The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time - Chapter 224
Death Mage 224 – The screams of Vampires echo, a peaceful day
The bases of the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne were in the center of Devil’s Nests far from where humans lived, and they were… not old.
As Eleanora had betrayed Birkyne to join Vandalieu, Birkyne had prepared some places several years ago as he had needed bases whose locations were not known to her.
It would have been difficult to build bases from scratch, so he had used bases that he had used before acquiring Eleanora and repurposed ruined buildings in the cities of countries that had been destroyed in the past.
This tower was one such base.
The ones who lived here were several Noble-born Vampires entrusted with managing the place and the several dozen Subordinate Vampires who served them. There were also around a hundred humans.
But most of the humans were children, and they were kept in cells like livestock. Their blood moistened the throats of the Vampires, and they also served as stock for sacrifices for magical rituals of some sort and the rituals used to request the evil god of joyful life for his divine protection.
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There were facilities such as the orphanages, but it would be problematic to have to go directly to an orphanage every time a sacrifice was needed. This tower was one of the intermediate facilities that solved this problem.
“… I heard that one of the guys in the cell next to us had his blood taken,” one cynical boy whispered to the others in his cell.
“Is he dead?” another child asked.
“No, apparently they only took a little.”
“But they’ll drain him of his blood until he’s dead soon enough… and us, too,” said a girl.
“Tch, of course they will. We’re being kept here to become food for the Vampires. One day, we’ll have our blood sucked from us until we’re dead or be turned into Undead,” the cynical boy muttered.
The children knew the truth about their situation.
It didn’t need to be explained that Vampires drank blood. But they drank less frequently and took less each time than humans would think. And Vampires were capable of taking nourishment from eating normally rather than drinking blood.
Not drinking for years would harm their health and negatively affect their regenerative abilities, but there was no effect on their bodies even if they didn’t drink blood for several months at a time.
But more powerful Vampires… such as those whose ‘Bloodsucking’ Skill had awakened into ‘Bloodwork’ had stronger impulses to drink blood.
Most importantly, drinking blood was one of Birkyne’s hobbies. The children did not know this, but there were some who were sacrificed simply to be tortured by him as a method of stress relief… though he had recently restrained himself from killing victims lately so that he would not have too many spirits around him.
“Th-that’s not necessarily true, is it?” piped up another boy. “They told us that if we serve them and show them our value, they’ll let us become Vampires as well…”
“They did say that, but were they telling the truth? Even if we work for them, we might still end up being turned into Undead, right?” said the girl.
Another purpose of this place was to let the more obedient of the children live as Subordinate Vampires, and use the rest as materials to create Undead.
“But don’t you dare think about trying to break out. Depending on what kind of monsters you run into, you might die a worse death than being toyed with by the Vampires,” the cynical boy warned.
“… I know,” the other boy muttered.
The children being kept at this tower had not been brainwashed by Birkyne. This tower was isolated from human society, and one step outside would expose the children to the dangerous monsters prowling around. Brainwashing them wasn’t necessary.
“Either way, we don’t know anything until we become adults. If that’s the case, we don’t know whether we’ll be dead months from now or even tomorrow. Let’s just enjoy ourselves until the time comes,” said the cynical boy.
“Enjoy ourselves? We have nothing to enjoy except the food. They make us work in the afternoons,” the girl said discontentedly.
The children were kept in cells and forced to live like livestock, but they ate better than when they had been in the orphanages. They weren’t given anything extravagant, but they had dishes with meat, fish and vegetables, and they occasionally had fruit for dessert. During the day, they worked in the fields or tended to the fruit trees to produce that food.
It was likely that the Vampires wanted to improve the quality of their blood by making them eat balanced diets and get exercise.
“Eating until we’re full is enough, right?” the cynical boy said.
“That’s… Hey, it’s kind of noisy,” said the girl, suddenly noticing that there was a lot of noise around their cell.
“Has someone been taken from one of the other cells again?” the other boy wondered.
“No, this is… the Vampires?” said the first boy, trying to listen carefully. “Yeah, the Vampires are screaming!”
Indeed, there were loud, echoing screams that could not possibly have been made by the children being kept inside the tower.
There was the dying scream of a beast, and one voice was shrieking in terror.
“It’s hopeless! It’s over, it’s over!” screamed another voice.
Realizing that these voices belonged to Vampires, the children looked at each other. They could not understand why the Vampires were screaming.
“I-is someone going around killing the Vampires?!” one of the boys whispered.
“Then we’re going to be saved?!” the girl said excitedly.
Had someone come to the tower to exterminate the Vampires? Realizing that this was possible, the children’s despair-filled eyes ignited with hope.
“You!” a Vampire shouted, appearing suddenly in front of the cell as if to extinguish that hope.
The children flinched and fell backwards.
They recognized this Subordinate Vampire. They didn’t know his name, but he was one of the Vampires that looked after and supervised the children. He did his best to curry the favor of the Noble-born Vampire that commanded him, but would lash out horribly at the children.
But they didn’t know his name.
“I-is there something you need, Vampire-sama?!” one of the children said in a high-pitched voice.
The Subordinate Vampire’s face stiffened. “MY NAME IS ANDREW!” he screamed.
He had shouted his own name.
The children now knew his name, but they were totally bewildered as to why he had chosen this moment to introduce himself, and were frozen with fear.
“Did you hear me?! I’ll say it once more, so listen closely. My name is Andrew!” the Vampire shouted once more, without waiting for a response from the children. “You got that?! Hmph!”
With that, he broke the cell’s lock with his claws.
“Hurry up and get out! From now on, you… no, everyone, is free! You hear me? Do not forget that I, Andrew, saved everyone!” he said with a stiff, twitching, awkward smile as he freed the children.
The children’s fear and bewilderment only deepened, but they were even more scared to disobey Andrew, so they left the cell to see that the same thing was happening at the other cells.
“Children, I, Barnio, will save you!”
“I, Citrin-oneesan, will set you free! Citrin-oneesan! Set you free!”
“Out of the way! The one to save these children will be me, Raikert! I will kill you if you try to stop me!”
“Don’t get in my way! I, Felpo, will save you!”
Until minutes ago, the Vampires had been the children’s fearsome captors, but now they were all frantically trying to be the ones to free the children from their cells and appeal their kindness to them.
The children were dumbfounded by this sight, but they understood that something big had happened.
The destruction of Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, was known to all of Birkyne’s subordinates in an instant. This included those who were scattered and working all over the continent and those who had originally been subordinates of Ternecia and Gubamon.
Ordinarily, such a thing would be impossible even for Vampires. Hihiryushukaka had been destroyed by Vandalieu in a Dungeon created by Gufadgarn, and all of Birkyne’s confidants had been defeated as well. There was no way for that information to leak to the outside.
But although Hihiryushukaka was an evil god, he was still a god that had been worshiped by the Vampires.
Vandalieu had once destroyed the spirit clone of Yupeon, the god of ice. He had also devoured a subordinate god of Alda, the god of law and fate, and destroyed the Dungeon that he had created. Both events had affected the minds of Alda’s clergymen greatly, immediately telling them that their god had been harmed. The priest of Alda in Morksi had even screamed out loud and lost consciousness.
The same thing had occurred in the Vampires who worshiped Hihiryushukaka.
Though their devotion was of a different quality from that of humans who worshiped gods, they had worshiped Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, and the Pure-breed Vampires who served him.
The core of their devotion was fear. Though they worshiped the power of evil gods, they had prayed and worshiped so that such power would not be directed at them. Still, there were almost none who could interpret the Divine Messages of evil gods, the structures of whose minds were simply too different from those of humans. However, it was easy to hear his dying scream.
As a result, the majority of the Noble-born Vampires who had served Hihiryushukaka for many years understood his destruction and lost their minds. They felt a sense of liberation at being freed from a fearsome being. But at the same time, they felt a sense of loss as the bonds that held the Vampires together vanished, and a sense of fear at having lost the powerful evil god that protected them.
