Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, so far--knowing my luck--it is possible that my imagined carefree sightseeing trip will become an exciting adventure. Then again, believing that I can calmly go sightseeing without expecting any conflict is the height of naivety--but I do want the chance to sightsee a little at least--in between adventures that this new reality insists on pulling me into.”

Well, it’s time to check on Arisa and the girls’ situation.

It seems that Liza is a bit hurt, but everyone is safe--they’re not at the campground, but already near Seryuu City.

Somehow, it appears that they thought that, “When it’s morning.”, meant that they should get to the Worker’s Guild before morning. I meant for them to depart when it’s morning.

If cellphones existed here, I could tell them that I was safe--well, it can’t be helped, this is a fantasy world. Let’s look for a Magic with the same function when we go to the Royal Capital, Labyrinth City, or the Elven city.

Now then, it may be difficult to traverse over five mountains when it’s this dark--putting aside my almost limitless physical strength and stamina, I am mentally weary--I want to fall asleep until noon or later.

But I cannot rest, because not only are Arisa and the girls worried, they are slaves; if they return to Seryuu City alone, they are likely to be treated as escaped slaves.

The knight, Soun, who guards the front gate is a kind person, but I’m not sure if that applies to slaves and Demi-Humans too.

Well, let’s psyche myself up.

Of course, I’ll also take Mia and No.7 along with me. If I leave them here, it is likely that they will soon fall prey to Wolves; then there would have been no point to me saving them from the maze.

“Mia, No.7, hold tight.” I grip one each one tightly, holding them by their waists as the wrap their arms around my neck--Mia looks slightly pleased.

Carrying the two of them, I begin to run again.

***

I haven’t even run along the mountain road for more than a few minutes before I get a Skill.

 

>>Skill: Off-Road Acquired.

 

I quickly activate it and put all ten points into it, the Sprint skill has been enabled since leaving the maze. I’ve been thoughtlessly using Skill Points up until now, but seeing those purple orbs, I feel like I’d be getting involved in trouble sometime soon; so I’ve decided to carefully examine each of my skills and use up to half my remaining points to strengthen myself after reuniting with Arisa and the girls.

The place I’m passing through looks like the ruins of the Ratman village, it’s only been around ten or so minutes so far. I think it’s the village where Mia met up with Mize.

I can somehow identify good footholds, and where the weakest place in thickets are, to push through, as well as when to jump; I gave Mia and No.7 robes, to protect their skin from bruises and scratches. I wonder if this knowledge is from the Off-Road Skill.

I’m running much faster than even a horse-drawn carriage.

Moreover, combined with my 3D Maneuver Skill, I’m passing through the mountain in a straight line; after crossing two mountains, the number of dead trees begin to decrease, and the greenery is becoming rich.

I see an interesting place filled with shining lily-like flowers and mushrooms illuminating a clearing--but I can’t inspect it more closely, since time is precious, I give up on my desire. Since it would be too regrettable to forget about it, I place a map marker.

Relying on the moonlight, I run through the mountain--it feels like the moonlight in this world is awfully bright.

A Giant Boar suddenly jumps on me. I noticed it on the radar long before this, so when it attacks--I easily notice it, kicking it away. I’ve been avoiding small animals who come at me, but it’s impossible to do so with a bear-sized Giant Boar.

Its head, which is where my foot impacted, directly exploded with a ‘splat’. Without bothering to look at it, I put it into storage--as a souvenir for Liza.

Finally, we get to the highway--from here, it’s eighty kilometers to Seryuu City, in a straight line. There’s only one-and-a-half hours left until dawn.

I run through the grassy areas in a straight line, my feet are scooping out the dirt, but no one should mind it anyway, probably.

***

I’m thinking while running, my concentration split.

 

>>Skill: Parallel Thought Acquired.

 

I know I have been spending randomly, but this one looks useful--so I invest in all ten points and activate it.

Suddenly, my mind is incomparably clear, and I get a really strange feeling--it’s almost as though I have two or three brains, each one able to think and act independently.

I tear one of my Parallel Minds back to my train of thought before, another focusing on running, the third is wandering off in random directions.

The thing with Arisa and Zen, it is almost as though I have strange luck when it comes to humans who have been given power by the gods; one of them is one of my most trusted companions, the other an enemy--the first to make me put in effort, since Dragon Valley.

From what I have found so far, the ones with the gods’ power also suffer--is it because the gods want to give them a trial and see if they are worthy, or are the gods both good and evil?

Could the god that the people meet not be a god but a powerful Demon--maybe the Demon Lord, pretending to be a god and sowing chaos?

Or am I just overthinking things?

Having such a small pool of subjects--only two of them--I have no way of forming anything like a hypothesis. All I can do is look for more information about the gods as we continue our journey--but remember not to trust only the words from temples--since they always portray their deity in the best possible light.

Since I have met two, it is very likely that there are more reincarnated people out there. Somehow, the society hasn’t collapsed because of people trying to cluelessly spread advanced technology that the world isn’t prepared for--causing nobles and kingdoms to fight for advantages, for civil wars, and the final collapse, and possible elimination, of Humanity. So, maybe the people who were chosen to be reincarnated are like me, who doesn’t intend to spread Earth’s technology--especially since this world definitely has gods, or beings like them, unlike what was learned because of the Discovery--they wouldn’t want their faith taken from them.

