Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku Vol 17 Chapter 35

Published at 7th of October 2019 11:58:39 PM

Chapter 35
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17-35. Offenses and Defenses at Purple Towers (2)

Satou here. Don't you think situations where allies are made to fight against each others due to false information a relatively common trope in manga and drama? In fictions, it usually gets resolved before it progressed to the worst-case scenario, but I feel like oftentimes, it would just run off toward eventual failures in real world.

◇

"I am Brum Julberg, attendant of past generation hero. I challenge Hero Nanashi to a duel."

Lady Brum made the declaration with her sword pointed at me.

We encountered heroes' troupe as they were just done dealing with monster stampede in front of the world's largest purple tower located near Saga Empire's old capital.
Apparently they received an oracle from god Parion, with the content, " "Kill the treasonous one who threatens world peace. That is hero Nanashi, avatar of Demon God."

I tried asking Hikaru and she apparently didn't get the oracle.

We don't have time now, perhaps I should put them to sleep and leave clearing the misunderstandings for later?

While I was pondering that, several figures of people stood between me and lady Brum like they were protecting me.

"--Oy, lil' girls. What do you think you're doing?"
"My wild instinct is telling me this Nanashi is the real deal."
"Besides, we've been saved so many times by Nanashi and the glittering bunch."

They were the hero Hayato's attendants, tiger-earkin Rusus and wolf-earkin Fifi.

"There is no justice in quarreling between comrades in the face of world crisis."
"...Loreiya. Even you who should serve god Parion."
"I may not posses Oracle skill, but I want to believe in my own eyes for discerning whether a being is evil or not."

Priestess Loreiya joined Rusus and Fifi to form a line.

"H-hey wait!"
"Rusus and Fifi aside, why you too Loreiyane!"

Hero Seigi and Hero Yuuki went into panic when they saw that.

"What do you mean by us aside huh?"
"Is that how you're gonna repay us, after all the drilling we put you two through before coming for the tower?"

Rusus and Fifi glared hard at the two heroes.

"B-but you know! It's not just about the oracle!"

Hero Seigi took one step forward.

"The [Truth Mind's Eye (There's only one truth)] and [Wicked Search (Where bad people at)] I received from Parion-sama tell me... Hero Nanashi is evil, he's definitely and undeniably evil."

Hero Seigi appealed with a half-crying face.
The three attendants slightly faltered at his teary appeal.

--Apparently, I'm evil.

My unintentional thought seemed to have leaked through Familiar Link, as Arisa clapped my shoulder.

『--Of course not.』

Felt like I could hear Arisa's voice.

"Hero Seigi, what's the basis for that [Evil] condemnation of yours?"
"Eh? Basis?"

Hero Seigi seemed to find Arisa's question out of left field.

"My Unique Skill tells me. That he's [Evil]."
"So you're saying [Evil] from god Parion's perspective?"

Arisa who had anticipated hero Seigi's answer nodded once before pointing out that the judgment doesn't come from impartiality but God Parion's subjective opinion.

"I see, so that's how it is."
"You understand, Rusus?"
"Naturally of course! It's like [evil coz the god said so]!"
"I see now!"

Rusus and Fifi had that conversation, but everybody else politely chose to ignore them.
No wait, Pochi, Tama and Lady Karina are earnestly nodding at them.

『Alrighty, Master, time to tell them how god Parion might have a hand in the theft of Divinity Crystal by Demon God.』
『No no, that's still a hypothesis at this point.』

It's almost undoubtedly black, but it's still gray at this point.
Circumstantial evidence doesn't work in the court after all.

"Thanks for waiting! Ookay, looks like we've got a situation here."
"Loreiya, could you tell us what's going on."

Two attendants of hero Hayato, lady Ringrande and princess Maryest showed up riding a Flying Wooden Horse.

"We received an oracle from god Parion telling us that hero Nanashi is a minion of Demon God."
""--I see.""

The two nodded at Loreiya's concise explanation.

"Brum-basan, sorry but could you sheathe your sword please?"
"Ringrande, missy, you're going to take his side too?"
"Yup. That's what Hayato asked me to, and besides, fighting him is a pointless endeavor."
"--Pointless?"

Lady Brum's wrinkled face frowned when she heard Lady Ringrande.

"You heard me, there would be three fresh corpses right about now had hero Nanashi willed it."
"Even if that is the truth, I'll be sure to pay back in kind."
"Nope, never gonna work. Even if there's 100 Brum-basan, it's just impossible. Of course that applies to like 1000 of us too."
"Doesn't matter if it's impossible or pointless, there are things you have to do no matter what in this world."

Looks like lady Brum has no intention to withdraw here.
Her brawn over brain side really reminds me of her son, Zeff Julberg, the leader of Shiga Eight Swords.

"I understand. Let's do this."

--We don't have time.

"Hang on, Nanashi!"
『Don't worry, I won't kill her.』

I replied back to the panicking Lady Ringrande through Space Magic [Telephone].

"So I'll be up against Brum-san, and two heroes then?"
"Yeah, that's right."

I fetch a self-made holy sword from Storage and take a stance.

