Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 5

by Hiro Ainana

  I would really rather watch a tournament than fight in it.

  Oh, and speaking of knights…

  I found out why the imperial knight Sir Ipasa was defending Miss Sara from the lesser demon that afternoon instead of the temple knight Sir Keon.

  As it turned out, the temple knights were away on a mission to take down the Wings of Freedom.

  That must have been why it looked like someone was chasing around the cult members earlier.

  Incidentally, the female knight who’d abandoned her post defending baby Mayuna in favor of pursuing the cultist had received a sound scolding from a higher-up at the temple.

  “You’re saying that even if you go to the old capital, you won’t be participating in the martial arts tournament?”

  The viceroy seemed bewildered to hear that I wouldn’t be participating.

  Did I really look like that much of a fighter?

  “That’s right. I’m not terribly well suited to competition, I’m afraid…”

  “You know, if I formally recommend you, you can bypass the preliminaries and participate in the final selection.”

  “I think such an honor would be better bestowed upon your own worthy warriors, Your Excellency.”

  “Hmm. I see… What a humble young man you are.”

  After I repeatedly declined, the viceroy finally accepted my decision.

  “Incidentally, Sir Pendragon, I’ve been told that your sword was able to cut through the demon’s hide. Is it the work of a master sword smith, perchance?”

  “Yes, Elder Dohal of the Bolehart dominion did me the great honor of forging it.” I gave an honest answer to the old noble’s question.

  “Wh-what did you say?!”

  “You got that crusty Elder Dohal to make a sword for you? I’m impressed, Sir Satou!”

  “That old fellow refuses to make a sword for anyone who doesn’t suit his fancy, even a high-ranking noble…”

  “P-perhaps it was Viscount Lottel’s recommendation?”

  The nobles raised a chorus of surprise. The only person who seemed relaxed was Tolma, who’d managed an invitation to the dinner. He was dressed like a proper noble now, apparently having borrowed clothes from the viceroy’s home.

  Still, Elder Dohal’s reputation carried impressive clout.

  The viceroy and company were all dying to see the sword, so we had it brought to the salon. I had given it into their custody when I came to the castle.

  “It can’t be—a seal?!”

  Accepting the fairy sword from the steward, the viceroy gave an exclamation of shock when his eyes landed on the hilt.

  The rest of the clamoring nobles had a similar reaction.

  “That’s the seal that they say is only affixed to true masterpieces, even among Elder Dohal’s works!”

  “I’ve never seen it in person before.”

  “The craftsmanship on this hilt is incredible, too.”

  “Heavens, the sheath alone has value as a beautiful work of art. I would love to have such an elegant piece for my own sword, to be sure. What workshop produced this?”

  The sword was causing a fuss before it even left the sheath.

  I had actually just fashioned this in a hurry upon being invited to the viceroy’s dinner party, since I didn’t want to show up with a plain black sheath, so I didn’t really have a good answer to that question.

  Instead, I decided to just say that I got it from Elder Dohal as well.

  Drawing the sword, I placed it on a stand that the steward produced to show it to the viceroy.

  “Its inscription is ‘the Fairy Sword.’”

  “What a beautifully patterned blade.”

  “This green and silver edge is difficult to produce even with the finest mithril.”

  “Truly, only Elder Dohal could have fashioned such a sword.”

  It certainly was a beautiful weapon, but I hadn’t expected it to captivate these discerning nobles so completely.

  I’d have to be careful not to show it off to any strangers.

  “If you’ll pardon me, I’m going to get a bit of air.”

  I excused myself from the salon for a short time. The viceroy had been regaling us with tales of his youthful mischief while we enjoyed his prize liquor, but when the topic turned to Gururian City’s private politics, I thought it best to take my leave. An outsider probably shouldn’t be hearing this anyway.

  I opened the balcony door and went out onto the veranda. Though we were on the second floor, the courtyard was level with the terrace.

