Arifureta After IV   Demon King & Hero Arc   Sequel①   Gossiping

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「And so, with the shitty stupid moron hero’s pointlessly refined dragging sword art, we got summoned to another world again.」

「……Koukii~」

Time returned to the tea party that was held at the terrace of Sinclair Kingdom’s palace.

Etemp-san had actually taken video recording since the first moment  they were summoned. It took Hajime around one hour to talk about the  happenings during the dense four and half a day at the SF world with  hologram images as accompaniment.

After the recording vanished, it was Ryuutarou who reacted first. He was holding his head.

Emotions were bubbling out from within him. The first emotion was  worry toward the combination of his best friend and the holy sword that  was rushing headlong toward unexpected direction at full speed for some  reason. The second emotion was sympathy toward Kouki’s black life that  couldn’t escape from the excessively fierce love call from the worlds.

He couldn’t even imagine that Kouki would actually say something like  「Do it by yourself!」when the other party was a goddess. The others  starting from Shizuku also felt the same.

Putting that aside, Yue suddenly stood up from her chair and pulled Hajime’s head into her embrace forcefully.

「……Hajime. You have worked hard. Once more, welcome home.」

「Aa……I’m healed……」

After watching Hajime’s deathly battles while he was under such  grievously strict extra restrictions, the atmosphere of love from  Yue-sama today had increased 50% more than usual. She even gave head  pats as recognition of Hajime’s effort. Hajime’s atmosphere inevitably  changed like a cat that was basking under the sun.

To think that he would relax to this degree in a place where there were outsiders present too……

The deathly battle against Mother had been conveyed enough through  Hajime’ talk that was accomapnied by images, but seeing Hajime like this  made them realized just how severe the situation that Hajime and others  were placed into.

「……Endou too, you did well. As expected from Hajime’s right hand.」

「Ma’am, thank you ma’am-」

Yue caressed Hajime with one hand and made him melted like wheat  gluten inside miso soup while also showing appreciation to her husband’s  subordinate as the first wife.

She gave a thumb up with a crisp expression. Kousuke put his hands on his knees and deeply bowed with a crisp expression too.

Shia and others thought. They looked like the yakuza boss’s wifeyakuza lady and a yakuza underling.

Of course, there was nothing to criticize from Kousuke’s work. The  way he accomplished the mission that was given to him deserved  admiration. It was understandable that he was given Yue’s rare praise.

Even though he was rolling around on the floor in shame before this when his black historyLord Abyssgate was displayed in the projection, everyone unanimously agreed that he deserved the commendation he received.

Even so, Shia pouted. It was only natural that she felt chagrined  after seeing Hajime getting heavily wounded in the retelling of the  events.

「Muu, even though I wouldn’t Hajime-san to go through such hardship if only I was also there……」

「Shia will be unrivalled in a place where magic can’t be used after all.」

「Kaori, that’s wrong. For Shia whose every action is based on solving  problems physically and forcefully with strength, there is already no  world where she will find any difficulty.」

「She will force down everything with “Guts!” and “Instinct!” won’t  she? Even if it’s a place where biological organism can’t live, it feels  like Shia will still be able to go on normally while just saying “I’ve  adapted!”.」

「……Say, everyone? What do you think I am?」

Even I will die when it’s my time to die you know, Shia said  with her rabbit ears twitching wildly from feeling insulted. Kaori,  Shizuku, Tio, Suzu, and Ryuutarou looked at each other and,

「Eh, you are deterrence aren’t you? So that the world won’t be destroyed.」

「It will be the final trial for mankind if Shia ever fall into darkness.」

「Thou art a bug with mistaken setting due to the world’s carelessness, correct?」

「Sometimes I even think that just this one rabbit is enough to take care of everyone, isn’t that right?」

「The transcendental, an invincible existence, war god, super  life-form that is outside of the world’s rule……everyone in the class had  called Shia with various names but, the point is they want to say that  you are something like “despair that cannot be fought against” if you  ever turn hostile.」

「It seems that it will be better if I have a proper talk with everyone about their perception of me desu!」

Please look! Moana-san and others are trembling because of this stupid talk! They are trembling like rabbit! Said the singularity rabbit whose rabbit ears were flopping even more wildly.

