The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time The Death Mage That Doesn't Want A Fourth Time 66

About four months had pa.s.sed since the pillaging of the farming villages, and it was now well into summer. It was a season where the air conditioning of Demon Lights that absorbed heat from their surroundings was absolutely essential.

Vandalieu, having now turned six years old, was spending his time busily in Talosheim. Establishing systems for agriculture and textile production was a great deal of work.

First, the crops that he had stolen along with their entire fields were growing well… too well. Since the climate would change greatly from crossing the mountain range, he had first planned to use death-attribute magic to prevent the crops from dying while performing selective breeding.

However, the crops quickly adapted to Talosheim’s soil. It was likely that because they had been growing in the soil of a former Devil’s Nest, they were compatible with the soil of Talosheim, which was a semi-Devil’s Nest.

Wheat could be harvested three months after being planted, immediately eliminating the impending shortage of grain in Talosheim.

The other vegetables were able to be harvested earlier than normal as well… though for some reason, they kept producing more flowers without wilting and using their roots as legs to move around. It seemed that the cause of this was the use of Fertilization on unused monster parts to produce fertilizer and the addition of Vandalieu’s Mana.

“Well, I suppose it’s fine.” Vandalieu had no complaints, as the crops they produced were good quality and they didn’t have to be constantly tended to like normal crops.

But I do wish that they would stop attacking me as if to say, “Have a taste of me,” whenever I go to look at them. No matter how good quality they are, onions are harsh to eat raw. And please stop throwing tomatoes at me. There isn’t a festival for that in our nation.

“Stopping them all is quite difficult,” Vandalieu complained as he used his arms that had been branched and extended with Spirit Form Transformation to catch and collect the produce that the monster plants were picking off themselves and throwing at him.

This repeated itself numerous times before they finally stopped.

It seemed that plants that threw their own fruits were dangerous. The wheat, root crops and potatoes hadn’t turned into monsters yet.

On the other hand, the production of textiles had gone well up to a certain point.

“Get up.”

With the same principle that he applied in creating Wood Golems, Vandalieu was able to manipulate the raw materials with Golem Trans.m.u.tation. Of course, he hadn’t been able to simply been able to produce textiles straight from the plant, but he had successfully extracted fibers and created threads after boiling and softening them.

He had been able to create linen with plants from Borkus’s Sub-Dragon Dungeon. He had also produced fluffy, warm wool similar to sheep’s wool from the belly fur of Needle Wolves and something similar to silk from Cemetery Bees.

Cemetery Bees didn’t make coc.o.o.ns that completely surrounded their pupae as the bees and hornets of Earth did. However, when larvae turned into pupae, they placed lids over the chambers containing the pupae.

The Cemetery Bees created those lids with threads. They were lids large enough to cover chambers containing pupae that would become thirty-centimeter-long adults. He was able to harvest slightly more silk than silkworm coc.o.o.ns would yield.

Of course, the lids would be broken once the Cemetery bees emerged from the chambers. But for Vandalieu, who could even create boards using sawdust, turning the broken lids into Golems, restoring them to their original shape and creating threads from them wasn’t a difficult task.

Vandalieu named this slightly honey-colored silk ‘Honey Silk’.

“Well, it’s only making threads and cloth that’s going well, though.”

The spinning-wheel Golems could create threads. With the looms, which were also Golems, cloth wasn’t a problem, either. As for dyes, by boiling down fallen leaves and branches of Immortal Treants, he had access to numerous colors.

The resulting cloth was of excellent quality even in Eleanora’s eyes; if it were to be taken to the Commerce Guild, the merchants would be flooding in to buy it, but… In the end, it was just cloth, nothing more.

They weren’t clothes.

“Making clothes and accessories is difficult, isn’t it?” Vandalieu remarked.

“Well, I suppose so…” Zadiris agreed.

“I-if it’s loincloths, even I can make them,” said Vigaro.

“No, those don’t need to be sewed, do they?” Saria pointed out.

“If my wife was here, she would be able to tailor simple clothes,” said Sam.

“Your daughters might somehow manage…” said Borkus.

Everyone lacked the experience and knowledge to tailor clothes from cloth. Cloth was a valuable item that they almost never got their hands on, so most of their clothes were made from leather and fur. The Undead t.i.tans of Talosheim hadn’t had contact with the outside world for a long time; they hadn’t had the time to be concerned about their attire.

