Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 4

by Hiro Ainana

  The goblins were throwing stones over the gate, but Nana blocked them with her shield, and Arisa’s Psychic Magic spell Mind Blow knocked out the little imps.

  The beastfolk girls and Miss Karina beat down any enemies that tumbled into the city from Mia’s spell.

  The other soldiers were providing cover for these four from the rear.

  I passed behind Mia as she chugged a magic recovery potion, stopping in front of the castle gate.

  “Lady Karina!!”

  “Who is that?!”

  “A hero.”

  I answered loudly, courtesy of my “Ventriloquism” skill. That was my best imitation of the voice actor Nakaji Jouta.

  I moved past the surprised Miss Karina and used Short Stun to knock back the goblins encroaching on the gate, placing my hand on the warped steel.

  With a little force, I bent the steel like putty.

  In less than a second, the opening in the gate was gone. It wasn’t the most professional repair job, but a craftsman could probably fine-tune it later.

  I went back to stand before Miss Karina and the others and asked her to deliver a message to the baron and Miss Nina.

  “Young lady. Let it be known to the baron that all the demons in the territory have been destroyed.”

  I was careful to speak differently from Satou.

  Then, I leaped to the top of the tower. It would’ve looked cool to get there in a single bound, but I ended up doing three little jumps off a few footholds on the outer wall and the adjacent tower.

  “You protected the city well. Leave the rest to me.”

  I landed next to Hauto, thanking him for his service.

  Raising an open hand toward the goblins, I laid waste to them with a rain of Short Stuns.

  Since goblins were so fragile, this spell was the most efficient method to deal with them.

  A rumble of surprise rose from the militia, but I ignored them and mopped up the rest of the goblins outside the city with Short Stun and Magic Arrow.

  With the map, I identified remaining enemies besides the ones near the forest giants, sniping them with Magic Arrows.

  In the process, I learned that the range of this spell was over a mile and a half.

  Once I’d disposed of the fourteen hundred goblins and two hundred zombies outside the main gate, I left the tower. There was no trace of the wraiths that the demon had made.

  I told Hauto the same thing I’d said to Miss Karina, to take the report to the castle. The information was redundant, but my main goal was to get Miss Karina and Hauto to go back to the castle without stopping to check on Satou first.

  Then I bounded out of the city, disappearing from the people’s sight.

  After that, just as I’d intended, Miss Karina and Hauto returned to the castle without stopping by to see me.

  After I left the city, I visited the thieves’ hideout hidden in the mountains four miles away from Muno City to collect the chaos jar the demon had described.

  The attacking thieves had not only murdered the bureaucrats and their guards but stolen all their valuables.

  The thieves responsible for the crime had given in to curiosity and opened the lid of the chaos jar. They all lay dead with expressions of fear frozen on their faces.

  I had a feeling they’d turn into undead if I left them like that, so I made a deep hole with Pitfall and cremated them in it with Fire Shot.

  Finally, I stowed away the chaos jar and left the place behind.

  I’d recovered the treasures that the bandits stole, too, of course. I thought they could come in handy for rebuilding Muno City.

  I returned to the battlefield in the light of the setting sun.

  Illuminated by the sunset, the corpses of monsters and the now-motionless bodies that were once zombies made for a sobering reminder of the impermanence of life.

  I paused to give a moment of silence for them and started to leave, then had a sudden realization.

  If I left them here like this, they might poison the earth or water supply.

  If I remembered correctly, there was a part in a Warring States time-travel novel I’d read where some villagers died of disease while clearing away bodies.

  I guess I can cheat a bit with my map and Storage here.

  I marked the corpses on my map and set them to appear on my radar as yellow dots.

  Then, I ran around the battlefield with the yellow dots on my radar as my guide, collecting each body as soon as it was in range of Storage.

  I lost track of how many rounds I made. Finally, as dusk was settling over the battleground, I finished recovering all of them.

  …That was pretty tiring.

  The monster corpses were fine in Storage, but the human bodies would have to be returned to the bereaved families in the city.

  I sorted the corpses in Storage according to their former station in life, laying them down in four-foot-deep pits dug with magic.

  Their relatives could decide whether to cremate or bury them. After another moment of silent prayer, I left the graveyard.

  My work finally done, I sneaked into the city under cover of darkness, returning to the room in the inn where everyone was waiting. This was after I removed my Hero disguise and title, of course.

  “I’ve returned.”

  “Welcome back, master,” said Liza, and everyone else followed suit.

  “Welcome baaack!”

  “We were worried, sir!”

  Pochi and Tama had been worried about me this whole time; they climbed all over me, nuzzling their faces against my head.

  Their relief soon gave way to fatigue, and they started nodding off as they clung to me. I stroked their heads and laid them down on the bed.

  “Master, here.”

  Lulu handed the Garage Bag and Holy Stone back to me. She’d been in this room activating it again and again so that the invading monsters wouldn’t spread into the city.

  “Great work, Lulu.”

  I patted her head gently in thanks for her hard work behind the scenes.

  Lulu smiled a little proudly.

  “Hero?” Mia mumbled something and tilted her head.