  I closed the glass door behind me. According to what I’d heard earlier, it was made in a workshop in the old capital. Glasswork was relatively common in the Ougoch Duchy.

  “Sir Pendragon?”

  A clear voice called my name, and I turned to see Miss Sara, her hair glimmering silver in the moonlight.

  She looked almost like…

  “…A fairy.”

  “Oh my, Sir Pendragon…”

  The second half of my thought escaped from my lips against my better judgment. My “Fabrication” skill must have betrayed me because of all the alcohol.

  “Good evening, Lady Sara. Please forget my comment; it was a slip of the tongue.”

  “Hee-hee. I certainly will not.”

  Perhaps because there was no one else around, Miss Sara’s usual restraint had given way to a more relaxed manner typical of girls her age.

  Because my long name seemed a bit difficult for her to pronounce, I told her she could simply call me Satou.

  “Well, Mr. Satou, shall we take a stroll around the garden?”

  “Yes, it would be my pleasure.”

  Miss Sara gave a mischievous smile.

  The courtyard contained a small water feature resembling a creek, lined with evening primroses blossoming with a faint glow under the moonlight. They seemed to be emitting the light themselves, so they must have been different from any primroses I’d seen in Japan.

  From beneath the flowers, I heard what sounded like the call of crickets.

  “Oh, fireflies…!”

  Following her gaze, I saw two fireflies twirling among the primroses in a dance.

  “It’s quite beautiful.”

  A mysterious young beauty in a fantastical garden. It was a scene perfect enough to paint. If I could, I’d insert Lulu into the painting as well.

  Miss Sara and I walked along the waterway amid the sounds of the bubbling brook and the chirping insects.

  I could feel the calm returning to my heart and mind.

  What a therapeutic atmosphere.

  “Satou…can I ask you something?” Still gazing straight ahead, Miss Sara murmured to me quietly. “Do you think…you can change fate?”

  Well, that’s a pretty heavy topic.

  Sure, I was all about that stuff when I was still going through puberty, but not so much now that I’m older.

  A vaguely positive answer was probably my best bet here.

  “Of course.” Miss Sara reacted with surprise at my prompt, clear response, so I decided to elaborate a little. “There’s no such thing as a destiny that can’t be changed.”

  I mean, I don’t think anyone can change things like the Big Crunch or whatever, but that’s probably not what she’s asking about.

  “You…really think so?” Miss Sara faltered, as if she was struggling with some inner conflict.

  I had no doubt that a girl like Sara, who was both a duke’s daughter and an oracle priestess, had all kinds of troubles weighing on her.

  “Yes, I do. So if someone tries to force some silly fate on you, just let me know and I’ll put a stop to it with my own two hands if I have to.”

  I answered as lightly as possible, trying to lift her spirits and help her forget her worries.

  Her fingers entwined behind her back, Miss Sara turned to me with a little giggle.

  “Even if a demon lord is about to kill me?”

  “Yes, of course I’d save you from a demon lord. Why, I’d knock him out befor
e he knew what hit him.” I responded in kind to Miss Sara’s lighthearted prod, finally eliciting a genuine chuckle from her.

  She laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes, so I gave her a handkerchief. “…I’m glad you’re here, Satou.” Miss Sara wiped the tears from her eyes and crinkled them up in a smile. “Thank you.”

  Her faint smile looked about to disappear at any moment, and I had a sudden urge to embrace her. Still, I managed to resist the impulse.

  A strange silence fell over us for a moment.

  What was I thinking? This girl was practically half my age. Maybe if she were five years older it’d be a different story, but…

  …well, I guess technically, in this body I was her age.

  “Oh? If it isn’t Sir Satou and Sara. Having a little rendezvous?”

  A voice from the darkness made Miss Sara flinch. From behind a particularly tall shrub, Tolma emerged onto the path.

  “T-Tolma! Satou and I would never do something so unseemly!”

