Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter 2.1

Woodland Labyrinth

Satou here. When I was in university, I worked a part-time job in forest maintenance, but I didn’t find walking through forests or climbing mountains all that difficult. It was pretty different from the mountain paths that had already been maintained.

“Hee-hee, hee-hee-hee.”

Arisa was skipping along with a smile on her face. It was a few days after we had completed the order at Hero’s Rest, and we were having fun traversing through the Woodland Labyrinth together as a group.

“High spirits.”

“Yes, Mia. Arisa is happy that she gets to start as a ‘silver tiger’ adventurer, I assume.”

Both Mia and Nana, who were having a conversation, had silver adventurer medals engraved with a tiger’s face hanging on their chests. Adventurer ranks started from field mouse rank, and then it was starving wolf, silver tiger, and golden lion, in order of lowest to highest. As I had the adventurer rank “mithril” from Labyrinth City Celivera, I started at the second-highest rank, silver tiger.

It was not only that. Our visit to the guild was like something from a story! We had people crowd around us as if to say, “This ain’t a place for kids.” Then when we showed them our mithril adventurer rank from Celivera, they invited us into a different room, and once the guild lead took a look at us, he was all, “Now that’s an adventurer!” Arisa spun around, a delighted expression on her face. Half of what she described also happened to us in the Labyrinth City Celivera, but it seemed no matter how many times it happened, Arisa enjoyed it all the same.

“It’s a lot bumpier here than I thought it’d be, being a jungle and all…”

“You’re right. When I think of the Amazon Rainforest, I imagine it being wide, flat plains, but here there are hills every few yards, which makes it difficult to walk.”

The ground in Celivera Labyrinth was also uneven. However, here in the Jungle Labyrinth, tree roots were protruding from the ground, ivy was hanging everywhere, and the weeds made it difficult to see where we were putting our feet.

“Mew! Third from the right, meat. One from the left, grass. Fifth in the center, bugs. Are the bugs fighting?” Tama was walking ahead of us, keeping a close eye on her surroundings, while also warning us about the presence of monsters ahead. Tama’s “meat” referred to mammals or reptiles, while “bug” simply stood for insect-type monsters. “Grass” referred to plantlike monsters. She wasn’t naming the different types of monsters like it was a video game. She was instead warning us of the dangers in each direction, letting us know which monsters we would encounter.

“I guess we will go right next.”

“Yes, sir. No matter how many meats there are, it’ll be a piece of cake, sir.”

Liza and Pochi nodded at each other.

“May we?”

“I’ll leave it to you two.”

While we were currently in the deeper part of the Jungle Labyrinth, the concentration of miasma in Arcatia wasn’t very high, meaning the monsters that patrolled around these parts weren’t that strong.

Liza and Pochi walked ahead by one hundred feet before suddenly disappearing. That was the effect of the space distortion in the Jungle Labyrinth. I could see where both of them were with radar and a map, and I remembered the way they went, so it was fine.

Even then, there was some stability to the distortion here, meaning if we went in the same direction, we would eventually meet up with them. If it ever came to that, I could have used Unit Deployment, even if there were risks when using it.

“I’ll deal with grass.”

“I want Mia to protect us, I declare.”

Swish.

There was not only Mia and Nana but also Mia’s pseudo–wind spirit, Sylph, who was full of energy and raring to go.

“In that case, Lulu and I will head to the center and check out the battle there. If it looks bad, we’ll intervene. Is that all right?”

“Sure. I trust you, Arisa.”

My companions all went their separate ways. I waited for a while with Tama, when Liza and Pochi, wearing very smug expressions, returned with the remains of a wild boar on their shoulders.

“We caught our prey, sir!”

Shortly after, Nana and Mia returned, dragging along with them the remains of a monster that resembled a stalk of broccoli.

I guess we’re having stewed broccoli and wild boar ribs for lunch.

