Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

I’m Satou. I’ve given up on the idea of it being a dream, but now I’m confused because I’m starting to suspect this isn’t reality, but actually inside a game. If that’s the case, I wish it had been the relaxed type of erotic game world.

It was unfortunate that the first enemy in the labyrinth was a camel cricket, but I want to save any lives I can until we escape.

Well, within reason.

◇

“What’s a demon core?”

“A demon core is money. It’s something inside monsters, and if you give it to a traveling merchant, they’ll exchange it for various things.”

Liza’s answer wasn’t quite the explanation I was hoping for, but I guess it’s unreasonable to expect the same level of answers as from Nadi, the jack-of-all-trades.

Liza pulled out a red orb stained with green blood from the monster. It was about half the size of a fist. The dull red color meant it probably couldn’t be used as a gemstone or anything fancy.

I returned to Liza and took a bag from my backpack to hand to her. I also gave her a rather dirty scrap of cloth to wipe off the bloodstains.

“Put the demon cores in this bag. Also, use this spear.”

I had Pochi carry the bag and handed Liza the camel cricket’s spear. The dagger Liza was holding went to Tama.

Swapping equipment like this really feels like an RPG.

“Liza, when you collect demon cores from the next enemies, have Pochi and Tama take turns. Teach them where and how to do it.”

“Understood.” “Got it~.” “Okay~.”

“Hey, Pochi.”

“Yes~.”

“You don’t have to forcibly add ‘~desu’ to the end of your sentences.”

“If I don’t add ‘desu,’ I get punished~.”

I see, was that a survival strategy or was it just imprinted on her? Since I’m just a temporary master, I guess I won’t bother correcting it.

“Alright, you don’t have to add it if you don’t want to. I won’t get mad.”

“Okay… desu~.”

After offering a perfunctory prayer for whoever had fallen victim to the camel cricket, I left the room. I made sure to note down the names on the bodies.

Comparing the stats from before the fight and now, only stamina had changed slightly; the other stats remained the same.

Does just being together not earn experience?

Then how do the supply troops or priests level up?

If all three of them could level up, then even if more people joined on the way to escape, I wouldn’t be overshadowed—but maybe it’s not that easy.

Since this feels like a game, maybe I should try a game-like approach?

“Tama, if you see any stones about the size of the last demon core near your feet, pick one up.”

“Okay!”

◇

Continuing forward, the corridor splits.

Both paths eventually lead to the same room, but one has a room along the way. Both rooms have monsters — in the side room, there are two level 10 caterpillars. Also, a human was spotted further along the corridor... Should we rescue them?

“The path is splitting~ nya~.”

Tama reported as soon as the fork came into view. I wish she wouldn’t add weird sentence endings for character flavor...

I praised Tama and patted her head, making her squirm a bit.

Pochi looked jealous, so I gently ruffled her head too.

Both of them are about chest height, around 120 cm tall, I guess? Liza is slightly taller than me—about 165 cm.

“We’re taking the right path.”

We moved down the corridor. The radar should have shown any enemies in sight, right?

“There’s a bug up there~ desu.”

Tama warned. Is she copying Pochi now?

Alright, how do we deal with an invisible enemy?

I used the radar to roughly locate it and looked in that direction.

I stared intently.

The AR display showed the monster’s name and level.

I sprayed indiscriminately around the area of the display.

Pashu shushu shushu. Plop.

Apparently, one shot hit and the caterpillar fell to the ground.

“Tama, throw stones at it.”

Tama threw about three stones. Two bounced off the caterpillar’s tough skin. One seemed to have done some damage.

The caterpillar approached.

“Pochi, Tama, fall back. Liza, move up front. Stab it once from behind me!”