Arifureta Vol 9 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Immediate Trouble in the Great Desert

A brown world.

«Guryuu-en Great Desert» was a place those words expressed, perfectly. The sand was brown, formed by millions of miniscule grains. The wind that was blowing constantly threw up the sand and dyed the air brown, and in a 360 degree radius, there was only one color as far as one’s eye could reach.

Moreover, there were numerous sand dunes, big and small, whose surfaces were always stirred by the wind. Moment by moment, the surface’s pattern of the dune was constantly changing, as if expressing “I am alive.” The blazing sun and its unreserved heat made the temperature of the sand on the ground shoot up quickly. It easily exceeded 40 degrees celsius. Coupled with the fluttering sand, it was the worst environment to travel in.

However, it was only for “ordinary” travelers.

Currently, inside such a severe environment, a black, box-shaped vehicle, a magic-driven four-wheeler in fact, was advancing casually while raising a dust storm. Though there was neither road or pathway, it was solved by the compa.s.s installed inside the vehicle.

“… The outside is amazing… I am really glad that this is not a normal carriage.”

“This one agrees. This one doth not know how it became such an environment… but indeed it isn’t a place this one wants to be actively moving in.”

Sitting on the rear seat while watching the sand battering the window and observing the brown-colored world, s.h.i.+a and Tio muttered so, wholeheartedly. No matter how much of an M Tio was, this environment only depressed her.

“It’s completely different from when Myuu came here before! Here’s very cool, and Myuu’s eyes aren’t hurting! Papa is amazing!”

“That’s right~. Hajime-papa is amazing, right~. Myuu-chan, do you want to drink cold water?”

“Want to~. Kaori-oneechan, thank you~.”

Sitting on the lap of Kaori, who was seated on the window side of the front seat, Myuu was excited because it was different from the time that she was here when she was kidnapped before. Myuu was looking at Hajime, who created such a comfortable s.p.a.ce, with sparkling eyes.

That was natural. It would have been terribly severe for Myuu, who was a member of sea-dweller tribe, to cross the desert. For a young child around four years old like her, it would not be strange for her to have died due in her weakened state. Having endured such an environment made Myuu’s surprise further increase at the gap between that time and now. After all, this four-wheeler was equipped with air conditioning.

Following that, the one who agreed with Myuu, took out cold water which normally didn’t exist in the desert even if one hoped with all their might, was the one who made an impactful confession to Hajime and declaration of war to Yue in Hol-ad, and, before he knew it, she had become one of his companions. She was Kaori. Incidentally, the water was taken out of the refrigerator installed in the car.

“You know, s.h.i.+rasa-… Kaori. Please stop saying Hajime-papa. It is somehow made me felt terribly itchy over here.”

“? But, isn’t Myuu said that as if it was the norm?”

“Well, I don’t mind Myuu. However, for a cla.s.smate to call me papa is really…”

Due to her personality which liked to look after others, Kaori somehow became the one who took care of Myuu and she mostly called Hajime as Hajime-papa when she was by Myuu’s side. And for a cla.s.smate, and a girl at that, to call him papa, Hajime felt a different sense of resistance from when Myuu called him that, and he wore a truly subtle expression.

Incidentally, for Hajime to call her as “Kaori” was a result of her pet.i.tion. Her reason was, Hajime-kun calls everyone by their own given name, so it is unfair for me to be called by my family name!, something like that.

“Is that so? Then I won’t… but, someday when I also have a child… at that time…”

Kaori said so with her cheeks dyed crimson, while sneaking a peek at Hajime. Thus a strange atmosphere wrapped everyone inside the vehicle, except for Myuu. Then Yue answered Kaori in place of Hajime who pretended not to hear anything.

“…Unfortunately, I have made that appointment already. Hajime promised it to me.”

“!? … Hajime-kun, what does she mean?”

“… I don’t think it is something that strange. After all, it is something still in the far future.”

“… fufu, Hajime already promised to introduce me to his parents.”

” !?”

“…He’s thoroughly made a bright family plan.”

” !?”

“…Even the dates in Hajime’s hometown.”

” !?”

Yue’s vigorous attacks couldn’t be stopped! Those words, one by one, became stakes, driven into Kaori’s chest. However, Kaori wasn’t a woman that would be done so easily. She believed in Hajime’s survival even in such a despairing situation and she held the courage to challenge Yue, who obviously owned a special bond with Hajime. In the moment Yue’s words were stopped, she began her counterattack!

“I, I know a lot of things about Hajime-kun that Yue doesn’t know! For example, Hajime’s dream for the future, his hobbies, even his favorite genre! Does Yue know the anime and manga that Hajime-kun likes?”

“Hmph… that’s… but, those aren’t related to the current us. There are no such things here. Hajime can just teach me once we arrive in j.a.pan…”

“How naive. Just look at the current Hajime-kun. Doesn’t he looked like an anime character?”

“Geh!?”

It should’ve been a fight between Kaori and Yue but somehow Hajime received the damage.

“White-haired with an eyepatch, moreover his magic eyes… those are certainly the things Hajime-kun’s favorite characters have… even his weapon, that Cross Bit is modeled from funnel… ah, but the one Hajime-kun likes is 00, so is it GN Bit? Whatever it is, the current Hajime-kun is still quite the otaku.”

“GAH!? K-Kaori…”

“Mu, muu… for Hajime’s weapon to be derived from that.”

“Yue, can you say it is your victory if you don’t know the things the one you love likes?”

“… Kaori… that’s some courage… then, let me teach you myself. About the things that Hajime likes on…the bed.”

” !? … W-, w-, w-, on bed, uu~, as I thought…”

“Fufufu… it is good that you now know the difference between us.”

