Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 8

Floating Island Lalakie 

Rei here. During the good times, it might be hard to realize what an important treasure time can be. The memories of those happy days still warm my heart. 

When I was young, I thought Lalakie was the happiest place in the world. 

I was showered with love from my kind father, my admirable mother, and my gentle aunt, who looked exactly like her, and my every need was served by the homunculus servants and the magic machines. In those days, I wanted for nothing. 

The town looked so peaceful when I watched from the Queen’s Tower, and on the day of the yearly parade, everyone was all smiles from morning till night. 

Art and music constantly filled my days with all the color I could dream of. 

It was hard to say when a shadow began to fall over those peaceful times. 

“…This kingdom is corrupt. Your extravagant feasts and luxurious clothes are paid for by the misery and exploitation of the humans who live on the ground.” 

The person who told me this was a violet-haired boy who I found collapsed in the Lalakie natural park. 

He wore a tattered flight uniform over his stick-thin frame, but an intense fire still burned in his eyes. 

The boy was gravely wounded, but I sheltered him and tended to his injuries, wanting to hear more about the world outside Lalakie of which he spoke. 

“Kurou, do you want to destroy Lalakie?” 

“No. I only want to free humanity from the tyranny of the gods.” 

“Tyranny? No, it’s divine protection. Isn’t it?” 

“It’s tyranny, Reiaane. We’re just sheep on a farm owned by the gods, nothing more. And you Lalakie people are the shepherds—no, maybe you’re specially bred sheep made to taste better—” 

Unable to bear Kurou’s contempt for the gods, I slapped him in the face. 

But he simply smiled at me with a soft expression in his eyes, like he was looking at a naive child, and murmured as if to himself: 

“Reiaane, I want to give everyone…a world where they can live their own lives freely.” 

That was the last time I ever got to speak with him. 

The next day, the shack where I’d been hiding him was destroyed; all that remained was its foundations and the broken fragments of magic machines and battle golems. 

I think it was the following year that it happened… 

The year when the Dogheaded Demon Lord raised an army against Lalakie in the far reaches of the continent and began Lalakie’s final battle. 

In the midst of the chaos, the kingdoms of the ground became estranged from Lalakie at the demon lord’s bidding as well, and the smiles of the Lalakie people faded as they found themselves at the center of the war. 

But the long days of battle eventually reached an end. 

Thanks to the grace of the gods, the Dogheaded Demon Lord and most of his kin were sealed away. My mother and her sister weakened the final one, the Sea Lord, and my father and I used Lalakie itself to seal the Sea Lord at the bottom of the ocean. 

When my father took me to escape from Lalakie, I remember crying as I called out for my mother and aunt. 

But the heretics caught the floating ship on which my father and I fled, and I was separated from my father and brought to an underwater shrine to serve as part of an evil magic device. 

I didn’t know what happened after that, for my memories were interrupted there… 

The next things I remember are Nana’s embrace and Satou’s kind smile. 

I held the happy memories of Satou, Nana, and the others close to my heart as I followed the girl called Yuuneia down a long corridor. 

And in the area at the end of the corridor, I was reunited with my father. 

“At last you have returned, Reiaane. Have you gotten smaller?” 

My father had become a skeleton. 

The girl next to me waited like an eager puppy for Father to speak to her, but he gave her no words of praise or even thanks. 

This was the observation deck of the Queen’s Tower at the center of the floating island Lalakie. 

There was no ceiling or supports, just a view of all of Lalakie. 

“You look quite a bit different yourself, Father.” 

The last time I’d seen Father, he was a normal half-ghost man. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tentacle rising up at the edge of Lalakie like an enormous tree. 

“Why have you broken the seal on the Sea Lord?” 

Father and I had sealed the Sea Lord ourselves, carrying out Mother’s final wish. 

“Why, you ask?” 

And yet, Father now flew into a fury at my words. 

“Have you forgotten the words of your mother, my beloved wife, the final queen of Lalakie?! ‘Return Lalakie to the skies’—that was her final wish!” 

