Arifureta After III Tortus Travel Journal ⑪
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After they somehow calmed down the raging berserker Shia.
As expected perhaps they should stop with touring Raisen Great Labyrinth, if it was now they could teleport using Crystal Key or with Yue brute forcing her magic power until the deepest room……
That was Hajime’s suggestion, but Kaori, Tio, Shizuku, Aiko, and Myuu, the five of them firmly refused. It seemed they wanted to be able to share with the “feeling of understanding” that only owned by Hajime, Shia, and then Yue until now.
「Rather, perhaps we should conquer it in a normal way and obtain gravity magic too?」
「Indeed. There art also the feeling that it’s too late to obtain it now, but there art no disadvantage in obtaining it. This might be a good timing.」
「Right……Hajime and others will protect Okaa-san and other parents, so should we give it a try?」
「Eh? H, h~m, it feels a bit impossible for me though……」
「Myuu too nano……」
Kaori and others talked between them. For some reason Hajime’s eyes were wandering around hearing that. He showed a bit of pondering look, 「Well, it’s alright I guess……it’ll be alright won’t it?」 he said with unusual lack of confidence. His expression was looking anxious.
「Geez, Hajime-kun worry too much. We aren’t that weak okay?」
「No, right, well, that’s true.」
Hajime really didn’t make himself clear. This was Hajime who was always bold and audacious with imperturbable mind, so seeing him like this made everyone to opened their eyes wide in surprise.
Shizuku tensed her expression.
「Even though you didn’t even make that kind of face in Orcus……we’re going to have brace ourselves like this. That’s why Ojii-chan and you two! Don’t start warming up! Don’t make that face that say 『Ee~, it’s unfa~ir that only Shizuku is going』! I’ll shred you all for real if you three are doing as you please!」
Everyone of Yaegashi family looked really dissatisfied. The adults in their age were sending booing ‘boo~boo~’ to their daughter in reality.
Shia who had returned to her sanity right now formed a wry smile to such hot-blooded Yaegashi family and opened her mouth.
「H~m, there is no problem with everyone’s capability but……this dungeon will change its internal structure within a certain period.」
「Eh!? Is that so?」
「Yes desu. It’s a trick in order to laugh while rolling on the floor seeing the challengers feeling down after pointlessly mapping the area with hard work.」
「That’s nasty!」
「Miledy was a damn contemptible human after all!」
It stood to reason.
‘Because of that we also don’t understand the path you know~’, Shia said. Continuing after her Hajime also pointed out with a wry smile.
「In the first place, we planned to teleport after letting everyone touring this place to a degree. I think you will need one week at the very least if you want to conquer this dungeon in a normal way.」
「……Nn. Right now we have the compass, so if it goes well perhaps you’ll be able to reach the goal easily? We don’t know if you’ll be recognized as having conquered this dungeon though.」
‘I see’, Kaori and co nodded. In that case, for the time being they would rely on the compass, if they weren’t acknowledged in that case, then they would do it the normal way if there was another chance. They concluded of trying the challenge with such feeling.
Because of that, Hajime would only show the path with the compass, while Kaori, Tio, and Shizuku would go ahead of the group. The tour of Raisen Great Labyrinth stared like that. Aiko together with Myuu were observing from the rear. It seemed they didn’t really have confidence. Though Myuu was burning with combativeness while saying 「I’ll be back nano」. (TN: In the raw Myuu said it in butchered English which is, ‘Airu bii bakku nano’)
「Yue, can I count on you for the past playback here? If it’s necessary I’ll share my magic power with you.」
「……Nn. It’s fine. You can just leave it to this Yue-san.」
Right now Yue boasted magic power capacity that was equal or superior to a god, so even in Raisen that dispersed magic power, she was able to use magic with brute force.
Although, doing the same like in Orcus when she continuously projected the past without pause throughout the tour……as expected it was impossible to do something like that here.
The magic of “past playback” was already consuming magic power in proportion to the amount of time that was traced back even in normal situation. When it came to a scene that was more than a year in the past, even for the current Yue it was a consumption amount that she couldn’t ignore. Also, Hajime sharing his magic power with her was referring to the kissing biting chuu~.
Yue fired up herself and began to proactively cast the past playback while licking her lips.