And the Vampires who had worshiped Hihiryushukaka now knew that there existed a being capable of destroying him.
“It’s Vandalieu! There’s no doubt that Vandalieu destroyed the evil god of joyful life!” one Noble-born Vampire shouted in panic.
“He possesses the power to break souls! He has used this to destroy the evil god!” shrieked another.
To be more accurate there were others capable of facing Hihiryushukaka. The Five-colored Blades and the Storm of Tyranny, the S-class adventurer parties of this continent. If they were to fight with all of their strength, their power would likely reach even the gods.
But even if they had been able to seal Hihiryushukaka away, they would not have been capable of destroying him. That was only possible for those who possessed the ability to break and extinguish souls – the Demon King Guduranis… and Vandalieu.
Thus, the Vampires knew that Vandalieu had destroyed their evil god. And they were certain that they would be next.
Another Vampire screamed in terror. “We can’t be in Birkyne’s base! He’ll hear the voices of the dead and come to kill us!”
Many of the Noble-born Vampires were aware that their hands were stained with countless evil deeds, and that they had been rewarded for them. On top of that, many of the Noble-born Vampires were among the higher-ranking members of the organization, so they couldn’t use the excuse of having no choice because they had only done as they had been ordered.
Thus, many of the Noble-born Vampires capable of flying had done so to escape. As they were Rank 6 at minimum, it was possible for them to escape from the centers of Devils’ Nests on their own.
But the same was not true for the Subordinate Vampires. Those who had been able to hear the evil god’s dying scream had told the others about the situation in shock. They were aware of the situation, but they were unable to fly. On top of that, the weaker Subordinate Vampires were only Rank 3.
This base of Birkyne’s was in the center of a Devil’s Nest that was large and inhabited by powerful monsters so that adventurers could not easily reach it. In order for the Subordinate Vampires to escape from this base, they would have to run as fast as they could while constantly fighting monsters for several days straight.
Having decided that this task was impossible, the Subordinate Vampires had chosen a different option.
“So, that is why they released the captive children themselves… and the sight before our eyes is the result,” murmured Eleanora.
Having used Gufadgarn’s teleportation to visit this base, Vandalieu and his companions had expected that they would need to fight Birkyne’s subordinates.
But what they found instead was several dozen Subordinate Vampires begging for their lives.
“Yes! I, Andrew, have had a change of heart! I am ready to offer my life to you in order to atone for my past!”
“I am known as Barnio. It has been several decades since I became a Subordinate Vampire, and I have been doing nothing but miscellaneous chores such as the cleaning and the laundry for this place. This is the truth! Please, spare me!”
“I, Citrin, am the one who made the food that the children are eating right now. So please, find it in your heart!”
Eleanora sighed. She was actually impressed by how spectacularly they had changed sides.
“Well, I don’t think I can say anything, since I was also an assassin who changed sides… So, what shall we do?” she asked.
“I don’t think that their words are sincere. But… it seems that some of them have already been guided by Danna-sama,” said Bellmond.
In essence, the guidance of a guider manifested in one’s thoughts. Thus, it would normally be impossible to determine whether one had been guided from their outward appearance. But Bellmond was able to tell that several of the Subordinate Vampires had been guided by Vandalieu. Some of them had a fanatical gleam in their eyes.
“If you insist on not leaving me alive, then please kill me right now! I, Raikert, shall swear loyalty to you as a spirit!” one of the Vampires shouted.
This was one such example.
“You’re right. Those eyes are the eyes of people who swear a fanatical loyalty to Vandalieu-sama and would not even hesitate to become Undead,” said Isla.
“Bellmond, Isla, I think you’re right, but…” Vandalieu muttered. “Everyone, you freed the captive children in order to beg for your lives, right? Your goal seems to have changed,” he remarked to the subordinate Vampires.
He had no recollection of creating fanatical worshipers but unfortunately, speaking to them seemed to only make them more fanatical. All of the Subordinate Vampires were a part of the organization who had worshiped Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, and they had been at the bottom of that society. It was difficult to say that their minds were in a sound state.
There was no contact with human society here, so they had spent the majority of their Vampire lives obeying Birkyne and the Noble-born Vampires.
In summary, they had already been trained, in a way.
“Seeing myself reflected in your eyes is enough to make my hands tremble… Such overwhelming power…!” one of the Subordinate Vampires whispered.
Another was gasping for air. “So fearsome…!”
The Subordinate Vampires felt fear towards Vandalieu just from him speaking to them, and the fanatical gleam appeared in the eyes of more and more of them.
Vandalieu looked away in disbelief.
“Are all of these people related to you or something?” Isla muttered to Eleanora.
“Hey! Are you trying to say that you’re any different?!” Eleanora retorted.
“… At heart, us three are likely the same as them,” said Bellmond.
Just then, Seris and Vestra returned.
“We’ve heard the children’s stories,” Seris said.
Director Holly had been reunited with the children that had been sent here from her orphanage, apologized for not being able to save them and was now engaged in conversation with them.
“They’re confused because they were freed by the same Vampires that held them captive and watched over them. Many of the children do not hold anything against the Vampires as long as their own lives are spared and they are free,” said Seris.
“But there were also many children that said they wouldn’t go near the Vampires, as they are scary and creepy. Also, as the children have told us, it seems that the Vampires have not killed anyone here for a while,” said Vestra.
Birkyne had been wary of information reaching Vandalieu through spirits, so he had done his utmost to avoid killing the captive children. He had even found and abducted a human with the ‘Spiritualist’ Job that allowed them to see spirits, forcing him to work with him.
“Of course, it seems that the spiritualist lied to the Vampires. Birkyne and his subordinates had been taught that they could purify any spirits haunting them if they poured holy water on themselves, but in reality, there were so many spirits around them that they could not purify all of them with just that,” Vestra added.
“It’s because of that I was able to know that something had happened before I entered the orphanage, so I need to thank that spiritualist,” said Vandalieu. “So, you people are slightly unpopular amongst the children, but… I’ve decided to take you with me,” he told the Subordinate Vampires.
About a third of the Subordinate Vampires sighed in relief at this decision, while the other two thirds gave small cries of joy… Incidentally, the latter was the fanatical ones.
“I will have all of you convert to Vida’s faction and live under supervision for a while. As for the supervision… I guess I’ll ask the Black Night Knights’ Order to watch over you,” Vandalieu said.
“Please leave it to us, Vandalieu-sama. My subordinates will be able to train these fools well,” said Isla.
The Black Night Knights’ Order was the order of knights consisting of Vampire Zombies, with Isla as its leader. They upheld the rules of Talosheim, interacted with the people in a friendly manner and strived to improve their image through volunteer activities such as keeping the city clean. Thus, Vandalieu felt comfortable leaving the Subordinate Vampires’ supervision to them.
“There will be some more from the other facilities we are about to visit… probably dozens more,” said Vandalieu.
“… I just want to be sure, but will all of the Vampires be like that? Seris and I only just realized that we are Vampires today, so we don’t really feel it, but will Seris and I become like that one day?” Vestra asked.
“No… or you shouldn’t, but that doesn’t sound very convincing coming from us,” said Eleanora.
Vestra looked concerned; this answer was indeed very unconvincing coming from someone wearing a collar that they had received from Vandalieu.
The original reason for Vandalieu and his companions coming to this tower, Birkyne’s main base, was because there were many children captive here. If the Vampires here guessed that they had been defeated from the fact that Birkyne had not returned, it was possible that they may kill the children in despair or simply leave, leaving the children behind.
Now that Vandalieu knew that this wasn’t the case, he and his companions decided to use the Job-changing room in the base in order to change Jobs before going around to the other facilities. However, this didn’t go very smoothly.
