Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 10 Read online

  While none of the bag-carrying children spoke to us, their eyes were all locked on me.

  “What do you think they’re doing?” Arisa murmured.

  “Their eyes are scary.”

  Lulu sounded uncomfortable, a sentiment I agreed with wholeheartedly.

  Since they were all kids, I was worried that Nana would try to abduct them, but…

  “They are not young enough, I dismiss.”

  …she put my fears to rest.

  “Master, over here!”

  Arisa beckoned me over to a noticeboard near the counter.

  There were several flyers posted on the board.

  “Requests for monster parts?”

  There were no requests from the guild; most were from artisans, shopkeepers, and so on. A small handful were from nobles or merchants.

  The lower half of each flyer was blank, with dates, names, and ID numbers written in.

  “That’s right.”

  Instead of Arisa, the person who answered my murmur was a good-looking young man squatting next to the noticeboard.

  According to my AR, he was the child of a Labyrinth City merchant.

  “I imagine a young noble such as yourself does not need anyone to read or write for him, but I can direct you to the best deals if you like.”

  He was probably here to earn some extra money. This land had a fairly low literacy rate, which would make reading and dictation services in high demand.

  I handed the boy some change and asked him about these so-called deals.

  “The meat of maze frogs and the carapaces of beetle-type monsters are always sought after, so I recommend those.”

  “It is delicious,” Liza muttered next to me, nodding wisely. She must be remembering the grilled-barbecue party we had in the Seiryuu City labyrinth.

  Glancing over, I saw that Tama and Pochi were nodding along seriously.

  They were probably just imitating Liza.

  “What about these ones, like the ant nectar or the labyrinth mushrooms? Those aren’t as good?”

  “For the nectar, you’d have to enter a maze ant nest, which can be extremely dangerous. And I hear those mushrooms only grow in much deeper sections of the labyrinth. Neither of them is worth the risk.”

  From the sound of things, this kid had learned quite a bit about the labyrinth by hanging around here earning pocket change.

  “Also, these requests aren’t ongoing. Be careful. Just ’cause it’s here when you go into the labyrinth doesn’t mean it’ll still be up when you come back out.”

  That made sense. They probably didn’t want to have their requests filled by a bunch of different people and end up with excess materials.

  “Master, the woman at the counter wishes to speak with you.”

  Turning around, I saw that the staff member at the counter with an intelligent-looking face was beckoning to me.

  It looked as though she’d finished her exchange with the leader of Red Ice.

  I gave the boy a tip as thanks for the information and headed over to the counter.

  “Yes?”

  “Forgive my inquiry, but are you a new explorer?”

  “Yes, we’ll be in your care starting today. My name is Satou.”

  “My, how polite. I’m sure they told you all about it when you registered, but this is where you can sell the monster cores you acquire in the labyrinth. You can exchange other monster parts from the requests posted on the wall here, as well.”

  I listened respectfully to the staff member’s smooth explanation.

  “Furthermore, this is only necessary for gold-badge holders, but nobles such as yourself are invited to report your expected exploration time here before entering the labyrinth.”

  “I understand. We don’t expect to be long, but I’d like to request six days, just in case.”

  I picked that length because it was the same amount of time we had reserved at the inn.

  Still, I was guessing we’d be back by the end of the night at the latest.

  Oh yeah, might as well ask while I’m here.

  “By the way, who are those children over there?”

  “Ah, they’re bag carriers, waiting to be hired by explorer parties. They change places with the children outside once every chime, but they’re not allowed to call to potential customers down here. The echoes are far too noisy,” she added.

  Still, if you’re going to hire someone to carry a bag, why not hire an adult instead?

  As I was about to inquire further on the subject, a group of ten or so explorers emerged from the labyrinth door. They were all warrior types, averaging around level 20. Three of them appeared to be bag carriers, but they were large-built beastfolk, not children.

  While the rest of the party put down their things to rest, one explorer with a bearlike bearded face walked in our direction.

  He was probably the leader of the explorer party, since he alone was level 30.

  “Hey, Bena. Sorry to interrupt, but do you still have that request for boar-spider meat?”

  “I’m sorry. Bearded Owl brought some in this morning, so I don’t think we’re buying any more right now.”

  So the woman I’d been talking with was called Bena.

  “Tch, those bastards again? Fine, then. Bena, cook this meat up for us, will you?”

  “Very well. Rick, bring out the grill, please. Including coal, the lending fee is one large copper coin. For my labor, all I’ll charge you is a piece of the best cut of back meat.”

  “Crafty little fox, aren’t you?”

  Once the bear-bearded explorer handed a large copper coin to the clerk, he turned toward the children.

  “Hey, brats! I’ll treat you to some meat, too, okay? Just make sure you pay me back with the praise of your choice before you eat, like ‘You’re so cool, Mr. Dozon!’ or ‘Thank you, Mr. Dozon!’”

  At that, the children cheered so loudly that it hurt my ears.

  Tama and Pochi seemed intrigued by this unfamiliar kind of meat, but it would be cruel to take food away from these malnourished kids. I signaled to them to refrain.

