Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 

A Man’s Dream 

“To me, research is whatever I can pour the most of my passion and enthusiasm into.” 
Those were the words written at the beginning of his research notebook. The faded gray binding and peeling yellow pages spoke of the book’s age, while the numerous smudges and ink blots spoke of its extensive use. Such wear and tear spoke just as much about its owner’s passion as the words written down in it. 
Every single page was crammed to the margins with neat, slender handwriting. Research results, hypothesis, experiments, they were all recorded between the dull gray covers. But at the very end was a footnote whose very letters seemed steeped in frustration with the way they were written. It told of how the owner of this notebook had been unable to complete his research. 
“Unfortunately, I was unable to achieve the ideal that I sought. I suspect most of it is that guy’s fault. Actually no, I’m sure of it. It’s all that damn bastard’s fault.” 
Halfway through the note went from being solemnly written to a grade schooler’s whining. But if one has the forbearance to ignore such childish writing and turn the page, this is how it continues. 
“To whoever ends up finding my notebook. I pray that you, like me, are one who chases after the truth. I leave all of my research behind in the hopes that you will complete what I could not. That you will be able to achieve the ideals I sought. I beg of you, don’t let my research end in vain.” 
A faint “Hmmm” broke the silence as the boy reading the notebook finished the last sentence. He closed the book with a slight thump and gazed up at the ceiling, lost in thought. 
“Don’t worry, I’ll clear up any lingering regrets you have. I’ll inherit your will and finish what you started.” 
The boy’s whispered mutterings were soon swallowed up by the vast silence of the room, but the determination behind them lingered. From the corner of the room, a pair of lifeless, mechanical eyes quietly watched over the boy. 
Clanking noises echoed throughout the room. Hajime Nagumo was currently engrossed in putting together a plethora of newly crafted mechanical parts. He was sitting in Oscar Orcus’ workshop, located at the very bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. 
Gouts of crimson mana illuminated the room at odd intervals as he continued transmuting. There was a golden-haired beauty sitting next to him watching the whole spectacle. At the same time, her slender fingers were skillfully sewing something. Said beauty was none other than Yue— the vampire princess Hajime had rescued in the depths of hell. 
While Hajime was busy checking over his new equipment, Yue was putting the finishing touches on their wardrobe. She had sewed them some sturdy travel clothes, some more comfortable everyday wear, and even some more suggestive outfits for their night adventures. Sewing had become like second nature to her after so many days spent practicing. 
“...Perfect, it’s done.” 
Hajime’s satisfied voice echoed throughout the quiet room. Yue stopped what she was doing to look over at him, and saw that he was experimentally flexing his artificial arm. 
“You finished your arm upgrades?” 
“Yeah. I’m gonna give it a test run. Wanna watch?” 
“Okay.” 
The artifact Hajime had created combined his knowledge of modern weaponry with his game sense and the magic of this world to create something truly fearsome. Because it all used knowledge from another world, Yue found each and every one of his inventions to be fascinating. It had been even more exciting recently as ever since Hajime had finished transmuting all the necessities they’d need for their journey, he’d been spending a long time thinking about what else to add to his arm to make life simpler. 
Hajime made a metallic fist with his hand and thrust it out toward one of the practice targets lying around the workshop. Though it was still a bit rough around the edges, his fist boasted quite a large amount of firepower. 
He grinned playfully as he saw how excited Yue was. 
“Here, we go! This is every man’s dream! Rocket punch!” With a low bang, his left fist burst out of its socket and flew toward the target. It left a trail of sparks in its wake as it rocketed forward. Then, with a thunderous crash, the fist pulverized its target. 
Hajime grinned like a little boy and poured mana into his left arm. As if connected by an invisible thread, his hand zoomed back into place. There was a satisfying robotic clunk as it reattached itself to his arm. 
“What do you think?” Hajime asked Yue. He was certain she must have been just as moved as he was. However... 
“...That’s it?” All he received was a somewhat puzzled reply. If anything she seemed a little disappointed, even. Her indifference left Hajime nearly speechless. 
“Wh-What do you mean, that’s it? Wasn’t that amazing? I just threw out a rocket punch! It’s the kind of awesome move that one-shots your enemy and then comes flying back to you!” 
“But... your railgun’s stronger.” 
Hajime was left scrambling, trying to explain the appeal of his rocket punch, but he only succeeded in leaving Yue even more confused. Her unintentionally cutting reply left him mentally defeated. 
At a loss for words, Hajime could only stare blankly at Yue for a few minutes before going “Wait, there’s still more!” and suddenly smiling. 