Eleanora only had Jobs containing ‘Princess’ available to her, and reluctantly chose ‘Transforming Sword Princess.’ Likewise, Bellmond chose ‘Transforming Kunoichi’ for similar reasons.
“This is clearly because of the transformation equipment that you made for us, but… it’s too convenient to give up! Van-sama, what are you trying to do to us?!” Eleanora demanded.
“She’s absolutely correct, Danna-sama. Please make your intentions clear, so that we may gather our resolve,” said Bellmond, joining Eleanora in pressing Vandalieu for answers.
“You two still don’t understand, do you? It is only natural for us servants to understand his intentions without him speaking them out loud,” said Isla.
“My main objective is to have you use superior equipment and become powerful,” said Vandalieu, realizing that Isla was trying to create a flag for trouble and trying to calm the other two down by repeating his true intentions. “Well, I can’t deny that I am enjoying myself at times,” he added.
Of course, Jobs such as ‘Magical Girl’ were useful Jobs with high Attribute Value growth rates according to Kanako and Darcia, so ‘Transforming Sword Princess’ and ‘Transforming Kunoichi’ were likely useful Jobs as well. Eleanora and Bellmond would likely grow even stronger.
“My ‘Dream Guider’ Job reached Level 100 too, from the Experience Points I gained from Hihiryushukaka’s defeat… And there probably aren’t any more facilities that we need to get to as soon as possible,” said Vandalieu.
Places with Vampires that could hear Hihiryushukaka’s dying scream would likely already be aware of the situation, just like this place. Places without such Vampires would not even have realized that Birkyne and his confidants had been defeated.
Either way, there was no enormous need to hastily rush to the other facilities.
“And it would be troublesome in the… very unlikely chance that I were to be asked about my Job-change if I did it in Morksi.”
And so, Vandalieu entered the Job-changing room in this base and put his hand on the crystal ball inside.
《Jobs that can be selected: Whip Tongue Calamity, Vengeful Berserker, Dead Spirit Mage, Dark King Mage, Divine Enemy, Fallen Warrior, Insect Nin, Destruction Guider, Dungeon Master, Demon King, Chaos Guider, Hollow King Mage, Eclipse Cursecaster, String User, Demon Ruler, Creator, Demiurge, Pale Rider, Tartarus, Wild Spirit, Dark Battery Cannoneer, Magic Staff Creator, Soul Fighter, God Destroyer, Qliphoth, Dark Beast User, Spirit Therapist, Artisan: Transformation Equipment》
“… So, there are no new Jobs this time. Well then, I will go with my original plan and select ‘Demon King.’”
Vandalieu had avoided the ‘Demon King’ Job up until now, but when he destroyed Hihiryushukaka and absorbed the Demon King’s shadow, which was a fragment of the Demon King’s soul, he had felt a different sensation from when he absorbed the Demon King’s physical fragments.
In the end, nothing had actually happened, but it was possible that Vandalieu would absorb more fragments of the Demon King’s soul in the future. He thought that it would be best to take the ‘Demon King’ Job, which could possibly prevent any potential problems that could arise.
This was just a thought, and there was no proof that this was the case, and he was naturally aware of the possibility that it could just make things worse. However…
It has been some time since the fragments began referring to me as the ‘main body,’ so it’s about time.
With this train of thought, he believed that the risk was low. However, he had decided to use the Job-changing room in this tower, as it would be bad if his voice were to be heard by people in the city while he was choosing this Job there.
《You have changed Jobs to the ‘Demon King’ Job!》
《You have acquired the ‘Life Perversion,’ ‘Demon Element Encroachment,’ ‘Imitation Reincarnation’ and ‘Servant Creation’ Skills!》
《The ‘Life Perversion’ Skill has merged with the ‘Mutation Induction’ Skill! The ‘Demon Element Encroachment’ Skill has merged with the ‘Guidance: Dark Dream Demon Creation Path’ Skill! The ‘Imitation Reincarnation’ and ‘Servant Creation’ Skills have merged with the ‘Dark King Magic’ Skill!》
《The Levels of the ‘Rapid Regeneration,’ ‘Super Strengthen Subordinates,’ ‘Deadly Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue),’ ‘Body Expansion (Tongue),’ ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Reigning,’ ‘Surpass Limits: Fragments,’ ‘Mental Encroachment,’ ‘Labyrinth Creation’ and ‘Demon King’ Skills have increased!》
《‘Automatic Mana Recovery’ has awakened into ‘Constant Mana Recovery!’ ‘Enhanced Vitality’ has awakened into ‘Augmented Vitality!’》
《You have reached Level 100!》
Vandalieu heard ominous bubbling sounds coming from within his body and felt like he could also hear the sound of his bones and muscles twisting, but he was more concerned about the announcer’s voice in his head.
He had acquired some dangerous-sounding Skills, but was relieved that they had combined with his existing Skills, just like when he had devoured Hihiryushukaka’s soul. But at the end, the announcer had said that he had reached Level 100.
“Status… I really am Level 100. Why? Is it because I’ve already gathered fragments of the Demon King?” Vandalieu wondered.
Just as he had gained Experience Points for ‘Bestower’ by causing mutations in people and creatures, perhaps the ‘Demon King’ Job could gain Experience Points by gathering fragments of the Demon King.
“In any case… Since I’ve reached Level 100, I need to change Jobs one more time. Next Job is… I wonder which I should take?”
‘False Shadow User’ had appeared as a new option; this was likely related to the Demon King’s shadow. Taking this into account as well, Vandalieu chose a Job that was even more mysterious than the ‘Demon King’ Job.
“I select ‘Demiurge.’”
《You have acquired the ‘Demigod’ Skill!》
Name: Vandalieu Zakkart
Race: Dhampir (Mother: Goddess)
Age: 11 years old
Title: Ghoul Emperor, Eclipse Emperor, Guardian of the Cultivation Villages, Holy Son of Vida, Scaled Emperor, Tentacle Emperor, Champion, Demon King, Oni Emperor, Trial Conqueror, Transgressor, Black Blood Emperor, Elder Dragon Emperor, Food Cart King (NEW!), Genius Tamer (NEW!)
Job: Demiurge
Level: 0
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User, Tree Caster, Demon Guider, Archenemy, Zombie Maker, Golem Creator, Corpse Demon Commander, Demon King User, Dark Guider, Labyrinth Creator, Creation Guider, Dark Healer, Disease Demon, Magic Cannoneer, Spirit Warrior, Bestower, Dream Guider, Demon King
Attributes:
Vitality: 235,503 (Increased by 110,525!)
Mana: 5,779,760,020 (+4,623,808,016) (Increased by 1,371,958,437 in total!)
Strength: 29,158 (Increased by 13,650!)
Agility: 24,761 (Increased by 13,695!)
Stamina: 31,520 (Increased by 14,537!)
Intelligence: 41,375 (Increased by 17,848!)
Passive skills:
Monstrous Strength: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Rapid Regeneration: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Dark King Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!) (Merged with Forceful Vitality Enchantment, Soul Binding, Dominate Created Undead, Imitation Reincarnation and Servant Creation!)
Status Effect Immunity
Magic Resistance: Level 9
Dark Vision
Dark Dream Demon Creation Path Enticement: Level 8
Chant Revocation: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Guidance: Dark Dream Demon Creation Path: Level 8 (Merged with Demon Element Encroachment!)
Constant Mana Recovery: Level 1 (Awakened from Automatic Mana Recovery!)
Super Strengthen Subordinates: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!) (Awakened from Strengthen Subordinates!)
Deadly Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Enhanced Agility: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Very Large (LEVEL UP!)
Enhanced Body Part (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Thread Refining: Level 7
Mana Enlargement: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Strengthened Attack Power while activating a Magic Cannon: Large (LEVEL UP!)
Augmented Vitality: Level 1 (Awakened from Enhanced Vitality!)
