Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2

by Hiro Ainana

“Girls, these blankets are pretty thin, so you’ll catch a cold if you don’t wear anything to bed.” As calmly as possible, I urged them to put on some clothes.

  Little Arisa didn’t really faze me, but I was somewhat disgusted with myself to admit that I caught my breath a bit to see Lulu’s innocent form, the likes of which I’d only ever seen on TV.

  Just to be clear, I wasn’t at all interested in having an intimate relationship with Lulu, but I apologize if I gave that sort of impression in a moment of weakness.

  With all my might, I forced my eyes to focus on anyplace other than Lulu’s chest.

  I should really pay a visit to Seiryuu City’s pleasure quarter before I end up sexually harassing someone. I might have looked fifteen on the outside right then, but luckily that seemed to make me an adult in Shiga, so hopefully I wouldn’t be turned away at the door.

  The two girls were still naked, so I once again implored them to get dressed. “You can wear the long shirts I gave you earlier as nightgowns.”

  “U-um, then…your services…” Arisa, who had been busily rolling up the blankets on the bed, trailed off in astonishment.

  Were “night services” a standard for slaves in this world?

  “No, I don’t need any of that. I’m going to have you two go buy yourselves some necessities tomorrow morning, so go to bed for now.”

  “You don’t?!”

  Arisa seemed stunned, but Lulu had started to cry huge tears as soon as the words left my mouth. I took care of her first, covering her body with a sheet and offering her a handkerchief.

  Even for a slave, offering your body to some middle-aged man you just met—although I look like I’m around their age—must be too much to bear. It was no wonder that she would be relieved enough to cry.

  If they were adult women, I might have come close to giving it a thought, but I definitely wasn’t going to do anything to a child. “I won’t be needing that kind of service in the future, either,” I assured them.

  Lulu did seem to be uncomfortable with men, so I left the job of comforting her and wiping her tears to Arisa.

  Looking at the two of them like that, you’d be hard-pressed to tell which one was the oldest.

  When Lulu finally wore herself out crying and fell asleep, and Arisa passed out next to her shortly thereafter, I put a thin blanket over them, as well as a pelt like the ones I’d left with the beastfolk girls. Hopefully this would keep them warm until morning.

  Was it my imagination, or did Arisa’s sleeping face look the tiniest bit insulted…?

  Regardless, I was tired myself, and I climbed into the extra bed to sleep as soon as possible. Even with my eyes closed, I could still see the menu screen, so I operated it with my thoughts to turn it off so I could fall asleep in peace.

  And that brings us back to the situation I laid out at the beginning.

  Weird, I didn’t remember sleeping in the same bed as Arisa.

  I brushed her hair aside absently, admiring its sleekness. She smiled adorably, a little bashful.

  Sure, she’s got a cute face, but she’s also eleven. I’m not a pedophile.

  Arisa giggled a little, prodding my chest with a slim finger.

  Still, that finger is kinda sexy, a voice whispered in the back of my mind.

  …Sexy?

  Suddenly, it was like my personality had split into two: one part that was trying to accept Arisa’s affection and one that found it extremely disconcerting. The former did its best to push the latter back into the dark recesses of my mind, but at the first sign of doubt, the tenacious latter half managed to make a comeback.

  This tug-of-war was interrupted, though, when Arisa started planting kisses on my ear, my collarbone, and my chest in turn.

  Moving on its own in response to her caresses, my hand brushed the nape of her neck. You want her, that same voice in my head informed me.

  But this definitely didn’t seem like the right reaction to a little girl. No matter what the circumstances, that was definitely wrong.

  My blurry thoughts started to clear up a bit, and I used my mind to open up the menu and turn on the display of the log.

  Aha! There’s something in here!

  I sat up slowly as Arisa looked through her lashes at me. Putting my hands on her sides, I pulled her close, so that her face was against my neck.

