Arifureta Vol 7 Chapter 8 (2/2)

Hajime flinched because of the strong rejection. Myuu began to flail around on s.h.i.+a’s lap, just like a spoiled child. Until now, they thought of her as a quiet child, but that apparently was because she was still trying to ascertain Hajime’s and s.h.i.+a’s character. Maybe because she judged them to be people she could trust, she acted spoiled. However, she might still be an originally quiet and a bright child.

Hajime didn’t feel bad to be trusted by her, but it was necessary to report the situation to the official, and they could not take Myuu along as they were going to conquer one of the Great Dungeons, «Great Volcano» on their way. Even so, “No— —!!,” Myuu rejected with all her might, so he gave up on persuading her, and just took her in his arms to bring her to the security office.

Because Myuu didn’t want to separate from the people she met miraculously and could actually trust, she strongly pulled Hajime’s hair, eye-patch, and scratched his cheeks on the way to the security office as a form of resistance. If not for s.h.i.+a smiling courtesy beside him, Hajime would have likely been reported as a kidnapper. With his hair in a mess, one eye shut because his eye-patch was removed, and the scratches on his cheeks, Hajime arrived at the security office and explained the circ.u.mstances to the pop-eyed security personnel.

The expression of the security member who heard the circ.u.mstances steepened, and promised to protect Myuu inside the security office, together with the investigation and procedure to bring Myuu back to her home. Just as Hajime had expected, it was a big problem, and he wanted to excuse himself since the reinforcement should arrive immediately from their headquarters. However…

“Does Onii-chan hate Myuu?” Said by the little girl with moistened eyes together with an upward gaze, no sane person would be able to endure it, including Hajime. “Uh.” He groaned. Although he perseveringly explained she would be able to return home if she was with the security uncle, Myuu’s sorrowful expression didn’t let up in the slightest.

The security member couldn’t endure it any longer, somewhat forcefully separated Myuu from Hajime’s party while he was trying to calm her, and Myuu pulled the man’s hair while letting out a sad voice. Hajime and s.h.i.+a had finally left the security office, but naturally, they didn’t feel like continuing their date. s.h.i.+a’s eyebrows were wrinkling in worry while she kept looking back at the security office.

Before long, the security office was no longer in sight, and Hajime wanted to say something to make the depress s.h.i.+a feel better in a place considerably far away from the office. But at that time…

BooOOooMm!!!!!

An explosion occurred behind them, and black smoke could be seen. The location was,

“Ha-Hajime-san. Over there is…”

“Tch, the security office!”

That’s right. The place the black smoke was coming from was the security office where they were before. The two nodded at each other, and ran back towards the security office. The worse thing that could happen with such timing entered their minds. The organization which kidnapped Myuu blasted the security office along with Myuu to prevent information leakage.

Suppressing their impatience, they reached the security office. What entered their view were the spectacle of windows’ gla.s.ses along with the door of the office blown and scattered into the street. However, the building itself didn’t that damaged, so there’s no worry of it collapsing. Hajime and s.h.i.+a entered the building and they discovered the uncle from security collapsed under a cover.

The security officer had both his arms broken, and was unconscious. Similar thing happened to the other security members. Fortunately, there was no life-threatening injury. While Hajime was looking at the security members, s.h.i.+a went to investigate other places, and returned with a hurried look.

“Hajime-san! I can’t find Myuu-chan! Beside th-this!” What s.h.i.+a handed over was a sheet of paper with something written on it.

“If you don’t want the child of Sea-dweller tribe to die, come to ___ ___ with the white-haired girl from Rabbit-man tribe.”

“Hajime-san, this is…”

“Looks like these guys are greedy ones…”

Hajime crumpled the paper in his hand and revealed a savage smile. Those guys probably heard the conversation between Myuu and Hajime’s party’s in the security office by some means. Afterwards, they judged Myuu was useful as a hostage, and they didn’t kill her to silence her because of the thought of obtaining a rare Rabbit-man.

Beside Hajime, was s.h.i.+a who wore a resolute expression.

“Hajime-san! I-!”

“Say no more. I know it now. These guys are my enemies… No more tedious talk, we will crush them all and take Myuu back.”

“Yes!”

Truthfully, Hajime thought it would be better to quickly separate from Myuu because he didn’t want her to have to accompany them to such a dangerous journey. After all, Myuu would only have painful times if they unskillfully gave affection to a mentally cornered child. However, he could not leave her when she has been kidnapped for the second time. There was time, and there was something he could do. So to leave such a small child while she’s in a predicament would surely be “a lonely way of life.” In addition, if he decided to abandon her with the reason of her being unrelated to them, s.h.i.+a would surely grieved about it.

