“I swear I’ll never forget this adventure for the rest of my life.”
“......”
Myu’s expression grew dark again. She should have been happy to hear Hajime say that, but she was clever enough to know what that implied. Hajime quietly waited for her to say something. He was ready for her to tell him not to go, or to bring her with him. He knew what he would say to her too. But Myu didn’t say anything. She just bit her lip, desperately keeping the tears in her eyes from spilling down her cheeks. The painful silence stretched on for a few minutes. Eventually, Hajime let out a long sigh and put his thoughts in order. He opened his mouth to say what needed to be said, but just before he could speak—
“Ah!? What’s that!?”
A massive presence suddenly made itself known to the party, and shivers ran down their spine.
“Hajime-san, look up!”
Hajime reflexively looked up in response to Shea’s voice and saw that the sky was suddenly closing. Or rather, so many clouds were appearing that it looked like someone was closing a lid over the sky. Within seconds, the moon had been swallowed up by the roiling black mass.
“Myu, Remia. Don’t leave my side.”
The two of them nodded, looking worried.
“Hajime-kun, there’s mist coming in from everywhere... This isn’t normal, right?” Kaori muttered.
“Well this is a fantasy world, so for all we know, this is normal.”
“What do you think, Hajime?” Yue asked.
“Someone’s behind this.”
The fog rolled over the submarine, engulfing it. It was thick enough that people standing on opposite sides of the deck wouldn’t be able to see each other. It reminded Hajime of the fog in the Haltina Woods. Everyone quickly formed a protective circle around Myu and Remia.
“So is the legend real?” Shea asked.
“That’d be nice, but I don’t see any sparkling ocean anywhere,” Hajime replied.
“Master, look. Something’s coming.”
Tio’s voice was tense. She stared intently into the fog, trying to discern the truth with her dragon eyes, her golden, slitted pupils sparkling. Everyone turned toward the direction she was looking, and a second later, they saw it.
“The hell is that?”
A massive shadow cut its way horizontally through the fog. Judging by its silhouette, it was easily over thirty meters long. But it made no sound as it passed. Nor did it create any wind. In fact, it didn’t even disturb the fog. Almost as if it wasn’t real. The night was so quiet that Hajime and the others could hear their own breathing.
“Was that a... whale?” Kaori muttered, her voice trembling. For as silent as the creature was, its presence was immense. And that was what terrified everyone. Including Hajime. As the creature circled around the submarine, he could make out what looked like fins jutting out from the body of the shadow, which supported Kaori’s guess.
“My Demon Eye’s not showing me anything... Hey, Tio.”
“My apologies, Master. But I know nothing about this creature, either.”
Tio, who was always so reliable and observant, shook her head, cold sweat pouring down her forehead. Suddenly, their submarine shook.
“Hajime-san!? Did you put us down in the water!? We’re being carried away!”
“How!? It’s still in hovercraft mode!”
A loud rumbling noise shattered the silence that had previously surrounded them. At the same time, the sea grew choppy and turbulent. A powerful current suddenly appeared underneath the submarine and started dragging it forward. Furthermore, the mist started to whirl around the party like a tornado as the unknown creature circled around them.
“Tch!”
“D-Daddy! Don’t!”
Hajime reached for Donner, but Myu clung to him and begged him to stop.
“Myu!?”
“I’m sorry! But umm... I don’t think he’s a bad person!”
“Are you saying you...?”
Of course, Myu had no idea what the creature was, either. But it seemed she was sensing something from it. Something inside her was telling Myu that they couldn’t hurt it, and Hajime could tell from the earnest look in her eyes that she sincerely believed that. She just couldn’t express it in words. While Hajime was hesitating, their surroundings continued to transform. The whirlwind of mist sped up until they were surrounded by a wall of fog, making it look like they were in the eye of a storm. But the sky above them wasn’t clear, like it would be in a normal storm. It, too, was covered in swirling dense fog. But instead of sucking up the surrounding water, the fog hurricane was pushing it away, creating a crater in the ocean.