  “Oh really? Because you appear to be calling him by his first name…”

  At times like this, Tolma’s constant inability to read a situation actually came in handy.

  “Oh, you!” Miss Sara pouted crossly at Tolma’s teasing.

  “Lord Tolma, no need to tease her any further, please.”

  “You’re awfully mature for your age, Sir Satou. I can’t get a rise out of you, huh?”

  Well, yeah, because I’m actually almost thirty on the inside.

  “I was simply thanking Satou for his help today.”

  “So far away from prying eyes?”

  “Tolma!”

  “Sorry, I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

  I thought it was a fair enough question, but Miss Sara put the brakes on Tolma’s remarks by furrowing her lovely eyebrows.

  “I wouldn’t want any of us to catch a cold from being outside too late. We should go back to the salon soon.”

  “…I suppose so.”

  “Oh? You’re going back? I was just about to leave so you could continue your little date.”

  With that, the nobleman jokingly fled toward the path back to the salon as if to avoid Miss Sara’s last exclamation of “Tolmaaa!” The two of us followed after him.

  As we walked, Tolma struck up a new conversation.

  “Still, it’s a miracle that there wasn’t a single casualty in that little demon brawl today.”

  “Yes, thanks to God’s protection and the help of Satou and his friends. The injured can be healed with magic, but there’s nothing we can do for the dead…”

  Though Tolma’s tone was casual, Miss Sara responded in a manner befitting a person of the temple.

  I appreciated her giving credit to my group as well, but one of the things she said grabbed my attention even more.

  “Is there no magic that can resurrect the dead?”

  “…No, none.”

  Caught off guard by my question, Miss Sara took a moment before responding.

  Man, I can’t believe a fantasy world like this has no Resurrection Magic! What a damn shame!

  “Aren’t you forgetting something, Sara? When that young noble was murdered, the holy woman—”

  “Tolma!”

  Miss Sara’s expression darkened at Tolma’s latest slip-up, and her admonition came in a completely different tone.

  “Sorry, sorry, I forgot we aren’t supposed to talk about that. Sir Satou, please forget what you just heard, all right?”

  “Certainly. I didn’t hear a thing.”

  I readily accepted Tolma’s request.

  My guess was that either the existence of some resurrection item was being kept a secret, or perhaps the requirements for using it were so strict that it could be used only under specific conditions.

  If some half-baked rumors about resurrection went around, it would surely cause an uproar from people wanting to use it.

  “Were you out for a walk, Lady Sara?”

  The viceroy greeted the three of us when we returned to the salon.

  It was a good thing Tolma showed up. If Miss Sara and I had returned together, it would have undoubtedly sown the seeds for some unwelcome gossip.

  For some reason, Miss Karina seemed to be eyeing me rather sharply.

  Perhaps she was angry that I left without bailing her out.

  “I went to the garden to look for you myself, but we must have missed each other,” said the viceroy’s wife.

  “Did you need something from me?” Miss Sara tilted her head.

  “Yes, in fact, a courier came from the Tenion Temple just a short while ago…” The viceroy’s wife’s tone was gentle.

  Thanking her, Miss Sara started toward the room where the courier was waiting.

  For some reason, Tolma went after her, so I ended up following along as well. I was curious about the nature of the courier.

  “…An urgent summons from the Tenion Temple in the old capital?”

  “Yes, but it was conveyed with signal lights from the great river, so I’m afraid I don’t know the particulars.”

  “I understand. I shall borrow an express ship from the viceroy and return home at once, then.”

  As I listened to Sara’s exchange with the priest, I opened the map to check the situation around the old capital and the Tenion Temple, but I didn’t see any signs of a major disturbance.

  It was probably an internal problem in the temple, then.

  Sailing at night was banned even in emergencies, so it was decided that the viceroy would prepare an express ship so that Miss Sara could leave for the old capital first thing in the morning.

  “Take care on your journey home, Lady Sara.”