Enhanced Attribute Values: Reigning: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Active skills:
Bloodwork: Level 10
Transcend Limits: Level 6
Golem Creation: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Hollow King Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Precise Mana Control: Level 1
Cooking: Level 8
Alchemy: Level 10
Soul Destruction Fighting Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Greater Multi-cast: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Surgery: Level 8
Embodiment: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Coordination: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Super High-speed Thought Processing: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Commanding: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Thread-reeling: Level 6
Throwing: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Scream: Level 7
Dead Spirit Magic: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Demon King Artillery Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Shield Technique: Level 7
Armor Technique: Level 7
Shadow Group Binding Technique: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!) (Transformed from Group Binding Technique!)
Surpass Limits: Fragments: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Spirit Therapy: Level 1 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
God Devourer: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Deformed Soul
Mental Encroachment: Level 9 (LEVEL UP!)
Labyrinth Creation: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Demon King: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Abyss: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Divine Enemy
Soul Devour: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Vida’s Divine Protection
Earth’s Gods’ Divine Protection
Group Thought Processing: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Zantark’s Divine Protection
Group Control: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Soul Form: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Demon King’s Demon Eyes
Origin’s Gods’ Divine Protection
Ricklent’s Divine Protection
Zuruwarn’s Divine Protection
Perfect Record Technique
Surpass Limits: Soul: Level 1
Mutation Induction (Merged with Life Erosion and Life Perversion!)
Demon King’s Body (NEW!)
Demigod (NEW!)
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
Looking at his Status, Vandalieu felt dizzy.
My Mana is finally over 10,000,000,000 and my Vitality has increased as well… and my Strength and Stamina almost doubled. But I don’t have muscular pain like I did during my growth period.
Vandalieu walked around the Job-changing room a little, but there was no pain of creaking muscles and joints.
Perhaps it was because the Demon King’s fragments had merged into the Demon King’s body, or because of the clearly abnormal ‘Demigod’ Skill that he had acquired after selecting the ‘Demiurge’ Job.
“Well, it’s entirely possible that crippling pain throughout my whole body will prevent me from getting out of bed tomorrow,” Vandalieu mused to himself.
As he left the room, there was something of a fuss going on outside.
“Van-sama! We suddenly acquired the ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill, which is different from ‘Familiar Spirit Descent!’ What happened?!” asked Eleanora.
“Eleanora, you should be asking, ‘What did you do?’ not ‘What happened?’” said Bellmond.
Before he replied, Vandalieu focused his mind towards Talosheim through his pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiars.
… The same thing had occurred there, too. It seemed that everyone who had acquired Vandalieu’s divine protection had acquired the ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill.
The overexcited Luciliano was quite frightening. He was approaching the nearest pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar, shouting, “You have finally become a god?! If that is the case, please let me examine you, Master!”
“… I guess it was careless of me to take ‘Demiurge’ after ‘Demon King’ after all. I should have discussed things with everyone before deciding,” Vandalieu sighed, regretting his hasty choice.
Incidentally, Isla had apparently set about testing the ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill right away.
In his office, Earl Isaac Morksi signed and stamped a document with the sense of accomplishment that came with finishing a large project.
He had succeeded in creating a friendly connection with that Dhampir boy who was very extraordinary in various ways. This was a great accomplishment for him, equivalent to signing an important peace treaty with another nation.
An individual who possessed a tremendous power that could decide the fate of nations… This was what Isaac thought Vandalieu was. He wasn’t entirely sure why he thought this, but he felt very strongly about it.
Just then, Isaac’s retainer entered with a report from his spies.
“Danna-sama, there has been a report,” he said.
“Let me hear it,” said Isaac.
“It seems that the boy headed for the orphanage in the slums today. His mother is making preparations for the food cart, and the Beast-kin girl who attended the tea party and a man named Simon who lives in the slums are helping her.”
“Hmm? What about the boy himself and his beasts?”
“The beasts are guarding his house, and the boy still seems to be at the orphanage. Apparently, he is helping with preparations for a festival tomorrow.”
Isaac was puzzled by his retainer’s report.
The Commerce Guild did not have any problems with the food cart’s owner not being present during business; the requirement for turning a temporary registration into a full membership was the business owner being able to run a sustainable business. Even if the registered owner was not there, it was fine as long as the business kept operating.
But Isaac felt a sense of discomfort towards the fact that the boy, with whom he had discussed things just earlier today, was acting in a way that he had never done before.
“Is there a festival for Vida tomorrow? I don’t recall there being one,” said Isaac.
“My apologies, my lord. I do remember the ones that are held at the Communal Church, but I am not aware of any…” said the retainer, unable to answer his question.
This was just a sign of how little interest they had taken in the orphanage in the slums.
Isaac did donate some things to the orphanage as a part of his slum welfare policy, but this was all in most times. If not for Vandalieu, there was no reason to take notice of it.
“Shall we try asking the inhabitants of the nearby areas?” the retainer suggested.
“… If we did that, he would take notice,” said Isaac. “It’s a good opportunity. Tell the spies that from now on, they are to stop monitoring and investigating Vandalieu Zakkart and instead start to monitor and investigate whether there is anyone attempting to approach him, especially anyone who intends to cause him harm.”
“Are you content to stop investigating his identity and intentions?”
“Yes,” Isaac said with a nod.
He had managed to create a connection with Vandalieu during the afternoon’s tea party. If he had his spies investigate any further and they were later discovered, the connection would go to waste.
And I do not believe that my family’s spies will be able to discern his identity and motives, even if they were to investigate further, Isaac thought, but he did not voice this out loud.
“More importantly, his existence should now be known not only to the main cities of the Alcrem Duchy, but to the other Duchies as well. It would be troublesome if the fundamentalists were to make a move. Caution is needed,” said Isaac.
Vandalieu’s identity was unknown, but he had no ill intentions and followed the law. It was likely that he would bring about development in this city and the Alcrem Duchy. Isaac believed that the fanatics who sought to take the lives of Dhampirs were far more deserving of caution. Being fervently religious was all well and good, but it would be troublesome if they were to cause some incident.
That was how Isaac thought after today’s tea party.
“I do not believe that he requires the protection of my house, but… it would be a mess if the fundamentalists were to try and set his house on fire or something. We must take preemptive action,” Isaac said.
“As you wish,” the retainer said with a bow, and then he left to relay Isaac’s orders to the spies.
Alone in his office once more, Isaac put his seal on the final document on his desk and then stretched his body.
“Now then… I suppose I should get an early night’s sleep tonight,” he murmured to himself.
To many people including Isaac, today was yet another uneventful day in the city of Morksi.
Job explanation (Written by Luciliano): Dream Guider
A Job that does not represent a guider with dreams, but one who appears in dreams to guide his followers… Guidance manifests as thoughts, but can dreams be considered thoughts?
In that sense, it is the most unusual among all of the currently-known guider-type Jobs.
It does not seem to provide much growth to physical Attribute Values such as Strength, Stamina and Agility, but it did provide much growth to Intelligence and Mana.
Job explanation (Written by Luciliano): Demon King
Can ‘Demon King’ be considered a Job?
This is a Job that throws everything we know about Jobs as a concept into question. It is likely a Job that can only be acquired by those who can successfully fuse the Demon King’s fragments into themselves rather than being parasitized by them.
It seemed that this Job provided a large growth to all Attribute Values.
Talosheim, several hours before the battle between Vandalieu and Birkyne.
The Sun Giant Talos was considered to be the most exceptional, powerful and gentle among the Colossi who had survived the war against the Demon King Guduranis.
Having been awakened from his eternal slumber, he gathered his children who carried his blood in the holy grounds of the nation that bore his name… though they were Undead. The important figures were here, including the ‘Sword King’ Borkus, the ‘Saint of Healing’ Jeena and the ‘Tiny Genius’ Zandia.
And he spoke to them.
“I was wondering if you could ask for the name of this nation to be changed to Vandalieuheim or Vandalieuland,” he said with a serious expression.
