Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 1 (light novel)

by Hiro Ainana

  So that wasn’t the same as a core? Come to think of it, even though the monster was semitransparent, I couldn’t see a red orb anywhere. Do slimes not have cores?

  At any rate, when I looked where Liza was pointing, there was a small orb about half the size of a fist that was a darker color than the rest of the body.

  “If you just destroy the nucleus…”

  As we’d been chatting, the slime had slowly been oozing closer, but Liza took it out with a single thrust of her spear.

  “…you can defeat a slime easily,” she concluded.

  “We didn’t get a turn!”

  “It just melted away, sir!”

  It seemed like Pochi and Tama had been raring to fight the slime, because they looked a little disappointed. No, actually, Pochi seemed more upset that it had turned into a puddle of liquid. She prodded at it glumly with her short sword.

  Still, we hadn’t seen any human corpses since two breaks ago, never mind survivors. The larger groups were still going strong, but all the small parties except for one were gone, probably eliminated by monsters.

  “This wall is…weird?”

  Tama had found a spot on the wall that looked out of place. It seemed to be a hidden door. When I consulted the map, it appeared there was indeed a passageway behind it.

  But something was strange. I rotated the map to look at it from an overhead point of view. The path led from a room fifty feet above to a thousand-foot vertical drop, about ten feet across. Is this some kind of pitfall trap?

  If this was a game, this might be a good place for an elevator shortcut to and from the deepest part of the dungeon. It would be dangerous to just carelessly go near it, so I had Tama make a mark on it with charcoal.

  There was a crossroads ahead once we left the room, and in the front and center rooms, my map showed three survivors. They had been there about an hour ago when we took a break, too, so they must have been hiding in a safe place.

  They were only five rooms away from the exit, but without a map, I guess they had no way of knowing that.

  “Everyone, stop!”

  The red dot of an enemy had appeared on my radar and was coming toward us at an alarming speed. There was only one, so I figured we could go back to the previous room and ambush it.

  As we went back, I checked its information on the map. Undead Beast, an undead-type creature. Weakness: holy type. It had the skills “Quick Maneuvers” and “Sprinting.”

  Continuing to read the information, I was a bit startled. “It’s…level forty?” That was stronger than any of the demons we’d seen so far. Was it here to sweep out the dungeon?!

  This was just like an old game: an absurdly strong monster that appears if the player doesn’t clear the stage fast enough.

  I hurried the three girls along, and we somehow made it into the room before the enemy arrived. I had the others take shelter in a corner. This guy would be way too much for them. If I let them fight it, they might get killed in a single blow.

  The creature ambled in from the passageway. It looked like a huge panther—fifteen feet long and almost seven feet tall—with a red horn on its forehead.

  Suddenly, it disappeared from sight.

  Frantic, I checked the radar, but its position hadn’t changed. There was a crash from above—was it leaping up to kick off from the ceiling and tackle me?!

  I felt its paws hit my shoulders, and my back slammed into the ground so hard that I felt the floor crack. Good thing I had turned on my “Pain Resistance” skill when we first wound up in the labyrinth.

  Still, were undead monsters supposed to be that fast?! If it kept darting about, I might not be able to cover the girls. I grabbed on to its legs with both hands, digging my fingers in deep to stop it.

  …Maybe it was one of my skills, but my eye was suddenly drawn to the hidden door in the room.

  The undead monster seemed not to feel pain, because it ignored my crushing grasp on its legs and started a biting attack. I’d rather not experience these giant-ass fangs, if at all possible.

  I pushed it up and away from me, grabbed it by the middle, and threw it overhead into the wall. The undead monster landed its feet against the side of the room and started to push off for a counterattack—only to break right through and fall into the pit.

  Good thing I had that “Trap Setting” skill.

  Now then, maybe we should meet up with those survivors.

  When we went through the crossroads, a tacky white string was lying across the ground.

  “Sticky, sticky!”