「There isn’t any need to discuss this, they already have the correct  perception. I think that if Mother summoned you instead of Endou, our  victory would already be set in stone without us needing to go through  any hardship.」

「True. If only that was what happened, I wouldn’t need to have a hole  gouged into my stomach or getting hurt many times to stop the  quarrels.」

「Oy, Abyssgate! Do you think you can become one of the Hauria with such feeble way of thinking!? That’s pathetic desu!」

「That’s how it is, Shia.」

「That’s how it is, Shia-san. Also I beg you please stop calling me Abyssgate.」

Not only the chamberlain Anneal and the current queen Koone, even the  manly warrior Lilin and this world’s top class warriors Spencer, Donar,  and Linden were shaking in their boots.

The prime minister Bruit who looked like an old man just a step away  from the death’s door wasn’t counted because he was already constantly  trembling like he was going to drop dead since the start.

「S-Shia-oneesan is amazing. Even though it was already hard for Koone  to comprehend even the battle of Kouki-sama and the demon  king-sama……for the demon king-sama to speak that far, Shia-oneesan  doesn’t feel like a living creature anymore. Koone think that you aren’t  a living creature!」

「K-Koone-tan shhhh!!」

Koone-tan’s poisonous tongue was upbeat even while she was trembling.

Moana-oneechan covered Koone’s mouth while looking like villager A  who was being confronted by despair. Her expression seemed to say I can only see you as an unknown monster wearing the skin of a cute rabbit!

Shia’s eyes got a bit tearful. I’m not that kind of dangerous character mon……I’m just a forest bunny desu mon……her face seemed to say that.

Lilin and others tried to divert the topic even while trembling to change the atmosphere.

「E-even so that was really an amazing battle. Should I say that the  battle was in a different dimension……even though I thought that  Kouki-san’s sword art is already at its peak, it felt like it became  even more honed throughout the battle.」

「Truly. To be honest the demon king-dono’s shooting weapons and skill  also made me shivered. If it was me I would already depart to that  world without even any time to fight back.」

Lilin and Spenser’s words were filled to the brim with admiration. Donar and Linden also nodded deeply.

「And most of all, the combination of the two were tremendous. It  looked like the two of them were trying to kill each other, but for them  to be actually performing carefully calculated co-op attack……no word  can describe my admiration.」

「And that was performed while their strength was mostly sealed, so I’m at a loss of words. The world is really vast……」

The gazes of Kaori and others snapped toward Hajime. Hajime-san’s gaze snapped to the side.

His gesture spoke more eloquently than any words. Actually the two of  them finally snapped in irritation and sent lethal attacks at each  other, but then for some reason it was the enemy that received damage.  They only realized that in hindsight. It was a bit hard for Hajime to  admit that in front of everyone.

Shizuku’s expression suddenly softened while countless exasperated gazes stabbed into Hajime.

「But well, to be able to see both of you fighting together……it made me glad somehow.」

Her lips broke into a gentle smile.

The two hated each other and would throw insult as soon as there was a chance. They would also immediately get physical.

Their relationship was really like actual cats and dogs, and yet they  were entrusting their back to each other when they realized it.

Even though their opinion always differed, they confronted each other  right from the front without turning their back to the other.

It seemed Shizuku was very happy that the two had such relationship.

Then Suzu poked at Ryuutarou’s side with her elbow teasingly.

「Kufufu, Ryuu-kun, are you jealous~?」

「Ain’t no way I’m like that……well, I can’t match Kouki right now until that far, so I feel a bit vexed though.」

Ryuutarou had been Kouki’s pal all this time since the past. He had  the position as Kouki’s childhood friend as well as best friend. As  expected it seemed that he felt frustrated that he was unable to stand  side by side with his partner.

「That damn Kouki, he has gotten over various things……I need to work hard too like this.」

Even though Ryuutarou had a faraway look, he clenched his fist from the motivation that was seething inside him.

There, Yue who finished her consoling and returned to her  seat――though she was caught by Hajime before she could return and ended  up sitting on his lap while he was hugging her from behind――asked a  question while looking somewhat embarrassed.

「……So, Hajime. You directly returned here from the goddess’s world? What happened with the perpetual motion engine?」

Hajime answered while giving his all to hug Yue and resupplied himself with the healing sourceYuemonium to his heart content after running dry for a week.

「I returned to G10’s place first. I had also properly collected both the perpetual motion engineGrasp Gloria and the Element Arrangement Equal Conversion System.」

「……What about that little girl?」

Yue looked back across her shoulder with a somewhat exasperated blank  stare. Shia and others also leaned forward while going「That’s right!」.

