Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 11

by Hiro Ainana

  I had intended to only investigate the truth today, but I couldn’t just let a child get injured, so I acted without thinking.

  “You are quite good at concealing your presence, indeed, Sir Pendragon.”

  With his skill makeup, he shouldn’t have been able to detect me with my maxed-out stealth skills firing at full blast, but somehow he didn’t seem surprised when I revealed myself.

  “What…?”

  Right before my eyes, the green-clad noble stepped on the child’s leg without a flicker of emotion.

  A dry crack filled the air, along with the child’s scream.

  “What are you doing?!”

  I pushed the green-clad noble away, set the child’s broken leg back in place, and forced her to drink a magic potion.

  The girl’s cry had woken the other children sleeping nearby, who scattered into the darkness like baby spiders.

  “I should ask you the same, indeed. What sort of gentleman suddenly pushes another person, indeed?”

  There wasn’t a trace of guilt in the green-clad noble’s voice.

  What the hell is he talking about?

  “You don’t feel any remorse about breaking the leg of a sleeping child?”

  The question slipped out before I could stop myself, and the green-clad noble smirked.

  “I was just on an evening stroll, indeed. I merely stepped on some garbage along the way by accident. That’s the fault of whoever left their garbage on the streets, indeed.”

  The green-clad noble’s wicked grin widened as he looked at the child trembling in my arms.

  His expression made my stomach churn, as if I were looking at a monster in human form.

  Hoping against hope, I checked his detailed information in the AR, but unfortunately, he didn’t appear to be possessed by a demon or anything of the sort.

  Hard as it was to believe, this was apparently his true personality.

  “Horror, hatred, the fear of the unknown… All quite delicious, indeed.”

  The green-clad noble looked up at the moon and cackled.

  His words reminded me of something the lesser demon who made the Seiryuu City labyrinth had said.

  “That’s something a demon might say.”

  “And now you call me a demon, indeed? Sir Pendragon, you are in dire need of further education as a noble, indeed.”

  He spoke like a wise elder advising an inexperienced youth.

  Admittedly, I shouldn’t have said that out loud. It was probably an insult of the highest order to accuse a noble ranking far higher than myself of wrongdoing. I could very well lose my position as an honorary noble for that.

  “Well, that’s all right, indeed. It’s a lovely evening. The perfect weather for a stroll, indeed.”

  “Lord Poputema—”

  I called out to stop the man from continuing his rampage.

  “Would you like to join me, indeed, Sir Pendragon?”

  “Certainly, if it pleases you.”

  Once the child whose leg I’d healed had fled safely in the other direction, I accompanied the green-clad noble on his walk.

  My goal was to help any other children escape from his path before he could harm them, of course.

  It was no easy task.

  He would say things like “I sense grief and terror from that direction, indeed,” suddenly change his course, slip into passages that seemed too narrow for his portly body, pretend he was turning back only to suddenly walk along a wall, and so on.

  Each time, I had to run ahead of him and move the children or sometimes use my map and Magic Hand to hide them on rooftops.

  The green-clad noble seemed to be enjoying my frantic state.

  But I couldn’t leave him to his own devices.

  The green-clad noble’s walk continued until dawn, and I stuck with him until the very end.

  “Your confusion and unease were quite delicious as well, Sir Pendragon, indeed.”

  With another laugh, the green-clad noble returned to his mansion.

  I’d managed to keep the kids safe this time, but I couldn’t do that every single night.

  “I’ll have to call in a favor.”

  Speeding up my plans, I headed to the viceroy’s mansion without any prior contact.

  Miss Miteruna and the rest would have to take care of the morning’s soup kitchen.

  “Sir Pendragon, whatever brings you here? The tea party isn’t until this afternoon.”

  Despite my showing up without an appointment, the viceroy’s wife welcomed me in with a smile.

  Apologizing for my sudden visit, I explained what had happened the night before.

  And her answer…

  “Poputema is quite a troublemaker, isn’t he?”

  …was far lighter than I had expected.

  Evidently, the plight of poor, orphaned children was entirely unremarkable to a noble.

  “I know you have a kind soul, Sir Pendragon, so it pains me to tell you this, but a noble cannot be punished for harming commoners unless the commoners themselves bring their accusations forward. And since vagrant children have no citizenship, they unfortunately cannot make such accusations.”

  The viceroy’s wife pulled me in close, as if she was scolding a child.

  “Just for you, I’ll tell Poputema to stop his violence, but there’s no guarantee that he will actually do so.”

  This time, she patted my head in a show of comfort.

  “No, I don’t suppose he will,” she added with confidence. “If you wish, I can have him expelled from Labyrinth City?”

  “No, that—”

  “—wouldn’t solve anything, would it?” she interrupted.

  Her eyes watched me thoughtfully.

  “There is one way you could stop him. Haven’t you thought of it yet?”

  The viceroy’s wife’s tone was like that of a teacher.

  What way?

  If I had any idea, I wouldn’t have come to make a request like this first thing in the morning.

