An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"Um!"

Hajime gently stroked Yue's head, and Yue replied as usual. A sweet, fragrant space seemed to form between them, and Shia's eyes welled up as she asked, "You haven't forgotten my existence, have you?" Hajime glanced at her and said:

"Hey, cheer up, sorry, rabbit, we've decided to hire you as guides to the sea of ​​trees. The reward is your lives, so you shouldn't complain, right?"

While his words were entirely accurate, his choice of words smacked of scoundrels. Even so, it still signified the Bunnymen's successful survival pact with the powerful individual who single-handedly slew the canyon's mighty monsters. Furthermore, it also allowed Shia, at the crossroads leading to the future, to smoothly move in the direction she desired, a move that made her almost burst with joy.

"Of course I have no complaints! Thank you! Woohoo~ That's great~ It's really great~"

Xia couldn't help crying with joy, but she knew she couldn't delay any longer in order to save her friends, so she stood up immediately.

"Well, then, thank you for your help! How should I address you two..."

“Hmm? So we haven’t given our names yet… I’m Hajime, Nagumo Hajime.”

"……moon."

"So it's Hajime-san and Satsuki, right?"

Shia kept repeating their names, trying to remember them, but Yue protested with dissatisfaction:

"...You have to call me Miss Yue. Sorry, Bunny."

“Eh!?”

Shiya was perplexed by Yue's commanding tone, which didn't match her appearance. Perhaps because of Yue's appearance, she'd mistakenly assumed she was younger. When she realized Yue, a vampire, was significantly older, she nearly knelt and apologized. She had a feeling Yue was somewhat displeased with Shiya, but Shi couldn't guess why… Even though Yue constantly glared at certain parts of Shiya with hatred, Shiya couldn't quite place her finger on the details.

"Hey, sorry, Bunny, please sit in the back too."

Hajime elegantly ignored Yue's inner struggles and gave instructions to Shia, who looked a bit bewildered. This was inevitable, as motorcycles didn't exist in this world. However, at least she knew it was a form of transportation, so she cautiously stepped onto the vehicle from behind Yue.

Although this was a double seat made of some monster hide, Yue's petite figure still provided ample space. Shia, surprised by the cushion's softness, grabbed Yue in front of her and pressed her weapons against it.

The soft, plump touch sent a shiver through Yue. She rose calmly and slid neatly in front of Shiji. Yue's petite frame fit effortlessly between Shiji's arms, seemingly unable to endure the feeling of the weapon pressed against her back. Shiji let Yue, with her grimace on her face, lean against his chest, and sensing her thoughts, he couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Huh? Why?" Though completely bewildered, Shia excitedly moved forward and embraced Hajime's waist. Hajime didn't react in any particular way, pouring his magic power into Heuvel. He showed no reaction to the touch of the weapon, absolutely nothing.

Shia was completely unaware of the subtle emotions between Hajime and Yue, and asked one question after another through Hajime's shoulder.

“Um, um, I just put so much effort into asking you to help us that I accidentally overlooked it, but… what is this transportation? Also, are Hajime-san and Yue-san both magicians? Magic shouldn’t be allowed here…”

"I'll explain this to you on the way."

Hajime declared, then quickly increased the speed of the Hitachi and took off. Sitting in this vehicle, carefree and unconcerned with the harsh road conditions, Shia could only scream, "Aa ...

Shia, terrified by the speed, closed her eyes tightly and clung to Hajime. However, after a while, she gradually got used to it and became incredibly excited. Whenever Hajime turned a corner or dodged a large rock, she would let out strange, high-pitched "Huaa" and "Huao," stirring the backseat.

Along the way, Hajime briefly explained why Shuu Tifu and Yue could use magic, and how his own weapon was a divine artifact. After hearing his explanation, Shia was stunned and astonished.

"Eh... so you two can both manipulate magic directly and cast special spells..."

"Yes, that's right."

"……Um."

Shia was stunned for a moment, then suddenly buried her face in Hajime's shoulder as if enduring something, and for some reason, she looked like she was about to cry.

