Chapter 3 : Bullying the Weakest
Two weeks had passed since the fact that Haji was the weakest was made known to everyone.
Currently, Haji was using his break ti from training to check out the Royal Library. On his hand was a large handbook titled “Illustrated Handbook of Northern Continent’s Magic Beasts”. The reason why Haji was reading this book, was because after these two weeks of training, he had realized that he was even more useless than he had imagined himself to be. However, he could utilize knowledge and wisdom to compensate for his lack of strength. Thus, he had decided to utilize his break ti from training to increase his knowledge.
“Haiii~” Haji let out a sigh after reading the handbook for quite so ti, then he threw it onto the table. “Bang! Boom!” The sound startled a librarian who just happened to pass by, causing the librarian to glare at Haji.
Haji was also surprised as he hurriedly apologized to the librarian. “Be careful next ti!” the librarian continued to glare at Haji. Haji could not help but lant in his heart “What the heck am I doing?” and yet again letting out another deep sigh.
Haji slowly took out his Status plate as he rested his cheek on the palm and glanced at it.
Nagumo Haji17 Year oldMaleClass:SynergistLevel:2Strength:12Vitality:12Resistance:12Agility:12Magic Power:12Magic Resistance:12Skills:Transmutation • Language Comprehension This was the result of Haji’s hard training for the past two weeks. Ridiculous! Naturally, he was ridiculing his own results. By the way, let’s take a look at Kouki’s stats. Amanogawa Kouki17 Year oldMaleClass:HeroLevel:10Strength:200Vitality:200Resistance:200Agility:200Magic Power:200Magic Resistance:200Skills:All Elental Aptitude • All Elental Resistance • Physical Resistance • Complex Magic • Swordplay • Herculean Strength • Ground Shrink • Foresight • High Speed Magic Recovery • Presence Perception • Magic Perception • Limit Break • Language Comprehension
His growth rate was about five tis of Haji’s. Moreover, Haji had also realized that he did not have aptitude for magic. What’s the deal with having no magic affinity? Let’s start by explaining the concept of magic in this world.
The process of utilizing magic in Tortus was by channeling magic power from one’s body into a magic circle by ans of an incantation, which would then activate the magic spells. There was no way to directly activate the spells with magic power, one must construct the corresponding magic circles to cast the respective spells.
Also, the magic power that was channeled into the magic circle would increase in proportion to the incantation ti. The scale of the magic circle would magnify in accordance to the complexity of the spell, which will inevitably lead the magic circle itself to beco larger.
For example, the 【Fireball】 attack which was a signature magic spell in RPG would require a 20 cm wide magic circle. Basic techniques such as attribute, power, range, scope, and magic absorption (The thod to channel the magic power in one’s body) were required. Other things such as inductivity and sustained duration were also required for the spells, which would end up increasing the scale of the magic circle.
On the other hand, there are exceptions to these concepts. That is one’s aptitude. Basically aptitude ans that so people with unique body constitution could leave out so formulas when using magic spells. For example, a person with the fire-type aptitude will not require to write the attribute section of the magic formula. Instead, one can rely on imagination to make-up for this omission. Instead of writing the attribute section, one can just imagine the fire while chanting the incantation, which will then bring out the fire attribute in the spell.
Most people will have so sort of aptitude, and the aforentioned 20 cm diater of magic circle is an estimate for an average person. In Haji’s case, he does not have any aptitude. Other than the five basic techniques, he still had to add in the speed, trajectory, diffusion rate, control rate, and such ticulous techniques. Thus, Haji required a magic circle close to 2 ter wide to launch a 【Fireball】 spell. This would not be practical in a real-combat scenario.
There are two ways to engrave the magic circle; By using a special kind of paper which can only be used one ti and tal engravings which can be used multiple tis. The forr has a wide versatility, but can only be used once and its strength will also decrease. The latter can be used several tis and still retain its strength, but its magic spell cannot be changed and it is bulky. The priests and Ishtar all wields staffs which contains the tal engravings.
Well, in short, it was not practical for close combat, especially if the person did not have an aptitude. For the “Synergist” class, it could only separate or create compounds, other than manufacturing purpose, it was useless. There was also no divine artifact that was helpful for transmutation. Haji only received a pair of gloves with transmutation magic circle carved on it. Well, was there any point in making pitfalls and traps? Even if Haji could do it on the ground, the scale would be a little too big…… He would beco an easy target in combat.
