Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 7

by Hiro Ainana

  “We found it in our usual spot in the Twin Mountains.”

  “You did?”

  I didn’t recognize the place names, but evidently something was odd about the location of that monster.

  “Yeah, we saw a goblin that used Fire Magic, too. Pretty crazy.”

  “Was that in the Twin Mountains, too…?”

  “Yeah, ’sright.”

  Maybe I was reading too much into it, but I had to wonder whether all this was because of the pyro noble’s Crimson Cane attracting fire monsters.

  I wasn’t sure of the range or conditions of the curse, but someone could wreak havoc on an enemy capital using an item like that.

  However, it seemed like I was the only one with this theory. The guards were just confused about the unusual monster activity.

  The mon hunter women waved to the guard and started to head through the gates, but the boy hurried over to stop them.

  “Hey, we weren’t done talking yet!”

  “Fine. Come to the bar next to the buyer’s shop by sunset today. If you show up, we’ll give you three coppers for the six days, just like we originally promised.”

  “Wait a minute! I defeated four goblins, too. You owe me four more coins for the commission for those!”

  “Why, you little… You just snuck in the final blow on goblins we’d all but finished off, didn’t you?”

  “You’ve got some nerve trying to claim a reward for that. Cheeky brat.”

  “That still means I beat them!”

  The tall leader of the women shrugged scornfully.

  “All right, all right. But you didn’t kill those four alone, so you get half the commission. That means two extra coppers. Just make sure you get to the bar before the end of the day.”

  The women snickered at the relieved smile on the boy’s face.

  “Heh, you better hurry, or we’ll spend it all on booze.”

  “Okay, let’s make a bet on whether we can drink everything away before the kid gets there.”

  “Great idea! I’ll put one large copper on yes.”

  “Me too—five coppers on drinking it away.”

  “Gah-ha-ha, c’mon, put some real money on it!”

  They were probably joking, but I got the feeling it’d turn into reality if they drank for long enough.

  The boy seemed to have the same hunch, as he hurriedly tried to negotiate with the gatekeeper.

  “You heard them, right? Just let me through now and I promise I’ll come back to pay later.”

  “Ha! If I believed every word you mon hunters say, I wouldn’t be fit to be a gatekeeper. Why don’t you just go hunt some game to pay in kind before sunset?”

  “How am I supposed to catch a beast without tools to set traps?”

  “Well, you better give up, then.”

  Oh? You can pay in kind here? I didn’t know that.

  Noticing our carriage approaching, the guard pushed the boy aside. The kid tried to charge into the town while the guard was distracted, but the second guard stuck his foot out and tripped him easily.

  “Hey, welcome to Puta. Never seen you around here before. Are you a peddler?”

  “No, we’re just stopping by on our journey.”

  I showed my identifying silver plate to Gatekeeper A.

  Since I was just wearing plain robes instead of the fancier clothes I wore in the old capital, he didn’t seem to have recognized that I was a noble.

  “My sincere apologies. So you are a noble, sir?”

  “Hate to be rude, Sir Noble, but did you say you’re on a journey? This town is pretty much the end of the line, y’know. So where exactly are you going? Planning to head over the mountains to steal some wyvern eggs or something?”

  “Cut it out, Jitts.”

  Gatekeeper B must have been referring to the three or so wyvern nests on the other side of the Black Dragon Mountains, not the ones in the mountain range itself.

  I had cleared out the latter last night to make sure my party would be safe, but I hadn’t found any wyvern eggs.

  “Are wyvern eggs good to eat?”

  “Really good, probably. They sell for a high price anyway. If you bring them to the royal capital or Siruga Kingdom on the other side of the mountains, rumor has it you can trade them for their weight in gold.”

  “They say the spawn are raised as mounts for the Flying Dragon Cavalry.”

  If one egg weighed over a pound, that would mean about 140 gold coins. Pretty impressive, since that was about the price of a single Magic Sword.