I put the monster’s remains inside a bag made for carrying the spoils from our hunts called a “Magic Bag,” then all of us headed in the direction that Nana and Lulu had gone before disappearing. Once we made it out of the distorted area, we found ourselves standing in an open space.

“They got Daz! At this rate, it’s all over for us! Throw a spell over here!”

“We’ve almost got them! Hold on a little longer!”

I could hear angry voices coming from some men. I wouldn’t have been able to hear it through the distortion earlier. I saw Arisa and Lulu, so I headed over to them. In the open area, which was a sunken basin, there were three large ants—around the size of a small truck—battling with around thirty adventurers.

“They’re not bad.”

“Acrobatiiiiic?”

“They’re going pow, bang, wallop, sir!”

The two young beastfolk girls were watching the beastfolk adventurers fight for their lives against the ants. Although the giant ants’ attacks were slow, they appeared to be rather strong and tough. As for the adventurers, five of them were separated from the main group applying Heals, and two were mages casting Wind and Ice Magic, supporting the warriors of their group. From what I could see, aside from their rear guard and porters, everyone was wounded.

“It looks like they’re struggling,” I noted.

“The ants have been showering them with their acid breath,” Arisa explained.

“I offered to help, but they turned me down,” Lulu added, explaining why she had yet to intervene.

“Daaanger? Daaanger?”

“Reinforcements have arrived, sir!”

Three centipede-like monsters appeared out of the jungle on the opposite side of the basin. There were often random encounters in labyrinths with space distortion, so it was always paramount to stay alert.

“Mew.”

“They’re creepy.”

“Bugs aren’t delicious, so Pochi doesn’t like them, sir.”

“You can do a lot with the carapace of a centipede,” I spoke as I patted Pochi on the ear.

“Oui, oooui. Fried frog meat is deeelicious.”

“Yes, it is. It reminds me of the labyrinth in Seiryuu.”

That reminded me, our frying pan had a hole in it, so instead of centipede carapace—which was fairly resistant to heat—we ended up frying frog meat instead.

“Master, some of the adventurers have run off. Their front line has collapsed, I declare.”

“Ah, this is bad.”

Two to three of the beastfolk had made a run for it. The monsters then used the opportunity to break through their rank, creating a hairy situation for the remaining beastfolk.

“Lulu, Arisa—take out the centipedes over there. Mia, divide Sylph up and hold back the ants. No need to attack them.”

The three of them nodded in response to my orders and set to work.

“We’re the silver tiger-ranked band of adventurers, Pendragon! We’ll now begin our rescue mission! If anyone has any complaints, leave it for later!”

I felt like if we offered them help, they would be too prideful to accept, so I went for a bit more of a forceful approach.

“Liza and the others, take out the ants one by one.”

Confirming that their vanguard had started to run, I fired off three Remote Arrows in the direction of the remaining ant and killed it.

“Mia, come with me. We need to heal their injuries.”

“All right, leave it to me.”

I held on to Mia, and we flew down toward the basin. By the time we had reached the area where the adventurers’ most heavily injured members were, thanks to the work of my group, the monsters had all been defeated. The adventurers who had just recently been frantically running around trying to escape all stood stock-still, unsure what to do or what to even say.

“Let’s help them heal their wounded.”

“Ah, thank—”

“Hold on just a minute!” A large man intercepted the gorilla man who was just about to thank us. He was a lionfolk and looked to be around middle-aged.

“Didja forget that I said we don’t need any help?! Very bold of a smooth-skin! Don’t expect anythin’ in return for helpin’ us! I’d rather you pay us for the damn trouble!”

The lionfolk showered us with angry remarks. Well, although they were in a pretty tough situation, we did kind of barge in, and I did also say if they had any complaints to leave them for later. But I didn’t expect this much aggro in return. I felt a little embarrassed.

“You got that, smooth-skins?! Now get out of here—”

“Hey, dumbass!”

