Arifureta Vol 6 Chapter 7 (1/2)

Chapter 7 : Northern Mountain Range Area

Daybreak.

With the waning moonlight, the eastern sky began to lit up. Hajime, Yue, and s.h.i.+a, these three people completed their travel preparations, and soon they would leave the “Water Fairy Inn.” In their hands were packaged riceb.a.l.l.s that could be eaten as they move. Even though it was still early in the morning, no one wore unpleasant faces as Foss prepared their breakfast. It was just as expected of a high-cla.s.s inn. Its management was admired even by Hajime and his party, as they thanked him without reserve once they received the breakfast.

Within the morning mist, Hajime and his party faced towards Ul’s northern gate. There was a highway that stretched from this place to the northern mountain range area. It would take at least a full day by horse, but they would arrive in three to four hours using the magic-driven two-wheeler.

It was the fifth day since they had lost contact with Will Kudeta and his party, who had gone to investigate northern mountain range area. Survival was hopeless. Hajime also thought Will and his party’s odds of survival were low, but there was still a chance. Ilwa’s image of Hajime would climb to a pinnacle if he brought him back alive, which was why he began searching as soon as possible. Fortunately, the weather was good. An ideal day to search for someone.

With sounds of activity beginning to resound inside the buildings, they advanced towards the northern gate, and could finally see the gate. He narrowed his eyes because he could sense signs of people near the northern gate. They didn’t move or anything, but only hung around the gate.

What he saw through the morning mist… … were Aiko and the six students.

“… … Although I can guess what you want, let me hear it anyway… … What are you doing?”

Hajime and his party looked at Aiko and the students with half-opened eyes. For a moment, Aiko twitched from the pressure in the atmosphere, but she still faced Hajime with a firm att.i.tude. After having a discussion, the students; Son.o.be Yuka, Sugawara Taeko, Miyazaki Nana, Tamai Atsus.h.i.+, Aikawa n.o.boru, and Kawahara Akira, drew near Aiko.

“We are also going. You’re searching for missing people, right? It’s better to have more people.”

“No. I am okay with you going. But, I refuse to go together.”

“Wh-Why?”

“Simply because our pace is different. I don’t want to match your slow speed.”

If one were to look closely, they would notice that there were several horses readied behind Aiko and the others. For a moment they thought, “Was it because he cannot ride horses?”, as they doubted Hajime. Since it was trivial, he just let it go through their heads. No matter whether he could ride it or not, its speed couldn’t compare to the magic-driven two-wheeler, after all. However, the virtual leader of Ai-chan’s royal guard who loved her; Son.o.be Yuka, snapped at Hajime’s objection. Apparently, she had forgotten her debt and intimidation from Hajime yesterday because of the strength of her love towards Ai-chan.

“Wait, how could you say that? Even if Nagumo doesn’t think well of us, there’s no need to involve Ai-chan sensei.”

Because of the incredibly irrelevant objection, Hajime let out, “Haa?”, with an amazed expression. Hajime thought it’d be a ha.s.sle to explain, so he silently took out the magic-driven two-wheeler from “Treasure Box”.

Suddenly, a big bike appeared from the void, Aiko and the students could only let out stupefied looks.

“Do you understand now? Yesterday I said that I absolutely don’t care about whatever you guys want to do. That’s why there’s no need to snarl at me. It’s just like I said before, our speed is different.”

The magic-driven two-wheeler’s profound form, and maybe because it was an existence that didn’t belong in this different world, made Aiko and the onlooking students speechless. There, the bike-lover in the cla.s.s; Aikawa asked Hajime while somewhat excited.

“D-Did Nagumo make this just like the gun from yesterday?”

“Something like that. We are going now, so move aside.”

Hajime answered him perfunctorily as he was about to embark, but Aiko kept standing still. Aiko wanted to tag along with Hajime and his party no matter what it took. She had two reasons. One was to search for the truth about what Hajime said last night. Aiko couldn’t just overlook the words, “A cla.s.smate was trying to kill him”, so she wanted find out if it was the truth or just Hajime’s misunderstanding. If it was the truth she wanted to know what Hajime was going to do. She wanted to hear more details from Hajime for the sake of avoiding any accidents that might happen in the future. Once the search ended, she didn’t know when she’d be able to meet Hajime and his party again, so she mustn’t miss this chance.

The other reason was, because s.h.i.+mizu Yukitos.h.i.+ was currently still missing. Although they had tried to find any sc.r.a.p of information without leaving even a stone unturned, there were no sightings of him in any of the nearby towns and villages. However, because there was no one living in the northern mountain range area in the first place, she remembered there was no information gathered there. Even if it was on his own accord or by accident, she naturally never thought he’d enter the northern mountain range area. But with the thought he’d left on his own, she thought of searching for s.h.i.+mizu’s trail while Hajime and his party looked for the missing people.

