Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 7

“Sold! The Magic Spear Ikazushi goes to bidder number seventeen for two hundred and one gold coins!”

After I saw off Miss Karina and the others, I went back to the dark auction alone.

Unlike the other day, I was in disguise and wearing a grade-9 recognition-inhibitor mask I had in Storage.

I even painted my skin in case someone tried to catch a glimpse under my large, unfashionable hood.

“Magic Ax Inazuma goes to number seventeen for two hundred and seventeen gold coins!”

The items selling for truly ridiculous prices were magic weapons I’d brought in.

This time, I’d brought only four: the two already mentioned, plus Magic Sword Akatsuki and Magic Sword Hibiki.

These names were gleefully given by Arisa, who said they were based on destroyers from the old Japanese Army. As usual, she was very knowledgeable about weirdly specific things.

Both the swords were simple ones with good magic power conduction. If charged with magic, the blades of the spear and the ax would become electrified and could knock out opponents with an electric shock.

They didn’t have flashy lightning-bolt effects like Miss Ringrande’s lightning broadsword did, but I guess the stun function alone was enough to make them sell for a high price.

The Magic Swords sold for 156 gold coins and 152 gold coins, respectively.

That made 726 gold coins in all… There were still the fees and taxes, of course, but at that rate, I could make a comfortable living just selling Magic Swords.

“You’re the best, sweetie!”

“We’re dancing again for the next intermission.”

“Make sure you watch us!”

I was impressed by the dynamic dancing of the half-naked ladies during the intermission, so I gave them a tip and was rewarded with a shower of kisses.

Sadly, I had to experience this through the recognition-inhibiting mask.

I should’ve worn one that left the lower half of my face exposed, like yesterday…

Once the beauties danced off the stage, they were replaced by a well-dressed auctioneer.

“Now it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Our next item is none other than a Gift Orb!”

At that, cheers arose from the audience.

“In case any of our esteemed visitors are unfamiliar with these orbs, allow me to give a humble explanation.”

To summarize the points the auctioneer made through the impatient heckling of the crowd:

1. When you use a Gift Orb, you can learn the skill it contains.

2. Gift Orbs are one-use-only.

3. If it goes unused for more than ten years or so, the orb will lose its blessing.

4. They are found extremely rarely in labyrinth treasure chests.

That was pretty much it.

There were three Gift Orbs to be auctioned off: Farming, Horticulture, and Fire Magic.

Too bad… A Chant orb would’ve been nice.

Curious, I searched the entire scope of my map, but the only Gift Orbs were the three being sold here.

They must have been a very rare item indeed.

“Sold! The Fire Magic orb goes to bidder number three for two hundred and five gold coins!”

The first one fetched a pretty high price. I’d been thinking of going for it myself, but the other bidders seemed so desperate that I decided to hold off.

I knew the price would vary based on the appeal of the skill, but I was still surprised when Farming sold for just one gold coin and Horticulture for thirteen.

After another round of dancing and more auctions, we finally came to the last few items.

“Now, this next item is so mysterious that even our appraisers could not identify it. Take a look at this strange treasure of an ancient magical empire.”

…A smartphone?

Just as the man said, “Analyze” didn’t show any information about it. All I could see in the AR was its model number.

I, along with a number of other dilettantes, bid on the item.

Although it would probably be locked with a PIN.

“Sold! The ancient magic treasure goes to number nine for eighty-five gold coins!”

After a fierce bidding war, I managed to emerge victorious.

Bidder number three, a baron in the VIP seats, scowled at me furiously.

He was wearing a recognition-inhibiting mask, too, but it was no match for my “Analyze” skill and AR display.

“The next item is another collection of Nipanese writing from the home country of the hero, like the memos from yesterday. What secrets could be hidden in this mysterious book provided by a certain merchant? Only the winning bidder will know! Let’s start the bidding at one gold coin!”

The auctioneer was holding a notepad about half the size of a paperback book.

Judging by the glimpse of handwriting on the cover, it was the same author as my pottery memo.

Which meant it was definitely a treasure trove of knowledge.

I had to win this auction, no matter what.

“The mystery book goes to bidder number nine for thirty-seven gold coins!”

It was bidder number three who drove the price up so high.

If it hadn’t been for him, I probably could’ve gotten it for around three gold coins, but that didn’t really matter, since I would have bought it even if it took a thousand.

“The Magic Bag goes to number three for one hundred and thirty-five gold coins!”

