Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter 2.3

“Transfer complete.”

The day after Pippin gave us the Dragon Egg, I was visiting Paradise Island for the first time in ages. The rest of the group was with me, too, of course.

“Hmm? What happened over there?”

“The pier is broken, I report.”

“Maybe there was a storm or something?”

Arisa pointed out evidence of destruction at the harbor.

“Mr. Satou! Everyone!”

“Hey, Rei.”

Reiaane, a little girl who was actually the former queen of Lalakie, came running over happily from the field.

Behind her in the distance, waving wildly, was her younger sister Yuuneia, as well as a transport golem. Although Yuuneia looked older, Rei was really of a race called “half-ghosts” and could freely change her age from a small child to a beautiful young woman.

“Have you been doing well, larvae? I inquire.”

“Yes, of course.”

Rei looked flummoxed when Nana lifted her up.

“Please, come in. I’ll make us some tea. We have delicious dried fruit, too!”

We all filed into the house at Rei’s prompting.

“Here, we brought you some gifts.”

“An adorable plushie and an illumination magic tool?”

“Ooh! Sister, look, it transforms!”

I gave Rei and Yuuneia the souvenirs we bought them, including a transforming light from the Joppentelle workshop and a stuffed toy from the Kingdom of Dolls Lodolork.

“Hey, the harbor looked awfully messed up. Was there a storm?” Arisa asked.

“Ohh, that? Yes, I suppose you could say it was a storm.”

“A kraken did that. The storm swept it in near the island. Right, Sister?”

The elves of Bolenan Forest had put up a barrier spell called Wandering Ocean to protect Paradise Island. However, since it wasn’t a physical wall, evidently the kraken was still able to get in by mistake.

“Were the larvae injured? I inquire.”

“We’re fine, Miss Nana. Yuuneia and I evacuated to the main island of Lalakie.”

The mystical floating island of Lalakie was sunken beneath this island—or rather, this one was at the peak of a mountain on Lalakie itself.

“It’s a good thing your house wasn’t damaged.”

“Yes, I think the kraken must not have liked it here because there’s so little miasma. As soon as the storm ended, it left right away.”

That was a lucky break, at least.

“Master, we must reinforce protections of the larvae, I insist.”

“You might be right. Maybe we should upgrade some of the defense equipment here a little.”

“We’re fine, really. If anything happens, I shall protect my big sister!”

“Thank you, Yuuneia. You all don’t need to worry so much—we can always evacuate to Lalakie again.”

Despite what Rei and Yuuneia said, I couldn’t help but be concerned. So I installed a Fortress-producing device like the one on our airship to protect their home and fields, connecting it to the Holytree Stone Furnace that provided power for the house.

“All right, let’s test it out.”

Since it was backup equipment for the airship, the device activated without any issues.

“Wow, amazing!”

“Oui, oooui?”

“Master’s magic devices are the best in the world, sir!”

When Yuuneia jumped up and down excitedly, Tama and Pochi immediately joined in.

Seeing the egg belt shift with her motions, Pochi quickly stopped jumping and held it close.

“It reminds me of Lalakie’s Heavenslight Protection. It’s not quite the same, though, is it?”

Looking at the Fortress produced by the activation test, Rei noticed it was different from the protective barrier she knew.

“This is called a ‘Fortress.’ It’s not as powerful as the Heavenslight Protection, but of course it would be theoretically impossible to miniaturize such a thing.”

“Oh, I see.”

Rei tilted her head slightly, looking like she didn’t quite understand the details.

“This will protect you even if a kraken or a demon slips in.”

“Thank you, Mr. Satou.”

“We appreciate it, Master Satou.”

I taught the grateful Rei and Yuuneia how to use the Fortress and what to be mindful of.

Although it’s basically maintenance-free, Fortress does consume a ton of magic.

“Lunch is ready, everyone.”

When Lulu called for us, we returned to the house to eat nigiri sushi and clam soup with a clear broth.

“Your cooking is delicious as ever, Miss Lulu.”

“Your cooking is great, too, though, Sister.”

“Thank you, Yuuneia.”

The sisters were as close as ever.

“By the way, Mr. Satou, did you just come to visit today? Or was there some business that brought you here?”

Rei brought this up when we were drinking green tea after lunch.

Most of the time, I just visit by myself on my way to Bolenan Forest.

“Actually…”

I explained that I wanted to search underneath Paradise Island in Lalakie for materials about chimeras.

“You ought to go to the Lalakie Central Core, then. All of the knowledge of Lalakie is stored in there.”

I headed down to the Central Core with Rei, where I was able to acquire a possible treatment for the chimeras. The idea was to extract something called the “human factor,” cultivate it, and inject it into the subjects, which seemed rather unscientific. It would’ve made more sense to me if it said to grow clones of their bodies and transfer their minds somehow.

Still, it did include an experiment log complete with the specific magical theories and successful results, so I trusted that it was real.

Unfortunately, it would be impossible to implement with the equipment in Lalakie. However, I realized I could achieve it by modifying the elf-made regulation tanks that we used to adjust Nana and the other homunculi.

“Thank you, Rei. This is going to help a lot of people.”

Rei smiled happily. “Hee-hee, I’m glad I was able to be of use to you.”

While we were at it, I decided to ask Rei about how best to interact with goddesses, since she had experience with it as a descendant of the Lalakie dynasty.

“Dealing with goddesses? Central, do you have anything?”

“Queen Reiaane, I recommend equipping the Queen’s Attire to defend against psychic interference from gods and goddesses. There is also the simpler equipment that those in high positions in Lalakie wore, though it is not as effective as the Queen’s Attire.”

The Central Core referred to Karion’s divine commands as “psychic interference.”

I guess my instinct to have my friends wear anti–Psychic Magic equipment was right on the money, then.

“Does that answer your question, Mr. Satou?”

“Very much so, thank you.”

“What brought this on, anyway?”

I explained the visitation of Goddess Karion to the curious Rei.

“Why, that’s incredible! There are hardly any records of goddesses descending to the mortal realm even in the long history of the Lalakie era.”

When I asked if she wanted to meet Karion, Rei humbly declined that she wasn’t worthy.

“In that case, you’ll need accessories that defend against psychic interference, won’t you?”

With that, Rei offered me items called Lugo’s Bracelets with just that effect, enough for everyone in our party. She tried to give me the most effective one, too, the Queen’s Attire, which I politely declined.

“Thank you, Rei. Now we can interact with Karion without any fears.”

Then we returned to the surface.

There was still plenty of time, so we told Rei and Yuuneia about our travels in the western regions thus far, and cooked the western-region dishes that caught their interest for them to try.

“Hot…! Sister! Be careful, this one is quite spicy.”

“Thank you, Yuuneia. You should try this one, it’s very sweet.”

“The honeyed yam is sweet and yummy, too, sir.”

“Shrimp yummyyyy?”

“Really, every last one is delicious.”

“Larvae, I will remove the shrimp shells for you, I declare.”

Rei and Yuuneia seemed to be having a great time with the girls.

We should really visit them a little more often.

I reflected a little as we enjoyed the rest of the day at Paradise Island.