Hajime had brought back materials and meat from the scorpion and cyclops back to his base. He was struggling with the bulk. When the exhausted Yue got to taste blood again, she revived in a flash and her body displayed a splendid strengthening as she got back her superhuman strength. The two were able to bring the items back.
They could have used the sealed room, but when it was proposed Yue adamantly refused. No wonder. It was natural to hate the place you were sealed up into for so long. When he replenished his supplies they would not be able to move, so the sooner they left the better for her mental health. At the moment, they were talking each other while they resupplied.
“So…in conclusion Yue is at least 300 years old?”
“…Breach of etiquette.”
Yue watched Hajime with reproachful eyes full of criticism. A talk of age seems to be a taboo for any woman in any world.
From his memories, Hajime remembered that the vampire tribe perished after a massive war 300 year ago. Yue probably did not know her real age because there was no sense of time in the dark room. It wouldn’t be surprising if she didn’t know how much time has passed because of the sealing. She was sealed when she was 20 years old, this would make her a little over 300 years old.
“Do all vampires live long?”
“I’m special. “Regeneration” prevent my aging.”
At the age of 12, her direct magic manipulation and “Auto Regeneration” woke up and stopped her aging. Because common vampire tribes consumed blood, they lived longer than other races. Still 200 years was the limit. Humans lived on average for about 70 years. Devils around 120 years. For demi-humans it depended on the tribe. Elves could live for several hundred years.
Yue was considered one of the strongest in only a few years after she awoke her atavistic powers. At age 17 she suited to the throne. The magic that had melted the scorpion’s shell was shot in no time. She also had an almost immortal body. To the point she would be called “God” or “Monster”. Yue said that it was the latter. Her uncle who was blinded with greed, spread rumors around to view her as a monster. They tried to kill her for a “just” cause, but her “Auto Regen” didn’t allow her to die. That was when they choose to seal her instead. She was shocked with the sudden betrayal. Too confused, she did not resist and they placed the seals on her. She regained herself when she was in the sealed room. That is why she did not know about the sealing method, scorpion, or location of her sealing. Hajime thought he found someway home. He was disappointed.
They talked how Yue’s powers. She seemed to have an aptitude to all the attributes. Hajime was amazed with her cheat, but she mentioned she was weak in close combat. All she could by herself is run around with her strengthened body while she rapidly fired off spells. Because she had such power magic, it wasn’t that big of a handicap.
She was able to use magic without any incantation, but she mentioned the names from habit. There were a lot of people that used speech and behavior to clarify the image needed to supplement their magic. Yue was not an exception.
Her “Auto Regen” can be classified as a Special Magic. If her magic remained, she would not die unless they could disintegrate her into dust in an instant. Conversely, any injuries she suffered while her magic was depleted could not be healed. Her magic had been drained after all those years of being sealed. Yue would have died if the scorpion had hit her.
“So…it is a crucial discussion, do you know anything about this place? Any escape routes to the ground.”
“…I don’t know. But…”
She also seemed to not know anything about this labyrinth. While apologetic, she continued her story with what she knew.
“…It is said that one of the traitors made this labyrinth.”
“Traitors?”
Hajime stopped his transmutation work at the unaccustomed word, and glanced at Yue. She was watching him work and when he stopped she looked up at him. He nodded to her to continue with her story.
“Traitors…they were the followers of God that challenged him in ancient times…they created it to destroy the world.”
Since Yue was an expressionless girl who didn’t talk much, her explanations took time. Hajime still needed more time to resupply. He realized he needed to develop new weapons to combat his weak offensive ability that was evident in the fight against the scorpion. While working carefully, he was poised to listen to her.
Yue continued with her story. 8 of them existed. 8 of them rebelled against God to destroy the world. However, when they failed they fled to the ends of the world. The places they fled to were the current 8 Great Dungeons. One of them was “Orcus Dungeon”, the current Dungeon they were in. It is said that in the deepest part of the abyss was where one of the traitor lived.