  Maybe she meant to ask if I was really a hero and not a peddler?

  “Mia figured out that it was you before we even said anything! She said a spirit told her,” Arisa explained quietly in my ear. That was all well and good, but I’d have appreciated it more if she hadn’t tried to lick my ear in the process.

  Was the dryad the “spirit” she was talking about?

  Since I’d still had the Hero title when the dryad helped me escape from the Cradle, she’d probably figured it out then. I’d have to ask her not to spread that information around too much next time we met.

  “Master acquired the title of Hero and a Holy Sword when he fought my former master to save Mia, I report.” Nana explained the situation to Mia for me.

  That wasn’t quite accurate, but the elf seemed satisfied with this account, so I left it at that.

  I was a bit too tired to go to the trouble of clarifying things anyway.

  “Master, I need more magic supply, I request.”

  “Sorry, but can you use a magic potion for now? I’ll do it in the morning.”

  Normally, I’d be more than happy to help, but I wasn’t really up for it right now.

  Somehow, despite her expressionless face, Nana adopted the dejected air of an abandoned puppy.

  I told everyone to keep the fact that I was a hero a secret, and we decided to spend the night right there in the inn.

  Pochi and Tama still didn’t know that I was the hero.

  I wasn’t sure whether to tell them myself or not, but Liza and Arisa suggested that I keep it from them until they were older, so I decided not to say anything unless it was necessary.

  We shouldn’t get caught up in any major strife in the future, so I doubted it would be a problem.

  The forest giants had returned to the forest while I was dealing with the thieves, so I wasn’t able to see them
off.

  The next morning, Miss Karina came and brought us to the audience room of Muno Castle.

  “Satou, as a father, I am deeply appreciative to you for saving Karina’s life. And as a lord, I thank you for your tremendous contributions toward defeating the demon.”

  These were the baron’s very first words to me as we entered the castle.

  Still, shouldn’t those things have been in the reverse order? Goodness, what a doting baron.

  After that, Miss Nina joined the nobleman in thanking us repeatedly for rescuing the barony from its grave crisis. Finally, she took over to discuss my reward for saving the territory.

  “Now, we will certainly confer a medal of honor upon you later, but our debt to you is quite large. A medal alone isn’t nearly enough. As far as prizes that the baron has the authority to give…”

  As Miss Nina spoke, Miss Karina’s face blushed red. Miss Nina glanced at her, then at the girls behind me.

  “…A beautiful woman or a title. Which would you desire?”

  The reason money wasn’t presented among the options was probably because the city’s finances were in such dire straits.

  At this rate, I had a sneaking suspicion I was about to end up on the road to marriage with Miss Karina.

  She was certainly gorgeous, but if she became my wife, I’d doubtless end up having to spend my life in the service of the Muno Barony and probably wind up being buried here, too.

  Personally, I’d like to continue to be free to travel the world.

  “My apologies, but I have no need for either. A medal is more than enough.”

  “How noble, to be so free of desire.” Miss Nina raised her eyebrows at me doubtfully.

  Miss Karina’s expression clouded, but I had to harden my heart and ignore her. I couldn’t make everyone happy all the time.

  “It’s not as though I have no desires at all. My greatest wish is to travel and see as much of the world as possible with my own eyes, you see. A noble who cannot stay and serve his territory is hardly worth having, right? Besides, I’m far too young to take a bride.”

  “There’s nothing unusual about marrying an adult, is there? Those girls behind you aren’t your wives?”

  The moment Miss Nina asked that question, I felt an incredible sense of pressure from the kids behind me.

  Okay, time to follow the example of harem protagonists throughout history and act totally oblivious.

  “Well, they’re all like family to me, but none of them is my wife.”

  I felt a chorus of disappointed sighs behind me, along with a relieved one from Miss Karina.

  “How about Lady Karina, then? She may be slightly past her prime, but she’s beautiful and has childbearing hips. Surely you wish to have strong, healthy children?”

  Miss Karina pouted unhappily at Miss Nina’s rude comments, though the compliment toward her beauty made her blush. It was kind of cute, but if I let that show, Miss Nina would take that as encouragement, so I rode it out with the help of my “Poker Face” skill.

  Miss Soluna stood calmly next to Hauto.

  “But for a mere commoner to aspire to marry a baron’s daughter—,” I began, but then Miss Soluna turned toward me with a smile, and I quickly corrected myself.

  That was close. I’d forgotten that Hauto, who was clearly her sweetheart, was a commoner, too.

  “—would be wonderful, of course. But as long as I am traveling the world, I have no intention of taking a bride.”

  “I see…”

  Miss Nina put a hand to her chin thoughtfully.

  Then she whispered something in the baron’s ear, and he gave his consent.

  “Very well, Satou. We shall make you an honorary hereditary knight.”

  “Lady Nina—”

  I started to protest, but she raised a hand to silence me.

  “We will not ask you to do any work for the barony. Your duty would be to travel the lands as a vassal of the territory.”

  Say what? Do they want me to gather intelligence about other territories?

  “We would not ask you to play at being a spy, of course.”

  Wait, they wouldn’t? What does she want me to do, then?

