Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This is a repost of the short story I uploaded in the activity report.

This is a story from when we were staying at Ivy Manor after defeating the floor master.

“So, have you decided which one to keep?”

“As expected, the classic choice is ‘item appraisal.’ Honestly, having all three be great precious pearls makes it really hard to choose.”

After defeating the floor master, three treasure chests appeared—large, medium, and small.

Like in those old tales, I thought that opening one would make the other two disappear, but Tama quickly unlocked and opened all three without hesitation, leaving Arisa and me puzzled.

It turns out Tama was usually in charge of opening treasure chests in the labyrinth, so she was puzzled seeing Arisa panic.

By the way, the treasure chests weren’t trapped at all.

Putting that aside, we continued sorting through the loot spread out in the living room of Ivy Manor.

Sure, all this loot would eventually go to auction, but it was necessary to create an inventory first.

Besides, checking out loot is always fun.

Inside the treasure chests, just like on the middle floor, there were three precious pearls: “item appraisal,” “water magic,” and “paralysis resistance.”

I had secretly hoped for a “chanting” pearl, but that was a miss.

All three pearls found this time were top-notch, especially “item appraisal,” which was said to be rare among rares.

We had a lively debate over whether to give “paralysis resistance” to Nana, the shield bearer, or Mia, the healer; or “water magic” to Nana or Lulu, who stayed behind; or “item appraisal” to scout Tama, cook Lulu, or the knowledgeable Arisa.

In the end, since having “item appraisal” would ensure the safety of ingredients, we chose that pearl for the loot that could be assigned and decided to have Lulu use it.

Honestly, deciding based on food safety really shows how much these kids love to eat.

“The rest are just so-so equipment, huh?”

“Arisa, I must urge you to reconsider because your criteria are strange.”

Nana objected to Arisa’s judgment.

Sure, nothing was outstanding enough to highlight, but the lineup was decent enough to be useful.

Just among the magical weapons, there was an adamantite war hammer, a mithril dagger, a large bow made of face-tree wood, a mantis barbarian sword, a thunder crystal staff, and a paralysis spine spear—six in total. There were also about four regular weapons like a black steel one-handed axe and a silver small sword.

“Yeah, the usual cheat gear was just insane. I mean, we planned out many tactics and prepared over and over, but winning without a scratch against enemies nine levels higher than us? That’s just not normal.”

“You like getting hurt?”

“No pain is bad! It’s tough, you know?”

“Pervert?”

“Nooo!”

Arisa nearly got labeled as a masochist, but being unscathed is definitely a good thing.

If we level up about 70 times more, even Demon King-level opponents won’t be a problem. According to Arisa, the dog head and boar king enemies were exceptional, so maybe just another 50 levels would suffice.

This time, the loot was skewed towards weapons; there were fewer armor pieces.

Besides a magical “thunderhand armor” made of mithril and a “diamond shell” great shield, the rest were just sturdy but ordinary armor.

The thunderhand armor, dropped by a squid, had ten tentacles that automatically defended the wearer from attacks. It even had a function that emitted electric shocks like a stun gun from the tips.

Since it was a full plate armor, it seemed like it would only fit certain wearers, but according to Seol of the shadow tribe, magical armor from the labyrinth automatically adjusts its size to fit the wearer.

Feels like seeing a classic fantasy item for the first time in a while. Actually, it’s more like something from a game.

However, unlike games, the auto-adjust has limits, adjusting size only within about plus or minus 20%, so someone as small as Leliril can’t equip it.

The diamond shell great shield is surprisingly sturdy despite being light and can create a magic barrier against spells when energized, making it ideal for shield bearers in mid-level floors.