Rodcorte, the god of reincarnation, let out a heavy sigh as he looked over the message from Alda, the god of law and fate."So, the existence of the reincarnated individuals has been discovered far before I originally planned…" he muttered.Lambda was a world in Rodcorte's circle of transmigration system that was failing to develop… or rather, the human population would not increase. Frustrated with this, Rodcorte had decided to send a hundred and one reincarnated individuals to Lambda.
With no notice or permission from Alda, the god of law and fate who was the chief god in Lambda.
Of course, he had been fully aware that the gods led by Alda opposed the use of knowledge and technology from foreign worlds. He had gone ahead with his plan anyway because he had been certain that once he executed his plan, things would work themselves out.
The reincarnated individuals who had been born on Earth and gained additional experience in Origin should have naturally utilized their knowledge and technology from foreign worlds in Lambda. They should have been able to display their abilities in all kinds of fields… Agriculture, fishing, cuisine, clothing, economics and more.
However, Rodcorte had predicted that Alda and the gods who served him would not notice for a while, as long as the reincarnated individuals were not unnaturally hasty and did not operate on a very large scale.
The reincarnated individuals should have been born to parents in Lambda as humans, Elves or Dwarves, and given Lambda-like names. Thus, Alda and his servants would have assumed that the inventions created by these reincarnated individuals had developed in Lambda independently, or even if they had noticed, they would have been unable to differentiate between knowledge and technologies from this world and those originating from other worlds.
Of course, the reincarnated individuals would draw attention to themselves if they developed technologies that would be unnatural for Lambda's people to suddenly invent themselves, such as gunpowder and steam engines. But Rodcorte had envisioned all of this being long after the reincarnated individuals were brought to this world.
The methods for manufacturing gunpowder on Earth or in Origin would be ineffective if they were tried in Lambda. Thus, extensive trial-and-error would be required, and it was possible that the resulting gunpowder would have less explosive force than the average adventurer's martial skill or spell.
On top of that, in order to create firearms and explosives, each part would need to be built from scratch. Thus, Rodcorte had determined that many of the reincarnated individuals would lose the desire to build these things.
As for steam engines, even if they were invented, it would take a considerable amount of funding and organization to make use of the invention. In order to make that a reality, it would take at least a few years after the reincarnated individuals reached adulthood.
And by then, the one hundred and one reincarnated individuals would have already planted their feet firmly in their places in society, becoming figures who could not easily be disposed of.
If Alda noticed them at this point, it would already be too late. Even if he were to give orders to his believers via Divine Messages, he was currently having problems with Popes that lacked the talent for receiving Divine Messages. If he was not careful, the Pope might release an order to indiscriminately slaughter any individuals deemed even a little unusual along with the reincarnated individuals
Rodcorte had taken action with the assumption that he could gain approval, little by little, after everything had already happened.
Of course, dangerous monsters and fanatical groups already existed in Lambda. But Rodcorte had already made the reincarnated individuals gain experience in Origin so that they would be able to cope with these threats.
With the use of their cheat-like abilities and talent for magic, they would all be able to demonstrate abilities on the level of Lambda's B-class adventurers.
The exception was the reincarnated individual named Baker, who had been given the 'Object Creation' ability. But all Rodcorte needed to do was warn him to not create gunpowder and firearms right away.
And so, Rodcorte had predicted a positive outcome for himself. The population of Lambda would increase over a hundred years, and the evil races of Vida… At least races such as the Majin and Vampires, if not the Beast-people, Titans and Dark Elves that lived in urban areas as well, would be exterminated and decrease in number.
"But in reality, there have been great discrepancies in the timings of the reincarnated individuals' deaths in Origin, partially due to an anomaly taking shape in the form of Vandalieu. And due to the betrayal of three of the reincarnated individuals I sent to Lambda in adult bodies to exterminate Vandalieu, Alda has taken notice of them, despite the fact that the majority of the reincarnated individuals have not yet been reborn in Lambda," Rodcorte sighed.
At this rate, the world of Lambda, which belonged to his circle of transmigration system, would no longer be a world that acted as a source of power for him. In fact, it was very possible that Vandalieu's empire would cause it to become a world ruled by Undead, Monsters and Vida's races.
"More importantly, what are you going to do about Alda asking you to confirm things? These messages are coming every three days, you know?!" said Aran.
"It doesn't seem that you can choose what to do while being so indecisive… Surely you're not thinking of… selling out Asagi and the others, like how you abandoned Samejima and Tanaka – Sarua and Sieg – right?" asked Izumi.
"We don't really care if you sell out Murakami and his group, though," added Kouya.
"Should we go as messengers to explain the situation?" Aran suggested.
"No. You intend to escape and make contact with Vandalieu or Asagi the moment you arrive in Lambda, do you not?" said Rodcorte.
"… Tch, you knew."
It was clear that Aran intended to try to do something outside Rodcorte's Divine Realm, where not everything was in his sight – regardless of whether this was actually possible or not.
But Rodcorte looked down at Aran and murmured, "However, it is true that I must consider sending a messenger."
In Earth's terms, Rodcorte had clearly violated the stipulations of his professional duties, committed unjust acts and one-sidedly trespassed into Alda's jurisdiction. Naturally, the excuse of "I did these with the good of the world in mind" would not work.
Before Rodcorte sent the reincarnated individuals to Lambda, it was indeed likely that Lambda would undergo a slow decline over a long period of time, but it was not as if the world was heading towards a foreseeable end.
Considering that, there had been no need for Rodcorte to send a hundred reincarnated individuals who were capable of creating the gunpowder and steam engines that Alda feared would harm this world.
Thus, the responses available to Rodcorte were either honestly confessing and apologizing, defiantly defending his actions or lying to trick Alda.
But there was not much point in lying… Rodcorte thought that it was possible to make Murakami's group's story match his own, as they were cooperating with him. But Asagi, Mao as well as Kaoru Gotouta, who had left Murakami's group, did not trust Rodcorte, and he did not trust them either. They were likely to simply tell Alda's servants everything they knew.
A young Pope with the qualities needed for receiving Divine Messages had been born on the Amid Empire side of the continent, and there were similar events unfolding in the Orbaume Kingdom as well. Now that Alda could influence the selection of his believers into certain positions, it would not be difficult for him to learn of the locations of the reincarnated individuals and ask them questions.
"I shall tell Alda the truth regarding what I have done and who Vandalieu is, and have them cooperate with me in defeating Vandalieu," Rodcorte said.
And thus, he decided to tell the truth and be defiant. Firmly, with no apology.
"… Do you really think that's going to work? Have you forgotten that angering the gods will put you at risk as well?" said Kouya.
"Endou Kouya, what you say is correct. However, you are wrong. No matter how much anger Alda and the other gods harbor, they cannot do anything to me. There is a reason for that," said Rodcorte.
Rodcorte was in charge of reincarnation for Lambda's humans and animals. If he were to be eliminated, reincarnation would no longer take place correctly in Lambda.
Even if Alda and the gods serving him were to try to manage reincarnation in Rodcorte's place, they did not possess a single piece of the knowledge required to do so, as Rodcorte had operated Lambda's reincarnation since immediately after the world was born.
The humans of Lambda would either be born without a soul, or as children with the hatred from their previous lives intact, while monsters and Vida's races would flourish, as they were reincarnated through the Demon King's and Vida's circle of transmigration systems.
This was a scenario that Alda could not accept under any circumstances.
After explaining this, Rodcorte continued to give a summary of facts.
"Alda and his servants are afraid that I will cut Lambda away from my system. That is why they should not be able to punish me if I take a defiant stance. Unlike Vida, Ricklent and Zuruwarn, I am not a god of Lambda, which means that I can escape at any time. They have not forgotten this… Come to think of it, I suppose I should tell them that Ricklent and Zuruwarn are apparently allies of Vida. Once Alda realizes that gods that they believed were their allies are actually enemies, he should be more willing to cooperate with me."
Izumi's suspicious expression disappeared after hearing this explanation, and she gave a resigned sigh. "In other words, you're concealing it. The fact that you've already become acknowledged as a god of Lambda so you can't escape from this world anymore, no matter how much you try."
Rodcorte's plan would only have worked in the past, before he became known as a god of Lambda.
He could not escape from Lambda… and if he could not cut Lambda away from his circle of transmigration system, Alda would be able to punish Rodcorte as he would any other god.
