Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This is Mr. Satou. When something is emphasized as normal, I can’t help but suspect that there’s something abnormal hidden somewhere. Even though I know it’s just paranoia, I find myself searching for it.

◇

“Chunky rat~?”

“What’s that? It looks like a capybara-like creature.”

On my way chasing after the civil officials heading to the basement, I stumbled upon a room where people in white coats were putting band-aids on baby capybara-like creatures.

They looked like beastmen, but it was hard to tell their exact appearance because they wore large masks and visor-like sunglasses.

Looking closely, the band-aids had red crystals attached to them that resembled shards of demon cores.

The band-aided capybaras were sent to the next room via a metal slippery slope.

“Boshuto?”

“That’s not quite right.”

Holding Tama under my arm, I peeked into the adjacent room.

Inside, there was a bathtub-like container filled with innards and meat fragments, and the band-aided capybara-like creatures were ravenously biting into it.

Are these experimental animals?

Men dressed similarly to those in the previous room were sprinkling white powder over the innards with ladle-like tools.

Their manner was quite rough, and they didn’t care whether the powder landed on the innards or the capybaras.

“Damn, we’re out of powder.”

“We’re out of stock too, so make more powder.”

“What a pain.”

The man holding the ladle muttered curses as he headed to a corner of the room.

—What’s that?!

The pills the man took out from a bottle were labeled “Rebirth Pill (Reborn Seed)” in AR display.

This was the drug that had transformed creatures living in the underground sewers of the Royal Capital of the Shiga Kingdom into Monsters of the Red Rope.

Could this be a secret factory producing Monsters of the Red Rope?

“Master, over here—potatoes?”

Before I noticed, Tama had slipped out of my restraints and was beckoning from in front of another nearby room.

“Are those distinctive vines hopping potatoes?”

“O-fuko~su.”

Tama nodded in agreement.

Those are the hopping potatoes—the monsters that novice explorers and carriers hunt for money in the Selbira Labyrinth.

They’re one of the pillars supporting the stomachs of the low-income class in the Labyrinth City.

Could it be that here...

As if to confirm my suspicion, the following room was breeding Walking Beans and Dancing Corn.

These are probably the cheap military rations I had seen in the village—the raw materials, that is.

The capybara-like creatures from before must be the raw material for dried mystery meat…

◇

“Welcome back, Second-class Civil Official Hock.”

“I have returned, Chief Researcher.”

I almost forgot my purpose, but by frequently using earth shrinking, I arrived just in time at the scene.

In the innermost room, an arrogant-looking weaselfolk was handing over an Emperor Statue and a litmus-paper-like item to the civil official.

Several other researcher-like men and women were also gathered.

“The miasma is a bit low, but the excessive magic power filling is good…”

“With this, we don’t have to rely on the city’s magic supply while being scolded by the regents.”

When they mention the city’s magic power, they likely mean the source routed through the City Core.

“Didn’t you say before that the miasma was insufficient?”

“That’s because the newcomers under Hock’s charge have been doing well.”

“That guy from the Imperial University?”

The civil official frowned, not quite convinced by the researchers’ words.

“He’s been transferred from the Imperial Capital and is bitter about it, spewing poison everywhere.”

“That guy’s in charge of distribution—it’s pitiful for the slum residents.”

“The amount of miasma collected from the Emperor Statue installed in the slums has tripled compared to last month.”

The researchers sneered unpleasantly as they explained.

When the civil official said he would make the newcomer change their attitude, the researchers protested.