Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Please see the afterword for revision details.

9/15 Typo corrections have been made.

This is Satou. I used to think the three prohibitions were "Do not kill," "Do not steal," and "Do not commit adultery," but it turns out the second one isn’t "Do not steal"—it’s "Do not burn."

But whether you narrow it down to three or not, some things are just wrong regardless.

◇

“Good morning, Master.”

“Good morning.”

As soon as the morning sun began to rise, Liza and Lulu’s morning greetings overlapped.

I put Tama down from my lap and took her over to the spear to apologize to Liza.

“W-What is this?!”

Even Liza was speechless.

It looked like someone had scribbled on an important spear. Before I could say, “Its performance has actually improved,” I had to apologize first.

Summoning my courage, I took a step toward Liza—but she wasn’t looking at me.

She was gripping the spear and repeatedly thrusting it to check its condition. The red glow that appeared when striking hard was stronger than before.

“Master!”

Having finished swinging the spear, Liza approached me. Before making excuses, I decided I’d listen to her complaints first. Her tone was a little higher than usual—I hoped she wasn’t angry.

“So this is my reward, is it?”

I wasn’t quite sure of the flow of the conversation, so I asked.

“Arisa told Lulu, ‘If you properly serve Master, someday you’ll get a reward.’”

The meanings of “serve” and “reward” here were probably different. Arisa, don’t teach Lulu strange things.

For now, since she seemed pleased, I decided to go along with it.

“You always do your best, Liza. How does the spear feel?”

“Yes, the weight is the same as usual, but it feels as if the spear’s tip has become part of my arm.”

Liza nuzzled the spear happily, so I hesitated to interrupt. After breakfast, while preparing to depart, I apologized for modifying the spear without permission. Liza said, "Both I and the spear belong to Master," but I made a mental note not to take that for granted.

◇

Since Liza went to help Lulu with the meal after being called, I took a towel and went to the river near the campsite. Since we were near the water, I wanted to take a bath. The water temperature was below 10 degrees Celsius, which would usually cause a cold, but thanks to my ice resistance, it didn’t feel that cold.

More than that, I was bothered by Lulu’s gaze through the bushes. Even while cooking, she kept glancing over at me. Tall grass and shrubs should have blocked her line of sight…

But at this age, it’s natural to be curious about the opposite sex.

I quickly soaped up and washed my body, not wanting Arisa to wake up and complicate things.

Before putting on clothes, I spotted a school of fish and threw a wooden skewer, catching about ten, which I stored away.

Grilled fish is a staple for breakfast, but since Liza and Lulu were already cooking, it would have been rude to interrupt.

I roughly dried off and changed clothes.

My hair was still wet, but it would dry faster by the fire.

“Good morning, Master.”

“Good morning, Nana. Try pausing just a little after saying good morning.”

“Good morning, Master.”

“Yeah, that’s better.”

I praised her while patting Nana’s head.

Hmm. Since she looks like an adult woman, patting her head felt a bit awkward.

“Morning.”

“Mornin’?”

“It’s ‘Good morning!’”

“Good mooorning!!”

It seemed the others had woken up too. I returned their greetings.

Still, what’s up with Arisa?

“Why?”

What did she want to say?

Arisa pointed at my wet hair.

“If you’re going to bathe, just say so!”

“No way. You’d peek if I said something.”

“Of course! As a slave, it’s my duty to wash my Master’s back!”

“What’s the real reason?”

“Seeing a boy bathing in the great outdoors is a scene too good to miss!”

When she said it so frankly, I didn’t feel like punishing her anymore.

Usually, either before bed or after breakfast, we split up and wipe our bodies with wet towels; but Arisa sometimes sneaked peeks, avoiding Liza’s eyes. I didn’t get too angry about being spied on, but worried about the bad influence on the others, so I punished her whenever I caught her.