  She seemed a little flustered, but nonetheless happily wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

  Leaning close to her ear, I gently but firmly whispered a command.

  “Arisa, I forbid you to use any magic or skills. That’s an order!”

  Arisa’s hands loosened, and she looked at me with her face contorted in shock.

  I used that moment of surprise to add another instruction. “And another order! Cancel the effects of whatever skills or magic you’re already using, right now!”

  Within moments, the cancellation of the magic effect showed in my log. The information in the AR screen changed, too.

  Just to be sure, I maxed out the skill points of the skill I’d just gotten, “Psychic Resistance.” I had apparently gained the skills “Night Vision” and “Psychic Magic,” too, but I left them alone for now.

  “Why…?”

  “That’s what I should be asking you! What were you trying to accomplish by manipulating me with Psychic Magic?”

  It was true; during the earlier confrontation in front of the inn and just now, Arisa had been using magic.

  The first time, outside the inn, was fine. She had used two spells—Calm Field and Weariness Field—most likely to quell the hostility the innkeeper and patrons harbored toward the beastfolk girls.

  But just now, she had used three spells on me: Charm Person, Temptation Field, and Lusting Heart Field.

  It was clear that she was trying to seduce me and manipulate me according to her will.

  I had forgotten about this in the shock that Arisa was able to speak Japanese, but her AR information had said her skills were “Unknown”… Not “None,” but “Unknown.”

  “…Psychic Magic? I don’t know what you mean…”

  “Don’t try to trick me or play dumb. That’s another order. Now, what were you trying to do?” She wriggled out of my grasp, but I blocked off her escape route, interrogating her.

  > Skill Acquired: “Interrogation”

  Perfect timing. I put five points into the new skill and activated it immediately.

  “Tell me the truth. What do you want?”

  Arisa gave in and responded somewhat sulkily. “…I just wanted to serve you, master.”

  Her usual graceful air had evaporated.

  “I don’t understand. Explain yourself a bit.”

  “Really! Don’t you get what I said? I fell in love with you at first sight, the very first time we met!”

  What?! Love at first sight?!

  I was so taken aback by this unexpected answer that I forgot to keep interrogating.

  “Your soft, sleek black hair! Your innocent expression! Your familiar, babyish features! Your delicate physique! Your smooth, hairless limbs! I had only wished for such a master…! But now that I have the master of my dreams, he has no use for my services?! I can’t accept that! That’s why I had to use magic! So that you could be crazy about me, too!”

  As soon as I paused, Arisa fired word after word at me like a machine gun, sounding increasingly desperate.

  “So once I ‘fell in love’ with you, were you going to brainwash me?”

  “No! That’s not it at all! It’s just like I said when I became your slave. ‘At all times, day or night, I will always serve my master with all my power.’ It’s a slave’s duty to seduce and please her master!”

  What kind of logic was that?

  What’s worse, it didn’t seem like she was lying.

  But a slave couldn’t disobey her master’s orders, right?

  “So that’s your story. What did you really want?”

  “Well, I tried waiting for you to creep into bed with me, but I was fal
ling asleep…so I figured I’d hop into your bed instead, and when I saw your sleeping face, I just couldn’t help myself!”

  She was wearing a “Silly me!” kind of expression. A bit frustrated, I pinched her cheek. This kind of punishment is appropriate, I think.

  “Oww! Awwight, awwight, I’m sowwie…”

  Wow, her cheeks stretch pretty far. I was sort of beginning to enjoy myself, but Arisa was starting to tear up, so I let go.

  “But I was a good girl to wait at first…”

  “So you really just came after me because of your…desires?”

  “Really!” She nodded.

  “Honestly, what in the world are you?”

  Her AR information read as follows:

  Name: Arisa

  Age: Eleven years old

  Level: 10

  Titles: Satou’s Slave

  Witch of the Lost Kingdom

  The Mad Princess

  Skills: Psychic Magic

  Gifts: Self-Status Check

  Status Check

  Hide Skills

  Item Box

  Abilities: Never Give Up

  Over Boost

  What the hell? I’d never seen any of these skills and things before.

