Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter SS6

Arifureta Fairy Tales: Momotarou 

Long ago, an old couple lived together. Every morning, the old man would go to the mountains for a walk, while the old woman went to the river to do the laundry. Today was no exception, and the two finished their respective tasks without incident. Naturally, neither of them saw a genetically modified oversized peach floating down the river or anything. However— 
“Dear! Look, in front of the house!” 
Straining his eyes, the old man spotted something in front of his house. He and his wife rushed over and found an adorable baby sleeping inside a basket that had been left on their front door. They both believed the child to be a blessing sent by God... or would have, if they were fools. No, they knew the child had likely been abandoned by their adventure-loving daughter who was too enamored with adventuring to take care of a baby. As a way of apology, their daughter had also left a peach, the couple’s favorite fruit, in the basket. 
“Now this is quite a problem... I know we said we wanted to see our grandchild soon, but not like this. We don’t even know the poor babe’s name.” 
“Indeed... Well, our daughter left us a peach in the basket as well, so why not call him Momotarou?” 
“Dear, you are a genius! I’ve fallen in love with you all over again!” 
“Oh, you’re making me blush!” 
The airheaded couple went inside and decided to raise the young boy. Later on, he would come to resent his overly simplistic name, but otherwise, he grew up healthy and strong. 
Finally, Momotarou reached his seventeenth birthday. Ignoring the stares he constantly felt on him whenever he went outside, he begged his grandfather for a present. 
“Gramps, I want transmuting ingredients!” 
“We ain’t rich enough to afford those!” 
That was hardly a surprise. After all, the old man spent every day going on walks in the mountain instead of actually working. Momotarou’s household was just barely self-sufficient, and every winter they worried about whether or not they would survive to see spring. The people who seemed to follow Momotarou wherever he went often shared their food with him in the winter, which was the only reason he and his family had made it this far. It was for this reason that Momotarou was unable to report his stalkers to the proper authorities. 
However, this meant he was forced to live a life stalked by unknown stares, with no money to practice his beloved transmutation. Momotarou was sick of this lifestyle. But one day, a certain rumor reached his ears. Apparently, there lived a very dangerous demon on the mythical island of demons. Said demon reportedly loved gold and silver and forced all the people around him to bring him those precious metals as tribute. Knowing that the demon had such a huge stash, Momotarou came up with the perfect plan. 
“Alright, let’s just kill him and take his treasure.” 
Poverty truly changed people. Momotarou swiftly crafted a revolver out of the few metals he’d managed to scavenge from the nearby mountain, as well as a few hand grenades. He fashioned a few other pieces of equipment and set out on his journey to escape poverty. As he left the house, he was intercepted by a stranger. 
“Momotarou-kun, Momotarou-kun! Hello, I’m a talking pheasant! Please take me on your journey and marry me forever!” 
Momotarou wasted one of his precious bullets shooting this “pheasant.” While she did have wings, those wings were silver, and she looked far more human than animal. The pheasant, which he’d decided to mentally call peasant, let out an erotic moan and fell to the ground. However, she got right back up and shouted, “Why did you shoot me!?” 
“Because you’re the one who’s been stalking me,” Momotarou said, speaking the truth. Peasant rubbed her swollen forehead and desperately tried to win Momotarou’s favor. 
“I promise I’ll be useful! Look, I can disintegrate things!” Peasant claimed as it unleashed a blinding silver light, and Momotarou’s grandfather’s precious hiking tools were turned to dust. His grandfather let out a cry of despair, which for some reason made Momotarou’s mood improve. 
“Alright, fine. I owe you for giving me food anyway...Thanks for that.” 
Seeing his blushing face was enough to cause Peasant to get a nosebleed. Smiling radiantly as blood poured from her nostrils, Peasant followed Momotarou on his quest to slay a demon for material gain. After they had been traveling for a while, the pair ran into a wild rabbit. 
“Momotarou-san, Momotarou-san! Please give me one of the warhammers at your waist!” 

