Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

by Hiro Ainana

  A particularly high-level knight skillfully pinned one of the wings to the ground, trapping the wyvern on its back. The other knights worked together to immobilize the other wing, but a single flap sent them flying back several feet, horses and all.

  They had pinned the monster less than three hundred feet away from the rock I was hiding behind. I might be a little too close…

  “… Lightning Bolt Inazuma!”

  The sorcerer in the center of the circle brought down a flash of lightning on the wyvern. It wasn’t an all-out thunderbolt, but the roaring sound and white flash still pained my eyes and ears. I guess there were some disadvantages to the “Keen Hearing” and “Long-Distance Vision” skills.

  My ears were still ringing, so I didn’t hear any orders, but the soldiers broke into three groups, surrounding the wyvern with spears in hand. The sorcerers from the center scattered into three groups, too, alongside their escorts.

  Even pinned to the ground and numbed by the lightning, the wyvern still struggled violently. Thrashing the stinger on its tail and snapping its beak, it seemed to be landing a few hits on the soldiers’ ranks. Even at point-blank range, the spears and crossbows of the soldiers could hardly pierce the thick hide, but little by little it was taking damage.

  The wyvern’s defeat seemed imminent, but it had apparently been waiting for its chance. Aiming at a soldier who’d carelessly gotten too close, it swung its long tail and landed a direct hit.

  Possibly loosened by the force of that movement, the creature’s wings flapped open, and it charged toward the nearest cliff.

  In other words, my hiding place.

  “Stop that thing! Zena!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  The commander shouted what sounded like a ridiculous command at the closest magic soldier. The soldiers in front of her, though visibly alarmed by the attacking monster, resolutely steadied their spears to stop it.

  These troops may have been frightened, but they had pretty high morale. If I were in their shoes, I’d be running away at full speed.

  “… Air Cushion Kiheki!”

  Charging at the speed of an Olympic sprinter, the wyvern crashed into an invisible wall just a few feet from the magic soldier. I couldn’t see the wall, but the cloud of dirt and weeds suggested it was about as big as a few soccer goals stacked on top of one another.

  Since the situation had nothing to do with me, I could afford to relax as I assessed it, but for the soldiers involved, it was no laughing matter. Apparently, even magic wasn’t enough to change the laws of physics, because the wyvern and the soldier who’d made the barrier were both affected by the blowback.

  The wyvern pitched forward onto the ground, but the small magic soldier was forcefully sent flying. The spell must have worked just like a cushion; she was knocked into the air, but not enough to crush her. It was probably no worse than taking a powerful punch.

  Immediately, two spells shot toward the scene of the clash.

  “… Lightning Bolt Inazuma!”

  “… Resist Fall Rakkasokudo Keigen!”

  The former finished off the wyvern with another flash of lightning, while the latter was a spell to slow the fall of the magic soldier whirling through the air. At first, I wasn’t sure what kind of magic it was, but since I could see her downward speed visibly drop, it was easy enough to figure out.

  The problem was that her horizontal velocity didn’t slow at all. She was at least sixty-five feet in the air, and at the rate she was going, she’d pass over my head and fly straight over the precipice behind me.

  Their battle had felt so real, I didn’t even stop to think that this was only a dream or anything like that. I just turned on my heel and ran, moving along the top of a thick dead branch that jutted out toward the cliff.

  It was a little frightening, but even if I fell at this height, I’d be fine. I knew that from personal experience…unfortunately.

  I stopped right at the end of the branch and stretched out my hand. But it wasn’t quite enough.

  Below me, I saw another, slightly longer branch, so I jumped down to it, reaching out as far as I could. This time I made it! As if it had been waiting for me to grab her cloak, the fall reduction spell wore off, and the magic soldier’s weight returned to normal.

  Crap. I reached a little too far.