「That’s right Hajime-san. What are you going to say to Myuu-chan? She  might say 『Papa picked a new daughter again! Return her to where papa  found her nano!』 you know?」

「Well, Myuu might feelst hurt because of this.」

「But she unexpectedly might go I got a little sister! happily you know?」

「No, she isn’t my daughter okay? Regarding Listy, I left her behind  for the time being. I think that I’ll go pick her up once things settle  down and let her meet Myuu. It feels like they’ll become good friends,  and most of all she was also longing to meet with Myuu.」

It was clear that they would get busy for a while with giving  explanation to the anxious Aiko and others at Tortus and also dealing  with the backlash from being absent from school for seven days.

The current Hajime could teleport to anywhere anytime, so he promised Listy that he would go pick her up in the future.

「You called that a longing to meet, but I got the feeling she had the  face of a warrior who aimed to supplant her senior though.」

Kousuke muttered with a very conflicted look. What actually happened  was that Listy got tearful when she was told that she couldn’t  immediately come together with Hajime, however, the moment Hajime  promised that he would allow her to have field trip to another world  along with the whole Jasper’s family, Listy said 「I’ll wait while  preparing for battle」 while taking a fighting pose.

No matter how anyone saw it, she was fully motivated to snatch the daughter position from Myuu.

「I’m telling you, I have no intention to introduce Listy as a new daughter at all.」

「Really? When we returned to Coltran, you didn’t correct her even when she called you Otou-san so I completely thought……」

「Hajime-kun is fundamentally lenient to children after all.」

「Look here, she isn’t like cat or dog to be picked up like what Shia  said you know? As expected I didn’t say anything that time because I  read the atmosphere, but there ain’t no way I’ll become a father of  someone that casually. The one who I should think the most about is Myuu  after all.」

Hajime said that this matter wasn’t that simple. Yue and others nodded and said 「Well, certainly」.

Hajime continued 「But……」 with a wry smile.

「I’m thinking that I should take responsibility for being unable to  clearly refuse Listy’s feeling. That’s why, I want to bring her to meet  Myuu. If she get along with Myuu, I’ll make it so we can have family  gathering with Jasper’s family. That’s the best that I can do.」

That’s my plan……what do you guys think? Hajime sought for  everyone’s opinion. Yue and others didn’t have any particular objection.  As expected, they showed a smile at Hajime who was unable to abandon a  child no matter what he said.

Of course, Jasper and others were in the middle of engraving a new  history right now, so he would need to meticulously warn them to not  bring anything unnecessary. Jasper was the new leader of Coltran, so he  and his family would inevitably become well known existence in the whole  Coltran.

Therefore, it would take some effort to establish a connection with  Jasper family while keeping it a secret from the people of Coltran but……

Either way, Hajime would need to contact G10 quite frequently. Hajime  himself had also taken quite a liking to Jasper, he wouldn’t hesitate  to put some effort for Listy’s sake. Actually, he was already plotting  the idea of smartphone for use across dimensions.

「……Nn, rely on my if necessary. Now magic is already usable even in Coltran right?」

「Ou. I’ll rely on Yue when it’s time.」

「But, if it’ll be only family association in the end……won’t Listy-chan feel sad?」

「She is really idolizing Hajime-kun isn’t she?」

「Fufu, to be honest, I was a bit impressed when I saw the recording of her choosing Hajime instead of Kouki.」

「That’s what makest me worried though.」

Shia and other said that a bit worriedly. Hajime smiled in amusement at that.

「No, I think that girl will be burning in fighting spirit rather than  getting depressed. In respect to the strength of heart that won’t break  under adversity, I think she is an outstanding talent that rival Myuu. I  spoke about her becoming friend with Myuu just now, but I actually  think it’ll also be good if they become rivals that can fire up each  other to train hard.」

Of course, no matter how the result would be, Hajime intended to talk  properly to Listy until she accepted that he couldn’t become her  father.

「……I see. Myuu don’t have a friend of the same age that she can compete with. They might be able to become good friends.」

「Excuse me! At that time please! Give Koone a chance to become friend  too! Koone too is earnestly asking to become a friend too!」

Koone hopped up on her feet and proclaimed. Hajime turned a doubting gaze toward her.