It wasn’t just imagination that she looked to be much more motivated than usual. It wasn’t because she could do the biting chuu~ with Hajime. They were doing that daily so there was no problem. There was one reason. It wasn’t just Hajime who was asking her to do it, Yue also wanted to see it. The nostalgic scene.
――Hawawawah
There was the trembling Shia who got the fur on the tip of her rabbit ears cleanly cut by rotating blade that flew out from the wall.
――Uu~, I get a bad premonition somehow desuu~
There was also the weak-kneed Shia looking around restlessly.
――Ukyaaa!?
The stair became a slid and she rolled down while getting smeared with slimy liquid. Shia-chan who hit the back of her head hard and writhed around was priceless.
――This damn clumsy rabbit! Move away quickly!
――I’m shorry~, but my body can’t movee~
The rabbit-san who slipped with her legs making M shape and then straddling Hajime’s face with that splendid butt of hers looked really hopeless!
Even after that, she got hit by metal basin and her face got sloshed with mysterious muddy white liquid, getting hit with consecutive attacks of metal basins, getting a second helping of metal basin, the totally hopeless Shia rabbit was tripping all the traps like there was no tomorrow. She was sobbing, then snapping at Miledy’s writing……
「How nostalgic~」
「……It’s nostalgic~」
Hajime and Yue were nodding to each other with extremely satisfied expression. They were giving off air as though they had reunited with old friend that they hadn’t met for a long time.
By the way, this “nostalgic hopeless show of Shia-chan” was the second time today. The first time needn’t be said. It was the past image of the encounter in Raisen Great Canyon. At that time everyone reacted to Hajime’s cold treatment, so they were unable to pleasantly enjoy Shia’s hopelessness.
「The hopeless Shia-chan is cute as expected eh.」
「Shia-chan of this time, is gone already huh……」
Sumire and Shuu smiled warmly. At the same time, they were showing a lonely atmosphere as though they were thinking of a daughter that they couldn’t meet anymore.
「Uwaa, she was really a hopeless rabbit wasn’t she?」
「She was already a bug when we first met her.」
「I think it was just barely with me. At that time there was still a slight scent of hopelessness fromst her.」
「Ah, it was also like that at my time. When we met at Ur, she was still treated relatively rough.」
A second of silence. Kaori and co looked at each other and grinned.
「「「「The hopeless rabbit is really nice~」」」」
‘Nice~♪’ They said and nodded to each other.
Myuu and others were also really enjoying seeing the pathetic and completely hopeless Shia. 「How hopeless nano~」「My my, the hopelessness is cute」「That’s a hopelessness that is unthinkable from her current self」「But, that’s a nice hopelessness」「That’s a hopelessness that you can’t really find in the recent years」「It’s the greatest hopelessness in this ten years」「That’s a fine quality hopelessness with abundant variation and the right amount of sharpness」 and so on, everyone exchanged their impressions that sounded like lines from somewhere.
「No, now see here, everyone. Calling me hopeless hopeless like that is, you know……」
Shia was flapping her rabbit ears wildly while trying to protest with sullen expression. But,
「Ah, amazing! That’s the cliché trap!」
A large rock was rolling down from above. Kaori said 「I’ve seen this before in movie!」 with a slightly high tension before disintegrating it.
Right away, a ball made from metal was rolling down next while scattering melting liquid. As expected it couldn’t oppose Kaori’s disintegration.
Inside the past projection,
――Uwaaa~~hn, I’ll haunt this place if I dieee!
Shia was running past while screaming pathetically and yelling complaint as expected. And then ahead where Hajime had escaped from the trap, he crucified Shia on the wall to help her narrowly escaped death.
Also, Yue was being held in Hajime’s embrace importantly. Seeing her past self at that time protesting while sobbing, the present Shia was,
「……I was really hopeless huh.」
She got a faraway look. She was gritting her teeth saying 「You call yourself a rabbit when you can’t even pulverize a mere metal ball like that with your fist-」.
Sumire chuckled slightly seeing Shia in that state.
「Even so――to say something like “I swear, I’ll aa~bsolutely make Hajime-san fall in love me that you will want to save me in your embrace no matter what-“. Shia-chan, you really don’t know when to give up.」
Shia’s rabbit ears stood straight. When she moved her gaze, Sumire was there looking at her gently. It made her felt extremely embarrassed for some reason. Shia fidgeted restlessly while raising her voice to gloss it over.
