned his back to Miledi and walked away. A clear rejection.

  “Th-Then, can I come see you when there isn’t anyone around tomorrow?”

  Oscar stopped. He struggled to rein in his emotions and glumly replied to her.

  “Please don’t come near me ever again.” He resumed walking.

  He didn’t hear footsteps chasing after him, which he’d grown rather used to over the past few days.

  Oscar was silent for the remainder of the trip. His footsteps were heavy, and he took a long detour on his way to the orphanage.

  Honestly, he just wanted to be alone. He told himself over and over that he’d made the right decision, that keeping his family safe was what mattered most. However, he couldn’t banish the voice in his head that kept telling him “You actually wanted to help her, didn’t you?”

  Don’t you actually want to use your powers to the fullest? Don’t you really want to help the people who need you with your abilities? Why were you born with this power? So you could live your life hiding it? Can you really bring yourself to abandon her?

  “Shut up.” Oscar yelled at the voice in his head.

  He continued agonizing over his decision, and before he knew it he was on the same street as his orphanage. He knew he must’ve looked suspicious, mumbling to himself in the dark.

  “This was for the best.” Even if the gods were evil, even if humans were just pawns in
their twisted board game, it was better to live out his life as an average person than to effectively become a terrorist and fight against them.

  If his family was put in harm’s way because of him, he knew he’d regret it forever.

  That was why he’d made this choice.

  He repeated that to himself over and over, trying to calm himself down.

  Starting tomorrow, he’d be back to his usual lifestyle.

  He walked up to the orphanage, his stride confident, without knowing that the unfairness of this world had already caught up to him.

  After a few more seconds of walking, Oscar found himself in front of the orphanage. Something was off, though. It was long past dinnertime, but there was someone standing in front of the orphanage. It was Moorin. She was looking around uneasily.

  The moment she spotted him she dashed over.

  “Oscar!”

  “H-Hey, Mom. I’m back.”

  Oscar felt a rising sense of dread as he watched Moorin run over to him.

  “Mom, what’s wrong? Why do you look so panicked?” He suddenly had a very bad premonition.

  Moorin glanced about to make sure no one was listening in before leaning close to Oscar.

  “Oscar, you wouldn’t happen to know where Dylan is, would you? He and a few of the other kids haven’t come back yet.”

  “Dylan? No, I haven’t seen him...”

  It seemed that Dylan, Ruth, Corrin, and Katy hadn’t returned yet.

  Once they were old enough, the orphans started taking on odd jobs at nearby restaurants and workshops. That way, they could support the orphanage and make money to spend on themselves.

  Dylan and the others worked relatively close to the orphanage, and they usually returned home together.

  As such, they were normally back long before the sun set. If they were going to be late, at least one of them would come back to tell Moorin.

  However, none of them had returned. Something suspicious was going on.

  Oscar was acutely aware of his heart pounding in his chest. He pushed his glasses up and tried to remain calm.

  “Have you told the town guard yet?”

  “Of course. But they didn’t care. They told me they don’t have the soldiers to spare to go looking for a few mangy orphans...”