「It’s a perfect chance to form a connection with us as a queen……are you thinking something like that?」

「Giku gikutwitch twitch!? K-Koone doesn’t  understand what are you talking about. How can you possibly doubt the  pure feeling of a little girl, demon king-sama is really a demon  king-sama!」

Koone’s gaze wandered toward empty air while whistling  unsuccessfully. The blank stare of the demon king stabbed into the  determined and scheming tiny queen but……

「That’s right, Koone-tan, you aren’t thinking anything like that aren’t you?」

「Of course not, Onee-chan. Please say it more――」

「Because, Koone-tan doesn’t have even a single friend!」

「……E-err, Onee-chan?」

「Koone-tan is also having friendly interaction with the children at  the city, but as expected there is still this final line between them  that she won’t cross. Even when Koone-tan tried to make friend, when the  distance between their heart finally get closer, Koone-tan always got  shy and reflexively acted as princess……」

「Onee-chan, please close your mouth already. This is the queen’s command――」

「That’s why, you always wanted a friend that is your equal aren’t  you? You wanted to be called without honorific right? You always  practiced by talking to yourself how to make friends, but the children  would always called you with “-sama” and then each time you would  secretly get depressed, Onee-chan know that!」

「……」

Koone casted her gaze down and clutched the edge of her clothes  tightly with both her hands. She started trembling while turning bright  red from shame.

The atmosphere turned really gentle learning the secret effort and clumsiness of the lonely queen Koone-tan.

「Demon king-sama! Please, I beg you to give my Koone-tan a chance to  become friend with your honorable daughter too! Koone-tan has a lot of  dreams! She has even wrote “list of things I want to do when I make a  friend of equal status” ――」

「Waiiitt!! Onee! Oneee-! How did you know that!? How did you find out  my cache that is placed under hidden bottom inside a locked drawer!?」

Koone-tan was so shaken that her tone got disordered.

But, the answer of why the secret hiding place got discovered was  self-evident. The sadist siscon wasn’t looking guilty at all when her  little sister roared at her with a bright red face, instead she was  going 「Aa, Koone-tan is cute even when she is angry……」 with an ecstatic  expression. Looking at her expression, it was obvious that she must have  stalked her little sister habitually.

Anyway,

「Don’t worry brat queen. You will surely become a good friend if it’s with my Myuu.」

「U-, uuu~……please don’t look at me with such gentle eyes-. More  importantly-, demon king-sama! In the end, what happened with  Kouki-sama!? Can he really return back!?」

Koone stood up on her chair and leaned forward while her hands wildly hit the table *bam bam*.

It seemed she felt like running away in shame. Hajime gave a follow  up 「It’s alright. Our princess was also a lonely princess before she was  acquainted with Kaori and Shizuku」, but Koone yelled 「Don’t say lonely  lonelyy!」with even her twintails raging wildly.

It seemed this was a very delicate topic for Koone. Anneal  reprimanded Koone for her bad manner and made her sat down, but she  looked like she was going to seriously cry because no one listened to  her.

The culprit her little sister was flustered, but as expected it  seemed she found the tearful Koone adorable and she didn’t seem like she  really reflected. At the very least Koone’s positivity level toward her  had certainly decreased. Koone-tan wouldn’t even look at her sister’s  direction.

「There is no problem with his return. After I returned to G10’s  place, I used the unlimited magic power to create a gate key and gate  hole for crossing worlds and sent them to that guy’s place.」

――Gate key for travelling to another world   Fairy Key

――Gate hole for travelling to another world   Fairy Ring

They couldn’t be used to freely move anywhere like Crystal Key, but  they were more or less artifacts for moving between worlds that were  possible to mass produce.

Although, as long as the corresponding key could be mass produced,  then anyone would be able to travel between worlds to where the Fairy  Ring was placed. This was extraordinarily convenient when compared to  their method so far that was completely reliant on Hajime or Yue and  consumed a lot of magic power so that it couldn’t be used often.

Of course, it was also possible to mass produce the Fairy Ring, so it  was also possible to freely go to multiple worlds as long as they had  the corresponding key.

One ring was already set up near the sacred tree while Hajime also carried another one.

The keys that corresponded to each ring had also been sent to Kouki  using Crystal Key, so Kouki would be able to travel to either ring by  his own choice.

Furthermore Hajime had also asked Netemp-san to stay behind in her apostle body just in case something happened.

Everyone was enveloped in atmosphere of understanding and admiration  after hearing that, but then Kaori tilted her head in puzzlement.

「That’s a really fancy naming for Hajime-kun isn’t it?」

「Ah, I also think so, Kaorin. After all Nagumo-kun’s naming sense is basically chuuni――」

「Watch outtt!? ――Heburaa!?」

「Ryuu-kun!?」

Suzu’s head was shot at with a quick draw that was hard to even  perceive by sight, but her lover’s tenacity splendidly succeeded in  shielding her. Ryuutarou’s body bent backward like a bridge in pain.  Hajime only sent him a glance before he shrugged casually while also  ignoring the fearful gazes of Moana and others.