Though there were some who could do basic sewing, like Rita and Saria, there were no needles or craftsmen capable of making clothes from scratch.

Vandalieu wasn’t much better; the only knowledge he had was what he had learned in home economics cla.s.ses at school. If he remembered those times, he might be able to make something like an ap.r.o.n.

Even the researchers who researched the textiles of Origin weren’t experts in creating clothes from the textiles.

“Well, I suppose if I acquire skills, I’ll be able to make all kinds of things,” said Vandalieu.

With skills, he might be able to somehow figure out how to make the clothes he had seen on Earth.

In the end, it was decided that he would go through trial and error with everyone for other things, such as kantoui*.

TLN*: Simple clothing consisting of a large piece of cloth with a hole for the head.

『You have acquired the Farming and Clothing skills!』

There were many spirits lined up in front of Vandalieu, who was sitting on the throne in the audience room.

They were the spirits that had been inside the Undead expedition army that attacked Balcheburg. They had taken over four months to return.

However, those present here were those whose personalities hadn’t completely collapsed due to the long time since their second deaths and the journey back, around only a hundred of them. It seemed that since they didn’t count as Vandalieu’s followers, four months pa.s.sing without death-attribute magic protecting their spirit forms had caused most of them to be reduced to letting out wordless groans.

“Well done, everyone. With this, I will forgive you for the sin of attacking Talosheim,” Vandalieu declared.

The spirits cheered. They felt happy from the bottom of their hearts at the fact that they would formally be accepted as part of those under Vandalieu’s command.

“Now then, General Chezare. Please show them the way,” Vandalieu ordered.

“Yes… Your Majesty.” As Chezare appeared, wearing a military uniform with decorations placed proudly on his chest, the spirits reacted in two different ways.

The great majority of them cheered at being reunited with their former boss, while a small number of them had their already-collapsed faces collapsed further with an expression of surprise.

“Ch-Chezare! You’re the general?!” said Langil Mauvid, the head of the smaller group.

Chezare had been the second-in-command due to having born in one of the Empire’s va.s.sal nations, so his unexpected promotion caused Mauvid’s eyes to open so wide that his eyeb.a.l.l.s looked as if they would fall from his sockets.

Chezare chuckled in response to Mauvid’s words. “Well, well, if it isn’t the former supreme commander, Mauvid-dono. It has been a while.”

“What is the meaning of this, Chezare! You were an enemy of Vandalieu-sama, just like me! So why have you become the general?!” Mauvid demanded.

“Fufufu, the Eclipse King is a forgiving person,” said Chezare. “He has acknowledged my work and bestowed me with decorations as well as the position of general.”

“How could this be?!”

Though Mauvid seemed unable to believe it, Chezare had in fact been very useful.

Chezare hadn’t been a super-capable commander, nor had he possessed unrivaled fighting strength. However, his impressive ability when it came to office work had been preserved even after becoming an Undead. He knew how to organize an army and its supplies, and was knowledgeable about the structure of each fort in the Mirg shield-nation as well as the tactics that each nation employed.

He was also quite well-informed in things outside of military business, such as law and commerce. He would be an important capable person… dead person* for Vandalieu from now on.

TLN*: This is kind of a joke in j.a.panese where 人材/jinzai, the j.a.panese word for “capable person”, has its first kanji replaced with 死 meaning “dead”.

Borkus was strong, reliable and trustworthy, but fundamentally unable to do deskwork.

“Now then, proud soldiers of His Majesty! His Majesty shall grant you new bodies! You will fight alongside the Black Bull Knights’ Order and myself, for the sake of the Eclipse King!” Chezare declared.

Vandalieu hadn’t included the Black Bull Knights’ Order in the disposable army. He was having them act as instructors to teach the t.i.tans and Ghouls how to conduct large-scale battles effectively.

And since they were knights, they were able to do deskwork even if not on the same level as Chezare, so they would be handy to have around from now on.

Incidentally, Vandalieu had kept Flark, Gennie and Messara, the three who had been Riley’s slaves, because each of them had their uses. Their personal histories were what they were, so he had to be careful with them, but they were obedient for now.

The spirits of the former expedition army grew even more excited. Having heard that Chezare was the general and that the Black Bull Knights’ Order still remained, it seemed that they had gained hope for their future lives(?).