“It’s true that it doesn’t have much power compared to the railgun, but there’s a huge surprise factor associated with having a fist suddenly come flying at your face.” 
“But the railgun’s faster too. Wouldn’t it be an even better surprise attack?” 
Another flawless rebuttal. Hajime was swaying unsteadily, but he wasn’t down yet! He refused to abandon his romantic notions of the rocket punch. 
“I-It’ll come in handy in case I ever lose my weapon!” 
“So losing your hand as well counts as coming in handy?” 
“......” 
“Besides, even if you did lose your gun, it’d be faster to use Supersonic Step to get in close and hit them directly with your Steel Arms skill or something.” 
Hajime detached his left hand and threw it to the ground. He then reached into his Treasure Trove and pulled out a different left hand before smiling dangerously at Yue and brandishing his new hand. 
“Fine, Yue. Challenge accepted.” 
“...What? I’m sorry Hajime, I have no idea what you’re saying.” 
“You might be right, the rocket punch might just be a little too weak a weapon for me, though I’m sure for anyone else it would be perfect... but anyway, let me show you my other new weapon. Feel free to faint in awe at any time.” 
“...Umm, I still don’t—” 
Yue was only getting more confused by Hajime’s nonsensical declarations. But for the sake of a man’s dream, he couldn’t back down. He started pouring mana into his arm, and his hand started glowing a hot red. His fist was burning bright with the heat of a man’s dreams. This was his second new weapon. 
“Heat knuckle!” Hajime’s expression was as dazzling as his blazing fist. However... 
“Umm... so what else does it do?” For some reason, Yue was asking for more. She was scratching her cheek awkwardly, and it was clear her soul had not been in the least bit moved by Hajime’s stunning display. 
Hajime’s smile stiffened a little. 
“...Okay, so see here, Yue. This is a fist that can melt literally anything it touches. Isn’t it cool?” 
“...Why melt them when you can just kill them?” 
A very apt question. Hajime’s brute strength and skills would be more than enough to annihilate most enemies. There was no need to add insult to injury and melt the opponent too. In fact, his vibration cannon and railgun were already strong enough. That was why most of his previous additions to his arm had been developed with convenience in mind more than anything else. 

However, somewhere along the way he had let his boyish dreams get the better of him, and had started adding these useless features. Now he had to stare down Yue and prove their worth. Hajime turned off his heat knuckle and put both hands on Yue’s slender shoulders. 
“Think about it, Yue. What if we have to fight something that resists physical attacks really well, like that scorpion from before? If I have this, just touching it will still cause it damage. Or if we somehow get trapped inside a dungeon somewhere, this’ll help us quickly dig our way out.” 
“...Okay.” 
Yue could feel the passionate fervor in Hajime’s voice. But still, she thought to herself Couldn’t you just use Lightning Field or Transmutation or something to get us out of those situations anyway? She didn’t say it aloud this time though, realizing it must be important to him somehow. And because she loved him, Yue smiled awkwardly and tried to reassure Hajime’s flagging confidence. 
“...Y-Yeah it’s pretty cool.” 
“......” 
Hajime wordlessly took off this hand too, then threw it to the ground. Clearly he wasn’t looking for sympathy. Undaunted, he pulled yet another hand out of his Treasure Trove. He gave Yue a smile that screamed “This one’ll knock your socks off for sure!” and activated it. This hand turned his arm into a drill. 
“Behold, Yue, my final form! Everything you saw before was nothing more than the prelude. Be swept away in a torrent of emotion as you regale my final arm!” 
His speech was getting more and more cringeworthy by the second, though he wasn’t aware of it himself. He then poured mana into his arm, activating the third of his “real men’s weapons” series— 
“This is the power of my transforming drill!” 
He looked over at Yue triumphantly while his drill-arm began spinning. This time for sure, she has to be impressed. Or so he thought. 
“...Yeah. It’s cool. It’s okay, you can stop now.” 
“.....” There was an almost cruel kindness in Yue’s eyes as she gently told Hajime it was okay. 
As far as Yue was concerned, all of his new items seemed pointless. That being said, there was no telling what the future had in store for them, so maybe even useless looking things might have some value later down the road. Surely their time to shine would come eventually. Deep inside her heart, Yue hoped it would, for Hajime’s sake if nothing else. 
However, Yue’s pity only served to put cracks in Hajime’s pure heart. Don’t tell me I’m actually becoming some kind of delusional idiot? 
No matter what the truth was, a bullet, once fired, could never be taken back. Half desperate, he started taking out all the other arms he’d developed. Among them were a dragon-shaped hand, one that fired water blasts from its fingers, and even one that transformed his left arm into Squall’s gunblade. But the only reaction any of those ever elicited from Yue was a pitying smile. 