Borkus and the others had expected to be told of some important prophecy or long-forgotten truth; it took several seconds for them to understand what Talos was saying.
Zandia, the second princess, spoke on behalf of the former king of Talosheim who had never become an Undead and the first princess Levia who was accompanying Vandalieu.
“Umm… Are you serious?” she asked.
“Serious, super serious. I really think that the name of the country should be changed,” said Talos, the ancestor of the Titans whose body was larger than a castle, nodding repeatedly.
“Very well, great father,” said Nuaza, the head of Talosheim’s Church of Vida who would attempt to get permission to build an enormous statue of Vandalieu at every opportunity. “We must tell the Holy Son right away –”
“Hold up,” said Borkus, hastily stopping him.
“It’s too early for that, Nuaza,” said Jeena, who had handed over… or rather, forced, the responsibility of leading the Church onto Nuaza.
“Why would you oppose this?! Borkus-dono, and even you, Jeena-sama! You supported me in the creation of palm-sized statues of the Holy Son!” Nuaza protested loudly.
“Small statues of His-Majesty-kun are cute. But the name of the country doesn’t have much to do with cuteness,” Jeena replied.
“At least tell us your reasons,” Borkus said to Talos, managing to grimace with the half of his face that wasn’t a skull. “Could it be that you really didn’t want your name to be used for the country’s name in the first place?”
Talosheim was the city nation that had been built on the sacred land that Talos had created using the last of his power in order to protect the Titans who had been defeated by Alda and escaped with the goddess.
Thus, Borkus and the rest of the Titans hadn’t had any questions or misgivings about naming the nation after their great father. But perhaps Talos had a far more modest personality than his appearance would suggest and he felt embarrassed to have his name used for the name of the nation.
It was also possible that as one of the gods who ruled over the sun, Talos was discontent with the state of the nation, as there were citizens who were Undead or Vampires, and some other citizens had transformed into new races such as Dark Humans and Dark Dwarves.
Until recently, Talos had been slumbering in order to regain his power. Thus, he had been entirely absent from the former Talosheim’s entire history. It wouldn’t be surprising if he were discontent with how the nation was.
Or so Borkus thought, but Talos let out a sigh.
“It is not that I didn’t want it, but… I feel bad. I mean, I have been asleep until recently, haven’t I? Other than creating the holy grounds in the beginning to ward off monsters, I have not done anything. And over the past hundred thousand years, the holy grounds have shrunk to the point that I could occupy it in its entirety just by sitting in it,” Talos said. “It is… uncomfortable that the name of someone like myself is being used as the name of the nation that leads numerous nations of Vida’s races.”
The reason appeared to be closer to the former, though it didn’t seem that Talos was at all concerned about the fact that the majority of the nation’s inhabitants were beings who were unsuited to being the citizens of a nation of the sun, such as Undead and Vampires.
The Undead Titans suddenly remembered that in the age of myths, Talos had said: ‘The sun’s light shines upon all of creation. It gives only warmth, not distinguishing between good and evil.’
“I see… I understand your reasons. But I think it’ll be a pain in the ass to change the country’s name,” said Borkus.
“Yeah, it’s not just a matter of redrawing the maps,” said Jeena.
“We’ve been calling it ‘Talosheim’ this whole time, so we’re kind of attached to it,” added Zandia.
It may have been simple to rename the Talosheim of the past, as it had not had diplomatic relations with other nations and its population was about five thousand.
But now, it was the main nation in an empire of nations in the Boundary Mountain Range, and it even governed a detached region in the Dark Continent. There was a vast number of documents.
And most importantly, there were already almost a hundred thousand citizens who had grown attached to the name ‘Talosheim.’
“Can’t something be done about that? I tried talking about it with the other gods, but all I got was a lecture from my younger sister that I haven’t seen in a hundred thousand years, and that Xerxes told me that I’m only thinking about useless things because I’ve got too much time on my hands. Fidirg seems to think that I’m too free as well,” Talos muttered, insisting that he wasn’t free since he had joined in on maintaining the barriers around the Boundary Mountain Range from the day when he had regained consciousness.
He was complaining about Xerxes, the god of battle flags who was the guardian deity of the Majin nation, and the dragon god of five sins Fidirg, who protected the Lizardman territory in the marshlands.
“What has Vida-sama said?” asked Borkus.
“She comforts me when we talk about it, but… the topic always quickly changes to our beloved children. She tells hundreds or thousands of stories about our children all at once, so I can barely even nod my head in response,” said Talos.
The gods, especially the great gods, existed in a far higher dimension than mortals. They heard prayers from countless believers and watched over them all. As a Colossus, Talos was among the demigods that were extremely close to being a true god, but it seemed that it was not easy to keep up with Vida’s pace.
“Then doesn’t it mean that the other gods don’t really think that the name needs to be changed either?” said Jeena, trying to convince Talos to not worry about the issue.
“Mmm… Perhaps I am worrying about it needlessly,” said Talos.
His mind seemed to be heading in that direction, and one of the Titans who hadn’t spoken yet came up with an ingenious idea.
Zran, the only Undead Titan to hold the title of ninja, whispered into Borkus’s ear. “Hey, Borkus. Your daughter Gopher seems to have a brilliant idea.”
Borkus turned around in surprise. “What’s wrong, Gopher?! Is something wrong with your stomach?!” he asked his daughter in a whisper.
Gopher, who was normally strong-willed, had her head bowed towards Talos and made no attempt to look up at him.
“Shut up. Unlike you and your friends, I’m a normal person, old man. I’m still not used to this!” Gopher whispered back.
Indeed, she and the other ordinary Titans were being pressured by the aura that Talos was giving off; they were unable to raise their faces to look at him.
Borkus himself had already become close to the realm of godhood himself, and he had seen gods on numerous previous occasions, so he was able to look Talos in the eye and converse normally. But Gopher and the other ordinary Titans could not do this.
After being freed from the slave mine in the Hartner Duchy, Gopher had strived to become a warrior like her father while doing other work on the side such as teaching at a school. However, she had not yet reached the level of being a superhuman.
Talos was the father of the Titan race, and although he consciously suppressed the aura of pressure that he gave off… it was normal for those in his presence to become unable to even speak to him.
“Sorry about that. A hundred thousand years ago, I would teach combat techniques to your ancestors and sing songs with them to get them used to my presence, but I wasn’t able to do that for you,” said Talos. “But in exchange…”
A soft light came from Talos, enveloping Gopher. As it did, she felt the pressure emanating from Talos subsiding.
“This is… a divine protection! Is it really alright to grant divine protections so freely?” Gopher asked.
“In the past, I would grant my divine protection to children who trained in combat and children who sang well. It is nothing to be concerned about,” said Talos. “More importantly, I would like to hear your brilliant idea.”
“Ah, alright. It’s nothing outstanding or anything, but… in human nations, the capital city is often named differently from the nation itself. I just thought that it might be better for Talosheim to be like that as well,” said Gopher.
As all of the nations within the Boundary Mountain Range were city states, the name of the nation and the name of the city were one and the same, and the concept of separating the two didn’t even exist.
However, even though she had been a slave, Gopher had lived in a human nation and knew that human nations contained multiple cities.
“I see… You are suggesting that the city remains as Talosheim, and the nation’s name changes. Could I ask you to request for this to happen?” Talos asked.
“That way, Talosheim would stay as Talosheim, so I think a lot of people would agree…” Zandia said with a nod. “But I think it would depend on the nation’s name for His-Majesty-kun,” she added, knowing that Vandalieu would certainly be opposed to the nation being named something like Vandalieuheim.
“Well, that just needs to be discussed, doesn’t it? Either way, we can’t just change it by ourselves,” said Borkus. “Before we talk to the boy about it, let’s try talking to Chezare and Kurt.”
“O-old man, you’re making the preparations…?!” Gopher murmured in disbelief.
