Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Satou here. It seems that the side dishes for curry vary across time and place, but the classics are fukujinzuke, rakkyou, and beni shouga. Depending on the region or the restaurant, you might also get cucumber nanbanzuke, sauerkraut, or pickles as accompaniments.

The sheer variety probably reflects how beloved this dish is among the Japanese.

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“Aze-sama, please be very careful.”

“It’s fine. It’s not my first time.”

Ignoring Lady Lua’s worried expression, Aarize was brimming with confidence.

In fact, we were about to conduct an experiment to trap a jellyfish inside a cage.

Though I thought it was a bit much to bring the clan leader along even if it was just a formality, I was overruled by the insistence that she was the “most suitable.”

Apparently, the World Tree recognizes the High Elf as part of itself. Unlike the jellyfish, which is mistaken for something else, Aarize said that this was inherent from the start. The phrase caught my attention, but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for an outsider to ask out of curiosity, so I pretended not to have heard.

According to Aarize, up to several companions can also be treated as part of the World Tree like herself. But since we were going to use magic in the experiment, it was better not to have unnecessary baggage, so I was assigned to accompany her as an observer. I didn’t mind since I wanted to go, but I wondered if it was really okay that Jia wasn’t coming.

When I asked why I was brought along, she blushed slightly and gave a suggestive look, so I thought maybe there was a connection. But then she said it was because a hero who can battle a black dragon would be unfazed by a rampaging jellyfish. I wish she’d stop with the misleading gestures.

“Uh, a-are you ready too? Let’s go.”

She seemed to want to call my name but ended up not doing so. She was cute, so I decided not to do something crude like reaching out my hand first.

I took her hand, which she offered a bit sulkily. For some reason, she hastily wrapped herself in wind and then flew straight into the void. I followed her at a speed that would let us keep hold of each other using skystride.

Oh, I thought it was a glass dome, but it’s some kind of slimy membrane. Maybe sap from the World Tree? It was about two meters thick.

Beyond the membrane was vacuum—

Um, Aarize-san? It’s hard to breathe here.

I literally couldn’t breathe. Frost was starting to form on my face and hair. It wasn’t deadly, so I checked my status: stamina and health had dropped a bit, but self-healing was kicking in quickly.

I had assumed Aarize was wrapping us in wind magic. She activated “canopy” to create a comfortable space. Since there wasn’t enough air, she took a small amount from the balloons in storage and replenished the air inside the “canopy.” When the air gets stale, we should add oxygen from the oxygen balloons.

Phew, that’s better.

Good thing I had extra balloons filled with air. I made them thinking I’d play with Pochi and Tama but forgot.

] “Acquired spacewalk skill.”

] “Acquired survival skill.”

I got some weird skills. Honestly, I was hoping for ether manipulation magic.

Since skystride works even in the void, the spacewalk skill is basically useless. The survival skill seemed useful, so I allocated the maximum points and activated it.

“Is something wrong?”

“I couldn’t breathe.”

“Uh, didn’t I tell you? You can’t breathe in the void, so be careful.”

Too slow, Aarize.

“Also, don’t overuse magic. There are almost no spirits in the void, and mana is thin, so magic power recovers slowly.”

If I absolutely needed to recover magic power, she told me to go to the nearest World Tree branch. The branches there are said to flow with mana collected from the ether. Also, the branches in the void are hot, so be careful not to get burned when touching them. Isn’t outer space supposed to be cold?

Come to think of it, we were talking normally. Probably using the “telephone” magic, but Aarize doesn’t have spatial magic skills, so how was she doing it?