  Obviously, she wasn’t telling me to assassinate the green-clad noble.

  “I believe you should already be aware of this method…”

  The viceroy’s wife smiled without stating the answer.

  Something I’m already aware of…?

  I thought back on everything she’d said and all the events of the previous day.

  “…Ah!”

  “Looks like you’ve got it now.”

  The viceroy’s wife looked satisfied even as I told her I wouldn’t be able to attend today’s tea party and rushed home.

  “Everyone, listen up!”

  I gathered not only my companions but also Miss Miteruna, the maids, and the Saga Empire samurai pair who guarded our mansion and told them all about my encounter with the green-clad noble and my desire to save the children.

  “You do have a plan, don’t you?”

  “Of course.” I nodded firmly at Arisa. “The green-clad noble tramples on the children because they’re in the streets. Since they don’t have citizenship, they don’t have the right to submit accusations.”

  The viceroy’s wife had told me as much.

  “So we simply need to make sure they’re not sleeping in the streets. Then I, a noble, can become their guardian.”

  It was all so simple, now that I thought about it.

  I’d been planning to bring all of Labyrinth City’s vagrant children into the orphanage anyway, so I would just be speeding that plan along.

  “Now, let’s begin Operation: Assemble All Orphans!”

  Our slogan was: “Until the number of abused children is zero!”

  “Aye-aye, sir!”

  “Roger, sir!”

  “Understood. We will gather the children at once.”

  “Master, I shall accompany Liza and the others, I report.”

  The beastfolk girls and Nana were first to volunteer, rushing outside as soon as I gave them permission.

  “Mia and I will help gather them up, too.”

  “Mm. Let�
�s go.”

  “Miss Miteruna and I will start preparing food and clothing for the children, then.”

  Arisa, Mia, and Lulu all went into action next.

  “Please let Sir Kajiro and me pick up the supplies.”

  “We’re borrowing a cart. Ayaume, you drive.”

  The samurai pair headed out.

  Through the window, I saw Arisa addressing the kids who were gathered in one of the empty fields waiting for work.

  She was probably planning on a human-wave strategy.

  With the help of the young maids, I started setting up tents in the garden of the orphanage’s construction site.

  It might not be much better than sleeping on the streets, but at least if they were on my land, Poputema couldn’t claim to have stepped on them by accident like yesterday.

  “…Hmm.”

  We hadn’t gathered as big of a group as I’d expected.

  It was almost noon, but we had only about thirty kids.

  Including the kids Arisa and company had hired, that was still only fifty or so.

  “Lulu, I’ll leave you in charge here. I’m going out to invite more kids.”

  “Master, let me come with you, please.”

  It was probably safe to leave Miss Miteruna in charge. Rosie and Annie could take care of the cooking, and the maids were here for serving and odd jobs.

  “All right, then. Let’s go.”

  Lulu and I walked into town on foot.

  “Doesn’t it seem as if they’re avoiding us?”

  “You think so, too, Lulu?”

  For some reason, whenever the kids sitting on the side of the road saw us, they disappeared into the crowd.

  I’d thought that the soup kitchens would make me more popular with them, but if anything, it seemed like quite the opposite.

  “Master…”

  When we met up with Nana in front of the west guild, she seemed despondent, despite her emotionless face.

  There was a strange empty space around her.

  “How’s it going?”

  “The larvae are avoiding me, I report.”

  Wow, even Nana?

  “Is there something strange about me, I inquire?”

  “No, not at all,” I assured her.

  I had a feeling that there was some outside reason for this.

  “Masterrr?”

  I heard Tama’s voice and turned around to see the beastfolk girls appear out of the crowd.

  “Something is very, very strange, sir!”

  Pochi’s serious expression was very cute.

  I turned to Liza to ask for more information.

  “The three of us have been going around inviting children to the orphanage, but…”

  “They’re running away from us, sir.”

  “Mysteryyy?”

  Tama and Pochi knit their brows, posing like detectives trying to solve a mystery.

  “I would understand if they were running away out of fear of my face, but…”

  “That can’t be it.”

  Liza blushed a little at that.

  I could see why villains might fear Liza if they’d crossed her before, but certainly not children.

  “So what exactly happened when you invited them?”

  “At first it seemed to be going well, but then a child with an unpleasant face saw us and whispered to the others, and they all ran away in a panic.”

  “Like spideerrrs?”

  “They go over fences or through cracks in the walls, sir.”

  That was the same reaction we’d been getting from the kids.

  “Do you have any idea what might have been whispered?”

  “Greeeen?”

  “They said ‘Mr. Indeed,’ sir.”

  Those sounded like the nicknames associated with the green-clad noble, aka Poputema.

  Somehow, the green-clad noble seemed to be the reason the children were running from us.

  Is it because I’m a noble like Poputema?

  “Ahhh, there he is! Master!”

  Arisa waved at us from across the crowd, with the group of little girls she’d initially had in tow.

  We moved away from the guild to meet up with Arisa.

  “Looks like you’re not faring any better.”