  But the wyvern egg at the dark auction in Muraas sold for less than that, so they were probably exaggerating.

  According to the info I got in the old capital, the Siruga Kingdom was close to the Black Dragon Mountains, with Makiwa Kingdom to its northeast.

  Princess Menea’s home of the Lumork Kingdom was farther north, with two smaller countries in between.

  Incidentally, our destination, the Bolenan Forest, was just beyond the Black Dragon Mountains to the south.

  As I was mentally sorting out my geography, the boy from before spoke up.

  “Hey, Mr. Noble!”

  “Quiet, you.”

  Gatekeeper B quickly silenced the boy with the butt of his spear.

  I didn’t think that was necessary, but I guess it made sense to be that harsh. Another noble might demand worse punishment for a commoner speaking to them out of turn.

  “It’s all right. What is it, young man?”

  I waved away Gatekeeper B and spoke to the boy, who was still lying on the ground.

  “Mr. Noble, I need your help to get into the city. Please lend me a copper! I promise I’ll pay you back.”

  “Speak a little more formally, would you?!”

  “I don’t know all that fancy language. Isn’t ‘Mr.’ formal enough?”

  Still, if he borrowed a coin from me and paid me back, wouldn’t he end up with only four coppers?

  “Sure, I’ll lend it to you.”

  “Really?!”

  “Sir Knight, this kid is a mon hunter, you know. They never have enough money to last through the next day. He’s never going to pay you back.”

  “Hey, stay out of it, will ya? He already said he’d lend it to me. I swear I’m gonna pay him back!”

  The boy crawled out from under the feet of Gatekeeper B, so I handed him the copper.

  The stench wafting off him was pretty powerful. Maybe he hadn’t bathed in a long time?

  No, I could detect the smell of goblin blood and guts, too.

  The boy practically snatched the coin from me with his only hand, then shoved it at Gatekeeper B.

  “Oh hey, Mr. Noble! If you don’t know where you’re staying yet, you should go to that inn by the gate. It’s pretty expensive, but the food there is famous for being super good!”

  The boy waved brightly as he sprinted up the main street.

  Now, what to do about the disapproving looks these guards were giving me?

  “Sir Knight, kindheartedness is surely a virtue, but there are lots of people in the world who’ll take advantage of ya…you…without a word of thanks, you know?”

  “All right, that’s enough. Don’t insult his lordship.”

  “It’s all right. Thank you for your concern.”

  He actually did seem worried about me, so I nodded to him in thanks.

  As Lulu started to move the carriage, Gatekeeper A spoke up as if he’d just remembered something.

  “Sir, a noble from a rather troubled country is currently staying with our constable Baronet Poton. Please be careful of him.”

  Evidently, the pyro noble was already up to no good in the town of Puta.

  I gave two large coppers to the friendly Gatekeeper A as thanks, then asked for a bit more detail.

  “The noble is called Marquis Lloyd Dazaress of the Makiwa Kingdom. He—”

  “He goes around asking questions and setting things on fire if he doesn’t like the answer, if you can believe that.”

 
Gatekeeper B suddenly interrupted with his own explanation.

  The pyromaniac had started threatening people with Fire Magic while asking about the beastfolk.

  “I’m surprised the lord is willing to allow that.”

  “He’s got Count Bobino’s support, you see.”

  Count Bobino was a former noble, having lost his standing when he was found out as a supporter of the demon lord–worshipping cult Wings of Freedom. From what I’d heard, he hadn’t been demoted, but he was removed from office and would soon be replaced as head of his family.

  However, according to Tolma’s information, Baronet Poton was aligned with Marquis Lloyd, not Count Bobino.

  So I asked for a bit more information.

  “It’s all about the bribes, see.”

  “Shh! Jitts!”

  Gatekeeper A scolded Gatekeeper B.

  “My apologies, Sir Knight. Those are only rumors—”

  “Yeah, but he suddenly got all that power half a year ago, and he’s been bringing in boxes with the Bobino crest on them that we don’t get to inspect? He’s gotta be smuggling for someone, right?”

