Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2 (light novel)

  Copyright

  Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2

  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 2014

  First published in Japan in 2014 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2017 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.

  Yen On

  1290 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10104

  Visit us at yenpress.com

  facebook.com/yenpress

  twitter.com/yenpress

  yenpress.tumblr.com

  instagram.com/yenpress

  First Yen On Edition: May 2017

  Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.

  The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  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.)

  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: 978-0-316-50797-4 (paperback)

  978-0-316-55614-9 (ebook)

  E3-20170427-JV-PC

  A Night of Turmoil

  Satou here. I’ve never snuck into someone’s bedroom or had someone else sneak into mine, but if I ever get the chance, I’d like to request a sexy woman.

  When I awoke from a troubled sleep, a naked young girl was straddling my torso.

  ……Uh, this is a dream, right?

  It reminded me of a long time ago when I would visit my grandfather in the countryside over a long vacation and my younger sister or little cousin would jump on top of me in bed to wake me up.

  The only difference was that this girl was completely nude, and she decidedly lacked the innocent air of my young relatives.

  The young girl, who’d been inching along slowly, now made one last big move and ended up nestling into my bare chest. Her expression might have been closer to that of a woman than a little girl, though.

  “Oh dear, did I wake you?”

  Noticing that I wasn’t asleep, the lilac-haired girl gave me a light peck on the cheek.

  “Hee-hee, I kissed you.” Sounding like she’d managed a clever prank, Arisa pushed herself up with her hand on my chest and smiled at me a little shyly.

  Charmed by her adorable expression, I couldn’t help but pat her on the head.

  Wait, adorable?

  Sure, it was cute, but I definitely wanted to be careful about having any such feelings toward this young girl.

  Banishing these slight concerns to the back of my mind, I looked up at Arisa.

  The outline of her body glowed with a pale violet light. Very mysterious.

  “Don’t stare at me like that. It’s embarrassing, you know.” Apparently, I’d ended up staring her in the face. Looking fairly displeased, Arisa pinched my nose.

  Feeling flustered, like I’d turned back into a little boy, I hastily looked away. As if I’d imagined it, the violet glow I had seen earlier had vanished, leaving behind only a few faint traces in her hair.

  Following her flowing locks downward, my gaze accidentally ended up on her slim chest behind them.

  “Honestly…men are so perverted.” Arisa shyly lowered her head so that more of her hair draped over her chest.

  Hurriedly muttering words of apology to Arisa, I thought back on the sequence of events that had brought me into this situation.

  As for what had happened after I had acquired the two girls from the slave trader…

  “At all times, day or night, I will always serve my master with all my power.”

  Arisa, the lilac-haired girl, had said these words during the contract ceremony. Neither the black-haired Lulu nor the beastfolk girls had said anything, so maybe this was just Arisa trying to gain favor?

  Once the slavery contract was completed, I paid Nidoren, the slave merchant, with a gold coin.

  I had wanted to free the girls from their status as slaves, but Nidoren stopped me.

  Given the severity of the northern Shiga Kingdom’s hatred for demi-humans, he told me, any freed demi-humans (aside from fairies) would be treated worse than slaves, if they were allowed entry into the city at all.

  Besides, the younger beastfolk girls started clinging to me and crying while begging me not to abandon them, so it seemed like putting this subject to rest was my only option. Maybe I can look into it again if we go to the old capital in the south of the Shiga Kingdom or something.

  Realizing that I didn’t know much about being a master, Nidoren educated me about slave ownership and training. He said he would be staying around until noon the day after next and asked me to come back if I had any more questions or wanted to make another purchase. I appreciated the advice, but I definitely wasn’t looking to add even more slaves to my party.

  During the ceremony, I had acquired the skill “Contract.” I had thought this might mean I’d be able to free the girls myself, but it turned out not to be so simple.

  “Contract” required a particular chant. It must have been some special oath-related magic skill. But apparently, it could be used for more than just slavery.

  Outside the tent, our little group set about making introductions.

  “Well, then, please allow me to introduce myself once more. I am Arisa, born of the now-lost Kuvork Kingdom. Currently I am eleven years old, still four years away from adulthood, but I will do my best to meet your needs nonetheless, even in services after dark. Please take good care of me.”

  Finishing her introduction with a statement totally at odds with her age, Arisa pinched the ends of her skirt and gave a small curtsy. It was an elegant motion, but the short length of her simple skirt meant that it left her quite exposed underneath, so I swiftly returned my gaze to her face and gave a quick response. “Pleased to meet you. My name is Satou.”

