Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter 1

Arcatia

Satou here. In olden times and modern times as well, it was often thought that if you left your hometown, you would fall victim to discrimination and bias. However, in every country I’ve been in, everyone was nice.

“I can see it now. That must be Arcatia.”

In the center of the tropical Jungle Labyrinth stood Arcatia. It wasn’t that big for a city. Compared to the city I first visited when I was summoned here, Seiryuu, this city was around one-fifth of its size.

“It looks like an egg,” Liza said, with an awestruck expression on her face. Her flexible tail was adorned with orange scales, proof that she was a lizardfolk herself. Just as Liza had described, the city indeed did look like an egg laid down on its side. There was a huge dome covering the city.

We weren’t able to use horse carriages today, so we were riding on the back of a golem I created.

“It’s similar to the eggs Pochi makes, sir.” The young girl, Pochi, with short brown hair in a bob and dog ears, spoke. Pochi, who was running side by side with Liza, took a White Dragon Egg out of her egg pouch, lifted it up, and compared it to the outer walls of the city.

“Is it broken over there?” Tama, a young girl with short white hair and cat ears, pointed out. Just as she had said, the top half of the outer wall ended abruptly, making it look like it was broken. I was certain it was there to allow light in.

“P-Pochi’s eggs would never, ever, ever, break, sir! That’s for certain, sir!” Pochi asserted, holding her egg tight. She might have been traumatized when she dropped her old wyvern egg while sightseeing in the western regions. Well, real dragon eggs were incredibly more durable than armor, so it would take a lot more to break it.

“Shrubs,” spoke Mia, a girl with light pale hair tied into twintails. She looked rather tired. Her hair shook as she tried to keep up with the pace of the golem, slightly hiding her distinct, pointy elf ears.

“Yes, Mia. There is a wall of shrubbery around the city, I declare.”

A gorgeous blond expressionless woman spoke—Nana.

“It looks like that wall of shrubbery is there to repel small-size and midsize monsters from the city,” spoke Arisa, who was wearing a blond wig to hide her purple hair, which she sorely detested. She wasn’t wearing the wig earlier, but it seemed she’d put it on as we approached the city, to avoid any trouble.

“The shrubbery is charmed. The Kuvork Kingdom also did that and adorned the entrance with it.”

Sharing that interesting piece of information was Arisa’s older sister, Lulu. She was an extreme beauty, a literal personification of the word siren. Her gorgeous black hair complemented her angel-like beauty like sunshine streaking through the trees in a forest.

On Earth, she would be an idol, renowned for being one of the most beautiful women in the world, yet in this world, the standard of beauty was already so high that she was often viewed as a simple, plain woman. I knew that beauty standards varied from place to place and what time we were in, but I found it odd that she wasn’t regarded as beautiful here.

“Master, is there something wrong?”

“No, not at all. I was just thinking you’re looking extra cute today.”

I teased Lulu a little, causing her to go bright red as she hid her face.

“Master, I—!”

“Compliment.”

“Can Tama have one, too?”

“Pochi wants to be complimented, too, sir!”

“Master, I request you call me ‘cute.’”

All the girls responded, aside from Liza. I was pretty sure I always complimented them, but I didn’t think they’d worry about me complimenting them too much, so I gave them all compliments—Liza included.

While we were busy with that, I had a quick look around and noticed that we were approaching the gate to Arcatia. The trees surrounding the city had been trimmed down, but what caught my eye was the distortion that was unique to the tropical Jungle Labyrinth. The distortion was caused by something different from the distortion effect in the Bolenan Forest boundaries and the Wandering Ocean. If you tried to walk forward, you would end up changing direction and would end up somewhere else entirely. The distortion barrier covered the whole area and even reached up into the sky. We would be able to stop it with Arisa’s Space Magic, but we learned rather quickly that doing that in itself was a bother, so we instead chose to traverse the Jungle Labyrinth. By the way, I should mention that this labyrinth was around the same size as Shiga Kingdom, which in itself had several jungle labyrinths within it. It was that big.

“…Oh.”

My map changed. It looked like it was now a map for Arcatia instead. I used “Search Entire Map” to get more information. This area was filled with beastfolk, with lizardfolk, with crocodilefolk, and with other reptilefolk making up most of the population. There were also fairyfolk such as leprechauns and spriggans. There were no elves or goblins, and only a few dwarves. Another weird point was that humanfolk only made up 1 percent of the population.