Naturally, he would be able to use the Stakes of Law to seal away Rodcorte's ability to think and act, leaving him able to do nothing other than maintain the circle of transmigration system. It would even be possible to have his familiar spirits and subordinate gods steal knowledge regarding reincarnation, then rob Rodcorte of his authority.
However, Alda did not know that Rodcorte had become a god of Lambda. Rodcorte's existence was known mostly to the region inside the Boundary Mountain Range, which was controlled by Vida's faction, where the eyes of Alda's forces could not see.
As for Vida's faction… Even Vandalieu should have been unaware of the consequences on Rodcorte that spreading the news that he was a detestable god would have on him, so there was no way that Alda could learn of it from him.
"It is helpful that you are quick to understand. But just in case, I will silence you," said Rodcorte, forcibly binding his familiar spirits to silence them with his authority as their master.
Once he had done this, he headed for a place in the depths of his Divine Realm, a place that he rarely visited himself.
His familiar spirits watched him leave in silence, deliberately ignoring the faint presence that they could feel behind them, choosing to focus on their discontent towards Rodcorte instead.
They had taken anti-interrogation training in Origin; it was simple for them to divert their attention away and forget about small things.
"Even if I take a defiant stance, it is still likely that there will be consequences," Rodcorte muttered to himself. "Regarding the one hundred reincarnated individuals, there is nothing I can do about them as they are set to be reincarnated in Lambda regardless of my actions, but… I suppose that it is reasonable for me to keep watch over them to ensure that they do not create gunpowder or steam engines, and swear that I will never do such a thing again."
A sworn promise from one god to another was equivalent to a binding force, like a curse. Rodcorte was far above Alda in stature as a god, but this was something that fell into the authority of Alda, the god of law and fate. It could not be easily avoided.
But Rodcorte did not mind this. Leaving Vandalieu alone would bring risk upon himself; the situation was becoming worse and heading in that direction.
Rodcorte had already tried to abandon Lambda once; whether the world developed or not was a very small problem to him now.
"The problem is whether he will demand for me to hand these over… but even Alda would likely hesitate to do that," Rodcorte murmured.
The problem for Rodcorte now was whether he could keep the object that was sealed away here – the object that could become the key to defeating Vandalieu – at hand.
The Demon King Guduranis's soul, which had been torn into five pieces – his reason, emotion, instinct, memory and power.
After the Demon King was defeated by Bellwood and two other champions, it was none other than Alda who had forced this upon Rodcorte.
At the time, Rodcorte had wanted to refuse, as it was nothing but a dangerous object. But Alda had said to him, "If the Demon King were to be resurrected, he would not stop at this world… he might extend his invasion to other worlds, worlds whose circles of transmigration you rule over." Having been told this, Rodcorte had been left with no choice but to cooperate.
The soul had remained in the depths of Rodcorte's Divine Realm for over a hundred thousand years, with so many seals that they could be considered excessive, and nobody other than Rodcorte could approach it.
Rodcorte had been thinking that it could be used as a trump card against Vandalieu. Of course, he would not do something like resurrect Guduranis and try to bargain with him to make him defeat Vandalieu… Rodcorte could not put himself at risk of having his own soul destroyed by a resurrected Guduranis.
No matter how high his stature was as a god, Rodcorte was nothing more than the god of reincarnation. He was not skilled at combat. To Guduranis, Rodcorte would be nothing more than a slow-moving dummy with a large frame.
"If I could place the memories and power of Guduranis, which do not contain his will, inside reincarnated individuals that are compatible… But they are likely to be compatible with Murakami, Anderson or Akira. Using Vandalieu as reference, someone with similar Mana properties to those of Guduranis should be able to use them," Rodcorte muttered to himself.
"In other words, someone with death-attribute Mana or someone who actually possessed the power to oppose and control death-attribute Mana would be able to utilize the fragments of the Demon King's soul. The reason, emotion and instinct were dangerous, but it should be possible to use Guduranis's memories and power, which did not contain his will, just like the fragments of his body.
However, none of the three members of Murakami's group had either of these. If he were to give the fragments to any of them, they would likely rampage out of control very quickly.
Rodcorte had granted 'Mage Masher' Asagi the power to erase Mana with an attribute, but… it was unlikely to work. He would resist for longer than Murakami, but the fragments would certainly rampage out of control in the end.
"I suppose I shall give this to Murakami's group instead. It is far inferior to the Demon King's soul, but… there is no use in giving them a power that they cannot wield."
Rodcorte turned his gaze away from the fragments of the Demon King's soul and looked instead towards some distorted orbs. They were objects that looked as if the fragments of broken orbs had been forcibly gathered and joined together again.
Two of them, one large and one small, floated in front of Rodcorte.
"Some fragments of their previous owners' souls may still be left inside them, but given Murakami's strong will, he should be able to suppress them. And in the end, it is his decision as to whether or not to use them."
And with that, Rodcorte took the Orbs and returned to the center of his Divine Realm in order to approve a reply to Alda.
Ricklent, the genie of time and magic, was in the form of an old man, a young man and a boy, who sat in a temporarily-created Divine Realm and 'observed' his believers.
They were very odd; the old man was frowning with a complicated expression, while the young man was smiling bitterly and the boy had a joyful smile on his face.
Suddenly, Zuruwarn, the god of space and creation, who took the form of a four-headed lion, appeared.
"How strange are the actions of your believers?" Zuruwarn asked.
Ricklent grimaced. "There is nothing strange about them. My believers are doing well in listening to my words," he replied.
"Then have they understood our instructions to place distance between the Church of Alda and cooperate with Vida's races and Vida's true believers?"
Naturally, Ricklent and Zuruwarn were aware that the gods of Alda's forces had made active movements, trying to create hastily-made heroes. They were also aware that this was all to defeat Vida's faction, which was recovering strength under Vandalieu's lead.
That was why they had made moves of their own to press their own believers to separate themselves from the Church of Alda and join Vida's faction.
There were few believers who could receive their Divine Messages, but many of those who could were in positions to lead other believers, so this should not be an impossible task.
"I gave instructions to over ten individuals excluding Legion, and I have been observing the movements of the followers who received the Divine Message after that, but… if I were to put their response into words, it would be something like, 'We cannot respond immediately. We shall consider our options,'" said Ricklent.
"… Ricklent, is that not a rather unfavorable response?" said Zuruwarn.
"You are right, my brother."
Those who had received Ricklent's Divine Message had reacted with varying degrees of surprise, and then decided to keep quiet while scrutinizing the meaning of the Divine Message, gathering information and analyzing the situation.
It was uncertain as to whether the Divine Message they received was correct… Whether the god who had sent it to them was right, and whether there was value in obeying it.
Ricklent felt tremendous love and pride for his believers who doubted even the words of gods.
"I do not preach what is good, nor do I indicate what is evil. I am a great god who rules over time and magic. Thus, those who worship me are all investigators and students," he said. "To them, I am a guide and a leader, and at the same time, I am a subject of their research. It is necessary for them to see things this way. It is only by observing the actions of their research subject, by doubting and by thoroughly examining everything until they are satisfied, that humans can reach gods."
"You seem so happy again… Don't you enjoy suffering a little too much?" said Zuruwarn, his tone no longer sounding like the speech of a god. "Well, your believers are mostly researchers or scholars of the Mages' Guild, or secluded philosophers, so they might not be of any help even if they do join Vida's believers, though."
"Then how are your beloved followers?" Ricklent asked in turn.
"Do you wish to know? Then you should ask them yourself. I have sent a Divine Message to all of my followers who seem as if they can receive them. I have not looked at them since, so I do not know!" Zuruwarn replied proudly.
This time, it was Ricklent's turn to sigh as Zuruwarn's four heads laughed.
"… So, you simply sent the Divine Message and then left them be," said Ricklent.
"If humans were pitiful creatures that would believe that gods would look after them in every aspect of their existence, they would not go out of their way to worship us in the first place. My words are nothing more than opinions for them to refer to," said Zuruwarn. "How they act after hearing them is up to each individual. If I have nothing to do, then I will do my best to watch them, but they must bear the responsibility for their own choices. Humans are not puppets, after all."
Zuruwarn had always been a trickster… even more indifferent to the concepts of good and evil than Ricklent, and he believed that it was his duty to destroy past preconceptions and traditions to bring about chaos. He maintained a considerable distance between himself and his believers. It was not that he did not love them, but he knew that due to his nature, he would disrupt the daily lives of humans too much if he were too close to them.