"H-hold on! I can't fight at this range, I'm telling you!"
"Hear hear! And I just used my [Sword of Condemnation (Justice always win)] on some big ones earlier, gotta wait for the cooldown!"

Lady Brum glanced at the two panicking heroes and clicked her tongue.

"Very well, I'll go at it by myself! --Magic Slash."

Lady Brum unleashed a blade-drawing killing stroke from Ground Shrink, but after all the countless high speed mock battle against beastkin girls I had, I could probably dodge her attack with my eyes closed now.

I took the sword with my Mana Clad hand and crushed it in my hand.

"--Wha."

Lady Brum immediately discarded her sword and attempted to take a spare magic sword from her Item Box while stepping back using Flickering Motion, but I'm not obliged to let it slide.
I closed in on her using Ground Shrink and lightly jabbed her chin to knock her out.

I also made her fall asleep using Sleep magic and stopped her from moving with Paralyzing magic.

I held the unconscious lady Brum with psychokinetic-like [Magic Hand] and delivered her to the two heroes.

"Hero Nanashi, are you going to destroy this tower too?"

I give my affirmation to princess Maryest.

"Oh right, you two helped getting the emperor's approval, didn't you? Thanksies."

I used ventriloquism to make my voice only be heard by Princess Maryest and her companions so the girls on my camp wouldn't hear my Nanashi speech pattern.

> Title [Magician of Sound] Acquired.

Whoa, been so long since my last title.

The two girls were chuckling for some reason.

--Oh right, these two have already figure out the real identity of Hero Nanashi (me) and the girls.

◇

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"OUUUUUUUUUUUCH!"

While I was feeling awkward, the two heroes screamed out while jerking weirdly.
Blue lights flashed out of the two heroes' bodies, red flames are dancing around hero Yuuki's arms.

Hero Yuuki unleashed warhead missile-like rains of flame balls, but all of it landed far from us, spreading explosions around.
Hero Seigi came slashing at me with his sword clad in blue light--most likely his Unique Skill [Sword of Condemnation], however, on top of bending back, he was obviously trying to keep the sword away from hitting me.

"N-not good. Dodge it!"

Hero Seigi's holy sword suddenly changed its trajectory, heading toward me, but since it was even slower than lady Brum's attack, dodging it was a simple matter.

"Are you being controlled!?"
"Most likely!"
"My body is moving on its own!"

After I listened to the two's answers, I knocked them out, put them in Sleep and Paralyze magic combo and laid them next to lady Brum.

『Hikaru, how are you faring?』
『Un, doesn't feel like I'm being controlled or anything. I think it's thanks to the functions built into this armor.』

I was worried it for a second there since Hikaru is [Parion's Hero] like the two, it was thankfully unfounded.

Just in case, I put the two heroes in newly developed golden armors installed with anti mind control circuits.
I could have just left them here, but it would be bad if they got eaten by vanguard monsters coming out of the tower, so I forcefully sent them to the old capital's gate using space magic teleport.

"I wonder just what is Parion-sama trying to accomplish..."

Priestess Loreiya murmured in melancholy.

"Let's go ask the her personally then. Besides, there's no guarantee this was all Parion-sama's doing."

Lady Ringrande clasped priestess Loreiya's shoulder before walking toward me.

"Are you going straight to destroying the tower now?"
"No, I've got to close the gate to the Netherworld at the top of the tower before that."

Or more correctly, I'm gonna seal the path that connects to the Netherworld--and if possible, the entire Netherworld.
I'm sure not even Demon God could so easily dispatch his armies once he lost access to the low cost route.

"We're going with you too."
"That's unnecessary."
"Please don't say that. Let us help you thin out the mob up to upper floors as an apology for causing you problems."

Well, I guess I don't mind.
Most of these girls work well as advance and rear attackers, so they're just right to complement the silver members.

Once we decided on the formation, we set foot in the tower.

I put a seal on the entrance just like with all other towers.

"Is that a seal? Won't we get in big trouble if we found ourselves unable to escape out in a pickle?"
"It'll be fine. The seal has been made to allow people escape outside from the inside."

Although there should be none now, this seal can deal with any old capital's adventurer who's still inside.

◇

"Here we go, Right Wing."
"I got it, Left Wing."

Shiro (Right Wing) and Crow (Left Wing) flew up while leaving trails of glittering lights from their silver armor as they rushed toward a swarm of vanguard monsters.

They've been boosted with Zensan's Unique Skill and wind magic fusion [Saint Army] and an advanced level force magic I and Hikaru created, [Hero Play].

""--Wings Dance <>""

The innumerable little specks surrounding them leave any monsters in their wake full of wounds.
It's a new technique developed thanks to the feedback I got from the development of Zensan's stiletto.

"Damn, those wingkin kids are awesome."
"We ain't gonna lose to them."
"Let's go, Fifi!"
"Ou!"

Rusus and Fifi took care of monsters that had managed to escape Shiro and Crow without any waste in movement.

"Shield Golem Unit, maintain the path those four have opened!"

Princess Sistina followed after the four together with her Golem army.