By the way, it was partly a coincidence that Son.o.be and the other students were here. Aiko had wanted to go to the gate earlier than Hajime, in order to ambush him, so she tried to leave the inn before dawn, only to be seen by Son.o.be Yuka who was going to the toilet. Because Aiko equipped herself with travelling gear and tried to leave at such an unreasonable time, Son.o.be Yuka of Ai-chan’s bodyguards questioned her without letting her tell a lie. As the result, because they couldn’t just leave Ai-chan to the changed Hajime. Son.o.be woke up all of the students and tried to join the search mission. It should be noted that they had left a letter to the Knights, telling them to watch the house, since it seemed like they would only strike up more trouble if they went with Hajime and his party. Though it wasn’t known how they’d react…

Aiko drew near Hajime and whispered her decision to him. Hajime moved his face close to Aiko’s because he didn’t want the contents and only the contents to be heard by others, but when he looked carefully he noticed she used thick makeup to conceal dark shadows. Surely, she was hardly able to sleep having heard Hajime’s story.

“Nagumo-kun, because sensei is a teacher, it’s necessary to hear the details from Nagumo-kun. That’s why, I won’t let you go until you tell me everything, I’ll chase you if you try to run away. For Nagumo-kun, won’t that be troublesome? I don’t care if you tell me while we are travelling or when we are searching, so will you spare some time? If you do that, then it’ll be as Nagumo-kun said, it’ll be good bye after this town… … for the time being.”

Hajime could see the light of determination in Aiko’s eyes, and he slightly regretted his last words from last night resulted in this failure. He understood Aiko’s ability to take action (Although she’s often idle). If he tried to deceive her or run away, she’d likely use the Guard Knights to search for him.

He averted his gaze from Aiko and looked up at the sky, which was becoming more and more bright. Without throwing away the possibility of Will’s survival, he regretted time had pa.s.sed while they argued. Hajime let out a deep sigh. He admitted that he’d just reaped what he’d sown, and faced Aiko again.

“Okay. I’ll let you go with us. Even though I say that, I don’t have time to speak with you…”

“I don’t care. I only want to hear it from Nagumo-kun’s mouth.”

“Haa, geez, sensei won’t give up at all. Whatever and wherever, always a teacher, huh.”

“Of course!”

Aiko, “Munh!”, stuck out her chest with a joyful look when Hajime gave up. Because it seemed the negotiations had gone well, the students showed relieved looks.

“… … Hajime, are you going to bring them?”

“Aa, this person is a “teacher” even here. She will not compromise anything regarding her students. If I just leave her, it’ll absolutely become troublesome in the future.”

“Ho~, she is a good teacher who thinks of her students~”

Because Hajime had given up, Yue and s.h.i.+a were surprised and asked him. Following that, having heard Hajime’s words accompanied with a bitter smile, the eyes with which they looked at Aiko, had changed slightly. They were filled with some respect. Even Hajime thought Aiko’s att.i.tude as their “teacher”, which couldn’t be shaken at all was not a bad thing. For example, she didn’t find any value in categorizing the cla.s.smates and students, so he thought of her as an adult who should be respected.

“But, this bike can only hold three people, right? What should we do?”

What Son.o.be pointed out was the truth. It was out of the question in regards to time, to match the horses’ speed, and it was impossible to leave Yue or s.h.i.+a behind to bring Aiko instead. Reluctantly, Hajime put the magic-driven two-wheeler into “Treasure Box”, and pulled out the magic-driven four-wheeler in its stead.

Pinpon, Hajime made it vanish and at the same time a big object appeared, probably because they knew he’d used an artifact, Aiko and the students were not surprised at all. Having seen the current Hajime, who on Earth could imagine he was once called “incompetent.” Son.o.be and the students received the message “Those who are unable to get on will be in the carrier”, looked at Hajime who quickly got on the driver’s seat with complicated expressions.

They moved forward on the road expanding straight into the northern mountain range area using the hummer-like magic-driven four-wheeler. Even though the highway was a bad road, thanks to the suspension and ground trans.m.u.tation feature it shared with the two-wheeler, most of the impact was nulled. Naturally, the male students, aboard the hard metal luggage carrier attached to the back didn’t seem to be in discomfort.

By the way, although there was the “Treasure Box”, the reason he specifically installed the carrier was because it was a set with the gatling that’d be used while driving, it was his aspiration. A small commitment from Hajime.

For the seating inside the vehicle, Hajime naturally sat in the driver’s seat, while Aiko sat at his side and Yue was next to her. Aiko sat beside Hajime for the sake of hearing his story. Although Aiko seemed to not have told it to the other students, she wanted to hear about it sooner.

