Arifureta/ From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol. 11 Extra Chapters

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Volume 11.

Extra Chapter: The Day All Dragonmen Cried.

The ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Set deep within the glimmering expanse of blue was a solitary island. There wasn’t even a shallow reef within a hundred-kilometer radius of it. It was well and truly isolated from the rest of the world. A lone woman stood atop a rocky overhang jutting out of the island’s southern tip. She wore an azure kimono and had shoulder-length hair of the same color. She appeared to be in her late forties and carried herself with the elegance of a noblewoman. She fervently stared southward, her hands clasped to her chest in her prayer.

“Princess…” the woman muttered. She was Venri Colt, and her family had served Tio’s for generations. She had been Tio’s wet nurse and had taken care of Tio after her parents had died.

Ever since Tio had left on her journey, it had been her daily routine to visit that spot and pray for Tio’s safety. When Tio had claimed that something strange was happening on the mainland and offered to investigate, Venri hadn’t tried to stop her. Though she loved Tio like her own daughter, she also had absolute faith in her strength.

Still, she couldn’t help but worry. And as she gazed at the horizon, a messenger ran up to her.

“Venri-dono! Cartus-dono sensed the princess’ mana heading this way! She’s coming—”

Before the messenger even finished, Venri transformed and took flight. She raced southward as fast as possible, her azure scales scintillating in the noon light. She opened her eyes as wide as they could go and desperately scanned the horizon for a black speck.

It was only after she’d gone a hundred kilometers or so that she remembered Cartus’ Job was Observer, which allowed him to see across immense distances.

I may have been a tad hasty… But just as she thought that, she spotted something.

“P-Princess!?”

Venri could never mistake that distinctive luster of Tio’s obsidian-colored mana. But to her surprise, it wasn’t a black speck she spotted in the distance. Instead, she saw a whirling, pitch-black tornado. The tornado was perfectly horizontal and tapered at the front. It was still a few kilometers away, but was approaching at blistering speed.

Venri had spent more time with Tio than anyone else, so she could say with certainty that the princess was moving faster than ever before. Even the storm dragon, the fastest dragonman in the village, couldn’t achieve that velocity.

“Hm? Is that you, Venri!?”

“Y-Yes, Princess! Thank goodness you’ve returned safe…ly?”

Tears welled up in Venri’s eyes as she laid eyes on her surrogate daughter for the first time in months. However, those tears vanished the moment Tio dispelled the tornado and Venri saw what she looked like.

“P-Princess, why do you look like—”

“Fear not. I simply adjusted my form to be more aerodynamic for travel.”

Venri couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A dragonman’s transformation was set from the moment of their birth. Of course, that form grew as they did, but its shape was supposed to be immutable. And yet, the Tio in front of Venri looked much more sleek and slender than the form Venri remembered, and each of Tio’s scales had streaks of lighter black running through them.

“I shall explain later. My apologies, Venri, but I am in quite a hurry. Would you be willing to share some of your mana with me? It took a lot of practice to perfect this form while flying, and I expended more mana than anticipated,” Tio said in a haggard voice.

Venri snapped back to her senses and hurriedly gave as much of her mana as she could.

“Thank you. Come, Venri, cancel your transformation and get on my back.”

“What!? I could never do something so presumptuous!”

“Argh, now is not the time for decorum, Venri! As your princess, I command you to ride me!”

“Urgh… How will I ever face my ancestors after this? A servant should never ride her master!”

“Haaah, if anything I would consider that a reward.”

“Uh, Princess? What did you just say? And why did you suddenly start panting?” Venri asked as she hesitantly canceled her transformation and got onto Tio’s back.

Tio didn’t bother to answer and instead wrapped Venri in a wind barrier.

“Let us be off! I shall convert the pleasure from being stepped on into the strength to fly faster!”

“Huh!? Princess, what in the world are you—? Waaah, you’re going too faaaaaaaaast!”

Tio shot forward, creating that same black tornado she had before. She moved so fast that even her wind barrier couldn’t fully protect Venri from the air resistance.

In less than ten minutes, Tio reached the island.

“Welcome home, Tio-sama!”

“It is a relief to know that you’re safe!”

“Princess, what was that form you took earlier?”

“Hey, make way for the princess! She must be tired from her long journey. Let her rest!”

The dragonmen of the village gathered around the coast, both excited and confused by Tio’s sudden return.

Tio canceled her transformation and addressed the crowd, saying, “Thank you for coming out to welcome me! I have returned at long last!”

Tio’s smile was tinged with exhaustion, and Venri lent her a shoulder to lean on.

“Princess, I shall ready your bedchambers at once. Come, let us return to the mansion so you can rest.”

Tio shook her head at Venri upon hearing those words.

“No, I am afraid there’s no time for that. I bear urgent news. Venri, where is my grandfather?”

“I am here.”

A regal dragonman with scarlet hair made his way past the crowd and walked up to Tio. He was Tio’s grandfather and the chief of the village, Adul Klarus. Though the dragonmen kingdom had fallen centuries ago, everyone still treated him like a king, which was why the moment he stepped forward, the muttering of the crowd died down.

Staggering slightly, Tio waved Venri away and did her best to stand straight.

Adul gasped when he saw the look in Tio’s eyes.

“Grandfather— No, Chief.”

“Tio…”

The two of them gazed silently at each other for a few seconds. All the other dragonmen waited with bated breath for Tio’s next words.

The only sound was of waves crashing against the shore, and weeds rustling in the wind. Finally, Tio opened her mouth and said in a voice laden with emotion, “The time has come.”

“Ah!” Adul gasped as his eyes widened in shock. Though they knew they were being disrespectful, the other dragonmen started muttering to each other again.

Adul sucked in a deep breath and scrutinized Tio with his slitlike, draconic eyes. He’d decided to appraise her not as her grandfather, but as the man who carried the fate of the dragonman race on his shoulders. The stern look in his eyes appeared far more imposing than Tio remembered.

I thought for a moment that she might have changed because that accursed god did something to her… but now I see that is nothing more than a sign of her growth.

After confirming that Tio was free of Ehit’s influence, Adul smiled.

“Did you hear that, everyone? Gather the rest of the villagers in the central plaza. Tio has a message for us that will decide the future of our race!”

The dragonmen fell silent again as realization washed over them. Doing their best to contain their excitement, they started migrating to the central plaza.

“Tio, eat something before you speak to the others. It would be a disservice to give your report while exhausted.”

“I suppose so. There is an awful lot I must tell everyone, so a short break would do me good.”

Adul smiled kindly at Tio, returning to the role of grandfather instead of village chief. He then gently placed a hand on Tio’s shoulder and said, “You must have met some truly splendid people on your journey. You look more like Orna than ever before.”

“How—? I see you are perceptive as ever, Grandfather.”

“P-Princess? Don’t tell me you…”

Blushing slightly, Tio covered her face with her sleeve. Adul grinned playfully at her, while Venri looked aghast.

At this moment none of them realized the “splendid people” Tio had met on her journey had influenced her in worse ways than Ehit ever could.

While Tio was eating, the 300-odd members of the dragonmen village gathered in the town’s central plaza. Excited chatter filled the square as they speculated on what Tio had discovered during her investigation.

Other dragonmen had left on scouting missions before, but none had ever returned with a report so important the entire village needed to hear it.

“Brethren, listen well,” Tio declared as she walked up to the raised dais in the center of the square. Normally, it was only occupied during festivals, but today she would give her speech from it. Adul and Venri walked up a few seconds later and sat down on either side of her.

“The world will soon undergo a momentous change.”

The dragonmen frowned angrily, thinking that Ehit was about to reset history for his own amusement again. The last time he did that, the dragonmen kingdom was destroyed and the few surviving dragonmen were forced to retreat to this hidden island.

Little did they know that Ehit was up to something far more insidious.

“Ehit does not intend to reset civilization as he’s done so many times before. This time, he plans to wipe out all mortal races and destroy the world of Tortus! Once that is complete, he plans to move on to a new world and repeat his atrocities there!”

The dragonmen looked visibly shaken.

“Words alone are not sufficient to convey the gravity of the situation. Therefore, I have recorded one of the battles that I fought in alongside my comrades! Watch closely, and know that there is still hope for Tortus!”

Venri’s jaw dropped open and Adul narrowed his eyes as Tio pulled a small, white card out of her pocket. It looked like an oddly-colored Status Plate, but when she raised it high into the air—

“Unbelievable… How on…?”

Adul watched on in awe, as did the other dragonmen.

The card projected a holographic vision into the air. It started with Hajime and the others confronting Freid and the five hundred apostles at the edge of the Schnee Snow Fields. When he had gone back to retrieve the artifacts he’d hidden there, Kaori had used restoration magic to recreate past events, and Hajime had transcribed that vision into one of his artifacts.

Even though they knew it was just a vision, the dragonmen gulped nervously, overwhelmed by the might of Ehit’s army.

“To think Ehit possessed so many of those emotionless monsters. A single one of them was strong enough to defeat me.”

“So you did indeed fight against one of them in the battle you feigned your death in, Grandfather.”

Adul had fought an apostle once before. Everyone thought he had died fighting it, but in truth, he had faked his death and brought as many refugees as he could to the hidden village he had secretly created.

“Tio… Who is this young man?”

“His name is Hajime Nagumo. He’s one of the youths who was summoned by Ehit from another world.”

“Ah, so he must be the fabled hero,” one of the dragonmen muttered, and others nodded in agreement. However, Cartus, who was sitting in the front row and was one of the dragonmen elders, shook his head.

“No, he is not the hero… he is the Synergist of the hero’s party.”

“What!? Are you serious, Elder Cartus!?” Ristas shouted, his indigo-blue hair splaying out behind him. The other dragonmen looked equally surprised.

None of them believed this strong-willed white-haired boy possessed one of the weakest jobs in the world. How could a mere Synergist, a job that wasn’t even useful in combat, look so confident when up against an army of apostles?

“Yes, Master is no hero. He is nothing more than a Synergist. However, he was able to climb his way out of the deepest depths of the Great Orcus Labyrinth using nothing but those meager Synergist abilities. On top of that, he defeated an apostle in a one-on-one duel. As a result, he is someone Ehit considers an Irregular.”

“He defeated an apostle by himself? I see now why Ehit sent such a large force to subdue him. Hahaha…” Adul chuckled weakly. He was half-amazed, half still in disbelief. Everyone was so busy processing this bombshell that they didn’t register that Tio had just referred to Hajime as “Master.”

Well, everyone except Venri. She glanced at the princess, who was still looking gravely down at the other dragonmen.

Did she just call that young man… m-master? Am I just mishearing things?

“Standing next to him is the strongest vampire princess in history, Aletia… Though, she goes by the name Yue now.”

“So she did survive…”

“Indeed. She was sealed within the abyss. Master rescued her from her prison.”

