Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 10

by Hiro Ainana

  “…Please help.”

  I whispered what might well be my dying wish.

  “Geh-heh-heh, you crying, Princess? Who’s going to save you, huh?”

  The giant holding my rope sneered and licked my cheek with his disgusting tongue.

  I felt myself shed a single tear at my helplessness and disgrace.

  “Who, you ask? Why, a noble band of heroes, of course!”

  A young voice echoed through the battlefield of despair.

  That voice could only belong to…

  Final Battle

  Satou here. They say the good you do for others is good you do for yourself. I’ve certainly seen some people who seem to misunderstand the meaning of that phrase, but I think I’ve also experienced its true meaning many times. And it applies in a parallel world, too.

  “Where’s Princess Meetia…? Ah, there you are.”

  When we arrived in the cylindrical cavern, we found ourselves above the ledge where Princess Meetia and the plunderers stood.

  On the ledge, which was about three hundred feet away from us, the stern-faced knight was fighting a giant man with a battle-ax.

  The other noble kids and their guardians were on a plateau even farther down, fighting desperately against two war mantises.

  As I looked on, I saw the woman plunderer lead her band along the wall to join the fight on the plateau.

  “No stairs, huh?”

  It looked like there had once been a spiral staircase down along the wall from here, but it had long since collapsed, leaving only some remains.

  “Uh-oh, Miss Ravna’s sword broke.”

  Arisa, who I was carrying under one arm, used the Space Magic spells Clairvoyance and Clairaudience to observe the situation.

  Setting her down on the floor, I produced some pebbles in my hand, getting ready to join the battle.

  Liza and the others should catch up soon, too.

  The army would take a little longer to get here, but I’d destroyed any enemies I saw along the way, so they should be fine.

  My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up a conversation from the cliff.

  “Done already, are we?”

  “Even if her sword breaks, a knight’s heart never wavers.”

  Ravna really was a gallant knight.

  If I wasn’t careful, I might even fall for her chivalry.

  “I’m going to go help. Arisa, once the others get here, let them know what’s going on.”

  “Okay, got it.”

  If it came down to it, I could always fall back on “Skyrunning,” so I went ahead and used the crumbling ruins of the stairs to run down.

  “…Please help.”

  “Geh-heh-heh, you crying, Princess? Who’s going to save you, huh?”

  My “Keen Hearing” skill caught Princess Meetia’s plea and the plunderer thug mocking her.

  “Who, you ask? Why, a noble band of heroes, of course!”

  Arisa’s shout interrupted the revolting thug’s mockery.

  She must have used the voice amplification magic tool that was normally reserved for calling out orders.

  The people below us all looked up as I came down toward them.

  “Some idiot is running down the wall!”

  Come on—don’t be rude.

  The plunderers on the ledge pointed their weapons toward me.

  If I had a phobia of pointy objects, the bristling swords and short spears would probably tempt me to turn away.

  Instead, I unfurled a preprepared scroll from my breast pocket.

  Using the Light Magic spell Illusion to make some convincing magic runes appear in the air, I used my magic menu to fire off the Remote Stun spell with as much moderation as I could.

  “A magic scroll?!”

  “Ready the Ultramarine Turtle Shield!”

  The plunderer underlings shouted at one another, but they couldn’t do anything from such a short distance.

  Invisible Magic Bullets sent their shields and weapons flying, and the small-fry plunderers started to shriek and collapse to the ground.

  “Knight Ravna! I’ll back you up!”

  As I approached, I drew my fairy sword and called out to the stern knight.

  It was fairly dark in here, so I thought she might not be able to see me.

  “I’ll crush you, Princess!”

  The giant plunderer grabbed Princess Meetia by her small neck.

  You really think I’d let you do that?

  Taking advantage of his large size, I used “Warp” to teleport myself right behind him.

  Before he could even react to my sudden disappearance, I lashed out with my fairy sword.