“I-I will not accept this! I will not accept you as the general!” Mauvid shouted, but in the next moment, his voice wavered.

“So are you saying that you are dissatisfied with my choice?” asked Vandalieu.

The air in the audience chamber changed as all of the spirits directed angry glares at Mauvid, as if they were looking at their sworn enemy.

“Hyih! N-no, I was simply –”

“I appointed Chezare as my general and bestowed him decorations. Everything was done through my authority and will. If you are dissatisfied with that, that means that you are dissatisfied with me, doesn’t it?”

“Th-that is – I-I apologize! Please forgive me for my inappropriate words!” Mauvid lowered his head, but Vandalieu remained indifferent, not speaking any words of forgiveness.

Chezare extended Mauvid a helping hand. “My apologies, Your Majesty. Please forgive my subordinate for his insolence.”

Mauvid’s spirit trembled in response to Chezare’s sneering voice, but he was ignored.

“Are you sure you want to take him as your subordinate?” Vandalieu asked. “It sounds like it would be troublesome.”

“Of course,” Chezare replied. “Making use of the useless is also one of the duties of those who stand at the top.”

“… I understand. I’ll leave the personnel affairs to you, Chezare.”

“Haha, I am grateful and happy. Now then, stand! You will now start again as a private!”

The former-General Mauvid’s spirit was taken away by Chezare and his subordinates. As a spirit, he couldn’t hide his true emotions, so he was wearing an incredibly furious expression, but it was simply humorous.

The large number of spirits of those born in the Mirg shield-nation went with them, followed by the spirits of those from the Amid Empire who were wearing pitiful expressions. Many of them were to become Living Armors and Cursed Carriages.

Incidentally, the rest of the spirits whose personalities had collapsed were turned into Golems and Cursed Weapons.

Either way, Vandalieu couldn’t avoid preparing bodies for them. He was unable to turn them into Astral-type Undead like Ghosts and Wraiths that consisted entirely of spirit form.

Before, the reason for this was that Vandalieu’s Death-Attribute Magic skill’s level was simply too low, but the problem with his ability had now been solved. The problem now was the spirits that he was using as materials.

To turn spirits into Astral-type Undead, the spirit must possess extraordinary emotions of defeat. Without anger, hatred, regret and grief, they cannot become Undead.

Due to the effects of Death-Attribute Charm, those killed by Vandalieu felt happiness at having been killed. Rather than speak words of hatred, they would bow their heads and say, “Please allow us to repay you for the favor you have done in killing us.”

They were impossible to turn into Undead consisting only of spirit form.

Leaving that aside.

“... Keeping up with this farce is tiring,” said Vandalieu.

It was necessary, but not very interesting.

The earlier conversation was necessary to have all the spirits gather under Chezare. If the hierarchy wasn’t clearly established in front of everyone, things might be fine when Vandalieu was around, but there would be no telling what would happen if he went to the Orbaume Kingdom. Though the spirits of those born in the Empire were few in number, Vandalieu needed to make them understand the chain of command.

Factional disputes and having members of the group drag each other down like in the Demon King’s army would simply be troublesome. Perhaps it would have been best for Vandalieu to break Mauvid’s soul, but if he used his last resort right from the beginning and something were to happen after that, he would have been in trouble.

That final resort would be used if Mauvid did something completely unforgiveable… Vandalieu could only pray that he was smart enough to express his dissatisfaction through no more than complaining to his superiors during his spare time.

“Now then, Riley and Gordan, step forward,” said Vandalieu, calling out to the two remaining spirits.

“You called me, G.o.d?” Gordan’s expression was that of a lunatic.

“Heheh, heheheh.” Riley approached with twisted laughter.

Certain feelings welled up within Vandalieu as he looked at them.

Vandalieu gave a small cough and forced himself to ignore the taste of blood mixed with his saliva as he continued speaking. “I have a favor to ask of the two of you.”

Gordan and Riley gave a respectful bow.

“Please instruct me as you wish,” said Gordan. “I offer you all that I have.”

“Tell me to do whatever you want, hihi, my spear, as long as I have my spear, I can kill anyone,” said Riley.

Ah, it was really impossible.

“Be destroyed.”

Vandalieu used Spirit Form Transformation on both of his arms and plunged one into each of Riley and Gordan’s spirits. The two of them screamed and froze in astonishment.

