Chapter II: A New Meeting
Dawn.
The glimmer of the moon was fading rapidly, its light being siphoned by the sun rising to the east. Hajime, Yue, and Shea were already ready to depart. The three of them were standing outside the Water Sprite Inn, their packs filled with riceballs for the road.
Despite the extremely early hour, Foss had prepared breakfast for them without complaint.
Truly a first-rate inn. Always one to give credit where credit was due, Hajime thanked Foss profusely for the riceballs and the service.
They quickly left for the north gate, the morning mist still clinging to the ground. The path beyond the gate stretched on toward the mountains. The foot of the mountains was a hard day’s ride on horseback, so on Steiff it would take them only a few hours.
Today would mark the fifth day since Will Cudeta’s party disappeared in the mountains. Chances were they were long dead. Hajime doubted he’d find anyone alive, but there was always the possibility they’d survived against all odds. If he did bring them back alive, that make Ilwa like Hajime all the more, so he wanted to start looking as fast as possible. Fortunately, the weather was fair. The perfect day for a search.
The sounds of a town waking up could be heard as they headed down the main street. After a few minutes, they reached the north gate.
As they approached, Hajime sensed a few people standing by the exit and narrowed his eye. They weren’t moving.
As the morning mist cleared... he saw Aiko, Yuka, and the other six students.
“I think I can guess what you’re here for, but I’ll ask just in case.” Hajime glared at Aiko.
Aiko faltered under his withering gaze, but she stood her ground. A few feet away the students were stroking their horses and talking about something. They noticed Hajime and the others and walked over to Aiko.
“We’re coming with you. You’re looking for a missing person, right? It’s better to have more people looking, then.”
“No thanks. If you want to come, you’re welcome to, but we’re not going together.”
“Wh-Why not?”
“Because of the difference in our speed. I’m not going to match your slow place, Sensei.” Hajime stared pointedly at the horses standing behind Yuka. From the looks of them he doubted they could even handle having people ride them, but he didn’t say anything. Even if they’d been the fastest horses in the realm, they couldn’t hope to match a motorcycle’s speed.
At Hajime’s words, Yuka looked around, then tilted her head in confusion. As far as she could see, there wasn’t any other means of transportation in sight.
“You’re saying we’re too slow, but... hey, Nagumo. You’re not going to say something crazy like you can run faster than these horses or anything, right? Just because you don’t care about us anymore doesn’t give you the right to lie to us, you know? And if you really can run faster that’s even worse... Honestly, that crazy pressure you released yesterday was like that too, it’s like you’ve stopped being human.”
Hajime was taken aback by Yuka’s bluntness. Though he couldn’t deny that he probably could outrun a horse just by running. In a sense, he really had stopped being human. Yuka hadn’t actually intended to say that, but her annoyance had just boiled over and she’d let it slip. However, her observations had been rather astute.
Hajime met Yuka’s gaze. She was glaring at him, whether warily, antagonistically, or something else altogether he couldn’t tell, but he let out a very deliberate sigh. Realizing explaining would be too much of a pain, Hajime wordlessly pulled Steiff out of his Treasure Trove.
Everyone’s jaw dropped open as they saw a motorcycle appear in thin air.
“Get it yet? Even if they sound like lies to you, they’re not. Hell, I probably could run faster than those horses. I’m not trying to bullshit you guys. There literally is that much of a difference in our travel speed.” Everyone was still too shocked by Steiff’s sudden appearance and its otherworldly, at least as far as this world was concerned, nature to say anything.
Finally, the motorcycle enthusiast of the class, Noboru, spoke up, a quiver of excitement in his voice.
“D-Did you make this yourself too Nagumo?”
“Yeah. Anyway, we’re going so get out of the way.” Hajime made to mount Steiff, but Aiko, as always, stopped him. She was determined to join them by any means possible.
There were two reasons for her stubbornness.
First, she wanted to be sure what Hajime had told her last night was the truth. That a classmate had tried to kill him was a serious allegation, and she had to be 100% sure Hajime hadn’t just been mistaken. And if he hadn’t, she had to know who he thought this would-be murderer was. She needed more information. If there was even the slightest chance of preventing further misfortune, Aiko wanted to do everything in her power to help. And since there was no guarantee she would ever see Hajime again after their search was over, this was her only chance to catch him.
The second reason she wanted to tag along was to search for their own missing student, Yukitoshi Shimizu. They’d been looking high and low for him, but no one in the outlying villages had seen anyone matching his description.
The only place they hadn’t been able to gather much information from was the mountain region, where people normally didn’t live anyway. Regardless of whether he’d been caught up in some kind of incident or left of his own volition, it was unlikely that he’d ended up in the mountains, so they’d avoided it until now. However, as the opportunity had presented itself, Aiko was hoping to join up with Hajime in order to search for clues about Shimizu’s whereabouts.
Though it was half-coincidence that Yuka and the others were here too.
In order to ambush Hajime on his way out, Aiko had gotten up even before the crack of dawn. Yuka, who’d slept very little because of the previous day’s events had just happened to spot Aiko leaving her room.
Dressed in traveling gear as she was, there was no way she could have fooled Yuka. After learning that Aiko was going to try and join Hajime on his quest, Yuka had said “Then I’ll come too! Just give me 40 seconds to get ready!”
She insisted that if Aiko was going, the Ai-chan defense force would too, and she woke up all the other students and got them to tag along.
They didn’t wake the knights, though, as they figured they’d just get into another fight with Hajime, so they just left a letter telling them to wait at the inn. Whether or not they actually would was a different matter... Aiko sidled up to Hajime and whispered to him quietly.
It was obvious she didn’t want others hearing what she had to say. This close up, Hajime could tell that she was hiding the dark circles under her eyes with makeup. Did she not sleep at all last night?
