Arifureta Vol 7 Chapter 8 (1/2)

Chapter 8 : Hajime becomes a Papa II

After they left the Meerstat aquarium and ate their lunches, Hajime and s.h.i.+a strolled around the maze of flower beds and street performers’ avenue. In s.h.i.+a’s arm, there were many wrappers of food item bought from various stalls, and she was currently occupied with the vanilla-like ice cream.

“You ate a lot… Were they that good?”

“Nom… Yes! They are really delicious. As expected of Fhuren, even the level of their food stalls are high.”

“…You’ll grow fat if you eat too much.”

“…Hajime-san, those are words that shouldn’t be said to a woman.”

Because of Hajime’s words, the hand she was using to eat stopped for a moment as she made excuses under her breath, “I will exercise later… I will also eat less tomorrow…,” and s.h.i.+a continued to enjoy the sweets from the stalls. While Hajime walked beside s.h.i.+a with a wry smile, his expression changed suddenly to a dubious one. He turned around and looked down.

s.h.i.+a noticed him and asked while inclining her head, “Nn? Is something wrong, Hajime-san?”

“Nn—? The sign perception perceived a worrying presence…”

“Did you use the sign perception?”

“I always activate it as precaution.”

“U~n? But, are you that worried? And even if you say a presence…”

s.h.i.+a looked at the surrounding, she tilted her head and said, “There are a lot of people around, you know?”

“No, that’s not what I mean… What I perceived was from below?”

“Below?… you mean the drainage? Umm, wouldn’t it be the maintenance staff?”

“If so, then I wouldn’t be worried about it. It’s a small and weak presence… Maybe it’s a child? Moreover, a weakened one.”

“Eh!? Th-That’s bad! I-It is possible the child fell into a hole and drowned! Hajime-san! Let’s chase after it! Show me the way!”

The moment s.h.i.+a heard Hajime’s explanation, she immediately ran. Although Aiko’s words about his “lonely way of life” had been etched in his heart, but the truth was that s.h.i.+a moved faster than him, which made him smile wryly. s.h.i.+a’s brightness and straightforwardness seems to have been a good influence on Hajime.

s.h.i.+a and Hajime chased after the moving presence underground with a moderate speed. From the town’s structure, they expected the drainage to flow along the street. When they immediately pa.s.sed by the presence, he pressed his hand on the ground to trans.m.u.te it. Red sparks kindled, and a hole connected to the underground immediately opened.

Hajime and s.h.i.+a unhesitatingly jumped into the hole. He then used “Aerodynamic,” held onto s.h.i.+a right before they fell into the drainage that released the bad smell, and they landed on the pa.s.sage on both side of the waterways.

“Hajime-san, I can also feel the presence. I will jump and pull it!”

“No, it is okay.”

Hajime stopped s.h.i.+a, who tried to jump without minding that her clothing would be dirtied, by holding her neck root. He then once again pressed his hand on the ground and used trans.m.u.tation. A lattice was created along with red sparks in the waterway. Because the lattice was set diagonally up, the child being swept away moved towards them and stopped when caught by the lattice. Hajime operated the gimmick in his left arm. His arm extended to catch the child, and he pulled it to the pa.s.sage.

“This child…”

“Well, this child is still breathing… Let’s get out of here for now, the smell is very bad here.”

Seeing child they saved, s.h.i.+a widened her eyes in surprise. Hajime also had knowledge of the child’s appearance, so he was surprised in his mind. However, their current location wasn’t good physically and mentally, so they moved to another location.

Somehow, since it didn’t seem to be an accident where a child fell into the waterways and drowned, Hajime who was hesitating to return to the street from the hole he created earlier, used trans.m.u.tation close to the hole and opened another hole in the drainage pa.s.sage after recalling the arrangement of the buildings on the surface. Thus, while holding the small child wrapped in a blanket he took out from the “Treasure Box,” they began to move.

Red sparks suddenly appeared in a certain back alley, and a hole opened on the ground. The ones who jumped out from there were s.h.i.+a and Hajime carrying a small child with him. Hajime used trans.m.u.tation to close the hole and he s.h.i.+fted his gaze back towards the child he was holding.

From the child’s stature, he or she should be around 3 or 4 years old. With long emerald green hair, and though the child was dirty, it didn’t change her lovely features. The child should be a girl. However, the most eye catching thing were her ears. Unlike humans, her ears were fan-like fins. In addition, what peeked out from inside the blanket were maple-like small hand, and a folded thin film attached in between her fingers.

“Looks like this child came from Sea-dweller tribe… Just why is she in such a place…”

“Well, I am certain it wasn’t for a good reason.”