"...What's going on all of a sudden? One moment he's noisy, the next he's frustrated, the next he's on the verge of tears... He's such an emotionally unstable guy."

"...It's too late to save them?"

"What's too late?! It's not too late! And I'm perfectly normal!... I just realized I'm not the only one like this... I'm so happy..."

“…”

It seems that sharing the same nature or abilities as monsters makes her feel that she is too unique in this world, and she must feel lonely.

Although many family members have been with her for the past sixteen years, not only raising her at great risk, but also leaving their hometown - the sea of ​​trees - for her, she must have felt immense family love over the years. Despite this, no, it should be said that because of this, "being different from others" makes her feel even more lonely.

Yue seemed to be somewhat moved by Shia's words, remaining silent and thoughtful. Though her expression was usually expressionless, it was now much darker than usual. Hajime had a vague idea of ​​what Yue was thinking—perhaps she was overlapping her past with Shia's. They were both exceptional beings capable of directly manipulating mana and casting unique spells, with no one like them in this era.

However, there's a crucial difference between Yue and Shia: Yue doesn't have a family that deeply loves her, while Shia does. Even if Yue isn't jealous of Shia's circumstances, she still feels a bit complicated. And from Shia's perspective, she's even found someone like her, which is quite fortunate.

Hajime gently patted Yue's head. Born in Japan, a wealthy country, he'd never known hardship, lovingly cared for by his parents. He couldn't truly understand Yue's loneliness—not only did she have no "kindred," but she was also an alien and held the lofty position of a queen. Therefore, Hajime couldn't think of any words to comfort her. All he could do was to assure her that she wasn't alone "now."

Though Hajime has changed, a tenderness still lingers deep within him. It's the humanity Yue has given him, a quality dear to him. Or perhaps, if he hadn't met Yue, he might have lost even that tenderness. Yue is Hajime's last barrier against his descent into demonic depravity, a crucial pillar of his humanity. He wants to keep his promise to Yue, and he ponders how to deal with the Imperial soldiers after having the Hauriyas lead his way through the forest. This is proof that he still has some humanity.

Even though Hajime's comforting method was rather clumsy, the emotional heart seemed to be successfully conveyed to Yue. She subconsciously relaxed her body even more and lay in Hajime's arms like a purring cat, acting coquettishly to its owner.

"Uh~ Have you forgotten I exist? Shouldn't you be comforting me by saying, 'Thank you for your hard work, you're not alone now, I'll be with you'? That would win me over immediately, right? I'm a girl who appears strong but is actually fragile, right? But you actually ignored this rare opportunity and suddenly entered a world of your own with Miss Yue? I'm so lonely! Please let me join you! Anyway, you two..."

"Shut up, sorry bunny."

“…Okay… wuwu…”

Hearing Shia, already on the verge of tears, suddenly start to argue again, Hajime and Yue couldn't help but curse. However, abandoning the crying girl to indulge in their own world was indeed excessive, and even cursing her back made Shia look truly pitiful. However, Shia's selling point was her unyielding tenacity. She had already set a new goal in mind, secretly thinking, "First, I want you to call me by my name! After all, you're my hard-earned ally, and I won't let you go!" Her fighting spirit was secretly ignited.

After Shia's repeated noises and being yelled at by Hajime or Yue, the roars of monsters could be heard in the distance. It sounded like quite a few monsters were making a commotion.

“Hmm! Hajime-san! We’re almost there! That monster’s voice… so, so close! It’s very close to where father and the others are!”

"Stop yelling in my ear, I can hear you! I'm going to speed up, hold on tight!"

Hajime injected more magic power, causing Xu Taifu to accelerate greatly in one breath. He saw the wall and the ground flying towards him at an extremely alarming speed.

The large amount of magic power made Xu Taifu emit red phosphorescence. After running for about thirty seconds, he swung his tail and bypassed the last big rock, and saw several rabbit people being attacked.

