Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 3 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories

In Search of My Beloved Synergist: 2

“I can’t... die yet...”

A desperate voice echoed across the open sea. It belonged to the young, fifteen-year-old, waitress of one of Velnika’s restaurants, Aisha. And this was her tenth day adrift at sea. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was gripping the ship’s railing so hard her knuckles were white. Mistakenly believing that the young synergist that she’d fallen in love with needed rescuing, she’d gone off chasing after him. Mistakenly believing he was waiting earnestly for her to come, she’d crossed an entire continent and struck out into the ocean. Traveling with her were two adventurers who owed her a debt, or rather adventurers that she’d blackmailed, into joining her misguided adventure. One was the bald Failur, while the other was Scurdy, whose hair looked like the end of a broom. The two of them were currently collapsed atop the ship’s deck. The three of them had originally set sail for Andika, but all three of them were amateurs at navigation. Naturally, their ill-fated voyage had gone off-course, and they’d become shipwrecked. Their mouths were full of ashes and regret, but what they’d have really preferred stuffed in there was food and water.

“I’m sorry, Failur, Scurdy. This is my fault.”

Aisha let go of the railing and slid to the ground. She fell face down on the wooden planks, looking surprisingly contrite. The two men who could have been mistaken for corpses twitched.

“Aisha-chan, if we make it back to the continent alive... will you live together with me?”

Scurdy’s response was so unexpected that both Aisha and Failur looked at him in shock. Aisha suspected that he’d come so close to death that his instinct to leave descendants behind was starting to kick in. However, Scurdy kept on talking.

“Oscar’s gone. He’s far beyond our reach now, so you should just compromise with me and—”

“No way.” Aisha flatly refused him. Her voice was so firm it was hard to believe she looked like she’d been dying a second ago. Her rejection crushed Scurdy’s spirit, but still, he persevered. He knew these might be his last few moments on Tortus.

“I-I understand how you feel, Aisha-chan. But you should try to find happiness closer to—”

“No way.”

“I really love—”

“Absolutely not.”

“Isn’t there even the slightest possibility—”

“Nope.”

“......”

“This isn’t good, Failur-san. Scurdy-san’s going insane. He’s having delusions about the impossible. But I’ve gotta say, it’s kind of pathetic that he’d get this weak just from three days of no food and no water. I could keep going for another ten years on just my feelings for Oscar-san! Oh, Oscar-san! I won’t succumb to a trial like this!”

“Hic...”

“Don’t cry, Scurdy! You’ll end up wasting even more water!”

However, Scurdy kept crying, wasting more of his precious bodily fluids. Failur kept trying to encourage him but ended up only wasting more of his stamina as he yelled himself hoarse. Aisha ended up wasting both stamina and water as she began seeing hallucinations of Oscar on the boat and chasing after him with tears in her eyes. Before long, the three of them had exhausted themselves so completely they couldn’t even move.

“Hey, you three, are you alright?”

Looking up, the three travelers saw that a large ship had come up beside them. A young catgirl with beautiful white hair, glinting in the sunlight, was looking over the railing at them.

“S-So beautiful...” Scurdy fell in love with the catgirl at first sight.

Some time later, Aisha and the others were wolfing down food and drink on the deck of the Melusine.

“Calm down, you guys. If you eat that fast, you’ll choke on your food.”

Kyaty, the catgirl who’d saved the three starving travelers, offered them some water. Aisha thumped her chest to help the food stuck in her throat go down, then opened her mouth to thank Kyaty. But before she could, Scurdy butt in.

“Thanks, Kyaty-chan. Not only did you save us, you even made such delicious food! It’s rare to find someone who’s this beautiful and also a good cook!”

“O-Oh, stop it. You don’t need to flatter me, I’ll still take you guys back to the mainland, don’t worry.”

“I’m not flattering you, I mean it! I’ve never met anyone as beautiful as you!”

“S-Stop the empty praise and get back to eating!”

Kyaty blushed and looked away, her ears flapping back and forth. Her adorable reaction made Scurdy even more enamored with her.

“Guess you’ll be alright if you’ve got enough energy to try and woo Kyaty,” Chris, the first mate of the Melusine, said as he walked over to the group.

“Umm, thank you very much for saving us,” Aisha turned to Chris and thanked him on behalf of the group. Chris sat down on a nearby barrel and waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t sweat it. Anyway, what’re you three doing out here? You trying to reach Andika?” Chris asked as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Aisha and her companions were clearly amateurs at navigation, and he couldn’t imagine what business normal travelers would have with the city. Chris and the others had been patrolling the waters around Andika in the Melusine, looking out for suspicious visitors. In fact, everyone on deck was poised to jump on Aisha and the others at any time if necessary. However, Aisha didn’t notice the sharpness in Chris’s gaze.

“Did you say Andika!? You know about the city!?”

Surprised by her sudden vehemence, Chris reflexively drew his sword.

“Y-Yeah, I guess we do.”

“Please tell me where it is! I have to get there no matter what!”

“C-Calm down, young lady! Your eyes are bloodshot! And you’re way too close to my face!”

“Hurry up and take me there! I need to get there right now!”

“Seriously, calm down! Why do you want to go to Andika so badly anyway!? That place is full of outlaws!”

“For love!”

“Love!? What are you talking about!?”

“I need to destroy all of my rivals and grasp hold of the future!”

“What kind of love is that!?”

Failur finally succeeded in pulling Aisha off of Chris and started calming her down. Once she’d regained her composure, she cleared her throat and said, “I’m searching for someone who I heard is in Andika. His name’s Oscar, and—”

Chris and Kyaty exchanged glances. That name was quite familiar to both of them. They turned warily back to Aisha.

“Young lady, what’s your relationship with him?”

“I’m his wife.”

“His wife!?”

Failur and Scurdy quickly butted in to explain the situation. They also gave a brief summary of how their journey up until now. Aisha continually interrupted their story to talk about how great Oscar was. As the pirates listened to the adventurers’ story, they realized Oscar was way more popular with the ladies than they’d ever imagined. But while everyone else was interested to hear just what Oscar had done to make Aisha so obsessed with him, Kyaty turned her nose up unhappily and muttered, “Hmph, so he’s just a womanizer after all.”

Chris turned to her with a grin.

“What’re you so mad about, huh, Kyaty? Did you fall for him after he praised your maid outfit so much?”

“What!? I don’t care about that stupid—”

“He praised your maid outfit? I need to hear about this.”

“Eek!? When’d you get behind me!?”

Kyaty leaped away when she heard Aisha whisper that from right behind her. She even used her special magic, Acceleration, to put as much distance between her and Aisha as possible. However—

“What’s wrong with this girl!? How’s she keeping up with me!? What’s she doing to move like that!?”

Aisha’s skills at tailing people who knew about Oscar were so advanced they were indistinguishable from magic. And that was why she could keep up with someone using magic. Probably.

“Love makes everything possible! Now tell me, what kind of relationship do you have with Oscar-san!? Did you really service him in a maid outfit!? While wagging that tail of yours and acting all cute!?”

“What the hell are you implying!?”

For some time after that, Aisha chased Kyaty around the deck of the ship, demanding answers. The other pirates found the spectacle entertaining, so they just watched. Meanwhile, Scurdy collapsed into a sobbing heap as he realized Oscar had stolen yet another one of his loves away from him, and Failur just watched everything with a sigh.

Afterward, the pirates brought Aisha and the others to Andika, where they learned all about Oscar’s many exploits in the city. But that is a story for another time.