“I see… Hm? Tio, did you just—?”

Thank goodness you noticed as well, Adul-sama! The princess is saying strange things, isn’t she!? Please, get to the bottom of this!

Venri silently pumped a fist into the air, hoping Adul would press Tio.

“That rabbitgirl is also an Irregular. Her name is Shea Haulia, and as far as I can tell, she is the only beastman alive today that possesses any amount of mana. The young brown-haired boy behind her is the hero, but if you ask me, Shea is far more deserving of the title than he is.”

“Hrm, I-I see…” Adul muttered, cocking his head. Tio shot him a questioning glance, but he didn’t say anything, so she continued talking proudly about her other comrades, Kaori and Shizuku. Venri gave Adul a disappointed look, but he just assumed he must have misheard and didn’t press Tio further.

Airos, Ristas, and the other young men who were romantically interested in Tio shot each other questioning glances as well.

“Is Master some kind of nickname for one of her comrades?” one of them whispered. None of them imagined she would refer to a man as her actual master, so they were confused.

The dragonmen continued watching and when Hajime said the line, “I’ll massacre every last man, woman, and child living in the demon empire, regardless of their affiliation.” they all felt a shiver run down their spine.

They understood Hajime’s wrath, since they too had experienced having their friends, family, and loved ones held hostage by Ehit, but he looked so furious that all the dragonmen were a little scared of him. All of them except Tio, anyway.

“Haaah, haaah, h-how wonderful…” Tio panted, an ecstatic expression on her face.

“Princess!?” Venri shouted, unable to remain silent any longer.

She had never seen the princess looking like this. Her shriek brought Adul and everyone else’s attention back to Tio, but unfortunately, she’d already switched back to her more serious self.

How has no one else noticed how strange the princess is acting!? Venri thought, slapping the floor in frustration.

Unfortunately, the events unfolding within the projection were too captivating, and Venri couldn’t find an opportunity to bring up Tio’s strange behavior.

The dragonmen all clenched their fists when Ehit stole Yue’s body, and they felt their eyes tear up when Hajime let out his wail of sorrow. When Ehit declared he would destroy the world in three days, their anger flared, and they watched in awe as Tio and the others struggled against Alva, who had remained behind. Then, they were stunned speechless when Hajime recovered and destroyed Alva and the apostles with his existence-denying chains.

Before she knew it, Venri was invested too, and she didn’t even notice that Tio called Hajime master multiple times during the fight.

Finally, the projection showed Hajime and the others’ conversation after he was healed, and the dragonmen finally understood why Tio had suddenly returned to the village.

“I see… It is exactly as you say. The time has come,” Adul spoke solemnly, and the other dragonmen nodded resolutely. They had been preparing for this moment for centuries, so of course they were ready. They knew what had to be done.

“My brethren, the time to rise up has finally come! We survived that horrific day so that we could strike back now!”

Adul rose to his feet and placed a hand on Tio’s shoulder. The two of them nodded to each other, and he then stepped forward to address his people.

“Prepare for war, my friends! This battle will decide the fate of—”

“Nhaaah, that feelsh amayshing! Give me more, Master! Just a little more… and I will be able to climax like never before!”

“Oh, you like that, you pathetic excuse for a dragon!? Fine, have some more!”

Tio had forgotten to turn off her artifact, so it was now displaying what had happened in Hajime’s room after.

Shocked, everyone turned their gaze back up to the projection in the sky.

Tio was sprawled on the ground, basking in Hajime’s sadistic whipping. There was a sharp crack as Hajime slapped Tio’s ass with his spiked whip once again, and the Tio in the projection moaned in ecstasy.

Drool spilled from her lips, and her breath came in short gasps. A short distance away, Shea and Kaori were shaking their heads in disappointment, while Aiko, Yuka, and Liliana watched with unbridled curiosity, their faces beet-red. In order to increase her efficiency to the maximum, Tio had asked Hajime to punish her and turn that pain into mana using her Pain Conversion skill.

“Here comes the last one, you pervert! You better enjoy it, bitch!”

“Thank you so muuuuuuch!”

For the finale, Hajime slapped Tio’s ass with his open palm, and she shivered in delight. He then tenderly hugged Tio and helped her to her feet.

“Alright, that should be good. Think you can make it, Tio?”

“Haaah, haaah, th-that was amayshing. I could even go to the end of the world for you now, Master,” Tio smiled contentedly as she said that, heedless of how pathetic she looked.

“Whoops. I forgot I recorded our private moments as well. My apologies, everyone.”

Tio had recorded her spanking session so she could watch it again later. She was a pervert through and through. Amazingly, she only seemed mildly embarrassed by the fact that her family had seen her getting off to being whipped. Her fellow dragonmen all slowly turned to look at her.

Absolute silence fell over the plaza. This was the quietest it had been in five hundred years.

Finally, one of the braver youngsters, Ristas, blurted out, “Who the hell are you!?”

Normally, such a disrespectful outburst would have been severely punished, but no one scolded him. After all, they were all thinking the same thing.

“P-Princess, there is something I absolutely must ask you!”

“Wh-What’s the matter, Venri? That is a rather alarming expression you are making.”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who was making such a disg— I mean, ecstatic expression while being whipped!”

“Did you just call the lord you serve disgusting? Haaah, haaah…”

“Stop panting! This is serious! You said that boy’s name was Hajime Nagumo, correct!? What is your relationship with him!? You called him master, didn’t you!? Tell me everything!”

Venri hadn’t scolded Tio since she was a child, but despite her angry tone, Tio just puffed her chest out proudly and declared, “A most wonderful question! Allow me to properly introduce him. Hajime Nagumo is my one and only master. I, Tio Klarus, have dedicated both my body and my heart to him!”

Her voice echoed through the plaza… and all the birds flew away in fright.

“I-Impossible! Is this some kind of joke, Princess!?” Airos screamed, a pleading look in his eyes. Among those wishing to become Tio’s fiance, the deep green storm dragon was the strongest, and thus the premier contender for the title. Naturally, he was the most shaken to hear she’d already found a mate.

“This is no jest, Airos. I do apologize to you, and all the others who wished to marry me, but I have already found the man I wish to spend the rest of my life with. Please, try to understand.”

“You want to be with that awful bastard who was whipping you!? Are you insane!?”

Honestly, Airos had a point. Everyone thought Tio must have lost her mind.

However, Tio simply looked nostalgically off into the distance and said, “As I told you all before, the only condition for marrying me is to be stronger than me. However, in the five hundred years I spent in this village, none of you were able to so much as scratch my scales. I had all but forgotten what pain was.”

“Th-That may be so, but—”

“But Master was different! When I was being controlled by that unsavory brat, he beat me to a pulp! He tore at my nails, clawed at my gums, shot at my wings, and did everything he could to exploit my weak points! Not only that, he was able to smash my scales head-on, and was even able to withstand the might of my breath!”

Though Tio was praising Hajime, no one was impressed. Her ecstatic expression and the way she hugged herself as she gushed about him creeped everyone out so much that they couldn’t really pay attention to what she was saying at all.

“Best of all, Master pounded his thick, hard black stake into my arse! He didn’t stop even when I begged for mercy, and by the end, my hole was a gaping mess! Truly, that was one of the turning points of my life. I get shivers just thinking about it even now! Oh, Master, I love you so much!” Tio shouted, gazing southward all the while.

“R-Ristas! Pull yourself together!”

“Oh no, he’s not breathing! The shock must have given him a heart attack!”

“Airos? Hey, Airos!? Come back to your senses! I’m not the princess, stop hugging me!”

Half of the men passed out from shock like Ristas, while the other half had lost their wits like Airos.

The children started crying, and the women looked up at the heavens in despair. Most of the elderly looked as though their souls had already left their bodies. The dragonmen had been defeated, and the war hadn’t even begun.

“Adul-sama, the princess has clearly lost her mind! Someone must have used dark magic to change her… Adul-sama?”

The dragonmen had hoped that Adul might be able to turn Tio back, but he seemed completely unresponsive.

“D-Did he pass out while standing?”

Adul’s eyes had rolled up into the back of his head, and he wasn’t moving at all.

“Venri-sama, you’re our last hope!” another dragonman shouted, turning to her.

“Fufu, everything will be alright now, Princess. I’m here for you.”

However, Venri was talking to a tree as though it was a young Tio. Not only had she lost her senses, but her memories had regressed as well.

“What is with all of you? I thought you would be happy to learn I have finally found a husband…”

“How are we supposed to be happy about this!?” the women shouted in unison. The men were already a lost cause, and they didn’t react at all.

Eventually, Cartus managed to calm everyone down, and told Tio, “Go find something else to do while everyone readies for battle.”

He was completely disillusioned with Tio now and treated her like she was an eyesore.

She slinked away, muttering, “I thought… you would be able to accept the new me…”

While the others prepared, Tio took a walk around the outskirts of the village. She visited the places she’d played in as a child, her old training grounds, the mystical clearing she’d found in the forest where the moon appeared closer than it did anywhere else, the beach where the villagers often held parties, and many other spots that held fond memories.

Though this village had been hidden away from the rest of the world, it had still been an enjoyable place to live. For five hundred years, Tio had lived peacefully here surrounded by people who cared for her. However—

“It was a stale life.”

She couldn’t help but feel that way. Compared to the exciting days she’d spent with her new comrades, her life in this village had been lackluster.

She had only been gone for a few months, but so much had happened that her hometown felt like a faded memory. The few months she had spent with Hajime and the others seemed longer than the centuries she had spent here.

At some point, Tio’s legs naturally started taking her westward. As she trekked through the forest, following the sound of the waves, she found herself at a small graveyard. There were only a few simple gravestones hidden among the dense undergrowth, but they were all well-tended.

Everyone had wanted to put the gravestones in a less dreary place, like on one of the island’s many promontories, but this was supposed to be a hidden village. Everything within the village’s boundaries was protected by a magical barrier, but the rest of the island was not. If the dragonmen had made their graveyard somewhere more conspicuous, they risked the chance of someone else finding it. They couldn’t lay their dead to rest in the sea, either, since it was always possible a corpse might accidentally wash up somewhere people lived.

In the end, they had been forced to make their graveyard here. Still, this was a holy place to the villagers. It wasn’t just where the villagers who had died were buried, but also where the souls of those who had died during the fall of the kingdom were honored. The dragonmen believed their spirits resided here, even if their remains didn’t.

“I have something important to tell you, Father, Mother,” Tio whispered while walking up to a large white gravestone at the very back of the graveyard.

This was the memorial that had been erected to honor the people who had died on the eve of the kingdom’s fall. The names of Tio’s father, Kharga Klarus, and her mother, Orna Klarus, were engraved into the stone, and it was surrounded by a low fence.

