Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2 (light novel)

by Hiro Ainana

  Why…?

  The rest of my question didn’t make it out of my mouth. Looking in the direction that Dryad Number 2 was pointing, I felt the blood drain from my face.

  To be quite honest, I was more terrified than when I’d faced the greater hell demon or dived from the tree with no lifeline.

  I hefted Number 7 back onto my shoulders, then reached out my other hand to Dryad Number 2.

  “I’ll be fine. As long as there’s still a forest, I’ll never die.”

  She shook her head lightly, so I trusted her words and broke into a run, carrying Number 7.

  With a deep rumble like a thundercloud, a tidal wave of salt was bearing down on us.

  If you got caught up in that, you’d definitely die of suffocation. Or maybe you’d be crushed to death first.

  Based on my experience trapped in the shadow before, I had a feeling that I probably wouldn’t die, but I still didn’t want to get buried alive in salt and spend years suffering like a dried fish.

  Pushing aside dead branches, I kicked up dirt as I fled wildly through the basin.

  > Skill Acquired: “Off-Road Running”

  My shaking field of vision was stressful, but I managed to add skill points to the new “Off-Road Running” skill as well as my previously acquired “Transport” skill and activate both of them.

  Running suddenly became much easier.

  Looking at the vegetation and the ground’s highs and lows, I seemed to be able to tell which paths I should take and which should be avoided.

  This definitely increased my speed, but I was still moving only as fast as an automobile, at best.

  The devastating white waves behind me were still getting closer with each step, roaring all the while.

  Damn—it was going to overtake me any second now.

  Think.

  I had to think.

  What was this unnecessarily high INT stat good for?

  I didn’t have any active skills right now that could neutralize this situation.

  Could I learn a new skill somehow?

  I was already using my “Sprinting” skill to run faster.

  So, what else was there?

  …The air reeked of salt.

  There was no more time.

  I saw a flash of light up ahead of me.

  Water? A pond or a swamp? Either one is fine. Let’s not get caught up in useless details here.

  What can I do to stop a tidal wave?

  Breakwater… That’s right, a wall.

  …Wall?

  Should I take out the rubble I have in Storage?

  No, that’d just get swept up along with it and make things even more dangerous.

  Like a volcanic bomb, a huge lump of salt soared over my head, interrupting my thoughts and raising a column of water as it splashed down into the pond in front of me.

  Something about that sight lodged in my mind.

  What?

  Pochi’s and Tama’s tearful faces floated through my thoughts. What is this memory?

  “The kettle’s maaad!”

  “Help us, sir! The kettle man is angry, sir!”

  Now was not a good time for my life to flash before my eyes.

  As the slightly salty water sprayed over me unpleasantly, I focused all my power on moving forward.

  If I had Earth Magic instead of useless Fire Magic like my Fire Shot spell, I could make a wall right now…

  …Useless?

  No, wait. It wasn’t useless at all.

  The flashback to that moment with Pochi and Tama gave me an idea.

  I opened the map in a small window so it wouldn’t block my view of the path ahead, and I checked the direction I was traveling in.

  Perfect. This would work.

  Shifting my course diagonally a bit, I ran harder than ever.

  The bottoms of my boots tore away, unable to withstand my running strength. I felt prickling pain in the soles of my feet.

  Seconds before arriving at my goal, I opened the menu and made preparations.

  Right, time to make that breakwater!

  I operated the menu with my mind to use magic.

  Of course, all I needed to select right now was Fire Shot.

  A huge ball of fire flew through the air, sending off sparks of high heat.

  As soon as it made impact, a huge column of water erupted with a roar, bearing all the heat the fire had emitted.

  Of course, it wasn’t just one. I followed it up with a second shot, then a third, dissolving the water column into steam.

  Water’s volume multiplies by one thousand when it vaporizes.

  Arisa was the one who’d said that, right?

  I fired one more shot, vaporizing what water was left of the column and propelling the cluster of steam forward.

  The giant tidal wave of salt crashed into the explosively expanding wall of steam and stopped.

  …But it stopped for only an instant. The mass was just too different.

  White reinforcements arrived and broke through the wall of steam, creating a new wave crest.

  More salt waves had crashed around the left and right of the steam wall, and they bore down upon me from either side, ready to engulf me.

  Most people would see this as nothing but a hopeless situation.

  I was sure that if Number 7 had been conscious on my shoulder, she would have been screaming nonstop, too.

  …But I daresay, I was glad that was all hypothetical.

  That tiny instant I’d created was all I needed.

  In that fraction of a second, I got the chance I needed to follow up with part two of my plan.

  Before my eyes was what appeared on first glance to be a grassy plain—but was really a swamp.

  I moved one foot forward before the other could sink into the marshy ground. In this way, I skirted over the surface, running like a manga character.

  When I got to an area with a sufficient amount of water, it was time for my next step.

  With a speed that threatened to melt my brain, I sent out a barrage of Fire Shots with my magic menu.

  My “Calculation” and “Fire Magic” skills showed me exactly where to aim.