“Next thing, you’ll be telling me that it’s going to snow tomorrow,” Jeena laughed.
And so, the movement to change the name of the Talosheim Empire began.
The news of the destruction of the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, was instantly known to the Vampires who were a part of the faction that worshiped Hihiryushukaka in the Bahn Gaia continent.
One could describe the chaos that ensued as intense, and also as quiet.
Many Noble-born Vampires in Birkyne’s bases in the Orbaume Kingdom and spread around the regions to manipulate criminal organizations from the shadows had chosen to flee. They were doing their best to survive, abandoning their duties and the organizations they were running along with a few close aides.
The Subordinate Vampires left behind by the Noble-born Vampires had chosen to wait for Vandalieu’s arrival, intending to swear loyalty to him and convert to Vida’s faction like the ones at the tower had done. There were also some who had tried to take over their criminal organizations in the absence of the Noble-born Vampires and others who had continued carrying out their duties, unaware of anything.
Thus, the Orbaume Kingdom would soon become unstable, suffering frequent incidents caused by members of the criminal organizations whose leadership had been lost, or battles against Vampires whose hiding places had been discovered, but… the instability would be a temporary thing, and many of the organizations would be destroyed by the work of soldiers, knights and adventurers.
The fearsome thing about Vampires was that they formed organizations like humans, were highly capable in combat, possessed good equipment and, most importantly, they plotted schemes inside cities rather than Devil’s Nests.
These Vampires abandoned their organizations and began acting on their own or in small groups, and those who were not used to running the organizations had taken over, showing their faults. In other words, they had discarded their strengths and were nothing but prey to the humans.
But in the Amid Empire, there had been almost no chaos among the Vampires who had worshiped Hihiryushukaka. There were some who had planned to flee like the Noble-born Vampires in the Orbaume Kingdom, as well as some who had chosen to kill themselves rather than suffer gruesome fates at the hands of Vandalieu’s subordinates. But the majority of them remained where they were.
This was because many of them believed that Vandalieu would not send people to pursue them all the way in the Amid Empire.
Indeed, Vandalieu had no thoughts of going to the Amid Empire side of the continent. There weren’t any particularly important Vampire-run bases or organizations there, so he had decided that there was no problem with leaving them be.
There were orphanages for gathering children and brothels, but there were none who had been manipulated by the Demon King’s shadow like the children in Morksi’s orphanage.
It seemed that Birkyne had also deemed it unlikely that Vandalieu would appear on the Amid Empire side of the continent.
… Some of those organizations had been destroyed instead by the Storm of Tyranny and their allies who had been informed about the organizations by Vandalieu.
Vandalieu felt no obligation to send forces out to hunt down Vampires scattered over various regions in order to improve the stability of a nation that he did not rule… especially a nation that was his enemy.
That was the job of the lords who ruled those lands and the knights, soldiers and Adventurers’ Guild that fought under their banners.
But Vandalieu had still dealt with the Vampires and places that would be dangerous to leave alone, such as Noble-born Vampire Viscounts that were as powerful as Birkyne’s confidants and the storage facility where Birkyne had kept Subordinate Vampires that he had tortured into becoming murderous puppets for his own amusement.
In the process, Vandalieu had encountered Noble-born Vampires who had remained in the bases to beg for their lives alongside the Subordinate Vampires, so that night had been quite busy.
A Dwarf with a long, braided beard let out a dull scream and clutched his head. “It’s over, it’s hopeless… This is the end!”
The ‘Mage Masher’ Asagi Minami ran into the laboratory, alarmed by the Dwarf’s scream. “W-what’s wrong, Zean-san?” he asked.
“A-Ah, Asagi-kun! Listen to me! The experiment has proven that my hypothesis was wrong!” said the Dwarf named Zean.
The blood drained from Asagi’s face as he prepared himself for the worst.
“But don’t worry. I’ve created a new hypothesis from these results!” the Dwarf said.
“Really?!” Asagi exclaimed.
“Yes; it is still too early to give up. The research has been a series of failures. According to my new hypothesis –”
The blood returned to Asagi’s face as he listened to Zean’s hypothesis. The ‘Ifrit’ Shouko Akagi and the ‘Clairvoyance’ Tatsuya Tendou, who had entered the laboratory behind Asagi, watched with complicated expressions.
“… How many hypotheses does this make now?” Shouko muttered.
“Who knows. I stopped counting after a hundred,” said Tatsuya.
Asagi’s group saw Vandalieu as a threat, so they had been researching ways to combat the Demon King’s fragments. They wanted to discover knowledge and technology that could stand up against Vandalieu, and spread it to every nation. They believed that this would allow the nations to gain some power, deterring Vandalieu from taking future large-scale military actions such as declaring war.
But the research was difficult.
This was only to be expected. Rodcorte considered Lambda to be inferior to other worlds, but even so, Asagi and his companions were trying to develop knowledge and technology that this world’s inhabitants had not managed to do so in over a hundred thousand years.
The three of them had not completely immersed themselves in their combat training and battles against terrorists during their previous lives. All of them had graduated university, and they possessed far deeper knowledge regarding magic than the average person. Tatsuya in particular had acquired much specialist knowledge, as he had put his ‘Clairvoyance’ to use in bomb disposal and the field of medicine.
However, they were researching the Demon King’s fragments. These had not existed in Origin, and they had not even originated in Lambda; they were the transformed flesh fragments of the Demon King Guduranis, an invader from yet another world. They were clearly impossible to explain using Origin’s scientific knowledge and magic system. Asagi’s group had known from the very beginning that this research would be difficult.
That was why they had searched for someone to help with the research. Someone well-versed in this world’s myths, legends, magic and alchemy.
The person they had encountered was Zean, the one who was explaining his hypothesis to Asagi now. He was an eccentric mage who worked in a useless post at the Mages’ Guild. He would repeatedly come up with strange and novel theories, then set about disproving them.
Up until now, it was commonly accepted knowledge that Orichalcum was the only effective tool against the Demon King’s fragments. Despite that, Zean had promised to cooperate with the strange trio who wished to research other effective ways to deal with the fragments.
“… He is a brilliant person, though. He gets inspirations, doesn’t slack off in experimenting and quickly admits his mistakes. I think it’s pretty impressive that he’s managed to come up with over a hundred convincing theories and still keep going,” said Tatsuya.
Indeed, Zean was a genius in a way. Through the verification and rejection of hypotheses, considerable gains had been made.
“But I wish he’d stop screaming like the world is ending every time his hypothesis is wrong,” Shouko sighed.
The two of them felt a sense of futility every time they heard Zean’s scream, knowing that it meant that his hypothesis had been wrong.
This was likely why Zean had been placed in a useless position in the Mages’ Guild. Due to his behavior, nobody had noticed that he was a very exceptional individual.
But for some reason, it seemed that he and Asagi got along. It was likely that their overbearing stubbornness to continue on towards their goal without giving up was what they had in common.
“Come to think of it, how is the ‘sponsor’ these days?” asked Shouko.
“There’s been no real change. He’s just regularly getting reports about the state of the research,” said Tatsuya.
This research into the Demon King fragments was being carried out with the support of Duke Birgitt’s family, who ruled over this duchy… and their surveillance.
After all, the target of research was a fragment of the Demon King. If it were mishandled, a researcher could become infested by the fragment and run amok, destroying the city.
Ordinarily, adventurers like Asagi’s group would never be allowed to carry out such research, but as they had successfully sealed away a rampaging fragment of the Demon King with the advice of Aran and the other reincarnated individuals in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm, the duke had allowed it… though a large part of the reason was that the duke had mistakenly thought that Asagi’s group were among the heroes who had recently emerged all over the continent with the divine protections of the gods.
They had received a god’s divine protection (Rodcorte’s), so it was an easy mistake to make.