"Are we not the same in this regard? As our believers cannot ever become the majority, even if they do not join Vida's faction soon, it is unlikely to affect the masses, but… leaving aside the issue of our believers, what of Rodcorte's movements?" asked Ricklent.
"I know. It seems that he is attempting to tell Alda everything in order to establish a cooperative relationship," said Zuruwarn. "He intends to tell him that we are Vida's allies, too."
Zuruwarn had recently been testing whether he could peer into Rodcorte's Divine Realm by twisting space. He had begun these tests with the assumption that they would fail. Indeed, he had been unable to completely conceal his presence and was detected by Rodcorte's familiar spirits as a result.
However, Rodcorte seemed to be unpopular even among his own familiar spirits; they had allowed Zuruwarn to observe events with no request from Zuruwarn to do so.
Still, Rodcorte would likely have noticed Zuruwarn if he paid attention to his surroundings, but… he was a god who had existed since long before the world of Lambda was born, while being the only god that did not belong to any world. It would have been unreasonable to expect him to constantly pay attention to his surroundings.
"So, the information that he is hiding… The fact that he has become a god of Lambda, shall we tell Alda?" Ricklent suggested.
"That is unclear," said Zuruwarn. "It is true that we are allies of Vida, so we cannot be sure that Alda will believe what we have to say… and even if we do tell him, it is difficult to imagine that Alda currently possesses the spare power necessary to punish Rodcorte."
"Indeed… He has used a significant amount of power in creating that Dungeon, too. Knowing Alda, he will likely join forces with Rodcorte to defeat Vandalieu and his allies, then punish Rodcorte afterwards. With that being the case, there is no point in telling Alda the truth."
From Ricklent and Zuruwarn's perspective, Alda could only be seen as having lost his mind, but they did believe that he was prioritizing the continuation of Lambda in his own way. That was why he was focusing his power into defeating Vandalieu, and not trying to take Rodcorte's authority.
… To him, Vandalieu appeared to threaten greater harm to the world than Rodcorte.
"Then let us go to the Demon Continent for now. You will not be able to peer into Rodcorte's Divine Realm if we enter the barrier around the Boundary Mountain Range, after all," said Ricklent.
"It cannot be helped," said Zuruwarn. "However, simply running away is irritating to me, so I shall play a little trick. After that, I shall express my desire to bestow a divine protection upon Vandalieu as a parting gift."
"The Demon King's fins, venom glands, stomach, bones, exoskeleton, skin, treasure orb, Demon Eyes, nerves, membranes and wings have merged!"
"The Demon King's exoskeleton has joined the already-merged exoskeleton!"
"The Levels of the Thread Refining, Increased Mana Recovery Rate, Mana Control, Super High-speed Thought Processing, Armor Technique, Shield Technique and Demon King Skills have increased!"
"You have acquired the Demon King's Demon Eyes Skill!"
"Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue) has awakened into Deadly Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue), and Superhuman Strength has awakened into Monstrous Strength!"
January came, bringing the new year with it. A row of covered wagons traveled through the cold winter air, away from the highway.
Around the middle of the row, the coachman of one of the wagons and the men guarding the convoy were complaining about the problems of the previous year.
"We got a big hunt this time. This will be more than enough to last all the way until next year's winter."
"The year before was pretty terrible because of the heroes, after all. There were rumors that others in our business were being attacked and massacred by some strange people, too."
"It's my first time hearing this rumor. What kind of 'strange people' are you talking about?"
"According to the rumors, some guys had their hideout raided by a bunch of completely nude people and had all their stuff taken."
"… Huh?! What the hell is that? They were stark naked? Nobody would have any trouble dealing with people like that. Or are you telling me these strange people were all sexy ladies who killed them while they were all ogling?"
"I mean, I didn't see them myself, but there were apparently both men and women. According to the rumors, they were all masters of magic, and the acquaintance of my acquaintance that I heard the story from was fortunate enough to escape, but the others were apparently slaughtered."
"… Then isn't it likely that either they were monsters camouflaged as humans, or that your acquaintance's acquaintance is full of shit?"
"But apparently there really are groups of bandits that were wiped out like that. There are some differences in the descriptions of the attackers, like some saying they were fully naked while others say they were wearing only rags. I wouldn't want to be targeted by people like that. It was enough that we were attacked by monsters last year and had to use our newly-acquired stock as bait to get away."
Despite the topic of conversation, the men's voices were not grim; they seemed to be talking loosely because they knew that their pockets would become significantly fuller soon.
Meanwhile, there was only a sense of emptiness among the goods inside the carriages… the slaves.
"Don't you worry; you lot are precious goods to us. We'll keep you fed until a slave trader buys you," one of the men told them with a cackle.
These men were criminals who made a living by gathering slaves through illegal means. Tricking women and children living in slums by telling them that there was work for them and then kidnapping them was among the tamer methods they used; they sometimes attacked villages and then took the supplies and surviving villagers.
Every person inside the wagons was a slave who had been acquired through illegal means, except for one.
The future of illegally-traded slaves was dark in most cases. Most of their buyers were managers of mines or plantations that needed a source of disposable labor, or mages that wanted to conduct illegal human experiments, or those who felt desires that could not be made public and wanted an outlet to live out those desires.
Slaves that were traded legally still at least had some hope as long as they were not sent to a mine, and if they were lucky, they could be purchased and released by kind souls.
But illegally-traded slaves had no such hope, nor did they have any rights. The only way they could be released was through death.
The slaves in the wagons likely either knew this, or at least had a strong hunch that this was the case… Most of them were children, but there was not even a glimpse of life in their eyes.
But the sound of someone quietly humming was coming from inside one of the wagons.
Vandalieu, wearing a rag as an eyepatch to conceal one of his odd-colored eyes, had slipped in among the slaves, and he was humming. Even with one eye concealed, his white hair and wax-like skin should have been conspicuous, but he had suppressed his presence immensely with the Dark King Magic spell 'Blind Spot.' Naturally, the men outside and even the slaves sitting next to and opposite him hadn't noticed an extra slave enter the wagon, nor did they take any notice of his humming despite the fact that they could certainly hear it.
In the time leading up to the new year, Vandalieu had made various preparations, such as acquiring the fragments under the protection of the Pure-breed Vampires slumbering in Vida's Resting Grounds and continuing to improve the structure of Talosheim using his Demon King Familiars. But what was he doing in a place like this?
This was a part of his preparatory work to begin his activity in the Orbaume Kingdom.
As for why his activity was needed in the Orbaume Kingdom, it had something to do with the fact that Alda's forces had begun acting in very visible ways.
Their stance of hostility against Vida's faction had been strengthened, and if the plans of Alda's forces continued as they were now, radical events would inevitably begin to take place in the Orbaume Kingdom.
For instance, people might falsely claim that Vida, who resided inside the Boundary Mountain Range, was a false goddess, an evil deity who misled people. Or perhaps people would begin to persecute those who could be guided by Vandalieu, such as Vida's races who originated from monsters, and attack their settlements.
Unfortunately, Familiar Spirit Descent could also be used by believers of evil gods, and third parties could not tell whether those who claimed to have received a Divine Message really had received one or whether they were just talking nonsense.
If trusted politicians and famous figures inside the Orbaume Kingdom were to make such claims, wouldn't people believe them regardless of what Vida's believers said?
The effect would be particularly large if Heinz and those around him were the ones making those claims, Vandalieu thought.
The Heinz who had appeared in Vandalieu's dreams late last summer had seemed to be in the peaceful faction, but Vandalieu couldn't trust him. He believed it was possible that Heinz would come out of Alda's trial that he was currently facing as a puppet incapable of saying anything other than, "As my master wills."
Vandalieu wanted to try attacking the Dungeon that was apparently a trial created by Alda… He wanted to test if he would be able to wipe out Heinz and his companions along with the whole Dungeon by firing Hollow Cannon at it repeatedly from the outside. But this idea had been rejected after discussion, with the reason that it would be dangerous as the gods of Alda's forces would make every possible desperate effort to stop him.
If it was just a single god descending upon the world, one about as powerful as Gyubarzo, Vandalieu was confident that he would emerge victorious. However, if it was multiple gods descending, and they were to coordinate their efforts without letting down their guard, Vandalieu was less sure that he would be able to win.