The entire [Lesin Grand Canyon] was filled with wailing and roaring. These figures with rabbit ears fled behind the rocks and huddled up desperately. Rabbit ears could be vaguely seen behind the rocks everywhere. There were about twenty people who were exposed, and together with the people who were not exposed, there were about forty people.

From above, numerous flying monsters, rarely seen even in the Abyss, gazed down upon the terrified bunnymen, who were desperately hiding. The closest resemblance to them was to what's commonly known as a flying dragon, right? They were approximately three to five meters long, possessing sharp claws and fangs, and their long tails were tipped with spikes radiating outward like morning stars.

"Hai, Hyberia..."

Shia's trembling voice echoed over her shoulder. Apparently, those dragon-like monsters are called "Hyberias." There were six of them, circling above the Bunnymen, seemingly admiring their prey.

One of the Hyberias finally took action. It descended rapidly to the side of the rabbit people hiding between large rocks, turned around in mid-air, and used centrifugal force to swing its tail hard against the rocks. There was a sudden loud bang, the rocks shattered, and the rabbit people crawled out screaming.

As if to say, "I've been waiting for this long," Hyberia opened its maw, ready to take down its exhausted prey. It aimed at two Bunnymen. A male Bunnyman was using his body to protect a child, whose legs had been paralyzed by Hyberia's blow.

The other Bunnymen saw this scene, and despair welled up in their eyes. Everyone must have imagined the cruel scene of the monks becoming Hyberia's bait. But that was impossible.

Because there is a monster here that just crawled out of the abyss and has made a promise to protect them...

BANG! BANG! Two crisp explosions echoed through the canyon, and two red flashes simultaneously shot into the void. One of the flashes pierced Hybelia's forehead, as she was about to devour the Bunnymen. With her head shattered, Hybelia crashed into the ground beside the two Bunnymen at a furious speed, raising a cloud of dust and a resounding roar before coming to a stop.

At the same moment, a terrifying roar echoed from behind. The Bunnymen averted their gaze, not even giving them time to pause. A Hyberia writhes in agony, its arm shattered and gushing with blood. Beside it, a Bunnyman sits on the ground in astonishment.

Perhaps while their attention was focused on the previous Hyberia, they were attacked by another one. The other of the two bullets was intended to break the charging Hyberia's single wing. The Hyberia had lost its balance and plummeted to the ground, now maddened by the intense pain.

“What, what happened…?”

The male rabbit-man who had just been protecting the child was completely stunned. His eyes kept switching back and forth between Hyberia, whose head was shattered and dead in front of him, and Hyberia rolling around behind him, muttering to himself.

Then there were more explosions, and several flashes of light pierced through the tumbling Hybelia, smashing its body into pieces. After it let out a final high-pitched roar, it crashed to the ground with a loud thud and stopped.

The flock of Hyberias above roared in anger, seemingly at the sight of their comrades' deaths. Another sound echoed, a strange one completely unfamiliar to the huddled Bunnymen, despite their excellent ears.

Jiyiyiyiyi—it was a high-pitched sound like a steam eruption. When the rabbit people wondered, "What is this time?" and looked towards the source of the sound, they saw three figures rushing towards them at high speed in a black vehicle they had never seen before.

One of them was someone they knew incredibly well. It was the girl who had suddenly disappeared this morning, prompting the entire tribe to go on a search. She seemed overcome with heartache at the sight of the entire tribe in this predicament, feeling responsible, and her usual energy had faded, a look of deep worry on her face. Her disappearance had the tribe worried she might do something foolish, so they forgot their caution and launched a massive search, only to be targeted by Hyberia. Everyone was prepared to exterminate the clan before they could find her...

She stood in the back seat of a black vehicle, waving her arms vigorously. Her expression had brightened considerably, returning to her original innocence. The Bunnymen stared at her in disbelief.

"Everyone~ I found help~"

After hearing that familiar voice, the Bunnymen finally understood the reality and couldn't help but shout her name in unison:

“““““““““““Shia!?””””””””””””

After confirming that her companions were safe, Xia was so happy that she couldn't help but stand up and wave, which made Shi, who was riding the Huetiof at high speed, look annoyed.

