An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

This time, Shia expressed her anger towards Hajime and quietly asked herself, "Why would I fall in love with someone like that?"

At this moment, gunshots suddenly rang out.

A groan of "Uwaa ...

"Where are you going in all this sudden panic? Sit down until I finish my words."

Hajime emerged from the thick fog accompanied by Yue, and he appeared to shoot Reagan and the others who had tried to sneak away while Shia and the others were talking. However, for some reason, he used rubber bullets that were not lethal.

Even after Hajime's warning, the Ursine still refused to lower their guard, constantly checking their surroundings, hoping for an opportunity to escape. Hajime simply used "intimidation" to force them to obey. Hajime and Yue ignored the terrified Ursine and walked towards Shia and the others.

As soon as Hajime saw Cam and his group, he immediately looked away in embarrassment, but he quickly gave up and turned back to look directly at Cam and the others and apologized:

"Sigh~ Well, how should I put it? I'm sorry. I don't have that problem myself, so I completely forgot that killing someone would have a psychological impact. It's my fault. Um, I'm really sorry."

Xia, Cam and the others never thought that he would apologize so frankly, and they were all dumbfounded with their mouths wide open.

"Boss!? Are you okay!? Did you hit your head!?"

"Doctor! Doctor! There's a seriously injured person here!"

"Boss! Please cheer up!"

This caused them to react in this way. Veins suddenly appeared on Hajime's face, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

This time, Hajime truly felt he was wrong. Because he hadn't felt any emotion when he killed someone, he hadn't realized the toll it took on his spirit. Despite his strength, Hajime hadn't mentored anyone, and the result had nearly caused the Hauriya people to collapse. Feeling truly bad, he decided to apologize... but the response was one of suspicion that he was mentally ill, leaving Hajime feeling lost, unsure whether to be angry or reflect on his actions.

Anyway, Hajime put the matter aside, walked towards Reagan, and pressed the muzzle of Donald's gun against his forehead.

"Do you want to die a virtuous death or live a humiliating life?"

The Hauriyas were even more surprised than the Ursines at Hajime's question. His dialogue suggested that, given the circumstances, it might be okay to let the Ursines escape. Hajime, known for his ruthless approach to his enemies, was completely unlike him. Kam and the others looked at Hajime with sorrowful eyes, their expressions conveying the feeling of "hit the head..." A vein bulged in Hajime's forehead, but since he was speaking to them, he chose not to answer.

Reagan also looked back at Shi with an expression of surprise. He believed that the person who caused such a drastic change in the Hauliya people must be the man in front of him, so he did not think that this man would show mercy.

"...What do you mean, will you let me leave alive?"

"Yeah, you guys can go back if you want. But I have a condition."

"condition?"

Hearing Hajime's straightforward "Go back if you want," Raegen and the others present grew restless. Behind them, Shia, looking intently back and forth between her hammer and Hajime's head, suggested, "We might still be able to save him by hitting him on the head now..." Cam and the others agreed.

With his veins bulging, Hajime thought it might be time to teach them a lesson—but he still tried hard to ignore the Hauriya people.

"Yes, I have a condition. That is, when you return to Feiyaberugen, please help me say a few words to the elders."

"...You want me to pass on a message?"

Reagan was initially trembling with fear, fearing that the other party would make some demands, but it turned out to be just a simple message, which made him slow to react. However, what Hajime said next froze him completely.

"'You owe me a favor.'"

“…Huh!? That’s…!”

"So? How about it? Do you accept it?"

Realizing the intention behind this condition, Ragen roared in anger. Hajime, unconcerned, waited for his choice.

"You owe me a favor," as the name suggests, means that after Hajime lets these attackers go now, Feyalbergen will have to repay this favor sooner or later.

After losing an elder, the elders' meeting was forced to overturn the meeting's decision and end it by not interfering with Hajime and the others. By passing this message to the elders, it meant that they would unconditionally accept Hajime's demands in the future.

Objectively speaking, both Jin and Ragen unilaterally provoked Hajime and the Bunnymen, leading to their counterattack. Hajime spared their lives under these circumstances, a result that would undermine the prestige of the Elders' Council. If they ignored Hajime's kindness, they would be mere lunatics, and they would likely face Hajime's retaliation.

In other words, the survival of Reagan and his companions would be detrimental to the nation. Not only had they disregarded the Elders' Council's decision, they had also burdened the nation with a debt of gratitude. Furthermore, they, known as the strongest race, had sacrificed more than half their personnel... As Shi had said, this was truly a cowardly existence.

Hajime continued to chase after Ragen, whose expression was distorted:

"Furthermore, you must also take full responsibility for the deaths of your subordinates and make known to everyone the fact that you suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Hauriya tribe."

“Mmmmm!”

There was a reason why Hajime would let the enemy go under these conditions. Of course, it had nothing to do with compassion. This incident had cut him off from all contact with Fjarbergen, but he still didn't know the details of the Seven Great Labyrinths, and perhaps Fjarbergen would be useful. After all, this country had preserved the words of the labyrinth's creator through word of mouth. He had taken advantage of the situation and, just when he felt he had made the wrong decision, the Ursine arrived. So, he decided to seize this opportunity and prepare a retreat, just in case.