Finally, Hajime crumbled into a sobbing heap, and Yue simply sat there patting his head, saying, “It’s okay, It’s okay.” She comforted him until he finally regained his senses. 
Just what exactly she had meant by “It’s okay” was something he didn’t want to think too deeply about.

It was late at night. There was a single figure working in the darkness, inside a hidden room whose entrance was covered by a shelf. 
“It’s finally done.” Hajime muttered softly. Sitting before him was a silver-haired girl. One could tell with just a glance that she wasn’t human. Where her ears would have been were instead metal rectangles that kind of resembled antennas. 
Her hard, metallic eyes bore no signs of sentience either. That was only natural though, as she was a cleaning golem Oscar had made long ago. 
However, her features were still quite human. She had on a navy blue one-piece dress and a pure white apron. There was a headdress adorning her hair as well. In a word, she was a maid. 
“Oscar. It was because you dreamed of making her real that you strayed so far from reality. That was your mistake. However, I have the knowledge granted to me by the 2D world. By making her somewhat unrealistic, she grows closer to the ideal... This is the answer you sought after for so long!” 
Hajime whispered to himself triumphantly. Anyone who had seen him at that moment would have been pretty creeped out by him. However, his passion for this maid golem was real. When he had first discovered Oscar’s notebook and this golem, he had decided to inherit Oscar’s pure spirit of inquiry and complete what Oscar had begun. He had worked on her late into every night, making sure Yue didn’t find out. He surely deserved a few moments to admire his own craftsmanship after all the hardships he went through to complete her. 
However, as he was basking in his own handiwork— 
“...Found you, Hajime.” 
Light filled the room as he heard a familiar voice call his name. He jumped with a start, then stiffly turned to look back at Yue. 
“Y-Yue... what are you doing here? I could have sworn I felt your presence in the bedroom still.” 
“I was wondering where you were going every night. Not only did you sneak away using Hide Presence, you even left behind an artifact that faked your presence too. I didn’t think there’d be a secret room here... but fortunately this artifact helped me find you.” 
“So you used my own artifact against me.” 
Hajime ground his teeth, angry at his own carelessness. In the meantime, Yue gazed silently at the maid golem. Hajime gulped guiltily. He felt like a husband caught cheating on his wife. 
“Hajime, if you liked maid uniforms you just had to tell me.” There was a little jealousy in her tone. It seemed she really was jealous of this inanimate golem. However, it wasn’t what she was thinking. In order to clear up the misunderstanding, Hajime began explaining himself. 
“Yue, allow me to explain. I don’t actually have a thing for maid uniforms. This is about art.” 
“...Art?” 
“Correct. A maid that’s also a golem. In other words a golem maid is every man’s dream. Those two factors combined are what make it art. Just a maid or just a golem are nothing on their own. While they may have a certain appeal, only when put together as a golem maid do they become a true object of worship for men worldwide.” 
As he spoke, Hajime grew more and more heated with his words. Yue listened to it all seriously and nodded knowingly once he’d finished. “I understand,” was all she said. Hajime let out a relieved smile, but then an instant later a blazing fireball flew past his cheek. 
There was a thunderous explosion, and Hajime quickly turned around to see his precious golem maid burned to ashes. 
“H-How could you...” 
Hajime crumbled to his knees as he gazed upon the charred husk of what had once been a golem maid. Then he turned to Yue, who had started casually walking away, and asked in a voice full of sadness, 
“Yue, why? Why would you do that? What did that poor golem ever do to you?” 
“You’ve been acting weird recently, Hajime. You needed a little traini— Ahem, I mean lesson.” 
It was true that Hajime’s obsessions with things that were “every man’s dream” was starting to get a bit excessive. It might have been brought on in part due to the dead end he’d hit in regards to his transmutation, but if he didn’t drag himself back to reality, he’d be stuck in a fantasy land forever. The fact that he was actually sad at the destruction of an inanimate golem was proof enough that he was already almost too far gone. 
Having the girl he loved tell him “you’ve been acting weird” to his face brought him back to his senses, though. Meanwhile, Yue picked up one of the maid uniforms lying around and brought it up to see if it would fit. She did a little twirl and licked her lips seductively as she looked at Hajime. Her sex drive was in full throttle. 
Her next words blew away whatever might have survived of Hajime’s reason. 
“Shall I teach you just how much better a real maid is than a mechanical one, Master?” 
“......” Cold sweat ran down his forehead. 
For hours later, Hajime’s screams could be heard echoing throughout the bottom of hell. Thanks to the loving embrace of Yue, Hajime was able to return from the depths of his delusions.