  Arisa grinned impishly as she answered my question.

  “I’m Arisa Tachibana. I’m Japanese, just like you.”

  Arisa

  Satou here. My company is located in the holy land of nerds, which is probably why the nearest place to eat is a maid café. I went there every day, so I’m not really weirded out by being called “master.”

  “More specifically,” Arisa continued, “I’m a former Japanese person who was reincarnated in the Kuvork Kingdom without losing my memories of being Arisa Tachibana. Are you also a reincarnation? No, judging by that black hair of yours, I’ll bet you were summoned here as a hero. Am I wrong, Mr. Satou?”

  Her AR information didn’t display her Japanese name or status as a “former Japanese person.”

  I guess that made sense, since my status didn’t show my real name, “Ichirou Suzuki,” or my real nationality, either.

  “What’s the matter? You’re quiet all of a sudden. Did you know you’re the second Japanese person I’ve met here?”

  My eyes went immediately to the sleeping Lulu.

  “No, not Lulu. I never met her great-grandfather, but apparently he was Japanese as well. One’s genes can be a terrible thing, you know. If she were born in Japan, she could’ve easily become a famous idol with those looks.”

  “What do you mean? I thought she was just speaking poorly of herself out of desperation. She must be popular here in the Shiga Kingdom, too, right?”

  “I’m not surprised you would think that. But you heard what Nidoren said, didn’t you? To the people in this world, that girl isn’t beautiful at all.”

  “Are you just using Psychic Magic to—?”

  “Not at all.”

  I thought perhaps Arisa was using her Psychic Magic to disguise Lulu’s beauty in order to protect her, but she stopped me before I could even finish asking.

  “By the standards of beauty here, she just has a flat, expressionless face; thin lips; skin that isn’t pale enough; and a small bottom. It’s as if she were designed to have every unattractive feature. Although it’s prevented anyone from buying her as a slave, at least.”

  What? Wait, if a Japanese face failed to meet the criteria for good looks, didn’t that mean they’d consider me ugly, too?

  As if my thoughts had shown clearly on my face, Arisa went on to clarify.

  “You won’t exactly be considered handsome, but it seems like they just see you as a normal foreigner. But Lulu isn’t just ordinarily unappealing—she’s an object of sheer disgust. It’s uncanny how everything about her is slightly off.”

  They say the standards of beauty change depending on the place and time period, but this seemed especially unlucky—no, I guess in her circumstances, it might have been better this way.

  It was hard for me to accept it, but I’d have to keep in mind that the people here saw Lulu as an unattractive young woman.

  Apparently finished with Lulu’s story, Arisa changed the subject.

  “So, Mr. Satou, are you a transmigration or a transference?”

  “Stop calling me that, please.”

  “As you wish, master.”

  Normally I’d be fine with “Satou,” but she kept emphasizing the Japanese pronunciation so much that I was afraid I’d forget my real name was Suzuki. (The natives here pronounced it more like “Sa-two.”) Not that it mattered much, but still.

  “But back to the question at hand. Which are you, master?”

  “What’s the difference?”

  I answered Arisa’s question with a question of my own. Both terms were unfamiliar to me, so I had no idea how to answer her.

  “A transmigration is a soul that died early in an accident or the like in the real world and was reincarnated in this one. A transference is abducted into this world against their will by summoning magic. Heroes, for example.”

  Abducted…

  The word was loaded with negative connotations, so I wasn’t sure which category applied to me.

  “Do transmigrations always start as babies?”

  “According to legends, it can happen to adults, too, but in this world it only happens with babies.”

  She seemed awfully sure of herself. When I asked her how she knew this…

  “That’s what the god told me when I was reincarnated here.”

  …was her answer.

  She met a god?