  The girl’s weight was dragging me down with her. I clung to the tree branch and managed to stop both of us from falling. I shifted my posture, hoisting her up with a hand under her chest. If this were a light novel or manga, it would be the perfect time for some accidental raunchiness, but I regret to inform you that all I felt was the cold, hard metal of her breastplate. It was a bit disappointing, sure, but this wasn’t exactly the right situation for that kind of thing, anyway, so I just adjusted my grip and carried her back toward the root of the branch.

  The magic soldier was unconscious, apparently having fainted when she collided with the wyvern. Brushing aside her sweat-drenched bangs, I saw that she had a sweet, gentle face. According to the AR display, she was Zena Marienteil, seventeen years old. It seemed that she was from a long line of hereditary knights. Did that make her some sort of aristocrat? I wasn’t sure.

  If I had to sum up her appearance, I’d say she was slender, plain, and beautiful: the type who’d probably be oblivious to her own popularity with the guys. Her light-golden hair was woven into a braid, and some kind of armored headpiece protected her small head.

  Long lashes adorned her closed eyelids, and the eyebrows that had been hidden by her bangs painted a strong line, though I couldn’t tell if they were drawn on or not. I didn’t see any makeup on her, and she had a good complexion, her lips a soft-looking pink.

  The girl didn’t seem to be wearing any perfume, but there was still a faintly sweet, feminine scent mixed in with the smell of sweat. She wore leather armor over her long-sleeve shirt and trousers, along with heavy boots and the durable cloak on her shoulders that had saved her life. She must have dropped her short wand, though, because her hands were empty.

  I had been too frantic to notice before, but messages about new skills and titles had appeared in my log.

  > Title Acquired: Lifesaver

  > Skill Acquired: “Transport”

  Apparently, titles were just as easy to acquire as skills.

  “Mm…where am I?”

  “Oh, you’re awake?” She had just come to, so I issued a quick warning. “I recommend you hold off on looking down.”

  “Huh? Aaah!” As a soldier, it seemed like her only reaction to being on a thin branch on the side of a cliff was a short cry of alarm.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m still a little numb all over, but I don’t think I’m injured anywhere…” Maybe she wasn’t used to being near men, but she seemed a bit uncomfortable with my carrying her, so I helped her up onto the base of the sturdier branch above.

  “Ah, ow…”

  “Are you all right?”

  It seemed to hurt her to put weight on her foot, so I quickly moved to support her. She must have hurt her ankle when the wyvern sent her flying. It didn’t look broken, but it was probably sprained.

  “Thank you very much. Where are we? Last I remember, I was fighting a wyvern…”

  “You fell right out of the sky! I happened to be climbing up the cliff here.”

  “I fell from up there?” The girl looked up at the top of the rock wall, dumbfounded. It was about fifteen feet above us, maybe around a three-story climb.

  “I think some kind of magic slowed down your fall, which is why I was able to catch you.”

  “Really? Then you saved my life,” she said, shyly thanking me. She was slightly taller than me, but maybe because her chin was lowered, she seemed to be looking up at me. She had a pretty powerful smile.

  If I were still a high school student, I’m sure it would have been love at first sight.

  But I’m not some pervert who falls in love with girls over ten years younger than me, so obviously that did
n’t apply.

  “No, not at all. My name is Satou. I’m just a humble traveling peddler.” This occupation was the backstory I’d come up with on the way here. Judging by the feudal fantasy setting, there was a chance that normal citizens would have their movement limited, and if I just said I was a traveler, I might be mistaken for a thief. It might have been silly to take all these precautions in a dream, but given how real things had been so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got imprisoned or something.

  Trying to lend more authenticity to my story, I looked her in the eyes as I spoke.

  “I-I-I’m Zena, a magic soldier and a vassal of Count Seiryuu. I’ve served in his army for two years. I’m seventeen years old, unmarried, and s-single!”

  Uh…nobody asked any of that, but okay.

  Zena seemed a little frantic, but her expression was sincere as she told me about her family structure and such. I nodded along and gave one-syllable responses where necessary, all the while gauging the best route up the wall.