Tio spoke slowly, telling her parents about all the things she’d experienced after leaving the village, as well as all the things she felt. She went on and on until her voice grew hoarse. Finally, she said, “You were right, Father.”

“One day, eventually, someone will appear who can strike them down. Of that I am certain…” That was the prediction Tio’s father had made the night the kingdom fell. In the end, it had proved correct.

“I truly believe I’ve lived this long in order to meet Master,” she said with an awkward smile.

“At first, I only stayed by his side because I wished to use him and because my instincts told me I needed to keep a close eye on him. I was not in love with him, not in the slightest. Instead, I was motivated by my burning desire for revenge.”

Tio curled her fingers into a fist and pounded her chest.

“But as I traveled with him, I realized his desire for destruction was as fierce as mine. In fact, I began to fear he might bring about an even greater disaster than the gods. At the same time, though, I thought I might be able to steer his destructive impulses towards annihilating Ehit and his ilk. If he could achieve that, I cared not what happened to him after.”

Tio looked down guiltily for a second, but the moment passed and she raised her face once more. There was a soft, genuine smile on her face, and her eyes shone with the kind of covetous desire only a dragon could possess.

“And yet… once I opened up to him, he accepted all of me. My desire for revenge, the responsibilities I bear on my shoulders, and the mission I inherited from you. But even though he accepted me, he didn’t try to protect me. Nor did he try to fulfill my dreams for me. No, instead, he poured his heart and soul into crafting the strongest weapons he could for me and told me to accomplish my dreams myself if I cared so much about them. Hahahaha…” Tio chuckled to herself.

In fairy tales, after the prince saved the princess from ruffians, he often promised to protect her forever, but Hajime had done nothing of the sort. Instead, he’d given Tio some dangerous toys and told her he’d back her up.

“I was drawn to his unshakable resolve, and I fell for his kindness. Despite how mercilessly he berated those around him, I could tell that at his core, Master was a kind man. It truly is a shame you aren’t alive to meet him… Don’t you agree, Grandfather?”

Tio looked over her shoulder with a smile. Adul was standing at the edge of the graveyard, quietly watching her.

“I have not lost my mind, as some of the younger ones seem to believe. I happened to discover a new fetish I did not know I possessed, that’s all.”

“That’s all? It’s that trivial?” Adul replied, a conflicted expression on his face. He gently massaged his temples as he walked up to Tio. Of course, he knew that Tio had sensed his presence from the very start and that her words had been directed at him as much as her deceased parents.

Honestly, Adul wanted to prostrate himself in front of Orna and Kharga’s grave and beg for their forgiveness. He couldn’t believe he had allowed their daughter to end up like… that. He felt personally responsible for failing them. But after hearing Tio’s heartfelt words, he realized that wasn’t an option.

“I suppose I have to accept what you’ve become,” Adul said with a wan smile.

“Thank you, Grandfather. Now I can introduce Master to you in Mother and Father’s place.”

“Must you call him master?”

“Absolutely! Because he is indeed my master!”

“Kharga, Orna, I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to them!?”

“I must apologize to you as well, my ancestors.”

“Surely my new proclivities aren’t that horrible!? Please stop acting like this is the worst thing that could have happened, Grandfather!”

Adul covered his face with his hands to hide his tears.

Tio pouted at him for a few seconds, but then her expression grew somber and she said, “Grandfather, I couldn’t protect her.”

Adul gave Tio a sidelong glance. After seeing that recording, it was obvious who Tio was talking about.

“I am no guardian. Just a pathetic disgrace. I thought I had grown stronger, but in truth, I haven’t changed at all. Once again, I failed to protect those close to me.”

Tio hadn’t been able to do a single thing when those monsters had defiled her mother’s corpse and slaughtered her father. All she’d done was watch while Venri led her away.

She had sworn that this time she would protect those close to her, but even though her strength had surpassed that of Adul’s, she had still been unable to prevent Ehit from kidnapping Yue.

“I wish I could have taken her place,” she whispered. However, Adul heard every word. He had spent enough time with his granddaughter to know how she thought.

The silence stretched on for a few minutes, but eventually, Adul said in a hesitant voice, “I heard from Venri that you can freely change the form of your transformation.”

“Hm? Oh, yes, that is the power of metamorphosis magic.”

“And in that battle you showed us earlier, you freely manipulated your scales without transforming, did you not?”

“I suspect that was the power of evolution magic, though I was so desperate at the time that I am not quite sure what I did. My transformation has grown stronger as well, but… Grandfather? What’s wrong?” Tio asked, noticing that her grandfather’s expression had grown more thoughtful the more she said.

After agonizing over something for a few long minutes, Adul finally let out a long sigh and said, “I suppose it shouldn’t be a problem for you as you are now.”

He motioned for Tio to follow him, then walked out of the graveyard.

“Where are we going, Grandfather?”

“To the mausoleum.”

Tio cocked her head quizzically. The mausoleum was where the spirits of Tio’s ancestors were enshrined. It was also a place revered by all dragonmen. The reason for that was because the first generation of the Klarus family were the ones who had created the scriptures of the dragonmen religion.

Back when people hadn’t been sure whether dragonmen were sentient people or beasts, the dragonmen had been persecuted by humans. However, despite their overwhelming might, they had looked to coexist with their neighbors rather than oppress them. The first head of the Klarus family had taken the initiative by bringing gifts to the other mortal races, but they repaid his kindness by slaughtering his wife. He was driven mad by grief and became a crazed beast. He was so powerful that people began to call him a harbinger of the apocalypse… and in the end, it was his own son, Adul’s grandfather, who put a stop to his violent rampage.

Terrified by the dragonmen’s strength, the other nations stopped persecuting them. Relieved, the dragonmen once again poured their efforts into forging bonds of trust with the other races and creating a kingdom where everyone could coexist in harmony.

By Adul’s generation, that kingdom finally began to form… and by Kharga’s generation, it was a flourishing utopia.

All dragonmen were taught this history as children, and when their education was complete, they visited the mausoleum to recite the dragonmen scripture in front of the statue of the first Klarus.

“Man or beast? That is something only we can decide for ourselves.” In other words, the mausoleum held cultural and religious significance, but that was all.

“Why are we going to the mausoleum? Everyone should have finished their preparations by now, so should we not return to the vill—”

“Tio, why do you think your ancestor was called the harbinger of the apocalypse?”

Tio looked even more confused by that question.

“Was it not… because of his immense strength?”

“Yes, precisely. No matter how hard we struggled, Kharga and I were unable to alter the flow of history. And yet, our ancestor was so powerful that his strength alone ended the era of persecution.”

“Ah…” Tio gasped.

“When his son led the dragonmen tribe to battle him, half of them died.”

“Hold a moment, Grandfather! I never heard that!”

“Of course not. I saw no need to teach you that part of our history.”

The extent of the first Klarus’ strength wasn’t important. What was important was learning about the tragedy of the dragonmen race, and the laws they bound themselves by because of it. If everyone knew just how strong he had been—

“If everyone knew, there might be those who begin to wonder ‘What did he do to grow so strong? Could I obtain that power for myself?’ Just as you are now.”

“Ngh… I see I cannot deceive your eyes, Grandfather.”

After reaching the mausoleum, Adul led Tio to the shrine in its center. They walked through a narrow passage, which opened up into a vast hall. The only thing in the hall was a lone altar… upon which stood a small statue of Tio’s great-great-grandfather.

Adul picked the statue up, sliced one of his fingers with a nail, and dripped some blood into the statue’s mouth. At the same time, he started feeding it his mana.

“Unbelievable… The statue was an artifact all along?”

“Correct. This statue is a seal. Within it is the calamity we dragonmen must never forget.”

As he spoke, the statue split in two. And a second later, an oppressively large wave of energy washed over Tio.

“Impossible! Isn’t this concept magic!?”

“I suspected it would appear that way to you. When I saw Nagumo-dono’s existence-erasing chains, I realized they were similar.”

A single scale was nestled inside the broken statue. It was the color of dried blood, and Tio felt an immense hatred emanating from it.

Tio felt her sanity being sapped away just by being next to it. In that respect, it was eerily similar to Hajime’s existence-erasing chains.

“This is one of the scales of our progenitor. It was the one thing my grandfather could not destroy, despite his best efforts. It grants immense power to any dragonman who touches it, but it also forces them to transform and destroys their mind, reducing them to a mere beast.”

Before the dragonmen elders had found a way to seal it away, there had been those who were lured in by the promise of power and ended up touching the scale. Naturally, they had all gone insane and needed to be slain.

However, exceptionally strong dragons, as well as those who carried the blood of the Klarus line, had been able to retain their sanity for a few minutes before being overwhelmed. Apparently, there were even a few who were able to regain their senses after being consumed, and took their own lives to prevent the scale from destroying them completely and birthing a second calamity.

“Eventually, we discovered a way to make a seal that could only be opened with a combination of a Klarus’ blood and their mana, then locked the scale away. From then on, we treated the statue as a symbol of restraint that all dragonmen must exercise… and ensured it would be passed down from generation to generation.”

“I suspect you’re not showing this to me now simply to impress upon me the importance of restraint.”

Adul nodded solemnly and replied, “With how strong you are now, you may be able to overcome the curse of our ancestor. If so, perhaps you can unlock the full power of this scale.”

“And by doing so, I will finally be able to put his grudge to rest, correct?”

Adul nodded again.

I see now why Grandfather was so conflicted.

This scale was a dangerous artifact, and if Tio wasn’t careful, she would be destroyed by it. Adul was fully aware of that, but when he’d seen how frustrated Tio was at being unable to save Yue, he had felt as though he had to offer her whatever power he could. Even though Yue was Tio’s rival in love, she hadn’t seemed even the slightest bit relieved that the vampire was gone. In fact, she had been determined to get Yue back no matter what it took.

Ultimately, Adul left the choice up to Tio, but he wanted to allow her to choose at the very least.

Tio looked up at him and said, “Hmph. I am Master’s pet masochist dragon. Pain is nothing more than a reward to me. Subduing this scale will be no problem at all!” Tio said lightly. But despite her playful tone, there was a firm determination in her eyes.

She grabbed the scale without hesitation. A second later, she felt as though her blood was freezing in her veins as the immense power contained within the scale brought her to her knees.

“Stay strong, Tio! Or you will be engulfed!”

“Ngh, graaaaaah!”

Mana swirled around her like a noxious miasma. The hand she held the scale in was slowly being dyed a dark crimson. Her clear golden eyes began to cloud over.

“Tch! Tio, let go of that scale. It’s too much, even for you!”

Tio didn’t respond. The scale’s mana ballooned outward, rattling the entire mausoleum.

“It seems I have no other choice… You said one of your comrades could use restoration magic, correct?”

Adul wrapped his arm with his white-hot breath, preparing to chop off Tio’s arm. That was the only way he could think of to save her from the scale.