During these two weeks, Haji’s classmates had labelled him as worthless. There was nothing he could do about it, except accumulating knowledge…… His future was bleak and the only thing that increased recently was his unceasing sighs.
“Bah, might as well just go out and travel.” While thinking like this, Haji peered through the library’s window, and gazed at the blue sky outside. In the end, he began to give his future a serious thought, recollecting all of the knowledge he had painstakingly gathered in the past two weeks. Haji sunk into a deep thought.
(That’s it, I should go to the demi-human’s country. A mystical world without kemonomimi is simply out of question…… However they were located deep in the “Sea of Trees”~. Because of the discriminatory attitude towards the demi-humans, the only ones outside of the forest were the slaves.)
According to Haji’s knowledge, the demi-humans were discriminated and holed up deep in the 【Hartzena Sea of Trees】 that spread across the North and South on the East side of the continent. Why were they being discriminated? It was because they did not possess any magic power.
According to the legends, during the age of Gods, this world was created by God Eht and his apostles using ancient magic. The magic that was used in this age was a degraded version of the ancient magic. Therefore, magic was admired by everybody as it was a gift from the Gods. Of course, these were all teachings from the Saint’s Church.
Because of this notion, the demi-human which could not use any magic was viewed by humans as an evil race abandoned by the Gods. Then, what about the magic beasts? It is said that magic beasts are a race that brings about disaster and does not have the blessings from the God. They are just a vermin. Haji was aghast at this kind of over-generalised perception the humans had.
Other than that, even though the demons worshipped a different God from the “Eht-sama” which the Saint’s Church worshipped, their view of demi-humans was the sa as the humans’. In addition, every demons have high magic aptitude, they require a much shorter incantations than the humans, and a tiny magic circle possesses enormous firepower.
Humans — Because of the difference in the Gods they worshipped — affird the demons as their enemies (Saint’s Church’s teachings) and discriminated the demi-humans who were not loved by Gods. Demons are the sa as the humans. Not much is known about the demi-human race, but they probably should feel the sa way? All the races are really exclusive.
(If getting to the “Sea of Trees” is impossible, then maybe I should go to the West Sea? Indeed, there should be a mariti city called Elisen. If I can’t see a kemonomimi then I want to see rmaids. rmaids are a man’s romance. And I also want to eat the seafood there.)
【The Mariti City Elisen】 is located at the coast of the West Sea and known as the seafaring demi-human’s city. This was the only tribe of the demi-humans that received the protection of the kingdom. The reason was because this city supplied 80% of the seafood and marine-related materials to the Northern Continent’s markets. There were no other reasons. What happened to the self-righteous discrimination? Haji was disgusted at this kind of reasoning.
After passing through the Western Sea, one will reach the 【Guryuu-en Great Desert】. In this desert, there is the trading transit, which also served as an important oasis, the 【Dukedom of Ancadi】, there was also the 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】. This 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】 is one of the Seven Great Dungeons.
The Seven Great Dungeons were few of the most dangerous zones in this world. There was one dungeon located at the Southwest of the Hairihi kingdom, and 【Orcus Great Dungeon】 which was located at the center of Guryuu-en Great Desert. In addition, the previously ntioned 【Hartzena Sea of Trees】 was another one of the Seven Great Dungeons. They ntioned Seven Great Dungeons, and yet only three were ntioned, that was because the other dungeons were only briefly ntioned in the Ancient Recordings, their exact locations had not been confird yet.
Tentatively, there were speculations of the Great Dungeons in certain places. Such as the 【Raisen Great Canyon】 which cuts across the North to South of the continent, and the 【Shune Snowfield】 in the snowy Southern region of the continent.
(Desert is still impossible after all… If that is the case, I can only look at the slaves in the Empire… I still don’t have the confidence that I will be able to maintain my calm while looking at kemomimi who were treated as slaves.)
Empire refers to the Herrlicht Empire. This nation was founded by a group of rcenaries during a large-scale war against the demons 300 years ago. This is a military nation which employs nurous powerful rcenaries and adventurers. This nation is ruled by the supremacy of strength, which is quite a dark nation.
The people of this nation do not care so much about the affairs of the demi-humans or other matters, they will just use anything that is of use to them. That is why there are so many slave-traders who deal with demi-human slaves.
The empire is located between the Hairihi Kingdom and the 【Neutral Comrcial City of Fhuren】. As the na implies, 【Fhuren】 was an independent trading city which remained neutral. This country was managed properly, by utilizing its economic power to the limit, it was able to maintain its neutrality. One can get anything they want in this city, it was not known as the comrce center for nothing.