…No, you’re wrong. 

“Mother had no time to say such a thing. When she failed to control the Sea Lord, her soul was shattered.” 

“What is this nonsense…?” 

The Sea Lord could not be controlled by our fragile hands. 

“Is it not you who has forgotten? Mother wrote in her final will and testament that if she failed, she wished for us to use Lalakie itself to seal the Sea Lord.” 

Father had been the first one to read her will, not me. 

“Ridiculous! She said to ‘return Lalakie to the skies.’ I am sure of it—” 

“Father, who has convinced you of such a lie?” 

It must have been the same individual who turned Father into a horrible undead monster. 

A demon lord, most likely, or a greater hell demon. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Yuuneia gaping in disbelief. 

“F-Father, who was the person who came to you before in a yellow cloak? The one who said ‘indeed’ after every sentence!” 

“Silence! This is no time for an artificial puppet to interfere!” 

Yuuneia, the homunculus girl, leaped toward Father, so I held her back with an embrace. 

Since she had no one else to love her, I resolved that I should do so. 

For what little time I had left to live, at least. 

“Who was that person, Father? Was it even a person?” 

“How dare you speak of my ally in such a way! The yellow-clad mage made Lalakie even stronger and even controlled the giant monster fish Tobkezerra before my very eyes!” 

Tobkezerra? The demon of the skies that controls the northern seas? 

It would be impossible for anyone to defeat the giant monster fish that not even the sky dragons could touch, never mind control it. 

“Surely that was an illusion?” 

“It was not, difficult as it may be to believe.” 

But if that was true, then couldn’t this person defeat the Sea Lord for us? 

When I asked this, however, Father looked at me like he was a child whose lie had been discovered and who flew into a rage as if to cover it. 

“That would be indebting myself to my ally! Allies must always be on equal footing!” 

Father brushed his cape out imperiously. 

Immediately thereafter, a thunderous boom and a terrible quaking rocked the platform. 

“Aah!” 

The girl cried out in surprise, and I held her close. 

“Sister, look!” 

The glowing Heavenslight Protection dome above us was being struck by eight enormous tentacles. 

A gigantic eye emerged at the edge of the floating island. A compound eye, like that of an insect. 

“…The Sea Lord.” 

The eye was filled with unmistakable hatred. 

Its rage and resentment must have swirled around and multiplied while it was trapped at the bottom of the sea for nearly an eternity. 

“Excellent. In this rage, it will surely swallow any poisonous bait we offer it.” 

By poisonous bait, Father no doubt meant the girl called Yuuneia and me. 

His own eyes were full of madness as he laughed down at the Sea Lord. 

“We shall engrave the rune of domination in Yuuneia and the rune of operation in Reiaane.” 

The girl turned pale at Father’s horrible declaration, but she nodded and shed her shrine maiden clothing for the magic circle engraving. 

“I shall be the bait to catch the Sea Lord, and my sister shall be the linchpin to command it—that is the only way, isn’t it, Father?” 

She nodded again, as if trying to convince herself, watching my father with a tremulous gaze. 

But Father didn’t even spare her a glance. 

“Father, no.” 

“What’s this?” 

“Yuuneia cannot capture the Sea Lord. I will go.” 

“N-no, I can do it! I am your younger sister, after all.” 

The girl looked desperate. 

But it wouldn’t work. What Father was trying to do now was the same thing that my mother and my aunt Yuuneia tried and failed to do long ago. 

A slight improvement in the runes would make no difference against this opponent. 

Besides, the person serving as bait to be swallowed by the Sea Lord faced certain death. I couldn’t allow this poor girl to take that role. 

“If we do it the same way as before, it will not work. Please trust me.” 

“Sister…” 

Attempting to control the Sea Lord would never work, no matter what. 

Gear-shaped magic circles appeared at the feet of both the homunculus girl and myself. 

“Very well. Go on, then.” 

There was no hesitation in Father’s cold words. 