  “…Shall we get going?”

  Once we each presented our wood badges at the counter, we walked over to the labyrinth door.

  I was half expecting an entrance fee, but there didn’t seem to be any.

  “Open sesameee?”

  “I want to open it, too, sir.”

  “That door is awfully heavy, so it might be tough.”

  As Tama and Pochi headed over to open the heavy-looking door, the clerk called out to them with a smile.

  “Heave-hooo?”

  “Hi-ya, sir!”

  “…What?”

  Tama and Pochi opened the door with ease, causing the staff member’s jaw to all but hit the floor.

  That’s an overreaction, I thought, grinning as we entered the labyrinth.

  “Uuugh, more staaairs?”

  On the other side of the door was a wide set of stairs leading downward under a high ceiling. Instead of a straightforward or spiral staircase, these steps zigzagged from side to side. They had probably built stairs where there used to be a steep slope.

  The banisters had slits at regular intervals, large enough for arrows to be fired down the stairs.

  This was probably another measure against invading monsters. Each level of the steps had a gunning platform with a cannon draped in cloth. According to my AR display, these cannons fired real physical bullets, not magic.

  There were two soldiers posted at each of the platforms.

  The soldiers seemed to have a lot of time on their hands: They were playing a shogi-like board game. At least they weren’t drinking or sleeping on the job. The soldiers were all strong-looking demi-humans, like wolffolk and lionfolk.

  We greeted them as we passed by, and while they seemed disgruntled, they still waved back with a friendly hello.

  “I’m not gonna make iiit…”

  “You can do it, Arisa.”

  As I smiled at Arisa and
Lulu’s exchange, I used my “Search Entire Map” as per usual.

  This place is huge.

  It was bigger even than the labyrinth ruins under the old capital.

  Comparing it to my aboveground maps, it seemed to extend all the way underneath the enormous desert in the west of the Shiga Kingdom.

  The map called the location Celivera Labyrinth: Upper Floor. That meant on top of it being wide, this wasn’t even all of it. There was definitely at least one floor below this, maybe even more.

  I adjusted the scale of the map so I could get an idea of the whole picture.

  It was like looking at over a hundred tubers connected by roots stretching in every direction.

  And each one of these clusters consisted of anywhere from thirty to a hundred small rooms, with a large cavern in the center.

  The explorers’ guild called this tuber “section 1.”

  There are tons of monsters, too.

  When I searched my map for monsters, I was assailed by so many results, it probably would’ve slowed down a computer something fierce.

  Luckily, I was able to cancel the search, so I switched the target to only the few sections nearest to the entrance.

  The first area, section 1, had more explorers than monsters.

  This time, I searched for all the explorers within section 1 and sections 2 through 5, which connected directly to section 1, and found that there were more than fifteen hundred in total.

  It was rare to see any of them on their own; most traveled in parties of three to five people.

  The distance to sections 2 and 4 was considerable, but 3 and 5 seemed close enough that you could make it there and back in a day. In the latter was an expedition group of more than ten people, all from levels 20 to 30.

  “Master, are there still more stairs?”

  “We’re only halfway there. Maybe you should start lifting or jogging so you can build up a little more stamina, Arisa.”

  “Uuugh…”

  Arisa looked tearful, but I just patted her back lightly and continued down the stairs.

  Unlike the large stairs that led to the Lalakie ruins in the southern islands, because there were other people here, I couldn’t just float us along with Practical Magic.

  I didn’t want to spoil her too much, but if she couldn’t go on any farther, I supposed I could carry her.

  “Touchdooown?”

  “We’re here, sir!”

  “Whew, finallyyyy…”

  In the end, Arisa ran out of steam partway down the stairs, and I wound up carrying her on my back.

  “Master, there is a door ahead, I report.”

  “Mm, big.”

  Sure enough, there was a fifteen-foot-tall set of double doors blocking our way forward.

  It seemed to be the type that you pushed inward to open.

  “Perhaps it’s to bar entry for monsters if they try to come through?” Liza said, pushing open the doors.

  “That’s right, young lady. Welcome to the gates of hell.”

  A short-statured foxfolk man in a military uniform greeted her on the other side.

  “Whaddaya mean, ‘gates of hell’? Gimme a break!”

  “Ouch, Captain!”

  A muscular man socked the foxfolk man on the jaw.

  He had the build of a troll or an ogre, but the captain was an ordinary human.

  “Never seen you around here. This is the frontline garrison of the labyrinth army. Don’t hang around too long; just pick one of the three paths and head on in.”

  Behind the men was a cavern around half the size of a baseball stadium, lit up by magic and filled with around three hundred soldiers.

  They were set up in an encampment near the three doorways leading inside, with cannons and Magic Cannons pointing at all of them.

  The other, smaller holes and doors seemed to have been sealed off, probably to make it easier to defend.

  “Captain, the middle path is for garnet badges only, isn’t it? You gotta tell people these things.”

  “Shut up. I was just about to.”

  A second punch landed on the foxfolk man’s face.

  Quite a violent bunch around here.

