Hajime Nagumo is the titular main protagonist & antihero of the "Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest" series. He was originally a member of the Hero Party, where he was ostracized for receiving the commonplace "Synergist" job and his weak stats, until his presumed death in the Orcus Labyrinth, after which he discovered the truth about the world and made it his goal to return to Japan at all costs. He mutated into a monster hybrid when he devoured the meat of the monsters and is no longer considered to be a pureblooded human. Before his transformation, Hajime had black hair, brown eyes, and a slim body, along with a kind face. After falling into the abyss and eating a pair of twin-tailed wolf monster meat, his body began to wither away. He immediately drank the ambrosia found in the abyss to counter the poisonous effects of the monster meat. His body began to heal and grow stronger and becoming more muscular. Due to the stress of the revitalization, his hair turned white. His eyes also turned blood-red and his body gained tattoo-like red veins (Light Novel and Manga). Inside of his body, his normal red blood cells turned into a purple spiked blood cells, a sign of becoming a demonic monster. He also grew 10 cm in height. This change in his appearance (along with his personality and abilities) made it difficult for those who knew Hajime before to recognize him at first, only recognizing him because of his voice and facial features. Shortly after falling into the abyss, Hajime lost his left arm to the Claw Bear on the first floor. He later lost his right eye during his battle against the Hydra on the 100th floor. After completing the Great Orcus Labyrinth and gaining creation magic, Hajime replaced both of them with a mechanical arm made with Creation Magic and an artifact called the Demon Eye. Hajime's adventure outfit consists of a black coat with crimson-colored linings and trimmings, coupled with a gray blazer and a buttoned white shirt underneath it, along with a cravat terminated by a ring tied around his neck. He wears black pants that have gun holsters attached to them, as well as knee-length black boots. His appearance has been described to look like an anime character, something Hajime is painfully aware of. After he returned to Earth, Hajime's hair was reverted to its original black color due to Kaori's improved Restoration Magic. He decided, however, to keep his mechanical arm and demon eye, disguising them as his original arm and eye in order to keep Tortus' existence secret from the general public. Hajime was originally very laid back and timid, but was humble, with a kind and gentle heart. Though mild-mannered, he had a special type of bravery and strength of heart that allowed him to sacrifice his own dignity and well-being to protect people from harm. Kaori noted that it would be easy to be a hero to fight against evil if one were already strong, but it takes true strength to go against evil if one knows that they are weak. His strength of heart is evident by his ability to keep calm when his class faced extreme danger from a Behemoth. While Kouki had momentarily been paralyzed by fear, Hajime snapped him out of it. He had a motto of "Hobbies First", and would put his hobbies over everything else, despite being ridiculed by his peers. He was also considered mature by some, especially his true friends. He was lazy at school mainly because his future is already set and he would be likely to work at his father's videogame company. He always comes to school when the class almost started, sleep the entire lesson, and wake up when it's break time or school is over. This is because he stays up late to play videogames or read manga, sometimes helping his father and mother with their work. His grade is average and he doesn't play sports at all. After being betrayed and thrown into the abyss to die because of Hiyama's cowardly betrayal, anger, hunger, fear of dying, and despair drove Hajime to his limit. All these factors mixed with his desire to survive and live at any cost, causing his gentle personality to change into that of a cold, ruthless, brutal, bloodthirsty, unstable and sadistic killer. He abandoned most of his former kind and generous nature, exchanging it for that of a cold and indifferent man capable even of abandoning a person to death without a second thought. This can be seen when Hajime's goal is not to free Tortus from Ehit's tyranny by defeating him. Rather, it is the opposite. Hajime's only concern is to survive and return to Japan with no concern for the fate of Tortus or its inhabitants. He no longer even cares about his former classmates that he is even willing to kill them without any hesitation, if they become his enemies. He has stated that he will murder all the Humans, Demons and even destroy Tortus itself if he has to. He will show no mercy to anyone, including his own classmates if they dare to cross him. Shizuku and Aiko have even acknowledged he would slaughter them, if they were to attack him at the instigation of the Heiligh Kingdom and the Holy Church. Hajime developed a habit of smiling in front of danger which prompted Shea to call him a new species of monster called a "Predator". Due to the hardships he had suffered, Hajime developed a firm belief in independence, namely relying on one's own abilities to solve problems and to overcome obstacles independently. Thus, when he was safeguarding Shea's family and clansmen, Hajime opted to train the Haulia Rabbitmen to be strong enough to protect themselves. Additionally, Hajime refused to do anything about Ehit's manipulation of the people of Tortus, stating to Miledi that it is their own problem to solve, and that he has no intention to risk his life for their well-being, as she and her fellow Liberators had. He also refused Chase's attempts to persuade him to rejoin them or teach the Heiligh Kingdom's Synergists how to manufacture firearms to aid them in their war efforts. Kouki has stated Hajime could have convinced him of Ehit's true nature as an evil god by thoroughly explaining it several times. Hajime simply called Kouki stupid, fiercely criticizing him and his other classmates' beliefs that they must always risk life and limb to protect others as delusional and naïve, stating that it is because they keep holding onto and believing in such ridiculous ideas that they allowed Eri and Hiyama to stab them in the back, nearly leading to their own deaths. Hajime also told Shizuku to stop being so protective of her classmates in the Schnee Great Labyrinth as they must learn to overcome their own trials by themselves in order to attain Age of God's Magic to realize their respective goals. Hajime also believes that it is strong resolve and determination, rather than power and abilities, that allow one to realize their goals. Therefore, when