“......”
Glum expressions settled on the Haulia’s faces when they realized Hajime’s words hit the mark. They’d been rocked by his stunning statement.
“You have nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, and soon you’ll have no one to protect you. But monsters and humans won’t stop attacking you out of pity, you know? At this rate you’re all doomed to die eventually. Are you all really okay with that? Being killed off just because you’re weak, I mean. You guys were lucky to survive this long and now you’re going to throw those lives away? Well?”
No one said a word as a grim atmosphere fell over the clearing. Finally, someone muttered quietly.
“Of course we’re not okay with it.” Those words broke the rest of them out of their stupor and everyone looked up at Hajime. Even Shea’s gaze was filled with determination. Hajime nodded approvingly, and memories of his old powerless self flashed through his mind as he spoke.
“That’s right. You’re not okay with it. But what can you do? The answer’s simple. Get stronger. Tear down anything that gets in your way, and fight for your right to survive.”
“...But we’re rabbitmen. We’re not like tigermen or bearmen who have strong bodies, or like the winged races or dwarves that have special traits they can use to escape trouble. We’re just...”
The fact that rabbitmen were weak only made them despair even more at Hajime’s words. They were weak, so how could they possibly ever hope to fight? No matter how much they struggled, they’d never become strong like Hajime. But Hajime just scoffed at them.
“You know, in the past my comrades called me worthless too.”
“Huh?”
“Worthless. Weak. Useless. Both my stats and my skills were painfully mediocre. I was the weakest person in my group. Nothing more than dead weight. That’s why my comrades all looked down on me. And it was all true, too.”
Everyone’s jaw dropped open in shock at Hajime’s confession. They couldn’t believe that Hajime, the boy who’d beaten a bearman elder like it was nothing and taken down scores of ferocious monsters in the Reisen Gorge, had ever been called worthless or weak.
“But when I fell into the depths of hell, I did everything in my power to get stronger. It wasn’t about whether I could or couldn’t do it. If I didn’t, I’d die. I fought like my life depended on it, because it did. And then, before I knew it, I was like this.” He spoke casually, but the unbelievable contents of his tale sent a shiver down the Haulia’s spines.
If he’d had average stats for a human, then he had to have been even weaker than the rabbitmen. But despite that, he’d fought against monsters far stronger than the enemies they’d been overwhelmed by in Reisen Gorge. Still, it wasn’t his strength or the fact that he’d survived that awed them the most. It was his strength of mind that had let him face such monstrous foes without flinching. When they’d been driven to a corner, the Haulia had meekly accepted their demise. Just as they’d meekly accepted the elders’ decision.
“You guys are like how I was in the past. But don’t worry. So long as I’m bound by this promise, I’ll do what I can to save you from despair. If you tell me there’s no way you can do it, then that’s fine too. You’ll just die when your time’s up. I won’t come save you once our contract is finished. You can spend the rest of your short lives bemoaning your weakness for all I care.”
So what’ll it be? Hajime’s eyes seemed to say that. The Haulia didn’t answer immediately. Or rather, they weren’t able to.
They’d realized their only path to survival was to get stronger. And that Hajime wasn’t protecting them out of some noble sense of justice. He’d leave them without a second thought once their end of the bargain was complete. However, the very idea of fighting was foreign to the peace-loving, gentle rabbitmen. Accepting Hajime’s suggestion would mean stepping into uncharted territory. It would probably take an event as radical as what happened to Hajime to fundamentally change their nature.
And so, they simply all looked at each other silently. However, Shea alone stood up resolutely. It seemed she’d made her decision long ago.
“I’ll do it. Please, teach me how to fight! I’m tired of being weak!” She shouted so loudly that her voice echoed throughout the entire forest. Everyone present could see that she was filled with determination. Of course, even Shea hated fighting. It was scary, it hurt, but more than anything she hated hurting others.
Still, it was undeniably her fault that her family was in this mess, and she hated the thought of causing her family’s deaths even more. On top of that, there was one other reason Shea wanted so desperately to fight against her nature and grow stronger.