“Yeeeeeeees!”

I drove up the price on the final item, a Magic Bag, then made a show of losing dramatically to bidder number three. That way, number three seemed satisfied, and whoever sold the item got a high price, too.

“That was too bad…”

The dancer ladies invited me to spend an evening with them, but since I was in disguise, I unfortunately had no choice but to decline.

My plan was to return to the city by using “Skyrunning” under cover of darkness, so I walked toward the exit on the east side of the black-market district.

One section of the wooden outer wall was completely destroyed.

“You there. Do you know what happened here?”

“You haven’t heard? It happened yesterday when a black dragon was chasing some stupid mon hunter. See how that area is black from the dragon’s breath? A buncha knights were investigating all day.”

I handed the friendly young boy a few coppers as thanks for the information, then headed over to the thoroughly charred building.

The black dragon I’d fought with Hayato crossed my mind, but it couldn’t have been that one.

Otherwise, this whole town would’ve been burned to ash.

It must have been either a lesser dragon, a young dragon, or a demi-dragon. I searched the map, but I didn’t see any dangerous high-level monsters in the area.

After that, I spent the next few days touring workshops and socializing with old-capital nobles.

I received the scrolls I ordered, so now my business in the old capital had concluded, and we planned to leave the day after next.

I was even able to get the Holy Swords and Scriptures book from Mr. Kikinu’s magic store.

There was also a public execution of the demon lord–worshipping Wings of Freedom cult members who’d been imprisoned in the castle dungeon, but I had no desire to participate in such a barbaric event.

In the case of upper nobles like the duke’s third son and the former Count Bobino, they appeared to have been dealt with quietly, with the official story being that they’d died of illness.

Since the current Count Bobino was essentially a patron of the Wings of Freedom, he was supposed to pass his title down in the near future.

However, the family’s misfortune continued. The eldest son, who’d been serving as viscount in Sutoandell City, was attacked and killed by a monster on his way back to the old capital.

On top of that, the second and third sons died in equally unfortunate circumstances, until finally the position was offered to the fourth son, the temple knight Sir Keon.

I’d exchanged a few words with Sir Keon when he was serving as Sara’s guard in Muno City, but he didn’t leave much of an impression.

Rumors on the street suggested that he’d killed his brothers to inherit the countship.

Really, I wished that sort of violence would only happen in murder-mystery shows.

“Sir Satou! We’re going out drinking!” At that invitation from Tolma, I was pulled into an excursion to a shady shopping district with him, Mr. Kikinu, Orion, and a few of Orion’s young male noble friends.

While I was away from the mansion, my traveling companions and the housemaids said they would have a girls-only pajama party.

This sounded like a recipe for chaos to me, but since I forbade them from drinking alcohol, it would probably be fine.

Tolma had insisted that he’d chosen a tamer route, since there were minors with us this time, but this seemed pretty hard-core to me.

“Sir Tolma, those ladies aren’t wearing any clothes!”

“Well, yeah. It’s called stripping.”

The young nobles’ jaws almost hit the floor as they stared at the beautiful woman onstage.

She had a remarkably well-toned body, mixing beauty and sexuality in the best possible way. Truly a sight for sore eyes.

“S-Sir Kikinu! Why are all the women in this restaurant p-pushing out their chests?”

“Because it’s a gentlemen’s pub. Just give them a silver for a tip.”

This next place was staffed entirely by large-breasted women. It was a pillowy paradise of prodigious proportions.

The third stop was another of Tolma’s favorites, but this place was a bit different.

“S-Sir Pendragon, isn’t there something strange about the women here?”

“Well, about that…”

He probably meant because all the companions in this place were drag queens.

At a glance, they looked like women, but you could tell from their physique and Adam’s apples.

I didn’t even need my AR display or “Analyze” skill.

When I was in college, my friend who moonlighted as a drag queen taught me all the telltale signs.

Tolma’s parade of pubs went on for a while, so Orion and I got to know each other a little better. We might not have been close friends, but I thought we reached the point where we could have a normal conversation without formalities.

I left the drunken Tolma and Mr. Kikinu in one of the pubs, then called a street carriage and hustled Orion and his friends into it.

Now I just had to get the two drunks inside back home.

“Aaaargh!”

“Leggo a’ my baaaaalls!”

Hearing a commotion, I turned to see several men getting into a scuffle.

It looked to be a spat between criminal guilds.