“…If it is there, there will be a road out…”
“I see. I did not think that this abyss was created with such great effort. If it is a magician from the age of gods, it wouldn’t be surprising that they had some transportation magic to lead them out.”
Hajime loosen his cheeks when the possibility was present. He returned his eyes back to his hand and continued his work. Yue’s eyes returned to his hand too, and stared.
“…Is it that interesting?”
Yue just nodded at that question. The image of her wearing that oversized coat and having her small hands hold her knees was charming. Her unbelievably well-featured appearance combined with her cuddle-ability made her really cute.
(But she is 300 years old. As expected of another world. Loli-baba is real…)
Even if his personality had changed, he still had his Otaku knowledge. As he unintentionally thought that unpleasant thought, Yue reacted to it.
“…Hajime, you just thought of something strange.”
“Nope, nothing.”
Pretending ignorance was too late, he started to sweat because of her sharp woman intuition. He tried to deceive her by working quietly. Yue left that when she wanted to ask a question.
“Hajime, why are you here?”
It was a natural question. Here in this abyss. Unless you were a demon, this wasn’t a place to live in. Yue wanted to ask about so much. Why can he manipulate magic directly? Why can he use magic that are like Special Magic? How can he eat demon flesh and be okay? What happened to his left arm? Is he human? What weapon is he using?
Bit by bit, Hajime answered the questions dutifully. He might have been craving for a conversation after all this time alone. The conversation went on and Hajime did not even look troubled at her questions. Yue was probably someone Hajime wanted to be sweet on. Maybe she was the last resort to prevent his complete fall into heartlessness. He felt that about her unconsciously.
Hajime started with when his class was summoned to this world. How he was called incompetent by everyone. Next was his battle with the Behemoth and the betrayal of his classmate that caused him to fall into this abyss. Eating various types and amounts of demons. The desire to fight the bear. What the potion could do. He talked about how he developed the weapons by basing them on weapons he seen at his homeworld. Sniffles could be heard from Yue gradually. What? When he looked at her, she was weeping. Startled, Hajime instinctively reached out and wiped off her tears.
“What happened suddenly?”
“…Kusu…Hajime…painful…just like me…”
Apparently, she was crying for Hajime. He started to stroke her head with a bitter smile after he got over his shock.
“Forget about it. The business with my classmate is inconsequential. Don’t worry about the small stuff. After getting my revenge, then what would I do? Rather than that, I want to put all my energy in surviving and finding a way home.”
While a snort sounded, Yue who looked like a pleased cat at the caressing Hajime was doing, she reacted to his words of returning home.
“…Going home?”
“Yeah? To my original world? Of course. I want to return…I changed a lot but…home…I want to return home.”
“…I see.”
Yue looked down with a sunken expression. Then muttered to herself.
“…I don’t have a place…to return…”
“…”
Hajime started to scratch his head with his retracted hand that was brushing Yue’s head. He wasn’t that dense. Yue was looking for a new place to belong, is what he felt. That was the reason she wanted a new name. If Hajime left this world, Yue would be alone again.
Hajime thought to himself: “Even after I decided to only reach my goals, I guess I’m still soft,” while he stroke Yue’s head.
“If thats so, want to come with me?”
“Eh?”
Yue opened her eyes wide in surprise at Hajime’s words. He couldn’t came down after he saw the red eyes wet with tears. This caused him to speak rapidly.
“No, I mean, to my homeworld. A world with only average humans, though it would be tight without a family registration…also with my state. I’m not sure what will happen…but if Yue wishes for it.”
Yue was stunned for a while, but eventually her mind caught up. She timidly asked “is that okay?” Her eyes couldn’t hide the expectations dwelling in them. The eyes were sparkling and Hajime nodded. Like until now her expressionless was a lie, a smile bloomed on her face. Hajime was mesmerized. When he noticed himself he panicked and shook his head.
Unable to look at Yue, Hajime devoted himself to his work. Yue took great interest in his work. The amount of distance between them shortened. Hajime persuaded himself to not mind it.
“…What is this?”
Little by little Hajime was finishing different parts with transmutation. On the side there was a 1 m long cylindrical pipe, a red bullet about 12 cm in length, and others parts scattered around.
