Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 3

by Hiro Ainana

  Oh, so it’s just an expression? I don’t fully understand, but Zenacchi’s interpretation that this was an expression of love is likely only a misunderstanding, judging by Iona’s tone.

  Well, thank goodness for that.

  The three of us listened as Zenacchi happily read the letter aloud.

  “Um, so… ‘We had an exceptionally good time eating soup on a hill with a majestic megalith.’ Wow! But is there really a place like that so close to Seiryuu City?”

  “Geh, do you think he means those random rocks?” Lou said, contorting her face.

  Oh, that place!

  We went there on patrol sometimes, but it was dangerous, since sometimes monsters lurked in the shadows.

  Iona quickly covered for Lou’s improper remark.

  “Judging by the state of the letter, it seems that he did not encounter any monsters.”

  “It’s nothing to worry about. Sir Satou is very nimble, and those demi-human girls are strong, too.”

  Well, well. Here I was expecting Zenacchi to be all worried, but she had so much faith in this guy that I was a little jealous.

  I suppose when those monsters came in through the main gate before, he did protect the inn.

  While I recalled the incident, Zenacchi moved on with her recitation.

  “He says he drank sheep’s milk liquor for the first time in a town called Kainona. Isn’t that where you were born, Lou?”

  “Yeah, but there’s nothing there but sheep, drunkards, and shepherds.”

  Lou told us before that she’d gotten sick of that town and come to Seiryuu City to join the army as soon as she became an adult.

  With that derisive comment, our discussion of Kainona was apparently over.

  According to the rest of Zenacchi’s letter, this guy had been hunting deer in the mountains, eating delicious food at each destination, and generally enjoying a terribly pleasant journey.

  Is traveling really supposed to be this comfortable?

  “It sounds as though he is enjoying himself on his trip,” Iona commented, a little confused.

  “Right? I mean, I know a couple of peddlers myself, but traveling is so hard on them that they all dream of setting up shop somewhere and settling down,” I replied, and Lou nodded, too.

  “Even when we’re camping on patrol, it’s hard to sleep when you have to be on alert for wolves and monsters all the time.”

  “It’s cold sleeping on the ground, too, so your body just doesn’t get much rest.”

  I agreed. Even on a hard wood bed, the barracks was where I got the most restful sleep.

  “That’s true. But Sir Satou isn’t having all fun, either. He wrote that wolves attacked when he entered the neighboring Kuhanou County, and— What?!”

  “What is it, Zenacchi?”

  Zena’s face was suddenly full of worry.

  Iona peered at the letter over her shoulder.

  “…A hydra?”

  Oh-ho? A hydra is that multiheaded boss monster that shows up in stories about heroes and knights, right?

  He was just talking about wolves a second ago. Where’d this hydra come from?

  “Y-yes… When he got rid of the wolves, it seems he witnessed a hydra flying away into the mountains. Luckily, Sir Satou and his friends weren’t hurt, but he says we should be careful, since it was so close to the border.”

  Immediately, I tried to remember where we’d be patrolling next.

  It’s all right. We’re going north next time. I felt a bit guilty about whichever troops were going to the border territory in the south, but I still breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I’ll report to the captain later. I’ll let him know it’s still unconfirmed information first, of course.” Zenacchi’s face hardened from its relaxed, lovestruck expression into that of a squad leader.

  At that moment, someone else leaped into the room with the same momentum as Zenacchi earlier.

  “Aah, there you are, Ms. Zena!”

  The person bursting through the door this time was Gayana, an engineer. If I remembered right, she was on the labyrinth supervision team with Zenacchi.

  “The captain’s been looking for you, you know!”

  “Ah! I forgot to submit my daily report.”

  Zenacchi rushed out of the room in a panic.

  To think that our no-nonsense Zenacchi would forget her duties… I guess they say that love makes you do crazy things.

  Gayana watched Zenacchi hurry away, then came over to me.

  “Huh? Is something else up, Yanacchi?”

  “I just thought it was strange to see Ms. Zena like that. Besides, Lilio! I’ve just received a new supply of fresh gossip!”

  Grinning widely, Gayana rubbed her fingers together in the tacit request for money.

  Oh, all right.

  I took something out of the cupboard and placed it in the palm of her hand.