Just as the lionfolk was about to go further in his tirade of rage, the gorillafolk from before clomped him on the head with his giant fist. It echoed a huge thunk! noise as the lionfolk man collapsed to the ground. Beastfolk were rather sturdy, so even if they did faint after a hit, it was very rare that it’d do any damage to them.

“The hell you think you doin’?! You big hairy gorilla!”

“Shaddup! You’re a damn fool! A failure of a leader! You can’t even see how strong these people are, yet you’re just runnin’ ya mouth!”

The gorillafolk and the lionfolk man began to exchange blows with each other. They were both going at it, so there was blood flying around everywhere. It was pretty violent. The gorilla seemed to be winning, and with one final punch, he knocked out the lionfolk man and left him sprawled out on the ground.

“Hey, sorry about that, fella. This guy hates smooth-ski—humanfolk. I’ve beat the livin’ daylights out of him as an apology for his rude remarks.”

Well, you didn’t have to go that far.

“Damn, Daz isn’t breathing.”

“It’s no good. My magic isn’t working! We need magic medicine! Is there anyone with at least intermediate magic medicine?” Opposite the two sparring beastfolk was a micefolk woman who was using Water Magic, trying to heal the wounded. She was shouting for help.

“I can heal.”

“Really? Then please help us! I can pay you—!”

“Later. Mia, if you would.”

“Hmm. Aqua Heal.”

I cut off the gorillafolk man who was trying to negotiate pay and signaled to Mia to use her healing spell. Once she finished her incantation, she then aimed her water spell at Daz and the other injured adventurers.

“Yes! That’s it! Daz is breathing again! Daz, can you hear me? You’re back!”

“Amazing… That magic is leagues above my own…”

“Nailed it.”

I turned around and saw Mia shooting me a peace sign with an accomplished look on her face. I responded with a smile and a thumbs-up.

“Once again, I owe you my thanks. I’m Gogh, a silver tiger–ranked adventurer.” The gorillafolk man introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Satou from the silver tiger–ranked adventuring party Pendragon.” We shook hands as we introduced ourselves.

“Now, as thanks for your aid… If possible, I’d like to offer you fifteen pieces. If you would be so kind to accept…” The gorilla man wore a complicated expression as he spoke.

“Fifteen pieces?”

“I am very aware that it is a low price, but we are mostly made up of starving wolf ranks, and we have a lot of field mouse–ranked porters with us, too. If you wish for more, we will need around a month to gather it—”

It seemed he was trying to negotiate the reward money with me. Roro had told us earlier, but here in Arcatia, when it came to shopping, they only used copper coins. When it came to larger sums of money, they would often do business with gemstones or copper with a hole in the middle, connected into bundles by a piece of thread.

In this case, the gorilla man meant fifteen pieces of copper coin bundles.

“Oh, I’m not unhappy with the offer, or anything. I wasn’t looking for compensation anyway, so I am just a little confused by what you mean.”

“But I can’t just not pay you—”

“In that case, if we ever cross paths in Arcatia, just treat us to something, then.”

“Got it. I’ll treat you to anything you want! Even woodland boar or slices of a seven-faced snake!”

Tama and Pochi both got excited at the gorilla man’s promises, both saying “Meat!” in unison.

“Gogh! Ms. Mia’s magic is amazing!”

The Water Magic user tugged on Gogh’s arm as she excitedly rattled on. It seemed that once Mia had finished healing the most gravely wounded adventurers, she had gone around to the others and healed all of their injuries.

“I expect nothing less from the honorable elves. I knew that the fairy mages back in my hometown all worshipped them.”

“Elves?”

“Put some respect in their name! The honorable elves! Even the prideful chief of my town, as well as the priest, all bowed their heads toward the elves!”

“Okay, geez.”

The gorilla man flinched in response to the Water Magic user’s sharp glare.

So even in the giants’ villages, the elves are treated specially. Hmm.