Seeing Ragen's dilemma, Hajime pressed the muzzle of the gun against his forehead and spoke:

"You'll have five seconds to make your decision. If you take more than that, I'll kill your subordinates one by one. 'Judge quickly and accurately' is the basic rule, right?"

After he finished speaking, Hajime began counting down "one, two". Reagan hurriedly but firmly gave his answer:

"I-I understand. We hope to return home!"

"Is that so? Then hurry back and tell the truth. If you play dumb when I ask for my return..."

A strong killing intent emanated from Hajime's entire body, even bringing physical pressure, causing a distinct sound of saliva swallowing to be heard at the scene.

"That day will be the end of Feyalbergen."

From every angle, he looked like a nefarious moneylender, no, more like a terrorist. At that moment, from behind him came strange words of reassurance like, "Ahhh, that's great, it's Hajime-san as usual," and "The boss is finally back to normal," but he chose to ignore them, lest it ruin the atmosphere he had worked so hard to create. He was determined to make them suffer.

The Ursine had already lost their fighting spirit at the hands of the Hauriyas, and seeing Regen desperately plead for mercy, they were completely drained of energy to resist, and could only retreat dejectedly. Their frank acceptance of defeat was likely due in part to the fact that their members were primarily young. Regen would likely never be able to hold his head up again in Feyalbergen, perhaps confined to hiding in the shadows for the rest of his life. However, this was all caused by his rude and unreasonable pursuit of revenge, so it could be considered a relatively light punishment.

The figures of the bear people gradually disappeared in the fog.

After watching them leave, Hajime turned and walked over to Shia, Kam, and the others. With his head bowed, Hajime's expression was unclear, yet he exuded a strange aura. Kam and the others, still feeling ashamed of their own descent into madness, poured their hearts out to Hajime, leaving no one else to notice his unusual behavior. Only Shia, sweat dripping from her face, asked, "Huh? Is this bad?"

Hajime raised his head unsteadily, a broad smile on his face, but the smile didn't reach the depths of his narrowed eyes. Kam finally realized that something was wrong with Hajime, and asked fearfully:

"Boss?"

"Yeah, I'm serious, huh? This is truly my fault. Although I was trying to improve your level in a short period of time, I should have considered some precautions beforehand."

"How, how could this happen? All this... is because we are too immature..."

"No, no, it's okay, okay? That's how I feel. So, so, I apologized to you frankly... I didn't expect you to react like this? No, I know it's all due to my usual attitude... But, but... I can't bear such a heavy heart if I don't let it out... You should know that, right?"

"No, no, we're not really sure..."

Kamu's sweat poured down like a waterfall, and he retreated step by step with an expression that said, "Oh no! The boss is angry!" Several of the Hauriya people, perhaps recalling their training, were so panicked that they were on the verge of tears.

At this moment—"Now!" Shia found an opening and immediately turned and fled, even remembering to grab the Hauriya man beside her as a shield, but...

Boom! !

A bullet passed through the man's crotch, hit a tree root protruding from the ground, and bounced towards Xia's buttocks.

"Hah!"

This was one of Hajime's spear techniques, 'Multi-Angle Shot,' a technique that exploited the ricocheting of bullets. He executed this incredible skill with remarkable precision, but then wasted it by firing it into Shia's buttocks. Shia screamed and leaped from the impact, then fell to the ground, her buttocks raised. She trembled in pain, smoke rising from her hips.

Cam and the others shuddered at the sight of Shia's convulsions and Hajime's terrifying gunmanship. The man whose crotch had been pierced by the bullet had tears in his eyes and held his crotch with both hands. The shockwave from the bullet seemed to have also reached between his legs.

Hajime calmly put Donal back into his holster, then Smiley Face immediately transformed into a demon and lunged forward with a roar.

"Anyway, let me punch you all first!"

—Waaaaaaaaa——!!

The Hauriya tribe members immediately scattered like spiders, fleeing in all directions, but Hajime easily caught up with them, leaving not a single one unharmed. Screams and roars echoed throughout the forest.

The only ones left standing were Shia, whose buttocks were still smoking, and...

Yue, who was completely unconcerned, stood there and murmured:

“…When are we going to go to the tree?”

After he made the statement, he tortured all the Hauriya people to the utmost to relieve his hatred. Then, in the next few hours, led by Kam and others, he moved towards the big tree Uya Aruto in the thick fog.

Kamu led the way, while the other Hauriyas spread out to check for enemy activity—this was part of their training. The concept of "carelessness is the most important thing to avoid in action" was ingrained in their bones, so everyone's expressions were extremely serious. However, their faces were bruised and swollen, which completely detracted from the seriousness of the atmosphere...

"Ouch~ My butt still stings~"

Shia, who was stroking her hips while crying, had been glaring at Hajime with hatred since a while ago.