  Miss Nina cut me off as I opened my mouth again. “However, it is important that you visit many different lands as our vassal.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand. What is it you wish to ask of me, Miss Nina?” I still didn’t get it, so I decided to just cut to the chase.

  “Are you aware that the Muno Barony is rumored to be a ‘cursed territory’?”

  “Yes, though I do not know the reason.” I nodded slowly.

  “They say any noble who visits this place will be doomed to misfortune. There were many other nobles who claimed to be the lords of this area before our baron Muno, but almost all of them met with accidental or mysterious deaths. To make matters worse, most of the nobles who’ve visited after Baron Muno’s inauguration have since suffered illnesses or become bedridden. Because of all that, an absurd rumor spread that our territory is cursed.”

  The former was probably thanks to Zen or his subordinates, and the latter had most likely been the result of trying to enter the City Core room and falling victim to Zen’s curse.

  “My role would be to spread the word to other territories that the Muno Barony is safe, then?”

  “That’s right. We haven’t been able to dispose of the rumors ourselves because we’ve been unable to solicit the help of any capable nobles.” Miss Nina nodded and continued, “Besides, it really is necessary for you to receive a rank. On top of everything else, we can’t have people thinking that we are so stingy that we’d reward such great services with a mere medal. It’s not that we think you would spread any such rumor, of course. But there is always gossip wherever one goes.”

  Miss Nina shrugged and sighed.

  “At any rate, there’s no need to be so cautious about it. An honorary hereditary knight’s title is hardly a huge affair. It’s the lowest class of nobility. Older noble families might even treat you as a fake. Still, it should prove useful to you!”

  I couldn’t think of any reason why it would, but Miss Nina grinned.

  “Our barony and our neighbors in the Ougoch Duchy aside, discrimination against demi-humans is quite strong in northern territories, is it not? If you become an honorary hereditary knight, commoners will treat you as a nobleman. In other words, your slaves will be treated with respect as the property of an aristocrat. That should make for better service than you’d get as a lowly commoner.”

  I had to admit, that sounded appealing. It’d be worth it just to not be refused accommodation at inns anymore.

  In the end, Miss Nina’s trump card won out, and Baron Muno granted me the position of honorary hereditary knight.

  After that, we were given rooms in Muno Castle where we would stay until the knighting ceremony, but these days ended up being very busy.

  For instance, I consulted Miss Nina about the fortress where the escaped and abandoned serfs were staying, and for some reason, she decided they should be my servants with the fortress as my villa.

  I helped apprehend soldiers who’d committed felonies and find the hidden assets of embezzling officials.

  I secretly gifted the gold I’d found in Marquis Muno’s hidden treasury to the barony in the name of the “Silver-Masked Hero.”

  I wrote a letter to Zena about the wraith we battled in the ruined fortress and sent it to Seiryuu City.

  I paid in full to have the maids create Victorian-era outfits and adopt them as their uniform.

  Lulu and I got the head chef of the castle to teach us some cooking basics in exchange for slipping him recipes for things like fried chicken and mayonnaise.

  I watched Liza and the others taking on some bandits as training. One chivalrous thief disavowed his group and joined the army, just like a protagonist from historical fiction.

  I helped make a real gabo-fruit field inside Muno City by hiring people from the slums to work in
exchange for monster meat and residence in the barracks.

  I had the opportunity to listen to Baron Muno excitedly discuss his research on heroes at a tea party with Miss Soluna, Pochi, Tama, and others.

  I wasn’t able to get any new scrolls at the magic shop, but it turned out that the baron had a viscount cousin who ran the only scrollmaking studio in the kingdom, so he wrote a letter of introduction for me.

  I also borrowed a studio that no one was using to work on various projects, like making a new carriage.

  I used hydra materials to make a hang glider and rode it to the giants’ village, where I thanked them with a whole roast of rocket wolf and a barrel of Shigan sake from Muno City.

  I disposed of the monster the weaselfolk fisherman had mentioned previously and received the boat in return.

  On the way back, I stopped by the mountain hut I’d made to find a letter of thanks and the bluesilver sword from the kobold girl, so I knew she’d been able to mine the blue crystals successfully.

  Finally, I exterminated the monsters that had dammed the river near Muno City, restoring the flow to normal.

  Now the farmland in front of Muno City should be easier to cultivate, too.

  There was a ton of gabo fruits left from the demon magistrate’s goblin-breeding efforts in the nearby towns, so Miss Nina said they should have enough food for a while.

  In addition, Miss Nina taught me various things about my new rank.

  Just as I’d thought before, a viscount really was higher than a baron.

  The honorary nobility of one generation was technically treated along the same lines as permanent nobility, so I could think of the order as viscount, honorary viscount, then baron.

  When I asked why the honorary viscount Nina would be the magistrate of Baron Muno, then, she said it was because he was the lord of a territory.

  She went on to explain that in the Shiga Kingdom, the custom was to treat any lord with just as much respect as a count, regardless of the lord’s original position. This was probably due to the City Cores.

  On top of that, since Baron Muno had taken control of the City Core—or “become the true lord,” as Miss Nina put it—he would be officially promoted to the position of count at the next kingdom meeting.