“The sage’s student isn’t here, right?” Arisa asked, making sure. She had gotten caught up in the plots of the great sage Sorijeyro of the Parion Province and caught up in the chaos caused by the riot of his student, Bazan, eventually having to put an end to the disruption caused by the Discordant Ones.

“Yeah, Serena said he wouldn’t be.”

According to Serena, the sage’s disciple, who was involved in resolving the latter issue alongside the former Phantom Thief Pippin from the Echigoya Trading Company, this place was not included in the labyrinth where the sage’s disciples had been dispatched. To be precise, this was the case since Serena, who was supposed to be dispatched, was currently running around handling the aftermath. No one was here.

“I hope it’s peaceful here, at least.” Lulu giggled.

“Can a labyrinth be peaceful, I inquire?”

“Hmm, courage.”

Nana and Mia laughed as they spoke.

“Om, um, I didn’t mean that…”

Lulu was cute even when she panicked. I lovingly looked over my group of friends as I did one final check of the map.

…Ugh.

I spotted several beastfolk who had been possessed by demons up ahead. Leaving them would be dangerous, so it was better we quickly dealt with them. Thankfully, there was no one with any Unique Skills or any demon lord worshippers among them.

“Rose arch.”

“Those small roses are cute, I declare.”

Mia and Nana had found an arch made from a rose bush. With us on the back of the golem, it seemed like we’d end up hitting our heads against it, so we got off the golem runosaur, and it returned to the soil. As we approached the rose arch, I saw that the words Thorn Barrier were displayed in the AR. According to the information under it, it was a barrier that warded off those with harmful motives and monsters, as well as notifying those inside it about their presence. We went under the three thorn arches and found ourselves at the front gates of Arcatia.

“Hayalt!”

A wolf man appeared above the gate, shouting something.

> Skill Acquired: “Arcatian Language”

“Shahlt!”

This time, a bear man appeared beside the wolf man.

> Skill Acquired: “Western Region Common Language”

“Master, they’re both shouting ‘halt.’” Arisa translated the beastfolks’ commands using a ring with translation powers she had received from an elfin village.

All right, it does sound like “halt.” As far as beastfolk languages go, this sounds similar to what the leopardfolk and the gray ratfolk speak. The pronunciation is rather difficult, so I’ll go ahead and power up my new skills with some skill points.

“Never seen you ’round here before. You new to Arcatia?”

“Yes. It’s my first time here.”

“Fancy armor. You rich? Dabble in rich person hobbies, ay? Even small brats don’t need armor.” The bear man scoffed.

“Plus, he’s a smooth-skin!” This time, the wolf man spat out an insult, looking down on me. It seemed “smooth-skin” was an insult unique to people who weren’t beastfolk. Arisa and Liza both wanted to react, but I gestured to them to keep quiet for now.

“Show us yer adventurin’ ID, smooth-skin.”

“I’ve yet to register for one. Would ID from the Shiga Kingdom be enough?”

“…Yeah. Makes no difference.”

They didn’t seem impressed that I didn’t react to their insult. Those who traversed Arcatia, or rather, the Jungle Labyrinth, were not known as explorers but were instead referred to as adventurers. I learned that there were once people who went on adventures to unknown labyrinths, which earned them the title of explorer. I had once read about it in a book I got in Garlelork City.

“Tch, not only is he a smooth-skin, but he’s also a noble, too.”

“You can go through. Don’t go causin’ problems in Arcatia. Folks here won’t care if you’re a noble, so keep that in mind.”

“If you do end up bringing attention to yourself, the Great Sorceress will impale you on the spot with her magic.”

After showing the guards my identification, they eventually let us through, albeit reluctantly. It seemed that not only were humans disliked, but nobles were, too.

“I declare there is an apple core in the center.”

“Leftovers?”

“Pochi would eat up all of her apples, sir!”

Nana and the others were referring to a large, spiraling tower in the center of Arcatia. The top of the tower was almost as tall as the egg-shaped dome around the city. According to the AR display, it was the Great Sorceress’s tower, and it seemed the city had gotten its name from the Great Sorceress who controlled the city.

“By the way, Master, did you notice?”

“Everyone looking at us?” I asked in response. Arisa nodded.

Ever since we came through the gate, we’d endured hateful looks from all the beastfolk passing us by.

“Hey, let’s all put our hoods on.”

The hoods allowed for breathing, but just in case, I used my spell Air-Conditioning to make sure they wouldn’t make us too warm.

