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

Bonus Short Stories 

Arifureta Magic Academy Field Trip 

A delicious scent wafted through a sunlit clearing in a forest. 
“Daddy, that looks really tasty!” 
“That’s because curry’s my specialty.” 
Myu, the new dagon student, inhaled deeply and Hajime, her de facto father and also a student at the same academy, smiled at her. The clearing was dotted with other groups of students who were all making their own curry. Today was the magic academy’s field trip, the once-a-year excuse for students of all grades to mingle. 
Aiko, the teacher on duty, surveyed the clearing. Everyone seemed to be having fun. But all the students were also pointedly doing their best to ignore Hajime’s group as much as possible. 
“U-Umm Hajime... isn’t it about time...?” 
“Waaah! This is so embarrassing. I’m sorry, Hajime-kun. I won’t do it again, so please let me rest.” 
“I can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake. How pathetic.” 
Yue, Kaori, and Shea were all sitting on their knees in front of Hajime, and each of them had a stack of super-dense metal plates resting on their laps. There were also metal plates affixed to their heads, and each of those plates had the words, “I’m a bad kid who wasted food. This is my punishment, so don’t talk to me” engraved on them. 
It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened. Each of them had wanted to be the one to cook curry for Hajime, and a fight had broken out. During their scuffle, they’d overturned all of their pots, including the one Myu had been using to make her own curry. Naturally, Hajime had been incensed, and so he’d punished the three girls accordingly. Incidentally, Tio, the principal of the academy, had been strung up to a nearby tree and left alone. A few of the newer underclassmen had tried to ask whether it was okay for the principal to be treated like that, but their seniors had all shushed them and explained that no one asked such questions. 
“How are things going, everyone? Are you almost done with your curries? It’s almost time for—” 
Unlike Yue, who was an absolute failure of an educator, Aiko did her best to make sure everyone’s activities were going smoothly. But before she could finish, three female students suddenly ran up to her. 
“Ai-chan-sensei! What do we do!? Tamai’s group has gone missing!” 
They were Yuka, Nana, and Taeko, all students who’d volunteered to keep watch around the forest. 
“Calm down, Sonobe-san. Start from the beginning.” 
“Well... Tamai, Aikawa, and Nimura were all getting bored of patrolling, so they all went into the obstacle cavern to have some fun. But no matter how long we waited for them, they didn’t come back out!” 
The obstacle cavern was a man-made cavern built by the owner of the forest. It was meant to serve as an enjoyable obstacle course that should have been easily clearable, even by a child. There was no way Tamai and the others, who were all upperclassmen, should have gotten stuck in there. And knowing that, Aiko’s expression suddenly grew grim, as did Hajime’s. 
“I-I’ll go take a look!” Aiko shouted hesitantly. It appeared dinner would have to be postponed. 
“Ah. Daddy, shouldn’t you let Yue-sensei—” 
“Those people aren’t there, Myu. Understood?” 
“Oh, okay.” 
Yue and the others stared at Hajime in shock. He gave them one threatening glance, promising vicious retribution if they dared to move. Then, after seeing that they’d been sufficiently cowed, he dashed over to the obstacle cavern. When they reached it they saw a sign that read, “Welcome one and all to Miledi’s wonderful obstacle course! For a limited time only, student entry is free!” 
Hajime couldn’t quite put his finger on why, that sign irked him to no end. 
“Sensei, Miledi’s the name of the forest owner, right?” Hajime asked pensively. 
“That’s what I was told. But I didn’t hear anything about this special student deal. There certainly wasn’t any such deal last year. At any rate, everyone else stays here. I’ll go take a look inside!” 
Aiko took a deep breath, then resolutely stepped forward. But before she could enter the cavern, there was a loud metallic clank. A second later, there were three loud screams and the floor around Aiko and the students parted to either side like a pair of double doors. Hajime instantly grabbed Myu and tried to flee to safety by using the heads of other students as stepping stones. Unfortunately— 
“Wha!? Gravity magic!?” 
He felt a massive pressure forcing him down, and Myu let out a panicked squeal. In the end, Hajime was forced into the hole along with all the other students. 
“Huh? I’m not hurt? Oh, there’s a cushion here,” Aiko muttered, looking blankly down at her feet. However, after a few seconds she returned to her senses and shouted, “Is anyone hurt!?” 
Looking around, she saw that all the students had landed on cushions as well, and that everyone was unharmed. Though they were all very confused, much like Aiko. 
“H-Hey, there’s a light up ahead!” 