  Slashing through his wrist tendon, I kicked the plunderer in the stomach, sending him flying into the Plunderer King Ludaman before he could deliver a finishing blow to the knight.

  Using an umbrella of Magic Hand to catch the blood, I put it into my Trash folder in Storage and caught the released Princess Meetia.

  “M-my hand!”

  “Out of the way!”

  Ludaman cursed and booted the giant plunderer out of the way.

  As the giant stumbled, the remains of Ravna’s sword jabbed through his forehead.

  Yikes, no mercy… Can’t you keep the gore to a minimum, please?

  Sensing that the Plunderer King was ready for any attack she might make, the knight backstepped over to me instead.

  “Thank you for your assistance.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Use this to recover, please.”

  I handed a small pouch of magic potions to the chivalrous knight.

  “Tch, ye must be crazy to come down the wall like that.”

  I shrugged at Ludaman. “It was the only option I had to save my friends.”

  The plunderers I’d knocked out with a reduced version of Remote Stun started to pull themselves up from the ground.

  On top of that, my radar showed several dozen more plunderers on their way to this ledge.

  Not that they were any threat to us.

  “Hmph. Think yerself a hero, do ye, brat?”

  “You don’t have to be a hero to rescue your friends from a bad guy.”

  I would leave things like that to Hayato the Hero.

  If I could rescue the people I knew, that was good enough for me.

  I’d never turn my back on someone dying before my eyes, but I didn’t make a habit of deliberately seeking out people who were in trouble and saving them.

  “I’m ready, Sir Pendragon. That man is strong. We’ll have to work together if we hope to defeat him.”

  “Ye really plan to fight with that broken sword?”

  The Plunderer King sneered.

  Oh right, Knight Ravna’s sword was broken.

  I produced a Magic Sword from Storage by way of my Garage Bag.

  It was the Flame Sword I made with the help of Arisa and Mia before.

  I’d made some others during this round of labyrinth exploration, but I obviously couldn’t break out a handmade orichalcum Holy Sword in front of all these people.

  “Please use this, if you like. I apologize that it’s not a broadsword.”

  “Is this a Magic Sword…? What a remarkable blade. Victory will surely be ours with this.”

  Ravna produced fire and “Spellblade” around the magic blade.

  “Oh-ho? That’d fetch a pretty price, eh?”

  Ludaman licked his lips.

  “With evenly matched weapons, I shan’t fall to the likes of you.”

  “We’ll see about that, now, won’t we?”

  The plunderer produced some pills from his bosom and crunched them down.

  My AR display showed them as a pill version of demonic potion.

  “Aye, the power’s coursin’ through me.”

  Plunderer King Ludaman’s status condition changed to Demonic Potion: Overdosed.

  Across the surface of his body, red magic runes formed like rope and disappeared.

  “Right now, I’m the strongest man aliiiive!”

>   The dark light of magic still enveloping his body, the Plunderer King roared and charged toward us.

  Ravna blocked the battle-ax as it swung down at her.

  Red light and flames danced between the two.

  The ground below the knight’s feet started to give way, like an effect from an action manga.

  Cracks ran through the ledge.

  At this rate, wouldn’t this whole cliff break soon?

  Then I saw a change on my radar.

  “You’re wide open, kid.”

  A scantily clad plunderer jumped at me from behind with a curved blade.

  Then there was a light pop, and the female plunderer was sent flying as if she’d taken an invisible punch.

  “Thank you, Lulu!”

  Lulu had sniped down my would-be attacker before I needed to counterattack.

  “Tch, got a mage on yer side, do ye?”

  As the rest of my group arrived at the top of the cliff, Ludaman looked up at them and cursed.

  “We’re coming, master!”

  “Here we gooo?”

  “Let’s do it, sir!”

  The beastfolk girls scrabbled down the sparse footholds on the wall.

  Hey, that’s dangerous! What if you fall?!

  I quickly prepared my Magic Hand, then anxiously watched until the girls touched down safely.

