Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2 (light novel) Page 5

  So that was where those titles had come from.

  I’m sorry, Arisa. I assumed you used Psychic Magic to manipulate the kingdom and create a harem of handsome young men or something.

  “Still, if the perpetrator wanted to take over the kingdom, what would be the profit in destroying it? That doesn’t make much sense to me.”

  “They didn’t care about the state of some impoverished kingdom. They just wanted the ‘Withered Labyrinth’ that was under the castle.” Arisa gnawed on the ends of her curled fingers in frustration. “Once they took over the country, they appeased the angry citizens by holding a public execution of the king, the queen, and the crown prince.”

  Regret darkening her face, Arisa’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Then they gathered the remaining princes and princesses and said, ‘This kingdom was destroyed because of your stupidity. You are not fit to be royalty.’ On their orders, the royal sorcerers used a gift called “Geis” on the children, starting with me. It curses the victim to be a slave until the day they die. Believing that the kingdom had been ruined all because of my actions, I accepted the curse and became a slave.”

  I reached under the pillow to use Storage again and produced a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.

  “Why would they make you become a slave?”

  “In order to carry out a ritual to revive the Withered Labyrinth I mentioned before. Slaves can’t fight back or run away, and unlike a contract, there was only one person in the whole kingdom who could undo a Geis…”

  Arisa grasped the handkerchief tightly in one hand and my own hand in the other as she continued.

  “Every month, on the night of the full moon, one of us would be sent into the labyrinth as sacrifices for that terrible ritual…”

  Her grip on my hand slackened.

  “After a year, the labyrinth had been resurrected. The only two sacrifices who survived were Lulu, my father’s illegitimate child, and me, with my violet hair. We were taken from the tower we’d been imprisoned in to a nearby villa. I don’t know why they didn’t dispose of us on the spot… Maybe they were keeping us as backups in case the labyrinth needed to be revived again.”

  If Lulu was the illegitimate child of a king, that must have made her technically royalty by blood.

  Since they seemed to be of very different races, I had mostly assumed that Arisa and Lulu were stepsisters, but I guess they were related by blood after all.

  “Then, on the night of the next full moon, a tragedy occurred. A hell demon appeared out of nowhere, destroying the castle and its surrounding town. The villa that we were in burned as well, and Lulu fled with me into the mountains.”

  Arisa had received an order not to leave the villa, but she was freed from this when the castle was destroyed and the retainer who’d been registered as her master was killed.

  “I thought for sure that I would burn to death there, but since I noticed that Lulu’s title had changed to Masterless, we were able to escape in the nick of time. If I had been alone, I would surely have died there.”

  Arisa sat on my lap now, her hand entwined in mine. Her hand still trembled, though, so I let her stay there.

  “After that, we wandered in the mountains until the slave trader Nidoren found us, when we were on the brink of death. Slaves without masters can’t simply walk into a town, after all. I did my best to put up just enough of a fuss to avoid being sold to some perverted noble or something. I thought a hole would open up in my stomach from the stress alone.”

  She was leaning her small head on my arm, so I couldn’t see her face.

  “Couldn’t you have manipulated Nidoren with Psychic Magic to treat you as his daughters or something like that?”

  “You’re right. But I was so desperate to behave that it didn’t occur to me until after we had gone through with the contract to become Nidoren’s slaves.”

  “You still could have used magic to manipulate him after that…”

  “If I did, it would have been a violation of the contract. My collar would have tightened around my neck—I could’ve even died.”

  Hmm? Wait a minute.

  I turned Arisa’s head to face me.

  “Didn’t you just use magic on me earlier? How is that not a violation of our contract?”

  Looking up at me, she grinned a little. “That was part of my service as a slave. I made an oath during the contract ceremony, remember?”

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

  “See? I was just using my magic to ‘energetically’ serve you! So, if you’d just give in and embrace my body, I can…”

  She started to come at me again with grabby hands, but I put a stop to that with another karate chop to her forehead.

  “By the way, what was that hell demon’s goal?”

  “I have no idea. Knowing demons, it was probably just looking for a labyrinth where they could raise a demon lord, no?”

  Did that mean they were brood parasites, then? Like cuckoos?

  “Do labyrinths exist to foster demon lords?”

  “There are scholars who claim as much, but the gods have neither confirmed nor denied it. Still, just about every demon lord that’s emerged so far was first sighted near a labyrinth.”

  Then did Mr. Eyeball create the labyrinth in Seiryuu City in order to summon a demon lord here?

  Come to think of it, I think the landlady at the Gatefront Inn said something similar before.

  “Oh, right… Can I ask you a question, too, master?”

  “What is it?”

  “Before we came into the inn, you said you ‘wouldn’t have made it out of the labyrinth alive’ without Liza and the other two, didn’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “Have you been to the Labyrinth City Celivera?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  That was the city where there was less discrimination against demi-humans, right?

  I didn’t know if the streets there formed a labyrinth or if there were entrances to a labyrinth on the outskirts of the city, but I wanted to see it for myself sometime.