Furthermore, the other party was also trying to get their hands on s.h.i.+a. To want to covet Hajime’s “important” person, they are considered as “enemies.” There was no need to pardon them or hold back. These guys had crossed the line not meant to be crossed.

Hajime and s.h.i.+a readied their arms, and the monsters quickly ran towards the location of the fools who had woken them up.

“And that’s happened. When we arrived at the specified location, there were a crowd of armed thugs, but Myuu herself wasn’t there. From the very beginning, they probably thought of killing me and take s.h.i.+a. For the time being, we ma.s.sacred everyone except several of them since we wanted to ask Myuu’s whereabouts… but they didn’t know anything. I tortured the others to find where their hideout is… and the same thing happened.”

“Not only me, they were also planning to kidnap Yue-san and Tio-san. That’s why this time, we decided to give them a warning by crus.h.i.+ng all of the things related to their organization…”

Yue and Tio, who heard Hajime and s.h.i.+a’s explanation as they moved. With an amazed expressions towards their const.i.tution towards trouble, wondered how the normal date could have turned into something involving the underground organization of this big city.

“… So, we just need to look for a child called Myuu?”

“Yep. What I found from the questioning, was they are a considerably large organization… so there are a lot of facilities related to them. Will you help us?”

“Nn… leave it to me.”

“Hmm. This one will certainly do it if it’s something asked by Master.”

Yue and Tio unhesitatingly answered. Hajime told them what he found out in regards to the whereabouts of the underground organization’s hideouts. They then proceeded to search for Myuu and crush the organization in groups of two consisting Hajime-Yue and s.h.i.+a-Tio. Hajime and s.h.i.+a went separate ways because they thought it would be better to have someone acquainted to Myuu when they find her.

Nearby the outer wall of Commercial Ward, there was a place separated from Sightseeing and Craftsman Wards. It was a place where the government’s eyes couldn’t reach; a complete underworld, the dark side of this big city. It was dim despite it being daytime, and the people walked with gloomy atmosphere.

In the corner of the place, there was a seven story building. Although it was an employment agency on the surface, it was actually the headquarters of the biggest underground organization specializing in “people” trafficking, “Flithof.” Normally, the headquarters has an eerily and quiet atmosphere, but now, it was noisy with people wandering around. The expressions of the thug-like subordinates who served as messengers were perplexed and irritated, which then warped into fear.

Among tens of people that were always going in and out, two people clad in robes from head to toe slipped in during the confusion, and infiltrated Flithof’s headquarters without much difficulty. They advanced while avoiding people who were running around, and finally arriving before a conspicuous room at the highest floor. A man’s hoa.r.s.e yell reverberated into the corridor through the door. Hearing him, the robed people quietly removed their hoods and moved stealthily.

“Stop f.u.c.king around around! Ah!? Say it again, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“Hii! L-like I reported before, the number of destroyed hideouts has exceeded 50. The attackers were two groups of a pair.”

“Then, what’s wrong with that? Are you saying Flithof will be destroyed by four s.h.i.+tty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds? Aa?”

“Th-that’s not i— hmph!?”

Inside the room, when they thinking the yell had stopped, something let out thud! sound and silence ruled for a moment. Apparently, the man who was reporting was knocked down by the yelling man.

“You guys, no matter how you do it, bring back those s.h.i.+tty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds before me, alive. I don’t care what state they are in as long as they are alive. If this keeps up, Flithof’s reputation will be ruined. That’s why I am going to let those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds see h.e.l.l while they are alive. It is necessary to show a warning to the others. I will reward the guy who can bring them here with five million Ruta! Five millions each! Tell this to all of the members of the organization!”

Because of the instructions of the man, the room became hectic. Just like what the man had instructed, all the members inside the room left to deliver the message to all of the members in the organization. The two eavesdroppers put their hoods on, looked at each other, nodded once. One of them took out a war-hammer on her back and took a pose.

The moment the person inside placed his hand on the door k.n.o.b, the super-heavy war-hammer was swung with considerably centrifugal and gravitational force.

BaaaANNgG!!!

With a thunderous sound, the door was crushed into pieces. The man who was holding onto the doork.n.o.b had his right half crushed. In addition, the people behind him had their whole bodies pierced by the splinters, and were instantly had wounds them they were blown to the other side of the wall.

“There’s no need to inform your employees. The people in question have come.”

“Hmmm, this one will be responsible for people on the outside. s.h.i.+a, finish this quickly, okay?”

“Thank you very much, Tio-san.”

The people who cultivated the tragedy and casually entered the room were s.h.i.+a and Tio. Realizing the door had suddenly burst into pieces, and how his subordinates were blown away to the wall across the room; both done so effortlessly, the head of Flithof, Hansen, stiffened and stared wide-eyed. He regained his senses when he heard s.h.i.+a’s and Tio’s voices. He then quickly took out his weapon and spoke like a Yakuza.