  This new, thick breakwater of steam suppressed the salt wave, and I was able to safely reach the foothills that surrounded the basin.

  > Skill Acquired: “Water Striding”

  > Title Acquired: Survivor

  > Title Acquired: Pyromancer

  > Title Acquired: Master of Hellfire

  > Title Acquired: Conqueror of Despair

  After we’d climbed up the mountain, I put Number 7 down on some soft-looking ground.

  As far as I could tell from the map, this area was the border between the Cradle and the Gray Rat Emirate.

  Mia and the women who’d been teleported with her were at the summit of a mountain on the other side of the basin. They all seemed to be safe.

  I had wanted to get back as quickly as possible to make sure everyone was safe, but then I saw that the store manager and my kids were at Mia’s location. When did they get here?

  If only I had a cell phone, I could let them know I was safe, but there was no use in bemoaning something I didn’t have. I figured I could see if there was anything with a similar function at the old capital or Labyrinth City.

  Since we no longer needed to hurry, I stood on the edge of the cliff and watched the last moments of the Cradle of Trazayuya.

  Apparently, the very tip of this cliff that protruded into the basin was in the Cradle’s zone.

  I watched as the top of the giant tree sank into the haze of salt.

  The pillar of salt looked to me like a grave marker for Zen.

  As the column mostly settled, I saw the last few monsters that were shown on my map disappear from the list.

  And at the same time, my log began to fill up at a startling speed.

  It was the first time since the Valley of Dragons.

  When I used the scroll bar to page back through the log, I saw the line Defeated all e
nemies on the map just before the long list of acquired loot.

  Just as I’d guessed in the labyrinth before, it looked like that was the condition for automatic loot recovery.

  This time there was no “source” or anything mentioned.

  I put all the new loot into a folder labeled Cradle of Trazayuya for now.

  I could sort through all of it at a later date. Most of it was just monster corpses and broken equipment, anyway. There were also a large number of Zen’s magic books and other written materials from Trazayuya’s Area.

  From beneath the haze of white salt, I felt the tremors of the giant tree’s trunk and branches collapsing.

  After a brief moment of silence, I turned away.

  A New Journey

  Satou here. For every meeting, there is a parting to follow; that’s part of the charm of a journey. When letters were the primary form of contact, it didn’t take long for people to lose touch, but I think more people continue to communicate now that e-mail is widely available.

  Now, it was about time to head over to where everyone else was waiting.

  Remembering that I’d become barefoot, I took the Winged Shoes out of Storage. The boots I’d ruined earlier were the ones I’d been wearing for everyday use, so I hadn’t put these on in a while.

  In order to move more easily, I used some scrap material from Storage to make a carrying rack to strap onto my back.

  It came out pretty sturdy for something I’d just thrown together. To avoid any injuries to the unconscious Number 7 in the process, I wrapped her in a thick sheet before securing her in the carrying rack.

  I got a running start to jump along the ridges of the bare mountain, making it back to the others much more quickly than expected.

  The sun set partway through the journey, making it a bit more difficult, but I was able to keep running with the help of my “Night Vision” and “Off-Road Running” skills.

  Despite the fact that it was the dead of night now, everyone was still awake.

  They were camping out around a very bright bonfire. All around them were the corpses of crimson needle bees, with little animals no larger than puppies gathering to devour the remains.

  I leaped over a few boulders and arrived in the meadow where everyone was camping.

  Hearing the sound of my footsteps, Pochi and Tama rolled away from the bonfire and scrambled toward me.

  But another shadow slipped between them and reached me first—surprisingly enough, it was Liza.

  “Master!”

  A flood of tears gushing from her eyes, Liza was choked with emotion as she rushed up to hug me tightly.

  I lowered my center of gravity so that I wouldn’t be bowled over by her weight as I caught her. Liza was by no means heavy, but since I had the body of a young man again, I was a little light.

  While I was still dazed by Liza’s uncharacteristic behavior, Tama and Pochi clambered into the fray to latch onto me on both sides.

  “Welcome baaack!”

  “Sir!”

  The two didn’t seem to have the words to express their joy and relief, and instead they set about play-biting my head and shoulders before attempting to lick my face. Their enthusiasm matched that of any real dog or cat.

  “Thanks. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

  “I’m so glad you’re all right…”

  Liza had been hugging me and weeping for a while, but when I spoke she managed to choke out a few tearful words before crying again.

  After a while, she appeared to realize what she was doing and let go of me with embarrassment.

  Once she’d done so, I lowered Pochi and Tama to the ground, ruffling their hair.

  “We were worried, sir!”

  “Are you huuurt?”

  The pair anxiously looked up at me.

  Arisa and Lulu rushed over after the beastfolk girls. The store manager was sitting behind them as well.

  “Welcome back, sir,” Lulu said with a modest smile. Arisa hung back silently with her head hung low, so Lulu put her hands on her sister’s shoulders and pushed her forward.

  Arisa took a deep breath and looked up, so I waited for her to speak.