“Are we going straight into adventuring?”

“Let’s find somewhere to stay, first. Then we’ll do some sightseeing and check out the Adventurers Guild.”

Arisa’s eyes sparkled as she asked me, but we had to see to urgent matters first.

“If we let smooth-skins stay here, it will be bad for business. Please do what the other smooth-skins do and find somewhere to stay in the outskirts, in a cheap lodging house or other.”

As we traveled through the center of the city, we found a high-quality inn close to the tower, so we tried to get a room there. However, we were abruptly turned down. It reminded me of when I used to travel cheaply as a student, and I was often discriminated against for being East Asian and was refused rooms.

“Master, there are other inns,” Liza spoke, trying to cheer me up. I didn’t plan on being down, but I was reminded of past experiences and felt as if I was acting a little naive again. I wondered if this was how Liza and the others felt in Seiryuu, within the Shiga Kingdom, when something similar happened to them.

“You’re right, Liza.”

However, in cheaper accommodations, sleeping together was the standard. So, considering who I was staying with, I didn’t want to stay somewhere like that. My only other options were to buy some land and build my accommodations or set up camp somewhere within the labyrinth.

“Change of plan. Let’s register at the Adventurers Guild first.”

“All right!”

Arisa agreed at once, with the other girls joining in after. I looked at the map, and from what I could gather, there were three Adventurers Guilds near the outside gates, so I made the decision to head to the biggest—and main—guild. To avoid any trouble on the way, I made sure to cast magical Glamours on us, to make us appear as beastfolk.

“Master, I have located a skeleton, I report.”

I followed Nana’s gaze. I could see down an alleyway to a construction site where there was a group of skeletons.

“There’s something weird about bone people. They have no flesh, sir!”

“Want Tama to take them out?”

“It’s fine, sir. I’ll fight, too, sir. Pochi has no likes or dislikes. She’s a good girl, sir!”

“Hold on, you two. Those around us don’t seem to be afraid of the skeletons.”

Just like Liza described, the skeletons were working at the construction site.

“Let’s get a little closer.”

I was curious, so I got closer to the construction site. It seemed the skeletons had been tasked with mostly manual labor and the dirtier work.

“That man over there looks like the boss of the construction site. He looks like he’s a necromancer. He must be controlling them,” Arisa said, looking around the construction site.

“What an interesting sight. Both the beastfolk and the skeletons are working together.”

“Harmony.”

Lulu and Mia mumbled to themselves, seemingly impressed. Tama and Pochi were beside them, nodding along as if they understood.

“Outsiders?”

Someone passing by called out to us. Possibly due to the beastfolk Glamours we were wearing.

“Yes. We just arrived today.”

“I see. While it might be surprising, sights like that are the norm here in Arcatia.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep. The Great Sorceress formed a contract with an ancient necromancer. In return for her giving them somewhere safe to live, they help out here in the city.”

The passerby continued to tell us that was why the skeletons didn’t attack the residents.

“…You fool!”

The sudden angry voice startled both Tama and Pochi. Their ears and tails went straight with surprise, and they waved their hands about.

“Shashi! Don’t go so hard on them! Have some sympathy!

“B-but, sir. They’re incapable of feeling pain!”

“Silence! You’ve no respect for the dead! I’m borrowing the bones of some very important ancestors!”

“Aren’t you paying them for it anyway?”

“You have to understand it’s not something that can be solved with money! How would you feel if your mother died and her remains were treated like junk? How about the other people who would have to see that? You wouldn’t even consider leaving her remains with people like that!”

The skeletons weren’t the remains of monsters but were instead donations by the residents of the city. The necromancer was different from the one in Shiga Kingdom; he had assimilated into the people’s daily lives here.

“Hnng! Hnghng!” Tama was pulling on my sleeves. I looked over at her, noticing an elderly frogfolk, dressed like a necromancer, talking with a ratfolk adventurer who was dressed in battered adventurer’s garb.

Uh-oh.

It was the adventurer who had been possessed by the demons I saw earlier. I was so busy with the necromancer and skeletons that I failed to notice the light on my radar.

“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to Tama before heading over to the demons. However, before I could intervene, someone cut in front of me and cut both the demon and the adventurer into two clean halves.

Onlookers erupted into screams as they all looked toward the brutal murderer—a young woman with gray hair. However, the young man paid no mind to the onlookers’ gazes and screams, brushing them off like a light wind blowing over a field. The AR display gave me more information about who he was.