“Nagumo-kun. As a teacher, I have to know more about what you told me last night, so until you agree to sit down and have a proper talk I’ll never let you out of my sight. And if you do manage to escape, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth. I’m sure you’d like to avoid that, right? It can be while we’re traveling or searching even, but I need you to make time to talk. If you do that, then I’ll be willing to say our farewells once your job here is done... for now.” Seeing the determination in her eyes, Hajime regretted telling her that last bit of information the previous night. Despite how much she ended up running around aimlessly, Aiko was stubborn to a fault. Even if he slipped away here, he could easily see her organizing the entire knight corps of the kingdom to search for him.
He looked up at the sky, and saw it was quickly growing brighter. If he wanted to find Will alive, he didn’t have time to waste on a long question and answer session.
I guess you reap what you sow. Hajime sighed deeply, then met Aiko’s gaze.
“Fine. You can come with us. Though I doubt we’ll have any time to really talk.”
“That’s fine. There’s just some things I want to confirm with you directly.”
“Haah, you just don’t give up, do you, Sensei? No matter what you do or where you are, you’re still our teacher.”
“That’s right!” Aiko proudly puffed out her chest. Seeing that negotiations had ended favorably, Yuka and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hajime, we’re taking her with us?”
“Yep. Because no matter what happens, she’ll never stop being my teacher. She never compromises when it comes to her students. If we leave her here now, she’ll just get more annoying later.”
“Hmm, she sounds like a really nice teacher.”
Yue and Shea were surprised at how easily Hajime gave in. And when they heard his grudging praise of her, their respect for Aiko rose considerably.
For his part, Hajime admired her dedication to her students, too. Even if he no longer considered himself a regular human, or his former peers his classmates, he still believed Aiko was one of the few adults who deserved his respect.
“But that motorcycle can’t fit more than three people. What are you going to do?”
Yuka pointed out a fatal issue. The horses would be too slow and Hajime would never dream of making Yue or Shea stay behind so Aiko could ride in their place. Hajime casually put Steiff back into his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out the other vehicle he’d made, Brise.
It resembled the Hummers the American military once used. Not only did it have a thick armor plating, but there were numerous deadly weapons installed onto its frame. The entire thing was painted matte black, too. Minus the rear turret, it was modeled after those pick-up trucks, and looked like it could easily run over anything in its path.
The students had already figured out Hajime must be using some type of artifact to materialize and dematerialize these massive objects at will, but they were still impressed. Seeing him now it was hard to imagine anyone had once called him incompetent.
“Those of you who can’t fit inside go sit in the trunk or something,” Hajime said as he got into the driver’s seat.
Brise tore its way down the straight path, the mountains growing closer every minute. It was nowhere nearly as well maintained as an actual highway, but Brise had built-in suspensions. On top of that, its wheels were enchanted with the same ground leveling skill that Steiff had, so even the guys sitting in the metallic trunk attached to the back didn’t feel any real discomfort.
The reason he’d bothered adding a trunk when he had the Treasure Trove was because he really wanted an opportunity to sit in the back and fire a gatling gun while on a high speed chase like in movies. His hobbies showed through a little in his creations.
The seats inside the car were all bench seats. Hajime was in the driver seat, with Aiko next to him, and Yue next to her. The reason she was next to him was so they could talk. She hadn’t wanted any of the other students to hear just yet, so she’d insisted that she sit next to him.
Normally, the seat next to Hajime was reserved for Yue, but he’d explained the situation to her and she’d reluctantly agreed to let Aiko sit there for now. Aiko and Yue were both quite tiny, so there was a lot of leftover space.
Meanwhile, the back where Shea was sitting was a bit cramped. Shea, Yuka, and Taeko all possessed relatively... stacked assets, so they took up a decent amount of room. Among them it was only Nana who was flat. She glared enviously at the other three girls before looking down at her own modest chest. She gave them a forlorn pat, but they were nowhere near as bouncy as the others.
However, it was Shea who felt the most uncomfortable. She was sandwiched between Nana, who kept shooting jealous glances at her breasts, and Taeko, who kept pestering her with questions about her relationship with Hajime. A forbidden love between different races got every young high school girl’s heart racing, after all.
Shea did her best to answer all the questions, despite being overwhelmed by Taeko’s enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Yuka was resting her chin in her arms and looking out the window. She tried to look uninterested, but it was obvious she was curious too. She kept stealing glances at Shea, as she was the one most curious about how they had met.
Meanwhile, Hajime and Aiko’s conversation was heading in an interesting direction.
Aiko had gleaned as much information as she could from Hajime. The more she learned, the more she was convinced someone had tried to kill him, but she still didn’t want to believe it. When she’d asked him if anyone seemed particularly suspicious, Hajime had just snorted and said that everyone did.
Hajime had floated the possibility that it might have been Hiyama. He was, of course, right on the mark, but at present he only saw Hiyama as one of the possible suspects.
With the limited information she had, Aiko couldn’t come to a definitive conclusion either. Even if she could, Aiko wasn’t sure how to bring a potential murderer back on the right path, nor did she know how to make them atone for their crime.
She continued agonizing over it for a while longer, but the gentle rolling of the truck and the soft sheet she’d wrapped herself in beckoned her to the land of dreams. Finally, her head drooped forward, and she fell fast asleep onto Hajime’s lap.
Had it been anyone else, Hajime would have flung them off him. However, he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Aiko, so after debating with himself for a few seconds, he decided to just leave her be.
Besides, it was his fault she hadn’t slept last night. After all, it was the overload of information he’d dumped on her that had kept her up.
“I guess it’s fine,” he said in a rare display of tolerance.