“…Ya b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are the a.s.sailants, huh… That figures… Tch, ain’t ya da ones from da list. s.h.i.+a and Tio was it? Da other one is the lil’ one, Yue… Indeed y’all’s appearances are first rate. Oi, y’all’s lives will be saved if ya surrender now, y’know? Don’t tell me, ya think ya can return alive after putting ur hands on Flithof’s headquart—!?” Swiiiish “UGYAAAA!!!”

Hansen, who began to speak while looking at s.h.i.+a and Tio with l.u.s.t, was coldly cut off by s.h.i.+a, who fired the shotgun, since there was no need for discussion. The numerous iron b.a.l.l.s blew off Hansen’s right arm, which spun and crashed into the wall behind, while guy himself screamed and crouched.

Though the organization members who heard the commotion came running, Tio used fire magic to burn the stairs and they could only stand still because they lost the only way up. Furthermore, she used the scaled-down version of “Breath,” casually mowing them down, and everything on seventh floor turned completely charred except Hansen’s room. With that, there was an un.o.bstructed view of the Flithof’s headquarters. Tio fired Wind Blades and Fire Bullets, just like a machine gun, towards the organization members who could do nothing but vacantly look up at the upper floor. Because of the merciless attacks, the organization members tried to disperse and scattered about in escape… but only few survived.

While Tio handled the people outside, s.h.i.+a shouldered Doryukken, approached the screaming and writhing Hansen, and pushed Doryukken to his abdomen. “Guwaa,” he let out sounds of agony as he tried to move the sledgehammer away, but his right hand was useless against the super heavy Doryukken. The only thing Hansen could do was ungracefully pleaded for his life.

“P-Please. Spare me! You can take as much money as you like! I don’t want to be involved with you anymore! That is wh— Gekk!?”

“Please don’t speak without permission. You only have to answer my question, understand? If you don’t, the weight will increase every second… so I recommend you answer everything before your organs burst.”

“… s.h.i.+a. Thou art Master’s companion after all… Thy speech and behavior are the same.”

Tio, who retorted from behind, was ignored, and s.h.i.+a asked Hansen about Myuu. When she mentioned Myuu, Hansen showed a dumbfounded expression for a moment. But when she asked about a child from the Sea-dweller tribe, he frantically answered with an anguished expression because Doryukken getting heavier by the second. Apparently, she had been transported to the bas.e.m.e.nt of a hall where the underground auction would occur this evening.

Hansen’s subordinates, who probably heard the conversation between s.h.i.+a’s party and Myuu, were the ones who planned on kidnapping s.h.i.+a. They probably thought that by kidnapping her, they could raise their position inside the organization since she was already in the organization’s list to be kidnapped.

s.h.i.+a touched the telepathy stone on her choker, activated it, and contacted Hajime.

“Hajime-san, Hajime-san. Can you hear me? It’s me, s.h.i.+a.”

“…s.h.i.+a. Yes, I can hear you. What’s wrong?”

“I just got the information on Myuu-chan’s whereabouts. Hajime-san is currently in Sightseeing Ward, right? Please go ahead because it’s around there.”

“Roger.”

s.h.i.+a told Hajime the exact location using telepathy. Because of Doryukken’s weight, Hansen’s complexion had turned blue due to being unable to breathe. s.h.i.+a deactivated the gravity magic in Doryukken, pulled the normal weighted Doryukken from Hansen and shouldered it. Though he was released from Doryukken’s weight, Hansen’s consciousness began to faint because of hemorrhage, and desperately asked for s.h.i.+a’s help.

“H-Help me… Take me to the doctor…”

“It’s too convenient for you to use children’s lives as food source… In addition, Hajime-san and Yue-san will be angry at me if I let a human like you escape. That’s why, goodbye.”

“S-Stop!”

Splatter!

s.h.i.+a shook Doryukken that was swung mightily, to brush off the blood stuck on it, put it on her back, and faced Tio.

“Tio-san. Let’s quickly crush this place and meet with Hajime-san and Yue-san!”

“Whoa… s.h.i.+a is also merciless, huh… It made this one throbbed slightly…”

“?… Did you just say something?”

“N-Nothing at all.”

The words Tio said in a whisper somehow made s.h.i.+a feel a chill. Although when she asked Tio, there was nothing but her strange feverish expression, so s.h.i.+a tilted her head as they continued to diligently destroy the Flithof’s headquarters.

When s.h.i.+a and Tio left, what remained was numerous corpses and a mountain of rubble. “Flithof” in Fhuren was one of the three biggest underground organizations, and today, it was easily a annihilated.

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