Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 4 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories

In Search of My Beloved Synergist: 3

“I give up,” a despairing voice wailed. It belonged to Aisha, a fifteen-year-old waitress who used to work at one of the restaurants in Velnika, the capital of the Velka Kingdom. She normally put her indigo blue hair up into a ponytail, but right now it was drooping limply around her face and shoulders. She staggered a few steps forward on the highway she was traveling on, looking almost like a zombie. Her eyes, which were mostly obscured by her hair, were cloudy and unfocused. Everything about her made it seem like she’d just walked out of a horror movie.

“Oscar-san... I don’t think I can make it...”

She had spent almost a year traveling the continent in search of Oscar, her one-sided crush. But now her ironclad resolve was beginning to crack. One could hardly blame her, though.

“Hmm, if they’re not in Esperado, we’re completely out of leads.”

“Well, it’s the biggest city in the world, so maybe they’re still there and we just missed them?”

The two adventurers Aisha had hired as her bodyguards exchanged smiles. Indeed, their current problem was they had no idea where Oscar might have gone. After drifting aimlessly through the western seas for ten days without food or water, they’d been picked up by the Melusine pirate crew. The crew had nursed them back from the brink of death, and it was there that Aisha had learned what Oscar and his companions had been up to. She’d lied to Chris, Baharl, Diene, and the others, by telling them she was Oscar’s wife and demanded that they tell her his whereabouts. In the end, Chris contacted the Liberator village Oscar had helped built in the northern reaches of the desert and discovered that he and his friends had since left for Esperado, the capital of the Entris Federation.

Of course, he wasn’t about to tell Aisha and the others the location of the Liberator hideout in the city. So instead, he sailed north along the coast to the border between the theocracy and Dukedom of Uldia, and set them down in the mountain range separating the two nations. From there, Aisha crossed the mountains, passed through multiple countries, and traversed all sorts of rough terrain before finally arriving in Esperado. But there, she was unable to find any information about Oscar’s current whereabouts. Now she was walking back down the same highway she’d come from. She planned to visit all the towns and cities within Entris that they’d skipped on their way and see if they couldn’t find any other clues to where Oscar had gone. If that failed, they’d return to the coast.

“Come on, pull yourself together. We expected this, remember?” Kyaty Cougan, who’d decided to tag along with Aisha for this expedition, said. Part of the reason they were returning was so that she could get back to her crew. Aisha was planning on sticking with the Melusine pirates for the foreseeable future as well. Barring any other clues, staying with them would be the fastest way to see Oscar again. Since Kyaty knew they’d end up coming back from the very beginning, she’d opted to tag along to see what cities on the mainland were like.

“I can’t believe you don’t care about my problems! You’re horrible!”

“I mean, they’re not my problems, so yeah. Anyway, take a look at this book. It’s got a really easy to understand summary of world history and economics! Thank god they had the latest edition at that bookstore. This even has an updated account of each country’s political—”

“How can you be so insensitive, Kyaty-san!? This is why you’ve never had a boyfriend!”

“What was that!? H-How are you so sure I’ve never had a boyfriend before!?”

“Well, have you!?”

“N-No, but so what!? What’s wrong with that!? So I’ve never dated anyone in my life, big deal!”

For the record, Kyaty was twenty-two.

“Hey, Kyaty, if you’re looking for a boyfriend, I’d be happy to—”

Scurdy, one of Aisha’s bodyguards, casually tried to ask Kyaty out. In truth, he’d had a crush on her since she’d saved them near Andika.

“I’m only interested in strong guys!”

However, Kyaty shot him down instantly. Scurdy’s eyes glazed over and he backed off with a mumbled, “Oh, okay.”

Thanks to her rather rugged upbringing, Kyaty’s type was smart guys who were stronger than her, but acted like gentlemen.

In other words, the only man you’re interested in is Oscar-san, Aisha said flatly.

“I never said that! B-Besides, who’d like a dumb four-eyes like him!?”

