by Hiro Ainana
Copyright
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 10
Hiro Ainana
Translation by Jenny McKeon
Cover art by shri
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
© Hiro Ainana, shri 2017
First published in Japan in 2017 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.
English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ainana, Hiro, author. | Shri, illustrator. | McKeon, Jenny, translator.
Title: Death march to the parallel world rhapsody / Hiro Ainana ; illustrations by shri ; translation by Jenny McKeon.
Other titles: Desu machi kara hajimaru isekai kyosokyoku. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen ON, 2017–
Identifiers: LCCN 2016050512 | ISBN 9780316504638 (v. 1 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316507974 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316556088 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316556095 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316556101 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316556125 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975301552 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975301576 (v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975301590 (v. 9 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975301613 (v. 10 : pbk.)
Subjects: GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PL867.5.I56 D413 2017 | DDC 895.6/36d—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016050512
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-0161-3 (paperback)
978-1-9753-0162-0 (ebook)
E3-20191221-JV-NF-ORI
Labyrinth City Celivera
Satou here. When I traveled to a new country, I always looked up information on the Internet beforehand. In this parallel world, the main source of information is hearsay, so it’s not entirely reliable, but that can be interesting in its own way.
“We’re almost at Labyrinth City, right?”
“Almost there,” I responded as Arisa fidgeted and fiddled with her fluffy lilac hair.
Everyone else in the carriage seemed just as eager as she was.
“Mm. Excited.”
Mia, who’d been gazing out the window and humming a tune, looked at me with a happy expression on her youthful features. As she turned her head, her light-blue pigtails fluttered in the air, exposing her slightly pointed elf ears.
“Swishy…”
Mia’s hair whipped around in the crowded carriage, but the white-haired, cat-eared Tama easily avoided it. She was wearing leather armor over her pink outfit.
“Ouchie, sir.”
The stray pigtail hit the brunette, dog-eared Pochi instead, who gave an exaggerated whine. Her outfit matched Tama’s, although it was a different color.
“Sorry.”
“No problem at all, sir!”
Pochi smiled at the apologetic Mia.
“Master?”
I heard Lulu call for me, so I opened the hatch to peek out onto the coachman’s stand.
As she turned to look at me, her beautiful black hair swayed under her veil, capturing my attention. If I didn’t have feelings for someone else already, and if she wasn’t a middle school–aged child, I would have fallen for her in a second.
The residents of this world have no taste whatsoever if they think this lovely young lady is unattractive.
Lulu wore a veil, not to hide her face but to protect her hair and skin from the sun and dust.
“There is a caravan stopped up ahead, I report.”
This monotone statement came from Nana, straight-faced as always. Though she appears to be a busty beauty, she’s actually a homunculus who is less than a year old.
She was riding on a runosaur, a creature similar to a raptor, which made for all kinds of rhythmic bouncing.
“Would you like Nana and me to go on ahead and investigate?”
Riding another runosaur on the opposite side of the carriage was Liza of the orangescale tribe, looking gallant as she confidently held the reins.
Aside from her reptilian tail and the orange scales around her neck, wrists, and so on, she didn’t look much different from a normal human.
“Wait a second.”
I opened the map, investigating this so-called caravan.
It was a group of around thirty people, their bags being carried on pack animals called “dulldeer.”
The person in charge was…a princess?
The princess of a small nation called the Nolork Kingdom was riding in the carriage in the middle, and the people leading the dulldeer were not merchants but Nolork Kingdom soldiers. They must be guarding the princess as well.
There was one knight and one squire, both riding on mounts called “greathorn deer.”
The carriages, meanwhile, were being pulled by creatures the size of young elephants called “mammoth littlehorn deer.”
“…Looks like that’s the princess of the Nolork Kingdom and company.”
“Huh. All the way from the edge of the west? Could it be a bridal procession?”
Arisa peeked out curiously.
From what she told me later, Nolork was located near the center of the continent with a bunch of other small nations; to the west was a large, inhospitable desert, hence the phrase edge of the west.
Nolork was even farther north than the Eluette Marquisate, which was just north of Labyrinth City.
Mia shook her head. “Explorers.”
“I doubt it. Those small kingdoms would never let a young woman move up in the world.”
Arisa was a former princess of the Kuvork Kingdom, where she’d been unable to get a tutor because it was “unnecessary” for her to learn and had to study language herself.