The Sea-dweller tribe was a tribe with considerably special position even among the demi-human races. They lived in «Seaside Town of Elisen», located offsh.o.r.e of the sea right beside «Great Dessert Guryuu-en» in the west of the continent. Using their special characteristic, the tribe caught 80% of the marine products that appeared in the market in this continent. It was the reason why they were publicly protected by Herrlicht Kingdom even though they are demi-human race. In the end, it was all about the money, since they were protected because they could be used even while the discrimination continued.

That was why it was unbelievable for a person of the Sea-dweller’s tribe, who were being protected, to be washed away in the drainage of an inland’s big city, even more so when it was a child. The smell of crime was intense.

As they were thinking of the girl from the Sea-dweller’s tribe, her nose twitched, her eyes opened and blinked. Then, the big, circle pupils, began to stare at Hajime. Hajime, whose gaze somehow met hers, didn’t look away and stared back. With the unknown tension floating around, s.h.i.+a, who seem to know something, approached her with an amazed expression. Suddenly, the stomach of the girl from the Sea-dweller’s tribe let out a cute growling sound. With her nose twitching again, she moved her gaze from Hajime and her eyes locked on the wrappers s.h.i.+a bought from the stalls.

‘These?’ s.h.i.+a thought as she tilted her head and moved the wrappings with skewered meats inside from right to left. Just like magnet, the girl’s gaze followed. Apparently, she was quite hungry. s.h.i.+a tried to take out the skewered meats from the wrapping while Hajime began talking to the girl while trans.m.u.ting.

“Okay, what’s your name?”

The girl whose eyes were captivated by the skewered meats s.h.i.+a was holding was surprised and ducked her body when bright sparks suddenly appeared from the ground followed by a floating square box. Hajime asked her name once more, and after her gazed wandered around for a while, she said her name in small whisper.

“… Myuu.”

“I see. I am Hajime, and this is s.h.i.+a. Then, Myuu, if you want to eat the skewered meat, first wash off the dirt from your body.”

Hajime took out clean water he saved inside the “Treasure Box,” and filled the bathtub he just trans.m.u.ted. In addition, he adjusted the water temperature using a flame ore and the improvised bath was completed. It is very dangerous eat a meal with a body dirtied by drainage. Because she seemed to have drank the drainage water, it was necessary to take detoxifying and bactericidal medicines (marketed commodities).

Not long afterwards, Myuu responded by taking off the blanket along with her clothes dirtied by the drainage, and entered the bathtub. “Ekk!,” though her body was cringed as though she was frightened, she then narrowed her eyes when her body gradually got warmed up. Hajime handed the medicines and towel to s.h.i.+a, pa.s.sed the soap to Myuu, and he went out to the back alley to buy Myuu some clothing.

When Hajime returned from the back alley after purchasing Myuu’s clothing, Myuu had already gotten out of the bathtub and was currently being held by s.h.i.+a, wrapped in a new blanket. While s.h.i.+a was holding on to Myuu, she said “Ahh,” as she peeled off pieces of meat and fed it to Myuu’s small mouth — chewing to the utmost. Her dirtied hair regained its emerald green s.h.i.+ne, and the reflected light created a halo around her head.

“Ah, Hajime-san. Welcome back. Although it’s amateur judgement, there’s no problem with Myuu-chan.”

When s.h.i.+a noticed Hajime’s return, she reported while continuously stroking Myuu’s moist hair. Maybe because she also noticed Hajime’s presence, she began to stare at him again while still chewing. She might be judging whether he was a good or bad person.

Hajime responded to s.h.i.+a’s words by nodding, and took out the clothes he bought. It was a milk-white, feminine one piece dress, one that looked similar to the one s.h.i.+a was wearing. In addition, there was a gladiator sandal-like footwear, and underwear. Because the items were for children, he was worried about the shop clerk’s eyes when he bought them.

Hajime walked towards Myuu, took off the blanket, and put on the one piece dress over her head, quickly followed by the underwear. He knelt before Myuu and put the sandals on each foot. In addition, he took out an artifact that lets out warm air — in other words, a blow dryer — from the “Treasure Box,” and dried Myuu’s moist hair. Myuu stood completely still but although she continued to stare at Hajime, she gradually narrowed her eyes when pleasant warm air blew.

“… What can I say. Looks like Hajime-san is good at taking care of others.”

“What are you saying out of the blue…”

Although Hajime frowned at s.h.i.+a’s words while he was still drying Myuu’s hair, his appearance was the evidence he was good at taking care of others, so s.h.i.+a’s cheeks loosened with a smile. Hajime somehow felt embarra.s.sed and averted the topic.