But just before he swung his blazing arm down, Tio shouted, “W-Wait, Grandfather!”

“Tio!”

With sweat pouring down her face, Tio looked up at Adul and smiled fearlessly.

“It seems our ancestor was a rather fierce man. I’m sorry, Grandfather, but could you ask the others to delay our departure? It will take some time to ease this poor soul’s sorrow— Limiter Removal!”

“Ngh, s-such power!”

Tio’s obsidian mana raged around her, beating back the blood-colored mana of the scale. The shockwaves created by the collision were so strong Adul couldn’t even approach Tio.

Meanwhile, Tio closed her eyes and began conversing with the soul of her ancestor, which was trapped within the scale.

Adul watched with a wry smile and said, “I see you have surpassed even me now…”

After a few minutes, Cartus arrived at the mausoleum… and the other villagers started trickling in behind him. They had all seen the violent eruption of mana that had occurred when Tio touched the scale. Adul explained the situation to them, but he kept his eyes on Tio the entire time. He wanted to witness the moment his granddaughter became the strongest dragonman in history.

A day and a half passed, and finally, Tio unleashed a breath attack so powerful it blew away the dark clouds that had begun to gather around the dragonmen island. It was stronger than the final attack Kharga had unleashed, and it appeared to go so high it reached the heavens themselves.

Late that night, the dragonmen warriors gathered once more at the central plaza. Tio stood before them, looking more confident than ever.

After clearing the trial in the mausoleum, she had been so exhausted that Adul had needed to carry her back to the mansion. However, after spending a few hours under Venri’s ministrations, she was back to full strength.

“My brethren, we shall now head to the battlefield which will determine the fate of this world.”

Her words resonated in the hearts of everyone listening.

“It has been a long five centuries of living in hiding, but the time has finally come to announce our presence to the world once more! The people of Tortus need our help! We are their guardians, the keepers of the peace! We are the legendary dragonmen the world needs right now!”

Choked with emotion, the warriors raised their fists into the air.

“Once a dragon loses its benevolence, it is nothing more than a beast. But so long as the blade of reason is our weapon—” Tio chanted.

“We are not beasts, but dragonmen!” everyone roared in reply.

Everyone’s hearts swelled with pride.

Be noble in all that you do. Use your might for the sake of others.

That was one of the dragonmen’s core precepts, and on that day, everyone knew they were embodying that ideal.

Tio deployed the artifact Hajime had given her, and a shimmering portal of light appeared in front of her. There was a burst of black mana, and she transformed into her majestic dragon form.

“If the world needs us, it is only proper that we respond! Let loose your roars, my noble kin! The day has finally come to free this world from the yoke of god!”

The dragonmen roared so loudly the entire island shook. They then transformed in quick succession and followed Tio through the portal.

As the human soldiers watched on in awe, the dragonmen basked in the joy of finally returning to the continent where they belonged.

Their princess’ words had filled them with pride and determination, and many of them started to believe they’d just imagined that she was a masochistic pervert.

There was no way their regal, dignified leader was such a disgusting weirdo. But just as the dragonmen gave in to such thoughts—

“Master! Your devoted servant has finally returned to you! Praise me for my accomplishments!”

That was the day all dragonmen cried. They wept for their beloved princess, who they knew would never return.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Bonus Short Stories.

Kaori’s Yuri(?) Diary.

At some point after conquering the Frost Caverns, Hajime, Shea, Tio, Shizuku, and Suzu were lounging around in Vandre Schnee’s living room. Kouki and Ryutarou had left to explore the rest of the house. Ryutarou had invited him out in the hopes of lifting his spirits a little.

“Ufufu…” Yue chuckled as she returned after leaving for a bit.

“What happened, Yue?” Hajime asked, stunned. Shea and the others looked quite surprised as well. No one had seen Yue grin openly like that before.

“My plan worked…” Yue said excitedly, taking a small notebook out of her pocket.

“What prank did you pull this time?” Hajime asked, sounding resigned.

“That’s a diary, isn’t it? Wait, isn’t that the one Kaori-san started writing because you were keeping one, Yue-san? Didn’t you already steal it once and write your own entries?”

“I suppose we can’t fault you, since we also wrote in it.”

“How could you two do that!? Don’t you know how wrong it is to peek at other people’s diaries!?”

Shea and Tio awkwardly averted their gazes as Shizuku lectured them. In truth, the two of them had peeked at Yue’s diary as well, so this had been their second offense.

“D-Does nobody respect Kaorin’s privacy!?”

“You say that, Taniguchi, but it’s only because we peeked at Kaori’s diary that we learned she stole the clothes I’d left back at the palace. In a way, you could say her diary is evidence of her crimes.”

“I didn’t know Kaorin was such a pervert…” Suzu muttered, averting her gaze.

I guess Nagumo-kun has a point. Criminals don’t deserve privacy.

Incidentally, Hajime had discovered that Yue and the others had all worn and even sniffed his clothes thanks to their entries in Kaori’s diary. Needless to say, he’d confiscated them from Kaori and had kept them safe in his Treasure Trove since.

“Ufufu… She kept her diary closely guarded after that, so I haven’t gotten any chances to read through it, but she finally let her guard down today!”

“Sorry to rain on your parade, Yue, but have you considered that this might be an immoral thing to do?”

“Hm? You’re the last person I want to hear that from, Hajime. When was the last time you did something moral?”

“Ugh, you’ve got a point…”

“You should’ve seen that one coming, Nagumo-kun.”

Sighing, Shizuku tried to retrieve her best friend’s diary.

“Yue, it’s not right to read other people’s diaries. You should give Kaori her diary back and—”

“What belongs to Kaori belongs to me. Therefore, it’s not someone else’s diary, it’s mine!”

“What kind of logic is that!?”

It was telling how Yue felt that way about only Kaori.

“I’m going to read Kaori’s diary. I don’t care if it sets the entire world against me, I’m going to do it!”

Yue plopped down on the sofa and glared at everyone. It was clear she was determined to read through the diary in her hands.

“I can’t believe she’s acting like she’s in the right!” Suzu exclaimed, a shiver running down her spine. Hajime and the others were overwhelmed by Yue’s determination as well, and didn’t protest any further.

Yue looked as excited as a Game of Thrones fan finally cracking open a copy of The Winds of Winter as she opened the diary and flipped through its pages. And in the end, Hajime and the others all huddled closer to take a look as well.

Day X, Month Y.

I want Yue to kiss me…

Yue immediately slammed the diary shut. She had just unearthed a terrible secret. Hajime and the others all stared at her.

“Y-Yue, I didn’t know you had that kind of relationship with Kaori…”

“Y-You’ve got it all wrong, Hajime! Please, believe me! There’s nothing going on between me and Kaori!” Yue sounded like a girlfriend who’d been caught cheating as she vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

“Sh-She probably just messed up! I bet Kaori meant to write that she wants Nagumo-kun to kiss her or something!”

“Y-Yes, exactly! That’s a genius deduction, Shizuku-san!”

Shizuku and Shea both looked extremely shaken by the knowledge that their respective best friends might be having an affair with each other. Considering how frequently Yue and Kaori were at each other’s throats, it certainly did seem strange that Kaori would want to be kissed by Yue. Yue gathered her resolve and turned the page.

Day C, Month B

Yue came this close to kissing me today, but in the end, she didn’t do it. Please stop being so mean, Yue. I can’t take much more of your flirting.

“Alright, fess up, Yue.”

“No, Hajime, we really aren’t like that!”

At this point, Hajime was convinced Yue was cheating on him. He gave her a disappointed look as she desperately clung to him.

“Y-Yue-onee-sama, I didn’t know you were bi…”

“Shut up, Suzu! And quit blushing and looking at me like that!”

Suzu unbuttoned her collar and bared her neck for Yue as if to say, “You can suck my blood any time.”

“I take it the constant fighting with Kaori is just a smokescreen, then, Yue? There’s no need to hide it, you know? Even Master would approve so long as you were upfront with him… Tell me, how far have you two gone?”

“Heavensfall!”

Tio was flattened by the force of Yue’s spell, but the grin never left her face. She moaned in pleasure as her head was pressed against the ground.

“D-Damn you, Kaori. To think you would set a trap for me…”

“If this is a trap, then I think we’ve misjudged Kaori’s personality all along. Her job should be Trickster in that case.”

“D-Does Kaori really have unrequited feelings for you? A-As her best friend, how should I react to that?”

“I know how you feel, Shizuku-san. But as their friends, we just have to accept them for what they are.”

Shea and Shizuku clasped their hands together and nodded to each other.

“Stop making this a thing!” Yue shouted, then started flipping frantically through the rest of the diary. She was hoping Kaori had written down that it was all a joke or something of the sort further in.

“I-If Kaori truly does love me… how should I respond?”

The reason Yue wanted so desperately to believe it was a joke was because she wasn’t sure how to act if it wasn’t.

Day F, Month G

I can’t lose hope. Now that we’ve found a way back home, everyone’s in high spirits. This is the best chance I’m going to get. I have to tell Yue now. I’m going to go take a shower, put on some makeup, and then—

Everyone stiffened. The date in that entry was today.

“Come to think of it, Kaori was writing something while you guys were all showering…” Shizuku muttered, and everyone twitched.

“I don’t hear the shower running anymore, so she must have finished hers…”

“She’s coming… Kaori’s coming! Wh-What should I do!? What should I say!?”

It was obvious Kaori was planning on confessing. In fact, she may have even been planning on doing more than just confessing. And Yue clearly had no idea how to take it.

“Should I approve of your relationship? Or should I be the stereotypical boyfriend and tell Kaori not to lay a hand on my woman? But I mean, it’s Kaori we’re talking about here, how could I say no? Gah…”

Even Hajime was at a loss. As they heard Kaori’s footsteps approach the living room, everyone unanimously thought, We shouldn’t have read that diary!

The living room door creaked open and everyone twitched again.

“Huh? What’s wrong, guys? Why do you all look so nervous?” Kaori asked, cocking her head.

While everyone was just staring silently at her, Kaori spotted the diary in Yue’s hands.

“Ah, that’s my diary! Give it baaaaaack!”

Kaori leaped at Yue, who let out a tiny squeal and shrunk back. Normally, she would immediately counterattack, but after what she’d read, she was too flustered to act. Kaori lectured the party at length about respecting her privacy, and when she finally stopped for breath, Hajime timidly asked, “Umm, Kaori, we really are sorry. But can I ask you something?”

“Wh-What? I haven’t stolen any more of your clothes, I promise!”

That’s a pretty weak promise considering how shifty you look right now, Hajime thought, but he quickly realized he had bigger fish to fry.

“You seem, uh… rather desperate to get Yue to kiss you. And you wrote here that you need to tell her something… What’s that all about?”