“GYAAAH! W-what are you, why?!”

“GUAAAAAH! G-G.o.d! Why, you said that you would forgive, forgive my sins – OOGYAGAGAAH!

“… Yes, I did forgive you for your sins ‘this time.’ But I haven’t forgiven you for what you did to my mother.”

As their faces twisted in despair and agony, Vandalieu swallowed the mixture of saliva and blood in his mouth as he continued speaking. “I did consider it. I thought about enduring it. I did my best. But in the end, it’s impossible.”

“AAAAAH, i-i-it wasn’t my FAAAUUULT!” Riley screamed.

“I-I, simply obeyed my teachings!” Gordan gasped.

“I understand that,” said Vandalieu. “I’ve known for a long time that you aren’t to blame.”

Riley wasn’t at fault. He was simply an adventurer. Joining the extermination force to wipe out the Ghouls in the Devil’s Nest forest, joining this expedition army, using his criminal slaves as shields, capturing and handing over a woman who had given birth to a Dhampir to religious fanatics, none of it was his fault.

None of them were crimes in the society that he had lived in. They were deeds that were not punishable by law.

The fact that he made deals with Vampires was the one serious crime that would be worthy of capital punishment, but it wasn’t as if Vandalieu was obligated to execute him in place of the Empire and Mirg shield-nation.

Gordan wasn’t at fault, either. He had simply followed Alda’s doctrine and exterminated Vampires and those obeying them.

Trying to kill a Dhampir, using whips and brands to inflict gruesome torture on a woman who had given birth to that Dhampir and making a show of burning her alive in public, he couldn’t be blamed for any of these.

In fact, these were good acts that deserved praise from the people of the Empire and its va.s.sal nations.

Indeed, the society he had belonged in and his position had simply been different to Vandalieu’s.

An Undead Gordan and Riley would be useful. They didn’t have bodies, but if Vandalieu provided them with new ones, they would become capable fighters.

That was why he had thought about various things and tried to endure his emotions for four months, but… it was impossible.

“It’s so impossible that my Status Effect Resistance skill’s level has increased because of the stress it’s caused me,” said Vandalieu. “Just by thinking about forgiving you, a hole opened in my stomach and I even threw up a little blood earlier.”

“I-it cannot be…!”

“AGEGAAHGAGAGAGAGAH!”

When Vandalieu stopped to think about it, it was only natural that the perception of good and evil would differ in different societies and positions. He remembered that even on Earth and in Origin, those in different societies and positions killing each other was something that happened every day.

So then, was there a need for Vandalieu to try to endure? Perhaps if he was planning to enlighten the people of Lambda with some kind of knowledge, then enduring it might be best. He should forgive these two.

But what Vandalieu wanted to do was pursue his own happiness. He had no intention of going through the trouble of enlightening the world in a self-sacrificing way.

If forgiving them and accepting them was impossible, there were other options such as using them as Golems, burying them somewhere or releasing them. But the more Vandalieu thought about these options, the more they became out of the question.

Riley and Gordan were far more dangerous than Orbie, the hunter who had ratted out Darcia, whose spirit Vandalieu had abandoned underground in the forest near Evbejia. If he abandoned their souls in random places and they were recovered by Rodcorte, Alda, Yupeon or Hihiryushukaka, it was possible that Vandalieu would have to face them again.

That would still be fine, but it was also possible that they would cause harm to everyone from some faraway place where Vandalieu couldn’t see them.

Vandalieu didn’t know what G.o.ds were capable of. However, he believed that G.o.ds were malicious. He knew how cruel and vicious they were.

As Gordan had used the skill called Familiar Spirit Descent, a skill that allowed what would be called an angel on Earth to possess his body, there was no doubt that Alda had taken notice of him.

That was why Vandalieu couldn’t take that risk.

“And most importantly, I hate you,” he said.

“GYAAAAAH!”

Gordan and Riley’s unpleasant screams that sounded like shards of gla.s.s grinding against each other stopped with a clear, cracking sound.

Their spirits collapsed, and the fragments of their souls that resembled particles of light began to fade away.

The moment he saw this, Vandalieu felt joy from the bottom of his heart. The exhilarating, cool, refreshing feeling of having made the world a little cleaner that he had felt when he had broken Sercrent’s soul.

“– Now then. Five enemies left to take revenge on.”