“Is that the exit? Shit, I’m totally suing the owner of this place!” 
Hiyama, Saitou, Kondou, and Nakano all dashed forward without stopping to take stock of the situation. A second later, the floor beneath them shot upward, launching them toward the ceiling. As they screamed in terror, it opened up to let them through. And once they passed through, the ceiling closed up again and their screams faded away. 
“......” 
An oppressive silence filled the room in their absence. Eventually, it was broken when someone gulped. 
“Aiko-sensei, is this how the obstacle course is supposed to be? Was it like this last year?” 
“Definitely not!” 
It seemed someone had switched out the obstacle cavern for something different. Before anyone could ask anything else, shining letters appeared on one of the cavern’s walls. They spelled out, “Welcome to Miledi’s wonderful obstacle course! I remodeled it just for you guys! Now it’s as dangerous as a labyrinth! I worked hard to make this, so you all better enjoy it to the fullest! Oh, some of you may end up buried here permanently but... that’s just part of the fun!” 
“......” 
Cold sweat poured down the students’ foreheads. The fun, easy obstacle course had been replaced by a deadly labyrinth, of all things. 
“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding me! I can’t stay here! I’m going home!” Suzu shouted, then tried to go down a different route than the one Hiyama and his friends had chosen. 
“Wait, Suzu!” Eri yelled as she ran after her. Before Aiko could stop either of them, another trap activated. 
“Bwah!?” 
“Fwaaaah!?” 
White webbing fell from the ceiling. And in their haste to escape from it, they tripped over the fine threads and the web easily bagged the two girls, dragging them up to the ceiling. Like before, it opened to receive both of them. 
“Noooooooooooooooooo, I hate spideeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!” Suzu wailed. 
“Ugh, get this disgusting shit off of me! I’m gonna fucking kill you vermin!” Eri shouted. 
Hang on, was Eri’s personality always like this? the students thought to themselves. But there wasn’t time to dwell on the matter. 
“P-Pull yourselves together, guys! Ryutarou, Kouki, we have to save Suzu and Eri!” 
Ryutarou was the first to react. He leaped forward, planning on using the nearby wall as a foothold to jump off of toward the ceiling. But the moment his foot touched the wall, it flipped around. Without even time to scream, he barreled into the room on the other side. And, at the same time, the wall emitted a cloud of gas that put Shizuku and Kouki to sleep. As they collapsed to the ground, the floor beneath them turned to quicksand, sucking them under. 
“Sh-Shit....” 
“Daddy...” 
This obstacle course of Miledi’s was dangerous enough to make even Hajime sweat. And that made Myu very worried. Just then, more shining letters appeared on the wall. 
“Oh come on! You guys are still at the starting line and you’ve already lost this many students? This year’s class sure is a disappointment. Bahahaha!” 
The students’ worry instantly transformed into anger. 
“Well, if you’re having this much trouble, I guess I could let you give up. But you have to admit defeat if you want out! I wonder how it’ll feel, begging for mercy with your pride in tatters? Do tell me if you decide to back out!” 
Bang! Hajime’s bullet slammed into the wall, blasting it and its blasted letters to pieces. 
“You guys know what to do, right?” Hajime said coldly, turning to the other students. 
“Yeah,” they all muttered resolutely. 
“Let’s go. We’ll show this bitch just how good our class really is.” 
“Sir, yes, sir!” 
And so, Hajime led his army of enraged students into the cavern’s depths. One hour later, Yue and the others grew tired of waiting, so they went to see what was taking Hajime so long. Upon reaching the cavern, they found a disheveled Hajime by the entrance. He was facing the other students and shouting, “Find Miledi! Make sure you drag her out here alive! We’re not gonna let her die until she’s experienced true hell!”