And so, Asagi’s group had received considerable support, but they had come under the supervision of the duke’s family in exchange. Tatsuya had examined this surveillance with his ‘Clairvoyance’ and was also keeping an eye out for anything strange, but there had been nothing particularly out of the ordinary.
“The duke is probably going to get another report because of the scream just now, so I’ll have a look, but… it’ll probably be the same as usual,” said Tatsuya, assuming that the person doing the surveillance and reporting worked for the Birgitt family.
The group’s goal hadn’t changed, so they didn’t see this as a problem.
But the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne’s will existed among the vassals serving the duke’s family that was funding the research and the Mages’ Guild employees introduced to the group by Zean.
None of the group were aware, as Birkyne was manipulating them in such a way that the vassals and employees themselves were unaware of it.
Aran and the other familiar spirits in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm were capable of seeing information regarding the humans whose souls belonged to Rodcorte’s circle of transmigration system. However, this was the Birgitt Duchy, whose duke was a Beast-kin. There were more members of Vida’s races here than in other duchies, so the information available was limited.
“But have a look just in case. Asagi and I will probably be busy acquiring materials and things needed for experiments to test the next new hypothesis,” said Shouko.
“Alright… Let’s pray that the duke’s family doesn’t cut off their support,” said Tatsuya.
The two of them had not been involved in researching Zean’s hypotheses for a while; they were hunting as adventurers. The incidents caused by the chaos within Hihiryushukaka’s Vampires after the loss of Birkyne had occurred all over the Birgitt Duchy as well.
The duke’s family could not simply ignore Asagi’s group’s achievement of successfully sealing a Demon King fragment, and they could not refuse his requests, as he was their sponsor.
And from their successful exterminations of multiple Noble-born Vampires, Asagi and his companions went through a promotion examination for formality’s sake, and became B-class adventurers.
Incidentally, Vandalieu did not appear in their laboratory through teleportation. Their research was inconvenient for Vandalieu, but as there were Demon King fragments not absorbed by him still running loose, he had apparently decided that their research was necessary.
Several days after the destruction of Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, in Itobam, a city on the opposite side of the Devil’s Nest that had been ruled by the Minotaur King from Morksi.
The members of the Flame Blades, an adventurer party that worked in the Adventurers’ Guild of this city, were busy hunting in the Devil’s Nest.
One of them, a male Titan shield-bearer, angrily kicked away a monster corpse whose materials he had finished collecting. “Shit… How the hell can we pay a hundred thousand Baums!” he cursed. “A hundred thousand! How many years is it going to take to earn that?! Are they trying to tell us to hunt Minotaurs or something?! We’re D-class!”
“We can’t pay it even if we hunt ten Minotaurs. It’s a hundred thousand Baums each,” one of his companions, a female human scout, reminded him.
“There’s five of us, so five hundred thousand in total… We wouldn’t be able to pay it off by killing a single Minotaur unless it were the Minotaur King,” said a young, male, half-Elf mage.
“Calm down. The hundred thousand Baums each isn’t final yet,” said a human male swordsman, the leader of the party.
“That’s right. A hundred thousand is the worst possible scenario, and the Guild told us that it’s likely that the punishment will be lighter than that,” said a female wolf-type Beast-kin archer.
The Flame Blades had committed the crime of using Natania, who had joined their party, as bait to escape from Minotaurs. This crime was currently being investigated by the Guild.
Having sacrificed Natania and escaped, they had returned to the city of Itobam and reported to the Guild that there was a large horde of Minotaurs in the Devil’s Nest.
Back then, they had received sympathetic looks. The Guild and the other adventurers had felt pity at the fact that one of their companions had been unable to be saved, and praised them for making it back to the Guild with this important information.
Naturally, none of the Flame Blades had told anyone that they had thrown a knife at Natania’s leg. They had reported to the Guild that they had been ambushed, and had no choice but to leave the wounded Natania behind.
That was why no nasty words had been spoken to them even when the Guild began taking steps to deal with the Minotaur horde.
As even the weakest Minotaurs were at least Rank 5, the five members of the Flame Blades together would barely be able to stand up against a single Minotaur. Thus, adventurers who were far more capable than them were to be the ones to battle the Minotaurs directly. However, they had been assigned to other important, non-combat-related duties such as guiding the other adventurers to the place where they had been attacked as well as transporting and guarding the supplies.
The Guild had done so because they had believed that the Flame Blades were dependable adventurers who had been able to maintain their composure despite the tragedy of losing one of their companions.
The Flame Blades had been enthusiastic to use this task as a step towards their promotion to C-class.
But in the end, the team built to eradicate the Minotaur horde had never moved out. Before they could, there had been a report from the city of Morksi that the Minotaur horde had already been destroyed.
The one who had written the report was Natania, the one who had been abandoned by the Flame Blades. In addition to reporting about the Minotaur horde, she had also reported her betrayal at the Flame Blades’ hands, and the Guild had begun an investigation.
Each of the Flame Blades’ members had been questioned separately regarding the situation in which Natania was left behind, and small differences in each of their testimonies had revealed holes in their story, causing them to confess to their evil deed.
People’s opinions about them reversed in an instant, and the Flame Blades had gone from being an excellent adventurer party to being looked upon with scorn as a group of fiends who would sacrifice their own companions to save themselves.
The ‘one hundred thousand Baums each’ that they had just been talking about was the amount that they were to pay to Natania.
“They said that the fact that we were being chased by Minotaurs is the truth, and that it was understandable for us to be tempted to do what we did,” said the party’s leader. “We were able to make it back with important information, and it was possible that they could take the extenuating circumstances into account –”
“It’s obvious that they only said that because they’d be screwed if we were to hang ourselves in despair!” the Titan shouted angrily.
“The amount that we have to pay will be paid to her as reparations, after all. If we don’t pay enough, the amount would have to come out of the budget of the Adventurers’ Guild’s Itobam branch,” said the half-Elf mage.
“But still, they should cut it down by some amount… though it would be tough for us even if they halved it,” the scout sighed.
The Titan clicked his tongue in frustration. “The damn Guild, dragging up things from the past…”
The truth was that the incident with Natania was not the first time that the Flame Blades had survived a Minotaur horde attack by sacrificing their companions. In the fifth year since the party formed, they had sacrificed three others.
Like Natania, all of them had been the party’s ‘sixth member.’
The five of them trusted each other, having been together since they had first become adventurers, while the sixth member had joined them later on. In situations when one member needed to be sacrificed, it was out of the question to sacrifice anyone other than that sixth member.
Despite having done that, the Flame Blades had never drawn suspicion from the Guild. However, considering this past, it was easy to guess the truth.
The Guild’s investigators had an extremely bad impression of them.
“But something is a little strange. Normally, they would take more time with the investigation… and compared to similar cases in the past, a hundred thousand Baums each is a higher amount for reparations. Why?” the half-Elf mage questioned.
The Titan sighed in frustration. “I’m sure she’s sucked up to some important person in Morksi and told him to get us to pay this much!” he spat.
The party did not know how Natania had been rescued or the circumstances she was in now.
… Naturally, they were unaware that she had been rescued along with the duke’s younger sister who was a knight, by an adventurer who appeared to be Randolf ‘the True’ who had acted on the duke’s orders. Nor did they know that she was under Vandalieu’s protection and had become acquainted with Earl Morksi.
But the Guild did know these things. Though the Flame Blades were unaware, Natania and her guardian had become very important people. The speedy investigation and heavy punishment were a result of steps taken in consideration for them.
“I was against letting that cat bitch into our party in the first place!” the Titan shouted.
“You were against it? I wonder who it was that made a move on her and got rejected?” the scout said angrily.
“There’s no point talking about all of this now! We can’t do anything about it, so we have no choice but to earn as much as we can and finish paying the reparation amount off as quickly as possible!” the leader said, stopping the argument between his companions.