  “Hey! I wanted coppers, not snacks!”

  She frowned at me, but she must’ve been hungry after her shift at the labyrinth, because she popped the baked sweet potato pastry into her mouth and munched on it anyway.

  “Mmm, I’ll allow it, since that was so tasty. So, about that gossip—”

  What Gayana told me this time was actually a pretty juicy piece of information.

  So they’re going to choose some troops from the count’s army to send to the Labyrinth City Celivera, are they?

  Right, the very same city that guy Satou is heading toward…

  Zenacchi must have gotten an earful from the captain, since it was almost a full chime before she returned.

  “I’m back, Lilio.”

  “Welcome back, Zenacchi. So, listen…”

  I relayed the information I’d just received to Zenacchi.

  Though she didn’t fully understand at first, her face soon bloomed like a flower into a radiant smile.

  If I were a man, I’d definitely fall in love with that smile.

  I’m still a little jealous of that boy, but I’m doing my best to support Zenacchi’s love.

  Good luck surprising him at Labyrinth City, Zenacchi!

  Afterword

  Hello, this is Hiro Ainana.

  Thank you very much for picking up this third volume of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody!

  First of all, in the hopes of inspiring you to take this book all the way to the cash register, let me go over the highlights of this volume.

  This work has been published on the net, but for volume three, the majority of the content centers around new events written for this book.

  Since volumes one and two were very battle-centric, I thought I’d try changing things up in this volume with a story about crafting.

  Transmuting magic potions, making magic tools, pottery, leatherworking, sewing, and cooking—between that and using programming knowledge to develop spells, a lot of skills that hadn’t done much in the previous volumes played a big role here.

  Of course, the world of Death March isn’t quite so gentle that you can do anything as long as you have the skills.

  Even if Satou has the cooking skills to create divine dishes, it doesn’t do him much good with his limited knowledge and repertoire…

  This might be a bit of a spoiler, but I think you’ll enjoy Lulu’s unusual reaction to Satou’s peerless cooking. That’s just this author’s recommendation.

  The stage for this story is the towns and cities that our group visits on their way from Seiryuu County to Kuhanou County.

  The heart of this third volume is basically the journey with the main cast, but as the story progresses, they meet a certain girl and get involved in a situation that they’ll resolve with the help of Satou’s creation hacks and everyone’s cooperation.

  Of course, besides the guest characters, we’ll also be reunited with a surprising figure…

  To find out who shows up, please read the main story.

  Moving on! The guest characters aren’t the only thing that’s new in this book.

  Since I
selfishly wanted to see more of shri’s beautiful illustrations, I made sure to change up aspects of the main characters besides Satou, like outfits or Mia’s and Nana’s different hairstyles.

  I don’t know if this part will be illustrated, but we’ll also meet some cat-people girls; spy some half-man, half-goat fauna; and ride on the back of a new character’s giant bird, increasing the fantasy elements from the web version by a huge margin.

  In order to increase the amount of fluffiness, I included an adorable familiar that sits on somebody’s head, too.

  Well, since I’m getting close to the max amount of pages, I’ll wrap up the contents of volume three around here.

  I have one report before we move onto the acknowledgments. It might already say so on the book wrap, but as of this volume, a manga adaptation of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody has been announced.

  I was lucky enough to have a peek at the thumbnails, and all I can say is: It’s amazing!

  For more information, like the release date and magazine it’ll be printed in, please refer to the official announcement from Fujimi Shobo.

  Now then, it’s time for the customary acknowledgments.

  I don’t have the words to describe how often my editor Mr. H has helped me. His wonderful notes and advice made a vast improvement on the hard-to-read first draft. I hope you’ll continue to guide and encourage me from now on, too.

  As of this time, I’ve only seen thumbnails for shri’s lovely illustrations, but I’m sure they’ll be even more splendid than I can possibly imagine. I can’t wait to see them.

  I would also like to thank everyone involved in the publication and sale of this book, especially everyone at Fujimi Shobo.

  Finally, the biggest thanks of all goes to the fervent support of all you readers!!

  Thank you very much for reading all the way to the end of the book!

  Well then, I’ll see you in the next volume for the Muno arc!

  Hiro Ainana

  Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.

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