“Hajime, you’re nice to Aiko.”
“Well, she has done a lot for me.”
“Hmmm.”
“Yue?”
“......”
“Come on, Yue, don’t ignore me. Please?”
“Let me sleep on your lap next time.”
“Sure...”
The two were soon flirting openly with each other, despite the fact that Aiko was still in his lap. In the back were two girls watching the spectacle up front with great interest, one girl staring out the window pretending not to care, but still stealing glances every now and again, and one sulking bunny girl. Behind them, three jealous pairs of eyes were burning a hole through the back window.
It was hard to believe this group was headed into dangerous territory where one highly skilled adventurer party had already gone missing.
The Northern Mountain Range. Mountains ranging from 1000 meters above sea level to 8000 meters above sea level existed within the range, and the flora and even environment varied drastically from mountain to mountain. One mountain might be covered in trees with leaves the vibrant color of fall, but the next mountain over would be a dense green jungle. And then there were mountains that resembled desolate wastelands.
Moreover, no matter how many mountains one scaled, they would only see a sea of mountains extending infinitely northward. The first four rows of mountains had been somewhat explored, but past that was unknown territory.
A number of ambitious adventurers had tried mapping the entire range, but as the strength of the monsters grew with each progressive mountain, no one had yet managed to scale the fifth row.
The highest mountain in the first row was the so-called Sacred Mountain where the Holy Church’s headquarters were.
The section of the range Hajime was approaching was about 600 kilometers east of that point. Directly in front of them was a towering slab of rock covered in the blazing red and yellow hues of fall. Those well versed in botany would notice various spices and herbs dotting the landscape as well. The mountain’s vast bounty was one of the main reasons for Ur’s prosperity.
Hajime stopped Brise at the foot of the mountain, and the students spent a moment enjoying the breathtaking view.
A few of the girls let out murmurs of appreciation. Meanwhile, Aiko had finally woken up, and was as red as the leaves behind her as she apologized profusely to Hajime. Fortunately, everyone else was too focused on the scenery to notice.
Suppressing his desire to enjoy the view for a little while longer, Hajime put Brise back in his Treasure Trove and pulled something else out.
A thirty centimeter long model bird and a ring with a tiny stone embedded inside it. The body of the bird was gray, but it had a crystal affixed to its head.
Hajime put the ring on, pulled another four model birds from his Treasure Trove, and threw them into the air. Contrary to expectations, the model birds did not fall to the ground. Instead, they floated freely in the sky. Aiko and the others gasped in surprise.
The four birds circled in place for a few seconds before gliding toward the mountain.
“Umm, what exactly...” Aiko trailed off as she watched the artificial birds glide away without making a single sound.
Hajime’s reply was “Scouting drones.” In a sense, these objects were even more unfit for a fantasy world than his guns or cars.
Hajime had crafted them with the same remotely controllable ore that Miledi had used to make the golems they’d fought in the Reisen Labyrinth. He’d stolen... or rather been gifted a large quantity of them before they had been unceremoniously thrown out.
While he had no aptitude for gravity magic, he had succeeded in using his creation magic to enchant ore with gravity neutralizing magic, effectively creating floatstone. By infusing a spirit stone with gravity control magic, he had successfully created what he had dubbed esperrock. That was the nature of the crystals embedded into his drones.
Like the golems’ eyes, by pouring mana into the esperrock he could reflect what it was seeing to another esperrock. This was how Miledi had kept track of Hajime’s movements in the labyrinth.
Hajime had added a fragment of esperrock to his devil eye, so he could check what the drones were seeing whenever he pleased.
However, the brain’s processing power was finite, and having four drones circle far overhead already brought him close to the limits of his brain’s ability. Hajime couldn’t figure out how Miledi had managed to control 50 golems at once.
Though, ever since he had learned Riftwalk, he had been able to train his brain’s processing power like any other stat, and he had grown to the point where he could control a single drone with absolute precision without any noticeable drop in his own movements. Furthermore, when he activated Riftwalk, he could accurately control up to seven drones. Though that came with a time limit.
This time, though, he’d just brought his Ornises out to scout. They had a wide area to search, so he figured they would be useful.
As they watched Hajime’s Ornises fly off into the distance, Aiko and the students swore to stop getting surprised at every little thing Hajime did. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to make good on that oath for a while.
Meanwhile, the party continued down the path Will had supposedly gone up.
According to the reports, the more dangerous monsters only started showing up a little over halfway up the mountain. In which case, it stood to reason that Will’s party had been investigating that area. Hajime sent his Ornises out ahead to scout the area while he set a grueling pace.
After a little over an hour of walking, they finally reached their destination. They stopped there in order to investigate more thoroughly, and because...
“Haah... Haaah... F-Finally, we can take a break...Ugh... Haah... Haah...”
“Haah... Haaah... Are you alright... Ai-chan-sensei?”
“Ack... Urgh... Can we rest now? Haah... Haah... We can, right? I’m sitting down, okay?”
“Ahhhhhh...”
“Haaah... Haaah... You and your friends are monsters, Nagumo...” Aiko and the students had even less stamina than Hajime had expected.
Of course Aiko and the others had far greater stats than most people in this world, so climbing this far wouldn’t normally tire them out so. However, Hajime had been going so fast that they’d had to sprint all out just to keep up. And sprinting nonstop up an unfamiliar mountain path was more draining than they had expected.
Aiko was kneeling on the ground, panting for breath. Noboru and Akito were lying on their backs, gulping in huge lungfuls of air. Meanwhile, Nana looked like she was about to puke.
Surprisingly, Yuka and Taeko weren’t on the ground. They were leaning tiredly against a tree, but they didn’t look ready to collapse just yet. Probably because both of them had more frontline-centric jobs.
