Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 7 Page 20

  As I continued, Ordo gestured toward me, and the others stopped to listen. Kena and her group stood up, hands on their swords.

  Kena was holding back Kon, and I waved at him and introduced myself.

  “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Satou Pendragon, the hereditary knight.”

  I looked around the bar calmly, watching their reactions.

  Most of them were less hostile than I expected.

  “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I happened to hear what you were talking about. Miss Kena, was it? I wonder if I could ask you and yours to stay here and keep drinking tonight.”

  “Drinking? You’re not here to recruit us for your side?”

  “No, nothing like that. I just came to get the latest information about the mountain range and the Farthest Village.”

  “What?! If you were listening, you must have some idea of what’s going on, right? Shouldn’t you be leaving that inn and running for the hills? I’m sure Ordo could open the gates for you if you ask nicely.”

  Well, that was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting anyone to give me advice. These folks weren’t actually that bad; they were just won over by the promise of a silver.

  In that case, maybe I could get them to take part in blocking the pyro noble’s escape route instead.

  “Can we talk for a minute? I might have a job for you.”

  As I explained my plan, the mon hunters all stared at me, dumbfounded.

  The Town of Mon Hunters: Part 2

  Satou here. There’s something called “follow-through” in Japanese martial arts. It means keeping your mind on the battle and not getting overconfident and letting your guard down, even if you’ve defeated the enemy. It’s easier said than done, though.

  The attack on the inn began not too long after midnight.

  Tama and Pochi were immediately on the alert, so I had them wake up everyone who’d been resting, and then I took a break from the work I’d been killing time with.

  I’d had the others get armored up before their nap, so they were ready for battle almost immediately.

  Since we were trying to make it look like we’d been asleep, all the lights were off. Peering out from the third-floor window, I saw three suspicious groups of people with torches approaching from across the street.

  The attack group consisted of five members of the pyro noble’s retinue, ten criminal guild members, twenty mon hunters, and ninety thugs. Definitely more than I’d expected.

  The pyro noble himself wasn’t in the group, but he was waiting on horseback by the castle entrance, so I figured I’d lure him over by dragging out the battle.

  Baronet Poton, his servants, and his family were all being kept in a room in the back of the castle in the Paralysis state. We could rescue them after we dealt with the pyro noble, though.

  Still, why didn’t he use the City Core to deal with the paralysis?

  Kena and her crew had infiltrated the opposing side and were lurking at the back of one of the groups.

  I’d asked them to capture the pyro noble’s retinue or at least prevent them from escaping.

  “Three booows?”

  “The one on that roof makes four, sir.”

  Tama and Pochi were keeping an eye on the outside, reporting any hidden archers they found.

  I used my Remote Stun spell to quietly knock them out. The archers were all stationed alone, so hopefully they would just assume they’d been ambushed.

  Some other criminal guild members tried to approach along the rooftops, too, so I knocked them out with Remote Stun as well.

  Timing the stuns so they wouldn’t fall and severely injure themselves was a bit of a pain, but I managed.

  Next, I used Enchant: Magic Protection and Enchant: Physical Protection to up my party’s defense; Enchant: Shield to protect Arisa, Lulu, and Mia from snipers; and Enchant: Sparking Blade to help the vanguard group with close combat.

  As long as nothing crazy like a black dragon or a hydra showed up, they should all be perfectly safe.

  “All right, shall we?”

  Leaving the magic users Mia and Arisa, plus Lulu with her Magic Gun, on the top floor, I brought the vanguard group downstairs.

  Mia and Lulu were to repel any would-be invaders at the back, while Arisa was using Space Magic to keep an eye on any monsters approaching from a distance.

  When we got to the first floor, the inn’s sentries informed us that the door had been broken down.

  So they’d finally noticed that something was up.

  The sentries seemed surprised to see us coming out fully armed, but I simply sent them to defend the main building of the inn.