  “You too?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s been just awful.”

  Arisa sighed.

  “Do you have any idea why?”

  “I do, as a matter of fact. I was about to go back to the mansion to tell you.”

  As usual, Arisa worked fast.

  “It sounds like someone’s been spreading lies among the children.”

  Specifically, the rumors Arisa had heard were:

  The young noble is friendly with Mr. Indeed.

  He’s a creep who likes torturing kids, just like the green man.

  The young noble is only giving out food to get stupid kids to like him.

  All completely untrue, of course.

  Seriously, when was I ever friendly with that awful man?

  More importantly, what should I do now…?

  “Why don’t we start by questioning whoever’s spreading those rumors?”

  “We can’t do that. The ones who are spreading them are the same kids we’re trying to help.”

  “Then we should ask them where they heard—”

  “I tried, but they insisted they couldn’t say because you or Poputema might kill them.”

  Well, that’s not good.

  I didn’t want to get violent with kids, of course, and there would be no point in forcing them to go to the orphanage only to have them escape in the night and get attacked by the green-clad noble anyway.

  As I stood there at a loss, a voice called out to me.

  “Hey, Mr. Noble, what seems to be the trouble?”

  Turning around at the sound of the suspicious voice, I saw a familiar punkish man standing before me.

  It was Skopi of the Mud Scorpions, the man-about-town who I’d met as Kuro yesterday.

  “It’s Skopi, right?”

  “Heh, glad you remember.” The man ducked his head and grinned crookedly. “I’ve got some information for ya.”

  I started to hold out some money for him, but he shook his head. “Nah, this one’s a freebie. Consider it my thanks for the other day.”

  So he wanted to repay his debt.

  “All right. So what’s this information?”

  “I dunno why, but some guys from the Street Rats and the Gutter Frogs have been spreading nasty rumors about ya with the kids.”

  The rumors Skopi described matched up with the ones Arisa had heard.

  “Why would they do that?”

  “I told ya, I dunno why. Knowin’ them, someone’s probably payin’ ’em off with chump change, but I couldn’t track down who hired ’em.”

  The green-clad noble appeared in the back of my mind.

  Now that Sokell was out of the picture, I couldn’t think of anyone else who would have reason to antagonize me.

  “Skopi, I have a request for you. Do you mind?”

  “’Course. I still owe ya one.”

  I handed him some money and asked him to pay the Street Rats and Gutter Frogs to stop.

  While I was at it, I had him hire them and some other groups to spread the word that my being friends with the green-clad noble was a misunderstanding and that I actually wanted to protect kids from the green-clad noble with my orphanage.

  I figured I might as well use the green-clad noble’s bad reputation to my advantage.

  Just in case, I asked them to use the code name “Green Man” instead of “green-clad noble” or “Poputema.”

  That way, it wouldn’t come back to bite me later.

  “Now, that’s a pretty big crowd.”

  By that evening, the homeless children of Labyrinth City had largely gathered at the soon-to-be orphanage.

  Skopi’s work must have been effective, because by the time the sun started to set, the rate of kids arriving had risen exponentia
lly.

  Even the kids who were hovering nearby uncertainly were enticed through the doors by the aroma of the dinner Lulu and the maids were cooking.

  In the end, the garden of the orphanage wasn’t enough space, and we had to add more tents in the empty lot next door, creating a makeshift wall to protect them.

  I’d paid some bored-looking earth mages near the west explorers’ guild to make the wall with magic.

  It had looked a bit thin and breakable, but I secretly reinforced it with my own Earth Magic once the mages left, so it would stand up even to cannon fire.

  That should be enough to keep the green-clad noble from coming in on one of his “walks.”

  “Whew, that was tooough.”

  Arisa slumped on my lap and starting rambling about all her hard work.

  “Mrrr, guilty.”

  “C’mon! What’s the big deal? I gotta stock up on a little masterium once in a while.”

  Even Mia’s go-to accusation wasn’t enough to stop Arisa today.

  This so-called masterium substance sounded a little fishy, but I figured I could indulge her every now and then.

  “So what was so tough about today?”

  “Well, some of the kids were insisting that they wouldn’t stay with a friend of Mr. Indeed.”

  “A friend?”

  “Well, he did hang around at the soup kitchen that one time, and then the next day you walked downtown with him to keep him away from the plaza, remember?”

  Oh yeah, I guess that did happen.

  “Lots of kids saw him in the plaza, so there were quite a few who were convinced that you guys are friends.”

  The kids who had seen this with their own eyes were very stubborn about coming to the orphanage, even after Skopi had spread the information for us.

  Thinking about it now, I figured the green-clad noble might have done those things as a precaution against this exact kind of situation.

  Maybe I was being overly paranoid, though.

  “I’m impressed you were able to get those kids to come here, then.”

  “I didn’t. It was all them.”

  Arisa nodded toward the young maids who were chatting happily with the orphanage kids.

  “They explained that you gave them expensive medicine to save their lives and even hired them as maids afterward. I think that’s what finally won them over.”