Shea gazed unwaveringly at Hajime. Cam and the others watched her in amazement, but after a while, their awe gave way to determination, and they too began standing up. Not just the men either. The women and children too. When Cam saw that everyone was standing up, he stepped forward as his tribe’s representative and addressed Hajime.
“Hajime-dono... please teach us all you can.” A concise request. But each word was backed by an ironclad will. The will to resist the unfairness of this world.
“Alright. You guys better prepare yourselves. How strong you’ll become is all up to you. I’m just here to enable you guys. If you want to give up halfway, then I won’t try and coddle you to keep you here. We’ve only got ten days, so I’m going to be working you to the bone. Whether you live or die will depend on how strong you get.” Everyone nodded grimly. No one was going to back down now.
Before their training began, Hajime first pulled out equipment he’d made to practice his transmutation from his Treasure Trove and passed it out to them. In addition to the knives he’d passed out earlier, everyone got their own curved shortsword, similar to a Japanese kodachi. Those swords were all spares Hajime had made to practice his precision transmuting, which meant their edges were all wickedly sharp. And because they were made of taur stone, they were also quite sturdy. Despite how slender the blade was, it wouldn’t break easily.
Once everyone had been armed, Hajime began teaching them the fundamentals of combat. Of course, Hajime was no martial artist. What little he knew of swordfighting came from games and manga, and it certainly wasn’t nearly enough to teach anyone else. So what he taught them were not techniques, but the movements he’d learned in the depths of hell that helped him counter monsters. He passed down all the knowledge he’d picked up, and found suitable monsters for them to use as live practice. The Haulia excelled in stealth and scouting. In order to capitalize on that, Hajime taught them how to use surprise attacks and pack tactics.
Yue had taken a special liking to Shea, and was teaching her more about how to use magic. Though she was a beastman, Shea had mana and could control it directly, so with the right knowledge she’d be able to use magic. She wouldn’t need to chant thanks to her ability, but she’d still need a magic circle, since she didn’t innately possess the skills for it. Occasional screams could be heard from beyond the fog, meaning Shea’s training was going well.
However, around two days after they’d began their training, Hajime was angrily watching the Haulia’s training. As they’d promised, they were trying to fight their pacifistic nature and learn how to fight properly. They’d even managed to beat some monsters, though they’d sustained injuries. But... Snnnrk. There was a wet noise as one of Hajime’s special short swords sunk into a monster’s flank.
“Aaah, please forgive such a sinful act.” The rabbitman who’d killed it gently embraced the dead monster. In fact, he looked like a father who’d been forced to kill his son.
Thud! Another monster fell to the ground.
“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I had no choice!” A Haulia girl trembled uncontrollably as she cut the head off her quarry. It looked like she’d just accidentally killed her lover.
Snap! On the verge of death, one of the remaining monsters used the last of its strength to fire a projectile at Cam. It flung him backward, but instead of cursing he just l
ay on the ground and muttered his last will.
“Heh, so this is my punishment for baring my fangs at someone. It’s no more than I deserve...” Tears welled up in the other Haulia’s eyes, and they all looked at him pitifully.
“Chief, please don’t say that! We all share the same sin!”
“Exactly! Even if we have to be judged for our crimes one day, that day isn’t now! Get back up, Chief!”
“We can no longer turn back, so let’s at least see how far this road can take us, Chief.”
“Y-You guys... You’re right. We can’t stop here. We must overcome the death of this tiny rat monster and continue onward!”
“Chief!” They were having a rather heartwarming moment. Unable to take it any longer, Hajime finally butt in.
“Gaaah! You guys are so annoying! Quit getting so emotional after every monster you kill! Seriously, what the hell!? Are you guys just pulling my leg!? This looks like it came out of a crappy soap opera! You don’t have to make a scene every goddamn time, just kill it silently! And quickly, too! Also, stop humanizing the things you kill, it’s fucking creepy!”
