Arifureta: From Whelp to Dragonlord

Part 36: Complexes

-With Keiji and Kaori-

"Cough, cough, ugh."

"Huff huff, are you okay, Kaori?"

"Y-Yeah, somehow... Everyone is..."

In front of Kaori, coughing from drinking a large amount of seawater, was Keiji, whose hand was coiled on her waist, and a pure-white sand beach. There was nothing else besides those around her, but she could densely see packed mangrove-like trees in the distance, and the surface of the waving sea high in the sky. The seawater was like a barrier, preventing any intruder. It was a vast space.

"Looks like we got separated... Well, Hajime gave everyone smaller versions of "Treasure Box," so we should be able to do something by ourselves until we find everyone else."

"... Nn."

Keiji lightly said after letting go of Kaori, and fixed his hair. However, Kaori's mind seems to be somewhere else.

While watching Keiji stand up and light a flame to dry his clothes Kaori recalled what happened a while ago.

Their party attempted a strategic retreat from the huge Clione.

The place they fell into was a gigantic, spherical space with tens of tunnels, where it was spouting seawater with tremendous force. Or maybe it could be said that they were flowing from there; a place with a storm-like and messy current.

Swept by the swift current, their party somehow managed to stick close together, but next the current mercilessly separated the party. Yue tried to control the current with magic, but it didn't work well because the current was too random. Shia controlled the weight of Doryukken in cooperation with Tio; a fine play.

Hajime had wanted to take out the submarine and ride it, but it was impossible inside the swift current. Clenching his teeth, Hajime took out ultra-heavy, compression ore, and tried to use the weight to overcome the current just like Shia.

At that time, by luck, he saw Yue getting swept towards him, and Yue would meet up with Hajime thanks to the current. Shia and Tio had already disappeared into a tunnel somewhere, and their figures could no longer be seen inside the space.

Hajime reached out to Yue so she wouldn't get separated from him before they got swept into on of the tunnels.

Kaori's figure was being swept to the lower side and had entered Keiji's view. The pained gaze of Kaori met Keiji's as he tried to maneuver towards her with his wings but the current kept forcing him away from her.

So Keiji decided to use the weight from the ultra-heavy compressed ore from "Treasure Box," Keiji rushed below, and then he caught Kaori. Kaori's eyes were wide in surprise, but the two were immediately exposed to an even stronger swift current. Together, the two were thrown into a tunnel.

While being swept away, Keiji activated his barrier to protect Kaori in his arms, enduring it even when he was thrown at a rock wall. Then, he was able to see light coming from above once the current weakened and went up.

And there was the pure white sandy beach spread across the coastline.

"... Nee, Keiji-kun Why... why did you save me?"

"Heh?"

Kaori questioned Keiji whose back was turned towards her. he tilted his head, thinking "What kind of question was that?"

"Why did you save me and not Tio or Shia?"

"Well, they seemed to have it covered and if you got hurt I could never forgive myself."

"... You really trust them, eh."

"Isn't that natural? We are allies, right?"

"..."