  I had already sent the innkeeper and other guests to take refuge, so the sentries were just there to fend off any opportunistic robbers.

  “Foolish upstart who dares to side with the accursed white tigers, take heed!”

  Once the inn was surrounded, Attendant A of the pyro noble’s retinue began a dramatic speech outside.

  “You have committed a grave sin by siding with those filthy beastfolk!”

  It sounded like a rallying cry for some demonstration.

  “Your sins are…”

  Attendant A went on about my so-called sins for a while.

  I wasn’t actually sheltering the white tigerfolk, so the whole thing was a misunderstanding in the first place. But this was a good chance to figure out their motives, so I heard him out anyway.

  To summarize the speech: Marquis Dazaress hid the white tiger princess and company when she was being pursued by weaselfolk, but the tigerfolk supposedly turned on them one day and killed the marquis’s family, stole all their treasure, set the territory’s houses on fire, and massacred his people.

  To make matters worse, they killed the former king who happened to be visiting at the time.

  That certainly sounded like a good reason to hold a grudge, but the whole thing seemed highly suspicious.

  The tigerfolk wouldn’t have gained anything by murdering the family who was hiding them, much less setting things on fire and slaughtering the masses.

  It seemed more likely to me that certain parties who didn’t want the tigerfolk and humanfolk to become allies had framed the white tigerfolk.

  Anyway, now I understood the situation, but that didn’t make it all right to burn innocent people in the process.

  My plan to stop the arsonist had not changed.

  I activated Clairvoyance, opening a window that displayed the inn and its surroundings from a bird’s-eye view.

  There. Now I had no blind spots.

  I opened the courtyard gate and stepped out in front of the mob.

  “Foolishness! You plan to fight us for those white tigers?! You should be pleading for your life!”

  Attendant A’s reaction to seeing us fully armed was to fly even further into a frothing rage.

  “There aren’t any white tigerfolk here in the first place, you know.”

  “A bald-faced lie! We know you gave them medicine and bought supplies to aid them in their escape! Your feeble excuses won’t fly here!”

  “I did sell them medicine, yes, but the rest is all a misunderstanding.”

  “Hmph, enough nonsense!”

  Here I thought I’d try to enlighten them, but clearly they had no interest in listening.

  “We won’t let you buy time for that white tigerfolk filth to escape! Get them! Kill them all!”

  “““Kill the men! Capture the women! Steal everything!”””

  The outlaws raised their weapons and shouted in response.

  What a motley bunch.

  “I am your opponent, you stupid VGs, I declare.”

  Nana flung a “Taunt” at the charging outlaws.

  By “VGs,” she likely meant “virgins,” although I wasn’t sure what purpose censoring herself served.

  Nonetheless, more than half the approaching mob turned toward her, so maybe it worked after all.

  Tama and Pochi darted around next to Nana, bopping the outlaws with
their Soft-Stun-activated Magic Swords like something out of an action comedy.

  “Piece of piiie?”

  “Piece of meat, sir!”

  I thought they probably meant “piece of cake.”

  Nana was using Body Strengthening, too. It was impressive to watch her shove multiple people back with her shield and use her own Soft-Stun-activated sword to repel an ax-wielding mon hunter.

  Liza was next, her spear tracing a red line in the air as it pierced Attendant A’s shoulder.

  …Wait, what?

  A red line?

  Uh, Liza…

  As far as I could tell from her rather abashed appearance, Liza had just gotten a bit carried away.

  She didn’t actually activate Spellblade, so the attendant wasn’t dead or anything.

  Still, the injury was enough to draw the attention of some of the mob, who started to back away.

  “H-hey, isn’t that a Magic Spear?”

  “Those three are using Magic Swords, too.”

  “And they’ve got some kinda magic defense!”

  “Hey, I didn’t hear nothin’ about this. I ain’t about to fight those guys for one lousy coin!”

  Many of the outlaws turned and ran.