Originally, the seat next to Hajime belonged to Yue, but Yue already knew the contents of the story Hajime would tell, so reluctantly, she gave her seat to Aiko. But, Aiko and Yue were small, so there was still a considerable amount of s.p.a.ce in the seat.

In contrast, s.h.i.+a who was seated in the back seat looked slightly cramped. s.h.i.+a aside, Son.o.be and Sugawara had voluptous bodies, so they took up a lot of s.p.a.ce. The slender Miyazaki looked so uncomfortable.

But, the one who felt the most uncomfortable was s.h.i.+a. She had been placed between Son.o.be and Sugawara for a while now, and they interrogated her about her relations.h.i.+p with Hajime. Love between different races in another world was something female high schoolers wouldn’t miss hearing. They were so curious that they repeatedly asked s.h.i.+a, and the fl.u.s.tered s.h.i.+a tried her best to answer their questions.

On the other side, Hajime and Aiko’s conversation also reached its climax.

Having heard the situation in detail about that time from Hajime, while she knew the possibility of magic being fired intentionally was high, Aiko was still unable to believe it and was troubled by it. When he heard her, Hajime only snorted as his reply.

For now, he already guessed it was someone like Hiyama, and although Hajime’s guess was closest to the right answer, he only said this was one of the possibilities. After all, Aiko wouldn’t be able to arrive at such a conclusion, and even if the culprit could be specified, how could she restore the mind of someone who attempted murder? How could one compensate for that? She was troubled, with those thoughts on her mind.

She groaned because she was troubled by this, but due to the soft seat and vibrating vehicle inviting her to sleep Aiko started off on her journey to the world of dreams before she was aware of it,zuruzuru, her body slipped until she fell onto Hajime’s lap.

Normally, he’d send her flying because it’s a hindrance, but because he felt it awkward to act rude toward Aiko, he hesitated over what to do, then he decided to leave her as is. After all, Hajime’s information was the main cause of Aiko’s sleep deprivation. So if it’s just this, he felt that it couldn’t be helped, as he displayed unusual generosity.

“… … Hajime is gentle to Aiko.”

“… … Well, it is someone I’m indebted to, so something like this is okay.”

“… … Fu~n.”

“Yue?”

“… …”

“Yue-san, please don’t ignore me.”

“… … Next, I will also use the lap pillow.”

“… … Okay.”

Even though Aiko was still lap pillowed, Hajime and Yue were able to enter a world of their own. In the back seat, the female high schoolers watched them while going “kya kya,” followed by a sulking rabbit-eared girl. From now on, they were entering a dangerous zone where unknown accidents might occur but no one thought about it as they made such a noise.

The northern mountain range area.

Several mountains extended with alt.i.tudes ranging from 1000 to 8000 meters. Plants and trees were somehow able to grow there. It was a mysterious place with a scattered environment. The colour would make one remember the mountains of j.a.pan in autumn, and the other area was filled with trees with fresh green leaves, just like in mid-summer, but there were also places with withered trees in contrast.

Moreover, even if one could see past the mountain range, another mountain range stretched out beyond it. There were more and more of them to the north. Currently four such mountain ranges were confirmed, and beyond that was a completely unknown area. As to how far it went, a certain adventurer aimed to cross the fifth mountain range, however, demonic beasts got stronger and stronger with every pa.s.sing mountain range, and in the end, there was no sign of success.

Incidentally, the highest mountain was the “G.o.d Mountain”. Currently, the place Hajime and the others had first arrived in when they came into this world was 1,600 kilometers east of the G.o.d Mountain. The vivid colors of red and yellow of the fresh leaves on the trees made them easy on the eyes. If a knowledgeable person were to look carefully, he would find spices and edible plants in the area. They were what enriched Ul town, a truly bountiful mountain.

Hajime and the others stopped the four-wheeler at the foot of the mountain, and were charmed by the artistic display of nature’s magnificent colors for a while. One of the girls let out a “Ho~”. Some time ago, Aiko was apologizing while blus.h.i.+ng, after making the blunder of sleeping in a student’s lap. But having seen the fresh scenery, she succeeded in placing the ‘black history’ into the far recesses of her mind.

Hajime also wanted to slowly appreciate this, so he put the four-wheeler back into the “Treasure Box”, and pulled out certain things in its stead.

Those were, imitation models of birds which spanned 30 cm each, and a ring with a small crystal embedded on it. Each of the models had a gray crystal buried in a part of their heads.

Hajime put on the ring, took out four identical models, and slowly threw them into the air. With that, one would a.s.sume they’d fall due to gravity. However, these fake birds were floating in place. Aiko and the students let out an “Ah”.