He might be able to defeat one or two gods, but three or more would be difficult. Even if he brought his companions and fought an all-out war, if the enemy gods and heroic spirits descended one after another with the resolve to sacrifice themselves to defeat Vandalieu, the end result would be the same.
In any case, there were more enemies than just Heinz. The hasty hero-making that Alda's forces had started last year was happening in the Orbaume Kingdom as well. There were fewer of them there than the Amid Empire, as there were fewer believers of Alda to begin with, but it seemed that each of them was individually receiving more attention as a result.
They weren't as famous as Heinz, but if anything were to happen to him, one of these hastily-made heroes could become a new leader.
Of course, the believers of Vida in the Orbaume Kingdom would likely oppose them, and many believers of Alda in the nation were supposed to belong to the peaceful faction that tolerated Vida's races, but… it was the opinion of all of Talosheim's key figures, including Vandalieu, that they could not be relied upon.
In the past, Princess Levia and a number of other Titans had fled from Talosheim to the Hartner Duchy. The newly-appointed head of the Hartner family at the time had charged Princess Levia with false crimes and executed her, then sent the remaining Titans, including Borkus's daughter Gopher, to a slave mine where they performed slave labor for two hundred years.
Though the Sauron family had been supposed to be believers of Vida, after the second generation, they had isolated the Scylla race and confined them to their own territory.
And then there was Raymond and Rick, the Paris brothers who had murdered many Scylla, including Orbia, in order to make use of the Scylla race for their own objectives despite being believers of Vida themselves.
These were all real examples of why people could not be trusted just because they were believers of Vida. Unfortunately, their connection to Vida had been so weak that it was wrong to call them believers. That was why they had never received any Divine Messages.
And even if the dukes of the other ten duchies were virtuous leaders, that did not necessarily mean that they would distance themselves from Alda's forces and be tolerant of Vida's races.
There would surely be some who chose to obey the wishes of the majority of the population under their rule and oppress the members of Vida's races that were in the minority.
It was possible that the reincarnated individuals like Murakami and Asagi, or the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne who worshipped an evil god, would directly or indirectly begin a propaganda campaign against Vida. This would be a truly unpleasant thing to see happen.
Birkyne was particularly capable of taking large-scale actions like this, as he controlled numerous criminal organizations.
Thus, Vandalieu and his allies had decided to leave the Boundary Mountain Range to deal with these potential problems.
They needed to secure an intelligence base to gather information, build up their influence by making allies out of Vida's believers and members of Vida's races, acquire political and societal power in the Orbaume Kingdom, and widely preach their own beliefs to the people.
During this process, if Murakami's group were successfully lured out to target Vandalieu now that he was outside the Boundary Mountain Range, he would kill them, then grab a hold of Birkyne's tail and dispose of him as well. Murakami's group might have changed their way of thinking now that some time had passed since their reincarnation, and if this was the case, Vandalieu intended to release them after making them swear (brainwashing them) to not get involved with Alda's forces.
In order to do these things, I need to first slip into… take over, a criminal organization, don't I?
Vandalieu and his allies had decided to take over an existing criminal organization, as it would be too much work to gather information from scratch. The fact that Vandalieu was currently among these slaves was one part of that.
In any case, things were going well… or at least, they had been, up until now.
A particularly large man with a scar on his face walked over, looking angry.
"Oi, you lot! When did your lips become so loose?! There's a limit to how careless you can be!" he shouted at the other men.
The men stood up straight and their faces stiffened with fear.
"G-Girabat-san, w-we're sorry!" one of them squeaked.
"Have you been drinking? If you mess up, I'll sell you lot to the mines as well –" The man named Girabat stopped his reprimanding mid-sentence, frowning. "What is that weird noise?!" he demanded, looking around and then peering underneath the canopy of one of the wagons.
He had noticed Vandalieu's humming.
Girabat was a failed mercenary, and due to various sorrowful events in his life, he possessed a Level 3 Mental Resistance Skill.
I've failed this practice… It seems that loosening the effects of the Mental Encroachment Skill reduces its power, too. It's pretty difficult to use it in a way that it won't have any lasting effects, Vandalieu thought to himself with a sigh as he stopped humming.
Perhaps as a reactionary effect from having resisted the Mental Encroachment Skill, Girabat seemed to become even more infuriated as he peered into the wagon, looking for the source of the humming.
At the worst moment possible, one of the slaves, a very young girl, began having a severe coughing fit. Girabat glared at her with bloodshot eyes.
"It was you…!" he growled.
"P-please, wait! My sister's body is frail, and…!" began a young boy who appeared to be the girl's older brother.
"Her body is frail?! I can't sell her then, can I! She can't even be used as a whore at that age and she wouldn't last long in a mine, so it'd be killing two birds with one stone if I put her out of her misery so I can enjoy some peace and quiet!" Girabat shouted, climbing into the carriage and reaching for the girl.
Despite having his hands bound by wooden shackles, the older brother stood in Girabat's way, but he was easily thrust aside.
"You don't have time to be worrying about your little sister!" Girabat shouted at the boy as he lifted the little girl into the air by her collar. "You better pray hard that you don't get sent to a mine –"
Suddenly, Girabat stopped mid-sentence and let out a strange noise.
Thin, black, slippery tubes had entered both of his ears.
Frozen in astonishment, the boy and the other slaves ran their eyes along the tubes to see that they were connected to Vandalieu's tongue.
"… I suppose just the nerves and sub-brain will do for now," Vandalieu said, speaking surprisingly clearly despite the fact that his tongue had extended and transformed into the Demon King's proboscises from halfway down.
The tubes swelled, and something began pouring into Girabat.
"Stop… it…" Girabat begged desperately, with cold sweat oozing from every pore in his trembling body, tears and saliva dripping from his face. But in the next instant, he became expressionless and began speaking quietly and clearly. "Testing, testing, my name is Girabat, err, I'm Girabat, y'know? I suppose that's close enough?"
As Vandalieu's proboscises were removed from his ears, Girabat wiped the small amount of red-grey liquid dripping from them with a sleeve and gently put the little girl back down into her seat.
"Girabat-san! What's the matter?!" one of the men outside shouted.
"It's nothing! Hurry up and get back to work!" Girabat shouted back in a slightly flat-toned voice, and then he climbed back out of the carriage.
"W-what was that…?" the boy murmured, shielding his dazed sister from Vandalieu.
"W-who on earth… No, when the hell did you get in here?" asked another dumbfounded slave.
"I'm sorry. I swear to you that I mean no harm to any of you, so please stay quiet and patient for the next short while. Actually, that's probably an unreasonable and impossible request, so please go to sleep," Vandalieu said to them.
And in the next instant, the wagon was filled with a sweet scent… a sleeping drug that he had produced with Deadly Poison Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue) and vaporized. The slaves all fell into a deep slumber.
Vandalieu began murmuring to himself.
"With this, I can concentrate on controlling Girabat… my infested Demon King Familiar. It would be simple if I just needed to move him around, but to actually take his place seems like it would be difficult to do in a short period of time. Mostly because of my acting ability…"
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The row of wagons entered a base… and this marked the end of the criminal organization that had been mainly operating in slave trading on a reasonably large scale.
They had more fighting strength than the bandit groups that inhabited the area, and were capable of repelling the average adventurer party, but the one who had entered the base was Vandalieu.
A ninja force emerged from within Vandalieu's body, consisting mainly of Black Goblins. The ninjas were as powerful as high-ranking adventurers, and the criminal organization couldn't even put up a resistance.
"Vandalieu, couldn't you have just aimed straight for the base like this instead of hiding among the slaves?" asked the 'Aegis' Melissa, who had black skin, pointed ears and two pairs of transparent wings emerging from her back… the insect wings that had grown as a result of her Chaos Skill and being equipped alongside insects by Vandalieu's Group Binding Technique.
Melissa was thinking that it would have been easier to simply attack the carriages and question some of the men to learn of the base's location.
Indeed, it would have been simple to exterminate this group of criminals with this method.
"Melissa, King hiding among the slaves didn't slow down our disposal of these guys," said Braga, the Black Goblin to have become a ninja who was now the captain of the ninja force.
"Wait, it's not like I'm criticizing him. I was just wondering why he chose to do things this way," said Melissa as she folded her wings away.
