Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: 14

5-14 . Joining

With this brutal adventure life, I'm saying goodbye to carefree sightseeing trip, Satou .

<TLN: If you haven't noticed, these "Satou's here" preludes will only get weirder lol>

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Zen, Zen, Zen huh, I was overwhelmed by his drive, and made to dance according to his plan . He was probably satisfied, but it was a real nuisance to get involved .

Still, even though I've murdered someone because of the course of the event, I don't feel any remorse . It's not just because of my high MND but probably also because his outer appearance was that of a skeleton and he looked happy in the end .

I pull myself together . First, let's check on Arisa and the girls' situation . It seems that Liza is a bit hurt but everyone is safe . They're not in the camping ground but already near Seryuu city .

Somehow they thought that, "When it's morning", meant that they should get to the worker's guild before morning . I meant to say, "Depart when it's morning", but it was difficult to complete it .

I could tell them my safety if we have cellphones, but it can't be helped if it doesn't exist . Let's look for something with the same function when we got to the royal capital and labyrinth city .

Now then, it'd be difficult to traverse through 5 mountains when it's this dark . Putting aside my physical strength, my mental state is weary . I want to rest at least until dawn .

Should I take a rest until dawn here?

I've thought of heartless things, when I think about it, I remember that I shouldn't leave Arisa and the girls alone . If they, slaves they are, come back alone then wouldn't they be treated as escaped slaves?

The knight Soun who guards the front gate is a big hearted person, but I'm not sure if that applies to slaves and demi-humans too .

My health is already fully recovered, and my stamina is still at 90% anyway .   I hate to think like an athlete, but let's psyche myself up .

Of course I'll also take Mia, who I'm carrying on my shoulder, and No . 7 (homonculus) along . If I leave them here, they'd fall preys to wolves then there'd be no point in me saving them from the maze .

I wrap Mia and No . 7 each in thick sheets . By chance, Mia now looks like at the time when she was first handed to me by the red-helmet .

>[Packing Skill Acquired]

I put Mia on top of No . 7, and carry both of them on my arms . They call this, bridal carry . If I have common physical strength I'd be down in just a few minutes, but the me now could carry them for many hours without problem .   When I try to walk, Mia almost slips out so I wrap one more mantle on the two to stabilize them .

I push my way through the mountain road while carrying the two .

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I haven't even run through the mountain road for a few minutes before, like usual,

>[Off-Road Skill Acquired]

comes up, so I put points to it until the maximum and activate it . Incidentally, I also enable the [Sprint] skill in similar manner . I might be wasting points but there's still about 90% of it remaining so it's fine .

I've been thoughtlessly using them up until now, but seeing those purple lights, I feel like I'd get involved with troubles . I've decided to carefully examine each of my skills and use half of my points to strengthen myself after I've reunited with Arisa and the girls .

I'm passing over a place that looks like the ruins of rat-man village after 10 minutes of running . Was this the village where Mia met the red-helmet again?

I'm interested, but I have to keep going through the mountain now .

I can somehow identify good thickets to jump from, I wonder if this is thanks to off-road skill . I can't tell it as clearly as the trap-discovery skill could to traps, is this because the difference in natural and man-made things?

Probably thanks to the off-road skill added with sprint skill, I'm even considerably faster than a horse-drawn wagon . Moreover, combined with 3D-maneuver skill, I'm passing through the mountain almost in a straight line . I feel like some kind of ninja from a manga .

After crossing two mountains, dead trees begin to decrease and greeneries are becoming rich .

At such time, I see interesting place with shinning lily of the valley-like flowers and flickering mushrooms on the middle of the way . I want to look closer but time is precious now, so I give up . Since it's regrettable, I put a marker on the map for the place .

Mia and the woman sometimes get tangled with branches that stick out but I destroy it by flicking coins with my hand .

I run through the mountain relying on the moonlight . It feels like the moon in this world is awfully bright .

After the fourth mountain, a Giant Boar jumps on me . I've noticed it on the radar, but since it suddenly jumps here, I just kick it away .

I've been avoiding small animals who jump my way so far, but as expected, it's impossible to do so with a bear-sized giant boar .

Its head which got hit directly went with a splat, I averted my eyes . Without looking at its scattered head, I put it into the storage before it falls onto the ground as a souvenir for Liza . Since I've seen Liza dismantling it several times already, I may have become accustomed it . Even though I'm boasting now, I'm confident that I'd have abandoned it if it was not dark .

And then we finally get to the highway . From here, it's 80 kilometers away to Seryuu city in straight line . There's one and half hour until dawn .

I run pass the hilly areas in straight line . The grounds are scooped out but no one would mind it anyway, probably .

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I'm thinking while running . The thing with Arisa and Zen, I feel I have a luck (Hard Luck) that gets me tend to be involved with humans who have been given power by the gods . I can't think that they're all existences with good will .

Does the gods in this world enjoy themselves by giving people trial?

Or, are they like mythological gods from Northern Europe and Greece where they have human-like trait with both evil and good?

No, there's also possibility of devils pretending to be gods like in the bible .

There's no answer with just just guessing . Later in our journey, let's look for more information about gods if I see a big temple or library .

Then I could compare the informations I got to Arisa's own .

Still, seeing this trend, there are other reincarnated people out there right? And even with them around, this world's culture and civilization didn't collapse huh .

Maybe the people who were chosen were like me, who actively does not intend to spread modern-world knowledge .

People who love conspiracy theory probably would say that the reincarnated person who's spreading modern-world knowledge would be removed by some kind of power .