“Does it mean to drag us down to the bottom of the ocean?”
“It’s strange... I can sense mana from everything around us, both the fog and the water.”
“Hajime-san, I think we’ll be okay! I’m not seeing any future where we die, at least!”
Hajime shot Yue a glance. Though he said nothing, it was a trivial task for her to read his thoughts, and she quickly created a teleportation portal to let everyone escape. But before she could send anyone through—
“Daddy! He’s calling for us! He wants us to save him!”
“Wh-What?”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to process that or ask Myu what she meant. Owooooooooooooooooooooo! The creature let out a howl. It wasn’t a threatening sound, though. In fact, it almost sounded melodic. A second later, Hajime and the others were surrounded by light, and their consciousness began to fade.
“Shi—” Yue shouted, panicking. The portal she’d created scattered to the four winds.
“Hang on, everyone!”
It was too late to escape now. At Hajime’s command, everyone hugged each other, with Remia and Myu at the center of the circle. The submarine dropped to the bottom of the ocean, and Hajime and the others blacked out.
“Ngh... Where are we...?”
Remia shook her head and groggily opened her eyes. Her disorientation quickly vanished when she realized that Myu, who she’d been hugging before losing consciousness, wasn’t in her arms. She leaped to her feet and shouted, “Myu! Where are you!? Say something! Mommy’s looking for you!”
Remia’s voice carried quite far. But she heard no reply from her beloved daughter. Looking around, she realized Hajime and the others were nowhere to be seen as well. Unease welled up within her. Her limbs felt frozen. Remia had sworn to herself that she’d never lose her daughter again. But now Myu wasn’t by her side. This couldn’t be happening. Just the thought that her precious daughter might be suffering somewhere alone caused her chest to tighten up.
“It’s fine... Everything will be fine. Hajime-san and the others are here too. She’ll be okay.”
You have to keep it together. She told herself. Slowly the impatience and unease began to recede, and Remia could think clearly again. After a few deep breaths, she’d more or less calmed down. She took a look around, taking stock of her surroundings. She was standing on a path of cracked cobblestones, which was surrounded by the walls of crumbling buildings. It seemed she’d been transported to the back alley of some city.
Determined to find Myu, Remia dashed out of the alleyway. She emerged onto the main street, which was nearly twenty meters wide and surrounded on both sides by massive buildings she’d never seen before. The road seemed to continue on forever, disappearing into the horizon. In the other direction, the road continued for around three kilometers, stopping at a massive castle that had a large cylindrical tower reaching up to the heavens. Remia, who possessed neither superhuman jumping strength nor the ability to fly, could only estimate the scale of this city, but by her estimation, it had once been quite huge. Not only that, it would have taken some serious engineering skills to build.
But whatever it had once been, now it was just an abandoned, dilapidated ruin. The houses and buildings were all in disrepair and looked to be uninhabited. Indeed, Remia saw not a single person anywhere. Looking up, she saw that dark thun
derclouds covered the city, occasionally sending down flashes of lightning. A faint black fog covered the city as well, making the air seem sooty and polluted. There was an overall oppressive atmosphere surrounding the city as well, as if people didn’t belong in it.
“Where have I ended up?” Remia mused, mostly to distract herself than anything. Last she recalled, they were being pulled down to the bottom of the ocean. After a few seconds, Remia started running down the deserted street.
“Myu! Where are you! Mommy’s looking for you!”
She glanced here and there as she ran, searching for her daughter. The old cobblestone road was cracked and broken, with sharp pieces of rubble strewn about everywhere. Dagons generally didn’t wear sturdy shoes either, so it was doubly dangerous for Remia to run. Especially since she wasn’t looking at where she was putting her feet. Naturally, it wasn’t long before she hurt herself.
“Ah!”