“This is totally ruining the story. I’m supposed to run into a monkey next, not a rabbit.” 
“Please understand, it’s difficult to get the casting right every time!” 
Persuaded by the rabbit’s forceful argument, Momotarou sighed and nodded. He did his best to ignore the monkey he saw twitching behind the rabbit. It was obvious she’d beaten him half to death, considering there was blood dripping from her knuckles. But for Momotarou, ignorance was bliss. 
“Violent bunny girls are in right now! Momotarou-san, I’ll send all of your enemies flying to the moon!” 
It seemed this extremely violent bunny wished to join Momotarou’s party. 
“Uh, sure. Do whatever you want, Murderer.” 
And so, Murderer joined the party. Momotarou continued his journey, listening to Peasant and Murderer bicker over who would become his first wife. Before long, they ran into yet another person. 
“Please call me a dog!” 
Momotarou tried to escape from the pervert, but she was too fast for him. Once she’d caught back up, she pulled out a dilapidated looking box and attempted a take two. She sat inside the box, which had the words “Please adopt me” scrawled onto its side and looked up at Momotarou like a puppy. 
“Momotarou-dono, Momotarou-dono... Sorry, I mean Master. Please give me the slave collar hanging from your belt!” 
Momotarou wasted the second of his six precious bullets on the dog, but she only squealed in pleasure as she was struck. Incidentally, he did not actually own a slave collar. 
“Fear not! If you do not possess one, I can give you one of—” 
Seeing as he’d failed to vanquish the parasite, Momotarou used up a third shot. However, his attempt to eliminate her only made her more aroused. Seeing her panting in joy, he lost confidence in his own equipment. Will I really be able to kill a demon with this? 
And so, the stalker known as Peasant, the violent berserker known as Murderer, and the pervert known as Dog all became comrades. They advanced toward the island, burying any enemies they encountered with their overwhelming strength. The bright future Momotarou was fighting for would soon be in his grasp. Before long, they reached the island. It was covered in dark clouds, with the only illumination coming from occasional flashes of lightning. For a time, they progressed unimpeded through it. But eventually, they met someone. 
“Hm? Has someone else come?” 
As the demon slowly rose from her bed, Momotarou’s heart was struck by lightning. Metaphorical lightning, of course. However, that was only natural. After all, the demon was so beautiful that he couldn’t help but be smitten. Her flowing golden hair, glowing crimson eyes, and perfect features were the ultimate combination of beauty and seductiveness. For a demon, she was unbelievably cute! In truth, the demon had never asked anyone for tribute. People had just started offering it to her after seeing how beautiful she was. At first, she had rejected the gifts, but the demon was a NEET at heart, so in order to support her lifestyle of never leaving her house, she’d decided to start letting people leave offerings at her front door. Before she knew it, though, her treasure horde had grown massive. 
Incidentally, quite a few people had tried to force themselves onto the cute demon girl, but she was strong enough to have easily destroyed anyone foolish enough to try. Thinking another band of ruffians had come to try and rape her, the demon languidly turned her gaze onto the intruders. 
“Ah!? Y-You’re...” 
“Momotarou.” 
This time it was the demon whose heart was struck by metaphorical lightning. Momotarou and the demon gazed into each other’s eyes. Peasant, Murderer, and Dog all realized that they couldn’t allow the two to grow any closer. If they did, Momotarou’s heart would be stolen right out from under their noses! The three of them assaulted the demon, intent on killing her. However, the demon raised a finger that made literal lightning strike down on the three animals. 
“Momotarou-san, I’ll give you everything I own, so please marry me.” 
And so, Momotarou-san was wed to his demon wife. The three animals continued challenging her for Momotarou’s heart, but despite their persistence, she grew fond of them and started keeping them as pets. Other nations and tribes assaulted her for her riches, but now that Momotarou had materials to work with, he was easily able to create an armory powerful enough to annihilate any foe. After a while, the rest of the world decided to let sleeping dogs lie, and avoided their island as best as they could. And so, Momotarou lived happily ever after with his demon wife.