  “Excuse me for a second. I’m going to jump a few times.” Carrying her with both arms, I hopped lightly in place. She seemed surprised but not in pain. “Hang on—I’m going to take us up.”

  “Huh? Up this cliff?!”

  “Yes—there’s a surprising number of footholds, so it should be easy enough. Let’s go!” Making sure she was holding on tightly, I leaped lightly from foothold to foothold. I tried to use my entire body, not just my knees, like a spring to absorb the shock of each jump so as not to jostle her.

  “We’re here.”

  “Phew… You’re very agile, aren’t you?”

  Zena still clung to me, and I could feel her heart pounding through her armor. Her cheeks seemed flushed as she looked up, and her voice was shaky as she spoke.

  What an unusual girl.

  She still seemed scared, because she made no effort to get down, so I continued carrying her as we crossed the rocky plateau, taking her back toward her friends.

  “Stop right there! Who are you? Let go of her!”

  A petite woman stood challenging me from the top of a large rock. One of Zena’s colleagues, presumably. She scowled at me, her crossbow at the ready.

  “W-wait, Lilio! He’s fine!”

  “Be quiet, Zenacchi!”

  Zena tried to intervene on my behalf, but the other party wasn’t having any of it. Well, that was a normal reaction, I suppose. Carefully, I lowered her to the ground in a sitting position.

  “Good. Now get back!”

  “Lilio! This person saved my life!”

  Once I had backed away far enough, a heavily armored female soldier emerged quickly from the shadow of the cliff and rushed over to Zena, lifted her up, and carried her back toward the rock face. In her place, another armored woman emerged, pointing her large broadsword at me. Zena could be heard protesting on the other side, but the woman refused to lower her sword.

  …I mean, I did save her life, but okay.

  “Name yourself.”

  I couldn’t see her face under her headgear, but the soldier’s voice was kind of sultry. Judging by the curves that her armor couldn’t entirely disguise, she was definitely a beauty. Okay, this was just my personal theory, but I’d be pretty pleased if I was right.

  “Speak up. What is your name?”

  “Nice to meet you, soldier. My name is Satou. I’m a traveling peddler.”

  “Rather empty-handed for a peddler, are you not?”

  I guess the flat bag slung over my shoulder wasn’t enough for her. It was something I’d found in my spoils—the bottomless bag of holding standard to any tabletop RPG. In this world, it was called a Garage Bag.

  I didn’t really need it, since I had Storage, but the small black leather satchel made for a stylish fashion accessory. Was it unusual for a merchant to carry his goods in a bag like this?

  “I’m embarrassed to say that my packhorse ran away from me yesterday after being startled by the meteorites.”

  “Meteorites? Ah, you mean yesterday’s starfall.”

  I figured that the Meteor Showers I’d cast yesterday had probably been visible from a distance, so it made sense to use that as my excuse. The fact that they were already calling it a “starfall” was typical fantasy writing.

  > Skill Acquired: “Fabrication”

  > Skill Acquired: “Making Excuses”

  Okay, I knew I made that up on the fly just now, but those skill names were a little uncalled for. Although, that being said, they looked kind of useful, so I decided to throw a few points into each anyway.

  “There’s a hole in your story. If you were traveling along the highway, your horse would’ve run in the opposite direction.”

  It was really too bad that I couldn’t see the woman’s face. I had no doubt she was wearing a decidedly sadistic expression.

  I felt strangely calm, considering I was being interrogated at swordpoint, but that was probably because the menu icons and radar in my field of vision were detracting from my sense of reality. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just a game and there was no need for concern.

  Maybe because I’d enabled the “Fabrication” skill, all kinds of suitable excuses came to mind. “I beg your pardon, but do you know of a place called the Soldiers’ Stronghold?”

  “Yes, of course. It’s where people go who wish to die.”

  Was it a popular suicide spot, or what? But I was glad it wasn’t a restricted area.