“Not to mention, isn’t this a first? I don’t think an elf from the Bolenan Forest has come to Arcatia before, right?”

“Wrong.”

“Really? Have I just not met one befo—?”

“Wrong. Polanian.”

I explained to the very confused gorilla man that Mia wasn’t Bulainan; she was Polanian. I could tell that was what Mia wanted to tell him.

“Gogh! We’ve got a situation. Our goods were destroyed, and we’ve hardly any Candles of Direction left. I sent them to get what we had, and we only have two left.”

A young raccoon man looked very panicked as he reported the news to the gorilla man.

“Only two left… We’ll barely make it back to Arcatia with this amount of people…”

That reminds me, didn’t we have around ten back in Storage that we got at Hero’s Rest?

According to Roro, it was an essential item for adventurers traversing the Jungle Labyrinth and who didn’t want to get lost. In my case, I used a map and radar to see where we were, and I knew how the space distortion worked, so I did not need to use the candles.

“Please, take these.”

“Are you sure? This will be a great help, but don’t you all plan on heading farther into the labyrinth?”

“It’s fine. We don’t need that many, so it won’t cause us any problems.”

I gave the very thankful gorilla man five candles, and we said our good-byes to the adventurers.

“So not all beastfolk around here dislike humanfolk.”

“Yes, Arisa. Working together is the best way to survive, I declare.”

“Hmm. Agree.”

Either way, I felt like they respected how powerful we were, but I knew better not to say that out loud. No matter the reason, there being more neutral, good-spirited people was a good thing.

“Master, the Candles of Direction those people were talking about before, were those the ones we made at Ms. Roro’s store?”

“Sure are. If you’re interested in them, why not try using one?”

Back when we used them at Hero’s Rest, they were no different from usual candles—except these produced a green flame.

“Interested.”

“Pochi is also interested, sir! Curiosity never killed the dog, sir!”

“So does that mean it kills cats?”

“N-no, sir! It doesn’t kill cats, sir! It kills pheasants and foxes, sir! They end up as ingredients in a pan, sir!”

While laughing at Pochi mixing up various sayings and stories together as she spoke, I then lit the Candle of Direction that I had set in a stand.

“It’s no different from a normal candle.”

“Not at all! I can feel a wave of magic energy.”

“Hmm, refreshing.”

Now that they mentioned it, I could feel it, too.

“Pass it over here.”

I passed it over to Arisa, who had her hand out, and she then moved it over in the direction of the boundary of the space distortion.

“Look.”

…Whoa.

The green light from the flame lit up the boundary of the space distortion. When the flame got closer to it, you could see right through the distorted space and see the other side.

“That’s amazingly amazing, sir!”

“Magnifiqueeee!”

“I see, that’s why it’s so indispensable for adventurers.”

The beastfolk girls all nodded in agreement.

“Maybe our scout Tama should have it?”

“No worriiiies. I can sense people even withooout it.”

Tama shook her head at Arisa’s suggestion—the ever-talented ninja Tama.

“No can do. Not being prepared is the greatest enemy. What will you do if an elite monster can avoid even your senses and avoid you completely?”

“Mew…”

Tama’s ears drooped down as Liza told her off.

“I’ll make you a candle that’s like a mobile, so make sure to use that.”

“Okee.”

The candle, which had Tama and Pochi standing on either side of it, surrounding its glass case, soon became Tama’s most prized possession. It made Pochi and the other girls jealous, so we made different versions for them.

“Meat?”

“It’s a cow, sir!”

“It’s holding an ax. It’s no ordinary cow.”

The beastfolk girls were looking at a cowlike monster. At his feet were three corpses of adventurers, covered in blood. The cowlike monster swung its ax and roared.

“Looks like it’s over for those adventures.”

“Death confirmed.”

We had helped similar adventurer parties many times before since we started offering assistance; however, it seemed we hadn’t made it in time for this particular party.