“But Lalakie was ruled by a queen, so I guess it really depends on the location and era, even in this world.”
I remembered the events that occurred not long ago on the sugar route in the southern seas.
It seemed like just yesterday that we had rescued Rei, an amnesiac, in the Seadragon Islands and traveled around the tropics.
The journey came with lots of tasty memories, like fresh tropical fruit, candy made in a sugar factory, and the rum I drank in a bar with sailors, but the tuna was definitely at the top of the list.
The ootoro from a freshly caught giant tuna. Just remembering that melt-in-your-mouth goodness practically made me drool.
Oh, and we also foiled the Skeleton King�
�s plans to resurrect Rei’s home, the floating island of Lalakie, and take over the world.
I really wanted to take Rei and her adopted sister, Yuuneia, along with us, but being around labyrinths or large crowds of people would be harmful to Rei’s health, so they stayed in the southern islands.
Of course, once we were settled in Labyrinth City, I planned to visit them while on the way to see Miss Aaze in the elf village.
Still, I talked to friends like Miss Aaze and Rei with the Space Magic spell Telephone almost every day, so it never felt like they were far away.
The grains of sand in the wind brought me back from my reminiscing.
“Must be wind from the desert.”
“A desert?” Lulu asked.
“Yes, there’s a large desert past the ridge you can see beyond Labyrinth City.”
Spiky plants called “veria,” which looked like aloe or cacti, grew sparsely on either side of the narrow road our carriage was traveling.
Veria grew throughout the basin containing Labyrinth City; in the area around the ridge beyond it, there were plant monsters called evil veria, which looked like giant flora.
According to my map, a large amount of barrier posts had been set up around the city to prevent the Evil Veria from invading.
“Ohhh, so that’s why the air seems so dry.”
“Mm. Not enough moisture.”
I brushed some of the sand from Arisa’s and Mia’s hair, then turned my eyes away from the veria back toward the path ahead of us.
Beyond the princess’s party, the tall, thick walls of Labyrinth City left a powerful impression, with giant, stone-faced statues standing imposingly on either side of the gate.
“Meeew?”
“Wow, sir.”
Tama and Pochi peeked out from inside the carriage.
“Giaaants?”
“So big, sir!”
The pair pointed at the seated stone statues.
Even though they were sitting, their heads were still on level with the thirty-foot-tall wall.
“Those are stone golems, I report.”
“They look quite strong. I do not know if even my Magic Spear would work. I think the best way would be to hit them with magic first, then…”
Hearing Nana’s remark, Liza naturally started forming a strategy.
In my vision, they were displayed as Stone Giants. They were level 43, so they must be the guardians of Celivera.
Although I wasn’t sure why they were on the opposite side from the labyrinth.
“Oh man, now it really feels real! Soon I’ll make my debut as an adventurer!”
Arisa leaned into the wind, visibly shaking.
She must have been trembling with excitement.
“Satou.”
Mia tugged on my arm.
“It’s a big silver coin, sir.”
“Medaaal?”
Mia had produced a silver medallion with a thin metal chain from her Fairy Pack.
The AR display said it was a Key to the Ivy Manor.
“From Gillil.”
Gillil was the house fairy who was in charge of Trazayuya’s research lab in the Bolenan Forest.
Trazayuya was Mia’s grandfather on her mother’s side and was said to be one of the wisest of the elves.
“What kind of medal is that?”
“Mm, certification medallion.”
When I had drunk dragonspring liquor with Gillil, I think he said that he had lived in Labyrinth City as Trazayuya’s assistant.
“Is this maybe the key to the house where the elves lived when they were staying in Labyrinth City?”
“Mm.”
Mia nodded confirmation to my theory.
“Wow, so it’s a key? It’s almost like a magic tool. There are even Elvish letters on the back.”
When we were staying in the elf village, Arisa had learned how to read some Elvish.
As usual, she was devoted to her appetite for knowledge.
“Let’s seeee… Well, this one means ‘magic.’ The next one might be ‘flow’?”
Murmuring to herself, Arisa casually channeled some magic into the medal.
“…Ah!” Mia stretched out her hand in alarm.
“Hmm? Should I not have done that?”
Arisa quickly stopped the flow of her magic, but from the sound of things, it was a little too late.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“The statues of Celivera are moving!”
“R-run awaaaaay!”
“We’ll be cruuuushed!”
Up ahead, the people of the Nolork Kingdom started screaming.