The four mechanical birds began to turn around on their spots and flew towards the mountain.

“Umm, those are….”

Having seen the model birds flying away without any sound, Aiko represented the other students and inquired something of him.

Hajime answered her with “Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes”, and just like the vehicles and gun, they were items that were out of place in this different world..

The imitation model of birds called “Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes”, were something Hajime made in reference to the remotely operated Golem Knights from Raisen’s Great Dungeon. They were also produced using the materials he got there. Using Creation magic, he granted minerals Gravity magic because he didn’t have the apt.i.tude for using the magic himself, and they became minerals capable of neutralizing gravity as they floated. And thus, gravity stones were created. Furthermore, the induction stones which used to control the Golem Knights were used. In addition, Farsight crystals were also installed in each part of their heads. The mineral used in the eyes of Golem Knights were Farsight stones. Similar to induction stones, it was a mineral capable of reflecting scenes witnessed by other fragments of the crystal, regardless of distance, so long as the same type of magical power was supplied to them. It seemed this was what Miledi used to determine the detailed position of Hajime and his party. Hajime installed the farsight crystal inside his magic eye, and he became capable of seeing scenery the “Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes” could see.

In the first place, there’s a limit to the processing performance of a human’s brain, using four simultaneously was the limit, allowing them to move around in the sky. It’s a complete mystery as to how Miledi was able to operate 50 Golems at once.

Tentatively, His brain’s processing performance had been boosted when he awakened the”Light Speed”, if he only had to control one plane, he could do precise movements. Moreover, when he uses “Light Speed”, he could make seven planes do precise movements within a certain time limit.

This time, he took out the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes because being able to search from the air is useful, since the scope of search was too vast. Having watched the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes fly far away, Aiko and the students tried to stop being surprised by Hajime’s actions, however, it was a vow that might never be fulfilled.

Hajime and the others advanced into the mountain using the same path used by the adventurers. The sighting information of demonic beasts were just slightly beyond the other side of mountain path. It’s in the vicinity of the sixth and seventh mountain. Because of that, Will’s party of adventurers should be investigating around those parts. Having thought of this, they quickly advanced through the mountain path at a high pace, after Hajime released the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes in that area.

Hajime and the others reached the sixth mountain in almost an hour, and stopped. The reason was because it was necessary to search for any traces around the area…

“Haa haa, i-is it a break… … kehoh, haa haa.”

“Zee— zee— Are you okay… … Ai-chan sensei, zee— zee—”

“Ueppu, is it okay to rest now? Haa haa, it’s okay, right? I’ll take a break now, kay?”

“… … Hyuu— Hyuu.”

“Geho geho, Nagumo-kun and his party are monsters….”

Aiko and her students had less physical strength than what he had expected, so it was necessary to take a break. Naturally, Aiko and her students’ statuses were originally several times higher than the average people of this world, so they didn’t get exhausted until they climbed the sixth mountain. It’s just that the movement speed of Hajime and his party was just too fast, that’s why they climbed the mountain using all their might, and when they noticed it, their physical strength was exhausted and their legs became wobbly.

Aiko and her students desperately gasped for breath on all fours, and Hajime glanced at them with a somewhat troubled look. In any case, he had decided it was necessary to search the surroundings, as they went to the nearby river to let them rest. He was able to determine the location because of the information from the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes. After stating the location to Aiko and her students, who were still breathing roughly, he and his party advanced towards the river. The probability of Will’s party having rested there was also high.

With Yue and s.h.i.+a in the lead, they strayed from the mountain path and onto the mountain. Rustle, rustle. The sound of fallen leaves was enjoyable as they continued to walk between the trees, and before long they could hear the sound of a river. It was a sound pleasing to the ears. s.h.i.+a’s ears swayed happily.

Finally Hajime and his party reached the river. It was at a bigger scale compared to a small river. s.h.i.+a, who held the highest search ability, observed the surroundings while Hajime once again used the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes to search for any presences, and there was no sign of demonic beasts nearby. They relaxed for now. Hajime and the others were sitting on the rock in the riverbank, then they talked about their search plans. Yue took off her shoes and put her feet into the river after saying “Just a little”. It was her selfishness to enjoy the moment. Hajime overlooked it because Aiko and her students still hadn’t caught up to them. He’s a man who spoiled Yue. s.h.i.+a also took this chance.

Having thought of a possibility, they moved upstream along the riverbank. Hajime moved the Unmanned Reconnaissance Planes upstream while he looked at Yue, pasha pasha, playing with the river water with her bare feet. Although s.h.i.+a was also barefooted, she only put them in the water. The feeling of the river flowing seemed to tickle her.