  “Thank you, Satou. Let us meet again in the old capital.”

  I saw Miss Sara off that morning at the docks for the exclusive use of nobles.

  Arisa and Mia were watching from behind as if they’d caught me with a mistress, but I didn’t feel a single shred of guilt about saying my farewells to a friend.

  The bells of Gururian City rang to announce that a vessel was passing through on urgent business.

  The sound echoed off the water as if the great river were calling out in response.

  Someone waved a flag from the control tower of the docks, and the express ship waiting on the open river suddenly took off in a spray of water.

  “Faaaast?”

  “So speedy, sir!”

  Watching at my side, Tama and Pochi waved frantically in surprise.

  As I understood it, express ships were equipped with a high-speed propeller that operated on magic, so they could move over the water at speeds up to sixty miles per hour.

  I caught only a brief glimpse, but it seemed to be related to the hydrofoil.

  Express ships had a very small capacity for passengers, I’d heard, so the only person accompanying Lady Sara was the temple knight Sir Keon. Tolma and his family, as well as the other temple knights, would be taking a larger ship provided by the viceroy to the old capital.

  I planned to request passage on the same ship as a reward for defeating the demon.

  Journey on the Great River

  Satou here. My parents always thought of travel by boat as a luxurious cruise, but as a member of the lower middle class, I tend to think of taking a ferry to a remote island. Either way, I believe the image of a boat leaving a wake through the waves is classic.

  Two days after Miss Sara departed, we embarked on the viceroy’s ship with Tolma and his family, Miss Karina’s party, and the temple knight guards.

  The ship was bigger than I’d pictured, with enough room to load several carriages onto the deck.

  Ours was the only carriage this time, so we had some of the harbor workers load it up the day before. Most of them were twenty-foot-tall golems or little giants, and watching them use the harbor’s loading crane to move our carriage onto the ship left us impressed.

  The steam whistle sounded, signaling our departure.

  Actually, since it’s a tool that operates
on magic instead of steam, maybe I should call it a magic flute?

  “Weigh anchor!”

  The sailors moved quickly at the captain’s command.

  The captain was a human, but more than half the sailors were beastfolk. Flying-type demi-humans, like birdfolk and batfolk, were in charge of lookout duties on the main mast.

  I leaned against the deck railing, waving to the people who had come to see us off.

  “Lord Satooou, Lady Mia, come play again somedaaay! Oh, and you too, Arisa.”

  The loudest voice belonged to the viceroy’s daughter.

  She was one of the children who’d been in the peanut gallery during the demon battle. I had assumed that they were all boys, so I was quite surprised when I first found out.

  She had begged for magic lessons upon learning that Mia was an elf, and Mia had delivered, with interpretation and supplementary explanations by Arisa and yours truly.

  She had evidently gotten a little attached to me in the process, not that I let that go anywhere. She was only around middle school age.

  Despite being acknowledged as an afterthought, Arisa was waving back quite cheerfully.

  That was Arisa for you, though. Being a reincarnation and all, she was really very adult—

  “Mwa-ha-ha! Like I was going to let a new character raise any flags. Disappear from our story forever!”

  A “new character”…? Was that how Arisa saw the viceroy’s daughter? She was particularly wicked today.

  As the ship turned, I bopped Arisa lightly on the head. Then we both walked to the bow, where Pochi and Tama were gleefully watching the water.

  “Are there members of that cult in the old capital, too?”

  “Yeah. It’s a bigger group than I realized at first.”

  As we spoke, I dutifully supported Arisa by the waist as she stretched her arms out wide at the prow.

  “Will you be cleaning them out again, then?”

  “As much as I can. Some of them are high-ranking nobles this time, though, so it might not be as easy as before.”

  The Wings of Freedom members in Gururian City had been rounded up and imprisoned after I gave their names and whereabouts to the authorities.

  A few had escaped, but I captured them in the dead of night under a black hood and brought them to prison with the rest.