  Her wide eyes were filled with tears that threatened to spill over at any moment.

  “…I—I was so worried! Promise you’ll never do anything so reckless again!!”

  Her words were heartfelt and forceful enough that she was almost shouting at me.

  I hugged her gently, apologizing and giving her a light pat on the back.

  She gave way then and burst into tears, so I did my best to comfort her. Following her lead, Pochi and Tama started to cry, too.

  I ended up apologizing over and over until everyone stopped crying. Seeing that everyone had worried about me to the point of shedding tears and scolding me warmed my somewhat stormy heart.

  When I finally had a chance to speak to the store manager, I told him that it was all over. As usual, his reply was way too short.

  Arisa still hadn’t stopped crying, so I carried her over to the bonfire and laid her next to Mia, the only person who hadn’t stirred since I’d arrived.

  I put down the wooden rack that carried Number 7 in her bundle and went over to Mia.

  “…Satou.”

  “I’m back, Mia.”

  “Kept your promise.”

  “Yes, of course I did.”

  Mia was trying to sit up, so I lent her a hand.

  “Let me thank you again…”

  Mia cleared her throat a little and spoke at length.

  “I am the youngest elf of Bolenan Forest, Misanaria Bolenan, daughter of Lamisauya and Lilinatoa. Satou of the Shiga Kingdom, I give you my thanks.”

  With those words, Mia pressed a kiss to my forehead.

  Huh? So this “Aaze” person she’d mentioned before wasn’t her mother?

  If it was her hot older sister, I hoped she’d introduce me.

  > Title Acquired: Friend of the Elves

  “By the way, what’s in this carrier? Don’t tell me you swiped some treasure as you were escaping from that enormous tree?”

  Rubbing her reddened eyes, Arisa looked at the wrapped-up Number 7.

  She was pretty rude for a former princess.

  “This is a person I rescued.”

  “A person? Are you planning to add another member to the harem?!”

  Yeah, right. How is this a harem when all the would-be members are children? They’d need to be at least twenty years old.

  I took up the carrier and brought it to a large boulder nearby.

  The women I’d sent to escape along with Mia were there, tied to the boulder with what looked like ivy. They’d probably guessed the women were enemies, because of the title Zen’s Puppet.

  Near the beautiful women, the red-helmeted ratman was on guard keeping a sharp eye out for monsters.

  “This is one of the sisters who I rescued along with Mia.”

  “Oh, these kids? I thought there were seven, but I guess there are eight now.”

  Can you really call them “kids” if they’re homunculi?

  Tilting my head uncertainly at Arisa’s words, I took Number 7 out of the carrier and laid her down next to the other women.

  She must have gotten jostled around a little too much, because her status still read Fainted. Both her stamina and HP were a little low, so I unwrapped the protective sheet to check her physical condition.

  Sadly, Liza ended up being the one to do the checking.

  I was about to do it, but Arisa’s objections put a stop to that.

  She was rather rude about it, but thinking about it rationally, it was true that there wouldn’t be much point in my checking when I had no medical experience.

  When Number 7’s face peeked out from under the blanket, the other women gave a cry of joy.

  It was very noisy, so once their excitement at the reunion had calmed a little, I shushed them.

  As their representative, Number 1 thanked me.

  “Sir Satou, no
t only did you spare our lives when we were your opponents, but you also saved Number 7 from certain death. There are no words to convey our gratitude.”

  The other sisters followed up with a few words of thanks each. Apparently, the lower the number, the more fluent the speech of the homunculus.

  They seemed to have gathered from the collapse of the Cradle that Zen had died. When they asked for my confirmation, I figured I should tell them the truth.

  Before doing so, I had Arisa use the Psychic Magic spell Wake Up to bring Number 7 back to consciousness. I didn’t want to tell the same story twice.

  “So, our master…”

  “Yes, he’s passed on now.”

  I wasn’t sure if they would understand this concept, but they seemed to accept it readily enough. Apparently, they used the term ascension for that sort of thing in this country.

  The sisters talked quietly among themselves for a moment, then they all turned toward me at once.

  What now?

  “Master Satou. From now on, we shall obey you as our new master.”

  I would certainly be happy to be waited on by a group of busty beauties, but this seemed like a few too many people.

  And more importantly, I could feel Arisa and the others staring at me with bated breath.

  I felt a little bad turning them down, but I wasn’t really looking to create a harem, either, so I searched for the appropriate words.

  “However, before we serve by your side, we would like to request a brief period of leave. I know that this is far beyond a servant’s place to ask, but we would like to deliver something belonging to our previous master to the graveyard where his wife is laid to rest. Please, we beg of you most respectfully, forgive us this transgression.”

  So they wanted to bring Zen’s effects to his wife’s grave? I had no reason to refuse, so I readily agreed.

  Just out of curiosity, I asked what it might be…

  “We plan to search the remains of the Cradle for it right away.”

  …was the unfortunate answer.

  They explained that what they were hoping to find was his wedding ring. Sure enough, when I checked my Storage, I found it in the spoils from the Cradle.