“Eek!”

“Gramps! Outta the way!”

One of the criminals raised a club to strike a homeless old man who’d been caught in the crossfire.

As I was taking a piece of gravel out of Storage to knock the club away, a shadowy figure kicked the would-be attacker down.

“Are you all right, sir?”

According to the AR label, the shadowy figure—actually a man in a hooded black robe—was the orc alchemist I’d found in my map search before.

Orcs had a reputation for being rather nasty, but this one seemed to be quite a gentleman.

“The guards are comin’! Let’s scram!”

One of the criminals shouted when he saw a group of city guards approaching, and all of them scattered in a panic.

In all the commotion, the orc alchemist disappeared, too.

I entrusted Tolma and Mr. Kikinu to another street carriage, then headed to the underground tunnels of the old capital.

I wanted to talk to that orc alchemist from before.

For some reason, the sewer system that led to where the orcs were located was inhabited by a great deal of crocodiles.

The white crocodiles I occasionally saw among them seemed to be working for the orcs; as I passed them, they splashed their tails against the water, like they were sending a signal of some kind.

Maybe they were like alarm bells.

As proof of my theory, an orc who wasn’t the alchemist was sprinting toward me from the open space ahead.

If I’d used some of my stealth skills, I could have gotten by the white crocodiles easily, but this wasn’t an infiltration mission.

I kept heading toward the open area, and soon the orc appeared in the shadows before me.

Their outline seemed rather blurry. My AR display informed me that the orc was fully loaded with stealth-related skills and magic tools.

Of course, they still came up perfectly on my radar.

“Good evening to you.”

“Mashette!”

I spoke in a friendly voice, but the orc panicked and ran away.

That was understandable, since I’d seen through their elaborate stealth system so easily.

I enabled the skill so we could communicate.

The orc language seemed to be a subset of the language of the elves, but I didn’t understand the word the orc had said, so they must have branched apart long ago.

As I opened the hidden door that led to the larger space, avoiding the trap, my “Sense Danger” skill warned me of danger beyond the door.

Peeking in through the door, I saw an enormous magic device shaped like a torii shrine gate glowing bright red.

“<We cannot let this place be revealed to humans. Farewell, Lo Han, Li Fu.>”

Standing in front of the magic tool, the orc alchemist muttered cryptically.

Judging by the AR display, the torii was in a very dangerous state of Magic Power Overload.

If I didn’t do something, this area and the old capital above it would be in peril.

With the help of my “Quick Change” skill, I transformed into Nanashi the Hero and sprang into the room.

“<You must forgive me for going on before you to enter the great cycle with Lu Heu.>”

He would have to save the rest of his would-be final words for later.

I used “Warp” to instantly arrive in front of the magic device and quickly absorbed all the magic without a word.

The Holy Sword Excalibur was already at its magic power reserve limit, so instead I siphoned it into the Holy Sword Caliburn.

Once the magic had been drained from it, the device turned from red to gray.

It looked exactly like the broken travel gates we saw in Seiryuu County.

“<How quick a thing is death.>”

“<Sorry to ruin the moment, but I had to absorb this device’s magic power or the situation would’ve gotten pretty dangerous. If you let this thing go out of control, it might affect the whole city, not just this place.>”

The expression of peaceful martyrdom slowly faded from the orc alchemist’s face when I spoke to him.

“<…Impossible. You’re saying you stopped a travel gate that was running in overdrive?>”

The orc alchemist’s gaze swiveled frantically between the magic device—the travel gate—and me.

“No art of man should be able to dispel that much magic power in an instant. Are you a god? Or a god’s apostle?”

After a quiet sigh, the orc alchemist switched from his own language to Shigan.

“I’m neither. Just a man.”

Technically I had siphoned the magic, not dispelled it, but I didn’t want to make things any more complicated than they already were.

“But no ordinary human could… Ah. So you’re a hero?”

He must have seen my official title with the “Analyze” skill.

Once again, I accidentally set it to regular Hero instead of True Hero, but it wasn’t like I had to prove that I’d defeated a demon lord or anything.

“That’s right. The name’s Nanashi the Hero.”

“Have you come to destroy the orcs?”

The orc alchemist hid a smaller orc behind him.

“Of course not. I just wanted to chat with you. And I won’t tell anyone about this travel gate—don’t worry.”

Just saying that didn’t seem like enough to convince them, though.

“You swear it?” the small orc asked in a high voice.