Hajime knew they were trying their best, but he hated how they had to make such a big deal out of every monster they killed. This had happened multiple times over the past two days, and Hajime had calmly tried to point it out every time. However, they showed no sign of fixing their habits, so Hajime finally snapped.
They all flinched in the face of Hajime’s wrath, but they still mumbled excuses like “Easy for you to say...” or “But even if it is a monster, I still feel bad for it...” over and over again.
Veins bulged on Hajime’s forehead. One of the Haulia boys stepped forward to try and calm Hajime down. He was the one Hajime had saved from being eaten back in Reisen Gorge, and he’d taken quite a liking to Hajime. However, just as he was about to take another step forward, he suddenly jumped back. Confused, Hajime asked him a question.
“Huh? What happened?”
The boy gently patted down the soles of his feet before replying.
“Oh, you see... I was about to step on that flower there... Phew, good thing I noticed in time. Might’ve crushed it if I didn’t. It’s so pretty. Man, it’d have been such a waste to kill it.” Hajime’s expression stiffened.
“A-A flower?”
“Yep! You know, I love flowers. And there’s so many around here that it was pretty hard to not step on any while we were training.” He grinned happily at Hajime. The other Haulia all gazed proudly at him, too. Slowly, Hajime lowered his head. His white hair covered his face.
“...Are you telling me the reason you all jumped around randomly sometimes... was just because you were worried about the flowers?” He asked softly, his voice barely a whisper. As Hajime had mentioned, the Haulia had oftentimes jumped in strange directions at odd intervals during their training. It had been bothering him for a while, but he’d thought it was just something they did to make their next action smoother, to better finish off their enemies.
“Oh no, of course not. We would never.”
“Haha, yeah, who would do that?” Hajime said, clearly relieved.
Cam smiled awkwardly, and Hajime’s expression finally began to relax a little. However...
“Naturally we wouldn’t only be wary of flowers. We have to be careful not to crush the bugs either. They’re the ones that come out of nowhere, so they’re much harder to watch out for. Though we’ve managed to avoid stepping on them so far.”
Hajime’s jaw dropped at that. He began swaying back and forth, like a ghost. Worried that they might have said something wrong, the Haulia all glanced uneasily at each other. Still swaying slightly, Hajime walked up to the boy, then burst out into a beaming smile. The boy smiled back.
Then, still smiling... he crushed the flower underfoot. He didn’t just step on it, he ground his heels deep into it.
The boy watched on blankly. Finally, he took his foot off. All that remained of what had once been a pretty flower was a few scattered petals, and a stem that’d been stamped into the ground.
“Th-The flower!” The boy’s despairing wail echoed throughout the sea of trees. Shocked, the Haulia all gazed at Hajime. He turned to face them, both the beaming smile and popping vein still present on his face.
“Alright, I get it. I finally get just how soft you all are. This is my fault. I misjudged your race. Haha, I can’t believe you’d actually worry about flowers and bugs when you’re in a life and death struggle... Your problem is far more fundamental than a lack of combat ability or practice fighting actual enemies. I should have realized this sooner. I can’t believe I was so naive... Hahaha.”
“Hajime-dono?”
Hajime’s smile had taken on a ghastly appearance, and Cam and the others slowly began backing away. Instead of a reply... Bang! He fired Donner. Cam was flung a short distance through the air before he crashed to the ground with a resounding thud. The rubber bullet that had slammed into his forehead fell off him seconds later with a soft plop. Only the wind stirred in the silence that followed. Hajime slowly walked up to Cam, who had been knocked unconscious, and fired another bullet at his stomach.
“Hauugh!” He let out something that was a cross between a cough and a scream as he woke up, and blinked back tears as he looked at Hajime. There was something absurdly surreal about an old man with rabbit ears sitting up in a pose Hajime had often seen girls do in anime, but he put that aside for the moment.