"Well, Melissa, your method would have been fine, but… I wanted to practice using Mental Encroachment and making a parasitic Demon King familiar. I wanted to test it on these guys, since it wouldn't matter if it failed," Vandalieu explained.
He had wanted to try using Mental Encroachment in a way that the targets still appeared to have their ordinary personalities while affected and did not suffer any lasting effects once the effects were removed. The ability to do this was very important now that he was out in a human society.
Live testing for creating a parasitic Demon King Familiar by replacing a part of the target's brain and nerves with the Demon King's sub-brain and nerves was also important.
If it were just testing, Vandalieu could have used samples like criminals or bandits after capturing them alive, or monsters, but… captured criminals had different psychologies from free ones, and the senses of monsters were different from those of humans.
Thus, it had been important to test them in a real-life situation.
"Also, I thought that it would be less likely that we get taken by surprise and less likely for there to be unnecessary damage if we snuck into the base without being detected," said Vandalieu.
"I see, that makes sense," said Melissa, bringing this conversation to a sound conclusion.
But a Dwarf with a greying beard and bald head interrupted. "IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL! DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" he shouted in a hoarse voice.
He was the leader of this criminal group, a fairly well-known figure in the underworld, the 'Hyena' Gozoroff.
Clad in half-plate armor and wielding a battle-axe and a spike-covered shield, he looked like an experienced mercenary.
His blue veins were visible on his forehead as he shouted angrily.
"You've got some guts to be having a leisurely conversation here! It's true that you've done a number on us, but me and my main guys are still alive and kicking!" he declared.
A group of five, made up of Dwarves and humans who were apparently high-ranking members of the criminal organization, had gathered to continue their resistance.
"Don't get so full of yourselves just because you managed to win over one of our bodyguards, you brats! We'll slaughter those black Goblins and cut off them ears!" Gozoroff said menacingly.
Indeed, he was also threatening the one bodyguard – Girabat, who was armed with a sword and shield that he had retrieved from the corpse of one of the other criminals.
However, while Melissa and Braga were staring at Gozoroff, Vandalieu didn't even glance at him.
Gozoroff claimed that he and his main members were still unharmed, but the rest of them had all been disposed of by the ninja force, Melissa and the Gehenna Bees.
And in this spacious room that was the base that Gozoroff and his men were trapped in, there was nothing like a hidden exit. Any possibility of him turning the situation around existed only in Gozoroff's head.
"D-don't look down on me, you bastards! I'll dispose of that traitor, then take that woman and brat as hostages and get away!"
"No, we're not really looking down on you," said Girabat… whose body had been taken over by a parasitic Demon King Familiar using the Demon King's sub-brain and nerves. Now, his body was under the control of one of Vandalieu's clones.
Two Dwarves who were standing at the front, wielding a mace and a flail, charged at Girabat. A human man at the back took aim at Braga to keep him back, while another human began reciting an incantation. It seemed that they were well-versed in combat for bandits.
"Boulder Smash!" shouted one of the Dwarves.
"DIE, TRAITOR! HEAVY BLOW!" roared the other.
However, their movements were very slow in the eyes of the Demon King Familiar.
They're around the level of D-class adventurers, maybe?
Thanks to the Demon King's sub-brain and nerves, as well as Vandalieu's clone, the reaction speed of Girabat's body had increased dramatically.
The powerful Dwarves' attacks were too slow in the face of these accelerated senses. However, the only thing that had been improved was Girabat's reaction time.
Girabat's body won't last if it takes these blows directly.
"… Iron Wall, Iron Form," said Girabat, activating martial skills to increase his defense and bending his knees as he received the flail and mace with his shield and the hard portion of his armor.
The Dwarves were astonished by the fact that he had been able to withstand their martial skills, and the fact that he had used a martial skill of Shield Technique, a Skill that he should have been unable to use.
"S-so solid!"
"Girabat can use Shield Technique?? You bastard, when the hell did you learn Shield Technique?!"
Meanwhile, the arrow fired by the human man was deflected easily by Aegis, the invisible barrier cast by Melissa. The archer fired a second and third arrow, thinking that there should be a hole in the barrier somewhere, but he quickly learned that there were no holes in Aegis.
"It's not like I haven't been working hard," Melissa muttered.
At first, she had only been able to use her 'Aegis' ability to produce a barrier that glowed visibly and was centered around herself. Through diligent training, she had succeeded in suppressing the barrier's glow to make it almost completely transparent, and she was now able to cast it some distance away from herself.
Of course, this information had been kept hidden from the Bravers and the members of the Eighth Guidance. Murakami knew of it, as she had teamed up with him in her previous life. The only others who knew were Doug, whom she had an inseparable relationship with, and Kanako.
"I died to Pluto's out-of-control Mana before I got a chance to use this in my previous life, though," said Melissa.
"It happens," said Braga.
"Boss! It's no good; there's a barrier or something that stops us from getting to any of them except Girabat!" the archer shouted.
"Then aim for Girabat, you bloody fool!" Gozoroff bellowed.
"There's no way my arrows would do anything against a guy using the Iron Form martial skill, is there?!" the archer yelled back.
Meanwhile, the Demon King Familiar swung his sword at the two Dwarves at the front.
"Triple Slash," he murmured.
"S-Stone Wall!" one of the Dwarves shouted, hastily raising his shield and activating a martial skill in response.
Girabat was no high-ranking officer of the criminal organization. But he was notorious from having been exiled from the Mercenaries' Guild, and although he had not mastered the Shield Technique Skill, he was known within the organization as a man whose swords, dual-wielded with the Swordsmanship Skill, were capable of burying numerous foes at once.
Even with the exceptional Vitality of his race, the Dwarf would be cut clean straight through his armor if he were to receive a direct blow from Girabat's Triple Slash.
However, as an Infested Demon King Familiar, Girabat was unable to activate the Triple Slash martial skill. He had simply spoken the words "Triple Slash" with his mouth. His sword was swung with speed, but there was no weight to his blow and it was deflected easily by the Dwarf's shield.
"Ah…" Girabat uttered in surprise.
The sword had not only been deflected; it had broken in two halfway down the length of the blade.
Girabat had been swinging the sword with a reckless amount of force in the previous battle, already putting strain on it. It seemed that swinging it against a shield hardened by a martial skill had been the final straw.
"Alright, now! Do it, you wanna-be mage!" Gozoroff ordered.
"Flash!" shouted the man who had been reciting an incantation.
At the same time, the Dwarves regained their composure and attacked. But it was not only them; the archer aimed his remaining arrows at Girabat and Gozoroff swung his battle-axe down at him as well.
Blinded, the Demon King Familiar threw his broken sword with the Throwing Skill at the position he had seen his enemy before being blinded.
"Muh… Screw Strike, Shield Bash, Air Fist, Ten Consecutive Overarm Blows," he muttered.
Sensing his enemies' presence, he wielded his shield as a blunt weapon, and with his other hand, released a fist-shaped shockwave and then unleashed a series of overarm blows.
Screams and the sound of flesh and bone being torn and broken filled the air. When they subsided, it was only the Demon King Familiar and the barely-standing Gozoroff remaining.
Gozoroff let out a pained, bloody cough. "W-what was that movement… I couldn't see your fists at all… My axe broke like it was made of candy…"
Trembling, Gozoroff dropped his axe, of which only the handle remained, onto the ground.
The people he had appointed as high-ranking officers had possessed plenty of skill to lead a group of ruffians. He had known the two Dwarves, members of his own race, for a particularly long time. They had been strong enough to face even adventurers head-on.
But one of the Dwarves was showing the whites of his eyes after having his shield punched, and the other was lying in a puddle of blood after receiving the overarm blows that had not landed on Gozoroff.
The archer in the back was on the ground with the broken sword protruding from his chest, and the mage was groaning in pain, his shoulder having been shattered to pieces by the Air Fist.
The archer and the bleeding Dwarf seemed to be alive, surprisingly, but they certainly would not be able to fight any further. Gozoroff was still standing, but he was barely conscious; he felt as if he could drop dead at any moment.
But the infested Demon King Familiar that had done all of this had not escaped unharmed.
Arrows had pierced his chest, and his shield had split in two. The arm that was not holding the shield was in a particularly terrible state; the bones were broken and mangled to the point that it was impossible to tell where his elbow was, and the hand had lost all of its fingers.
But the terrifying thing was that there was no reaction to this on his face.
"Melissa, it's alright now. Thank you," he said, spitting out the blood that had pooled in his mouth with no expression at all.