  “Then was it a labyrinth in another kingdom?”

  “No, no. I meant the one that was formed right here in Seiryuu City.”

  “What?!” cried Arisa, dumbfounded for a moment. “So the disturbance Nidoren got caught up in was a labyrinth?!” Once she recovered, she practically shouted the question at me.

  Your face is too close. Pushing her back, I explained the riot we’d happened upon and how the demon had created a labyrinth.

  I omitted the part where I had put on a silver mask and defeated a greater hell demon.

  “So you’re saying this hell demon created a new labyrinth?”

  I nodded in response to Arisa’s astonishment.

  Was that really so surprising?

  “Well, there are only six living labyrinths in this entire continent. The newest one was created more than a hundred years ago. I read in a book that it sprang from the corpse of a demon lord.”

  “Since a lesser hell demon created it, I assumed that labyrinths were commonplace around here.”

  “As if it could be so easy! It’s supposed to be impossible to create a labyrinth without a legendary artifact. What could it have been trying to do…?”

  “Mass-produce more demons and fight heroes, maybe?”

  Paying no attention to my arbitrary response, Arisa pondered the matter with a serious expression.

  Putting your hands on my shoulders while you do that is fine, but please stop trying to wrap your legs around my waist.

  “If that was all, an old labyrinth like in Celivera would work just fine. The older the labyrinth, the larger the scale, so I don’t know why it would go out of its way to make a new one.”

  “Then maybe it was just a diversion or part of some strategy for the future?”

  Like to grab the attention of the hero, or something like that.

  “That could be the case.”


  Arisa didn’t look convinced. I patted her head gently.

  There was way too little information to figure out what the demon was thinking. At the very least, there were no demons in the county or inside the labyrinth, and it didn’t seem like there were any hiding with mimicry like the eyeball demon had before.

  Maybe one could be summoned, like the big guy I beat before, but there was no point in worrying about it before it happened.

  If I let that kind of stuff weigh on me all the time, I’d probably just go bald.

  “Perhaps I could enter the Seiryuu City labyrinth, too?”

  Arisa looked up at me seriously as she spoke. Okay, but why are you pushing out your flat chest like that?

  “I don’t think so. From what I heard from someone of authority, the entrance is under quarantine right now.”

  “I see…”

  Well, Zena hadn’t exactly said so in as many words, but that was the sense I got from what she had told me back at the castle.

  “Why do you want to enter the labyrinth, anyway? What could you do in such a dangerous place full of monsters?”

  “I want to enter because of the monsters.”

  “Oh? Do you have a grudge against them or something?”

  “Nothing like that. I just want to level up.”

  Level up…? This isn’t a game…but I guess the fact that it’s reality is all the more reason to want to raise your level.

  When the beastfolk girls’ levels had gone up, for instance, their base stats increased, and so did their chances for survival. In this dangerous world, having a high level was definitely important.

  Still, the citizens here had pretty low levels despite all that. Even the soldiers were only around levels five to seven.

  “If you want to go in that badly, I can ask my friend for you.” Arisa had seemed so deep in worried thought, I’d blurted the words without thinking.

  “Really?!”

  “Sure, but I don’t know if they’ll actually agree, so don’t get your hopes up too much.”

  “Okay! Thank you!”

  Arisa’s face shone with self-serving adoration, so I promptly removed her and finally managed to pull a shirt down over her head.

  “Are there no other methods to level up besides defeating monsters, though?”

  “Of course there are. But this is the most effective.”

  This system reminded me of an MMORPG.

  When I used to play, I would always set out to hunt the monsters that gave the most EXP.

  “Apparently, killing monsters yields many times more experience than killing people or animals. This is only what I gathered from listening in on the soldiers and knights at the castle, though, so I don’t know the details behind it.”

  That was probably for the best. If they all yielded the same experience, I could easily imagine nobles slaughtering slaves and peasants to gain levels or raising livestock to kill and not to eat.

  “Did you raise your level by defeating monsters, too, Arisa?”

  “It would have been much faster if I had. But no, I did it by reading books. Did you know? When you acquire new knowledge, you gain a certain amount of experience. Thanks to that, I was able to level up while I was still confined in the castle.”

  Oh, I get it. Since this wasn’t really a game, I guess it wouldn’t make much sense if combat was the only way you could level up.

  For the rest of the evening, Arisa and I discussed the systems of this world until she fell asleep.

  Misunderstandings Are the Spice of Love

  Satou here. It seems like romantic comedies in every country and culture are full of misunderstandings and missed connections to add excitement. But in reality, those things tend to lead to breakups, so I prefer avoiding them.

  Outside the window, I could hear the sounds of hustle and bustle on the streets. Had I overslept?

  Fighting to resist the inviting warmth of the bed, I turned my thoughts to the events of the day before.

  I had gained a lot of knowledge the previous night and had even learned how Arisa became a slave.

  Just as Arisa was falling asleep, I had asked her if I should free her from slavery, but she explained that the Geis that had been placed on her bound her to being a slave.