Beyond them, the two golems sitting on either side of the gate started to move and began walking in our direction.
“Master, this looks bad!” Lulu cried from the coachman’s stand.
She was probably referring to the golems, but there was another problem even before that.
The Nolork Kingdom dulldeer all took off running into the veria-dotted wasteland, dragging the soldiers along with them.
The mammoth littlehorn deer, too, turned to run away so quickly that they were knocking over their carriages.
The knight and squire had managed to keep their greathorn deer under control somehow.
Meanwhile, the golems took to one knee and bowed humbly.
“Look! Nurse! The guardians of Celivera have come to welcome us, no?”
“Be careful, Princess.”
A young girl stood near one of the fallen carriages, pointing at the golems excitedly.
She was standing on top of a quilt, suggesting that she had been taking a break outside the carriage.
Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone had gotten caught up in the crashing carriages.
“
“
Two voices speaking Elvish were coming from the medallion Arisa was holding.
“Did this cause that, by any chance?”
“Mm. Gimme.”
As Arisa peered out cautiously from behind me, Mia nodded.
Accepting the medallion from Arisa, she held it up toward the golems.
“”
“
“
Mia spoke into the medallion in Elvish, and the golems went back to their seated positions.
“Thank you, Mia.”
“Mm.”
There was small writing on the back of the medallion.
Mia must have been reading that to them.
“Sorry for being so careless.”
“Just read the instructions first next time.”
With that admonition to Arisa, I got down from the cart.
The Nolork Kingdom people were still panicking even now that the golems had returned to their seats; I had to try to calm them down.
At the very least, I had to offer to heal their wounded and let them borrow a carriage if theirs were beyond repair.
“Oh-ho? It dost lack aplomb, but this is quite a refined and well-made cart, no?”
Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom seemed quite impressed as she looked around the inside of our carriage.
She had large, expressive eyes, which made it entertaining to watch her constantly changing face.
She looked to be around the same age as Arisa, but she was actually fourteen, the same age as Lulu. In addition to her childlike face, her brown hair being tied into two short, curly pigtails probably contributed to her youthful air.
It was hard to believe she was only a year younger than my official age in this world.
Our carriage set off with the princess as well as her elderly nursemaid.
That put us over our usual capacity, so Tama and Pochi were riding with Liza and Nana on the runosaurs.
It was still a little cramped inside, so I moved out to the coachman’s stand, too.
The knight and the squire girl rode on either side of us as guards.
“Thank you for your assistance, sir! I am Ravna, knight of the Nolork Kingdom!”
The knight took off her helmet, introducing herself so loudly that I winced a little.
I was surprised to see that she was a woman. Her appearance bore little resemblance to what most people might picture at the words lady knight. Instead, she was chiseled and handsome, and she seemed very dependable.
I had no doubt that the king and queen of Nolork relied on her quite a bit.
Despite her mature appearance, she was still rather young at twenty-four.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ravna. I am Satou Pendragon, hereditary knight of the Muno Barony in the Shiga Kingdom.”
I introduced myself as politely as possible.
The squire quietly introduced herself as Ryula; she was a plain, soldierlike young woman.
“This is quite a comfortable carriage, no?”
“It certainly is, Princess. This must be the technology of a large kingdom.”
Inside the carriage, I could hear Princess Meetia and her nursemaid praising my carriage.
I had turned off the low-capacity skypower engine that reduced the vibration in the carriage to zero, but I guess just the basic suspension and the handmade cushions were enough to make it suitably luxurious.
“Are you here to become an explorer, too, Princess?” Arisa asked politely.
She was wearing a blond wig to conceal her purple hair since most people saw the latter as bad luck.
“That is—”
“Princess.”
“…Yes, thou need not remind me. I jest, of course. We have come to cure the viceroy’s daughter of her ailment.”
Curious about Princess Meetia’s words, I checked her information on the map and found that she had the title Priestess of Heraluon and the gift Breath of Purification.
She was only level 4, and she didn’t have Holy Magic or the “Oracle” skill, just skills like “Etiquette.”
Looking on the map, I saw that the viceroy’s fourth daughter was suffering from Goblin Disease [Chronic] and Miasma Poisoning [Chronic].
The latter was displayed in gray; as many as 20 percent of Labyrinth City’s population suffered from it, albeit in varying degrees of severity.
Looked like it was the right call not to bring the half ghost Rei, since she was weak to miasma.
