Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, back on Earth, I had a friend who was a complete weeb--he would keep saying that ‘Moe will save the world’--it is true that admiring cute things can make you feel better; and it seems that the sentiment is the same across worlds--Cuteness (‘Moe’) might unexpectedly save the world.”

I knew that the bailey--which was the area surrounded by the curtain walls, but isn’t actually part of the castle itself-- in which the Baron’s castle was situated was vast from looking at the map--but after I actually entered it--it’s bigger than I imagined.

On one side, situated against the curtain wall, is a small forest--and a large pond is near it. Situated around the bailey, as though the curtain walls were originally meant to surround a small town, were a lot of ancient buildings.

The main castle itself was in the center, and was massive in and of itself, was easily dwarfed by the surroundings--it was as though the whole top of the hill had been artificially flattened, and then surrounded by the curtain walls.

People, and newer living-spaces, occupy only a few percent of the total area.

Toruma and his family was separated from us, because they didn’t get involved in the trouble. We were lead towards a huge four-story mansion inside the bailey, which wasn’t a part of the castle itself--the Baron, Hayuna, and the others are there.

Of course, the fake hero is also near the Baron.

The split body of the Demon is also in the mansion, but it doesn’t get close to the Baron; unlike usual, the real body is inside the forest--it isn’t reacting to the battle, seeming to just observe the battle--I wonder if it’s enjoying watching them kill each other.

The carriage enters the rotary in front of the mansion while I am thinking about the Demon.

There isn’t any carpet spread, luckily, but around 20 maids are lined up on the sides of a walkway--well I say maids, but they don’t wear aprons or black-and-white frilled dress, just plain navy blue dresses. It seems to be a uniform, if I am to guess, since all of them wear the same clothing.

Pochi is looking around restlessly from my lap.

“Welcome, I’m happy to have you here, Mage Tek and ladies.” A single man in a butler uniform greets us, “If you have luggage, let me carry them for you.”

Since the butler said so, I gave him the bag I usually carry at my belt and use as a disguise for when I need to access storage, the dagger I keep strapped to my thigh--which I mainly wear to give off a strong feeling, and to use in miscellaneous tasks--it is surprisingly useful--as well as my short staff.

The Butler receives only the bag, and then gives me back the dagger and short staff, “Tek, it is alright to bring the dagger and staff for self-protection.”

“Isn’t it rude to bring weapons into the presence of the Baron?” I check, to make sure.

The Butler shakes his head, “There is no need to worry--which is an order from the Consul. Furthermore, a truly reliable person is on the Baron’s side, the Baron won’t be hurt unless the Demon Lord attacks.”

“Oh, that’s amazing. I want to meet that person.”

“I’m sure that you’ll be surprised. Please, look forward to it.”

Obviously, the person that the butler talks about is the fake hero--however, to permit visitors to bring in weapons, I think they may be too trusting of that fake hero.

Or, maybe the Demon’s purpose is to let someone harm them?

While considering the situation, and my thoughts going in were going nowhere, we followed the butler.

Two maids are following us.

What is this faint incongruousness I am feeling?

***

When we arrived in front of the Baron’s room, Arisa clenched her fists and her body stiffened; it seems that she is worrying about the dream.

As soon as we enter the room, Arisa quickly looks around and sees the Baron--she relaxes, looking relieved.

It seems that she has confirmed that the dream isn’t prophetic.

Her rather obvious relaxation helped me too calm down as well. Though, since I heard that people who survive being hit by carriages get executed, I have also been struggling on how to speak to the Baron; I didn’t want to interfere too much, but it was possible that he was a complete tyrant and may need to be ‘convince’ to step down.

Of course, I will confirm things with the person himself before making a judgement--especially since he may be manipulated by the Demon, and is innocent.

“Hey, you’re finally here. Cousin, let me introduce them: these two are Tek the Mage, and Arisa the merchant. Err, the one over there is Arisa’s little sister, I guess.”

When we got into the room, Toruma saw us and introduces us to the Baron.

Come to think of it, I never mentioned that Arisa is a slave and her collar was hidden by her clothing. There was no way that this guy would realize it; still, from his point of view, Arisa is a merchant, huh?