  “It’s clinging to my feet, sir.”

  “Maybe it’s a spider’s thread?”

  The closer we got to the room, the thicker the spider thread became; I had Pochi and Tama clear the way with their short swords.

  In the room, we found seven cocoon-like objects. Looks like the survivors are in three of these. We’d better get them out while the spider’s not here.

  As we got closer, the people inside noticed and started wriggling frantically.

  Just in case, I figured I’d check up on their information before we rescued them.

  Nidoren. Forty-year-old slaver, level 11, with the skills “Negotiation,” “Animal Taming,” and “Calculation.”

  Viscount Jean Belton. Thirty-three-year-old noble, level 15, with the skills “Fire Magic,” “Blaze Magic,” and “Sociability.” Apparently, he served as the sorcery advisor for the count’s army.

  The last person was a young man without a job. He was level 3, without any skills. What’s this guy, a NEET?

  The viscount looked like he could be useful in combat, but what had he been doing in the square in the first place?

  At any rate, we divided up the work and set about freeing the men. I was in charge of the viscount, Liza was taking care of the merchant, and I assigned Pochi and Tama to the young man.

  As we were about halfway through cutting the thick cocoons, I saw on my radar a spider approaching from below. There must have been a similar pit in here to the one I’d cast the undead beast into.

  “There’s an enemy on the way! Pochi, Tama, Liza, stop for a moment and get ready to intercept it!”

  The beastfolk quickly readied their weapons and stood prepared to take on the spider. After the many battles they’d fought along the way, they seemed pretty used to cooperating.

  It was a small mercy that we hadn’t yet freed the faces of the trapped survivors. We didn’t need them yammering away while we were trying to fight.

  The spider crawled out from a hole in the floor. First, I tossed a stone at its head so it would focus on me. Next, Liza skewered its head with her spear to stop it from moving, and Pochi and Tama stabbed its abdomen with their short swords.

  It would’ve been nice if this first round of attacks was enough to kill it, but I guess it’s no surprise that a demonic monster wouldn’t die instantly from a stab to the face.

  It reared up its front legs, but Liza stopped them in place with her spear held horizontally, and Pochi and Tama used that gap to go at it with their short swords, chipping away at its HP.

  It seemed like this would take a while, so I stealthily flicked a small coin right through its heart, finishing off the creature. I timed my strike with one of Liza’s attacks, so hopefully nobody would notice.

  Leaving Tama to retrieve the core, the rest of us went back to our rescue mission. The viscount and I exchanged introductions as I finished rescuing him.

  “Thank you for saving me. I am Viscount Jean Belton, the head of the prestigious Belton family, which has continued since the days of the ancestral king Yamato. If we make it out of here, you may expect to be handsomely rewarded.”

  “Thank you, Viscount. I’m Satou, a peddler.”

  I handed the viscount a water pouch and went to help save the others.

  “Thank you so much for your help. I am Nidoren the merchant. This may upset the young ladies here, but I trade in slaves.”

  “I’m a novice peddler, Satou.”

&n
bsp; “A peddler, eh? I would have sworn you to be an adventurer.”

  “An adventurer?” I asked, handing Nidoren some water. “I’ve never heard of an occupation like that before. What sort of people are they?”

  “Ah…perhaps in the Shiga Kingdom they’d be called ‘explorers.’ They fight monsters in dungeons, collecting monster cores and treasures. It’s a profitable trade, but only if you don’t mind being at death’s door at any given moment.”

  I see… So there are gamelike occupations in this world, too, huh?

  “Tch! Don’t touch me, beastchild! Give me the short sword, and I’ll do it myself!”

  “I—I can’t do that, sir. This sword belongs to my master, sir.”

  “What’s that?! You’ve got a lot of nerve for a beastfolk brat!”

  Pochi seemed to be having trouble with the young man she was trying to save, so I went over to help her.