…For real?

I couldn’t hide my surprise at how unexpected it was. He was from a race that was often depicted in fantasy works as beings who could rival dragons themselves.

“Fen!”

A red-haired sorceress in her mid-twenties flew over my head and appeared in front of us. She was wearing a large hat and was pretty plain-looking. As her skirt flapped in the wind, I caught a look at her long, healthy legs, causing me to lose track of any thoughts I had.

“Tia, it’s you.”

“Don’t ‘Tia, it’s you’ me! Look at you, covered in blood! Everyone! Just because this man took care of some wanted people doesn’t mean he’s the bad guy here! So please, don’t worry!”

The sorceress named Tia used Wind Magic to elevate her voice as she spoke to the concerned onlookers.

“Oh, he’s a friend of Tia’s. That’s a surprise.”

“Ah, that’s fine, then. If Tia says it’s all right, then we have nothing to worry about.”

The onlookers all dispersed in different directions, muttering to themselves as they left. Although she wasn’t as impressive as Fen, this sorceress called Tia was quite the looker.

“Such violence!”

“This is bad, let’s scram!”

The two halves of the adventurer’s body—which Fen had sliced in two—began to melt into liquid.

“Ugh! Fen, there’s still some left!”

Tia shot off a quick Earth spell—Toss Beryl—and defeated the wood creature. Although the creature was a low-level creature around level 30, she had dealt with it fairly well. Some magic users that appeared after Tia were working with the necromancers and the skeletons, helping them clear away the remains.

They’re gone.

The murdered adventurer and the necromancers with him had disappeared. I tried looking for them on the map, but necromancers were common in this town, so it was difficult to pinpoint them.

“Master, is something wrong?”

“Someone possessed by a demon just got defeated by this wolflike man and a sorceress.”

Arisa and the others had caught up to me, so I explained what had just transpired.

“A wolf man? Where?”

I looked around, but both Fen and Tia were gone, too. I checked the map again, and it looked like they had set off to follow more possessed people. I saw their markers on the map gradually disappear. Although their methods were rather rambunctious, it seemed that there were two skilled people working together within the fortress, busying themselves with important tasks. I was rather intrigued by them, so I hoped I could bump into them again and share stories over a drink or two.

“Entry prohibited… Aw, that’s unfortunate.” Arisa let out a sigh as she looked up toward the inwardly curved outer wall. Due to Fen taking out the demons and then heading off around the village, or due to the possessed demons even appearing in the first place, the direct route to the Adventurers Guild was closed off. We ended up having to walk around the whole outer wall to get there.

“Mew?”

“Our Glamours don’t work anymore, sir.” As we went through the rose arch, our beastfolk Disorienting Glamour wore off. It seemed the Great Sorceress had set up some sort of magic apparatus to remove any unwanted folk.

“Should we put it on again?”

“Nah, it’ll no doubt just get removed again, so I’ll just leave them off for now.”

If our Glamours were taken off repeatedly, it would probably alert the Great Sorceress. We continued walking, with only our hoods to disguise our appearances.

“Mew…”

There were rows of run-down houses and dilapidated stores along the sides of the walls, as well as ragged-looking people and adventurers who seemed to be recovering while engaging in prostitution from the afternoon onward. The city readily accepted anyone, so there were a lot of refugees from nearby nations who had wound up here.

“It doesn’t look very safe around here. Pochi, Tama, pay close attention to your surroundings.”

“Aye-aye, cap’n!”

“Roger, sir!”

The young beastfolk girls fired themselves up, keeping a close eye on the suspicious figures around us. Since the outer walls were a little dangerous, I decided to change our course to the inner roads. It’d take us a little longer to get there, as it was rather out of the way of our destination, but I figured taking the safer, more cultured road was better for the little ones’ education.

“’Scuse me! I’m off to seize my future!” A centaur ran out of a store near the outer wall. Fortunately, they were a few yards ahead of us, so we narrowly avoided bumping into them.

“Seikooooo! Wait up!”

A blond-haired young girl chased after the centaur, yelling.

“At least wait until the delivery is finished—”

“Forgive me, boss!”

However, the centaur shook off the hands of her pleading younger boss and ran off at the speed of a well-bred horse. The young store owner fell to her knees, dejected.

“Roro, you okay?”

“Roro, cheer up.”