Yuka’s job was Acrobat, while Taeko’s was Whip Master. The former was a job that specialized in throwing weapons such as knives or darts, while the latter, as the name suggested, was proficient in whips, though they were also skilled in using all rope-like objects.
The sight of the delinquent-looking Yuka juggling knives, while the flashy Taeko swung a whip around was... depending on who you asked, either extremely surreal or extremely fitting. The class was split fifty-fifty on it.
Atsushi and Noboru were frontliners as well, but... their stamina was clearly lacking in comparison. Had anyone pointed it out, their hearts would probably have broken right then and there.
Hajime sighed as he looked over at the other students. Though in the end he was planning on searching the area anyway, so he supposed it was fine to let them take a break in the meantime. He decided to investigate a nearby river while they rested. Thanks to the view from his Ornises, he had a pretty good idea of the overall geography. He told Aiko where the river was and left the students there. It was likely Will’s party had stopped there to rest, too.
Hajime headed deeper into the mountains, with Yue and Shea in tow. The dried leaves littering the forest floor let out a satisfying crunching noise as they marched through the forested mountainside. Soon enough, they heard the sound of rushing water, indicating the river was nearby. The sounds of nature were pleasing to the ears. Shea especially was enjoying the walk, her rabbit ears flopping about happily.
The river was just a little too large to be classified as a stream. Shea, who had the best senses of the three, started scouting the area. Just to be safe, Hajime also swept their surroundings with his Ornis, but there didn’t seem to be any monsters nearby. Sure that there wouldn’t be any unpleasant surprises, the three of them sat down on a nearby boulder to discuss their strategy.
Halfway through, Yue kicked her shoes off so she could dip her toes in the river and relax for a bit. Hajime didn’t want to waste time, but as it was unlikely Aiko and the others had recovered sufficiently yet anyway, he let it slide. It was obvious he spoiled Yue. Shea ended up taking advantage of his magnanimity as well.
Thinking they might have gone upstream, Hajime sent one of his Ornises further up to scout while he watched Yue splash about in the shallows. Shea was barefoot as well, but she’d chosen to just dip her feet in. It seemed she was just enjoying the ticklish sensation of water rushing past.
Finally, Aiko and the others recovered enough to catch up to Hajime. They weren’t very happy about being left behind, so they glared testily at the trio when they arrived.
However, the guys’ expressions changed instantly when they saw Yue and Shea playing in the river, barefoot.
“This is heaven,” they exclaimed, and the girls’ cold stares turned toward them. The guys trembled under the weight of their collective glares. Upon noticing everyone’s arrival, Yue and Shea got out of the river.
Aiko and the others collapsed near the riverbank, and busied themselves with the task of replenishing lost fluids. Atsushi and the guys’ leering gazes had bothered Yue and Shea a little, so they also glared at the boys on their way out, causing them to avert their gazes in fear. Aiko and the girls all turned to look at Hajime. They’d all heard a lot from Shea about his relationship with the two girls, so they were glaring at him in mild annoyance.
“Fufu, you seem to treasure Yue-san and Shea-san a lot, Nagumo-kun,” Aiko spoke with a smile.
No matter what he said, he doubted they’d like the answer, so Hajime just shrugged his shoulders. Still, Yue’s next action provided enough of an answer. She walked up to Hajime and plopped into his lap. Then, she wriggled her butt until she found a comfortable position.
“...Good.” After that, with a satisfied expression on her face, she leaned back. All but stating that she trusted Hajime completely. Feeling left out, Shea hopped up behind Hajime and hugged him. Hajime’s back was enveloped in twin mounds of pleasure.
Aiko and Yuka blushed, while Nana and Taeko started squealing. The guys, meanwhile, were gritting their teeth in frustration.
Hajime didn’t bother trying to peel them off. Instead, he turned away, clearly embarrassed.
However, a second later his expression turned serious.
“This is...”
“Hm...did you find something?” Hajime stared off into the distance, muttering to himself. Aiko and the students all gazed at him intently.
“Further upstream there’s a... shield, I think? And a bag... They both look new. This might be what we’re looking for. Yue, Shea, let’s go.”
“Okay.”
“Roger!”
The three of them stood up at the same time, then started packing up.
Honestly, Aiko and the other students were hoping to rest for a while longer, but they were the ones who had insisted they come along. Plus, it seemed Hajime had found some kind of clue. They roused their exhausted bodies and pushed themselves forward, struggling to keep up with the hellish pace Hajime set.
When they arrived, Hajime found a small metallic shield and a bag, just as he’d seen from his Ornis. However, what the Ornis had not been able to show him were the details. The round shield was dented in the center, and one of the bag’s straps was ripped.
They cautiously examined their surroundings. Upon doing so, they discovered that one of the nearby trees had had its bark ripped. Furthermore, it was stripped a full two meters up the tree’s trunk. It looked like someone had meticulously scraped off all the bark, but judging from the height, no human could have done that.
Hajime asked Shea to scout the area with her ears, while he activated his own perception skills. Cautiously, he walked past the scraped tree.
The further he went, the more he found evidence of a fierce struggle. A tree snapped in half. A broken sword lying in the grass. Traces of blood. The more they found, the grimmer the students’ expressions grew.
They’d already had their spirits broken once by the imminent fear of death, back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. It was obvious from their pale faces that the scene had brought back memories of that time. Hajime could tell they were struggling to keep their composure.
He kept an eye on them as they progressed through the forest, absorbing each piece of evidence as he passed by it. Suddenly, Shea found something sparkling up ahead.
“Hajime-san, this is a pendant, isn’t it?”
“Hm? Yeah... looks like it might have belonged to one of them. Let’s find out.”