Kouki criticized Hajime's refusal to defeat Ehit and save Tortus, Hajime took the chance to berate Kouki's indecisiveness, weak will, and misguided faith in his naïve idealisms by pointing out that despite being blessed by Ehit with the strongest powers out of his classmates in the beginning, he keeps screwing up during desperate moments when it truly mattered, such as during Cattleya's ambush and Eri's death trap. Despite his merciless nature, Hajime cares deeply for his comrades, as they are the last fragment of his lost kindness. Kaori and Shizuku noted that, despite his newfound strength, confidence, and courage, Hajime is always desperate to protect his comrades and to defend against any potential dangers that may befall them, a trait he has exemplified even before his fall into the Great Orcus Labyrinth. As the series progresses, Hajime eventually proves himself to be willing to help the weak and helpless, particularly if his companions coax him into doing it, though he often does it while still demonstrating a cold demeanor. His methods are efficient and merciless, frequently to the point of brutality. He is resistant to guilt trips and appeals to his moral compass, as seen when Kouki repeatedly tries to make appeals to Hajime's morals and fails. Despite outwardly appearing reckless and brave, Hajime is actually quite cautious, taking any possible precaution to prevent disadvantages, even if they are minimal and is not willing to take any unnecessary and futile risk, such as his refusal to part with his techno-magical firearms and artillery when More Nos wanted to buy his weapons, or when Chase tried to persuade him to help the Heiligh Kingdom mass-produce firearms for their war. Hajime knew that with Ehit's absolute influence over the people of Tortus, giving up his weapons to the Holy Church and Heiligh Kingdom would be an extremely risky mistake, as he knows that they will all eventually be turned against him. Hajime even threatened Chase with death if he ever tried to steal Donner, much to the shock of Aiko and his classmates. Hajime also took the opportunity to tell Aiko of what he learned about Ehit, in order to warn and gain her help & support in warning his other classmates about it. His motives were not altruism, but to minimize the chance that his classmates would turn against him under Ehit's manipulation. Hajime also reluctantly agreed to Kouki's party members' requests in helping them gain Age of God's Ancient Magic as a precaution, in case he needed their help to fight against more of Ehit's Apostles. Hajime also told Shizuku that he preferred to resolve problems early rather than at the last minute before it went out of control, lamenting that Kaori's murder and nearly becoming an undead slave by Hiyama's hands was traumatizing, even for himself. While Hajime is usually blunt and cold to most people after his transformation and is not above expressing his annoyance with even those close to him, he is very spoiling towards those he loves, his family, or towards people he's become fond of. Though usually cold towards people he meets, Hajime is not above showing respect and behaving courteously towards people he finds interesting. While he usually scoffs at figures in positions, authority and power, he is shown to express respect to authority figures that are competent, cunning and who are willing to help others such as Catherine, Ilwa Chang and Lanzwi Feuward Zengen. Hajime become a very popular person with women. Kouki, who was popular with women before, lost his fame and become jealous of Hajime. But Hajime didn't want to use this to his advantage and initially, he had eyes for Yue and Yue alone. But after the incident at the Haltina labyrinth, where his feelings for his comrades (harem) were reversed, he realized how much they truly meant to him and subsequently started to accept the romantic attempts of the others around him after accepting Shea as his second girlfriend. This is often shown in how he would flirt with Yue and later his other wives without concern for his surroundings. While he was against Myu calling him "papa", he quickly became a doting and overprotective father to her. When around his in-laws, Hajime is more respectful and patient than how he is with his own birth parents, using polite language when talking with them, something his wives, his classmates and his other close associates still not used to. While Hajime appears to be one with certain air of arrogance and stubbornness to most people, he can still be "easily talked" into doing things that he'd initially unwilling to do, by his wives and especially Yue. Also, his doting tendencies towards Myu does make him more approachable with children, as shown during his stay in Verbergen. He once took up an impromptu babysitting of a group of beastmen children, who were fascinated by the stories of his adventures and small trinkets he is able to synergize at will. The scene of children taking an afternoon nap with Hajime was too adorable for his wives, as it reminds them of the future when they too have kids with Hajime. One other trait that remains unchanged about Hajime is that he still remains an Otaku - something that Kaori points out, while Yaegashi teases him with. Hajime bases most of his creations and even his appearance off things from anime, manga, and video games. He's even gone out of his way to create massive and extremely difficult-to-make artifacts, simply because it would be cooler. Hajime feels very self-conscious about this, as he's fully aware it's all true. Being a Synergist at heart as well, Hajime can become so passionate about what he decides to make that he won't stop or compromise until he finishes what he started. This has led him to go overboard on more than one project and add many pointless but cool features to his Artifacts. Due to his Otaku nature, Hajime has several fetishes that can cause him to become aroused and excited. He has a strong preference to beast-girls, especially bunny girls as seen when he was learning about the various races of Tortus, lamenting at the harsh conditions that the beastmen were forced to endure. Even after his transformation in Orcus Labyrinth, he still retains this preference which is shown when he starts fondling Shea's bunny ears. This habit grows much more, especially after Shea becomes his second lover. He also has a fondness of maids, as was seen when he became excited and nearly ogled a Heiligh Kingdom royal maid after she served him a drink. It was due to his obsession with maids that he attempted to inherit Oscar Orcus's will of creating a maid golem. He succeeded by creating Freesia, a human-shaped Grim Reaper. Due to his maid fetish, he created the Fleur Knights, a group of combat maids which consisted of beautiful women which he trained.
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