(Sigh~ In the end, I cannot run away if I want to return ho. Ah, shoot, it’s ti for training!)
In the end, the only way to escape from reality is to shake one’s head. Realizing it was almost ti for training, Haji ran out of the library in a hurry. The road to the Royal Palace was just a short distance, however, it was flooded with cheers and bustle from the Royal Capital. The sound of rchants touting their wares, the sound children playing around, and the sound of elders reprimanding their overexcited child, it was a very peaceful day.
(Seems like I really can’t return ho without participating in the war~)
Faced with the upcoming depressing period, Haji escaped reality by indulging himself in unrealistic dream.
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When Haji reached the training ground, there were already students there chatting happily while doing so independent training. It seed like Haji had arrived earlier than expected. Haji retrieved a western-style sword which was given to him and also started his own free practice.
Suddenly, Haji felt an attack from his back and hurriedly took a step forward. When he saw the unsheathed sword that just swept past, he broke into cold sweat. He frowned as he saw the face he was expecting to see, he couldn’t help but show an annoyed expression. As expected, it was Hiyama Daisuke and his gang the Bastards Four (the nickna Haji had for them). Every ti, they would try to create trouble for Haji during the period before the training comnced. They were half of the reason why Haji was so depressed during training. (The other half was because of his incompetence)
“Yo, Nagumo, what are you doing? There is no aning with you carrying that sword, you are so useless after all~”
“Hey, Hiyama that was overboard! Even if that is the truth, you don’t have to say it out~ Wehehehehe”
“Why do you co for every training! If it was , I would have been too ashad of myself! Heh-heh-heh”
“Ah, Daisuke, since that fellow is so pitiful, why don’t let him train with us?”
Hiyama and the rest were laughing like madman, was there any aning to this?
“Ah? Hey hey, Shinji, aren’t you being too nice? Oh, actually I am also a nice guy, let’s train together~”
“Oh oh, good idea. We are super nice. We are willing to spend our precious ti to help this incompetent fellow~. Nagumo~ you must be grateful, right?”
After saying their piece, Hiyama and gang was all smiles as they brought Haji to a secluded place shoulder to shoulder. Moreover, the classmates who noticed this scene also turned a blind eye to it.
“No, I am alright being alone, you can leave by my loneso self.”
As such, Haji tried to reject tactfully.
“Ha? We are going out of the way to train the useless you, and yet you were saying this to us? You are being unreasonable. You just need to remain silent, and say ‘thank you’ afterwards. Just that sentence will be enough!”
As Hiyama said that, he hit Haji in the side. “Urgh!” Haji let out a groan as his face distorted in pain. Haji did not rember that they were those type of people who would easily resort to violence. However when adolescence boys were suddenly granted such huge power, it was only natural for them to be deeply engrossed. As thus, they were unable to restrain themselves from targeting Haji. Haji who had no power to resist, could only clench his teeth and bear with it.
Not long later, they arrived at an isolated corner of the training ground. Hiyama sent Haji flying with a violent punch.
“Hey, get up quickly. Isn’t this a happy training period?”
Hiyama, Nakano, Saito, and Kondo then surrounded Haji. Haji gritted his teeth and stood up unwillingly.
“Gua!?”
At that mont, Kondo used his sheathed sword to hit Haji on his back. Haji let out a scream as he fell forward, and even more attacks were added on.
“Hey, why are you sleeping? It’s going to burn~ Burn my target, 【Fireball】”
Nakano launched a fireball. Haji who was unable to get up from the floor due to the pain on his back desperately rolled around to avoid the spell. However, as if it was already planned, Saito casted another spell.
“Slice my target, 【Windball】”
Haji who just stood up was hit by the windball in the stomach, and was sent flying by the wind. Haji let out a “Bleeegh” sound as he throw up so gastric fluid while squatting. The magic itself was just a simple 10 cm wide magic. Even if that was the case, it still had the power of a professional boxer’s punch. The main reason for such power was due to their high aptitude, the other reason was because the dium they used were the Divine Artifacts given by the Kingdom. Otherwise, their attacks would be even weaker than the fire used in cooking or a cool breeze.
“Hey, you are too weak. Nagumo-chan~ can’t you put in so effort?”