Hajime took the pendant from Shea and brushed the dirt off. As he did, he realized it wasn’t just a pendant, but a locket. He opened it to see a portrait of a woman. She must have been someone’s lover, or maybe their wife. Wasn’t that helpful as far as clues went, but considering how new it looked, it most likely belonged to one of the adventurers they were searching for. Hajime decided to keep it just in case.
They found a few other articles scattered about, and kept the ones that looked like they had been significant to their owners.
Searching the area took quite a bit of time, and the sun was beginning to set as they finished. They’d probably have to make camp for the night soon.
So far the only other living creatures they’d seen on the mountain had been animals. They’d been on alert for the monsters that had attacked Will, but they hadn’t even seen a single hostile creature.
They were relatively close to the summit at that point. And, while they hadn’t passed over the first mountain yet, they should still have encountered a few weak monsters so high up. It was unsettling how quiet their journey had been.
A short while later, Hajime sent out his Ornises to scout the area the previous adventurers had supposedly been requested to examine. About three hundred meters to the east, he found signs of large-scale destruction. Hajime hurried over, forcing everyone to go even faster to keep up.
They found a river larger than the almost-stream they’d stopped at earlier. There was even a small waterfall further upstream. Normally, said river would flow all the way down to the foot of the mountain, but something had gouged huge furrows into the earth, diverting its flow. The furrows were so precise that it looked like they’d been cut by a laser.
Not only that, but the earth and trees around the gouged earth had been scorched black. Some of the trees had been snapped clean in half, the upper halves of their trunks sometimes tens of meters away. Thirty-centimeter long footprints remained in the muddy riverbank.
“So this is where the fight really picked up... Judging by the footprints, we’re dealing with some huge monster that walks on two legs... Supposedly, Bulltaurs roam around the area two mountains over, but the way the ground was cut clean through...”
The Bulltaurs Hajime was referring to were a kind of cross between the Orcs and Ogres usually found in RPGs. They weren’t very intelligent, but they always roamed in packs, and their special magic was an inferior version of Diamond Skin, Steel Skin. They were a powerful race known for their high defensive capabilities. However, adventurers had only ever encountered them after cresting the second set of mountains, and even then they never crossed the peak to the village side of the second mountain range. More importantly, they didn’t have any magic that would let them make such precise cuts into the ground like that.
Hajime squatted down and examined the footprints. He wasn’t sure if they should head downstream or upstream next.
So far the traces of battle they’d found had suggested Will and the others had fled upstream, but he found it hard to imagine they’d continue heading in that direction after such a fierce fight. Considering their physical and mental exhaustion, it would have made little sense for them to flee away from town.
Having come to that conclusion, Hajime sent his Ornises upstream, electing to take the downstream path himself. Since the footprints were all near the riverbank, it was possible Will and the others had escaped into the river. Exhausted by the fighting as they must have been, they’d probably opted to let the current carry them away.
The others agreed with Hajime’s hypothesis, and they began trekking down the mountain.
Eventually, they came across another waterfall. This one was far larger than the tiny drop they’d seen earlier. Hajime, Yue, and Shea all jumped off the cliff and landed nimbly on the rocks below. The misty breeze characteristic to all waterfalls blew past them. It was a refreshing reprieve, tired as they were from searching all day.
It was at that moment that Hajime’s Sense Presence detected something.
“Wha...! No way...”
“Hajime?” Yue was the first to react to Hajime’s outburst. Hajime closed his eyes and concentrated. A few seconds later he opened them again, the surprise evident in his voice.
“Man, you’ve gotta be kidding me. My Sense Presence detected something, but it feels human. And it’s... coming from behind the waterfall.”
“There’s a living person down there!?”
Hajime nodded in response to Shea’s question.
“Just one?” Yue asked, to which Hajime’s response was a simple confirmation.
Aiko and the others looked shocked as well. It was only natural, as while it was still theoretically possible someone had survived, Hajime hadn’t actually expected to find anyone alive. Five days had passed since Will’s party had gone missing. If the survivor was one of them, it’d be a miracle.
“Yue, I’m counting on you.”
“...Okay.”
Hajime didn’t take his eyes off the pool of water surrounding the waterfall. Guessing what Hajime wanted, Yue raised her right hand and activated her magic.
“Liquid Rampart. Wind Wall.”
The water around the waterfall was pushed to either side, the wind wall keeping the resulting spray from soaking them. Yue looked like Moses parting the Red Sea with her hand outstretched like that. The spell Liquid Rampart made barriers of water, and Yue had used the existing river water to create hers.
Aiko and the students’ jaws dropped open in shock yet again as they watched Yue cast two different elemental spells without an incantation or even a magic circle. The ancient Jews had probably been just as surprised when Moses had performed his miracle.
Yue’s mana supply wasn’t infinite, so Hajime ushered everyone along. They walked past the waterfall into the cavern behind it.
The cavern angled upward, and it opened up into a rather spacious room after they got through a narrow passage. Water and light poured into the room from above, the water creating a large puddle in the center. Seeing as the puddle didn’t overflow, it stood to reason that it connected to the river somehow.
They found a man in the furthest corner of the room. As they approached, they could make out his features better. He was young, probably no more than twenty, with graceful features. At the moment, though, that graceful face was pale as a sheet, ruining the effect. However, he didn’t seem to be injured, and his bag still had a little food left in it. From the looks of it, he was just asleep. His pale features were probably due to the terror of hiding out alone.
Aiko looked at him, clearly worried, but Hajime was in a hurry to find out who he was. He flicked the sleeping man on the forehead with his artificial arm.
“Guwah!” He awoke with a scream and covered his forehead with both hands. Aiko shuddered at Hajime’s callousness.