Her flimsy sandal hit a sharpened piece of rubble, and the thin cords it was woven of ripped apart. Remia reflexively pulled her leg back, but her foot came away bloody. She tore off what remained of her broken sandal without hesitation and, ignoring the pain in her foot, continued running down the street. In seconds her feet were covered in numerous scrapes and cuts, but she didn’t stop. Myu was the most precious thing in the world to her; she couldn’t let a little pain stop her. But it wasn’t her daughter who answered her desperate cries.
“Huh? Who... might you be?” Remia asked.
Her shouting had attracted a rather shady figure. The figure resembled a person, but Remia couldn’t be sure it actually was one. They were wearing a robe that covered them from head to toe, and Remia couldn’t make anything out of their face. In fact, she couldn’t even see their mouth. Furthermore, the robe the figure was wearing was unnatural. It seemed more liquid than solid. To Remia, it looked as though the figure was clad in a layer of flowing black tar.
Alarm bells started going off in her mind. Whatever that figure was, her instincts told her it was dangerous. She had to run, now. But this was the first person she’d seem in this ghost town, and the possibility that they might provide her with information caused her to hesitate. What if they knew where Myu was? Her love for her daughter caused Remia to ignore her instincts and approach the strange figure.
“U-Umm... have you seen a little girl—”
Before she could finish, the figure’s robe began to ripple. A second later it contracted and began to morph into the shape of a giant scythe. The figure advanced on Remia, scythe in hand. It looked like the grim reaper from Earth’s legends. Pale-faced, Remia took a trembling step backward. She tripped over a piece of rubble and fell to the ground. The dread emanating from the figure was so great she couldn’t even scream. Her gaze was glued to the terrifying figure.
But some part of her was still shouting, You have to find Myu! Get a hold of yourself! You’re her mother! in the back of her mind. It scolded her over and over, urging her to get to her feet. Even though she was too terrified to move, even though she was up against a monster the likes of which she’d never seen, in her heart of hearts, Remia still didn’t give up. She couldn’t afford to give up. So she glared at the menacing reaper bearing down on her with every ounce of defiance left in her. A second later, a streak of red light shot through the reaper’s head.
“Huh?” she muttered, dumbfounded. Tar dripped from the gaping hole in the reaper’s head, looking uncannily like polluted brain fluid. In the corner of her eye, Remia spotted the sleeve of a familiar, comforting black coat.
“You’ve got guts, staring him down like that. Guess I should have expected as much from Myu’s mom.”
Hajime landed on the ground next to Remia. Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked up at him.
“Hajime-san! Wh-Where’s Myu!?”
“Sorry, but we’ll have to talk later,” Hajime replied curtly. He picked her up with one arm, and she reflexively clung to his neck with an involuntary squeal. He leaped backward, and a second later something whooshed past Remia’s ear. Turning around, Remia saw a reaper’s scythe inches from her face. It seemed there was more than one black-robed figure. More than two, even. They started popping up in all directions, oozing out of cracks in the walls or floor. Soon enough, Hajime and Remia were surrounded by twenty reapers.
“Hang on tight. This is going to get rough.”
“O-Okay,” Remia replied reflexively to the commanding tone in Hajime’s voice.
— The grim reapers let out a wordless, soundless howl as they spread their liquid cloaks out. Is that like a war cry? Hajime thought to himself. A fierce gust of wind whipped across the battlefield. Even Hajime’s Demon Eye couldn’t find out where these strange monsters’ mana crystals were, and he had no idea what that liquid tar they were wrapped in actually was. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if these were monsters, or if they were sentient. But if they were after him, there was only one thing to do.
“I don’t have time to deal with trash like you.”
As the reapers charged, Hajime’s hand began to glow with crimson light. A second later, seven Cross Bits appeared out of thin air. They formed a protective circle around Hajime, their muzzles pointed outward. Hajime raised his hand, and they all fired at once. There was a thunderous boom as streaks of lethal light shot toward the reapers. Regardless of what they were made of, it seemed the reapers weren’t capable of withstanding the physical and magical force of Hajime’s bullets. They were blasted backward, tar leaking from their wounds like blood.