Shia's joy itself wasn't significant, but to prevent herself from falling from the high-riding Helmet, she placed her entire weight on Hajime, securing her body. Every time she jumped for joy, the heavy weapon would repeatedly strike Hajime's head. This made it difficult for him to aim properly, preventing him from killing the second Hyperion with a single blow.

While Shia was still trying to stop Hajime by jumping up and down, he simply grabbed her clothes. Noticing his movements, Shia looked at Hajime in confusion. Although Hajime was looking forward, she couldn't see his expression, but she could sense an unsettling aura and asked fearfully:

"U-Um, Hajime-san? What's wrong with you? Why are you grabbing my clothes?"

"...Since your spirit is strong enough to hinder me, then please make some use of it."

"F-Function... W-What are you going to do?"

"What do I do? Just fly in front of the hungry monster. It's that simple."

“!? Wait, what are you talking about…Ah! Don’t pick me up~ Don’t throw me out~”

Although Shia, with an anxious look on her face, struggled constantly, she was no match for Hajime, whose stamina exceeded 10,000. He lifted Shia up with ease.

Hajime used one hand to manipulate the handlebars of the two-wheeler to make the Heutiful drift, and then, regardless of Shia's wishes, used centrifugal force to throw Shia towards the Hyperion group circling overhead.

"Have a nice trip! Sorry, bunny!"

“Nooo ...

The bunny-eared girl soared into the air with astonishing momentum. Shia's screams echoed throughout the canyon. The Bunnymen, watching this impossible scene, cried "Shia!" and stared wide-eyed at the sky. The Hyberians, seeing their prey sobbing and flying towards them, seemed terrified and disoriented. Even as Shia flew past, they remained frozen, following with their gazes.

There was no way Hajime would miss this opportunity – these Hyberia floating in mid-air made perfect targets. Four gunshots rang out, and the released bullets pierced the jaws of the Hyberia group without missing a beat, then shattered their heads.

The Hyberians barely had a chance to let out their final howls before their strength collapsed to the ground. These valley monsters, renowned for their danger and formidable nature, were arguably as powerful as, or even more powerful than, the two-headed Tyrannosaurus "Deheidel" that had attacked Shia, yet they were instantly annihilated without a chance to resist. This supposedly impossible scene left the Bunnymen speechless and frozen.

A familiar girl's scream fell from above them:

“Ahhhhhhh~ Save me~ Hajime~!”

The Bunnymen hurried towards where Shia had fallen, but Hajime overtook them, swiftly catching her as she fell, and then swerved to a stop. The next second, he dropped Shia from his arms without a second's hesitation.

"Ahhh! Ugh~ You're so cruel to me! I want better treatment~ I want to be cherished like Miss Yue~"

Xia protested with sobs. Of course, she didn't have any romantic feelings for Shi. After all, they had just met not long ago.

However, Hajime was the hope she saw in the abyss of despair, and thus she felt an inexplicable trust in him. Despite his cold and ruthless personality, Shia was convinced that he would not break his promise. Moreover, they shared the same physique, and the mere word "same" made her feel a sense of closeness.

In the short time they'd spent together, she'd seen how much Hajime cherished Yue, who was "the same" as him. Frankly, she envied their relationship greatly, and somewhat wished she could be treated that way.

Under the impact of the tossing and catching, her already tattered clothes looked unspeakable. Shia, who fell to the ground sobbing, was so pitiful that Hajime couldn't help but think, "It seems I have gone too far..." He could only depressedly take out a spare coat from the "treasure house" and cover Shia's head with it, simply because he didn't want her to continue crying beside him.

But that gesture alone was enough to make Shia happy. Though she was startled by the object that suddenly fell from above her head, she couldn't help but smile when she realized it was a coat, and happily put it on. The coat, like Yue's, was white in color, a rare item Yue had designed for her and Hajime to wear as a couple.

“H-Hate! Mr. Hajime is so dishonest! You actually made me wear the same clothes as Yue-san… Are you telling everyone, ‘This is my woman’? You can’t do that! I’m not such a frivolous woman. You need to pursue me further.”