Kaori looked confused at first, but then she realized what Hajime was getting at. Blushing, she gathered her resolve and said. “I-I see, so you read all of that… Fine, I guess I’ll say it, then.”

“H-Hold on a minute, Kaori. I’m not ready to—”

Is she gonna confess right here!? Hajime thought in surprise.

“I want you to kiss me so I can become special to Hajime-kun!”

“I-I already have Hajime, so I don’t need— Huh? So you can become special to Hajime?”

Everyone, including Yue, blinked in confusion.

“Yes! I heard from Shea that when she became Hajime’s girlfriend, you kissed her and sucked her blood! In other words, that’s proof that you’ve accepted them! Shea said that only people who get kissed by you are allowed to be Hajime’s lovers!”

Everyone turned to Shea. The bunnygirl averted her gaze, scared to admit that she had indeed said that when Kaori had come to her for advice.

“That’s why I want you to kiss me, Yue!”

“At least you’re honest about it. But I’ll never kiss someone with such impure motives.”

“I’ll even lower my head to a bitch like you if that’s what it takes!”

“Bitch!? You’re asking for it now, Kaori!”

Angry that she’d gotten worried over nothing, Yue lunged at Kaori. As always, the two of them started fighting. Meanwhile, Hajime and the others breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Assemble for the Final Battle!.

The night before the decisive battle, there was a large crowd gathered on the rooftop of the main fortress. Everyone should have been asleep to rest up before the battle, but right now the boy who held the key to their fate, Hajime Nagumo, was on the rooftop because a bunch of people wanted to meet him. Some just wanted a chance to see him before what they believed was the end, which was why they didn’t hesitate at all to make bold requests or air their grievances against him. The woman speaking to him now was one such person.

“I’ll be frank, Nagumo-sama. Please sleep with Liliana-sama!”

“Where the hell did that come from?”

The woman making such an outrageous request was Helina, Liliana’s personal maid. Her dark brown hair and pure white apron fluttered in the wind. For some reason, she had come to the front line of humanity’s greatest war in a maid outfit.

“More importantly, why haven’t you evacuated?”

“I am Liliana-sama’s bodyguard, as well as her maid. I’m quite capable in combat.”

“You… are?”

Combat maids were a trope loved by otaku the world over. The moment he heard that, Hajime’s expression changed. However, Helina took no notice of his transformation.

“Liliana-sama truly loves you. On top of that, if she became the mistress of the man who will save Tortus, Heiligh would gain a tremendous amount of influence. My own position would become more important, and I would receive a massive raise! For all these reasons, and more, I need you two to hook up!”

“You just want more money, huh?”

“I realize I’m being rather presumptuous, Nagumo-sama, but I’ve created a secret room in this fortress that’s perfectly soundproofed. I’m certain Liliana-sama would be delighted if you took her there!”

“Why the hell would you make a secret room in humanity’s ultimate fortress? That’s such a waste of talent.”

Undaunted, Helina did her best to persuade Hajime to sleep with Liliana. She maintained that she was doing this for the sake of her beloved princess, but it seemed to Hajime that she was pimping her master out more than anything else. That being said, Hajime couldn’t deny that Liliana would probably be happy about it. In fact, Liliana was currently shooting him covert glances from a corner of the rooftop, so she was clearly hoping he would accept Helina’s proposal. Of course, Hajime had no intention of doing so, and he glared at Helina. Just as he was about to chase her away, a new visitor arrived.

“Stop! It would be inexcusable for you to consummate your relationship with the princess during such a dire time!”

It was David, the knight who’d been originally assigned to guard Aiko. The rest of his knights fanned out behind him.

“That’s a knight for you. Please, tell her off some—”

“If you’re going to sleep with someone the night before the decisive battle, Hajime Nagumo, it should be Aiko-sama and no one else!”

“What the fuck? And why the hell are you crying tears of blood? You’re freaking me out, man!”

It wasn’t just David. All of the knights had bloody tears streaming down their faces. Plus, they were trembling due to the effort of keeping their emotions in check. The whole sight was rather unpleasant. Aiko, who’d been watching Hajime argue with Helina with a growing blush on her face, suddenly went pale. All of Hajime’s classmates that had been watching with her went pale as well.

“Now that we’ve learned the truth, we know that our faith is empty…” David moaned, and Hajime suddenly remembered that Aiko had told her all of her guards the real truth. That there was no good Ehit, only an evil one.

“But because Aiko-sama shared her wisdom with us, we’ve reached enlightenment! The only god worthy of our worship is her! As the Fertility Goddess’ honor guard, we must throw away our personal attachments and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Aiko-sama! She wishes to become your partner, which is why for her happiness, you must sleep with her, Hajime Nagumoooooo!”

“Ugh, someone get over here and take these crazy zealots away!”

David and the others’ devotion to Aiko had manifested in a rather twisted way. Hajime realized that learning the truth about the world must have come as a shock, but this was still a problem. Fortunately, someone answered Hajime’s call for help.

“You blockheaded brother of miiine!”

With a spirited yell, the newcomer kneed David in the back of the head. The knight’s eyes rolled back into his head and his face hit the ground so hard he lost consciousness.

“Nagumo-sama, please forgive my elder brother for his rudeness. I’m Firim, his younger sister. I can take him away for you, if that’s still what you want.”

Firim was a beautiful woman in her early twenties, and she was dressed in a simple nun’s habit. Surprisingly, the woman strong enough to knock out a knight with one kick was a sister.

“Y-Yeah, thanks. I didn’t know he had a sister…”

“Yes, well, I was exiled to the remote regions of the kingdom for speaking out against beastmen discrimination. I only returned because Pope Simon called for me.”

It appeared this sister was quite bold in both words and deeds. According to her, she’d cut her ties with her family over ten years ago and had only now reunited with her brother after he’d renounced Ehit.

“So the first thing you do after seeing your brother after ten long years is knee him in the back of the head?”

“My apologies for showing you something so unseemly. But when we were younger, he always ridiculed me and called me a stain on the family name, so my resentment has been building up over the past ten years.”

“Well, it’s certainly… refreshing to see a sister who fuels her fists with anger.”

The beautiful blonde-haired sister fidgeted in embarrassment. The gesture would have been cute if not for the fact that David’s squadmates, Chase, Jade, and Joshua were all panicking behind her. It was honestly kind of scary that she didn’t turn around even when they started shouting things like “Captain, please open your eyes!”. “I-Is he dead?”, and “No, he’s just barely alive!”

No matter how awful David might have been to her in the past, he was still her flesh and blood brother, and she wasn’t even batting an eyelid despite nearly killing him. Hajime’s surroundings were in complete chaos now. Granted, they’d been that way for a while, but this was significantly worse. And yet, there was still an endless parade of people jostling to meet him.

“Y-Yo, white-hair. D-Did we come at a bad time?” one of the adventurers who’d just climbed up to the rooftop asked. Hajime hadn’t recognized him at first, but there was only one person who called him white-hair, which helped him remember.

“You’re one of the adventurers from Brooke, aren’t you? Your name was… Gartima, right?”

“Haha, glad to see you remember me.”

Looking around, Hajime noticed all of the adventurers were the ones he’d traveled with when he, Yue, and Shea had accepted their first request as members of the guild. Gartima had been the leader of the guards protecting the caravan going to Fuhren. He’d taught Hajime a lot about adventuring, but they hadn’t been especially close or anything.

“What brings you guys here? Or did you just want to see me to say ‘I can’t believe that brat from back then is the same guy who holds the fate of humanity in his hands now!’ like everyone else?”

“Pretty much. We’re just extras in this whole thing, after all.”

According to Gartima, there were a ton of people crowding around the fortress because they wanted to catch a glimpse of Hajime and Aiko. The two of them had become huge celebrities among the mortal races. A few of them were trying to pretend like they were Hajime’s friends to get in, so the security outside was having trouble sorting Hajime’s actual acquaintances from the rabble. Fortunately, Catherine and More both recognized Gartima and said that he knew Hajime, so they’d let him through.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure if you even remembered us, and it looked like you were getting a bunch of visitors, so I wasn’t planning on coming up here at first. But these guys said they wanted to see you too, so I used my pass to bring them with me.”

“Who’re these guys?”

The people standing behind Gartima were all wearing deep robes that covered their faces. They clearly looked suspicious, but if they were here, it meant they’d been screened by security. As Hajime stared at them, they removed their robes with a flourish.

“What the hell are the guards out front doing!? Get your weapons, everyone, there are enemies on the roof!”

“How cruel of you, Hajime-kyun! We finally meet again and this is what you have to say to us?”

“This is supposed to be our touching reunion! The least you could do is hug us!”

The robes had been hiding a wall of sculpted, muscular bodies wearing frilly dresses.

“Starting from the right, we have the adventurer who confessed to Yue and had his balls crushed, Mariabel, the former black-ranked adventurer who had his balls crushed in Fuhren, Reginid, who now goes by Redbel, the prison guard who had his balls crushed during a torturing session, Nedeil, who now goes by Dibel, the adventurer in Horaud who—”

“I don’t need these lengthy introductions! Do you have a grudge against me or something!?”

“Huh? No, of course not… Though, we were shocked to learn you crushed the balls of so many dudes. Honestly, it’s caused us a bunch of trouble because all of these guys ended up becoming adventurers and started hitting on us…”

“I’m sorry! After I get Yue back, I’ll tell her not to crush any more guys’ balls!”

“We don’t have a grudge against you, either, Hajime-kyun! In fact, we’re grateful that you granted us the opportunity to discover a whole new world—”

“I don’t care if you’re Redbel or Dibel or whoever, just shut up! You all look the same now, it’s fucking scary! I don’t like that look in your eyes, either!”

Hajime knew he was just reaping what he’d sown, but he still couldn’t believe he’d created this many monsters. Unfortunately, before he could drive them all away, Helina came back with another impassioned plea to bed Liliana. David regained consciousness as well and started begging Firim to join Aiko’s team of bodyguards, only to be suplexed back into oblivion. At the same time, the Haulia appeared out of nowhere to protect their precious boss’ anal virginity, but after hearing Helina’s speech, they were so moved that they started asking him to sleep with all of them instead. Nea, the youngest of the Haulia’s assassin squad, was apparently very interested in being Hajime’s devoted sex slave.

“Ehit needs to hurry the hell up and send his army down so I can head to the Sanctuary…” Hajime muttered, looking longingly at the Divine Mountain.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Myu’s Demonic Army (Prologue).

Half a day had passed since Hajime had gone into his workshop and activated the Hour Crystal, which meant it had been about five days for him. He was currently taking a break and eating lunch with Myu and Remia.

“And that’s why there are a bunch more people who want to marry Mommy now!”