Hajime ignored Aiko and crouched down in front of the crying man. He didn’t bother mincing words.
“Are you Will Cudeta? The third son of the Cudeta family?”
“I, uhh... Who are you guys? What are you doing here?” The man’s eyes darted about wildly. Hajime got his hand ready for another flick and rested it against the man’s forehead.
“Answer the question. Every time you tell me something other than an answer, I’m going to flick you twice as hard as the last time.”
“Huh!?”
“Are you Will Cudeta?”
“Umm... Uwaah, yes! I am! I’m Will Cudeta! That’s me!” The man stammered for a moment, but Hajime’s sharp glare silenced any protests he might have, and he answered with more vigor than his pale face would suggest.
So he really is Will Cudeta. By some miracle, he had actually survived.
“I see. I’m Hajime. Hajime Nagumo. I’ve come looking for you at Chief Ilwa Chang’s request. I’m glad you’re alive.” That’ll make life much easier.
“Ilwa-san sent you!? I see. I guess... I owe him another debt for this. Umm, thank you for coming here. If Ilwa-san sent you, you must be pretty strong.”
There was a mixture of gratitude and respect in his gaze. It seemed he wasn’t too bothered by that earlier flick to his forehead. He seemed like a surprisingly nice fellow. Completely unlike that other pig-faced noble Hajime had encountered.
Glad he didn’t have to beat an answer out of Will, Hajime motioned for Yue and Shea to introduce themselves before asking what had happened.
In short, this was what happened to them:
Will and his party were climbing up the same mountain path Hajime had taken when they were set upon by ten Bulltaurs.
Unwilling to take on such a force, the party began to retreat. However, more and more Bulltaurs kept on coming and, before long, they had been driven up to the river a little over halfway up the mountain.
Surrounded and driven into a corner, the party’s paladin and swordsman gave their lives to let the others escape. Forced further upward by the advancing horde of Bulltaurs, the party arrived at the second river, only to meet their doom.
A black dragon was waiting for them.
The moment they burst out on the riverbank, it had fired its searing breath at them, sending Will flying into the river. As he was being washed downstream the last thing he’d seen was one member of the party get completely incinerated, while the remaining two were trapped between a dragon and a horde of Bulltaurs.
After falling down the waterfall he’d stumbled into this cavern, and had been hiding inside ever since.
His tale sounded pretty similar to a certain someone’s.
Will’s emotions got the better of him halfway through his story, and by the time he finished he was in tears. He’d basically forced his way into their party, and yet the adventurers he’d traveled with hadn’t so much as looked annoyed when he asked them to teach him their skills or share stories about their adventures.
And yet he hadn’t even tried to save them. He’d just hidden down here in this cave like a coward, praying for someone to come save him.
He hated himself even more for feeling relieved when help had finally arrived, even though his comrades had all died.
Those feelings had all come to a head when he recounted his tale, which was why he was a sobbing mess.
“I-I’m the worsht. Everyone died, but even though I wash usheless, I survived... and then... I even felt happy when I learned I wash shaved!” Will’s sobs echoed through the cavern. No one said anything. No one knew what to say to the sobbing young man who blamed himself for his comrades’ deaths. Yuka and the others especially so, because they understood exactly what he was feeling.
Aiko gently patted Will on the back, her expression pained.
Yue was as expressionless as always, while Shea was at a loss for words.
But when Will finally paused to take breath, the person everyone had least expected to say anything comforted him.
Hajime.
He walked over, grabbed Will by the collar, and hoisted him up into the air. When he spoke, his tone was surprisingly gentle.
“What’s so wrong about wanting to live? What’s so bad about being happy that you survived? Those feelings are the most natural thing in the world. For a human, wanting to survive is a praiseworthy trait.”
“B-But... I...”
“If you feel bad for your dead comrades... then live on. Even if you have to crawl on the ground dredging for scraps, survive. As long as you keep struggling... eventually, the day will come when you realize there was meaning in you surviving this day.”
“Live... on.” Tears still in his eyes, Will blankly repeated Hajime’s words.
Hajime thrust Will back to the ground and mumbled some words.
“What the hell’s wrong with me?” His speech had been half-directed at himself. When he’d heard Will lamenting his own survival, it had somehow felt like he was saying it was a mistake for Hajime to have survived. That was what had gotten Hajime so worked up.
Of course, that was just his persecution complex rearing its ugly head. What he’d done wasn’t much different from a kid throwing a temper tantrum. Despite how mature he tried to act, Hajime was still a seventeen year old boy. He still had a lot of growing up to do.
Having realized his mistake, Hajime was stewing in a rare moment of self-loathing. Seeing his expression, Yue walked over and gently took him his hand in hers.
“It’s okay. You said the right thing, Hajime.”
“...Yue.”
“Live, with everything you’ve got. We’re going to survive together, right?”
“Haha, you’re right. No matter what comes our way, we’ll make it through alive. I promise I won’t leave you alone.”
“...Good.”
Before long, Hajime and Yue were lost in their own little world, Will’s existence completely forgotten. I’m really no match for her, Hajime thought as he gently stroked Yue’s cheek. She nuzzled happily against his hand. Shea was, of course, glaring at them reproachfully. Her ears were twitching angrily, as if to say “How dare you leave me out again!”
Meanwhile, Hajime’s words had really hit home to Aiko and the others. They were the words of someone who’d had to change his appearance and even the very core of his being to crawl out of the abyss alive. Ever since their reunion he’d always been cold and aloof, but for the first time they’d seen him get heated up.
His passion resonated just a little in the hearts of Yuka and the others, who were still trapped by the fear of death. His words felt like the first rays of spring after a long and cold winter.