Heinz and his companions, Earl Thomas Palpapek and the Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon. Even though he had omitted Alda and Yupeon, as he wasn’t sure whether the G.o.ds existed in a place he could kill them, this was quite a prominent list of enemies.

Vandalieu had a long road ahead of him.

“Well then, a toast to celebrate our victory in this war,” said Vandalieu.

“To our victory!”

There had already been a celebration after they had returned from destroying the cultivated land, but now that everything is over, a new victory party was being held.

Four months ago, the main feature had been hamburgers consisting of Giga eggs, mince made from a combination of dinosaur and Orc meat, and the mountains of hard bread that the expedition army had been using as food.

It was before onions had been harvested, so Vandalieu had felt like there was something missing, but everyone had enjoyed them. It seemed that cooking with minced meat hadn’t been invented yet.

And the main feature today was the contents of the bowls of everyone present… Ramen.

“This resembles udon and pasta, but it is completely different, isn’t it?” Zadiris remarked.

“Delicious! It’s so delicious!” said Borkus.

Vandalieu had finally succeeded in creating the ‘lye water’ that was crucial for producing the distinct texture of the noodles in ramen. With this, he just needed to make noodle-making machines and come up with something for the tare sauce and dashi to make ramen.

It probably couldn’t compare to the taste of ramen made by famous shops that had long lines of customers on Earth, but Vandalieu did think that it was better than the instant noodles that he had eaten before.

“The noodles are good, but the soup is really delicious. Van, how did you make this?” asked Basdia.

“I took the time to slowly produce dashi from dinosaur bones,” said Vandalieu.

The kyoukotsu* ramen had dashi resembling dashi made from chicken bones, but with a richer flavor. Incidentally, carnivorous dinosaur bones produced a peculiar flavor while herbivorous dinosaur bones produced a light aftertaste. Plesiosaur bones produced a strangely fish-like flavor.

TLN: 豚骨/tonkotsu is made from “pig bone” which is what the kanji means. 恐骨/kyoukotsu is short for 恐竜骨, “dinosaur bone”.

“Bocchan, you’ve been rewarded for the hard effort and years of research!” said Saria.

“Umm, I suppose it’s been around three years,” said Rita. “Lye water is harder to make than a disease, isn’t it?”

“Rita, I don’t know about putting it that way,” said Vandalieu.

“Bocchan, I think this ramen lacks ketchup!” said Saria.

“… You make good use of it, don’t you, Saria?”

“King, what about the Tofu?”

“Braga, putting tofu in ramen would be quite daring.”

“Fugogoh, zubabababababugogoh!”

“Gorba, I have no idea what you’re saying.”

There was plenty for additional helpings, but everyone was eating so much that Vandalieu was starting to feel uneasy.

“Umm, Van-sama,” said Tarea. “Even if you do not do that, we can –”

“Well, this is training as well,” said Vandalieu.

In the kitchen, there were several Vandalieus floating in the air, busily making ramen.

Vandalieu’s spirit, which had left his body with Out-of-body Experience, had split into multiple. With Materialization used on both arms, as well as the use of the Parallel Thought Processing and Long-distance Control skills, he was doing multiple people’s worth of cooking.

“The preparations have all been done, so all that’s really left to do is cooking the noodles, isn’t there?”

“And then they just need to be served in bowls.”

“The sherbet for dessert is ready to be served as well.”

“… Umm, it would be helpful if you could use only one person to talk,” said Eleanora.

“Hmm? Eleanora, I’m just one person, you know?” said all three Vandalieus at once.

Vandalieu then realized that when he was working like this, to others, it appeared that there were many of him.

For him, it didn’t feel much different from increasing his number of heads, however. Each Vandalieu was Vandalieu, and their memories and consciousness was unified.

They didn’t possess independent wills and egos, nor did they have conversations among themselves.

“There are so many Van-samas… Since there are so many, it should alright for me to take one away, isn’t it?”

“No, there are limits on the distance they can be separated from me, so please don’t do that, Tarea.”

Currently, a few dozen meters was the limit at which Vandalieu’s clones could be maintained away from the main body containing his soul. This distance would probably increase if his Long-distance Control skill leveled up.

It would be perfect for creating alibis in murder cases… Though Vandalieu could only imagine a future where a fierce-looking detective would say, “Since you can do this, it would have been possible for you to commit the crime.” Perhaps he was just too pessimistic.

