Arifureta Vol 2 Chapter 5 (2/2)

“…Thank you.”

What sentiment was he to give to her thanks? Deep within his supposedly blackened heart, there was a small light that did not disappear.

Holding each others hands tightly. How much time pa.s.sed? From Hajime’s knowledge, vampires died out several hundreds of years ago. He remembered reading about it when he was studying the history of this world.

Even while she talked her expression did not change. In other words, she had long forgotten how to talk and express herself with other people. She had spent a long time in this darkness all by herself. Betrayed by the people she trusted. The girl did well in not going insane. Maybe it was because of her automatic regeneration. However, it could be considered a torture with it. Because it did not allow her to go mad, she had to experience everything and remember it.

Being able to drink the “potion”, a wry smile showed on his face afterwards. He returned to grasping her weak hands. She responded back with her own grip.

“…What’s your name?”

The girl asked Hajime with a whisper. Hajime finally noticed that they had not introduced themselves.

“Hajime. Nagumo Hajime. Yours?”

She muttered “Hajime” repeatedly. Like she was etching it into her mind as something important. To the asked question, she answered it with a question.

“…Name, grant me.”

“Eh? What do you mean grant you? Don’t tell me you forgot your name.”

Hajime asked her if it was because of the long imprisonment, but she just shakes her head.

“I don’t need my previous name anymore. The name Hajime grants me is good.”

“…Ha, even if you say that.”

Most likely she was dealing with the same thing as when Hajime changed. Throw away your previous self; live a new life with new values. Hajime was changed due to pain, hunger, and hatred. She wanted to change out of her own free will. The first step was to get a new name.

Her eyes was s.h.i.+ning with antic.i.p.ation. Hajime scratched his head while thinking there was no helping it. He told her the new name.

“How is “Yue”? I don’t really have a sense for naming, if you want a different one…”

“Yue?…Yue…Yue”

“Ah, I didn’t mean Yue [romanji]. From my hometown the name means “Moon”. When I first entered the room, I thought those eyes that s.h.i.+ned through your blonde hair looked like the moon floating in the night…how is it?”

The girl was surprised by the response he gave and just blinked her eyes. As expected, her face remained expressionless but her eyes s.h.i.+ned with joy.

“Yeah, from now on I’m Yue. Thank you.”

“Oh, for the time being…”

“!?”

Yue undid their clasped hands and looked at Hajime. He started to take off his overcoat and gave it to her.

“Wear this. You can’t stay naked forever.”

“…”

Yue reflexively took the offered overcoat while she looked at her state. She was really stark naked. All of her important parts were completely exposed. Hajime’s overcoat was quickly wrapped around her, while she turned bright red. Yue looked up at Hajime and murmured.

“Hajime’s a pervert.”

“…”

Hajime choose to stay silent, because saying anything would just make it worse. The overcoat was cheerfully put on by Yue. She was only 140 cm tall, so the overcoat was oversized for her. Her hands held the hems of the coat with a pleasant expression on her face.

During that moment, Hajime was drinking his “potion”. His vitality restored and his brain active again. Using “perception”…he froze. There was a sense of a terrible demon in the immediate area.

The location…right above!

When Hajime had noticed its presence, that was the moment it dropped from the ceiling. With every ounce of effort he picked up Yue and used “Flicker”. After executing his movement, he looked back at where he was. A thud came from the area he came from and saw what it was.

The monster’s body was 5m in length. It had 4 huge-long-shear-like arms and 8 legs rustling around. A sharp needle was present on its two tails. Scorpions would be the best comparison to them. As for the two tails, it would be wise to a.s.sume it is poisonous. Hajime felt that compared to all the other demons he had faced so far, this one was clearly a strong warrior.

Sweat streamed down his forehead. When he had entered the room earlier, his full powered “Perception” did not pick up anything; now it was going crazy. This meant that this scorpion-like demon was released after he released Yue’s seal. The last resort to prevent her escape. If he had left Yue by herself, he could most likely escape.

He set his glance to the girl in his arm. She was earnestly watching Hajime, and not minding the scorpion. Her eyes were like a calm water surface; resolving herself. The eyes that conveyed her feelings with eloquence. Yue had entrusted her fate to Hajime.

The moment their eyes met, the corners of his mouth rose, and his usual fearless smile came into being. Hajime, who did not care about others, felt sympathy for Yue. Light stilled remained in his mostly broken heart. For this betrayed girl, he would commit himself. If he couldn’t reply to her pleas, he wasn’t a man.

“Bring it on! Try to kill me if you can!”

Hajime quickly took his “potion” out from his pouch, he embraced her and fed some of it to Yue; who was perched on his shoulders.

“Umu!”

The sacred water flowed into her body from the test tube-shaped container. Her eyes watered at being force fed an alien substance, but was surprised when her vitality was being restored.

Hajime moved Yue from his shoulder to his back with his hand. Her feet were still weak, but it would recover soon. He did not want to fight while having to protect her.

“Hold on tight! Yue!”

Her body was far from recovered, but she used the power that returned to hold on tight to Hajime’s body with her limbs.

The scorpion started to make noise as it advanced towards them. Feeling Yue’s grip on his back, he declared with his bold smile.

“If you’re going to get in my way…I’m going to kill then devour you!”

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