With that, Hiyama kicked Haji who was still crouching in the stomach. Haji did his best to prevent himself from puking. The lynching which was disguised as training also continued for a period of ti. Haji clenched his teeth to bear the pain while he lanted why was he the only one who was so weak. Even if he was no match for them, he could at least counter-attack. However, since young, Haji was never good at dealing with conflicts. Whenever there was a conflict between Haji and the others, only he would get hurt. He believed that if he took a step back, the conflict would eventually co to end, which was much better than quarreling.
So people said such actions of Haji was very kind while others said Haji was just a coward. Haji himself also didn’t know which was he classified as. When the pain was getting unbearable, an angry girl’s voice suddenly rang out.
“What are you all doing!?”
When the ******* Four heard that voice, their faces revealed a dreaded expression. It was only natural. That girl was Hiyama’s crush, Kaori. However, it was not just Kaori, even Shizuku, Kouki, and Ryutaro ca too.
“ No, please do not misunderstand. We were just helping Nagumo with his special training…”
“Nagumo-kun!”
Kaori ignored Hiyama’s explanation as she ran beside Haji who was still squatting and coughing non-stop. The mont she saw Haji, everything else did not matter to her.
“Special training? Then this was a really one-sided training.”
“No, this is…”
“I don’t care about your excuses. Among the classmates, Nagumo-kun is not suited for combat. This kind of incident should not happen again.”
“If you have so much free ti, you should use it to train yourself and get stronger.”
Seeing the situation, Hiyama and the others let out an awkward laughter as they left in a hurry. Under Kaori’s healing magic, Haji’s injuries were gradually recovering.
“T-thank you Shirasaki-san. I’m saved.”
Looking at Haji’s bitter smile, Kaori shook her head as she teared up.
“Has this been always happening? If that’s the case, I…”
For so reason, Kaori was glaring at the direction which Hiyama and his gang left in, Haji hurriedly tried to stop her.
“No, it is not always like this! It’s alright, I am fine!”
“But…”
Even so, Kaori looked like she was still unable to accept it, Haji reassured her with another smile. Finally, Kaori relented.
“Nagumo-kun, if there is anything just feel free to tell . If not, you can also talk to Kaori.”
Shizuku forced a smile as she cast a sidelong glance at Kaori who had an agonized expression, and Haji also expressed his thanks to her. However, pouring cold water here was also the Hero’s ⌈1⌋ talent.
“But, Nagumo should work harder too. Excuses will not help you beco stronger. I have heard that during the break ti, you are always in the library. I suppose that should stop now. If I was you, I will spend every mont of my free ti training to beco stronger. Nagumo, you should also be more serious, otherwise, Hiyama and his gang might bully you again.”
How could Haji explain his way out? Haji stood there half-dazed as he listened. Ah~ ah~ seriously, Amanogawa was a person who believed in the good of others, so he thought that everybody would act out of kindness. This was why he gave such an advice to Haji. Haji couldn’t help but force a smile. In Amanogawa’s line of thoughts, there is no evil in humanity. He thought that those people had a reason behind their actions. It was surely not because of the other person involved! He had this kind of thought process.
Furthermore, Kouki did not have any malice behind his words, he was seriously advising Haji to be more serious. Haji was already exhausted and did not have any energy to resolve the misunderstanding. He thought it would be useless to correct Kouki who had such a strong sense of justice.
Shizuku who understood the situation covered her face and heaved a sigh, she apologised to Haji in a low voice.
“I’m sorry, Kouki did not have any ill intentions.”
“Ahaha… En, I know, so it’s fine.”
Haji replied with a smile as he got up and dusted off his dirty clothes.
“Look, training has already started. Let’s go?”
Under Haji’s urging, everybody returned to the training grounds. Kaori was still concerned about Haji, but Haji kept feigning ignorance. As expected, as a man, he did not want to reveal his weak side to a fellow female classmate.
On the way back to the training ground, Haji kept sighing. His future looked bleak.
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Usually after the training ended, they would have free ti till dinner ti. However this ti, Commander ld held everybody back for an announcent. The students were wondering what was going on as Commander ld used a deep voice to announce.
“From tomorrow onward, we will be conducting our practical training in Orcus Great Dungeon. All the necessary equipnt will be prepared by us, I want to use the Magic Beasts outside the capital as practice target. More importantly, get your spirits up! Have a good rest tonight! Dismiss!”
He quickly conveyed the important announcent like this. Amongst the hustling and bustling of the students, Haji sat at the end as he looked up at the sky.
(…My future looks really bleak.)
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