My once-kind father was long gone. 

Ample magic power flowed into me from the Queen’s Tower, and I changed from my low-magic youthful state back into my normal adult form. 

“<Engrave.>” 

I dropped my ethereal clothes, and Father issued forth a mad-sounding command. 

Cursed runes crept up around me from my feet, wrapping my skin in almost unbearable discomfort. 

“A-aaaaah!” 

As a similar curse set in over the girl next to me, she let out a shriek of pain. 

“<Engrave!>” 

When my father gave the command again, the curse on my body took the shape of runes and began to engrave itself on my skin. 

Nnngh… 

Horrible rage and despair flowed through me, making the earlier discomfort seem like nothing by comparison. 

My vision wavered, beginning to lose all color. 

At this rate, I would be consumed by the poisonous curse. 

Larva. 

Suddenly, Nana’s voice came back to my mind. 

I felt my heart grow a little lighter. 

“I—I won’t give in.” 

Drawing on the warmth of my memories with Nana, Mia, and the others, I fought off the anger and despair brought on by the curse. 

“Just you wait, Sea Lord! Soon you shall bend to my will!” 

My father’s laughter echoed across the Queen’s Tower. 

The Sea Lord rose up on top of the floating island, tilting the entire island with its weight. 

Watching through my dark, warped vision, I was reminded of my aunt’s and my mother’s final moments. 

…I know what I saw back then. 

At first, the control was successful. 

But it didn’t last long before Aunt Yuuneia was absorbed into the Sea Lord and utterly destroyed. 

So everything would rest on the moment I had control. 

I would force the Sea Lord to tear out its own core, destroying itself for good. 

If I could just defeat the Sea Lord, then Satou could take care of the rest. 

That mysterious person would surely be able to undo the curse on my father and help the girl who shared a name with my aunt Yuuneia find happiness. 

I’m sorry, Satou. This is my choice. 

“<You’ve done well to withstand this much, Reiaane! Now for the final step! <Engrave Linchpin>!>” 

At Father’s words, the poison of the curse flowed into me like a torrent. 

…It’s no use. No one could withstand this. 

My warm memories were flooded by the poison, and the curse swallowed up my heart and began to break it into nothing— 

“STOPPPPPPP RIIIIIIIIGHT THEEEEEEEERE!” 

A familiar voice shouting in Shigan drew my darkening gaze. 

On the other side of the Heavenslight Protection, I saw a flying ship coming closer. 

Is that Arisa…? 

“Larva! I have come to rescue you, I declare!” 

“Mm. Here.” 

Nana? And Mia, too? 

The warmth flooded back into my failing heart, and colors returned to my vision. 

“Hmph. I do not know how their voices are reaching, but their impertinence is in vain.” 

Their voices were coming through the hair ornament Satou gave me. 

The glowing dome of Heavenslight Protection clashed against the flying ship’s defensive barrier, sending up sparks of blue and white. 

“Nothing can break through the Heavenslight Protection given to us by the gods.” 

Father scoffed at the flying ship. 

“Don’t underestimate master’s cheat barrierrrrrrr!!” 

“Arisa, activate screw mode, I request.” 

“All riiiiiight! Witness our drill powerrrrrr!” 

The barrier wall in front of the ship began to spin like a drill. 

“Liza, hit the afterburner!” 

“Understood, activating rear propulsion amplification device.” 

The smoke emitting from the back of the ship suddenly grew more intense. 

“This is the perfect chance to say it! Our drill is the drill that will pierce the—” 

Arisa’s words were cut off as the Sea Lord launched giant ice and water spears at the Heavenslight Protection. 

The spears broke on the barrier, the shock wave blowing the flying ship away like a leaf on the wind. 

“Utter foolishness.” 

Father was wrong. Thanks to their intervention, I was able to keep control of my senses until the end. 

“It is done now, yes?” 

“Yes, Father.” 

With a wave of my arm, I created new ethereal clothes around my body. 