  This guy seems like an ass, though. That blond hair looks kind of familiar… Oh, it’s the same guy who kicked the firewood out of Pochi’s arms back in the east quarter!

  “Pochi, come back over here.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She rushed over, her eyes starting to fill with tears from being yelled at; I caught her in my arms and patted her head reassuringly. The way she was rubbing her face into my stomach tickled a bit, but I wasn’t going to stop her in her current state.

  “Oi, you, hurry up and help me!”

  “Sorry, but I’m not really feeling it anymore. You can just stay and get eaten by a monster or whatever. One of your hands is free now, so you should be able to get out on your own, right?”

  Of course, I wasn’t serious. It was just a little threat.

  But since he made Pochi cry, I figured the least I could do was let him fear for his life a little.

  “Hey, that’s not funny! Get me out of here now!”

  “Silence, peasant,” the viscount thundered at the young man recklessly flapping his jaw. “If you make another sound and risk attracting more monsters, I’ll burn you to cinders, down to your very bones, with my flames.”

  That’s a lot of intensity for a fairly young guy. People who are used to being waited on hand and foot sure are different.

  In the end, we left to Nidoren the job of rescuing the third man. He skillfully used a slim dagger to cut through the thread. As he worked, he whispered something in the young man’s ear, and the rescue immediately stopped his grumbling.

  An old man’s words to the wise, maybe?

  Watching with admiration, I paused to accept the core from Tama.

  “The cores here are of a very high grade. It’s not often you see one so red on the market.”

  According to Nidoren, these could be purified for use in the creation of Magic Items; the higher the grade, the more effective the result, making it possible to create high-quality magical tools.

  I had the beastfolk girls recover the articles of the deceased in the rest of the cocoons while I offered the survivors some food. (Not the frog meat, of course.) The viscount made some complaints about the humble quality, but his hunger won out in the end, and he gobbled up his fill.

  Some light armor was in a few of the cocoons, so I handed it off to Nidoren and the viscount. The young man had gotten meeker since being admonished by the older merchant, so I gave him some equipment for self-defense, just in case. I’ll just think of it as increasing our party’s combat ability.

  In the end, that plan may have been a bit naive.

  “I have no desire to use my magic on such minor foes as these. My abilities are suited for only the most formidable opponents.”

  “I’ll take care of myself somehow, but don’t count on me to help out in combat, please.”

  The viscount wouldn’t use his magic because of some excuse or another, and Nidoren blithely declared himself unfit for combat, so both conveniently avoided helping in battle.

  Nidoren’s one thing, but I had high hopes for the viscount’s magic.

  But more frustrating than either of those two was the young man. Apparently, being given the bronze short sword and shield had gone to his head…

  “Hmph! If those beastfolk brats can fight, then I can take on a hundredfold more than them combined! If I’d had a weapon back there, that stupid spider wouldn’t have slowed me down a bit!” he declared, rushing to attack a monster—only to be nearly defeated in a single hit.

  His opponent was a single level 10 skeleton, so before it could finish him off, Pochi rushed in and saved him, catching the blow from its club with her small shield.

  “Liza, if you would.”

  “Of course.”

  At my simple order, Liza hefted her spear. She broke through the skeleton’s form with her first strike, knocked off the arm holding its weapon with the second, and destroyed its skull with her third.

  Despite the fact that it lacked eyeballs in the first place, it seemed the skeleton could no longer see after losing its skull, and it launched an attack completely at random. Pochi and Tama sprang into action, and the two girls dispatched their opponent with ease.

  Still, having seen a skeleton-type monster in person for the first time, I had to wonder: How on earth do they move? Is the core the source of their power, maybe?

  Once again, I had to ask Nidoren to take care of the young man, who was lying on the ground moaning.

  “Are you all right there?”

  “Tch… I didn’t expect a skeleton to be so strong.”