  No, you’re not getting away.

  “Urk, what’s this?”

  “A throwing net! There’s someone else here!”

  I’d hidden a net in the shadows before the battle began, and I used Magic Hand to cast it over them.

  When it comes to catching criminals, I show no mercy.

  “Gaaaah, my eyes! My eyesss!”

  “Guh, c-can’t breathe…”

  A few outlaws tried to climb over the wall behind the inn and met with Mia’s Water Magic spell Irritation Mist.

  The effect was so strong that they kept writhing around on the ground even after they dropped off the wall.

  …Okay, maybe we should show a little mercy after all. Overkill is never a good thing.

  As I used Clairvoyance to check inside the wall, I went to spray some water over at anyone else on the other side.

  “Mia, your turn!”

  “Mm, got it.”

  Mia used the water to knock the outlaws down with spells like Balloon and Water Hammer.

  Once Mia had defeated them, Ordo and his beastfolk slipped in from the shadows to tie them up and deliver them to the town guards.

  They were arriving late because they had been explaining the situation to the guards at the city gate.

  If the guards had been hostile, Ordo and the others would have had to take control by force, but judging by the movement of the dots on the map, it had gone well.

  Our group was stronger overall, but since we were outnumbered, there were some individuals who made it past the four vanguard girls and came toward me.

  But since they were so weak, I could simply knock them out with the fairy sword, even sheathed.

  “They’ve got reinforcements! The beastfolk are coming from the eastern mines!”

  The outlaws who’d been attacking from the east started yelling fearfully.

  “Noooo!”

  “St-stay awaaay!”

  A broadsword flashed behind them, sending a spray of blood through the air.

  Outlaws were falling like trees, filling the street with corpses.

  “”

  The white tigerfolk man struck a pose with his bloody sword.

  I appreciated the help, but I would’ve preferred he do it without all the violence.

  I have a very low tolerance for the smell of blood, you know.

  “Gargaolon! So you’re here after all!”

  “I knew you were involved with him!”

  The knightlike Attendants B and C, who were matching swords with Tama and Pochi, noticed Gargaolon and further bought in to their master’s propaganda.

  “Brother! Don’t run ahead without us!”

  “That’s right! We’re here, too!”

  Two white tigerfolk men lined up next to Gargaolon, with another ten or so assorted beastfolk close behind them.

  I decided not to look too closely at the carnage they’d left in their wake.

  “Capture that man! Ten gold coins to whoever catches him!”

  Attendant D shouted at the outlaws, trying to sic them on Gargaolon.

  But they were terrified of the tigerfolk man’s ruthless fighting.

  “Hmph, cowards! I, Oin the Goblin Eater, will be the mon hunter to claim those ten gold coins!”

  A young man charged at Gargaolon, shield in one hand and ax in the other. Five more mon hunters came along with him.

  “Pretty impressive, boy!”

  “You’re not bad yourself!”

  Oin the mon hunter parried Gargaolon’s broadsword with his shield and swung his ax, which Gargaolon dodged with an acrobatic leap.

  I decided to let him and his bunch deal with the east side.

  “Hey, mister! He’s coming!”

  I heard Kon’s shout from outside the siege encampment.

  I’d asked him to keep an eye on the castle.

  “It’s Marquis Dazaress! The Flame General has arrived!”

  At Attendant D’s cry, the outlaws turned to look at the road toward the castle.

  “Gotchaaa?”

  “All’s fair in tug-of-war, sir!”

  Tama and Pochi delivered the knockout blows to Attendants B and C while they were distracted.

  Okay, that one has to be “all’s fair in love and war,” right? I was beginning to suspect that Arisa was teaching Pochi these incorrect idioms on purpose.

  The silhouette of the mounted noble approaching was accompanied by a flame several times the size of a normal torch.

  Clearly, he’d already activated the Crimson Cane.

