Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Satou here. I wonder where the difference lies between people who enjoy thrill rides at amusement parks and those who don’t. Of course, personal preferences play a part, but maybe it’s the trust in the ride itself that allows people to have fun.

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After crossing the mountain range, we descended the ark airship onto a narrow grassland between the foothills and the forest.

“Ah, finally some solid ground.”

“Arisa, it’s only been half a day.”

“But I didn’t expect it to shake that much.”

Arisa’s complaint was understandable.

The strange air currents were stronger than expected, causing more turbulence than we had anticipated. Thanks to the magical canopy, we were protected from temperature drops and pressure changes, but the air control magic couldn’t fully absorb the sudden shifts in airflow, so it couldn’t prevent the shaking.

“It’s... the earth!”

“Oh, mother earth.”

Because of that, Pochi and Liza looked a bit pitiful.

They had collapsed onto the ground, both of them with unfocused eyes. We hadn’t shaken them on purpose this time, so maybe it would have been better to support them to avoid the shaking.

Perhaps, like with the horses, it would have been better to sedate them with sleeping medicine.

Arisa and Mia seemed to have gotten motion sickness from the ride and looked a little worn out. I had given them motion sickness medicine, but it didn’t seem to work very well.

Nana was her usual self, poking at a small flower swaying in the breeze at her feet.

Tama, who seemed to enjoy the unexpected directions the ship swayed in, was so excited that she ended up like a child fresh from an amusement park—completely worn out. Now, she was lying on the grass with a satisfied smile, fast asleep.

Lulu, who usually gets scared or motion sick, seemed to have treated it like a roller coaster ride. She was clutching my arm and screaming “Kyaa kyaa,” but she kept smiling until the end. Her flushed face was so cute that I had no complaints.

Though there was still plenty of daylight left, everyone was quite exhausted, so we decided to camp here for the night.

There are no monsters inside the Forest of Boruenan, but the boundary area we were in did have some. However, there were no particularly strong monsters, so I entrusted Nana with everyone’s protection.

As for me, I found the long-awaited Mithril vein halfway up the mountain range, so I headed out to mine it. The Mithril vein was quite deep underground, but since it was about a kilometer from the surface, I dug a vertical shaft to the desired depth using the “Wall” magic four or five times. I’m not sure how much the refined ore would reduce in weight, but I managed to dig out over ten tons, which should be enough. If we run out, we can always come back.

Since it was still too early to prepare dinner, I flew around the mountains collecting clay for pottery, stones, and rare earth minerals. There were veins of gold and silver too, but the gold vein had too low a concentration per unit volume, so I decided not to bother. If we need gold, we can just melt down Flu gold coins.

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When we returned to the campsite as the sun began to set, we were greeted by some unexpected guests.

Guests, but not humans. Unicorns living in the Forest of Boruenan. Unlike the unicorns in the Muno forest, these weren’t white horses but had zebra-like stripes.

The unicorns were cozy with the hornless beasts and were eating the horse feed I had prepared.

“What’s this?”

“Mutual love.”

“They just showed up two hours ago and started getting all lovey-dovey. Real relationship goals or should I say real beasts—screw that.”

Arisa spat out a venomous remark, but don’t go bothering the unicorns too. I told Liza that there was no need for subjugation and began preparing dinner with Lulu.

Tonight’s menu, at Mia’s request, centered on tofu hamburger steaks. We also prepared chicken-flavored rice without chicken, some potatoes, and small puddings. Usually, we’d add fried shrimp and sausages, but this time I made fried kuitake mushrooms and macaroni instead. Lastly, I shaped the chicken rice with a mold, stuck a toothpick flag in it, and it was done.