Melissa obeyed the Demon King Familiar's orders… Vandalieu's orders, and undid the Aegis. But Gozoroff was not capable of doing anything now.
"I can use my own Active Skills like Shield Technique, Throwing and Unarmed Fighting Technique without a problem, but I can't use the base body's Skills… Girabat's Skills. And my Passive Skills have no effect, either," the Demon King Familiar murmured.
Gozoroff looked bewildered. "What the hell are you saying, Girabat?" he asked.
But Girabat ignored this question, and Vandalieu approached Gozoroff instead.
"Well, this is to be expected, isn't it. I have infested the body of this Girabat with a part of myself, taking over it and controlling it. Girabat is alive, but his consciousness is separate. Also, even if the base body's reaction speed is improved, its muscles and skeleton stay the same, so it seems that it was unable to withstand the recoil," said Vandalieu, sighing as he looked down at Girabat's right arm that had now become useless after using Ten Consecutive Overarm Blows.
"King, is this going to be of any use in battle?" asked Braga.
"It might not," Vandalieu replied. "The results might be different if I use a more powerful base body, but… it's not worth taking the effort to find one and infest them with the Demon King's sub-brain."
"It was originally supposed to be for infiltration, right? It'll work fine if you take some acting lessons from Kanako, right?" said Melissa.
"I already have, actually… and as a result, it has become clear that I am hopelessly unskilled at making facial expressions," said Vandalieu.
"… That's rather serious," Melissa remarked.
"Y-you bastards… What are you talking about…?" Gozoroff demanded in bewilderment, finding himself ignored by Vandalieu and his companions once more.
Perhaps he had felt a small hope that he wouldn't be killed.
"Ah, this is the summary of the results of this live-environment testing," Vandalieu explained. "You're the 'Hyena' Gozoroff, aren't you? I'll have you tell me about the slave traders that you were planning to do business with."
Gozoroff chuckled weakly. "I don't mind telling you, but those guys are legit slave traders, with the backing of nobles and the Commerce Guild. They're good at erasing any evidence of handling illegal slaves. No matter what I tell you, it's not gonna be possible to catch them, I'm telling you."
"No, we won't catch them. We're going to sneak in, brainwash them and take over. Just like this," said Vandalieu.
In response to those words, a countless number of what appeared to be thin insects extended from one of Girabat's ears.
"Girabat?!" Gozoroff shouted, staring in astonishment.
The Demon King's sub-brain, which had elongated into a thin, long shape, crawled out of Girabat's ear using the Demon King's nerves as legs.
Girabat groaned. "Help… me…" he whispered hoarsely, and then he collapsed like a rotten tree and stopped moving.
"Vandalieu, he's dead, you know?" said Melissa.
"Because I replaced a part of his cerebellum with the Demon King's sub-brain," said Vandalieu. "This way, in the unlikely event that he was captured, nobody would be able to save him. In fact, I'm surprised he was able to speak at all in the end."
"Then wouldn't it be better to just replace the entire contents of his skull with the sub-brain?" Melissa asked.
"If I do that, the biological functions of the host will stop, and the Mana that I'm infesting takes on the properties of my own Mana. There's a chance that it will be detected as someone else."
Hearing this conversation, the heavily-wounded Gozoroff desperately worked his brain to comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
In other words, Girabat hadn't betrayed him; the brat here had messed with his head and controlled him. But why had he done something like that? No, more importantly, he was planning to do the same thing to the slave traders who had made a living by selling slaves?
"D-do you think that what you're doing is going to be forgiven? You're going to take over them? If you lay a hand on them, you're the ones who'll be in trouble," said Gozoroff.
Slave traders very much hated rising powers that could turn into potential business rivals. They hated them to the point that organizations that normally were in conflict would be willing to cooperate to some extent in order to crush these potential rivals.
It was highly likely that the powerful people supporting them would send assassins. If that happened, simply being killed would be one of the better outcomes. There were some assassins who would be better called example-makers, as they murdered their victims in ways so gruesome that even Gozoroff shuddered at the thought of them.
Gozoroff himself was called the 'Hyena,' but in the end, he was just one extremity of the whole structure. From the point of view of the true masterminds, he was nothing more than a lizard's tail that could be easily replaced. Crushing Gozoroff would not make the masterminds take action, but they would certainly have no mercy on anyone who tried to directly interfere with their business.
"No matter how crazy a brat you are, it's definitely impossible… No, could it be… You could do it?" Gozoroff murmured, reconsidering his first assumption that it would be impossible.
He thought back on the bizarre phenomena that had just occurred before his very eyes, and then he realized that Vandalieu and his companions could potentially turn the power structure of the underworld upside-down.
Gozoroff's intuition was correct. However, he had definitely misunderstood what came next.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything I know," he said, grinning. "Starting today, you lot… no, you people, are our bosses. I'm going to be useful. So, just help me treat my wounds, and…"
"No, the only thing I need is the information you have; I don't actually need you," Vandalieu interrupted, approaching Gozoroff with his palm outstretched. "I'll cast Death Delay until my questioning is over, but no healing. Now, look at this eye."
There was a Demon King's eyeball on the surface of his palm, and it was flickering mysteriously due to the effect of the Demon King's luminescent organs.
"N-no! Wait, wait!" Gozoroff screamed, trying to escape. "Why is there an eye there?! Stop, stop it! DON'T COME ANY CLOSEEEER!"
However, Gozoroff was fatally wounded. Though Vandalieu's spell prevented him from actually dying, he wasn't able to move properly with his body in such a state.
After being questioned using the Mental Encroachment Skill, he spat out all of the information he had and then was disposed of.
"I was sure that you would be merciful to people who have surrendered, but… And anyway, don't you need pawns in order to take over an organization?" asked Melissa.
"It depends. I do need pawns, but not ruffians on the end of the organization. Having them fight for us is out of the question, and even though I do want a criminal organization as an intelligence network, that doesn't mean that I want to commit crimes," Vandalieu explained.
Vandalieu wanted to gather intelligence, and wanted a base to conduct that intelligence gathering. Managing a group of criminals who only earned money through pillaging and slave trading would be nothing but a risk for him.
As for pawns, he would brainwash the members of the organization that he was about to take over, or train them after turning them into Undead. There was no need for Gozoroff and his lackeys.
"King is always like this. Do you find it strange?" asked Braga, who would be considered prey by human society, no different from bandits or monsters.
Thinking back on what she had learned regarding this world so far, Melissa shook her head. "It isn't strange at all, is it? I exterminated bandits when I was working as an adventurer myself, and even the Guild says that it's dangerous to try and transport them to be handed over to the authorities, so they tell us to ignore any pleas to surrender and just kill them," she said.
In Lambda, the concept of human rights did not exist. Thus, the idea that even the human rights of criminals should be preserved, an idea that would be considered fundamental on Earth or in Origin, did not apply in Lambda at all.
This was only to be expected, as criminal slaves existed in Lambda.
"But Asagi and… Amemiya wouldn't be happy about it," said Melissa. "They'd probably say something like, 'These rules should be kept in every world. As people who have come from another world, we must hold a different perspective from the people of this world.'"
It seemed that the 'Mage Masher' Asagi and Amemiya Hiroto had said words like these to their companions in Origin. Vandalieu had never spoken to Amemiya before, so he didn't know anything about him, but he did know that Asagi was likely to say such things.
He had been like that when they met over a year ago, after all.
"They've illegally captured and sold countless people. They're the kind of people that there are rewards for killing, the kind that would be hanged or turned into criminal slaves if they were to be handed to the authorities. As criminal slaves, even if you exclude using them for mining labor or as disposable soldiers, they could become live subjects for spells or drugs at the Mages' Guild, or as breeding stock for tamed monsters at the Tamers' Guild," said Vandalieu.
So then, why would they say that human rights would apply to these people? he wondered.
"Isn't it because they wouldn't stand for you, a reincarnated individual like them, doing the same?" said Melissa. "By the way, what are we going to do with the people who got turned into slaves? Even if you wanted to have them live in the Dungeon you made like you did with us, aren't you going to be busy for a while?"
"I suppose it depends on what they want. I owe the people I shared the carriage with in particular, and I did swear I wouldn't harm them," said Vandalieu.
"You owe them?" Braga repeated. "You saved them, so aren't they the ones who owe you, King?"
