Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

This is Satou. I enjoy simulation games about naval battles, especially those like submarine games where enemy detection is the main focus. It’s fun to agonize over how to discover the enemy first without being detected yourself.

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“Satou, I’ve finished reviewing the magic you submitted earlier.”

“Hmm, good job.”

“Thank you. Was there any problem?”

“Perfect.”

“The auxiliary code for magic power control was completely cut, so even experienced magicians might struggle to control it, but I didn’t find any problematic code in terms of operation.”

That’s a relief.

I had already tested the operation late at night, but cross-checking is essential insurance against bugs before they occur.

“By the way, when did you develop such a powerful spell?”

“I was bored during the voyage.”

Just for fun, I tried creating the spell “Iron Demon Sailing Ship Creation ‹Create Frigate Golem›.” Since I used existing base code, it was relatively easy.

This is a spell to create a steel golem sailing ship, which also conjures living statues as dummy crew members.

The biggest challenge was making these living statues look human-like.

Note that the golem sailing ship only carries ten magic power cannons, so it’s relatively weak for a level 50 golem.

Of course, it can’t fly like an airship.

You can create up to twelve at once, so if I cast the spell several times, it should be helpful in this pirate suppression mission.

If I equipped it with high-power magic cannons, its combat power would skyrocket, but it would quickly suffer magic power depletion, so I didn’t include those this time.

I’ll modify it when I have free time.

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“—Admiral! The escort fleet is delayed.”

A crew member’s report to the admiral reached my ears.

“Tch, those money-grubbing bastards are stingy with the demon core consumption.”

The admiral clicked his tongue at the report from his subordinates.

He seems to ignore the fact that he’s overworking the wind magic users without letting them use demon cores.

This fleet consists of nine warships from Rumork City, twelve escort ships, and four reinforcements from other cities in the Galleon Alliance that had docked in Rumork City—25 ships in total.

Among the escort ships, seven are infiltrated by a pirate crew, and half of the allied reinforcements’ ships also harbor pirates.

If they rebel, it will likely be during the chaos of battle, so we’re just monitoring them moderately.

“Satou.”

Mia’s voice came through the spatial magic “tactical communication.”

“Pirates, sunset direction.”

“Thanks, Mia.”

It seems the airship patrolling above spotted the pirates.

Almost simultaneously, a flashlight installed on the bottom of the airship transmitted the same information via light signals.

Secretly, the light signals carry more data than Mia’s words.

“Intercept them?”

“No, I want to gauge the strength of the suppression team, so just observe as is.”

From what I saw on the map, no ships are currently under pirate attack, so it should be fine.

“Admiral! At two o’clock direction, ship silhouette! No national flag raised!”

About half an hour later, a report came from a bird-person soldier on patrol.

“All right! There might be ambushes, wind magic users.”

The wind magic users, who were using magic to speed up the ship, canceled the spell and began chanting exploration magic.

“Engine room! Increase power output of the magic power furnace.”

“Yes, sir.”

Strong vibrations and waves of magic power propagated from below decks.

“Admiral, shall we prepare the magic power cannons?”

“Hmm... Scout! How many ship silhouettes?”

“One, sir!”

“Then sink it quickly to boost fleet morale. Prepare the magic cannons.”

“Yes, sir.”

The gunports on the side opened, and waterproof covers on the magic cannons downstairs were removed.

“Admiral! At two o’clock, distance 2200, one ship silhouette.”

By the time the magic cannons were ready, the wind magic users had finished their investigation and reported the information.