Seeing Shia shyly clutching her coat, Hajime became irritated again. He silently raised the Donal and shot Shia in the forehead.

"Hah!"

The bullet he used had reduced explosives, and the tip was coated in a soft, rubbery monster hide. It wasn't lethal, but still packs a punch. Shia was instantly thrown backward by the impact, wailing "My head! My head!" as she rolled on the ground.

However, she possessed incredible endurance, and she quickly leaped to her feet in protest. As Hajime perfunctorily dealt with Shia's barking and howling, the Bunnymen gradually gathered around.

"Shia! Are you okay?!"

"Father!"

The first person to speak was an older man, with bunny ears sticking out from his short, dark blue hair. Honestly, what the bunny-eared man looked like wasn't important, but the strange sight stirred a subtle emotion in Hajime. Meanwhile, Shia seemed to have finished talking with the bunnyman who seemed to be his father. Once they were both relieved that they were both safe, he walked over to Hajime and said,

"Can I call you Mr. Hajime? My name is Kamu Hauriya, Shia's father and the head of the Hauriya clan. Thanks to your help, Shia and our entire clan were saved from this crisis. How can I thank you enough? And you're even willing to help us escape from here... As a father and head of our clan, I offer my sincere gratitude."

After he finished speaking, the chief of the Haolia tribe, who called himself Kam, bowed deeply to him, and the Haolia people behind him also bowed their heads.

"I'll accept your gratitude, but the price is that you must be our guides in the sea of ​​trees. Don't forget that, okay? Also, you're trusting me too readily, aren't you? Demihumans probably don't have a good impression of humans..."

Although Shia had nearly made him forget this, demihumans were actually a discriminated race. In fact, it was humans who had chased them into the canyon. Despite this, they unconcernedly bowed to their fellow human, Hajime, and even attempted to accept his help. Even with this remaining path, their attitude remained too blunt, with not even a hint of disgust, which puzzled Hajime.

Cam smiled awkwardly and said:

"Xia believes in you, so we can't not believe you, because we are a family..."

This statement made Shi half impressed and half dumbfounded. Even if they were a sentimental race, they were too weak to trust a human being they had just met based on the one-sided words of their own family.

“Hehehe, don’t worry, Father. Although Hajime-san is ruthless towards girls, unwilling to act without benefits, and even cruel enough to use people as bait without hesitation, he is not a devil who would use promises to trample on others’ hopes! He will protect us well!”

"Hahaha! I see, so that's what I mean. So he's a shy person! That puts my mind at ease."

After hearing what Shia and Cam said, the eyes of the surrounding Bunnymen also revealed that "he is a shy person." They all looked at him with warm eyes and nodded.

The veins on Hajime's forehead were exposed. Just as he was about to pull out Donner, pursuit came from an unexpected direction——

“…Well, Hajime does get shy easily (in bed).”

"moon……"

The unexpected verbal attack made Hajime's mouth twitch, but if he continued to linger, it would attract monsters, which would be very troublesome. So he endured it and urged the group to set off quickly. Leading the forty-two pairs of rabbit ears forward through the canyon.

Many monsters attacked these prime prey, but none succeeded. Without exception, none of them even managed to touch the Bunnymen. The moment they saw their enemies, their heads were mercilessly crushed by the flash of light.

Each time a crisp crackle echoed, a flash of red light shot towards the sky. When they realized what was happening, the ferocious monsters of the Raisen Canyon were helplessly dead. The sight left the Bunnymen stunned, and they were filled with awe for the man who had accomplished such a feat—Hajime. Even the children themselves, with their round, shining eyes, gazed upon Hajime, who displayed unstoppable power, as if he were a hero.

"Hehe, Mr. Hajime, the kids are all looking at you~ Why don't you wave to them?"

Hajime felt uncomfortable receiving the innocent gazes from the children, but Shia teased him with an irritating expression. Veins popped up on Hajime's forehead again, and he fired without a word.