“Says the girl who tried to seduce him with a maid outfit.”

“Like I said, that was all a misunderstanding!” Kyaty retorted hotly.

However, Aisha wasn’t convinced, and she gave the catgirl a suspicious look. The two of them continued bickering for hours until the party finally reached a town in the evening. They strolled through the streets, searching for an inn to stay the night. After a few minutes, Aisha suddenly came to a halt.

“I can smell it! I can smell Oscar-san’s presence coming from that woman!” Aisha roared as she pointed to a young girl standing in front of them. How she could “smell” someone’s presence on other people was an absolute mystery, but Aisha dashed off toward the girl before anyone could ask her about it.

“Wow, she’s fast. Nowhere near as fast as my Acceleration, but still, what’s gotten into her?”

“It’s the power of love, I guess.”

“I feel like that’s how you’ve been explaining all her weird quirks. What is she, some kind of love-powered lifeform?”

Exasperated, Kyaty and the others walked over to the girl as well, who was currently looking extremely confused as Aisha sniffed at her clothes.

“Ugh, why are you sniffing me like that? Do I smell? I just took a bath, you know!” the girl wailed.

Half in tears, she tried to escape from Aisha, but Aisha used her superhuman agility to keep up with the girl. After a few seconds, though, Aisha returned to her senses and realized she was being extremely rude.

“I-I’m terribly sorry! I just happened to smell Oscar-san’s presence from you, so I couldn’t help myself! Ah, my name’s Aisha! Do you know someone called Oscar?”

“Huh!? Actually, I run an inn, and I do believe we had a guest by that name some time back. May I ask what your relationship with him is?”

As she inched away from Aisha, the girl warily answered her question. Her expression completely serious, Aisha replied without hesitation, “I’m his wife.”

Sighing, Kyaty and the others prepared themselves to resolve the misunderstanding. But before they could even say a word, the girl shouted, “Liar! You’re lying!”

“Wh-Where’s your proof!?”

“I know you’re lying because Oscar and Miledi are in love!”

The girl’s words echoed through the street. She spread her legs wide and confidently put her hands on her hips.

“Th-They’ve already gone all the way! In fact, Miledi’s so energetic in bed that Oscar came down every morning looking completely drained!”

“Wh-What did you just say!?”

Aisha’s eyes rolled back into her head. However, this girl was a devout fan of Miledi, and she was determined to defend Miledi’s honor to the last.

“Sometimes, they even had a foursomes with Naiz and Meiru...”

Blood started dripping from the girl’s nose as she lost herself in her delusions. This time, it was Kyaty’s turn to swoon.

“N-No way! That super sadist, Meiru... managed to go all the way before me!?”

Kyaty staggered backward. Though she tried to act like she was above romance, the knowledge that her fellow boyfriendless childhood friend had climbed the stairs to adulthood before her had come as a shock. Especially when she’d started off with something as hardcore as a foursome. She felt utterly defeated.

“I-I don’t believe it! Aisha can’t believe it!” Aisha shouted. It seemed she’d received such a huge blow that she’d mentally reverted to a five-year-old. Kyaty was in a similar state.

“Y-Yeah! You’re the one who’s lying!”

Kyaty advanced menacingly on the girl, her claws flashing in the sunset. But the girl just harrumphed and turned on her heel. She looked back over her shoulder at Kyaty and Aisha and said dismissively, “Follow me! I’ll let you stay at my inn! But you better be ready to hear how no one can ever get in between Oscar and Miledi’s love!”

“H-Hah, bring it on!”

“I am a little curious about Oscar’s relationship, but more importantly, tell me what Meiru’s been up to!”

The three girls walked off, leaving the two bodyguards in the dust. They were arguing loudly enough that the bodyguards could hear passerby muttering things like, “My, how nice it is to be young.”

Feeling helpless, they followed after their charge. Naturally, the inn the girl led the party to was none other than Wanda’s Inn.