"I put them through a scary experience for the sake of my experiment, so I owe them. Especially those siblings."
By drinking this red-black, poisonous-looking Potion while standing in the sunlight, they could conquer the sun and gain power.
When they heard this, the Pure-breed Vampire Erpel's first thought was that such a ridiculous thing would be impossible. Sunlight wasn't fatal to Pure-breed Vampires like him, but it was a weakness that could not be overcome.
No, to be precise, there were Pure-breed Vampires who had overcome it. His brethren Zorcodrio, the one known as 'Zod' who possessed the toughest and most robust body among them, had been active during the day even after becoming a Pure-breed Vampire.
Zorcodrio had plowed fields, cultivated hills and worked in construction while being burned by the sun. Thus, at some point, he had acquired the Sunlight Resistance Skill.
Upon learning this, Erpel and the rest of the Pure-breed Vampires had attempted to conquer the sun, but… all of them had failed. Although sunlight was not fatal to them, the pain of having their bodies burned by sunlight had been unpleasant, and they had been unable to acquire the skill even after enduring it for years.
Despite that, Erpel was being told that the Sunlight Resistance Skill could be learned within several hours to several days, that it would take ten days at most. It was unbelievable to him.
However, Zorcodrio, whom Erpel was seeing for the first time in a hundred thousand years, had given him a smile and a thumbs up.
"Have some trust in me. You may find it addictive," Zorcodrio had said, and Vandalieu had recommended it as well.
Thus, Erpel had decided to try it.
As a result, he was now shouting at the top of his lungs, standing half-naked in broad daylight.
"IT'S OVERFLOWIIIIING!" he exclaimed.
With that, Erpel drank down the rest of the Blood Potion in his hand. Gulping noises came from his white throat. When he was done, he licked the drops that had dribbled from the corner of his mouth with his crimson tongue.
His pupils shone with a piercing light, and his white fangs grew thicker and longer. If an ordinary person were to see him now, they would likely be immobilized by this terrifying and yet bewitchingly beautiful sight.
Erpel laughed loudly. "I have done it! I have become an Abyssal Vampire… An Abyssal Pure-breed Vampire, just like Zorcodrio! I can feel power rising up endlessly within me! What do you think of my powerful, beautiful new form?!"
"Erpel-sama, my tone might be feminine, but that doesn't mean I like guys. Anyway, you look a little too young, and if I'm honest, you look adorable rather than strong, I suppose?" said Miles Rouge, the Noble-born Vampire who had been Gubamon's servant but had changed sides to become Vandalieu's subordinate.
"… I see," Erpel said dejectedly, hanging his head limply.
However, it was true that his appearance was not impactful no matter what kind of powerful pose he tried to take. He had the appearance of a thin, pretty-looking boy in his mid-teenage years, and even his voice was rather high-pitched.
"I am even treated like a child by Darcia, my niece-in-law… It is fine. It suits me to be a feeble boy," Erpel said, shrinking as he sat on the ground, crushing a small pebble between his fingertips.
Meanwhile, Miles was watching him calmly. This was not how one would expect him to act towards a Pure-breed Vampire, which was equivalent to a god in the eyes of a Noble-born Vampire.
"… I don't think there are any feeble boys who can crush pebbles with just their fingers," muttered Eleanora, who had arrived with a wagon loaded with more servings of Blood Potion.
"Don't worry about it," said Miles. "Erpel-sama often gets full of himself, so it's best to be stricter with him."
"… Don't blame me if the Noble-born Vampires in Vida's Resting Grounds get angry at you," said Eleanora.
Eleanora and Miles, who were Noble-born Vampires originating from a faction worshipping evil gods. But unlike them, the Noble-born Vampires had supported the Pure-breed Vampires in Vida's Resting Grounds for a hundred thousand years, and they truly respected and admired them from the bottoms of their hearts. Treating the Pure-breed Vampires impolitely would certainly attract the Noble-born Vampires' anger.
"I was told that by those very same Noble-born Vampires in Vida's Resting Grounds. They told me that's what's best, since Erpel-sama is childish," said Miles.
Apparently the Noble-born Vampires in Vida's Resting Grounds had experienced trouble with Erpel as well… though that might have been a result of the affection between them due to their admiration of him.
"Really? It's kind of… crazy to think that the Pure-breed Vampires are like ordinary people," said Eleanora. "Not that I want them to act like Birkyne," she added.
"I know how you feel. I'm just as surprised as you are, but… I definitely don't want them to be acting like Gubamon," said Miles.
Eleanora and Miles looked at the twenty or so half-naked Pure-breed Vampires in front of them, emitting smoke from their skin as they bathed in the sun. Like Erpel, they were trying to become Abyssal Pure-breed Vampires.
Approximately twenty Pure-breed Vampires, all of whom were a minimum of Rank 13. They alone represented a large enough fighting force to destroy even the Amid Empire or the Orbaume Kingdom unless there was some kind of miracle, like the descent of heroic spirits.
They looked like a group of drunkards, however.
"Hic! One more drink!" said one.
"AAAAH! Being burned hurts, and drinking Blood Potion feels so good I could get addicted to it!" another screamed.
"This blood is truly supreme! This is the blessing of the black-blooded emperor!" said a third.
"Long live the black-blooded emperor! Long live our imperial prince, long live our child!" cried a fourth.
"I understand why you're confused. But from our point of view, it's more shocking that the showy boy Birkyne, the bulging-eyed old man Gubamon and that tomboy with nothing developed except her body went and became something like that," said a man called Dragan, a Pure-breed Vampire who had once been a Dwarf.
Dragan had already become an Abyssal Pure-breed Vampire, and he was slowly drinking the remaining Blood Potion in his bottle.
"In the past, even those guys were decent people. It's not like they didn't have bad things about them, but… they weren't the type to kill their own kind in anger," Dragan lamented.
Birkyne, Gubamon and Ternecia had worshiped evil gods, but to Dragan and the other Pure-breed Vampires here, they had once been comrades who had fought alongside them a hundred thousand years ago. Though they had flaws even while they still worshiped Vida, they could have been considered virtuous, and certainly not evil.
"Showy boy… Birkyne?" Eleanora muttered.
"I did know that Gubamon was a bulging-eyed old man, though," said Miles.
Neither of them could believe that Dragan was talking about the Birkyne and Gubamon they had known.
"Eleanora, don't get caught up in conversation. Please go and hand out the Blood Potion," said Bellmond, arriving with a wagon filled with empty bottles along with a strange Demon King Familiar.
At a glance, it looked like a knight wearing a strange helmet and a plate armor decorated with a large orb on the breastplate. But upon closer inspection, it was very clearly bizarre.
What appeared to be plate armor was actually the Demon King's smooth exoskeleton, and the orb on the breastplate was the Demon King's treasure orb. The strange helmet was a transparent capsule; this was the only part that wasn't a fragment of the Demon King. However, the mass of grey flesh floating inside it was a countless number of the Demon King's sub-brains joined together.
There were also other fragments such as the eyeballs, blood, blubber and stomach, to ensure that it could operate for extended periods of time.
There was a limit to the range at which the Group Control Skill, a superior version of the Long-distance Control Skill, could take effect. Vandalieu was currently in the Orbaume Kingdom, beyond that maximum range, but the Demon King Familiars in Talosheim were still active thanks to this specially-made Demon King Familiar… the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar.
"They're consuming more than I expected. I thought I had enough stockpiled, but… I wonder if the ingredients we have in storage will be enough," said the clone of Vandalieu that was operating the Demon King Familiar, making a squishy sound as its head moved.
There were Demon King Familiars specialized for creating Blood Potion and other things with the Alchemy Skill, but they could not provide Vandalieu's blood, which was a crucial ingredient, nor could they supply new death-attribute Mana.
The only fragment capable of creating new Mana was the Demon King's treasure orb. In addition to assisting the use and control of Mana like Zadiris's third eye, this organ was capable of generating new Mana.
But with the real Vandalieu so far away, the efficiency of the Mana generation was lowered; it did have flaws. However, by satisfying the conditions of having a brain and being able to create Mana, Vandalieu had succeeded in making this Demon King Familiar a pseudo-main-body.
He had not divided himself; it was merely a pseudo-main-body, so its memories and personality were those of Vandalieu. To use Earth's communication technology as a comparison, it was as if he had installed a new base station for communication.