  “The middle path only connects to a room called Hades, which leads down into the middle floor of the labyrinth. We can’t have any inexperienced explorers going in there and causing a monster chain rampage.”

  A “chain rampage” was probably similar to the kind of thing you see in online games where people attract a bunch of monsters and run away, leading the monsters with them.

  “Right. It’s a serious crime to cause a chain rampage in the labyrinth, so be careful, got it? Especially if you bring ’em all the way back here—you’d be looking at a hefty fine at best. That or getting sent off to the coal mines as a criminal slave.”

  “Uh-huh. If it’s just weak monsters, the fine won’t be so bad, but if a soldier gets killed in the process, there’ll be more than just money to pay.”

  I thanked the two soldiers for their warnings before we left the garrison behind.

  The pair of soldiers walked back toward the stairs we’d come down.

  “Those two were the kind of characters you’d meet in a tutorial level, huh?” Arisa remarked as she watched them go.

  It seemed rude to insult them after they were nice enough to tell us all that.

  “Don’t say things like that, all right?”

  “Okaaaay, I’m sorryyyy.”

  After a light scolding, Arisa meekly apologized for her rudeness.

  “Master, should we proceed along the left path or the right path? I inquire.”

  “Let’s see… How about this one?”

  Since those explorers were kind enough to warn us, I decided to head toward area 4-1, where the “rogue soldier mantis” lurked.

  My kids should be able to defeat it with ease, and it seemed unsafe to let a relatively dangerous monster roam around in a low-level area.

  Incidentally, “area 4-1” referred to “area 4 from the area-1 entrance.” This naming convention had started because there were some places within the same area that could be accessed only by way of other areas.

  “Hey, you!”

  As we were about to enter the door to the main passage, one of the soldiers called out to stop us.

  “You gonna be all right in those clothes?”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine, thank you.”

  With only my ordinary clothes and fairy sword, I probably looked like I was dressed a little lightly for the labyrinth.

  “Besides, we’re only taking a look around today. We’ll come back once we’ve explored area 1.”

  “Yeah, that’d be for the best.”

  Nodding to the kind soldier, I entered the door that Liza was holding open.

  “This is a huge hallway.”

  Arisa and the others looked around in awe at the large space.

  “According to the map I bought, it’s the great hall.”

  “It’s darker than I expected.”

  “It should be easy enough to walk, but we may not be able to detect monsters lying in wait.”

  The only illumination was an occasional light source on one side of the hall at knee level that cast a faint glow on the floor.

  They seemed to be the magic tools called “sign stones” that the map seller had told me about. Just as he said, the light turned from white to blue as we approached.

  “Shall I use Mana Light? I inquire.”

  “Good idea. It’s a bit dark, so please do light the way, Nana.”

  “Yes, master.”

  I probably could have used my own Mana Light spell, but it was so bright that it might look strange to other explorers. Leaving it to Nana instead was a better idea.

  Nana’s Foundation ability activated, and glowing Mana Lights appeared on the vanguards’ helmets and the rear guard’s staffs.

  I’d added a small ornamentation on the helmets to direct the glow from Mana Light forward.

  “Master, how shall we arrang
e our formation?”

  “While we’re walking, let’s have Lulu, Arisa, and Mia in the middle; Nana, Tama, and Pochi in the front; and Liza and me bringing up the rear.”

  With Tama and Pochi in the front, they would definitely be able to detect any traps or monsters up ahead, and Liza could easily repel any possible attacks from behind.

  The group should be able to fight without depending on me for now. It might be best to let them grow instead of being too overprotective.

  “Fluffyyy?”

  “There’s something above us, sir.”

  The Mana Lights on Tama’s and Pochi’s helmets illuminated some tennis-ball-size puffballs floating around near the ceiling. There were quite a few of them.

  “Mrrr. Spirit eaters.”

  Looking uncharacteristically angry, Mia produced a fire staff from her Fairy Pack.

  Activating Spirit Vision, I saw that the creatures were indeed catching and eating small spirits.

  They must be monsters of some kind.

  “Destroy.”

  A fireball shot from Mia’s staff up to the ceiling, burning all the puffballs in the area into smoke.

  “They’re pretty wimpy.”

  Just as Arisa said, the creatures were burning away as soon as they made contact with the flame.

  Once all the spirit eaters had been destroyed, Mia gave a little hmph! of obvious satisfaction and put away the staff.

  “Good work.”

  “Mm, thanks.”

  Mia puffed up her chest, and I patted her head in response.

  “I’ll search for more enemies with Space Magic.”

  Arisa readied her staff and looked around.

  “Mm, me next.”

  “All right, let’s take turns, then.”

  Mia also knew a Spirit Magic spell that was good for finding monsters, so she seemed to want to contribute next time.

  “Here goes!”

  “Aye-aye…”

  Tama covered her ears just as Arisa unleashed the spell.

  I felt a similar flow of magic to the Practical Magic spell Signal.

  “Nope, nothing,” Arisa declared.

  “Buuugs?”

  “Little lizards and bats, too, sir.”

  “No, not those,” she informed them. “I meant there are no monsters.”

  “Awww…”

  “That’s too bad, sir.”