“Of course. I swear on the name of Goddess Parion and my title as Hero that I will tell no one of your secret.”

I didn’t particularly worship Parion or anything, but I thought it would sound unconvincing if I just swore on my title, so I figured I’d throw in the name of a goddess for good measure.

“On the name of a goddess? No way…”

The smaller orc was visibly taken aback.

Was that really such a big deal? I guess so, since their attitude toward me noticeably shifted.

“Are you sure?”

The orc alchemist sounded cautious.

His hood was pulled over his eyes, so I couldn’t really see his expression.

“Yeah, of course. It’s a big secret, right?”

“Indeed. It is the legacy of our race. We cannot allow it to fall into the wrong hands.”

“I see. So you guys must have made the broken ones I saw before, too, huh?”

The remains of the travel gates I’d found near Seiryuu City must be connected to this somehow.

First airships and now teleportation? Now, that was the kind of fantasy-world stuff I liked to see.

“Can I ask where it’s connected to?”

“My apologies, but I cannot tell you. On the other side of this travel gate are some of my precious few remaining brethren. I cannot reveal their location for their safety.”

“Oh, is that so? Sorry for asking so casually, then.”

If I really wanted to know, I could just mark these two orcs and find out where the travel gate led.

But of course, I had no intention of stalking them like that.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ga Hou, the orc alchemist.”

“I’m the beautiful orc monster tamer, Lu Heu.”

Ga Hou was over a thousand years old, and Lu Heu was 670. I guess orcs lived a pretty long time.

Instead of the piglike heads that might come to mind, the orcs were characterized by pointed ears reminiscent of the fairyfolk, as well as short, slightly upturned noses.

They certainly didn’t look to be the same race as the Golden Boar Lord.

His head must have transformed when he turned into a demon lord or something.

Once I apologized for startling Lu Heu, Ga Hou invited me to their living quarters so that we could talk more.

It was small, but clean and full of life.

Lu Heu brought out a crocodile dish and a special wine called Evil Spirit Killer, so I brought out my special mead and some fried whale meat for the occasion.

“I don’t know what kind of meat this ‘fried’ food is, but it is delicious.”

“It’s giant-monster-fish meat. Grated daikon makes a great topping for it, but if you don’t like that, grated onion works pretty well, too.”

“Giant monster fish?!”

“You have daikon?!”

Ga Hou and Lu Heu latched on to two very different points of my statement.

“Yes, a yellow demon appeared in the old capital recently and summoned some of them, so I’ve got more than I can ever eat. And I’m out of long daikon, but I have the round kind.”

“Y-you mean to say you defeated them? The aerial fortress that even the sky dragon could barely defeat?”

“I like the round kind best! Can I have some? I can, right?”

Having them talk to me in stereo was a little confusing, so I gave Lu Heu some round daikon to keep her quiet for a while.

“Wait, did you see the sky dragon and the fish do battle?”

“…Yes, I did. I was there the moment that crybaby Yamato and the sky dragon overcame His Majesty the Golden Lord.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

Ga Hou guzzled the highly alcoholic Evil Spirit Killer like it was water as he talked about his past.

“I first met Yamato in His Majesty’s castle. Yamato had been captured on the front lines and was terrified of us orcs.”

I felt it was important to hear this story from a historical witness, but it was heavier than I’d expected.

The “Golden Lord” he spoke of was probably the demon lord called the Golden Boar Lord.

“I seem to recall Yamato saying some strange things, like Don’t pull any tropey BS on me!”

Well, that kind of ruined the serious tone of the story.

I felt like Yamato and I could have been friends.

“Despite being a human, Yamato had no prejudices against orcs and demi-humans. At first it was just His Majesty’s page, but soon Yamato formed friendships with the servants, the military officers, and the civil officials, too. In the end, even His Majesty the Golden Lord, who was always curt and aloof, came around to Yamato’s charms. It seemed as though we would soon be able to make peace with the Saga Empire…”

It sounded like Yamato was a pretty amazing person. No wonder he was able to become a king and found a huge kingdom.

“However, the path to peace was closed when the Flue Empire started massacring demi-humans and the weasels betrayed us, and then a war broke out between humans and all kinds of demi-humans, including us orcs…”

Ga Hou angrily tore off a piece of the crocodile meat.

So the weaselfolk had been causing trouble for a long time.