“I suppose it’s time to hand out the sherbet,” said Vandalieu.

“Yay, sherbet!”

“Yay!”

The youngsters, Pauvina, Bilde’s daughter Varbie and Basdia’s daughter Jadal, showed excitement as the dessert arrived.

Rapiéçage showed her excitement as well, though it was a little questionable as to whether she could be put in the same group as the others.

In any case, time pa.s.sed by peacefully in Talosheim during Vandalieu’s sixth summer.

『The levels of the Status Effect Resistance, Strengthen Followers, Soul Break, G.o.d Slayer, Cooking, Long-distance Control, Spirit Form, Parallel Thought Processing and Materialization skills have increased!』

In Rodcorte’s personal Divine Realm, Rodcorte had just finished maintenance on the circle of transmigration system. Though he called it maintenance, he was actually just having a look to see whether any problems had occurred.

His system was so perfect that even if there were some small problems, the system would solve them on its own.

Suddenly, it happened, just as he was wondering whether one of the people reincarnated on Origin had died yet, and whether he should check if someone had made contact with Vandalieu in Lambda just in case.

An alarm started ringing in the circle of transmigration system.

“What? Impossible, it was working without any problems until a moment ago… A soul has been extinguished?!”

Astonished at this major incident that hadn’t occurred in over a hundred thousand years, Rodcorte quickly adjusted the system.

The extinguishing of even a single soul would have large effects on the system. If nothing was done, the extinguishing of a soul that is supposed to be reincarnated would cause a baby to be born without a soul.

It would be different from a mere stillbirth. Without a soul, the baby’s brain would still function as normal and its heart would still beat. It would develop, but in the process, a soul not pa.s.sing through the circle of transmigration would enter it and fuse with the body, being reincarnated on its own and causing unexpected problems.

The system would place another soul to replace the extinguished soul in the now-empty s.p.a.ce where it was supposed to be reincarnated. However, doing that would produce another soulless baby.

This would occur repeatedly, causing a serious system error.

If left alone, there would be frequent cases of babies with memories of their previous lives or people born with special abilities.

“Muh, there are two extinguished souls.”

Rodcorte investigated the souls while taking emergency measures.

The soul of the human called Bormack Gordan wasn’t a problem. Alda had sent a request to turn him into a heroic spirit after his death, so his soul had already been removed from the system. Alda would grieve over it, but the extinguishing of this soul would have no direct effect on the system.

However, the extinguishing of the human called Riley had already caused damage to the system.

“Just what has happened? Has the Demon King been resurrected?”

Because their souls had been extinguished, Rodcorte couldn’t look at the records of Riley and Gordan. With no other options, he looked at the records from those close to them.

The records from the soldiers and the priest-warriors led by Gordan before they became Undead, as well as from the soldiers and adventurers in Balcheburg.

And then Rodcorte arrived at an astonishing truth.

“This is… They became Undead. And that Amamiya Hiroto, Vandalieu, was the cause of it.”

Rodcorte had been aware that Undead could be made with death-attribute magic, but what he saw was on a larger scale than he had hypothesized would be possible. That alone wasn’t surprising, but…

“What is the meaning of this? How does he possess such power while under the effects of my curses? He is not as powerful as when he turned into an Undead in Origin, but at this rate, he might come close to it. And this amount of Mana exceeds the limit that mortals are allowed to possess.”

Leaving his Experience Points aside, Rodcorte had expected that Vandalieu wouldn’t be able to gain any Jobs, but now he realized that there were large loopholes in the curses he had made.

They were holes caused by Rodcorte’s lack of interest in Lambda’s system of Jobs and skills. On top of this, the curses were large ‘negatives’ that produced even more blank s.p.a.ce in Vandalieu’s soul, an even greater ‘empty frame.’ Vandalieu possessed even more Mana than he had in Origin.

But what was an even greater problem than his Jobs and Mana was the fact that he had broken souls.

“To think that Vandalieu would possess powers with the same properties as the Demon King’s… This is not good…”

If Vandalieu kept breaking dozens, hundreds of souls, this alone could inflict ma.s.sive damage upon the system. It wouldn’t collapse, but it would likely produce too many defects to count.