  Being freed from slavery would apparently mean she had opposed the rules of the Geis, and she would immediately start to bleed everywhere and die. This “Geis” skill really is like a curse.

  A place with a lot of people, like the old capital or the royal capital, was bound to have someone with the skill to erase or rewrite a Geis, so I’d have to wait to free her until then.

  Once I had figured out last night that Arisa had used magic to charm me, I had resolved to get away from her for a while first thing in the morning; however, I had learned some things that made me feel bad for her, too, and it would be pretty heartless to abandon a kid, without any relatives, from my own faraway country.

  I might come to regret that kindness in the future, but for now, all I could do was focus on the present. If something happens, I’ll just blow right through it with my level-310 power and absurd wealth.

  At that moment, the door burst open, crushing my arrogant determination.

  You could at least knock.

  “Are you awake, Mr. Satou? Your lover’s here to see you!”

  Even in the morning, Martha was always very energetic.

  Behind her, I heard Zena mumble, “I-I’m not his…” as she tried to cover Martha’s mouth in a flustered panic.

  “Good morning.” I sat up and greeted the pair.

  Felt chilly— Oh, right. My shirt was still off from that incident last night.

  “Ooh, you’ve got a pretty nice bod!”

  Martha looked at my bare chest with a great deal of interest. Zena cowered behind her and covered her reddened face with her hands, but she was clearly staring through the gaps between her fingers.

  I would think someone in the military would be used to seeing a half-naked guy.

  “I’m sorry you had to see this. I’ll get changed right away.”

  I put my hands on the bed to hoist myself up.

  “Oooh…”

  Something felt warm.

  Looking down, I was greeted by the sight of a half-naked little girl. My hand had landed on her bare chest— Oh, right. She just fell asleep like that.

  Seeing that I was sharing a bed with a young girl, Zena’s face rapidly changed color from bright red to a pale white.

  “…Master…please, no more… I don’t think I can take it…”

  As if aiming to damn me further, Lulu chose this precise moment to start talking in her sleep.

  I looked at her bed to see that she had rolled over in her sleep and was lying on her side with her back facing me. But her shirt had gotten tangled up in the process, and her cute little bottom was in plain view. Right…and she’s not wearing underwear.

  On top of that, there was a red stain on the sheets…

  Huh? She wasn’t hurt, was she?

  “H-h-how depraved! Satou, how could yooooou!”

  Zena fled the room, sobbing into her hands.

  Martha scratched her head awkwardly. “Sorry to interrupt… Take your time…” She shuffled out, closing the door behind her.

  Wow, I’d never heard anyone say depraved out loud before.

  The first thought I could muster was decidedly detached.

  “Master, would you happen to have a clean piece of cloth? It looks like Lulu’s menstruating.”

  I retrieved the cloth from my bag and handed it to Arisa without a word.

  “Thank you. So, you’re not going to go after her? If you don’t hurry, she’s only going to make things worse in her head, no?”

  Well, she was just my friend, not my “lover”…

  Still, I wouldn’t want a friend to be convinced that I was a pedophile, either, so I guess I’d better run after her and clear this up.

  Chasing her down half-naked wouldn’t help my case, so I threw on
the shirt that had fallen on the floor. Needless to say, I had been wearing trousers the whole time.

  Checking the radar, I saw that Zena had just left the inn and was heading toward Center Street. She’s really fast… I guess she is in the military. At this rate, she’d be passing below this room in just a moment.

  …This feature is definitely useful, but it’d be pretty terrifying in the hands of a stalker.

  As that idiotic thought passed through my brain, I judged the timing and jumped out the window onto the street.

  I landed right in front of Zena, blocking her path. Startled, she tried to skid to a halt, and I caught her in my arms, spinning her once like a dancer to disperse her momentum.

  > Skill Acquired: “Dancing”

  “Zena, this is all a misunderstanding.”

  Zena put both her hands on my chest, trying to push me away. But there was very little strength behind her push. I can’t let her go now.

  If I did, she’d never believe me—she’d get caught up in negative thoughts and convince herself it was true, even if she didn’t want to believe it.

  “But you were sleeping with that adorable girl!”

  “She must have been half-asleep and gotten into the wrong bed.”

  In that case, this wasn’t a problem, right?

  I mean, even yesterday, I was wearing underwear and everything. I’d like to take a moment to very loudly proclaim my innocence.

  I did not have a Lolita complex!

  “And there was the other girl with the black hair, too! W-waaah…”

  “If you mean the elder sister with the poor sleeping habits, it’s apparently her time of the month.”

  This part I whispered quietly into Zena’s ear, since I didn’t really want to talk about it on the street so loudly.

  Finally, the force of Zena’s pushing was faltering.

  “B-but Lilio told me that if a man buys a female slave, it can only be for services after dark…!”

  Damn that Lilio.

  Deep in my heart, I hurled curses toward the woman, who was probably patrolling outside the city right now.

  Lilio was one of Zena’s guards and apparently one of her closest friends, so she was probably just trying to protect the pure and innocent Zena, but I had to draw the line at baseless accusations.