“Still, Yamato never gave up, and he went to preach peace to the kings and emperors of many countries. But it was all in vain: The war was fierce and far-reaching. We were able to destroy the Flue Empire, but Our Majesty ultimately exceeded his limits and was swallowed by the power of the demon lord…”

Ga Hou looked up at the relief on the ceiling with tears welling in his eyes.

The carvings depicted all kinds of races holding hands in harmony.

“The next time I saw Yamato was at the siege of the capital of the Saga Empire. Yamato appeared to try to prevent the deaths of my brethren, who were being manipulated by the five greater demons.”

So the Saga Empire almost got destroyed, too…?

“I will never forget that day… The sight of Yamato shedding tears and blood alike, trying to get us to come back to our senses. The way his voice trembled and sobbed as it ordered the sky dragon to use its breath of light…”

Blood trickled from Ga Hou’s clenched fist.

It was cruel of me to ask him to tell such a difficult story just to satisfy my curiosity.

“I survived because I was riding a manticore, but by the time I returned to the capital, it was all over. The sky dragon had fallen to the ground, and Yamato’s Holy Sword was thrust into His Majesty’s chest.”

Lu Heu gently unfolded Ga Hou’s fist and healed it with Water Magic.

“His Majesty disappeared into black dust, and Yamato collapsed on the spot, completely drained and still in tears. When Yamato next awoke with my assistance, the fool’s first words were ‘You survived, Ga Hou… Thank goodness.’ I’d been planning on demanding a duel to the death to avenge His Majesty, but when I heard those words, I could no longer bear to be a warrior.”

Wow, talk about a legend.

“I helped my brethren escape to unsettled areas and settlements on other continents, but a few of us stayed behind to make sure the travel gate was never misused. All of that was only possible because of Yamato.”

Ga Hou explained that Yamato had worked hard to make sure the orcs weren’t driven out or mistreated.

“Of course, we’ve done a thing or two to help as well…”

Aside from continuing his work as an alchemist, Ga Hou had also volunteered to help purify the water in the old capital and establish a sewage treatment facility.

So that was why the river wasn’t dirty.

“You never wanted to try to live aboveground?”

“Some four hundred and fifty years ago, we were given a small dominion at the edge of the territory. We lived there peacefully for about thirty years… But the boy king Gartapht, under the sway of his beloved weaselfolk soothsayer, slaughtered all eight hundred inhabitants of the orc dominion there. After that, we have never again ventured to live in plain sight.”

That must have been the demi-human war that was mentioned at the museum.

But to slaughter the innocent civilians of an entire city…

“Do not look so sad. Fortunately, we have a friend in the little ogre princess, who excels at Barrier Magic. With her help, we were able to make a small hidden village untouched by the outside world. Even now, our surviving brethren live there peacefully.”

Ga Hou drained the last of his drink along with his sorrows, then poured some mead into a cup with a gentler expression.

“It’s a little sweet but delicious…”

“If that’s not to your liking, why not try this?”

“Th-this rich fragrance… Dragonspring liquor?! It’s been five hundred years, but I’d never forget that smell.”

To make up for the painful story I’d forced them to recount, I gave all my precious dragonspring liquor to the two of them.

My party members wouldn’t be able to try it now, but hopefully I could get it again in the future.

I changed the subject to the orcs’ customs and traditional dishes, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Thanks to that, we were soon friendly enough that I got to see some orc spell books and alchemy.

“Nanashi, please take this for me. If the leader of this kingdom is a wise man, give this to him. If he is a fool, then throw it into a crater or the ocean.”

With that, Ga Hou handed me a short horn, an item that turned humans into demons.

He explained that he’d managed to defeat a lesser demon that had appeared downtown and he’d acquired this horn.

“I wouldn’t worry. The king and the duke already know about the short horns.”

“I am glad to hear it, then.”

Ga Hou opened the cover of a magic furnace in the corner of the room and threw the short horn into it.

The large magic furnaces in all four corners of the room were there to supply the travel gate with power.

“Ga Hou, please use this if you like. I think it’ll come in handy if you have to fight another demon.”

I gave him one of my handmade Holy Swords. This one was coated with mithril, of course.

I had no doubt that the orc would use it well to protect the old capital.

“…Why, this is a Holy Sword!”

Ga Hou exclaimed in surprise when he put magic power into it.

“It is. Sorry it doesn’t have a name, though.”

“Then allow me to name it now.”

The name Ga Hou gave to the sword was…

…Holy Sword Nanashi.