「You can sometimes find the term Fairy Ring right? The mystery circle  that is naturally made from plants or mushrooms, in legend or  folklore――」

「It’s that thing that is said to be the trace of fairie-san’s dancing or the entrance to the fairy world isn’t it!」

Shizuku immediately took over Hajime’s speech. Like always, she was  extremely fond of cute things. From how she added “-san” when mentioning  fairy, fairy must be also completely within her range as something  cute.

It seemed Shizuku noticed that her tension had risen when everyone  sent her a warm gaze. She immediately turned red while activating her  ponytail guard.

Moana and others tilted their head in puzzlement at the term  fairy-san. Shizuku somehow put her mind in order while Kaori was giving  them explanation.

「Right, I give this artifact that name because it act as the entrance to the fairy world――in other word, to another world.」

「I understand the origin of the words now, Goshuujin-sama. But I’m still puzzled of why fairy?」

「Aa, there isn’t any special reason for that. It’s just because the word fairy seems fitting.」

「I see. If that’s the reason then I can understand……not!  G-goshuujin-sama, as I thought could it be perhaps thou become  hallucinating because of some aftereffect from the battle!?」

「Leave this to me! ――”Absolute Phenomenon”」

「Oi, Kaori. Stop making my head flash. Shia too, put down that Drucken.」

Hajime’s head was emitting a divine light. Moana and others went 「Ah, bright!?」 and held their hand over their eyes.

「Hey, Hajime. Could it be, that……in the world of the goddess that summoned you……」

The eyes of Shizuku who had let go of her ponytail guard were sparkling in expectation!

「Ou, it’s a world with apparitions like fairy and the like.」

「T-they actually exist……」

「Shirasaki-san, it’s not that surprising at this point. Even hell and demons are proven to be exist.」

When Kousuke pointed that out, Kaori said 「That’s certainly true but  still!」 without being able to hide her surprise. At the same time, her  eyes were also sparkling like Shizuku. There was no doubt that fairy-san  must have a cute appearance……

「Well, it was the end of the world, so all of them were going mad though.」

「It was like a low budget zombie movie. What’s more, all of them got pretty dangerous abilities.」

Hajime and Kousuke both got faraway look in their eyes. Just when  everyone thought that it was a fancy world, it seemed the world was  actually a world of pandemonium that was like hell.

「S-say demon king-sama? Kouki is left behind in such  world……furthermore, you said at first that he is busy flirting with a  goddess or something……」

Actually Moana had wanted to ask about that all this time. She was  fidgety and finally she asked directly after being unable to endure it  anymore.

Hajime wordlessly snapped his fingers. 「Ii!!」 Etemp saluted and started projecting the video once more.

「Come to think of it Hajime-san, about the inside of Etemp-san and Netemp-san……」

「Wait wait. You will understand a lot about what is inside these guys  and the holy sword from what happened at the goddess’s world, so just  watch this first for now.」

「Hah? Kouki’s holy sword? Nagumo, what do you mean by its inside?」

「Now that you mention it, it transformed shape really drastically in  respond to Kouki-kun’s wish. It also seemed to respond at Nagumo—kun’s  action……thinking back, it feels really devoted. Rather than a holy  sword, it’s more like holy sword-chan? It makes you want to call it  that, right?」

「Taniguchi, you’re pretty sharp.」

Even while they were having such talk, the recording started playing in the air starting from the encounter with the goddess.

After Kouki yelled his 「Do it yourself!」 speech at the goddess-sama, she got incoherently flustered.

It was like her divine appearance was just a lie. Her gaze was swimming around like migratory fish.

Kouki who had said what he wanted to say was breathing hard with  heaving shoulders. His face looked somewhat refreshed. The goddess  looked like she wanted to cry in front of him……

『I, I have worked hard for five thousand years without any rest or  sleep but……it’s still not the time to ask for help……ah, I’m sorry. It’s  no good if I don’t work hard isn’t it……that’s how is it isn’t it, yes.』

She said that with eyes that looked like dead fish.

「It seems that in this world, the goddess has a term of office and usually there will be replacement every one thousand years.」

Everyone thought.

Aa, the job of goddess is also a black workplace huh.

At the same time they also thought, just help here if it’s like that!

「Of course we helped out, because of that our return got delayed by three more days.」

「In Nagumo’s case, it was just because you are interested to that  world right? Also, to be more accurate it was just one day. You used the  remaining two days to tinker with the perpetual motion engine and the  conversion system at G10’s place. You said that you want to use them in a  way that has romance and got absorbed in research even though we could  go home anytime at that point――」

「Endou, you promised to not say that.」

It was already too late even though he interrupted Kousuke’s words.

It went without saying that the blank stares of Yue and others stabbed into Hajime.