“Alright you worthless little shits. If you don’t want your heads blown off, you better start fighting these monsters like your life depends on it! Don’t you dare worry about the flowers or the bugs or any of that crap! I’ll make you regret it if you do! Now hurry up and get to killing, you fucking maggots!” The Haulia all stiffened in fear at his exceptionally abusive language. But as exasperated as he was, he didn’t even wait for their reply before firing Donner again.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! They scattered like the four winds, tripping over themselves to escape Hajime’s wrath. All except for the little boy, who clung desperately to Hajime’s leg.
“Hajime nii-chan! Why are you doing this!? What happened to you!?” A dangerous light glinted in his eyes as he glared down at the boy. Hajime looked around, trying to spot all of the nearby flowers. Silently, he began shooting at all of them. One after another they died. The boy screamed.
“Why!? Why are you doing this!? Stop it, Hajime nii-chan!”
“Shut it, brat. Get it yet? The longer you sit here crying, the more flowers die. Your tender love and care won’t save them. They’ll all be killed, and you’ll just be sitting here with tears in your eyes. If you don’t like it, then get out there and kill some monsters!”
To emphasize his point, Hajime shot a few more flowers. Still crying, the boy ran off into the fog.
For a while after, screams intermingled with the howls of monsters as the Haulia endeavored to avoid Hajime’s wrath. He had to be this hard on them, or else he’d never change the rabbitmen’s overly pacifistic nature. Right now it was more important for them to learn the right mindset than actual combat techniques. Though his spartan techniques were starting to resemble Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket... And thus, ten days passed under Hajime’s near-brainwashing as he rewired their brains for combat. As their training continued into the final day, somewhere beyond the fog, there was one other member of the Haulia who was finishing up as well.
Boom! Bang! Snap! Crackle! Pop! Bam! Thunderous sounds echoed throughout the trees. The area looked like a war zone. Massive trees with thick trunks lay strewn about like reed stalks, some charred, others frozen, others just twisted horrifically, and huge craters dotted the ground as if a meteor shower had struck the earth.
Two girls had been responsible for all of this destruction. And said destruction was still continuing.
“Teyaaaaaah!” There was a spirited yell, and suddenly a tree at least one meter in diameter flew through the air. It soared toward its target at tremendous speed, fast en
ough that a casual observer might miss that it was bent at the middle. Velocity and mass granted a deadly amount of force to the tree, and it obliterated any obstacles in its path forward.
“Crimson Javelin.” This nigh unstoppable force was met with a flaming spear that burned all it touched to ash. Despite the significant mass it possessed, the tree was burned to ash almost instantly. For a moment it was converted into a blazing fireball, before the last of the wood finally burned away and the flames vanished.
“It’s not over yet!” The impact of the Crimson Javelin and the huge tree created shockwaves large enough to blow away the fog for a few seconds. In that brief window of time, a faint silhouette could be seen dashing through the woods. An instant later, another log hurtled down from the heavens like a meteor. However, its intended target backstepped in time to avoid the thunderous impact while preparing another flaming spear.
But before she could unleash it, the silhouette ran up to the tree trunk impaled into the ground and gave it an earth-shattering kick. The force of it blew the tree apart, and splinters of wood shot toward the girl with unimaginable speed.
“Ah! Blazing Barrier.” The barrage of splinters was cut short by a flaming wall that suddenly appeared in midair. Not a single sliver of wood made it through to her. However...
“Now I’ve got you!”
“Ah!”
The time it had taken her to cast that spell had been enough for the shadow to get behind her. The girl who’d kicked the tree had hidden her presence right after, and then she had used the fog to slip behind her quarry. She held in her hands a massive hammer that must have weighed more than the girl herself, but she swung it down with the ease one would swing a flyswatter.
“Wind Wall.” The hammer hit the ground with tremendous force. Stone pellets flew in every direction as the rock below was pulverized. However, this barrage of stone was deflected by the barrier of wind the other girl had erected. Additionally, she used the swirling eddies to whisk herself to safe distance as well. The girl with the hammer stiffened momentarily, the consequence of using such a huge skill, and her opponent took advantage of that opening.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 2 Page 10