  “Magic Swords and a Magic Spear, too! Those weapons are as good as ours, lassie!”

  The plunderers, who’d been playing dead, jumped up to attack the beastfolk girls.

  Like Ludaman, they had taken demonic potions and were glowing with red magic circles.

  “If you dare stand before my master’s Magic Spear, prepare to give up everything but your life!”

  Leaving a trail of red light behind her, Liza charged into the midst of the drug-enhanced plunderers.

  “Achilles’ heel?”

  With “Spellblade” on both her Magic Swords, Tama stayed low to the ground and darted about, cutting at the plunderers’ Achilles tendons.

  “Tch, you think you can beat us?!”

  A plunderer with a giant Ultramarine Turtle Shield stood in Pochi’s way.

  “Take this, sir!”

  Pochi used a foothold in midair to accelerate upward, leaping right over the shield in front of her.

  “Double jump, sir!”

  She must have acquired a skill that was an earlier form of “Skyrunning.”

  From the look of things, it was safe to leave Liza and the others to take care of the small-fry plunderers.

  “Sir Satou! Ravna needs help!”

  From behind me, Princess Meetia pointed at her valiant knight.

  Oops, that was close.

  I caught the knight as the Plunderer King sent her flying toward me.

  “I’ll slice both of ye in two!”

  Aglow with red light, the battle-ax plunged toward us.

  “Master!” Arisa’s desperate shriek echoed across the battlefield.

  “Die!”

  As Plunderer King Ludaman’s shout faded, a spray of red blood flew through the air, and the cliff was bathed in red light.

  “Guess that’s a win for the power of teamwork?”

  My fairy blade had blocked the battle-ax’s strike, while the knight’s Magic Sword slashed through his flank.

  Quickly, Ludaman leaped back.

  I wanted to chase him down, but I couldn’t abandon the knight when her legs had been severely injured, so I had to let the chance slide.

  Just then, our reinforcements reached the noble children down below.

  “It is I, Acting Viscount Sokell Bonam! Surrender, villainous plunderers!”

  For some reason, Sokell was leading the troops.

  If he was here in charge of these guards, then maybe the note I slipped into the guildmaster’s office about his demonic potion production scheme hadn’t come in handy just yet?

  “They’ve got reinforcements already? Let’s get outta here, men.”

  ““Yes’m!””

  After making a loud, monotone declaration like a bad actress, the dagger-wielding plunderer led her men up the wall to flee.

  “Lord Sokell, war mantises!”

  “Urgh! Kill them, quickly!”

  “W-we can’t!”

  Far from chasing after the escaping plunderers, Sokell started causing a panic about the war mantises that the nobles’ guardians were fighting.

  Ah, if you run that way, you’ll put the noble kids in danger.

  I spotted the chubby third son of the viceroy fleeing with a young girl.

  Sokell was one thing, but I couldn’t let the noble kids or soldiers who were just doing their jobs get eaten.

  A war mantis lunged at the viceroy’s son, so I flicked a pebble from Storage at it.

  Without even arcing in the air, the pebble simply crushed right through the mantis’s compound eyes and drilled into the wall behind it.

  KWAWWWMMMAAAA.

  Letting out a shriek, the war mantis jumped off the cliff and fled as fast as its legs would carry it.

  It wasn’t exactly the effect I was going for, but it did what I needed it to do, so we’d call it a win.

  “Tch, guess it’s time— Retreat, boys.”

  The Plunderer King Ludaman and his underlings threw down smoke bombs, covering the ledge with smoke.

  You really think I’ll let you get away?

  I used the onyx ring on my finger to produce an obsidian-like spear.

  I’d only tossed it at him, but it broke the Plunderer King’s arm, pinning him to a wall.

  “Gaaah! What’s this spear?! I can’t budge it!”

  Battle-ax or no, there was no way you could break that thing from such an unnatural angle.

  It was a magic object, after all. Since I poured plenty of magic into it, of course it produced a spear harder than steel.