  If someone said a thing like that in Japan, everyone around them would definitely start to question their sanity or pretend not to know them.

  “So a transference is summoned in their original form? Like their clothes, their possessions, their appearance…?”

  “Yes, I’ve heard their clothes are the same ones they were wearing at the time they were summoned. Appearance, too, of course.”

  Sure, my clothes had stayed the same, but why had I gotten younger?

  “Is this just hearsay?”

  “I heard this directly from a hero of the Saga Empire, so I don’t doubt that it’s true. The Saga Empire is the only country that can summon a hero from a different world.”

  I wondered if I could figure out a way home if I went to the Saga Empire, then. I guess I should head there next once I was done sightseeing in the Shiga Kingdom.

  And the other Japanese person Arisa had mentioned before must be this “hero.”

  Now, what should I tell her? Should I tell her the truth about my situation or keep it a secret?

  Well, she could manipulate people’s hearts and minds with that Psychic Magic of hers, but she was still the best lead I’d gotten so far.

  “I see… Then I might not be either of those. I was taking a nap at my workplace, and when I woke up I was standing in a big wasteland.”

  “You didn’t meet a god?”

  “No such luck.”

  Arisa folded her arms in thought. I really had to get her to put on some clothes.

  “So you came out in the middle of a summoning circle when you got here, then, right?”

  “Nope, I was all by myself.”

  “Then did you start at a high level? Have infinite magic? Or tons of skills?”

  “No, I started at level one, and I only had ten magic points. No skills, either.”

  …Well, I guess I did have the limited-use Meteor Shower icons.

  “Really? That seems incredibly unfair, don’t you think?”

  Crap. Now I’m the one getting sympathy and being asked questions.

  “All right, enough about me. Tell me about the skills you have. Your gifts and special abilities, too. Just to remind you, that’s an order.”

  “I’d still answer even if you didn’t order me to, you know. Firstly, my ‘Psychic Magic’ skill is level five. Pretty high, isn’t it? I’ve put all the skill points I’ve gotten since birth into it.”r />
  …All of them?

  Arisa was level 11. If it worked the same for her as for me, she should have 110 skill points. Wouldn’t ten points be enough to max out just one skill like “Psychic Magic”?

  “Arisa, I have a question.”

  “Ask me whatever you’d like! My bust size is—”

  Pressing a pillow over Arisa’s mouth to block this superfluous information, I continued my inquiry.

  “How many skill points do you get when you level up? And how many points does it take to level up your ‘Psychic Magic’ skill?”

  “Goodness, so violent. Every time I level up, the skill points I get are generally 2d6. That is to say, one six-sided die rolled two times. So between two and twelve, with an average of seven. And the number of points needed to level up my ‘Psychic Magic’ skill is different for each skill level. More specifically…”

  I took note of Arisa’s information in the memo section of the networking menu.

  What did this mean?

  There was a huge difference between the skill points we got when we leveled up and the number needed to level up a skill.

  Was my case unique, or was there some kind of system to it?

  “Is something the matter?” Arisa asked, looking anxious.

  “No, it’s fine.”

  She seemed concerned, but I evaded the question.

  If what Arisa said was true, then my ability to learn skills was several times—maybe even dozens of times—more efficient than that of the average person. In a way, it was just as big of a unique advantage as the “Meteor Shower” and “Search Entire Map” skills.

  It would probably be best to make sure that I could trust Arisa completely before I told her about all this. Until then, I’d just keep it a secret.

  “Arisa, what happens when you learn a new skill?”

  “I just choose one from the list to learn, of course.”

  So that part was the same… No, wait. I felt like I might be misunderstanding something here.

  “So what causes new skills to appear on the list?”

  “When my skill points increase. If you satisfy certain requirements, like the number of skill points or a related lower skill, the new skill shows up. They appear when you have half the required points, which is convenient—you can decide whether to spend the points now or save them for a better skill.”