Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Some parts have been revised.

Correction of typos on 2018/6/11.

This is Satou. Hiking is great, isn’t it? Surrounded by nature, breathing in the scent of plants and trees fills your lungs and helps you forget about work failures and unpleasant events.

◇

After finishing taking care of the horses, I started mixing a deodorizer in the shadow of the carriage. I wanted to do something about the intense smell of goat skins and sheep wool.

While I was mixing, Liza came to check if we could skip the soup since we didn’t have enough firewood. It was a bit chilly, and rye bread alone would be too hard without soup.

Looking to the side, I noticed the Light Hot Plate I had been using to warm water during the mixing process.

I decided to use it to assist with cooking. First, warm the soup on this, then burn firewood to reheat and cook it. I left the magic power supply for the Light Hot Plate to Arisa.

Still, I hadn’t realized collecting fuel would be such a hassle. I should have bought firewood in Seryu City.

If things get desperate, I’ll use scrap wood from the storage. The only downside is that the pieces are too large to fit into the Item Box.

◇

While I was mixing the deodorizer in the carriage’s shade, the wonderful aroma of soup reached my nose. The finished deodorizer was a white powdered medicine, packed into small bags to place together with the smelly items.

I stuffed bundles of goat skins and wool I took from the Storage together with the deodorizer bags into a sack and put it into the Item Box. There were so many that it wouldn’t fit, so I upgraded the Item Box skill to level 4.

Liza, seemingly not even spying on me, came at just the right timing to call that the meal was ready.

Well then, the preparations are done. I need to call back Pochi and Tama.

I shouted loudly for Pochi and Tama.

Yeah, I’ll buy some whistles when we get to town.

There’s a magical artifact whistle in the Storage, but I don’t want to blow it recklessly and have strange monsters or angels appear, so I don’t use it.

“My prey~!”

Pochi proudly came back holding a rabbit in one hand. The ears were short for a rabbit. The AR display named it a "short-eared rabbit." Pochi was covered head to toe in grass and dirt, but wearing a big smile.

I passed the rabbit directly to Liza.

While petting Pochi’s head, I praised him. I couldn’t let him eat like that, so I filled a bucket with water and had him wash his face and hands. We had been thorough about washing before meals back in the labyrinth, so just offering the water bucket was enough to get him splashing water around. The only thing he still hadn’t broken was shaking water off his face instead of using a towel.

“Meat~? I caught it~!”

This time Tama called out from behind as she came back.

I wondered what Tama had caught—maybe a bird?

“Meat! ...Is it?” Pochi tilted his head halfway through, understandably confused.

When I turned around, Tama was holding up an 80-centimeter ratman.

The ratman was slumped unconscious but seemed to be alive.

“Tama, you should let it go.”

Tama tilted her head sadly and asked, “Prey~ No?”

I almost gave permission, but I thought better of it — no eating people. I’ll have to teach them that gradually.

“You’ll get a stomach ache, so no.”

“Ai~”

Tama spun around on the spot while holding the ratman and then tossed it over the grassland beyond.

Hey, that’s way too wild.

The ratman’s health bar seemed a bit depleted but it was still alive.

That treatment was harsh, so I checked if it had any injuries after properly scolding Tama.

The ratman didn’t have any wounds. AR display showed no skills and an age of 2 years. As expected of rats, they grow fast. It was clutching something like a muddy lump in its hand, but since I wasn’t interested, I left it alone. Probably its lunch.

It seemed to be just unconscious, so I laid it down on the grassland a bit away from our camp. As a peace offering, I put some fruit next to its head.

Meanwhile, Liza quickly skinned the rabbit Pochi caught and made skewers. She washed the offal and stir-fried it with some herbs she had randomly picked.