Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Satou here. They say the grudge over food is terrifying, but I wonder when that phrase first came about.

Is it the feeling you get when someone cuts in line at a popular restaurant, ignoring all the rules?

◇

"Finally you've arrived. Truly, you are far too late."

"Sorry, I ran into a bit of trouble."

As soon as I arrived at the workshop deep inside the castle, True Ancestor Van’s reprimand came flying at me.

I had asked to see it myself, yet I was late—there was no excuse.

Because of the overheating issues with the forge, they couldn’t wait for me after I exceeded the scheduled time by over two hours.

They must not have been able to withstand the pressure from the vampire princess demanding the Mithril Blade, especially since dropping the heat and reheating would take even longer.

It’s like me standing before a finished barbecue set, holding skewers of raw meat, enduring the gaze of beast girls without grilling anything. Surely, I couldn't endure that.

"Take a look for yourself."

"Is that okay?"

Van handed over the blade, held by fire tongs.

Though it had cooled to a color fitting a Japanese sword, it still seemed hot enough to burn a normal person on touch.

As with what we did at the evil dragon’s lair, I cloaked the blade with magic power to form a sort of “magic power armor.” It’s tricky to get the balance right.

When I asked Liza for tips on the “magic power armor,” she gave me a confusing explanation: “You fluff it up gently and then squeeze it tight. If you squeeze too much, it’ll snap, so don’t squeeze it too hard.”

Despite that vague guidance, I somehow managed to use it, but the weave of magic power was loose and weak, making it far from a proper “magic power armor.”

Anyway, with the magic power cloak on, I grasped the Japanese sword. Naturally, the magical membrane meant no oils from my hands would transfer to the blade.

I held the blade up to the light.

That’s when I noticed something a bit uncharacteristic of a Japanese sword.

“Lord Van, the hamon (blade pattern) hasn’t appeared?”

“Indeed. The purity of the Mithril Lord Kuro brought was so high that folding (the forging technique) wasn’t necessary.”

And what does that have to do with the hamon?

Seeing me tilt my head in confusion, the True Ancestor opened his mouth to explain the forging process.

“Originally, the folding in forging is—”

“Listen! I am Van, your kin and the Dark Noble! The True Ancestor!”

Suddenly, Yuika Unit 3 came running from behind and interrupted Van’s serious lecture with a solemn face.

“To interrupt my words—The last goblin princess and—”

Matching Yuika 3’s tone, the True Ancestor began an unnecessarily long rebuke for such rudeness.

But Yuika 3 waved a short staff and cut him off again.

“If I tell you I’ve found one of the ‘Three Lost Treasures,’ can you keep such an attitude?”

Van froze, stunned.

Yuika 3 grinned slyly.

However, since the stick she held was covered in sticky syrup, the whole scene came off as a bit ridiculous and disappointing.

She must have snagged it earlier when she and Armored stopped by the castle kitchen. Armored wasn’t with her anymore.

“No way!”

“Yes, exactly that!”

I had a feeling how this would end, so I decided to watch quietly instead of joining the conversation.

“From the scent drifting from your mouth, it’s… pizza, isn’t it?”

…Just as I thought.

This really isn’t something worth arguing over so seriously.

“Yeah, Kuro made it.”

“Lord Kuro, what is the meaning of this?”

Perhaps bored halfway through, Yuika 3 licked the syrup and handed the conversation to me lightly.

The True Ancestor approached me with bloodshot eyes.

“D-Did you find tomatoes?!”

“Yeah, they were grown in a rural village in the eastern Shiga Kingdom.”

I pushed back the True Ancestor’s overly proper face. No BL, please.

Don’t show off vampire strength over something so trivial; someone weaker could be seriously injured.

“Impossible! We’ve been exploring that land for years…”