  This information concerned me, so I checked again, but neither Baronet Poton nor the pyromaniac noble were Wings of Freedom members.

  They were probably more like collaborators who provided them with money and accommodations.

  I preferred to keep things peaceful, but if any trouble came up with the pyro noble or the baronet, I could probably deal with them by mentioning the bribes or showing them the crested dagger I got from Marquis Lloyd.

  Incidentally, the reason this had been going on for half a year was that the black dragon I drove out with Hayato and company had been blocking the main road.

  “Thank you. I’ll be sure to avoid getting involved with Baronet Poton or Sir Dazaress.”

  I gave the pair a silver each as an additional thanks.

  Unfortunately, though, as a noble myself, it would be considered rude not to greet the local nobles. The best I could do was make a minimal introduction to fulfill my obligation, then avoid them as much as possible.

  Considering that he was hosting the pyro noble and all, I decided to put a marker on Baronet Poton.

  Before I left the gate, I also reported the thieves we’d left tied to a tree and the curse on the pyro noble’s Crimson Cane.

  Then I had Lulu take the carriage to the inn by the front gate.

  “Welcome to our gatefront inn!”

  When we rode the carriage into the courtyard, a girl who seemed to be a maid came rushing over.

  I left Lulu and the others with the carriage and followed the girl into the inn, bringing only Arisa with me.

  As soon as he saw me, the proprietor of the inn looked as if he’d discovered the goose that laid the golden egg.

  That was strange, since I wasn’t wearing particularly expensive-looking clothing today.

  “What a pleasure, young master. We just happen to have an excellent room open for you.”

  The man rubbed his hairy hands together as he led me to see the most expensive room.

  It was actually an entirely separate building with three stories, with the bottom floor serving as a warehouse that could hold one’s carriage, horses and all.

  There was a bathroom on that floor, too, but there was only one small bathtub, probably with no hot water.

  Because it took a long time to boil the water, the proprietor asked that we try to avoid bathing during mealtime.

  We were allowed to use the water from the irrigation canal for anything but drinking, but I was a little concerned that it might be mixed with the sewage.

  Well, that would be fine as long as I cleaned it with Pure Water first.

  “Because of its remote location, this town is not the most orderly…”

  The innkeeper said that it would be best to pay an additional fee to hire a nighttime sentry to prevent robbery.

  The lodging house was one silver per night, and the sentry cost an extra two coppers. I decided to pay for the sentry for the sake of getting a sound sleep.

  The sentry was free if you stayed for more than five days, but I had no intention of staying here long, so I just paid for two nights in advance.

  While I was at it, I asked the innkeeper to send a letter requesting a meeting with Baronet Poton.

  I put the letter I got from Marquis Lloyd with it, too.

  “Whoa, so this is where the noble’s staying, huh?”

  A hunter who looked like a mob boss swaggered into the courtyard of the inn, carrying a large sack.

  He spread the contents, which appeared to be cuts of venison, on a cloth.

  “Oh-ho, pretty big prey for you, pal.”

  “Yeah, haven’t had a catch like this in ages. How ’bout it, young noble? It’s ripe for the eating. Just no entrails, ’cause I ate those the day I caught it. Gah-ha-ha-ha!”

  The guffawing hunter seemed to have come to sell his venison.

  His asking price was two silvers, less than half the price in the old capital. He must not be a very good businessman to start at a price lower than the market value.

  It was a little suspicious that he knew about me already, but he had probably just gotten the information out of the gatekeepers on his way back into town.

  Our building didn’t have a kitchen, so I bought the meat and entrusted the cooking to the inn’s chef.

  It would be at least a few hours before I got a response to my letter, so we decided to get dressed up and explore the town.

  We put our valuables in Storage and the Garage Bag, so we were able to go out together without a fuss.

  I thought about putting on something plainer but decided I’d probably have an easier time if I looked like a noble, so I kept the same outfit on.