"Luciliano and the Demons in the workshop said that the stockpiled ingredients should be enough. Ah, but if it's not enough, we might be able to see the real Vandalieu-sama," said Eleanora, seemingly tempted by this thought despite her honest report.
"… I understand how you feel, but please ensure that you do not hand out more Blood Potion than necessary," Bellmond warned her. "Now then, please go and distribute the Potion."
"Hmph, I know. I wouldn't waste Vandalieu-sama's precious blood," Eleanora said indignantly before pushing her wagon in the direction of the Pure-breed Vampires wanting a refill.
She did seem reluctant to part with the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar, however; she turned back with a longing gaze multiple times along her way.
"How does everyone see the Demon King Familiars?" the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar murmured, curious about Eleanora's behavior.
The minds of Demon King Familiars were all Vandalieu's mind. They were not separate personalities, avatars of a countless number of personas, or artificially-created personalities. They were all Vandalieu.
The parasite-type Demon King Familiar that had controlled Girabat's body in the distant Orbaume Kingdom, the Demon King Familiars that were exterminating monsters on the Dark Continent with Vigaro, Borkus and the others, the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar here – without exception, all of them were Vandalieu.
"Eleanora and I do understand that all of them are you, but we feel more attraction towards the real you. You would also prefer to be touched by the real Darcia-sama and… Eleanora, do you not, Danna-sama?" said Bellmond.
The pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar clumsily attempted to nod in agreement.
"And the reason you didn't mention yourself in that question is because that's just how your personality is, isn't it?" said Miles, interrupting the conversation.
"Indeed. Ternecia always had a good body since she was a human, but she never had any sex appeal or charm. A pity, too; she might have had a story or two to tell before becoming a Pure-breed Vampire if she had even a single innocent, clumsy thing about her," said Dragan.
"That is an unnecessary concern," said Bellmond, distracted. "Dragan-sama, if you have become an Abyssal Pure-breed Vampire, then please get dressed."
"Come to think of it, Boss, Isla and I are obviously going to be useful for gathering intelligence, but Eleanora should be of use as well. Running a criminal organization is my specialty, though," said Miles, promoting himself while ignoring Bellmond's icy gaze.
He had been one of the higher-ranked members among Gubamon's subordinates, and he had gained attention from those around him more for his knowledge regarding intelligence-gathering, rather than his ability in combat… Though he was unaware of this, 'Miles Rouge' was one of the names that Birkyne had in mind to recruit when he was struggling to reorganize his organization.
"We're still following the threads and pruning the roots and branches that aren't needed, after all," Miles said.
They were taking over a criminal organization, but there was no need to make a profit from their crimes afterwards. Vandalieu would provide all of the funds that the organization needed to maintain itself, after all.
And so, there was no way to put the knowledge of Miles and the others to use while Vandalieu was still in the process of following trails and disposing of people like the 'Hyena' Gozoroff.
"Also, I'd like you to keep taking care of the Pure-breed Vampires until they settle in," said the pseudo-Demon King Familiar.
"… So that's your real intention. Seriously, if the Noble-born Vampires working in Vida's Resting Grounds didn't all collapse, all we'd have had to do was explain things," said Miles.
The Noble-born Vampires were supposed to have been taking care of Dragan and the still-dejected Erpel, but all of them were now in a groggy state.
They had tried to become Abyssal Vampires before the Pure-breed Vampires, and lost consciousness as a result of being unable to withstand the pain of being burned by the sun.
"Well, I also had subordinates who took months to find success, so it can't be helped," said Miles.
"Sorry about that. We're called Pure-breed Vampires and Noble-born Vampires, but we're far weaker than those outside the Boundary Mountain Range think we are," said Erpel, seeming to have regained his composure.
"It's exaggerating to say that we're far weaker, but it's true that we aren't strong. After all, the war against the Demon King was already over by the time we became Pure-breed Vampires, and the only time we fought to the death against enemies as powerful as ourselves was in the battle against those bastards Alda and Bellwood," said Dragan. "After that, we spent our time keeping the Demon King's fragments sealed and maintaining the barrier, while keeping the population of monsters far weaker than ourselves under control occasionally… every few hundred or every few thousand years. We couldn't help our senses being dulled and our techniques getting rusty."
The inside of the Boundary Mountain Range had been peaceful from a hundred thousand years ago until recently. And even the most difficult Dungeon inside it was A-class, with the Dungeon Boss being Rank 12. There had been no threats that required the Pure-breed Vampires, who were all Rank 13 or above, to fight them with their full strength.
They had engaged in mock battles against each other and against strong individuals like Godwin, but it was difficult to say that they'd had enough time to become stronger.
"It's as Dragan says. Well, we did invent new spells in Vida-sama's Divine Realm, and the Noble-born Vampires should have trained to some extent in the Dungeons," said Erpel. "That's how it is, so Vandalieu, Miles, Bellmond – Don't expect us to be stronger than our Ranks would suggest. You'll be disappointed!"
"I mean, just by being Rank 13, you're plenty strong," said the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar.
"But I really want to shut Alda's lot up, so I'll do my best! If it becomes an all-out battle, count on me!" said Erpel.
"… So should I count on you or not?"
"While you're at it, why don't you have a look and pick a woman?" suggested Dragan. "Look, the one writhing in pain over there is Giselle. Even before the war against the Demon King, she was popular among the human men because she was one of the mature and beautiful Dwarves, and being a Dwarf, she has muscle as well. The one clinging onto Eleanora-jouchan is Fedilica. She was originally an Elf, and she's a smart one who can do paperwork when she's sober. Well, her flaw is that she's almost never sober."
"Dragan, why aren't you recommending Bortuna-oba…neesan?! Don't you feel sorry for her?!" said Erpel.
"No, I'd feel more sorry for that gorilla if I actually recommended her. She doesn't fit the description of 'tomboy' or 'strong-minded,' either," said Dragan.
"I can hear you, you bastards! Don't go making fun of the Holy Son! Do you want me to rip your tongues out?!" shouted a Pure-breed Vampire so large she could have been mistaken for an Ogre.
She ran towards Dragan and Erpel with smoke rising from her skin, grasped their heads, then let go and returned to where she had been standing.
A short while later, Dragan and Erpel began writhing in agony, blood spraying from their mouths. It seemed that their tongues really had been torn out. Fedilica burst into laughter at the sight of this, and Eleanora used this opportunity to make a successful escape.
"… Even if they do grow back pretty quickly, she really has no mercy," Miles remarked.
"More importantly, why is everyone attempting to introduce women to Danna-sama? This should not be necessary for the Pure-breed Vampires," said Bellmond.
"I am sure that half their intent is to poke fun at me. Or it could be some kind of habit. When they woke up and left Vida's Resting Grounds, they were apparently asked to attend ceremonies in other nations and give their blessings to weddings and engagements," said the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar.
They were already acquainted with Darcia, and Vandalieu figured that if the Pure-breed Vampires were serious, they would have approached her about it. Since they hadn't, he assumed that they weren't serious.
Darcia was currently visiting the Dark Continent to perform… to raise morale, along with Legion, Kanako, Zadiris and Zandia.
"Ah," the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar suddenly murmured.
"What is the matter?" Bellmond asked.
"No, it's just that Luciliano dropped some Blood Potion in the underground workshop… and the small animals born in experiments flooded in to lick the spilled contents up, and it seems that they've all become monsters," the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar said, explaining what another Demon King Familiar was currently witnessing.
Miles and Bellmond's faces stiffened.
"By 'small animals born in experiments,' you mean the offspring born between living subjects and Undead subjects transplanted with Life Gold and Spirit Silver, don't you? If I recall, there were over four hundred of them," said Bellmond.
"… That's troublesome, isn't it. Is that man still alive?" asked Miles.
"Though they've transformed into monsters, they're not that powerful, and it seems that they aren't interested in Luciliano, so it's alright," the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar said. "But… they are very attached to the Demon King Familiar."
"Attached?" Miles and Bellmond repeated simultaneously.
The pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar confirmed that the Demon King Familiar inside the underground workshop was completely surrounded by Big Rats and Horned Rabbits.
"Yes, attached," it said.
"You have acquired the 'Black Blood Emperor' and 'Elder Dragon Emperor' Titles!"
"… I understand that people here were shouting 'Black Blood Emperor,' but why 'Elder Dragon Emperor? I wonder if something happened on the Dark Continent."