This was the weapon Hajime started to develop as his new trump card, since Donner was lacking in necessary power.
“This is…An Anti-matter rifle: Railgun version. You saw my gun, right? This is a more powerful version. The bullet is specially made.”
When all the parts were assembled, the rifle’s full length was 1 m 50 cm. Hajime was considering what he could do to increase the firepower of his guns. Electromagnetic acceleration and combustion charge was the limit for Donner. Donner couldn’t be improved by much anymore because of its design. So he had to make a new gun.
Naturally the answer to increase the power was a bigger caliber, and also lengthen the barrel for acceleration. He arrived at an Anti-matter rifle. It could only load one shot but its theoretical power is enormous. Donner already has a destructive power 10 times of that a regular gun. A monster gun that would crush a normal persons body if they shot it.
The gun’s name: Schlagen. In theory, it was 10 times more powerful than Donner…theoretically. Scorpion shell was the material used to make it. When he had analyzed the shell with “Mineral Appraisal” it said this…
This ore was probably how the scorpion had such a hard shell. It probably had an enormous reserve of magic to fuel his armor.
If it was ore, then Hajime could process it. When he tested his transmutation on it was simple. With his transmutation it was possible to breakthrough it. He remembered how hard it was to deal with when he fought the beast.
Hajime had his hands on a lot of good materials to work with, so he guess it worked out. Using these materials he started his development of Schlagen’s barrel. Since he had become a lot more skilled than when he made Donner, the work progressed smoothly.
He obsessed over the bullet. The bullet that was made out of Tauru ore was coated with Stall ore. It could be called a full metal jacket-like. In each cartridge a suitable amount of ratio and compression of combustion powder was installed. In one stretch, with [Replica Transmutation], he was able to mass-produce the bullets with ease.
Hajime talked with Yue while he carefully worked, then Schlagen was finished. The gun had a very powerful and brutal form. He was satisfied with himself and the gun. After he finished the gun, he noticed that he was hungry now. They decided to have grilled scorpion and cyclops meat for a meal.
“Yue, meals ready…is it bad? Would eating this meat cause any pain…are vampires fine with it?”
Demon meat had become the daily meal. Hajime invited Yue to eat with him, but was wondering if it was alright for her to eat it.
Yue shook her head to say: “I don’t need the meal” to Hajime.
“Well you have been sealed for 300 years without eating and lived…Don’t you feel hungry?”
“I feel it…but I’m okay.”
“Fine? Did you eat something?”
Hajime looked at her belly with a questioning gaze. Yue pointed to Hajime.
“Hajime’s blood.”
“Ah, my blood. That would mean that a vampire’s whole meal is blood?”
“…We can also eat…but drinking blood is more effective.”
Seems that as long as they drank some blood, vampires were okay with it. She had sucked Hajime blood earlier and was satisfied. When he was convinced with the answer he looked at Yue. For some reason Yue was licking her lips.
“…Why are you licking your lips?”
“…Hajime…delicious…”
“D-Delicious you say. I thought that I would taste bad considering I’ve eaten so much demon flesh.”
“…Mature taste…”
“…”
From Yue description, his blood had a heavy, deep taste similar to a soup. His soup was a dense one filled with many kinds of vegetables and meat. The first time he had his blood sucked, she fell into a trance. This wasn’t his imagination. Any dish would be the finest after starving for so long.
Hajime wanted to stop her bewitching lip licking. He realized Yue was older. However, that did not calm him when he saw that childish figure displaying such an immoral act, such a supreme combination.
“…Delicacy.”
“…Please pardon me.”
His partner might be a little dangerous in many ways. Hajime broke out a cold sweat.
* * *
* * *
Omake (No relations to the main story)
“…Tsk.”
“K-Kaori? You clicked your tongue…”
“Eh? What’s the matter Shizuku-chan?”
“N-No. Nothing…”
“…Thieving Cat.”
“Kaori!?”
“Fufu, its all right, Shizuku-chan. I felt like someone was threatening my position.”