「I wonder how is Kousuke-san doing around here!」
「……That’s right. Even though I also wanted to watch that guy’s capture too, I forgot it already without noticing. As expected, Shia. You did well reminding me.」
「I won’t forget even if I die. Until I send his memory flying.」
Shia’s serious look was really intense. Even the unprecedented lack of presence that Kousuke possessed could win against the obsession of the bugged rabbit who kept her eyes wide open it seemed.
「He is the next clan head of Hauria clan after all. I won’t acknowledge him if he display an unsightly appearance here! Now, Yue-san! Please do it desu!」
「……Nn-, leave it to Yue-san!」
Setting the time axis~, past playback GO!
「……Nn? Nnn?」
Yue leaked out a bewildered voice. There was no Kousuke. Hajime and others also looked around but they couldn’t find him.
「……I mistook, the time axis?」
‘Such thing shouldn’t be possible……’, Yue thought while starting to redo the past playback. But in that instant, a large rock was starting to roll down in the past projection.
Then,
――Sniff-, hics-……my heart hurts. I’d rather disappear instead
「Uoh, so you’re there Endou!」
He was there. He was sitting hugging his knee at the corner of the passage. Kousuke-kun there was wearing black clothes, but it was already tattered everywhere.
Or rather, it felt like his mind was even more tattered than his clothes. He was plainly crying. His eyes looked dead. It seemed he already messed up, to a degree that he had no presence at all to the degree that no one could catch sight of him even though he was inside a past projection. He was so ephemeral that it felt like he would literally vanish anytime now.
「Wait, it’s not the time to do something like that! Stand up Endou-kun! The rock is coming down!」
Kaori even forgot that it was a past projection and raised her voice anxiously.
Kousuke raised his face as though reacting to that. His empty eyes turned toward the large rock, and a beat. His face seemed to say ‘Uwaaah!?’ ――
――Come! My clones! Become my shield with that body!
He instantly took a pose. He stood at the middle of the passage and crossed his arms in the shape so that only his right hand was in front of his face. Of course he also didn’t forget to put on the sunglasses in a flash! Even though the large rock already right in front him, he also didn’t forget to rotate in place!
*Pupupuff-* Three clones appeared and stopped the large rock just for an instant. The clones were immediately dispersed due to Raisen’s magic decomposing effect, but using the time they bought, Kousuke dodged aside instantly.
「……If he has time to make a pose, he can use it to escape.」
「Yue, don’t say it. It’s necessary for the abyss lord.」
It was necessary for the abyss lord!
It seemed the “depressed Kousuke” just now was only an abrupt appearance while in the middle of break. The sinful depth of abyss lord was already in the state of Level V. His spec was rising with the passage of time, along with the increase of the painfulness of his behavior!
――O Miledy Raisen! O ancient protector! Know that my abyss will swallow everything!
「O, o……aa~」
The one who groaned was Shuu. He covered his face with both hands and fell on his knees. He was bright red from his neck until his ear.
「O, oi, Nagumo Shuu! What’s wrong!?」
Tomoichi called out in surprise, but Shuu papa didn’t answer. It seemed he wasn’t in the state to do so. Sumire mama was watching her husband with a truly nasty face! She was grinning really widely in enjoyment!
――Kuku-, the like of a large rock is a trifling matter. Muh, a metal ball!? Fuh, so I can’t deal with it using ordinary means……
「NUAAAAAAAH」
「Are you alright!?」
――Very well-, come at me! Carnage is my favorite pastime-
「STOP IT ALREADYYYYYYY-」
「Hajime-kun! Something strange with your father! No, he is already strange from the beginning but……this is stranger!」
「Aa!, it’s alright, Tomoichi-san. I’m also like that right now inside my heart.」
「Aren’t you parent and so both overly strange!?」
It couldn’t be helped. Both Shuu and Hajime were the kind of people who possessed a heavily sealed box deep inside their heart after all. The abyss lord was prying open the seal of that that sealed box really easily.
Inside Shuu, his young self wearing black history T-shirt was peering out saying 「You call?」. Hajime was someone experienced in facing the real abyss lord, so he was still able to barely push back the self inside his heart who was wearing chuuni T-shirt and armed trying to crawl out saying 「You call right? You’re calling again right?」.
They enjoyed the adventure of abyss lord in the degree that barely kept the seal in check……it was thrilling in its own way. That was something that couldn’t be denied.