Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter SS2

The Mad Synergist of the Forest 

This event took place a few days before Hajime and the others set out for the Schnee Snow Fields. Four figures walked down a small road heading toward one of Verbergen’s outlying settlements. 
“Why does he have to do this away from the city?” Kouki grumbled. 
“Yeah, why doesn’t he just do it in his room?” Ryutarou added, his arms folded behind his head. 
“I guess it’s just a habit of his? Anyway, who cares why? I just want to know how my artifact’s turning out. I can’t wait to see what it’s like. Oh yeah, you already got yours from Nagumo-kun, right Shizushizu?” 
“Yes, I did. And I have to say, it’s insane what he’s done with it. You can expect yours to be just as amazing, Suzu.” 
Despite her words, Shizuku’s expression was somewhat stiff. Suzu somehow doubted being optimistic was a good choice here. Kouki and the others were currently on their way to get their new artifacts from Hajime. After obtaining evolution magic, Hajime had constructed a temporary workshop in the outskirts of the capital and had done all of his experimenting there. He’d holed himself inside it the past few days, and today was finally the day Kouki and the others’ artifacts had been completed. 
The party arrived at the building that served as Hajime’s temporary workshop and looked it up and down. It had clearly been transmuted, as it was a simple one-story affair made entirely of metal. Kouki walked up to the door and knocked. 
“Nagumo, we’re here. It cool if we come—” Kouki was interrupted by an explosion coming from inside. The hero and his comrades screamed in shock. The door burst outward and hit Kouki squarely in the face. The impact knocked him directly backward into Ryutarou and the two of them flew back into the forest. Thanks to the fact that Kouki and Ryutarou had slowed the door’s momentum, Shizuku and Suzu were able to dart out of the way before they were barreled over too. 
“K-Kouki-kuuuuuun, Ryutarou-kuuuuuuuuun!” 
“Wh-What just happened!?” 
Shizuku and Suzu’s panicked screams echoed through the forest. As the dust cleared, the workshop’s owner appeared nonchalantly in the doorway. 
“Yo, sorry guys. Something blew up on accident. Anyway, come in.” 
“Like hell we’re going to walk into that deathtrap!” Suzu and Shizuku said, completely in sync. 
“I-I thought I was going to die there...” 
“Thank god I kept up with my training. If I hadn’t leveled up this much, I might have died.” 
Kouki and Ryutarou emerged from the depths of the forest. Their clothes looked disheveled, but they didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries. Tears of relief spilled from Suzu’s eyes and she ran over to her two comrades. Shizuku, on the other hand, rounded on Hajime. 
“Hey, Nagumo-kun! What was that explosion!?” 
“Oh, the self-destruct feature I installed into your artifacts malfunctioned. Haha, I never thought I’d mess up like that. Well, it’s no big deal. Anyway, come in.” 
That sounds like a very big deal to me! Kouki and the others thought simultaneously. They now understood why Hajime had decided to put his workshop somewhere far from people. Kouki and the others timidly walked into Hajime’s workshop, feeling as though they were entering a minefield. As they stepped inside, Kouki noticed his Holy Sword lying in a corner of the workshop. It was covered in soot and smoking. 
“My swoooooord!” 
Sounding as though he’d just found a fallen comrade on the battlefield, Kouki rushed over to his beloved weapon. It was blinking faintly, as if imparting its dying words onto Kouki. After a few seconds, the light went out, and Kouki’s sword died. 
“Holy Swooooooooooooooooooooooooooord!” 
Had this been a play, this would be the moment a haunting refrain started playing while spotlights shone down on Kouki. 
“Stop exaggerating. It was just a little explosion.” 
“Wait, it was my sword that exploded!? Actually, how the hell did that even happen!?” Kouki bore down on Hajime, furious. 
Hajime easily pinned him down and said casually, “What do you mean? I just told you I was testing the sword’s self-destruct feature and it malfunctioned. Don’t worry, though, only your sword’s special. All of the other artifacts won’t blow up by accident.” 
“Are you crazy!?” Kouki screamed as hugged his sword, as if indicating that he would never hand it over to Hajime again. 
Ryutarou and the others shouted, “Don’t add a self-destruct feature in the first place!” 
“Nagumo-kun. Just to make sure, you haven’t put a self-destruct feature into my katana, have you?” Shizuku timidly held her sword away from her body as she asked that. 
“Don’t worry.” 
“Th-Thank god, I knew you wouldn’t—” 
“It has one too.” 
“Get rid of it this instant!” Shizuku roared as she rapped Hajime’s head with the flat of her blade. 
“Why? Self-destruct features are what every craftsman dreams of making. What are you going to do if you can’t blow yourself up when the time calls for it? A weapon that can’t self-destruct has no artistic merit whatsoever. Why can’t you plebians understand that?” 
Grumbling to himself, Hajime nevertheless did as he was told and removed the self-destruct features from the four’s weapons. 
“Alright, let me explain all the upgrades... We’ll start with Amanogawa’s Holy Sword.” 
“What the hell did you do to it?” Kouki asked, sounding like a detective interrogating a mad scientist. 
“Hmph, no need to look so afraid. Try pushing the button by the hilt.” 
“What button? Wait, you added a button to the handle! ?” 
Glaring at Hajime, Kouki reluctantly pushed the button. There was a strange sound, and pure white light enveloped the sword. 
“Wh-What’s this?” 
“A lightsaber version of your sword. I call it Fuu.” 
“Fuu!? What kind of name is that!?” 
Every time Kouki swung it, it made an odd buzzing noise, like an actual lightsaber. Unfortunately, there was no other magic contained in the light, so it couldn’t actually cut through everything like a real lightsaber. In the end, it was a fake. 