Myu said excitedly, crumbs of food spilling from her mouth. She was regaling Hajime with tales of what had happened in Erisen after he’d left. Listening to her stories was the best rest he could ask for. Remia looked less happy with Myu’s stories, since they mostly involved revealing her embarrassing secrets.

“U-Umm, Myu? Would you mind telling stories about something other than me?”

“Come to think of it, there were a lot of guys hitting on you while we were around, too. There’s probably even more who thought they might have a chance after I left. Sorry, I guess my leaving caused you a lot of problems, huh?”

“O-Oh no, not at all. In fact—”

“That’s not true! There were tons of guys who wanted to marry Mommy before too! Back then, she had a hard time saying no, but now she just says, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m waiting for my husband to return to me, ufufu,’ and everyone gives up!”

“Myuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, didn’t I just say to stop telling stories about me?”

Remia clamped a hand over Myu’s mouth, forcibly shutting her up.

“You don’t have to hide these things from me, you know? If anything, I’m glad you’re using my name to make life easier for yourself.”

“I-I’m sorry. If I didn’t go that far, the men of the village would have forced me into a group marriage meeting…”

“A group marriage meeting? You mean a bunch of them want to marry you at once?”

“To be precise, there’s about twenty of them. Apparently, there used to be 100, but they had some kind of tournament and thinned the numbers down to twenty. I really didn’t want to get cornered into something like that, so I ended up saying I was waiting for you. I’m really sorry.”

Hajime could see why Remia had wanted a concrete reason to turn them all down. At the same time, he was amazed by how popular Remia was in her village.

Blushing slightly, Remia moved her hand off of Myu’s mouth and said, “Myu, why don’t you tell some stories about your friends instead?”

She was clearly trying to change the subject, but Myu happily took the bait.

“Hey, Daddy. Did you know I made a new friend!?”

“Oh? I thought everyone in Erisen was already your friend?”

“They’re not from Erisen! I met Seaman! He said he’s your friend too, Daddy!”

“You meant Sea-san!? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since he lives around there.”

In a strange twist of fate, it appeared Myu had become friends with the same fish with a human-face that Hajime had met back in Fuhren, and then again in the Sunken Ruins of Melusine. The two were sworn friends who called each other by the nicknames Sea-san and Young Haj.

“He said his wife scolded him and told him to go play with his kids,” Remia mentioned casually.

“Seriously?”

“Personally, I’d rather he go somewhere else, since he teaches Myu a lot of strange things.”

Remia cupped her cheek with one hand and shook her head. Hajime thought Sea-san’s advice would be good for a growing girl like Myu, but Remia seemed to believe otherwise.

“Daddy, Sea told me that a man should always choose a wife that’s older than him, but not one who’s dom-i-nee-ring! He really knows a lot!”

“The hell is that guy teaching little kids?”

“Don’t worry, Daddy! Mommy’s an older woman, but she’s not dom-i-nee-ring at all! You’re not, right, Mommy?”

“Oh my. Of course I’m not, Myu. But I told you to forget all about that, now didn’t I?”

Remia’s smile was terrifying. Myu looked down apologetically and Hajime idly thought, Honestly most guys would probably end up henpecked by—

“Hajime-san, is there something on your mind?” Remia asked sweetly. Her sixth sense was uncanny.

“Uh, no, nothing,” Hajime stammered, averting his gaze. He ended up looking at Myu, and the two of them shared a nod of understanding.

“Oh my, are you two excluding me now? That’s not very nice.”

“Myu, do you have any other stories!? I’d really like to hear them!”

“Yeah, I have lots and lots!”

Father and daughter were in perfect sync. They deliberately avoided meeting Remia’s pointed glare as Myu continued talking about her friends.

“Umm, I also met D-kun!”

“D-kun? Hang on, is this person a boy?” Hajime asked, shivering all the while.

Are boys already hounding my cute little daughter!? I’m not gonna let some rando be Myu’s boyfriend!

He finally turned back to Remia, but she just smiled awkwardly and shook her head.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who this D-kun is, either. I’ve never seen them. Myu’s description is hard to understand, and according to her, they’re scared of everyone who isn’t her.”

“That’s hella sus. Hey, Myu, who is this D-kun?”

“Mmm, he’s floppy!”

“Floppy!?”

“Oh, and when you feed him, he goes ‘brrr’ and gets big!”

“That doesn’t sound like a normal lifeform!”

“He was as big as my hand at first, but in ten days he got as big as me!”

“Okay, now it just sounds dangerous!”

Aren’t you giving your daughter a bit too much freedom here!? Hajime thought, turning back to Remia.

“I thought it might be dangerous at first too, but I talked to Seaman-san a while back and he said that while this D-kun is indeed a monster, it’s gotten extremely attached to Myu. It even acts as her bodyguard when she’s out swimming.”

Hajime gently tried to suggest looking for other friends, but that caused Myu to immediately tear up and shout, “D-kun’s a good boy!”, so he gave up. It seemed Myu was able to communicate with this D-kun as well, which meant there probably wasn’t any danger.

“The truth is, when the apostle came to kidnap us, I saw it try to protect Myu. The sea suddenly got stormy and it shot a translucent tentacle at the apostle.”

“Seriously? Wait, hang on. The seas got stormy, it’s tentacle was translucent, and Myu calls it D-kun?”

Hajime’s expression went wooden as he thought back to what else shared all of those characteristics and he muttered, “I-It can’t be… M-Myu? Does D-kun have, like, a proper name?”

“Hm? Yep! He says it’s Devourer!”

“Oh my gooooooooooood!” Hajime screamed in English, covering his face with his hands and looking up at the ceiling.

Devourer was the name of the ancient monster that had attacked Hajime and the others after they’d finished making their way through the Sunken Ruins of Melusine. Hajime thought he’d burned it to ashes, but apparently, a fragment of the monster had survived. Moreover, it had been traumatized by Hajime and was now afraid of people.

How is it that all of Myu’s friends end up being so weird? First my golems, then Sea-san, and now the fucking Devourer of all things? Come to think of it, when Myu first escaped into the sewers, she somehow ended up right underneath me and Shea… Maybe she has a knack for drawing weirdos to her.

“I guess that means it wasn’t a coincidence that we ended up finding her. Her mysterious power reeled us in.”

Still smiling awkwardly, Remia said in a conspiratorial whisper, “She’s actually been like this for as long as I can remember. It’s not just people, she attracted sea creatures even as a baby. She has more than a few friends who I’ve never seen, too…”

“I see…”

Hajime and Remia both looked down at Myu, who cocked her head to one side and stared blankly back at them.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that our daughter is special!”

“Yes, indeed! My daughter is quite special! Ufufu!”

In the end, both of them decided it didn’t really matter what this special trait of Myu’s was as long as it wasn’t hurting her.

“Yay, Mommy and Daddy are getting closer.”

Indeed, a new bond had been forged between the two of them on that day. That bond wasn’t exactly romantic, but they did see each other as family. Myu’s eccentricities had brought them closer together as parents. If nothing else, they were determined to share the unique struggles of raising a girl like Myu.

“I’ll be counting on you from here on out, Remia.”

“Likewise, Hajime-san. I need you to have my back.”

Granted, they sounded more like warriors exchanging oaths on the battlefield than parents, but regardless, Myu was happy to see them getting along.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Venri’s DOM Checklist.

In one of the rooms in the dragonmen village’s largest mansion, Tio let out a small groan.

“Princess! Princess, what happened!?”

“Hmm? Venri? How… long have I been asleep!?”

Tio kicked off the covers and leaped to her feet. She’d taken off the kimono she’d been wearing on her return and was currently wearing a white nightgown.

“Rest easy, Princess. It has only been half an hour.”

Tio breathed a sigh of relief. Because of the way she’d jumped to her feet, her nightgown was disheveled and most of her thigh was visible. Her breasts were threatening to spill out of the open collar as well. She obviously couldn’t appear in public like that, so Venri walked over and fixed her appearance.

“H-Hrmm. Venri, I am old enough to fix my own clothes,” Tio said as she squirmed uncomfortably and blushed a little.

“I do not know what transpired between you and Adul-sama in the mausoleum, and I’m not interested in asking. Seeing as Adul-sama didn’t explain, it’s clearly not something I should poke my nose into. However…” Venri trailed off as she looked up at Tio, tears in her eyes. “You’re always so reckless, Princess. It is precisely because you’re an adult that I can no longer watch over you while you jump headfirst into danger, so at least let me fuss over you while you’re here.”

Tio had returned physically unharmed from her trial in the mausoleum, but overcoming the artifact’s malice had taken up so much of her energy that she’d collapsed from exhaustion. Adul had carried her back to the mansion, and all of the village’s healers combined were unable to wake her from her slumber. Before she lost consciousness, Tio had said she’d be fine after a little bit of sleep, but her complexion had been so pale that Venri had feared Tio really had died.

“My apologies for worrying you so. I should have taken your feelings into consideration,” Tio said bashfully. Venri was like a second mother to Tio, since she’d raised her after her real parents had died.

Venri pushed a cup of hot tea into Tio’s hands and said, “It’s fine. This is nothing compared to the time you told me you got engaged to an odious boy from the mainland.”

“Bwuh!?” Tio spit out her tea; a gesture very unbecoming for a dragon princess. She quickly wiped her mouth and turned to Venri, who was smiling ominously at her. There appeared to be some kind of malignant aura surrounding the old woman.

“C-Calm down, Venri. Master isn’t a bad person.”

“Everyone who gets hoodwinked by a scoundrel says that.”

“How dare you! Master is no scoundrel! He—”

“He was whipping my daughter’s behind with a wicked grin on his face.”

“That was my reward for—”

“You yourself admitted he was the reason the noble dragonman princess became a pervert,” Venri stated flatly. She steadily advanced on Tio, and Tio scrambled backward. Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far before she reached the wall. Cold sweat poured down her forehead and she looked anywhere she could that wasn’t at Venri. She resembled a kid who’d been caught doing something naughty.

“In the first place, that boy is already in a relationship with the vampire princess, is he not?”

“I-Indeed he is. The two of them were already a couple when I first met him, but—”

“In other words, your greatest wish is to have an affair with him. Surely you realize how immoral that is.”

“Bwah!? H-Hold a moment, Venri! That’s a very uncharitable way of framing—”

“Is it? Is it really? It’s true that I have my issues with that boy. In fact, I have my issues with you too for falling for such an unpleasant person! If your parents ever learned that you fell in love with someone because they were able to hurt you, they would cry!”

“U-Ugh…”

“And why do you call him ‘Master’!? It’s deplorable! What do you think a married couple is!? Marriage is about equality and moving forward together! I don’t recall raising you into a woman who would willingly place herself into servitude! Also—”

“I hate it when you go into lecture mode, Venri!” Tio shouted, flailing her arms like a spoiled child. She then dove back onto her bed and hid underneath the covers. If Hajime and the others saw her, they would have been shocked at how immature she was being.