If Vandalieu fell into a state of despair and broke tens of thousands of souls within a short time period, reincarnation would no longer happen in Lambda. New infants wouldn’t be born, and it would become a world of the dead.

“This requires swift action, but…”

The actions Rodcorte could take were limited. He couldn’t do something as dangerous as descending onto the world himself. Even if he asked Alda to descend himself, considering the current state of the world, he was very unsure as to whether Alda could be relied on. And letting him know about his current endeavor of reincarnating more people in Lambda from Origin would be unwise.

Even if he wanted to interfere with the system directly and create Familiar Spirits directly under his control from exceptional souls, such exceptional souls were not readily available.

Was there no choice but to wait for one of those reincarnated in Origin to die?

“There is no other choice… Fortunately, either there is a limit to how many souls he can break, or he has imposed some rules upon himself. If that were not the case, he would have broken more souls than two by now. I shall wait until someone comes from Origin.”

“Mom, Messara told me that I can do a lot of things if I make contracts with the Evil G.o.d of Bone Fangs, the Evil G.o.d of Obscene Skin, the Evil G.o.d of Degenerate Flesh and the Evil G.o.d of Entrails,” said Vandalieu.

“Umm, Vandalieu? I think it might be dangerous to make contracts with G.o.ds like that.”

“You’re right. I don’t have any leads on G.o.ds that are in charge of blood, either. Well then, shall we go with a forbidden spell to create a Homunculus? I’d need to search the forbidden archives of a Mages’ Guild, so it’s still out of my reach, though.”

“Umm, but it’s said that those who do that receive Alda’s divine punishment…”

“Hmm, so it comes down to the resurrection device after all. But I can’t fix it yet.”

Around the same time, Vandalieu was making an attempt to make straw paper while discussing Darcia’s resurrection with her.

『You have acquired the ‘Taboo Name*’ t.i.tle!』

TLN*: Tentative translation, will update if its meaning becomes clear later.

“What’s this?”

Vandalieu got something new, but he didn’t know what it meant, so he left it alone.

Name: Vandalieu Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf) Age: 6 years old t.i.tle:【Ghoul King】,【Eclipse King】,【Taboo Name】(NEW!) Job: Venom Fist User Level: 9 Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Trans.m.u.ter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker Attributes: Vitality: 168 Mana: 328,119,451 Strength: 117 Agility: 114 Stamina: 108 Intelligence: 758 Pa.s.sive skills: Superhuman Strength: Level 2 Rapid Healing: Level 3 Death-Attribute Magic: Level 5 Status Effect Resistance: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!) Magic Resistance: Level 1 Dark Vision Mental Corruption: Level 10 Death-Attribute Charm: Level 6 Chant Revocation: Level 4 Strengthen Followers: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!) Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 3 Strengthen Subordinates: Level 4 Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 1 Active skills: Bloodsucking: Level 6 Surpa.s.s Limits: Level 5 Golem Trans.m.u.tation: Level 6 No-Attribute Magic: Level 4 Mana Control: Level 4 Spirit Form: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!) Carpentry: Level 4 Engineering: Level 3 Cooking: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!) Alchemy: Level 3 Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 4 Soul Break: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!) Multi-Cast: Level 4 Long-distance Control: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!) Surgery: Level 1 Parallel Thought Processing: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!) Materialization: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!) Coordination: Level 1 High-speed Thought Processing: Level 2 Commanding: Level 1 Farming: Level 2 (NEW!) Clothing: Level 1 (NEW!) Unique skills: G.o.d Slayer: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!) Curses Experience gained in previous life not carried over Cannot learn existing jobs Unable to gain experience independently

t.i.tle explanation:

【Taboo Name】

When beings who possess a certain amount of influence acknowledge someone while taking care not to give that person a t.i.tle, that person gains this t.i.tle.

In Vandalieu’s case, he gained this t.i.tle because Alda and his subordinates, Marshukzarl, the Emperor of the Amid Empire, and the three Pure-breed Vampires were careful to not give Vandalieu a t.i.tle.

It doesn’t have any concrete effects, but it shows that one is feared at least on a national level, and possibly even feared by the G.o.ds.

Because of this, someone possessing this t.i.tle is often interpreted as that person being an extremely dangerous individual.

When those who were being careful not to allow the bearer of this t.i.tle to gain a t.i.tle stop doing so, and a suitable t.i.tle is given, this t.i.tle disappears.