  I didn’t think he would attack indiscriminately while his attendants were here, but then again, he’d already shown he was willing to use Fire Magic on innocent civilians. I couldn’t let my guard down.

  “Mia, use Mist Coat, please.”

  “Mm, roger.”

  This spell would make the surrounding structures temporarily more fireproof.

  All it really did was coat them in water to make fire less likely to spread, so there were no guarantees, but it was certainly better than nothing.

  “So you’ve finally emerged from your hole, Gargaolon!”

  “You are quite persistent, Marquis.”

  The pyro noble and Gargaolon started shouting at each other.

  I wished they could settle their score without dragging other people into it.

  Just as that thought crossed my mind, the pyro noble pointed his staff toward me next.

  “You! The fool who supported these beasts! You and Gargaolon shall burn!”

  His Crimson Cane started to produce even bigger flames.

  That’s not happening.

  I pulled out a pearl fruit from storage and chucked it at the pyro noble.

  I held back on speed so it wouldn’t kill him, and it hit him in the head and knocked him unconscious just as he loosed a flame my way.

  The flame licked toward me like a snake’s tongue, narrowly missed my head, and disappeared into the sky.

  The pyro noble fell onto his back but was still holding the Crimson Cane, so the flames shooting out of it started flying toward his own allies.

  “Enemy of Lord Dazaress!”

  Blackened spear in hand, Attendant E slipped past Pochi and charged at me.

  “Yaaaah, sir!”

  Pochi body-slammed into Attendant E’s side, sending him staggering.

  I used that opening to kick the man in the chin and yank his spear out of his hands.

  “Thank you, Pochi.”

  “Hee-hee! Sir.”

  Pochi scuffled her feet shyly.

  “Watch ouuut?”

  A mon hunter leaped toward Pochi with a poison dagger, but Tama brought him down.

  “Pochi! You must neve
r let your guard down on the battlefield!” Liza’s voice was full of concern.

  “…I’m sorry, sir.”

  Pochi smacked her own cheeks to pull herself together.

  “Master! In the sky to the south!”

  Arisa’s voice reached me through our still-connected Telephone spell.

  At the same moment, a fast-moving red dot appeared on my radar.

  Soaring above the inn was a ten-foot-long naga.

  “Fiiire?”

  “Meat, sir!”

  Sure enough, the naga was breathing fire.

  According to the AR, it was called a Fire-Eater Naga. It was smaller than the naga I’d seen before, and it had black scales.

  The pyro noble’s Crimson Cane must have drawn it here.

  Belatedly, a warning bell rang out from the watchtower by the gate.

  They must have been too distracted by our battle to notice the monster’s approach.

  I thought there was an anti-monster barrier around this town, but I guess the lure of the cursed staff was stronger.

  “D-dragon! It’s a dragon!”

  “Run for it! We’ll all be eaten!”

  As soon as they saw the naga approaching, most of the outlaws threw down their weapons and fled.

  “You’re not getting away.”

  Gargaolon and his beastfolk followers cut the outlaws down mercilessly.

  Until Nana’s shield and Liza’s spear stopped them, that is.

  “What foolishness is this?”

  “Master forbids needless killing, I report.”

  “We intend to capture these men and sell them as criminal slaves. Please refrain from destroying my master’s property.”

  I do prefer to avoid killing, but that’s not the reason, all right?

  “Fine, then. We’re just here to help. We’ll abide by your master’s intentions.”

  I was glad that Gargaolon was willing to relent, since I really didn’t want to see any more blood.

  The reason I didn’t participate in this exchange myself was that I was checking the map for monster movement.

  There was a horde of them coming toward the town, including demi-goblin mages, fire-eater nagas, and regular nagas.

  The reason that non-fire-attribute nagas were also approaching seemed related to the fire-eater nagas.

  The swarm was following the small number of fire-eater nagas like a cloud. Considering that the former were male and the latter female, maybe they were originally the same species.