“Get back out here, young lady! I’m not done talking! Your future depends on this, so you better hear me out!”

“Too bad! I’ve already decided what kind of life I’m going to lead! I’m going to live a life where I’m constantly punished by Master! Master, Yue, and I are going to build a family together! I’ll be their dog! Their pet dog!”

“H-How could you say something like that! The dragonman princess should never debase herself to the level of a dog! That’s it, you’re getting a spanking! If you like being punished so much, let’s see how you like it when I do it!”

“Wait, really?”

“Don’t look so happy about iiiiiit!”

Tio and Venri were causing such a ruckus that people outside could hear them, but no one dared to go and check on them. Meanwhile, Adul just looked resigned as he sat down with a bemused smile on his face. It honestly looked like his granddaughter’s sudden transformation had brought him enlightenment. It was a rather unfortunate way to level up, but he had indeed grown stronger just before the final battle as a result.

“Haaah… Haaah, you really are an obstinate little girl.”

“Do you understand how determined I am now?”

Venri dropped to her knees, unable to penetrate the comforter fortress Tio had built around herself. Tio’s natural proclivity for defense had allowed her to make a pointlessly sturdy pillow fort.

“Very well. It appears I have to resort to drastic measures in order to open your eyes.”

Curious, Tio poked her head out of the comforter. Venri took a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it in front of Tio.

“What’s this? ‘A checklist of traits a man needs to be worthy of the princess: DOM edition.’ Wait, what’s a DOM?”

“It stands for deadbeat old man. I also have checklists for the ideal man, and for a decent compromise of a man.”

“Why in the world did you make these checklists?”

“I thought you might choose a terrible candidate, so I made these in advance. Worthless men often try to mooch off of beautiful, competent, and responsible young women like yourself.”

“Umm, Venri, you wouldn’t happen to be speaking from experience, would—”

“Let’s start going down the list! If anyone fills three or more of the ten boxes on this list, then they’re unworthy of you, Princess! I will not allow a union between you and such a man!”

“Hmph, very well. I shall prove to you that Master is not a DOM, Venri!”

Sparks flew through the air as Tio and Venri’s stares clashed.

“Trait 1: They’re short-tempered and quick to violence. Naturally, your ‘Master’ ticks this box!”

“Objection! Master is only truly violent against those who oppose him! It’s true that he often shoots people who make drab jokes or annoy him, but he makes sure to hold back so that he doesn’t actually harm them! Violence in this context would be true intent to harm spurred on by anger, correct?”

“Grr… I suppose you have a point. Let us move on to traits 2 and 3: Doesn’t work, and is bad with money.”

“Master is a top-rank adventurer who has taken on jobs that range from protecting young children to rescuing a hero. Moreover, he never wastes money. In fact, he hasn’t spent a dime on anything that wasn’t necessary for his travels.”

“Grrrr… Fine, trait 4: Is a heavy drinker!”

“Hah! Master has the skill Poison Resistance, so he cannot get drunk even if he wished to. On top of that, he has no particular fondness for alcohol.”

“I-I’ve still got 6 more! Trait 5: Is a narcissist! Trait 6: Is overconfident! Trait 7: Is a womanizer!”

“Master has never boasted about his appearance or personality. In fact, he seems rather self-conscious about his ‘edgelord’ personality traits and appearance. So much so, in fact, that he hesitates to look at himself in the mirror. He has confidence in his fighting skills, but he has never overestimated his abilities. He analyzes his own capabilities objectively and formulates realistic plans. Even when against clearly weaker foes, he does not underestimate them in the slightest. Finally, if he was a womanizer, our lives would be so much easier. We wouldn’t have to work so hard just to get him to accept our affections.”

“Trait 8: Often makes excuses and says things like “But, but!” Trait 9: Is all talk, no action!”

“He’s the very opposite of both of those. He never makes excuses and speaks more with his actions than he does his words. You saw what he did at the Demon Lord’s castle, did you not? What’s wrong, Venri? You look rather defeated. Go on, list your final trait.”

Tio grinned triumphantly, and Venri grit her teeth. Despite Tio’s prodding, she still didn’t state the final trait. The reason being that number 10 was “Isn’t kind to children.” The recording she’d seen earlier already made it clear how much Hajime treasured Myu. In the end, Venri was forced to admit that Tio’s beloved Master wasn’t a DOM, at least not by this checklist’s definition. However, she still couldn’t accept that outcome.

“I-I still won’t ever approve of the man who turned you into a pervert, Princess!”

“You’ve been insulting me off-hand this entire time, Venri, and I must say it’s quite nice. Haaah… Haaah…”

“Now that it’s come to this, I have no choice but to grill him myself! Come, Princess, you’ve rested for long enough! Let us be off so I can speak with this boy!”

“Ah, stop pulling! I’m still wearing my nightgown! Is this how you treat your princess!?”

Venri ignored Tio’s protests and continued dragging her out of the mansion. However, it looked like Tio was actually happy about being treated so roughly, which just caused Venri to sigh. Needless to say that once they made it to Heiligh, Venri grilled Hajime on the rooftop for quite some time. The crumpled pile of checklists in her trashcan made it clear what the result of said grilling ended up being.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Arifureta Fairy Tales: The Ugly Bunny.

Deep within a certain forest was a rabbitmen village. One day, a bunnygirl with a pure white tail and ears was born in the village. As a rule, rabbitmen all had navy blue ears and tails, so the rabbitmen were quite surprised to see a baby like that. As they looked down at this clearly different girl, they all had their own thoughts to share.

“Wow, she must be a goddess or something if she was born with different-colored fur!”

“Yeah, she’s gotta be the chosen one! We should call her the Alabaster Abyss!”

“No, wait, her eyes are the same blue as a clear sky… We should call her the HEAVENSENT, in all caps!”

“Are you… a genius!?”

Apparently, none of them hated her for being different. In fact, they seemed overjoyed. That night, the village held a party in the bunnygirl’s honor. They believed she would grow up into a hero who would eventually go on a journey to save the world. Some of them even had the rather dangerous idea of becoming evil tyrants so that she would have someone to save the world from. Despite being a baby, the bunnygirl made a disgusted face when she heard the rabbitmen talk about committing evil deeds for the fun of it.

But as the blessed bunnygirl grew older, people began to treat her differently.

“Aww, why does everyone always leave me out of everything?”

Indeed, they started treating her coldly. They shot dirty looks at her differently colored ears and tail, which made the bunnygirl very, very sad.

“If you want us to be nicer, you need to give yourself a cool sounding name,” one of the boys her age said curtly when she asked what she was doing wrong.

“Huh, but it’s embarrassing to introduce yourself like that…”

“Ptooey!”

“Eek, hey, that’s gross!”

The boy spit at her, and the young bunnygirl hurriedly leaped out of the way. She glared indignantly at him, but all the other rabbitmen children also seemed to think she was in the wrong.

“Man, what a buzzkill. I expected more from you, since you have white hair.”

“She’s so boooring.”

“She’s the only one who doesn’t want a cool nickname.”

That was the reason the villagers were so cold to her. She rejected their custom of choosing edgy nicknames for themselves. Her hair color didn’t matter one bit. If anything, it was a plus. But because she was lacking an edgelord’s soul, the villagers who had put their hopes and expectations on her were disappointed.

“B-But no one in the other villages does—”

“They have their traditions, and we have ours.”

“Gah! The rest of the world thinks this is embarrassing! I just want you guys to act normally so people stop discriminating—”

“Since the beginning of time, justice has been something that hurts those who wield it, not protect it.”

“What kind of logic is that!?”

“If you can’t live by your principles, what point is there in living?”

“What worth is there in a life bereft of dreams?”

“Why can’t you understand that those who enjoy their lives are the ones who have the last laugh?”

“I can’t take it anymore, my family is just too cringe! I’m leaving this forest!”

“What!?”

Everyone was stunned, but the white-haired rabbit had faith in her decision. With how much rabbitmen valued solidarity, she was certain her village would follow her. She was the elder’s daughter, after all. And if they followed her out in the world, they would finally see how ridiculous their customs were and start living a more normal life.

“Chief! Chief! Our HEAVENSENT ETERNAL SKY is finally going to begin her journey!”

“What!? So she’s finally prepared to save the world!? Wonderful! Go, my daughter! Show them the might of the SUNSPECKLED MESSIAH!”

“Hey, call me if you need an evil supervillain to defeat. I’ll play the role perfectly!”

Tears welled up in the trembling bunnygirl’s eyes.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, it’s too late for my family!”

The villagers watched her run away with warm smiles on their faces.

After some time, the bunnygirl reached another village. She’d left with nothing but the clothes on her back, so she was starving by the time she arrived. The village she’d reached was a harpy village. Ever since she had been little, the bunnygirl had been envious of the winged race that could soar freely through the skies. Hoping that she might be able to find some work to pay for her food and lodging, and perhaps even make a few friends, the bunnygirl approached the village entrance.

“Hm? Aaaaaah, a rabbitman! Why’s there a rabbitman here!?”

“Sound the alarm! We’ve got a crazy rabbitman on the loose!”

“Red alert! Everyone get to your battle stations!”

The bunnygirl turned on her heel and fled back into the forest. Tears spilled from her eyes as she sprinted away. She then tried to visit a catman village, but they threatened her with violence. After that, she visited a dogman village, but they started panicking and acting like the world was ending. Finally, she made her way to the beastman capital, but even the glorious city brought her no respite.

“Why!? What were the scouts doing!? How did a rabbitman get so far out of the quarantine zone!?”

Here, too, the people were acting as though a natural disaster had appeared. A lot of the words they used worried the bunnygirl, but if she was barred from this city too, then there would be nowhere left for her. So instead of asking about the quarantine zone, she tried to convince the guards that she was harmless.

“I’m not like the other rabbitmen! I’m one of the good ones!”

She put her hands next to her ears and did a cute little hop, but the guards weren’t buying it.

“You’re not fooling anyone! You think we’ll fall for that a second time!? We’re not morons!”

“You’re just trying to infiltrate this city so you can crush it from the inside! But we’re on to you this time!”

It seemed the bunnygirl’s clan had done some pretty awful things in the past. It was at this point that she realized there was no place for her in this forest. Sniffling, she left the capital behind. The poor bunnygirl decided to find a home outside the forest, but she soon realized that wouldn’t be easy.

“The outside’s a scary place toooooo!” she screamed, hiding behind a nearby boulder.

It was hardly surprising, considering what had happened to her. First, vicious IMPERIAL SOLDIERS had found her and tried to make her into a slave. After that, a group of perverts tried to rape her. Then, she was chased by a pack of monsters. Her stomach was growling, and the realization that there was nowhere she belonged gnawed away at her. As she sunk into the depths of despair, she heard another monster approaching.