I wrapped myself in the outfit of a shrine maiden honoring all eight gods. 

Lending a hand to Yuuneia as she staggered, I picked up her clothes and put them back on her. 

“Go, Reiaane.” 

I stepped onto the thin pier that stretched from the Queen’s Tower, ending outside the Heavenslight Protection dome. 

It was plenty wide enough for me to walk, but my legs still trembled at the sheer height. 

Yuuneia, now linked to me magically, followed behind me. 

TWAAAAAKZWOOOOOWN! 

A horrible, chest-piercing sound sent a tremor through my body. 

I heard Yuuneia collapse behind me. 

One of the Sea Lord’s enormous tentacles was waiting at the end of the pier. Its tip split off into smaller appendages, wriggling like a sea anemone. 

“I can’t let you do that, Seafoooooox!” 

“All five mounted Magic Cannons are ready for discharge! Firing now!” 

Arisa’s scream was followed by Lulu’s high-pitched voice. 

A rapid succession of blasts assaulted my ears as red spheres struck the Sea Lord’s tentacle and exploded, tearing holes through it. 

TWAAAAKZWOOOOWN! 

The Sea Lord’s roar reverberated. 

The cannons were definitely hurting the monster. 

But they cost too much magic to be fired over and over for long. Given the small size of the flying ship, no doubt those shots were its last. 

“Tama, Pochi!” 

“Reloooooad?” 

“I’ll show you how fast I am, sir!” 

As the ship circled in the sky, I could see Liza, Pochi, and Tama working on the cannons. 

“The Holytree Stone engine’s bluecoin battery replacement is complete, I declare.” 

“Lulu! We’ve finished switching the Magic Cannon barrels, too!” 

“Mm. Charged.” 

“Fire the next round!” 

Another onslaught of cannon fire rained down on the tentacle. 

By the end, one of the Sea Lord’s tentacles had been torn off completely. 

“Amazing…” 

It was so unbelievable that I couldn’t help a murmur of admiration. 

“Yeeeeeeeeeeees! We’re just getting started, guys!” 

Arisa’s words made a smile tug at my cheeks, but it vanished when I noticed the Sea Lord in the corner of my vision. 

“Arisa! Ruuuun!” 

“…Huh?” 

A giant magic circle appeared above the Sea Lord, practically blotting out the sky. 

In the next second, a water hammer huge enough to split the earth crashed down on the space where the ship had been. 

“Arisa… Nana…” 

There was no way they could have survived such an enormous blow intact. 

If its hull had been made of orichalcum or the branch of a World Tree, perhaps the ship itself would have been all right. But even then, the people inside would have been crushed into a paste. 

I couldn’t stop the tears that began to flow over my friends’ all-too-sudden deaths. 

Arisa, Nana, Mia… I engraved each of their names on my heart, trying to will myself to fight through the despair for their sakes. 

But it was no use—the sadness was too deep for me to stand. 

“Oh man, we almost ate it there.” 

…What? 

“This is no laughing matter, Arisa!” 

After Arisa’s remark, I heard the light sound of a fist bopping someone on the head and Satou’s scolding voice. 

Looking up, I saw the familiar sails rising toward me. 

In the blink of an eye, the flying ship ascended in front of the pier where I had fallen to my knees. 

“Honestly. I wasn’t exactly expecting to have to teleport the whole ship the second I got back with the Return spell.” 

Standing on the deck, Satou ruffled Arisa’s hair for a moment before turning toward the tower. 

Those dark, gentle eyes settled on me at once. 

Breathing a sigh of relief when he saw me, Satou broke into a warm smile. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Rei.” 

My body was lifted gently into the air. 

I floated along like a feather on the wind until I was gently placed on the deck of his flying ship. 

“I hope we didn’t worry you.” 

His tone was so light and wonderfully ordinary that I couldn’t bear it—I flew into his arms and wept like a child. 

But there was no sadness in those tears. 

They filled my heart with warmth, like rain in the middle of a sunny day.