For a while, the students all stared at each other, lost in their thoughts. Will was still in a daze after being unfairly yelled at and then unceremoniously thrown away. Shea was still desperately trying to get Hajime and Yue’s attention, while the latter were still lost in each other’s eyes. The mood was so sickeningly sweet that one would think Hajime had transmuted the air to sugar.
Finally, Will managed to get everyone’s attention, and the party began preparing to descend. There was still an hour until darkness fell, so if they hurried they could reach the foot of the mountain before the day was up.
True, the sudden appearance of a Bulltaur herd and a black dragon were worrying developments, but they weren’t part of Hajime’s mission. Besides, it was unreasonable of anyone to expect Hajime to investigate those incidents while protecting such a weak group.
Will realized he’d just be a burden too, so he agreed that they should withdraw. Atsushi’s sense of justice compelled him to argue that they should investigate further and save the townspeople from their plight, but with such dangerous monsters as Bulltaurs and black dragons roaming about, Aiko was having none of it. So, in the end, it was decided they would leave the mountain.
But of course, it was too much to hope everything would go according to plan. The moment the group exited the waterfall cavern using Yue’s magic, they were greeted by a fearsome sight.
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” A dragon, its scales jet black and its eyes glinting a cruel gold, glared down at them from the sky.
It was easily seven meters long. Claws as big and sharp as swords jutted from its forelegs. The wings sprouting from its back were glimmering faintly, covered in a sheen of mana.
That explains it. Every time the dragon flapped its wings, an unbelievably powerful gust of wind blew past them. Still, what stood out most of all were the two eyes that glowed as gold as the moon amidst a sea of pitch black. Its pupils were slitted, giving them a reptilian appearance, while its eyes were narrowed in a dangerous glare, making the light they emitted all the more beautiful.
It let out another low roar. The overwhelming pressure it exuded was far greater than the wyverns Hajime had fought at the bottom of the Reisen Gorge, the Hyverias. Most people considered Hyverias among the most dangerous monsters that roamed the surface, but this black dragon made them feel like nothing more than little birds. Truly, its majesty made it fit to be called the ruler of the skies.
Aiko and the others froze in place, deer caught in headlights. Will was trembling so fiercely that he looked ready to collapse on the spot. He was probably having flashbacks to the last time he’d been attacked.
He had expected a suitably powerful monster when he saw the furrows in the ground, but he hadn’t expected something as deadly as the black dragon currently in front of him. This was at least three times more powerful than what he’d anticipated.
He was sure its strength couldn’t compare to the Hydra he’d fought at the bottom of the abyss, but it was at least as powerful as the monsters he’d found 90 floors down.
Upon spotting Will, the dragon’s gaze focused on him. Then, it suddenly reared its head back and opened its jaw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. It began focusing a tremendous amount of mana into its mouth.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaa! A strange keening sound echoed throughout the sunset orange mountains. Hajime suddenly remembered Will describing the breath that had gouged out part of the river and incinerated an adventurer on the spot.
“Everyone, run!” Hajime leaped to the side as he screamed. Yue and Shea followed suit. However, most people... No, everyone else didn’t react to Hajime’s warning.
They couldn’t. Aiko, Yuka, the other students, and even Will were still frozen in place. Aiko and the others were too surprised to react properly, but Will was frozen in fear. He couldn’t even summon the presence of mind to look away.
“Tch!”
“Hajime!”
“Hajime-san!”
Hajime used Telepathy to relay orders to Yue and Shea, then used Supersonic Step to return to the spot he’d been in seconds ago, putting him directly between the dragon and the students.
Normally, he would have just left them to fend for themselves, but he didn’t hate Aiko and the others enough that he’d be comfortable just watching them die. And if he let Will, who by some miracle had survived, die, then what was the point of him accepting this mission in the first place? He’d taken on a contract to bring Will back if he found him alive, and he wasn’t one to renege on his promises.
Hajime pulled a two-meter tall coffin-shaped shield out of his Treasure Trove and connected it to his prosthetic left arm. He started pouring mana into it, and a giant spike popped out of the bottom half with a pneumatic hiss. He thrust it into the ground as hard as he could.
A second later, the dragon’s black breath cut through the air with the precision of a laser. It traveled faster than sound, smashing into Hajime’s shield with a thunderous roar not even a second after it had been fired. The waves of heat radiating off the black laser were so great that they melted the ground around him.
She had the figure of a woman in her early twenties. Though her height was easily over 170 centimeters. She was very well endowed, and every time her shoulders heaved, her twin mounds threatened to spill out of her clothes. If Shea’s were melon sized, then this girl’s were watermelon sized.
“I can’t believe it... This is amazing.”
“S-So this is what a fantasy world is like.”
“Dammit! I know you’ve got some juice left in you! Come on, phone!”
The dragon’s beautiful appearance had a huge impact on Atsushi and the guys. The three of them were in the height of their puberty, so it was only natural. They all stooped over and spouted ridiculous lines. If this continued for any longer, they would be forced on all fours to hide their boners. Yuka and the others were staring at the guys like they were cockroaches.
“Haah... Haah... Thank you for sparing my life... My butt still feels weird... but it’s nothing compared to how much the rest of my body aches... Haah... Haah... to think pain could feel so sweet...” Both her expression and her words were rather ominous, or so Hajime thought. After a few minutes, she composed herself enough to sit up straight, and introduce herself calmly. Though her intermittent panting ruined the stately effect her sharp posture and crisp tone created.
“I have caused you all much grief. Please understand that I truly, truly am sorry for what I have done. My name is Tio Klarus. I’m a dragonman of the Klarus clan.”
Tio then went on to explain how the robed figure who was gathering a monster army was planning on attacking the nearby villages. And that he had already gathered a mob of three to four thousand monsters. Most of the monsters that inhabited the second mountain range lived in packs, so all he’d needed to do was subjugate their respective leaders, and the packs had followed.
