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.
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.
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Copyright
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol.
11
by Ryo Shirakome
Translated by Ningen Edited by DxS
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Ryo Shirakome Illustrations by Takaya-
ki
Cover illustration by Takaya-ki All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2020 by OVERLAP,
Inc.
This English edition is published by arrangement with
OVERLAP, Inc., Tokyo English translation © 2020 J-Novel
Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright
Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing
of any part of this book without the permission of the
publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s
intellectual property.
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Ebook edition 1.0: December 2020