  “We’re leaving, Ludaman.”

  “Hang in there, Cap’n Ludaman.”

  The Plunderer King’s two top brass were quick to abandon their leader and flee under cover of the smoke bombs. Just the kind of heartless behavior you’d expect from a criminal bunch.

  “D-damn you, you stubborn scale girl!”

  “A hairy fellow like yourself has no right to look down upon the orangescale tribe.”

  The scythe-wielding plunderer who was fighting Liza couldn’t seem to escape.

  “Zoooom?”

  “Don’t swing that, sir!”

  As soon as Tama and Pochi joined the fight, the scale quickly tipped in the beastfolk girls’ favor.

  According to the AR I could see through the smoke, the other small-fry plunderers had already been taken down by the beastfolk girls.

  “Graaaah!”

  Through the smoke, I dimly saw Plunderer King Ludaman swing his battle-ax, still pinned against the wall.

  Oh, ew.

  “Aaaargh!”

  Blood flew everywhere as he howled like an animal.

  Instead of the stone spear, Ludaman had aimed for his own arm that was pinned to the wall.

  “You’d go that far just to get away…?”

  While I stared in disbelief, the Plunderer King started to flee through the smoke.

  Come on. I told you you’re not getting away.

  I pulled out the scroll again to use the crowd-suppressing Short Stun spell.

  Princess Meetia and her knight were nearby, but in the smoke, they probably wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

  Confirming on the map that the plunderers in the smoke were now in the Fainted condition, I put away the scroll.

  I’d rounded them all up in one fell swoop, even the ones who had already fled.

  “Liza, when you’re done tying those guys up, get the unconscious ones in the passages there, too, please.”

  Leaving the beastfolk girls to take care of the rest, I turned to heal the knight’s legs.

  “This is worse than I thought.”

  Both of the knight’s kneecaps had been shattered along with her ar
mor.

  “What, this? Pour a little alcohol over it and it’ll be good as new.”

  No, I don’t think so.

  Surely the knight knew that, too.

  “Then allow me to do a little first aid for now.”

  “Sorry to make more work for you.”

  Pouring some distilled liquor over the wounds under the pretense of sterilizing them, I used the Practical Magic spell See Through to look at the broken bones, taking note of all the armor fragments and cloth fibers that had gotten inside and delicately removing them with Magic Hand.

  Finally, I had her take an intermediate healing potion, and the job was done.

  “Sir Pendragon, I truly appreciate your help and healing.”

  “I only did what anyone would do.”

  Smiling at the knight, I called Arisa and the others over from the passage with Telephone.

  “Sir Satou, I thank thee, truly!”

  “You did well, too, Princess Meetia.”

  Princess Meetia threw her arms around me in gratitude. I patted her head as I waited for the others to arrive.

  The noble kids and their guards down below were still fighting the remaining war mantis, but it looked like they would be able to win just fine without me, so I let them be.

  “Master, we’ve finished apprehending the plunderers.”

  “Thank you, Liza.”

  Behind Liza lay the forms of the plunderers, tied up with sturdy rope.

  Tama and Pochi were striking a victory pose in front of them.

  Their sparkling eyes were practically begging me to praise them, so I patted their heads and said, “Good work, you two.”

  Pochi’s tail wagged happily, and Tama rubbed her head against my hand just like a real cat.

  Since I’d already praised them now, I would have to wait to scold them for their dangerous actions until after we got back to the house.

  “Guards! Arrest Pendragon!”

  Once I’d rejoined my group and was bringing Princess Meetia and company down to the noble kids and their guards, Sokell started shouting some nonsense again.

  Even the guards looked flummoxed by his orders.

  The noble kids were all exhausted, so most of them didn’t even look our way.

  “Sir Sokell! What art thou on about all of a sudden?!”

  Surprisingly, the only person to direct their anger right at Sokell was the tough young Princess Meetia.

  I signaled to Arisa and the others not to get involved in the argument.