Now then, the magician Zen said that he became No-Life King after he was executed by a noble .

What I'm worried about when I heard that story is my unique skill [Indestructible] . They sounds too similar . I'm afraid that I'd also become No-Life King or Demon Lord if my HP becomes zero .

<TLN: I translated it as Immortal back then, but it's more appropriate to be Indestructible so I'll change it for now . We'll see how the author play this out . >

Were the skills I saw from Zen in camping ground, like [Physical Attack Invalid] or [Instant Recovery] unique skills? Maybe it was because of those two skills that he wasn't able to kill himself .

This is only a guess from what I gathered from his talks, but [Hero] title combined with a holy sword are probably able to invalidate the two skills .

Perhaps the demon lord has the same requirement too, or am I just thinking too much?

However, in comparison I was able to completely annihilate the heavenly dragons and the dragon god without any title . The meteor shower might have the same effect as [Hero and holy sword], but I feel that conclusion is too light .

I think that the dragons may be existences that hunt the demon lords, but they may also be a race that specialize in attack . I'm not really satisfied with this, but until I get new informations, let's conclude that for now .

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While recollecting the things that I talked about with Zen, I remember to put my title back to [None] . While I'm at it, I also change my level on the Exchange tab . Since Arisa and Liza have leveled up, I also raise my level to 12 .

The growth of Arisa and the girls are like these

Arisa . . . . Level 10=>12, Skills are omitted

Lulu . . . Level 2=>3, Skills are [Etiquette], [Marshalling(new)]

Liza . . . Level 13=>14, Skills are [Spear], [Thrusting], [Dismantling], [Cooking], [Heavy Blow(new)]

Pochi . . . Level 13=>14, Skills are [Short Sword], [Throwing], [Dismantling], [Enemy Search], [Shooting(new)]

Tama . . . Level 13=>14, Skills are [Short Sword], [Throwing], [Dismantling], [Collecting], [Enemy Search]

Lulu's new skill [Marshalling] is not bad, but I'd have loved if she learned [Cooking] .

In a game, you could assign skill for party members but reality isn't so convenient .

Come to think of it, I have [Education] skill if I recall right .

Maybe I could teach intended skills with this? I'll work together with Lulu to try it next time .

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I'm looking at the map every 10 minutes, but there's still nothing but me in this highway . Arisa and the girls have arrived in front of the Seryuu city's gate .

I've done an impossible thing by getting to the place where I could see Seryu city in 40 minutes . I'd say that my speed was 120 KM/H in average .

Since I lowered my speed when I reached highway as not to break them, you could guess yourself what my speed was on the hills .

When I got out of the last forest I began to walk normally since I could possibly be seen by the Seryuu city's scouts .

There are only 3 kilometers left anyway, and the gate isn't going to open for 50 minutes .

I came into a slightly elevated place 2 kilometers away from Seryuu city . I could not only see the outer wall from here, but also the entire gate . Our wagon can be seen in a distant .

While I look at it, the wagon starts to come toward here . Apparently, someone has seen me . The one with sharp eye, Tama I wonder?

The wagon comes into my view, Liza is operating it . Pochi and Tama lean out of the wagon as if they're about to fall and are waving at me . Arisa and Lulu are anxiously looking toward here, seems that they can't see me yet .

I put Mia and the woman on one of my arm smoothly, and then I wave back at them .

Still, everyone look strange . I've thought that they would worry about me but aren't they worrying too much?

Before long, the wagon comes into view while raising dust clouds .

I put the two on the side of the road and go to greet everyone .

The wagon makes a sudden stop, then Pochi and Tama who descend like they're tumbling down run here .

Bam, with that sound, Liza who jumps over Pochi and Tama from the coachman's seat runs here first . "Mafter", she says in a loud muffled cry while strongly hugging me . Losing her body weight, I support her center of gravity . Liza is crying like a flood while hugging me .

While I was surprised with Liza's unexpected behavior, Pochi and Tama climb up my body and Liza and hug me from both sides .

"Wlcome~""Nano desu!"

Maybe because they can't express their relief well, they're thoroughly play-biting my head and shoulders, and licking  my face . This is intense .

Arisa and Lulu who come down from the wagon late aren't able to interrupt the intense hugs . "Welcome home . ", said Arisa while looking at the ground, and said Lulu gracefully .

"I'm home, I'm sorry to worry you . "

Liza is still crying while hugging me, but when she hears my voice she replies with a weak tearful voice . And then, seemingly aware that she's hugging me, she shyly parts away from me .

Matching her, I put Tama and Pochi on the ground and pat their heads .

"We were worried nodesu!""Any injury~?"

Pochi and Tama look at me worryingly, Lulu is looking at me while smiling, and then Arisa pushes to the front while still looking a bit at the ground .

She's not like the usual Arisa?

" . . . I, I was worried! Mou, promise me to never do something that absurd ever again!!"

Arisa resolves herself to raise her face and come up with words . Tears are swelling up on her large eyes .

I gently hug her while apologizing, and lightly pat her back .

She seemingly isn't able to hold back anymore, begins crying, and I comfort her . Maybe because they're swept away with it, Pochi and Tama also begin to cry together with Arisa . Lulu and Liza who look on us from a distance are also moved to tears .

I've decided to apologize for how many time, however many, until everyone stops crying . The pouring tears and scolding from everyone who was worried about me, warm my slightly hardened heart . And then, I continue to apologize until the sky turns white .