"Don't look at me like that, it's annoying."

"You actually called me annoying! That's too much. And you actually shot a girl in the butt with a gun. No matter how utterly irrational you are, there should be a limit! And you even used such a powerful technique pointlessly!"

"So, you were really trying to hit me on the head, weren't you? And when you were running away, you even used the person next to you as a shield... You don't have the right to criticize others, do you?"

The Haolia male standing not far away kept nodding in agreement.

"Wow, this is all thanks to Miss Yue's teaching..."

“…I taught Shia.”

“…Then I won’t complain anymore.”

Yue looked at Hajime proudly, with the words "You're not going to praise me?" written all over his face. Hajime simply looked away using the ignoring skill he had honed so far.

After about fifteen minutes of chatting and walking happily, the group finally reached the tree. Upon seeing the tree, Hajime's first words were:

"……What's this?"

His tone was half-surprised, half-confused, and Yue's expression was surprisingly subtle. The trees they envisioned were like those seen in Feyabergen, only much larger in size. In other words, they were supposed to be majestic and imposing.

But in reality, the big tree... had withered completely.

The size was indeed in line with their imagination, no, even beyond their imagination, it was unusually large. It was difficult to estimate its diameter by eye alone, but it should be around fifty meters? Compared to the other trees around it, the tree was obviously abnormally large.

Furthermore, despite its enormous size, the tree was withered, unlike the other trees nearby, which were lush and green.

"I heard that the tree withered before the founding of Fjallbergen, but it refused to rot and remained unchanged. Due to the dense fog surrounding it and the tree's immortality, it unknowingly became a sacred place. However, this is the only sacred place. Seriously speaking, it's just a tourist attraction..."

Seeing the confusion on Hajime and Yue's faces, Cam offered to explain. Hajime listened as he walked towards the base of the tree. There, just as Alfrelik had said, the stone tablet was placed.

"This is...Oscar's..."

"Yeah, it's the same pattern."

The stone tablet was carved with a heptagon, and each of the seven vertices had a pattern carved on it. It was exactly the same as the pattern carved on the door of Oscar's secret base and on the rock wall at the shortcut exit.

To confirm, Hajime took out Orcus's ring and confirmed that the pattern on the ring was indeed the same as the pattern on the stone tablet.

"It seems this is the entrance to the Great Labyrinth... But... what should I do next?"

Hajime approached the tree and slapped its trunk, but of course nothing happened. He asked Cam and the others if they had any leads, but they also replied with a "no." He had already extracted detailed instructions from Alfred, but he hadn't heard anything about the entrance. Perhaps Alfred was holding back. Did he have to ask for a favor so soon? Hajime began to fret.

At this time, the moon opening of the stone tablet is being observed:

“Hashi… look at this.”

"Hmm? Did you find anything?"

What Yue noticed was the back of the stone tablet, where there were seven small grooves corresponding to the patterns.

"This is……"

Hajime picked up the Orcus ring on his hand and aligned the Orcus emblem on the surface with the groove... The stone plate emitted a faint glow.

The Haolia people who were on guard around the area also gathered to see what was happening. Everyone stared at the glowing stone tablet for a long time. When the light faded, some words appeared, and these words read:

——Four proofs.

——The power of regeneration.

——Signposts that come with bonds.

——A new road of trials will be opened to those who meet all the requirements.

"What does it mean?"

"...Four proofs...perhaps they refer to proofs from other labyrinths?"

"I see. Then what do 'Power of Regeneration' and 'Signposts that Come with Bonds' mean?"

Facing Hajime who tilted his head in confusion, Shia replied:

"Hmm~ Could 'signposts that come with bonds' refer to whether you can find a demihuman to lead the way? Demihumans generally don't leave the sea of ​​trees. Cases like Hajime-san and the rest of you having a demihuman take the initiative to lead the way are exceptional cases among exceptional cases, right?"

"I see. That certainly fits the current situation."

"...That regenerative power...is it me?"

Yue remembered her unique magic, "Auto-Regeneration," and pointed at herself. To test it, she cut a small scar on her finger, activated "Auto-Regeneration" and touched the stone tablet and the tree... but nothing happened.

"Hmm...it seems not."

"...Hmm~ In the presence of a dead tree... the power of regeneration... requires at least four proofs... Shouldn't we obtain these four proofs first? In other words, we need to conquer at least half of the seven labyrinths and obtain the Age of Gods magic related to regeneration before coming here?"

Could it be that he was trying to regenerate the withered tree, Uya Aruto, before him? Hajime speculated, and Yue also gave him an expression that said, "Perhaps that's the case."

"Oh~ Damn it, it seems like I can't conquer this dungeon right now... It's troublesome, but I'll just have to tackle other dungeons first..."

"Um……"

Having already come this far, only to have to tackle this maze later, Hajime was gnashing his teeth, and Yue was also filled with regret. However, since he had no idea how to enter the Great Maze, fretting over it was no use, so he calmed down and decided to go get the other three proofs.