Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 8

by Hiro Ainana

  “It’s the shrinking cloth of an Arido Arachne—it shrinks if you put magic power into it. We have ordinary rubber, too, so if you need any, we can get some from the warehouse later.”

  “You have rubber?!”

  “Y-yes, it grows in the south of the forest. It smells unpleasant when it’s processed, though, so I would personally suggest the fiber of a bouncer fruit from the Mountain-Trees or Oil Spider thread, if you’re using it for cloth…”

  The Elvish workshop owner seemed a little taken aback by Arisa’s enthusiasm.

  She looked like an adorable little girl but spoke in the tone of an old townie grandmother, making for a pretty impressive contrast.

  We already used bouncer fruit fiber for our socks and underwear.

  The Oil Spider thread turned out to be what was used for the knee socks I saw in Mia’s little fashion show.

  She also demonstrated fabric that was made from White Hornworm thread. Its feel and finish were exactly like synthetic fibers.

  “There are quite a few fabrics that react to magic, aren’t there?”

  “That’s right. Yuriha fiber, which was popularized by the gnomes long ago, is the most famous, but there are others, too. Kenea worm cloth reflects magic, for instance, while fiber made from the leaves of the World Tree amplifies magic power.”

  Ohhh, nice. Those are some very fantasy-style fabrics.

  Intrigued, I asked if she knew about any other rare cloth products.

  “Others? Let me see… Well, legend has it that the Viroanan clan of high elves weave textiles from the silver hide of the giant monster fish, which can repel even advanced Light Magic and Holy Swords.”

  That was an even cooler concept than I’d expected.

  But the giant monster fish Tobkezerra—whales, basically—that I’d defeated in the old capital had black hides.

  Maybe there was a rare spawn large monster fish subspecies with silver skin?

  If I could get a hold of that material, I could really enhance the defensive power of our everyday clothes.

  “So there are giant monster fish with silver skin as well? I thought for sure they were only black.”

  “Oh? Have you seen a giant monster fish before, Mr. Satou?”

  “Yes, just once.”

  “Well, well. I’m surprised you got away safely.” The workshop owner looked impressed.

  I guess not all of the elves knew that I was the hero who held my own in a fight against a black dragon.

  “Right, the silver hide. That doesn’t refer to the epidermis, you see. As I recall…”

  The workshop owner opened a thick book on a table and cast some sort of spell.

  Small particles of light gathered around the book, and the pages began to flip on their own.

  Then, the book stopped on an illustration of a familiar-looking whale. Automatic searching magic? That was pretty convenient.

  “Here it is. Can you read Elvish?”

  According to the ancient Elvish explanation the workshop owner pointed out, there was a layer of metallic-colored fat in between the skin and bones of the whale’s head that had strong impact-resistant properties. When hardened, it became the silver hide the workshop owner was referring to.

  The methods for processing it continued for another twenty pages or so, but most of it was about how to cut the hide down to a reasonable size and how to break it down into fibers.

  There were other sewing-related secrets recorded in this book, too.

  If I could find out the raw materials and processing methods involved, I’d love to try making some things. With my map search, I could track down just about any material.

  “Thank you for sharing this valuable knowledge with me. Once I manage to get some silver hide, I’ll be sure to bring it here.”

  “If that ever happens, I’ll make you the best clothes you ever saw.”

  I was planning on processing the hide and bringing it here within the next few days, but the shop owner seemed to think I was joking.

  While I was at it, I also asked about good materials for sailcloth.

  “Sailcloth? I’d recommend cloth made with ironshell fruit fibers with increased volatility. If you have enough wind stones, you can treat it to create wind, so you’d be able to sail even when the air is calm.”

  I still had a lot of ironshell fruits from the giants’ village and a decent handful of wind stones from the Muno Barony. Maybe I could find out how to process them?

  “Other than that… If Hiya’s place has monster materials in stock, a hydra wing or one from a big enough wyvern makes a great sail, too.”

  While I was lost in thought, the workshop owner gave me more suggestions.

  I had plenty of those, too, but the image of a hydra wing sail sounded like the makings of a demon lord’s ship to me, so I decided I’d rather stick with the ironshell fruit / wind stone combo.

  “Dearie me—we got a bit off topic there. Now, I suppose I’ll teach you embroidery first.”

  “Aw, what?! Um, embroidery is a bit—”

  “Now, now, child. If you’re making clothes out of fabric, you simply must put love into them with needlework.”

  Arisa, who didn’t like such fiddly work, started to protest, but the workshop owner seemed used to getting this attitude from young people and cheerfully steamrolled over her.

  Thus, we started learning to embroider under her guidance.

  “…Very nicely done, Satou.”

  Looking at my finished work, the shop owner gave a small sigh of admiration.

  Somewhere in the course of her teaching, she’d dropped the “Mr.” and started simply calling me “Satou.”

  “It’s more fun than I expected it to be.”

  “Isn’t it, though?”

  She nodded triumphantly.

  I wasn’t just being polite. I’d thought we would simply be making little patterns, but her “embroidery” turned out to use Rune Magic and magic circles to create magic tool–like functions.