“Roro, are you hurt?”

The small hamster-like folk, who were around knee-height, all tumbled over themselves as they ran over to the young shopkeeper.

“Hello, larvae.” Nana unsteadily walked over to the young hamsterfolk.

“Wait.”

“No, Mia. She needs to be looked after, I declare.”

Mia reached out to hold on to Nana’s clothing, but Mia ended up being pulled along with her. It seemed the hamsterfolk were just that charming to Nana.

“Roro, something is coming.”

“Roro, protect us.”

“Roro, help.”

“What’s wrong?”

The hamsterfolk were very wary of Nana, who was breathing heavily as she approached them. The shopkeeper, whom they referred to as Roro, turned around.

Oh.

Seeing the young shopkeeper’s eyes filled with tears, I suddenly felt an urge to protect her. There it was—the beauty that could topple nations.

“Wow.”

“Amazed.”

Arisa and Mia both exclaimed in shock.

“Roro, are you also over there?”

“Roro, are there two of you?”

“Roro, why are there two of you?”

“Two of me? Huh, who are you?”

Both the hamsterfolk and Roro were looking at the black-haired beauty Lulu—her looks were as beautiful as the stars in the sky.

“I-I’m Lulu. It’s nice to meet you!”

“N-nice to meet you… I’m Roro, the owner of Hero’s Rest.”

Both Lulu and Roro eyed each other suspiciously as they introduced themselves.

“What a surprise, Master,” Arisa spoke.

“Yeah, one hell of a surprise…,” I responded.

I looked over at Lulu and Roro with Arisa.

“…I never thought there’d be a girl with the same face as Lulu’s.”

They were so remarkably similar. If we took away Roro’s blond hair, they were the same girl.

“Nice to meet you, Roro. I’m Satou, one of Lulu’s companions. It seems you are in a bit of trouble. Is there any way that we may be able to assist?”

There was no way I could overlook a girl with the same face as Lulu’s when she was in trouble.

“N-no, I’m sorry to have caused you all so much trouble even though we have only just met,” Roro responded.

“I don’t mean to interfere, but did your craftsperson run off before finishing their job? You know, Master here is very skilled! Do you need an alchemist or a magic tool engineer?”

“Y-you can use alchemy?”

Roro was a little reserved at first, but after hearing what Arisa had to say, she changed her attitude.

“Yeah, I guess I’m as skilled as your average person.”

Arisa wore an indescribable expression as she leaned over to Mia and whispered, “Your average person can’t craft metals of legend…”

“Oh, then I would appreciate the help! The deadline for it is close! I have all the materials ready. I can’t pay you much, but if there is anything I can do, let me know!” Roro clung to my arm as she pleaded.

“Girls shouldn’t say they’ll ‘do anything.’” Both Arisa and Mia had gotten a little jealous.

“…O-okay.” Roro turned bright red as she ushered us into Hero’s Rest. The order was for two hundred Candles of Illumination and fifty lesser stamina potions. I didn’t know the recipe for the former item, but the centaur who worked on it previously had left notes, so I had no problem crafting them. As for the latter, it was a magic potion made from materials I had never seen before, but similar to the candles, notes had been left for them, too.

“Was it an urgent request?” I asked Roro.

“Yes. They requested it around a week ago,” Roro replied.

On a narrow table near the kitchen, there was no evidence of anything being crafted.

“The customer was new, so I asked Seiko to prioritize it over all else, but…”

A vague, unpleasant thought crossed my mind, but I would only appear needlessly suspicious, so I brushed the thought to the side.

“That’s fine, it won’t take me a week to do. Mia, Arisa, could you give me a hand?”

“Yep, of course!”

“Okey-dokey!”

“Can Tama help, too?”

“Pochi can help, sir! With all my power! Hi-ya!”

When I asked Mia and Arisa for help, the other girls all offered to help, too.

“Master, please let me help, too.”

“I’ll help out, too!”

“Thanks, everyone! Let’s all do our best!”

Even Lulu and Roro joined in, declaring they’d help in unison, just like sisters.

“Roro, help us.”

“Roro, we can’t escape.”

“Roro, so soft.”

“Larvae, don’t get too excited, I declare.” I looked in the direction of the panicked hamster girls’ voices and saw all three of them being hugged by a very content Nana.

Nana was always doing what she wanted.

“All right, let’s get to work.”

And that was how we solved Roro’s predicament and also ended up staying at Hero’s Rest.