But even he was aware just how difficult it would be to pay a hundred thousand Baums each for D-class adventurers like themselves.
Even if they were to cut down on their living expenses, their profession was one whose capital was paid by their bodies. They couldn’t cut down on their food too much because it would affect their stamina. They couldn’t be stingy with the arms that were the tools of their trade, either.
And respectable merchants would avoid hiring the Flame Blades, as they were now infamous for killing their companions, nor would other adventurers want to work with them.
Thus, they couldn’t get any relatively good commissions, and it was difficult to group up with other adventurers to take down big monsters or bandit groups.
How many years it would take to pay the reparations would depend on the finalized amount…
“I think the gods are our only hope…” the Titan muttered.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke to the party.
“You are the Flame Blades, I presume?”
The party turned around to see that a man had appeared there.
It was a man with his hair standing on end, a face that could be described as both masculine and ill-looking, and worn out leather armor that looked as if it could fall apart at any moment. The Flame Blades looked closely to see that he was still of an age where he could be called a boy, but the bright, hazy light coming from his eyes canceled out his young appearance.
“You pitiful dogs who abandoned your companion and now have to pay a large sum in reparations. It seems that you admired the Five-colored Blades, but at this rate, it seems likely that you’ll push yourselves too hard and die before you can pay off your debt,” the man said in a ridiculing tone.
The Titan shield-bearer stepped forward. “You bastard! I don’t know your face. Who the hell are you! Don’t think you can get away with making fools of us!” he shouted angrily.
The man’s mouth formed a crescent-shaped smile. “My name is Hajime Inui. I am the great hero of Fitun, the god of thunderclouds. Rejoice! I’ll make you heroes like the Five-colored Blades with the power of a god, just as you hoped for!”
As Hajime made this loud declaration, a soft light came from his body.
The Flame Blades’ screams echoed across the Devil’s Nest, but nobody heard them… and they became ‘heroes.’
In a certain room in a certain house, in the high-class residential area in a certain country in Origin, a small boy was groaning in frustration.
There was a small ball made of sponge in front of him, and there was a target printed on paper attached to the wall.
It seemed that the boy was attempting to throw the sponge ball at the target with a method other than using his hands or feet.
As Origin was a world in which magic existed, it was possible to send the ball flying with wind-attribute magic, but… the method the boy wanted to use wasn’t magic.
There was a book behind the boy, and it was titled ‘Mysterious Power Handbook.’
“… ‘A hundred simply-explained methods to train your powers. Join the Bravers.’ Even in a world where magic exists, I’m surprised that there are these kinds of books,” Banda murmured to himself.
It seemed that the book was about what were known as ‘superpowers’ on Earth.
“The Bravers exist, and they’re a group of people who have special abilities that aren’t magic, so it isn’t strange for such books to be written… or is it?” Banda wondered. “It looks like a book written for children, and I don’t think young people would really think that they could actually gain some kind of power.”
The book’s contents were vague. Phrases like ‘concentrate your mind’ and ‘imagination training’ were frequently used, but there were no specifically-described training methods.
If people could gain abilities with books like these, the whole world would be able to become Bravers.
Sure enough, it seemed that the boy failed at his goal.
“Ugh… It’s impossible!” he said with a sigh of frustration. “I guess I really don’t have powers like Mom and Dad… No, I’m not done yet! I still haven’t tried the other ways of training!”
Repairing his own almost-broken will, he began looking through the book for the next thing to try.
“Huh? This isn’t the page I was looking at. Maybe the wind turned the pages?” the boy wondered in confusion.
But without putting too much thought into it, he began reading.
“The warm air from the air conditioner doesn’t reach the book over here, though,” Banda whispered, knowing that the boy… Amemiya Hiroshi, couldn’t hear him.
It seemed that Hiroshi was concerned about the fact that he did not have any special abilities like his parents. This was to be expected, as his parents, Amemiya Hiroto and Narumi, were leaders of the Bravers and world-famous heroes.
“Maybe he’s being teased at school. It could become a deeply-rooted complex in the future. And his younger sister Meh-kun has me residing in her, so she could be considered special in a way… He might end up feeling alienated because he’s the only one who isn’t special,” Banda murmured.
He passed through the wall of the children’s room, returning to Meh-kun… Amemiya Mei, who was in the living room watching a children’s television program with the female babysitter. He couldn’t be more than fifty meters away from her, but he was free to walk around the house and the neighborhood.
“Banda, frog, frog,” Mei giggled.
“Mei-chan, you like frogs, don’t you?” said the babysitter, thinking that she was referring to the frog that was extending its tongue on the television screen, which appeared to be an LCD.
But the truth was a little different.
When Mei said ‘frog,’ she meant, ‘Stick your tongue out like a frog.’
“Look, I’m a frog,” said Banda, extending his tongue out back and forth.
Very excited by this, Mei attempted to reach out and grab his tongue.
“But you’re not very good at drawing pictures, are you? It’s not unusual, since you’re not even two years old yet, but… I wonder if this is really a frog,” the babysitter said, giving a puzzled look at the drawing on the drawing paper that had been left out on the floor.
There was a ‘strange thing’ drawn on the paper.
If one were to describe it, it would be a monster with shrimp-like antennae extending from its head, four eyes and a crescent-moon-shaped smile that stretched from ear to ear, from which a tongue hung out all the way to his feet.
At first, the babysitter had thought that Mei had drawn a monster that had appeared to her in a scary dream, but it seemed that she had taken a liking to this monster. “Banda,” she had said with a smile after drawing it.
“Ah, you drew a portrait of me. Thank you, Meh-kun,” said Banda.
If the babysitter were to see Banda, she would completely change her mind about Mei’s drawing skills. For a two-year-old, she was quite the prodigy.
“Now then, I wonder what I should do about your Onii-san?” Banda wondered.
His top priority was Mei. Even if that weren’t the case, Hiroshi was the son of Amemiya Hiroto and Narumi… two of the people who had ended Vandalieu’s previous life.
Banda had felt unpleasant feelings upon learning that their son had clearly been named after his own previous name, ‘Amamiya Hiroto.’
But that wasn’t Hiroshi’s fault at all, and he bore no responsibility for his own name.
“It’s not unusual for children to act out during puberty because of a complex they feel due to their families, but I want to avoid Meh-kun’s home environment deteriorating as a result of that,” Banda murmured. “I want him to be a good older brother for Meh-kun, too.”
Banda thought that Hiroshi, who was currently in the other room, had done nothing wrong as Mei’s older brother so far. He took care of her and played with her. Banda wouldn’t have described him as the ideal brother, but he was a relatively good older brother for his age.
“But unlike my main self, I’m not able to give him special powers… This is quite troubling, Meh-kun,” Banda said.
“Trabbing?” Mei said, attempting to repeat Vandalieu’s words.
“What is it, Mei-chan? Are you talking about the sloth?” asked the babysitter.
TLN: ‘Troubling’ is 悩ましい/nayamashii and ‘sloth’ is ナマケモノ/namakemono; they sound… somewhat similar.
Unlike his main self, Banda was spending his time peacefully, but things were quite troublesome for him as well.
In fact, Banda had not yet realized that this house was under surveillance from a place that was over fifty meters away.
“There’s nobody in the house except for the brats and the babysitting woman. We can do it if we move now,” one man murmured.
“Don’t be ridiculous; it’s different from a robbery where you’re done after you take the goods. We won’t get paid if we don’t hand the kids over safe and sound after we kidnap them!” said another.
“But it’s Amemiya Hiroto’s brats!” said the first man.
“You don’t need to tell me that! I know that you have a grudge against him, but I won’t let you move on your own. If you disobey me, I’ll dispose of you before the brats,” warned the second.
“… Fine. But how long do we have to wait?”
“We’re waiting for the go signal from the client. If you understand me, shut up and get back to surveillance.”
Just like the sloth on the television screen, Banda’s time of peacefulness was limited.