  I definitely don’t want any “services after dark” from a little girl, thank you.

  “…My name is Lulu. I’m fourteen. I am also from the Kuvork Kingdom. Being gaunt and homely as I am, I don’t think a body like mine is very well suited to…night services, but…I’ll work as hard as any horse or cattle, so please don�
��t abandon me.”

  Lulu’s bangs hung over her lowered eyes as she introduced herself. She had a sweet voice, a soft and clear soprano, although it was shaking quite a bit. By gaunt she was apparently referring to her B-cup bust, which I thought at her age seemed to indicate a promising future, but maybe the rule of “bigger is better” didn’t apply in this world?

  I say, as long as they’re soft, what’s the difference!

  Well, it wasn’t like I was going to be requesting any “services” from the middle school–age Lulu, either.

  I hadn’t planned on buying Lulu along with Arisa, but Arisa had pleaded with me to do so. I couldn’t bring myself to refuse a little girl begging with tears in her eyes not to be separated from her big sister.

  Besides, I was planning to release Arisa from slavery once I found out what she knew about this world and Japan, so it was better to keep her together with her family. Both girls were beautiful, but they were clearly of two different ethnicities; my guess was that they were half sisters who shared a parent, or simply stepsisters.

  At any rate, it was ridiculous that this young lady would describe herself as homely, even if she was being modest.

  Even with her face partially hidden, I could tell that she had traditional beauty that would win by a mile in any pageant in the country. Frankly, she was kind of my type. If she had the personality to match, I’d be tempted to propose to her when she got older.

  Whoops, can’t let my thoughts get away from me like that, or it’ll seem like I’m leering at her. I smacked my forehead to clear away any evil thoughts.

  After the sisters, I had the beastfolk girls introduce themselves.

  “My name…is Pochi.”

  “Tama.”

  I guess Pochi and Tama were feeling shy, because they were very brief.

  Upon hearing their names, Arisa responded with a faint twitch at the edges of her lips, but she made no comment.

  “I am Liza, of the orangescale tribe. The village I was born in was destroyed by weaselmen, and I was sold into slavery in the Shiga Kingdom. Fortunately, our most wonderful master found me—”

  Enough already, Liza.

  Arisa and Lulu didn’t seem prejudiced against demi-humans, since they didn’t react badly when the girls took off their hoods and revealed their faces. Maybe demi-humans weren’t hated so much in other countries?

  Since the two newer girls seemed to accept them so naturally, it didn’t take long for Pochi and Tama to get used to them, too. As they allowed her to touch their ears curiously, Arisa looked over at me. “I’m surprised you were able to get animal-eared slaves like this.”

  “Well, it just sort of happened.”

  Now that she mentioned it, I had initially misunderstood, since there were a lot of dog-people and cat-people in Seiryuu City, but Pochi and Tama were actually the only dog-eared and cat-eared demi-humans in not only the city but the entire county.

  “These two appear to be humanfolk but have the ears and tails of beastfolk, so they were abandoned at birth… Still, they’re good girls, so please do not look poorly upon them,” Liza said to Arisa and Lulu.

  Pochi and Tama had the titles Satou’s Slave, Changeling, Labyrinth Conqueror, and a few combat-related Slayer titles. It seemed that the Yamato stone would display only the first of these.

  If Changeling, a hidden title, didn’t have its usual fantasy meaning, I wondered if it was some kind of hereditary characteristic.

  “How could we dislike them? They’re so terribly cute!”

  “Cuuute?”

  “Tama’s cute, sir!”

  “Pochi’s cute, toooo!”

  Pochi and Tama wriggled bashfully, apparently pleased by Arisa’s compliment.

  Looked like they’d get along just fine.

  “Well, shall we head back to the inn?” It seemed silly to stand around outside the slave market tent forever, so I spoke up to the five of them, and we decided to head back.

  Arisa slipped over to wrap both her arms around my left one. This contact seemed a little excessive, but I did think we should at least hold hands so the kids wouldn’t get lost, so I didn’t mind terribly.

  Pochi and Tama both scrambled for my remaining arm, but they couldn’t decide who would get it, so in the end Liza picked up the pair of them and carried them like luggage.

  Apparently giving up, the girls went limp in her arms, allowing their limbs to dangle freely… They really like that pose.

  It seemed like Liza was having trouble carrying both of them along with her spear, so I took the weapon for her for the time being. Lulu offered to carry it for me, but it seemed too heavy for a delicate girl like her, so I carried it myself.

  The sun was beginning to set, which must have signaled dinnertime; delicious smells were wafting over from the street stalls in the plaza.