  Unlike the makeshift thing I made with light stones in the old capital, these were patterns that had been refined over hundreds or even thousands of years.

  “Still, Satou, your skills may be on par with the oldest of elves, but your artistry could use work… You have to be willing to experiment a little more if you hope to become a first-class craftsman. You could learn a thing or two from Arisa on that front.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Though it wasn’t as bad as my lack of musical sense, I was never very good at artsy stuff. I just preferred to keep things simple.

  Meanwhile, despite being praised for her artistry, Arisa was muttering to herself darkly as she worked.

  “Aaargh, this suuucks!”

  Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Arisa shrieked at the ceiling.

  I guess what she needed to learn was patience.

  “Heyo, is Kea here?”

  While the workshop owner was reviewing Arisa’s and my collaborative work on a maid outfit, a new elf entered the room.

  Her oil-smeared face, overalls, big boots, and gloves all screamed that she was a technician of some kind. She even had glasses on a cord around her neck.

  But despite my assumptions, the AR display stated that she was a First-Class World Tree Gardener.

  “Why, if it isn’t Jia. Rare to see you leaving the observatory.”

  “How many void suits have you finished?”

  “I’ve got two here now, but I just delivered five of them to you…”

  “Well, there was a bit of an incident up there… Please just give me the two you’ve finished. And we kind of need seven more as soon as possible…”

  “That’s not happening, and you know it.”

  The workshop owner flatly shut down the proposed deadline and then left to get the finished products from the warehouse.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought…”

  Miss Jia slumped into a chair, so I gave her a bubbly yellorange-flavored drink to help with her exhaustion. />
  “Thank you. We haven’t met, have we? I’m Jilsaria. Usually, my job is to maintain the emerald branches in the space observatory.”

  Jia sounded world-weary as she introduced herself and sipped the beverage automatically.

  Her expression reminded me so strongly of a programmer being forced to do the impossible during a death march that my heart went out to her immediately.

  “But now I’ve got to deal with those annoying jellyfish, so I can’t do much proper maintenance… Ahhh, I hope Puya’s anti-sap-pollution project is going all right…”

  Uh-oh. She was starting to mutter incomprehensibly to herself.

  At times like this, a drink worked better than any kind words.

  I knew just what an exhausted engineer needed.

  “Miss Jia, please drink this, too.”

  “Sure, thanks. I’d rather some liquor, to be honest, but that’d just knock me out…”

  I handed Jia a nutritional supplement potion.

  She drank it in between muttering, then suddenly hopped out of her chair, looking totally refreshed.

  “What is this?! Some kind of miracle potion?! It’s amazing!”

  I had several barrels’ worth of stock of the potion, so I would happily give some to her coworkers, too, if she liked it that much.

  “Be careful not to stand up too fast, or you might get dizzy. If you like, you can take these to your fellow workers, too.”

  “Man, that’d be fantastic. Normally we get by with the Forest Magic spell Stamina Charge, but I guess we’ve been using it too much, ’cause lately it’s not really cutting it.”

  I took about thirty potions out of Storage by way of the Garage Bag, put them in a sack, and handed them to Miss Jia.

  I just couldn’t turn a blind eye to the struggles of a fellow engineer, since it was like watching my past self.

  …Oh wait, isn’t Jia technically a gardener?

  “Thanks for waiting.”

  Kea returned with the void suits floating on a Practical Magic Floating Board.

  “S-space suits?!” Arisa exclaimed in surprise.

  If anything, I thought they looked more like old-fashioned diving suits. All the rivets really gave them that retro feel.

  “Thanks a ton, Kea.”

  Looking relieved, Miss Jia accepted the void suits and put them away in a large Magic Bag.

  “…Hmm? What happened, Jia? You look like a different person from before.”

  “Yeah, the potion this human gave me sorted me out. Please deliver the last five as soon as you can, okay?”

  With that, Jia waved and left the workshop.

  “Easy for her to say… All my helpers who’re good enough to sew void suits are away helping Lady Aaze, and there’s no way I can finish all five on my own. I’d have to wake up our ancestors who are abed or something—”

  The workshop owner abruptly covered her mouth with her hands, cutting off the stream of complaints after Jia was gone.

  I was guessing these ancestors were the elves sleeping in the secret part of the World Tree. Abed was probably a code word for the sleep tanks.

  Waking the elves from their sleep tanks was probably a huge taboo in their culture.

  “…I’m terribly sorry. There’s no point complaining to you about it.”

  The workshop owner smiled sheepishly, and Arisa suddenly jumped to her feet.

  “But there is! You’ve got one skilled helper right here!”

  Arisa pointed straight at me.

  The workshop owner clapped her hands together in hopeful realization, so I agreed to her request to help make the void suits.

  If it would help the busy Miss Aialize even a little, I didn’t mind a bit of hard work.

  And so the workshop owner and I got to work…

  “I underestimated elves’ sense of the passage of time.”

  “Incredible. We’ve finished it before dinnertime.”