“Well, about what to do…”

“About what we should do with Myuu-chan, right…”

Because she understood the two were talking about her, Myuu alternately looked up between s.h.i.+a and Hajime.

For now, Hajime and s.h.i.+a decided to hear Myuu’s situation.

As a result, the content Myuu spoke of with her faltering voice was almost exactly what Hajime had expected. On a certain day, she got lost while she was swimming with her mother in a nearby coastline, and while she was wandering around, she was suddenly captured by a man from the human race.

After many harsh days had pa.s.sed, she was transported quite a distance to Fhuren, and was then put in a dim, prison-like place. Inside the place, there were a lot of children of the human race. After she spent who knows how many days inside, several children who were with her were taken out on a daily basis but never returned. A slightly older boy said they were going to be displayed to guests and priced.

When it was finally Myuu’s turn, there was by chance a drainage maintenance that day, so the hole leading to the underground waterway was open. Myuu, who heard the nostalgic sound of the water, immediately jumped inside. Usually, there was nothing a 3 or 4 year old could do because the hurdle was too high, but fortunately, she wasn’t handcuffed. Myuu swam with all her might while enduring the unpleasantness of the filthy sewage. Though she was young, she was a child of the Sea-dweller’s tribe. The men could do nothing but run on the pa.s.sageway to try and catch her, but failed to do so while she rode the current.

However, because she wasn’t accustomed to long travels, coupled by the stress of getting kidnapped, the unpalatable food, and the bad environment where she was soaked inside the drainage for a long time, Myuu finally lost her consciousness when she reached both her physical and mental limits. Her consciousness faintly returned thanks to being wrapped in a warm back, and she noticed she was being held by Hajime.

“The guests set the… price. An auction, huh. For children ranging from the human race and Sea-dweller’s tribe to be there, it should be an underground auction.”

“… Hajime-san, what should we do?”

s.h.i.+a, who looked distressed, embraced Myuu closely. Her eyes were clearing expressing she wanted to do something about it. It was normal for the demi-human race to be captured and turned into slaves. s.h.i.+a who was deprived of her family because of it, understood the fear and pain.

However, Hajime shook his head.

“It should be better to entrust her to the security office.”

“That’s… you’re going to abandon this child and the other children…”

When s.h.i.+a heard Hajime’s words, she gritted her teeth. She closely embraced Myuu as she received the shock and looked at Hajime. What Hajime meant as security office was an organization similar to the police force on Earth. By entrusting her to the government-like facility, Myuu could be separated from them. Although it wasn’t an abandonment but a regular procedure of finding lost children, s.h.i.+a didn’t think so.

Hajime tried to explain it to s.h.i.+a in an easy-to-understand manner.

“You know, s.h.i.+a. It is the natural thing to send the lost children you find to the security office. Even more so when Myuu is a child of the Sea-dweller tribe. She will surely be protected by them. In addition, to auction someone from Sea-dweller tribe is a great problem. They will investigate it and the other children will be saved. Isn’t that enough? Though I’m just guessing, this is probably the dark side of this big city. When Myuu was caught, she would surely placed in a location where the public officials couldn’t get their hands there. In other words, this is Fhuren’s problem. That’s why, isn’t it necessary to report it?… Considering your circ.u.mstance, I understand your feelings of wanting to do something, but…”

“Th-That… that is true… But, at the very least can we be the one who take this child? After all, we are going to the sea in the west…”

“Haa~, listen. We are going to the Great Volcano first. Don’t tell me, are you going to take her along to the dungeon? Or, are you going to tell her to wait in the desert alone? In the first place, we will be considered as the kidnapper’s comrade if we take the kidnapped child of Sea-dweller tribe without permission. So, don’t say anything unreasonable like this.”

“… Uuh, I understand…”

Apparently, in just a short time, s.h.i.+a had come to adore Myuu. Maybe because she read the mood regarding her situation, Myuu clung onto s.h.i.+a tightly. Myuu seemed to like s.h.i.+a as well, and felt the need to resist parting from her.

However, what Hajime had suggested was the right thing, so s.h.i.+a could only nod and droop her shoulders. Hajime bowed to match Myuu’s gaze, and began to explain in a way Myuu could understand him.

“Listen, Myuu, we are going to bring you to people who will protect you. Though it might take time, you will surely be returned to the sea in the west.”

“…What about Onii-chan and Onee-chan?” Myuu asked what the two were going to do with an uneasy tone.

“I am sorry but, it will be a goodbye.”

“No!”

“Wait, it shouldn’t be—”

“No!”

“…”

“Myuu is okay with Onii-chan and Onee-chan! Myuu want to be together!”