  Eating out seemed to be the standard in the west quarter, because even people in less-affluent-looking clothes were going about ordering from the carts.

  On closer inspection, I saw that there were even collared slaves among the commoners getting food. However, instead of finding seats with the other people, they were sitting on the bare ground to eat.

  Grrgrrrgwr…

  Hearing a cute little noise, I turned to see that Lulu had turned bright red.

  Her bashful expression was adorable. She definitely couldn’t be a romantic interest right now, but I looked forward to the distant future.

  “Smells good, right? Let’s get some dinner here before we go back. What do you want to eat?”

  Not that I really needed to ask.

  “Meeeat?”

  “Meat would be good, sir!”

  “Master, anything you choose to provide us with is always appreciated, but if I dare to make a suggestion, I believe chicken meat would be truly divine.”

  Yep, that was what I’d thought they’d say.

  “I should think a slave must be happy just to receive any food at all.”

  Arisa tilted her head with a curious expression, so I asked her what she was used to eating.

  “On our way to Seiryuu City, rye bread and hot salted soup were the greatest feast we could hope for.”

  I guess that was pretty standard.

  But I was taken aback by their answers when I asked the beastfolk girls the same question.

  “Acooorns?”

  “Weeds, sir.”

  “Demi-human slaves like us are usually given a meal a day at best, so we learned to stave off hunger by eating what nuts, berries, and plants we could find in the public parks—anything edible, really. When we were able to catch small animals, we shared the meat with our fellow slaves.”

  They shared their food even in such a desperate situation? I wondered whether beastfolk had naturally kind personalities or perhaps grew up in environments where such cooperation was the norm.

  Well, as long as they’re with me, I’d at least like to let them eat to their hearts’ content, whatever they want.

  “Young master!”

  A loud voice echoed through the plaza.

  Whoever this person was calling must have terrible hearing or something, because the loud cry repeated a few times to no avail.

  “Master!” Liza called, and I turned to her.

  “What is it?”

  “It would appear that the gentleman at the stall is calling you, master…”

  At Liza’s polite suggestion, I turned toward the source of the voice to see an unfamiliar man waving at me.

  “You finally noticed! Young master!”

  Uh, who are you?

  “Master, that’s one of the men we rescued from the slime attack.”

  “Oh, right.”

  Ever since I’d come to this world, I’d thought I was able to remember faces perfectly, but apparently, that only worked if I made a conscious effort to remember someone in the first place.

  Anyway, I would’ve felt bad ignoring him, so I headed over.

  “Young master, please have some food if you’d like! T
he young ladies can eat, too, of course!”

  With a huge smile on his face, the middle-aged man led us to a little dining area behind the stall.

  Well, I guess we couldn’t say no to that.

  I could smell some kind of meat-based dish, so the beastfolk girls were sure to like it here.

  “What’re you yellin’ about n— Oh, we’ve got customers?”

  “I told you before, didn’t I? Those are the demi-human slaves who saved my life in the labyrinth and the young master who arranged for better conditions in the dungeon!”

  “Oh? Y’mean that nonsense about gettin’ meat in there, eh?”

  “It wasn’t nonsense!”

  A well-built woman carrying a bucket of water in each hand appeared behind the stall. Judging by the conversation, she seemed to be the proprietress of the place.

  “Well, then. We’re mighty grateful to you fer saving my husband’s life. It’s on the house today, so eat till you can’t move another inch, y’hear?”

  “Yaaay!”

  “Wow, ma’am!”

  “We’re truly grateful for your kindness.”

  At the first hint of free food, Pochi and Tama flung their hands into the air with joy.

  “Oh my, aren’t you polite fer a slave. You one o’ them tutor slaves?”

  “Not at all; I specialize only in physical labor. The slave who tutored me in the Shigan language was even more polite than I.” Liza responded in a quiet, almost nostalgic tone.

  After watching her thoughtful profile for a moment, I looked around the dining area. They must not have been open yet, because there was nobody else there but us.

  I asked the husband and wife who owned the place if the girls could sit on some stools. The wife frowned a little at first but quickly remembered that we’d saved her husband’s life and very amiably granted me permission.

  However, she said it might cause trouble if other customers saw them, so she set up a partitioning screen to separate our dining area from the rest before we ordered our food.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting. This is made with innards of a red deer, cut for us by our good friend the butcher,” the shopkeeper said proudly, putting a deep dish of stew in front of each person at the table. Shortly after, a large basket full of steamed potatoes clunked down in the middle of the table as well.