  In the course of about half a day, the workshop owner and I managed to complete one void suit.

  If we worked hard through the night, we could probably finish all five in less than two days, but after we completed the first one, she declared it was time to stop.

  Part of the reason might have been that she had only two suits’ worth of the necessary magic tools, like air purification and heat control, so there was no sense in rushing.

  I knew this, but the programmer in me who prioritized deadlines above all else couldn’t help feeling frustrated.

  If I didn’t hold back at all, I could use 120 Magic Hands to simultaneously produce them through the night and have thirty suits by morning.

  Like that time I mass-produced the silver chains in the old capital…

  “Master? Your face is getting a bit scary.”

  Arisa prodded my cheeks, bringing me back to my senses.

  I must have gotten a little carried away with my desire to show off to Miss Aialize. Sure, this was a chance to score some points with a girl who was totally my type, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of making my wards worry.

  “I was just remembering when I used to do death marches every day,” I explained, using my “Fabrication” skill to come up with a good excuse. Then I took a deep breath to cool my heated face.

  “Thank you, Arisa.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it.”

  Arisa jokingly struck a little pose of triumph over calming me down.

  I patted her head and then started making the remaining four suits with the materials I’d gotten from the workshop owner.

  The work progressed smoothly, and aside from the final magic tools that still needed to be added, the suits were finished within about two hours.

  I was still holding back pretty significantly, but when I finished the work and looked up, Arisa was gaping at me with wide eyes.

  Oh well.

  “So you’re the Satou fellow Hiya mentioned? Sure, you can check things out.”

  The next morning, after I’d finished two more void suits in the sewing workshop, I came to a magic-tool studio that Hishirotoya had introduced me to.

  Of course, my goal was to help make the controller devices for the suits.

  Once the studio owner, Mr. Kiya, agreed to have me, Hishirotoya left with a smile.

  I’d already explained the circumstances and gotten permission to take the day off from training.

  If only my manager at my old job had agreed to give paid time off so easily…

  I shook off that desolate thought and focused on observing as Kiya and his apprentices made magic tools.

  Unlike when humans made magic tools, most of the elves seemed to use alchemy and magic at the same time.

  “You fool! How many times have I told you to mind the temperature when handling breathgrass?!”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “This endothermic liquid is terrible quality! Make it again! We can’t afford much more of this.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I heard quite a few of these exchanges.

  I could do this so much better…, I thought, like a classic anime protagonist.

  Maybe I was just frustrated because the work here was getting bottlenecked so easily.

  Kiya and his apprentices had just finished the first magic circuit, the core of the magic tool.

  “Mr. Kiya, would it be all right if I help out, too?”

  “Huh? It’s not as easy as it looks, you know.”

  “Yes, I am well aware.”

  In fact, Kiya’s demands of his apprentices were so intense, they would probably fail if their “Transmutation” skill wasn’t at least level 7.

  “Fine, then. Just don’t get in the way.”

  With his permission, I began to help.

  “Satou! Contest!”

  Mia’s childhood friend Goya appeared at the door, but…

  “You moron! Making magic tools isn’t a game! Come back when you can make a basic magic circuit!”

  …Kiya sent him running home with tears in his eyes. I felt a litt
le bad.

  For now, though, it was time to help out.

  Any time one of the apprentices looked about to fail, I sneakily helped fine-tune the large transmutation equipment, used the Air Control spell to manipulate the temperature, and so on.

  “Hmm. This just barely gets passing marks.”

  Once we’d finished making components that met Kiya’s high standards, we started putting it all together.

  The rest of the process was all in the hands of Kiya and his highest-level apprentices, all of whom had a “Transmutation” skill level of 9 or above, so my help wasn’t needed.

  Relieved, I set about stealing their techniques instead.

  I was able to figure out the process from the raw materials to the completed product, so all I needed now was the equipment and I’d be able to mass-produce void suits all on my own.

  However, the team was able to finish the required amount of magic equipment for the void suits with about three hours left before sunset, so I didn’t end up needing to butt in.

  Miss Doa, one of the main staff of the studio, brought the completed void suit magic tools to the sewing workshop along with two of the apprentices.

  Taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere now that the quota had been met, I asked what they normally made in the studio.

  “Master Kiya and Master Doa usually make manned golems for use in space. I specialize in magic wands and staves. My research revolves around improving magic-power amplification and reducing consumption.”

  “Living dolls.”

  “I mainly develop single-seat magic aircrafts.”

  “Magic storage devices.”

  Ohhh, all their research sounded fascinating.

  “What is it? You interested in golems?”

  Kiya, who’d been listening to the conversation, looked eager as he dragged me to a garage in the back of the studio.

  We hadn’t really been talking about golems, but I certainly was interested, so I followed him without protest.

  The one there was an eight-legged spider-type golem. Its head appeared to be the cockpit.

  It reminded me of collaborating with the mechanical engineering students to make a multi-legged Mars exploration robot back in college.

  I had been in charge of programming, but since I made the driver software with the assembler, I had a decent amount of knowledge about the hardware, too.