Hajime then leaped backward, and a second later another reaper oozed out of the ground he’d been standing on. He didn’t even spare it a glance as he blasted it with Donner. Five other reapers bore down on him from the air and he smashed them all as well with a series of highly accurate shots. Four other reapers swung at Hajime from all sides, aiming for the moment when he landed. But he ducked under their scythes with ease, reloading his revolver in the meantime. After reloading, he spun on one foot like a top, pumping Donner’s trigger. Four streaks of light shot out in a cross formation, killing the four reapers.
“You’re getting in my way. Die already.”
A fierce grin crept up Hajime’s face. His pupils dilated, sparkling with unrestrained bloodlust. Faced with the unleashed monster of the abyss, the reapers faltered. As did Remia, who was seeing Hajime’s bloodthirsty side for the first time. But while Hajime’s demeanor was a bit of a shock, she found that she wasn’t actually scared of him. Partly because she realized that despite being in a life-or-death battle, Hajime was taking care not to move so violently that it’d hurt her. But mostly because she understood where his anger and impatience were coming from. He was worried about Myu, too.
“Hajime-san...”
“Remia. Plug your ears. I’m gonna blow these bastards away.”
Remia didn’t know why she called out to Hajime, or what she was even planning on saying to him, but his interruption gave her the perfect opportunity to shut up and nod. A second later, Hajime withdrew his rocket launcher, Orkan. He fired off a barrage of missiles, blowing up everything nearby. The resulting shockwaves obliterated the nearby ruins, leveling everything within a hundred-meter radius. Once the dust settled, Remia could see nothing was left in the vicinity. No reapers, no ruins, no cobblestone road. Still, Hajime scanned the area thoroughly, wary of any sudden attacks. Only once he was sure it was safe did he put Orkan away and relax.
“Sorry, Remia. I haven’t been able to find Myu yet. You’re the first person I found.”
“Huh? Oh... I see.”
It took Remia a second to realize he was continuing their conversation from earlier, but when she did her face fell.
“This city’s huge. I checked from the sky too, and I can’t tell where it ends.”
From how high up Hajime had checked his surroundings, he guessed the city was at least 60 kilometers across, if not more. There were a few cities on Earth that big, but none in Tortus.
“I’m guessing that castle’s
sitting at the city’s center. Since there are roads that head straight out of it going east, west, north, and south. I’m thinking of heading for that castle while destroying everything in our path.”
No matter which of the four main streets someone ended up on, they’d be able to see the castle from where they were. Since it was such a central landmark, Hajime figured everyone else would try and congregate there. Furthermore, Hajime knew they were somewhere north of the castle, meaning that he and Remia must be on the north main street. He knew that because before he’d met up with Remia he’d found a faded signpost that had mentioned this was the north side. Though the signpost had been written in a language he hadn’t seen before even in Tortus, his Language Comprehension skill had allowed him to read it.
“D-Did you just say destroy everything in our path?”
“Yeah. The best way to tell people where we are is blowing stuff up. Well, if they’re all on the south side they probably won’t be able to hear the gunshots or explosions until we’re pretty close to the castle, but... it’s better than doing nothing.”
A tinge of unease entered Hajime’s voice as he said that. When he’d flown up into the sky, he’d seen the giant wall that separated the northern and southern parts of the city. It had been like a scaled-up version of the Great Wall of China. Hajime had no idea what the purpose of the massive wall was, but from what he’d been able to make out from a distance, the south side’s buildings weren’t as grand as the north side’s. Maybe the two halves of the city serve different purposes or something happened to make the south side collapse faster than the north? Regardless of the reason, Hajime had a sneaking suspicion that the massive wall was thick enough to block out sounds between the two sides.
Still, he was right in saying that blowing stuff was up still better than doing nothing. Of course, he was also constantly calling out to his comrades via telepathy, and he’d sent a number of his Ornises out to scout the area up ahead to make sure he wasn’t accidentally getting anyone caught up in the demolition.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest: Short Stories (Premium) Page 18