The Mage, Zen, said that he became the No-Life King after he was executed by a noble. What I’m worried about is that I have a Unique Skill that may be similar to his, my skill ‘Indestructible. It’s possible that I may end up like him if my HP reaches 0.

Were the skills I saw when Zen accepted his death, deactivating the skill which hid his abilities, ‘Physical Attack Invalid’ or ‘Instant Recovery’, what caused him to be unable to kill himself?

It seems that the Hero title combined with a Holy Sword is able to invalidate the skills, he had somehow figured this out.

Perhaps the Demon Lord has the same requirements too--actually, it’s very likely so.

However, I was able to completely annihilate the Heavenly Dragons, and Dragon God, without any titles--maybe the Meteor Shower, as a Unique Skill has a similar effect; I’m not really satisfied with only being able to make almost groundless guesses--but there is nothing I can do until I get more information, let’s conclude it there for now.

***

I remember to put my title back to ‘none’--and while I’m at it, I also change my level on the exchange tab; since Arisa and Liza have leveled up, I also raise mine--but to twenty. It would make a little more sense, since I supposedly went through a maze to save Mia--at least that’s what I would say if asked by guards.

Mia would obviously find it more than strange.

According to the map, that the girls have grown like this.

 

Arisa: Level 10 -> 12.

Lulu: Level 2 -> 3.

Liza: Level 13 -> 14 -- New Skill: Heavy Blow.

Pochi: Level 13 -> 14 -- New Skill: Shooting.

Tama: level 13 -> 14 -- New Skill: Enemy Search.

 

Now both of the younger Beastkin girls have the Enemy Search Skills.

In some games, you could assign certain skills to certain party members--but even a game-like fantasy world isn’t so convenient.

Well, come to think of it, I have the Education Skill.

Maybe I could teach them the intended skills using this?

I’ll work with Lulu to try this next time.

***

I’m looking at the map every ten minutes, but there’s still nothing but me on the highway, or near it really.

Arisa and the girls have arrived in front of the Seryuu City’s gate.

I’ve done something that would have been impossible on Earth, I took 40 minutes to travel around 80 kilometers--I’d say that my speed is around 120 km/h in average.

Since I lowered my speed when I reached the highway, so as to not damage the paving, my speed on the hills would have been much faster.

When I got within range, I began to walk normally because I could probably be seen by Seryuu City’s scouts. I released No.7 and Mia, both of which walked beside me--though Mia grabbed my sleeve; No.7 looked around like she was curious--but her face was blank.

They are only 3 kilometers left anyway and the gate isn’t going to open for fifty minutes.

As I crest a slightly elevated rise two kilometers away from Seryuu City, not only could I see the outer wall from here, but also the entire gate; our wagon can be seen in the distance.

While I look at it, Mia and No.7 standing by my sides, it starts coming towards me. Someone would have to have a sharp eye to see me--it was probably Tama.

Getting closer, I can see that Liza is driving it--Pochi and Tama are leaning out of the wagon, looking like their about to fall, and are waving excitedly at me. Arisa and Lulu are looking anxiously towards me, it seems that they can’t see me yet; I wave back at them.

Still, everyone, other than Arisa, look strange. I’ve though that they would worry about me--but aren’t they worrying too much?

Before long, the wagon approaches, raising clouds of dust.

I go to greet everyone, Mia and No.7 following behind me.

The wagon makes a sudden stop, Tama and Pochi descend so quickly that it looks like they are tumbling down, before running here as fast as they can.

With a sudden sound, Liza jumps over Pochi and Tama from her position on the coachman’s seat, and runs here first.

“Mafter--” She speaks in a loud, muffled, cry as she hugs me tightly. She leans completely into me, and I have to support her with an arm around her waist--she is crying harder than I imagined impossible for the stoic-seeming girl--her tail is rapidly thumping the ground in excitement.

While I was surprised by Liza’s unexpected behavior, Pochi and Tama press up against both Liza and I, hugging me from both sides--their bodies are trembling, and their ears point at me, while twitching. Pochi’s tail is moving so quickly that she seems to be able to take off like a plane.

 

“Wilcome!”

“Master!”

 

Maybe because they can’t express their relief well, they’re thoroughly play-biting my head and shoulders, and licking my face. This is a little intense--.

Arisa and Lulu come down from the wagon soon after.

““Welcome back.””, Arisa speaks with a happy smile, and Lulu spoke gracefully, but I can see tears in her eyes.

 

“I’m back, and I’m sorry for worrying you all.”

Liza is still crying while hugging me, almost hanging off me; but when she hears my voice, she replies in a weak and tearful voice, “I’m glad, so glad!”

Then, seemingly realizing that she’s hugging me, she shyly parts from me, but one of her hands grip the base of my shirt--she is embarrassed, but doesn’t want to completely let me go.

Matching her, I step back, stroking their ears and heads.

 

“We were worried!”

“Any injury?”

 

Pochi and Tama stare intently at me, inspecting me with worried gazes--Lulu is smiling through her tears; Arisa just stares at me, she looks happy.

“I am sorry,” I apologize again, “It was an emergency.”

They nod to my words, seeming to relax; though Tama and Pochi are leaning against me, enjoying their petting--Liza is gripping the hem of my shirt tightly, but she seems to have relaxed.