However, I’d like to praise him for not ignoring Pochi.

“Nice to meet you, I am Tek--both an inexperienced Mage, and a traveler.”

Arisa curtsies, without giving her name.

Pochi looks around restlessly for a few seconds, before copying Arisa.

There are three other people inside the room--other than Toruma, Hayuna, and Mayuna; I’m not counting the two maids who stand at the corners of the room.

The Baron is a plump man with black hair and a mustache--I was expecting him to look like a typical tyrant, sitting on a massive throne with his legs outstretch arrogantly, with naked, or semi-naked girls plastered all over him.

But instead, he is sitting calmly with a smile on his large face.

The second person is a black-haired woman, who somehow gives off a calming feeling, looks to be one of his daughters. Her features seem to be fairly similar to Greek or Sicilian--she is quite beautiful, with olive skin and blue eyes.

I can’t see her figure from where I am, but judging from her face shape, and the little I can see: she is much, much slimmer than her Father.

The last person, is a rather macho-looking man--his muscles would put a lot of bodybuilders to shame. He is sitting on the sofa and leaning against the woman. Other than his ridiculous musculature, he is a rather handsome young man with black hair and brown eyes.

This young man is the fake hero, of course.

He is wearing white clothing, and in a blue sheath is a straight sword; he has detached the sword from his belt and lent it against the couch, within easy reach.

His companions are in a different building together with the Demon’s split body.

“I see, so you are the young Mage who has strong Demi-Human slaves, thank you fro saving Toruma’s life! I can’t thank you enough.” He sounds rather genial as he gets up and approaches me, “This territory is vast, but not prosperous, but I’d like you to rest here--it pains my heart that I cannot give you significant service, but I would welcome your stay for however long you want.”

This seems a little strange to me, and when I look at Arisa, she looks a little weirded out as well--normally, nobles are arrogant, but the Baron is awfully friendly.

On the contrary, this friendliness seems a little suspicious, and it makes me wonder if he is an impostor too--but a quick look on my heads-up-display shows that both, he’s the real Baron, and he has no abnormal status.

“Father, I know that you’re excited by meeting a brave young man, but can you please sit down, you seem to be scaring the younger one.” The Baron’s daughter spoke, her tone is as calm as her aura suggests, but her voice is strangely high-pitched.

Is this how these people usually act?

With these down-to-earth people ruling, why is the territory going through such a difficult time?

No, they are nobles after all, this might all be an act.

There might be skills that allow them to easily fool me, or maybe even fool my heads-up-display; although the possibility is low, I need to make sure to stay cautious for a bit longer.

***

“Oh my, what an adorable girl!” The daughter takes the fake hero’s hand and stands up, walking towards Pochi.

Eh?

She may look fairly young, but not young enough for that reaction--well, everyone has different reactions.

My eyes unconsciously focus on her chest--the way it sways as she stands up.

Big--

Her breasts are very big, and as she steps forwards, matching her movements, they sway and shake. Normally I dislike overly large breasts, because on Earth, they always sag don’t look nice--mostly after the supportive bra is taken off--but this world doesn’t seem to have bras, so I can see that they don’t sag, they somehow defy gravity.

It must be Magic!

I suddenly feel an elbow impacting my ribs, when I look over, I see Arisa rolling her eyes; I notice that I have been staring, and see the fake hero looking over with a strange quirk to his lips. I give him an apologetic look, for staring at his fiance’s--assets--he smiles, and mouths ‘everyone does it’ and shrugs.

“Hello, young lady. I’m called Soruna, can you tell me your name?” Soruna bent over so that her eyes met Pochi’s, beginning to talk in a voice that sounded like it had musical notes attach at the end of her sentence.

Luckily, Arisa moved quickly, and blocks the view that would pull me in again--I shouldn’t look at another man’s woman like that.

Good job, Arisa.

When I give her a thumbs up, she returns it with an almost silent giggle.

However, I should probably find a way of stopping her from touching Pochi.

“Pochi!” Pochi introduces herself with her usual pose, one hand in the air as though to ask a question, and her feet firmly a shoulder-width apart--Arisa has been teaching strange things, though it is absolutely adorable.