During their travel, Yue and Kaori had already made so many sparks against each other that the other party members already came to ignore them. In the beginning, s.h.i.+a watched them anxiously, but in the end, it didn’t become a serious problem, so she stopped getting herself involved with them.

In a way, it was Hajime who received most of the damage. Hajime was the source of the two’s quarrel, so the content of their fights made him want to writhe. Even now, he received mental damage because the things he worried about the most were being pointed at.

Now Yue boldly told them about the “night” activities which made Kaori close her ears, not wanting to hear it. Hajime himself didn’t want Myuu to be exposed to that, so he tried to stop Yue.

However, faster than Hajime, Myuu unexpectedly came to stop the two’s quarrel.

“… u~, Yue-oneechan and Kaori-oneechan always quarrelling! Myuu hates it if big sisters don’t get along!”

Saying so, Myuu moved from Kaori’s laps towards s.h.i.+a’s lap in the back seat. Moreover, Yue and Kaori became fl.u.s.tered. It was because the four year-old girl said she would hate them.

“Geez, you two are unbecoming in front of Myuu-chan. Rather, that was bad for her education. I also understand how much you two think of Hajime-san, but please be more prudent.”

“! …What a failure. To be scolded by s.h.i.+a…”

“I-I am sorry, Myuu-chan, s.h.i.+a.”

To be admonished by s.h.i.+a made the two droop their shoulders.

For Yue, s.h.i.+a was akin to a friend and younger sister, and although s.h.i.+a also held affection towards Hajime, s.h.i.+a also thought similarly towards Yue which made Yue didn’t think of her as a love rival. As for Tio, she was just a pervert. That’s why, Kaori, who made a full-frontal declaration of war towards Yue, was the first love rival she ever had.

Yue was convinced that there was an absolute bond between her and Hajime. She held an unwavering confidence that she was Hajime’s “special person.” That’s why she was confident that she would be able to easily defeat the challenger, Kaori, when the confession and declaration of war happened.

However, although her confidence didn’t change, Kaori sometimes made the flowers bloom between her and Hajime when they were reminiscencing about j.a.pan, which was unknown to Yue and the others. Towards Kaori, who knew the past Hajime that she didn’t know of, Yue’s sense of rivalry budded before long.

As a result, just like children boasting about their collections, their quarrel turned from a serious one into such a situation and today, Myuu and s.h.i.+a finally got angry at them.

Normally, Hajime was the one who should be stopping Yue, but he was the one who received most of the damage from the two’ quarrels. And now, he could only look far into the distance, as if it didn’t have anything to do with him, to heal his wounded heart.

“Nn? What is that? Master, there seems to be a commotion in the direction at three o’clock.”

Yue and Kaori were desperately appealing that they were getting along to mend Myuu’s mood and s.h.i.+a was also calming Myuu with a wry smile. Hajime muttered, “I am not a chuuni” with hollow eyes. While those happened, unexpectedly, Tio who watched them in interest called out to Hajime. She seemed to have discovered something outside the window.

Hajime looked towards the place Tio mentioned, a big dune at his right. There, numerous worm-like demonic beasts, sandworms to be precise, had gathered. Their numerous heads could be seen at the top of the dune.

Those sandworms were 20 meters on average, large-scale demonic beasts while the largest ones were around 100 meters in length. They lived in this «Guryuu-en Great Desert» and would usually submerge themselves underground and attack prey in their vicinity by opening their big, fangs filled mouths from below. They specialized in surprise attacks due to being hard to detect and were feared by people who crossed the large desert as the G.o.ds of death.

Fortunately, the sandworms themselves weren’t very perceptive, so as long as one wasn’t so unfortunate as to come near them by accident, they would neither notice nor aim at anyone who was far away. As such, it could be said that there was someone who was not that fortunate at that dune, but…

“? Why are they just squirming around?”

That’s right, Tio would have not made a doubtful face and asked Hajime if there were just sandworms appearing. With Hajime’s perception skills, he would have noticed any of the sandworms’ surprise attacks, and they’d be able to get out of the sandworm’s range with four-wheeler’s speed. What was abnormal was that if the sandworms were attacking someone, rather than attacking, the sandworms were squirming around in their surroundings.

“It’s as if, they art confused as to eat or not, right?”

“Well, from what I see, isn’t that so?”

“This one hath no knowledge of this place. But those art all-eaters, they shouldn’t be hesitating to eat anything…”

Although Tio was a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t pervert, she had lived far longer than Yue and unlike the imprisoned Yue, her knowledge was pretty vast. That was why she owned reliable information about demonic beasts. For her to be looking doubtful must mean that something extraordinary is happening.

However, they didn’t have any reason to be involved with it. Hajime decided to get as far away as possible without confirming or getting involved in it.

And at that time,

“Kh!? Everyone, brace yourselves!”

Hajime shouted so and immediately accelerated the four-wheeler. Morrow, from behind the four-wheeler, starting with a small part of its body surfacing, a gigantic figure with the same color as the desert jumped out. With its mouth open, it was a sandworm. Apparently, Hajime’s party were also unfortunate ones.

Hajime further steered to the left and right, advancing through the sand at high speed. Under the four-wheeler that drew an “S” letter, a second and third sandworm jumped out.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Hiu!”

“Wawawa!”

In order of screams, there was Kaori, Myuu, and s.h.i.+a. Met with a strong centrifugal force, Kaori turned behind, worrying about Myuu in the back seat. But her balance crumbled and she fell into Hajime’s lap with her hip on Yue’s lap.

Blinking her eyes, Kaori’s cheeks were flushed, and as she was, she clung tightly to Hajime’s waist. Her position was actually pretty bad. It made Hajime’s cheek cramp. Incidentally, the other half of Kaori’s body was crus.h.i.+ng on Yue.