  “It looks like you might have a broken rib here…”

  Ignoring the young man’s curses, I listened to the slave merchant’s diagnosis. If his rib is broken, we shouldn’t move him… What are we supposed to do?

  “Nngh…! Am I gonna die here?”

  “If Pochi hadn’t saved you, I’m pretty sure you’d have died the instant that club hit your skull.”

  This would’ve been the perfect chance for him to apologize to Pochi after she’d saved his life, but he didn’t utter a word of thanks. Well, I’m not interested in hearing his complaints, then.

  “Damn it, damn it, damn it! I gotta live! I’m not gonna die in a place like this!” the young man spat bitterly, as blood trickled from his lips.

  “Hmph. If he can’t walk on his own, we should leave him behind. Meeting up with the troops who have been sent to help us is more important right now. Know that your own foolhardiness has been the death of you, peasant. You should accept the consequences of your actions.”

  Whoa, that’s cold. Unlike me, he sounds completely serious.

  Pochi and Tama were looking up at me with eyes that begged me to do something for the man, so I had no choice but to break out one of my last resorts.

  “Use this medicine, then.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a magic potion.”

  “Magic potion?!”

  He seemed pretty shocked by that phrase, but it was just something I’d found in the alchemist’s house, so I had no idea how effective it would actually be.

  Be grateful that Pochi and Tama are so kind, pal. If they hadn’t pressed me to do something, I doubt I would’ve given you this.

  Nervously, the young man brought the potion to his lips. The effect was startlingly immediate.

  Just moments ago, he’d been groaning in pain, but less than a second afterward, he shouted, “I’m healed!” and leaped to his feet. It was just as quick as it would have been in a game. I found it a tiny bit disturbing, to be honest.

  “A single intermediate-level potion is worth three gold coins, you know. You must be a very odd fellow to let a stranger drink a thing like that.”

  When the slave merchant quoted a number that was a bit higher than my estimated market price, the color drained right back out of the young man’s face.

  I wasn’t particularly planning to demand a fee from him, but I didn’t go out of my way to tell him not to worry, either.

  Thanks to my “Keen Hearing” skill, the sound of a commotion ahead of us reached my ears b
efore anyone else’s.

  Zena and her group of soldiers were battling slimes. But had they really charged into a room chock-full of monsters without trying to clear it out first? That seemed way too careless.

  “Fightiiing!”

  “I hear battle sounds coming from over there, sir!”

  Pochi and Tama must have heard it, too, because they pointed in that direction as they made their report.

  I nodded and told the other survivors that we would go on ahead.

  “It seems someone’s engaged in combat a little farther up. We’ll go in first, so please follow behind and watch our backs.”

  The viscount looked like he was about to say something, but I ran off without stopping to listen.

  Zena didn’t seem to be injured, but she was low on MP, so I was worried about her.

  A few men clad in tunics tumbled out of the room Zena and the other soldiers were in.

  “Wah! Stay away from me!”

  “It burns…so hot… I don’t wanna die!”

  The last man seemed to be pressed into the ground, apparently being sucked in by a slime. He desperately stretched out his hand, begging for help, but his compatriots were too terrified to do anything but shrink away.

  “Pochi, Tama, grab some torches from the bag.”

  “’kay!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  I lit the ends of their torches with the Tinder Rod, taking one for myself as well.

  “Use these to drive back the slimes and pull them off that man. Liza, take them out by aiming at their nuclei. Once you beat them, leave the cleanup for later and follow me.”

  The three of them confirmed their orders, and we rushed into the room. I was a little worried about leaving the younger girls on their own, but since Liza was with them and knew how to defeat these monsters, it should be an easy victory for them. They had the torches, too.

  Focusing on Zena’s marker on my radar, I pushed past the people and slimes locked in a free-for-all.

  There she is! Zena was fighting off slimes with a long staff, protecting a group of priestesses who were in turn protecting the Oracle. The fact that she was using her staff must mean she’d finally run out of magic.