“Cute! I want this kind of girl as a maid!” Seeming as though she can’t endure the cuteness overload, Soruna suddenly hugs Pochi.

Arisa tried to pull Pochi from the side, but she didn’t make it in time. I could have blocked it faster, but it would result in me having to explain how I can move so quickly that it’s basically a ‘Flash Step’; even if I made it in time, unless I was willing to slap Soruna’s hand away, it would still have gone through the illusion and exposed Pochi.

Pochi, who’s being hugged by Soruna tilts her head to the side, and then happily hugs her back, while the face of the illusion covering her is still completely expressionless.

“Huh? She feels different than she looks?” Soruna looks confused as her hands go through the illusion.

Excuses seem impossible at this point, so I may as well use this as an opportunity to see the true nature of the Baron’s family.

Preparing to grab the girls and run if absolutely necessary, I asked Arisa to release the illusion on Pochi.

“Oh my, the young lady turned into a dog girl! How cute, she looks like a stuffed toy!” Soruna, who has seen Pochi’s true form, keeps hugging her without any sign of disgust.

I feel my tension release, and I see Arisa relax.

Pochi remains standing there, being hugged. No wait, it looks like she finds the breasts pressing against her curious, she’s having fun by repeatedly pushing at them from below.

“Oi, oi, Soruna, your valuable dress will be covered with hair--moreover, what will you do if you start to stink of beast?” Toruma is slightly racist again.

“I hate it when uncle says such things!” Soruna exclaimed, and then pouted, hugging Pochi closer.

Toruma looks over at the Baron for support, but--

“This, what a lovely young woman; was the previous appearance created by Magic?” The Baron ignores Toruma and asks us, with no tone of blame in his words--rather, his question seems strangely pure. Actually, there was a glint in his eyes that was far from pure, but he didn’t seem angry.

“I’m very sorry, but I’ve heard a lot of rumours about how nobles dislike Beastkin; so I decided to at least make her look like a Human,” Even though I use that as an excuse, I’m not sure how well it will fly. Normally you wouldn’t bring her along, instead of thinking of how to disguise her with Magic.

“I’m sorry that you had to think like that. However, I didn’t know that Dog-kin girls were this cute. I’ve only seen them at the Royal Capital and Arena, they look fearsome, like wild beasts. I will have to revise my thinking with this.” The Baron’s eyes are fixed on Pochi, who’s still being cuddled by Soruna.

“By the way, Tek.” He pauses.

“Yes?”

“I want to touch her ears, can I?”

I glance at Pochi and she nods to me, while being mushed against Soruna’s massive mammaries.

After I get Pochi’s permission, I nod to the Baron.

“Oh, isn’t it fluffy! Her ears feel good, soft, warm.” He suddenly sniffs, “Besides, she smells really nice. Is this the smell of fruit?”

Hmm?

Smell of fruit?

I asked Arisa, who is now standing next to me, in a low voice.

“Mia made sachets filled with the peel of some of her fruit, and put it in with our clothing.”

Ahh, I see.

I did know that Mia was collecting fruit peels, but I had the thought that maybe she snacks on them when she gets hungry at night--it’s not as bad as it sounds, since I did keep the peels of one of the fruit who are very similar to apples, to snack on if I got hungry during driving.

I may be incorrect, but the way he is patting Pochi’s hair, and sniffing her--isn’t it a little weird?

Our meeting with the Baron and his family is unexpectedly good, having a strangely cozy feeling--but there is a rapid development occurring in the forest.

Even though the Baron’s army should have been in an advantageous position--suddenly victims from both sides begin to rapidly increase in number.

Something even stranger is happening: 10 split bodies have appeared near the Demon’s main body and then flew around above both forces--I thought that the Demon may be using poison, but when I checked the soldier’s status, I understand the cause.

A great majority of the soldiers are suffering from the Confusion and Enraged Abnormal Statuses.

I see, I now understand why Arisa said that Mind Magic was despised; while it may be a common Magic in games, but there are probably very few other Magics that could compare with it when it comes to being both very effective against groups, and being almost undetectable.

I’m pretty sure that this is the method was also used to annihilate the massive group of thieves.