  “I was told the grave of one of my grandfather’s benefactors is there, so I was on my way to visit it when I saw the starfall. When my horse ran off, I panicked and chased after it, but of course I couldn’t catch up…”

  “I see. How very unfortunate.”

  Oh? Did she believe me? Leave it to my maxed-out “Fabrication” and “Making Excuses” skills, I guess—they were super effective.

  “Do you have your identification papers?”

  Identification papers? I had my driver’s license in my wallet, but I was pretty sure showing that would only cause more problems.

  “Unfortunately, they were hidden in my packhorse’s mantle, so I don’t have them on hand.”

  “Well then, you can have them reissued in Seiryuu City.” With that, she slid her large sword back into the scabbard on her back and fastened it in place.

  “Hey, Iona, you’re really gonna believe him just like that? What if he’s a thief?”

  “He has very prim fingers, not to mention that expensive magic robe. Most likely, he’s a noble from some small country in the north.”

  “He might be a spy, then!”

  “I doubt they would employ someone who’s clearly not from our kingdom as a spy, don’t you think?” The young woman who’d come down from the rock was whispering urgently to the heavily armored soldier. Thanks to my “Keen Hearing” skill, I could hear everything.

  “What’s the matter, Lilio? I thought the younger ones with black hair were your type.”

  “…They’re my least favorite now, due to personal reasons.”

  “Ahh, he dumped you, huh? Want me to treat you sometime to some food that’ll make your chest bigger?”

  “He didn’t dump me because of my chest! But I won’t say no to a free meal. You can listen to my troubles while you’re at it, too.”

  Having more or less persuaded them to calm down, Zena left the two to their girl talk and came over to apologize for her colleagues’ rudeness.

  Together with the other women, we headed toward the troop headquarters. Their encampment was right next to the highway, so I didn’t have much choice but to follow along. Besides, it probably would have seemed suspicious if I had tried to take my leave there and wander off into the forest or something.

  The battlefield smelled so strongly of blood that I felt like I might throw up. Luckily, it didn’t actually happen—thanks to my resistance skills, maybe. There were a few bodies covered by cloth and several more casualties receiving emergency first aid, plus the enormous corpse of the wyvern.

&
nbsp; …So people had died in that battle?

  Strangely, I didn’t really see any soldiers crying. Maybe they were throwing themselves into their work to stave off any feelings of sadness.

  The men I had assumed to be military engineers of some kind were working away with what looked like saws to dismantle the wyvern’s corpse. It was probably difficult to satisfactorily drain all the blood out of a body that large, which explained why the workers were splattered with red.

  Spotting Zena, now in the care of some guards, the mounted knight who seemed to be the commander trotted over on horseback. I had never seen a horse up close like this before. Its breath stank as it snorted wildly through its nose.

  Stop moving your face toward me with those cutesy eyes. That’s okay only when pretty women do it, got it?

  “Zena! You’re all right!”

  “Yes, thanks to this person here. This is Satou, a very agile peddler.” Zena’s introduction seemed to include some unnecessary details, but I bit back any sharp remarks.

  “Then we’re in your debt. It would be terrible if we’d lost a precious magic soldier.”

  That made it sound like losing her wouldn’t have been a big deal if she wasn’t a magic soldier, but judging by the grins of the people around us, it was probably just a joke.

  The armored woman who’d interrogated me earlier whispered into the captain’s ear, explaining what I had told her before, and they asked me what I’d seen at the Soldiers’ Stronghold.

  Apparently, the group had been sent out from Seiryuu City the day before as a survey team to determine whether the “starfall” had caused anything strange.

  Seiryuu City

  Satou here. There’s something exhilarating about talking to a woman, isn’t there? Ever since my girlfriend dumped me, I’ve been investing a little too much money in a shop that I frequent with Mr. Tubs where you can pay to have pretty girls drink with you.

  All the incapacitated soldiers, including Zena, were loaded onto a wagon to be brought back to Seiryuu City. Thanks to her intervention, I was able to join them as well.