“Wh-Why did you even bother adding a feature like this?” 
“Huh...? To intimidate foes, I guess?” 
Who cares about the purpose? What matters is whether it’s cool or not! 
“Oh yeah, try pushing the button on the crossguard next.” 
Still dumbfounded by his fake light-saber, Kouki did as he was told. This time currents of wind wrapped themselves around the blade and it turned invisible.” 
“Heh, what do you think? This time I modeled it after—” 
“Don’t say it Nagumo-kun! We’ll get sued!” 
Shizuku covered Hajime’s mouth with her hands. He struggled helplessly against her while Kouki narrowed his eyes. 
“Wait, what’s going on? My body feels heavy...” 
“Mmmpf! Yeah, because this mode forcibly drains your mana.” 
“Huh!? Why!? Doesn’t that basically make it the same as—” 
“Don’t you think cursed swords are... cool?” Hajime asked as smiled a carefree smile. 
“Turn my sword back to normaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!” Kouki’s shout resounded throughout the forest. 
Hajime reluctantly undid his modifications and grumbled, “Now all you have is a Holy Sword that’s a few times stronger than your old Holy Sword.” 
Why didn’t you just leave it at that? Kouki thought, glaring at Hajime. 
Next, Hajime turned to Ryutarou and took out his new artifact. What appeared from Hajime’s Treasure Trove was a bouquet of flowers. 
“N-Nagumo, I don’t even know how to react to this.” 
Ryutarou’s hesitation was understandable. Another dude from his class was gifting him flowers. And it wasn’t just any dude, but the famous monster of the abyss. Kouki suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and turned to his best friend. 
“Just take it. And pretend to look happy.” 
“N-No way I can do that, man...” 
Feeling conflicted about the fact that the first person in his life to gift him flowers was a man, Ryutarou nevertheless accepted the bouquet with a grimace. A second later, the bouquet activated. Apparently it wasn’t actually made of flowers, but ore that had been shaped to look like flowers. Once the artifact’s transformation was complete, it looked like a long cylindrical object with spikes sticking out of it. 
“...Is this a nail bat?” 
Nail bats were the preferred weapons of gangsters everywhere. Hajime gave Ryutarou a thumbs-up and said, “I couldn’t think of any better weapon for you.” 
“Like hell you couldn’t! I’m no delinquent!” Ryutarou screamed as he tossed the nail bat to the floor. The moment it left its hands, it transformed back into a bouquet. A lot of engineering had gone into making something this pointless. 
“I use gauntlets! Now give mine back!” Ryutarou shouted. 
“And here I thought you’d like my gift...” Hajime grumbled as he brought out Ryutarou’s gauntlets. 
“Yeah, now these feel natural.” 
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ryutarou quickly strapped on his beloved gauntlets. He punched them together, getting a feel for them. 
“Ah, hold on, you moron! Don’t just go around messing with them before I’ve finished my explanation!” 
“Huh? What’s the big...” 
Hajime stepped forward and grabbed Ryutarou’s arms. He then pointed Ryutarou’s hands backward, toward the wall. A second later, the fist part of the gauntlets shot out and smashed through the workshop’s walls. They kept going at unbelievable speed, disappearing into the forest. 
“Damn, that was close. If you slam them together, you activate the rocket punch. Be careful, you moron.” 
“You’re the moron heeeeeeeeere!” Ryutarou exclaimed as he ran off into the forest, chasing after the detached fists of his gauntlets. 
“I designed them to come back and reconnect with your gauntlets so you don’t have to chase them... Well, whatever,” Hajime shrugged his shoulders, then looked over at Suzu, who was surreptitiously trying to flee the workshop. 
“Where do you think you’re going?” 
“Eek!?” 
Hajime grinned happily and handed the timid Suzu something. 
“U-Umm, Nagumo-kun, what is this?” 
“Your old artifact. I tried upgrading it, but it was so shit that it broke.” 
“How could youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!?” 
The bracelet she’d been given by the king had been reduced to nothing but junk. Hajime then pulled out her new artifact, which ended up being a leek-shaped object. Hajime had thought it would suit Suzu’s hairstyle, but when he actually saw her hold it he muttered “No, forget it. You can’t ever be like her.” 
Next, he brought out a giant stuffed animal which was actually a golem, because he wanted to see someone in their party class change into puppetmaster. But not only was Suzu unable to control it, it went berserk and started flinging her around, so he discarded the golem as defective as well. After numerous failed attempts, Hajime finally said, “Dammit, none of these work! I need to rethink my strategy from the ground up!” 
He then shooed everyone out of his workshop and got back to work. 
The setting sun illuminated Kouki and the others as they walked back to Verbergen, crows mocking them as they went. Looking completely defeated, Suzu muttered, “Nagumo-kun’s crazy. He’s a mad Synergist.” 
No one voiced any objections to that description.