The whole reason Hajime and the other students had been summoned to this world was because the Holy Church had feared the demons had somehow discovered a way to control monsters, so because of that, Aiko and the others surmised he must have been a member of the demon race.
However, when they said as much Tio shook her head, Tio explained that the black-robed man had been a black-haired, black-eyed human, and that while she’d called him a man, he was young enough to be considered a kid. She also distinctly remembered what he had said after taking control of her mind. Elated by his success, he had yelled, “This proves I’m better than him. I’m the real hero here!” He had seemingly harbored a massive grudge against this hero person.
A black-haired, black-eyed boy who knew the hero well and was a genius at using dark magic.
There was one person who perfectly fit all of those conditions. Aiko muttered “But that can’t be...” and she and the other students all exchanged troubled glances. As obvious as it was, they didn’t want to believe it.
As they were worrying about what to do, Hajime, who had been using his Far Sight skill, suddenly realized something.
“Oh, so that’s...” When he’d heard Tio’s story he’d sent his Ornises out to search for the monster army and the black-robed man. One of them had spotted a large gathering of monsters, but... the numbers were off.
“You said three to four thousand right? Are you sure you weren’t a digit short?” Everyone’s eyes flew open in surprise. It appeared he’d begun his advance. The robed man was almost certainly aiming for the town of Ur. If they continued at their current pace they would be down the mountain in half a day, and reach the town in another half.
“W-We need to hurry back and warn everyone! Then we need to evacuate and ask for reinforcements from the capital... And then, and then...”
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Aiko tried to think through her panic and figure out the best course of action. Against an army in the tens of thousands, even the ridiculously overpowered students didn’t stand a chance. Besides, they still hadn’t fully recovered from their trauma.
Aiko had basically no combat ability, Will was barely even an adventurer, and Tio was completely drained of mana. Forget stopping them, they wouldn’t even be able to slow the army down. Thus, Aiko’s plan of warning and everyone and running until reinforcements from the capital came was the best considering the circumstances.
However, while everyone else was panicking, Will quietly asked a rather odd question.
“Umm, Hajime-dono, couldn’t you do something about...” At his words, everyone looked expectantly to Hajime. Their eyes were filled with hope. Annoyed by their expectant gazes, Hajime casually waved his hand as if to dismiss the thought.
“Don’t look at me like that. My job is to bring Will safely back to Fuhren. I can’t fight a war if I’ve got to protect him. Hurry up and go warn the villagers.” Atsushi and Will were angry at how casually Hajime dismissed them. However, Aiko’s concern was elsewhere.
“Nagumo-kun, did you happen to see the black-robed man too?”
“Hm? Nope. I’ve been checking regularly, but all I’m seeing is a horde of monsters.”
Aiko hung her head sadly. After a moment of deliberation, she stated that she wanted to confirm whether or not the black-robed man was really Yukitoshi Shimizu, the missing boy they’d been searching for. As always, she put her students first. If the cause of all this trouble really was one of her students, then it was her responsibility.
However, there was no way they could leave Aiko alone among an army of monsters, and so Yuka and the others desperately tried to talk her out of it. Aiko hesitated for a bit, but then came up with another idea... namely that Hajime could accompany her. Tired of their constant arguing over whether to stay or leave, Hajime gave Aiko a cold stare.
“If you want to stay behind you can. We’re going to take Will back to the village.” With that, Hajime forcefully grabbed Will by the shoulders and started dragging him down the mountain. Will and Aiko tried to protest, saying they couldn’t leave this huge army alone, that they needed to confirm who the black-robed man was, that Hajime was strong enough to take on the whole army, and so on. Annoyed, Hajime let out a sigh and rounded on Aiko.
“Like I said before, my only job is to see Will to safety. I can’t fight an army if I’ve got someone I need to protect. Hell, let’s say for argument’s sake that I could kill them all. In a forested place like this full of boulders and rivers, there’s no way I could be sure I’d gotten every single one. Just give it a rest, okay. Even if we find out whether or not the kid really is a student, who’ll be left to warn the town? On the off chance that they’re actually stronger than us, we’ll be wiped out and the town will be caught totally by surprise. Just so you know, only I can drive Steiff and Brise, so if I go fight, you guys have no chance of making it back before the town’s attacked.” Aiko and Will fell silent. Hajime’s argument had made it clear how pointless and reckless their insistence that he go fight was.
“Well, my mast... Ahem, he has point. My mana is completely drained right now too. I understand your desire to act, but right now there’s nothing we can do. Our first priority should be warning the villagers. After a day my mana will be mostly recovered as well.” Tio followed up after Hajime, supporting his reasoning.
Was she about to call me what I think she was about to call me...? It can’t be, can it?
Realizing that was the best option in their current situation, Aiko reined in her worry and prioritized warning the town and the safety of the students still under her charge.
Tio was so drained of mana that she couldn’t move, so Hajime grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and dragged her down the mountain.
Atsushi and the other boys had been ready to fight each other for the right to carry Tio, but Yuka had quickly shut them down, and it seemed Tio herself wished to be carried by Hajime, which was why he’d ended up with the job.
But of course, Hajime wasn’t the kind of person to carry her nicely. Frowning in annoyance, he had grabbed by the legs and dragged her at first.
However, Aiko’s fierce protests had talked him into at least dragging her by the scruff of her neck. No matter what anyone said after that he refused to compromise any further. Tio herself had a look of ecstasy on her face too, which made everyone back away, thus resulting in this being the style she was dragged down the mountain in.
The party hurried to Ur as fast as they could, an army of monsters not far behind them.
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