  “Where are we goooing?”

  “Sir?”

  Tama and Pochi looked up at me, holding hands.

  “To the harbor. I heard they sell some rare fruits there.”

  “Fun.”

  Mia took her mouth away from her grass flute long enough to voice her approval.

  This was a small town, so it was only about a ten-minute walk to the pier.

  According to the innkeeper, there wasn’t an official market, but there would be a few carts and stalls selling food and drink to seafarers.

  As we walked along the dirt road, I looked at the sparse buildings on either side.

  Since this area had high heat and humidity, there were a lot of well-ventilated one-story houses.

  All of them were raised a good foot or so above the ground, though not on high stilts like a beach house or anything.

  The people in the streets were all pretty lightly dressed, too, many of them wearing short skirts.

  Women in their twenties or older tended to have longer skirts but never long enough to cover their ankles. For minors, skirts that ended just above the knee seemed to be the fashion.

  Not that I cared much either way about this, but many of the men were wearing wide-open shirts or were going shirtless altogether.

  And most of the elementary school–age children had shirts that didn’t quite reach their belly buttons.

  This seemed to be more of a case of outgrown clothing than a matter of fashion.

  Of the children too young for school, about half were wearing baggy shirts much too big for them, but the other half were practically naked. These ones were wearing loincloths and happily running around barefoot.

  Maybe this was ignorant of me, but I kind of enjoyed the tropical atmosphere.

  “Master, there are many larvae here. We must adopt them at once, I advise.”

  “Yeah, no.”

  I lightly dismissed Nana’s straight-faced yet ardent plea.

  The young ratfolk and lizardfolk children innocently running around the town had clearly activated Nana’s protective instincts.

  “Our destination is in sight, master,” Liza reported from the front of the group.

  Peddlers were gathered in the streets and
storehouse entrances, their wares spread on top of mats on the ground.

  “Not a lot of salespeople out here in the sticks, huh?”

  “Arisa, hush.”

  I chided Arisa for her rudeness before walking up to the nearest vendor.

  The mat was lined with baskets full of fruit, from miniature melons to citrus fruits to peach-colored pears.

  Using a map search, I determined that these fruits grew naturally in the nearby forests.

  “How about it? They’re all just a penny each. I just picked ’em in the forest, so they’re fresh and tasty.”

  Damn, that’s cheap.

  I bought a lot so I could share with everyone.

  Some were a bit underripe, but the melon was pretty delicious, tasting like a less-sweet watermelon.

  “Yummyyyy?”

  “So crunchy, sir.”

  “Mm. Yum.”

  Tama, Pochi, and Mia were especially big fans.

  “I wish it were just a little sweeter.”

  “Really? I think it’s sweeter than the Kuvork melons you loved so much, Arisa.”

  “Well, there was hardly anything sweet to be had in that country.”

  Arisa and Lulu reminisced as they munched on the melon.

  “This fruit has quite a pleasant crunch to it.”

  “E-excuse me, miss. You’re supposed to cut that and then eat it, you know. Don’t blame me if you chip a tooth…”

  The fruit Liza was eating was about the size of a baseball, with a palm-fruit-like exterior.

  It smelled good, so I cracked one open to try for myself.

  Milky white juice flowed from inside, so I hurriedly tipped it into my mouth.

  It was sort of like a thin yogurt, with a goopy texture but a pleasant aftertaste.

  “I’m impressed you were able to crack that pearl fruit without a knife, young man. Are you a knight or something, perhaps?”

  The surprised shopkeeper handed me a wooden spoon with which to eat the flesh of the fruit.

  Unlike the juice that preceded it, this portion was dense and sticky.

  “Is it yummy, sir?”

  “Want to try it?”

  “Aah, sir.”

  Starting with Pochi, I gave everyone a taste of the fruit.

  After it had gone around the circle once, I turned to Nana, the only one who seemed preoccupied with something else.

  “You don’t want a bite, Nana?”