“I should just let it eat me. It’s not like I can fit in anywhere, anyway.”

Her ears drooped as she lost the will to live. But when she closed her eyes, she imagined how painful it would be to have her head split apart by a monster’s fangs. Before she knew it, she was moving again. Her survival instincts spurred her onward, and she leaped out of the way just before something shattered the boulder. Whatever had destroyed the boulder had also obliterated the monster that had been stalking her.

“Eeeek! Wh-What happened?”

Three people walked over to the terrified bunnygirl.

“Hm? Didn’t expect to see a person here.”

The voice was surprisingly casual considering the violence that had occurred a second ago. But the bunnygirl was too terrified to say anything.

A beautiful young girl with blonde hair leaned down and said, “What a strange rabbitman. You have mana? Hmmm, can you use magic?”

“I-I can’t.”

“Not even any special magic?”

“S-Special magic? I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The blonde-haired girl immediately lost interest in the bunnygirl. The man with the eyepatch hadn’t shown any interest in her from the start. But as she began to despair anew, the final member of the party said, “Haaah… Haaah… This rabbitman looks quite ragged… What horrible things happened to you!? Please, tell me in great detail!”

“Eeek, it’s a pervert!”

A black-haired beauty wearing a kimono crawled over to the bunnygirl on all fours. The bunnygirl’s ears twitched and she reflexively punched the woman in the face. To her utter surprise, the punch sent the woman flying. She crashed straight through any boulders in her path and hit the ground so hard she made a small crater at the point of impact.

Oh no, they’re going to kill me for this… the bunnygirl thought, sniffling.

Contrary to expectations though, the black-haired beauty just said, “A-Amazing. This is the first time I have felt such a powerful punch… Haaah… Haaah…”

She had a rapt expression on her face as she panted with excitement. Meanwhile, the boy with the eyepatch and the blonde-haired girl turned back to her.

“Damn, you’re awesome. Was that body strengthening magic?”

“Mmm… If you have nowhere to go, would you like to come with us?”

For a moment, the bunnygirl doubted her ears. But when she looked up, she saw the boy and girl looking gently down at her, as if she was already one of them.

“You’re just like us…” the blonde-haired girl said.

It was then that the bunnygirl had a revelation. She wasn’t just a regular rabbitman with a proper idea of what common sense was, she was an insanely overpowered one who punched anything who got in her way. From that day on, she lived happily with her new comrades, occasionally beating up her former family members when they showed up as evil supervillains.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.

Arifureta Academy X: The Apostles’ Days of Despair.

Early one morning, during the early hours of dawn when no one was awake, two figures could be spotted on the lawn.

“Hurry, Hajime, hurry!” Yue said excitedly, looking surprisingly energetic for someone who habitually overslept and came to work late.

“There’s no need to rush, Yue-sensei. The church isn’t going anywhere.”

Hajime smiled as he watched Yue cavort merrily on the lawn. The two of them were on the way to visit the church located next to the academy grounds. The god worshiped by this church was named Ehit, but he wasn’t a piece of shit. Moreover, the followers of this church weren’t especially hostile to heretics. In fact, their tenets preached love and tolerance to all people, regardless of race or creed. Despite all that, there was a reason why Yue wanted to come here so early in the morning.

“If we’re not careful, that muscle-brained bunnygirl will catch up to us! It’s only a matter of time before she realizes where we’ve gone.”

“I can’t deny that. She’ll probably try every trick in the book to stop our marriage.”

Indeed, the two of them were going to the church to fill out their marriage registration.

“Mmm… The last sister we visited was too stubborn. And Bishop Simon is always off on some journey or the other, so he’s not here.”

“To be fair, the old lady had a point. Normally, it’s wrong for a teacher to marry their student.”

Incidentally, the old lady from the last church they’d visited had forced Yue to sit down for hours with a sign that said, “Please don’t talk to me. I’m reflecting on my actions,” while she lectured her about proper decorum.

“But now there’s nothing to fear! The old hag retired, and I’ve heard the new sister will do anything as long as your paperwork is in order!”

“Those aren’t good rumors, you know? Besides, I’ve heard that even though she’s supposed to be beautiful, she looks like an expressionless doll and won’t even help you if you’re not a believer.”

“That’s fine. In fact, that’s perfect. The clergy should just follow the almighty vampire princess’ orders without complaint.”

“If you’re so almighty, why did you end up getting lectured last time?”

“Mrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

Blushing, Yue angrily poked Hajime’s cheek. But that just caused Hajime to grin again. They continued flirting all the way to the church.

“By the way, Yue-sensei, won’t the sister still be asleep?”

“Hm? Why would that be a problem? If she’s sleeping, we just have to wake her up,” Yue said, looking confused as to why Hajime would even ask that. Her expression was so cute that Hajime completely forgot to explain why that would be a bad thing. Whenever he was around Yue, Hajime’s IQ dropped by 20 points.

To their surprise, they found the sister already awake when they entered the church. She was kneeling in front of the altar in heartfelt prayer. Her silver hair glinted beneath her veil, and it appeared she hadn’t heard the two of them. She radiated a divine aura, and Hajime could immediately see why people claimed she wasn’t human.

“Please let me find a new job. Please let me find a new job. Also, please kill my shitty boss, Ehit, in the most painful way possible. If you can’t do that, at least make him go bald. Also, make him incontinent and an insomniac, and give him gout!”

Hajime and Yue’s expressions froze, and they took a few involuntary steps backward. The sound of their footsteps alerted the sister, and she turned to them with a start.

“What might you two need this early in the morning, my not-so-lost lambs?”

Hajime wasn’t sure if the sarcasm he heard in the sister’s voice was real or just in his head. Regardless, now that he got a good look at the sister’s face, he had to admit she was indeed a beauty on par with Yue. Her features were perfectly sculpted, but—

“L-Look at those dead eyes…”

“Well, I have had to pull five all-nighters.”

Judging by how earnestly she’d been cursing her boss a second ago, Hajime guessed forcing five all-nighters on her wasn’t even the worst thing he’d done.

“So? What do you want? We’re not open yet. Did you just come to flirt in my church? If so, I hope you don’t mind if I exterminate you.”

“Is that really something a sister should be saying!?”

“Ah, excuse me for a moment.”

The sister completely ignored Hajime’s question and flicked her head back. Were it not for Hajime’s highly enhanced vision, he wouldn’t even have noticed what she’d done.

“H-How can anyone down an energy drink that fast?”

“I can’t believe someone with dead eyes like her can guzzle like that.”

“Caffeine is the ultimate nutrient. With this, I can survive another day.”

This sister was a real beauty, but the company she was working for was rotten to the core.

“My apologies, this last all-nighter made me a little crabby.”

“I think that’s more than just a little crabby!”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Noint Seraphim, the sister who was assigned to this church one month ago. You may call me Sister Noint.”

“It’s impressive how easily she ignores your comments…”

Noint cracked her neck in such a horrific fashion that Hajime and Yue wondered if she really was a living creature. Mustering her courage, Yue timidly handed the marriage registration form to Noint. The sister skimmed over it, then suddenly started crying.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-What’s wrong, Sister Noint!?”

“It’s so nice that you two get to be happy. I’ll curse you and all your descendants until the day I die. I realize now that I’ll never find happiness myself, so I feel a little more of my heart get gouged out every time happy couples come to me with marriage forms. I honestly don’t know what I’m even living for at this point, but congratulations, you two.”

“This atmosphere is so awkward!” Hajime and Yue shouted simultaneously.

Yue reflexively retracted the marriage form and Hajime hurriedly offered Sister Noint a handkerchief.

“Oh? For me? You’re so kind…”

“It’s just a handkerchief! Just how starved for affection are you!?”

“I-Is this a roundabout confession?”

“Hell no! Are you really that desperate!?”

“How cruel. Don’t you realize that superficial kindness like this is nothing more than poison to someone like me!?”

“C-Calm down, Sister Noint. There’s nothing toxic about me offering you a handkerchief. You’re making me want to cry now!”

Hajime and Yue couldn’t help but pity Sister Noint as they watched tears spill from her dead, lifeless eyes. They then sat her down and kindly offered to listen to her story. Apparently, Sister Noint and all eight of her sisters were all so good at their jobs that Ehit had made them his direct subordinates and was working them to the bone.

“When I first heard I would be sent to the academy church, I was happy. I thought I would finally be able to work a job that wasn’t awful. I even harbored faint hopes that a promising young student would fall in love with me at first sight and propose.”

“S-She sounds more like a depressed wage slave than a pious sister.”

“But my asshole boss kept piling a bunch of extra work on me because ‘the academy church is in the center of the continent, so you can easily reach all these other places.’”

“I see you refer to your god as just an asshole boss now…”

“Moreover, this academy is a warzone. I get complaints day after day, and even though I have a bunch of church work already, people push the academy’s problems onto me as well.”

Hajime and Yue awkwardly looked away. They were the cause of most of the fighting in the academy. They exchanged glances, determined to do something about Sister Noint’s awful work environment. Just then, the door to the church opened and someone walked in.

“Hm? If it isn’t Hearst-nee-san. What brings you here from the main cathedral?”

It appeared this was one of the Seraphim sisters, Sister Hearst. Hearst’s appearance was identical to Noint’s, all the way down to the dead eyes. Hearst hesitated a bit when she saw Yue and Hajime, unsure of whether or not she should tell Noint her business in their presence. In the end, though, she decided to just say it.

“The truth is… I got a three-day vacation yesterday.”

“Sorry, nee-san, but I think you’re speaking in a foreign language I don’t understand.”

Hajime and Yue held back the desire to interject.

“I thought this might be some horrific omen myself, too. Honestly, I’m worried Ehit had some awful, evil, horrible overtime in store for me after this.”

“This is completely unprecedented, so I understand how you feel. I’m honestly amazed the concept of vacations exists at all in this line of work.”

Hajime and Yue covered their faces in despair. How could such an awful workplace exist?

“So, why are you here?”

“There’s nothing for me to do at home.”

“Ah, I understand. You have no friends to invite over.”

“And if I go out, I’ll be crushed by guilt because I’m having fun when I could be working.”

“Ah, I feel the same on the rare occasions I don’t have overtime and am allowed to go home before the sunset. I also get scared that the people around me might think I’m an unemployed bum.”

“Indeed. So I thought I might come to this academy and try and experience a facsimile of youth.”

“We were unable to enjoy our own youth, after all. My only memories are memories of work.”

Please stop! I can’t bear to hear anymore! Hajime and Yue thought.

Afterward, Yue used her power and influence to reform the Seraphim sisters’ workplace, while Hajime poured his blood, sweat, and tears into making artifacts that could make their lives easier. Unfortunately, this act of goodwill ended up making all nine of them fall for him, and they could occasionally be seen around the academy, staring silently at Hajime with their eerie, dead eyes.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.