Chapter 36 - 72-74

Chapter 72: The man who wants a fourth time

"One person, to start things off," whispered Rodcorte, who had been watching events in Origin.

Kaidou Kanata had died. With his death, unrest had begun to stir among the reincarnated individuals gathered under Amemiya Hiroto's leadership; it was likely that some would begin to leave his organization soon.

And soon, at least a dozen of them, perhaps even up to half of them, would lose their lives.

Rodcorte had taken a lot of things into consideration so that they wouldn't die easily, but he hadn't made them invincible or immortal. There could be incidents where they would die at each other's hands like Kanata had.

At the very least, Kaidou Kanata and Amamiya Hiroto wouldn't be the only two who were unable to live out their natural lifespans in Origin.

"Hmm…? This is… Sheet! That damn Mari, she actually killed me, didn't she?!" shouted Kanata, having appeared before Rodcorte and regained his senses.

Come to think of it, he was shouting when he came here, too, Rodcorte remembered.

"Hey, god!" said Kanata, calling out to Rodcorte. "I'm begging you, give me one more chance! I hadn't even turned thirty yet… Wasn't that life just too short?!"

It seemed that Kaidou Kanata was more rational. He was asking Rodcorte to give him another life.

Rodcorte thought that Kanata's two lives of over forty years when combined wasn't that short, however. There were those who died immediately after birth, or even before birth, after all.

And it was almost certain that there was no small number of people under the age of thirty who had been killed by Kanata himself in Origin, including the terrorists he had killed right before his own death.

"Please! I'll do anything!" Kanata begged.

"That cannot be done. It has already been decided that I will have you live a third life," Rodcorte told him as he instantaneously communicated knowledge about the world of Lambda and the circumstances requiring people to be reborn there, just as he had done with Vandalieu.

Kanata stiffened in surprise for a moment, but then began speaking dejectedly. "God, I did ask you to give me another chance, but can't you give me one in some other world?" he asked.

"Do you not like Lambda? It is a world of swords and magic that you all love so much. There are even Dragons," said Rodcorte.

"No, there's no way I'd take a liking to a world officially recognized by a god to be an inferior world, is there?" said Kanata. "I've had enough of being extraordinary in Origin. And 'development of the world?' I don't want to do something as difficult as that, either."

"Hmm… If you make use of your power, you should be able to live life like royalty and nobles, and even acquire a harem," Rodcorte told him. "Do you still feel that way, despite this?"

"Even if I live like royalty and nobles, there's no electricity or internet, is there? I'm not interested in a harem. I'd be satisfied with playing around with a single woman multiple times."

Kanata was more disinterested in being reincarnated in Lambda than Rodcorte had imagined. With that said, he had no choice; his reincarnation could not be prevented at this point.

"Hmm? Wait, does that mean Mari is going to be reincarnated in Lambda as well?" asked Kanata.

Strength had suddenly returned to his voice, but Rodcorte had a bad feeling about this.

"… Yes."

"Then this time, I'm going to kill that woman! I'm not going to let my guard down; I'm definitely going to have my revenge!"

So, this is how it turns out in the end, Rodcorte thought in exasperation. With the memories and personality of previous lives preserved, the grudges of the previous lives seemed to follow them as well.

With that said, if either their previous memories or their personality was erased, their minds would become unstable. If both were erased, there wouldn't be any point in reincarnating them at all. Something as skillful as erasing only the memories of the grudge was difficult for Rodcorte to do. He was a specialist of the soul, not the mind. Although minds and souls are intimately connected, they are deceptively dissimilar.

As Rodcorte had programmed the series of reincarnations when the one hundred people had died on earth, it wasn't even possible for him to take his time to erase memories now.

However, this might be perfect. Unlike Vandalieu, Kanata had only one target for revenge, and Rodcorte had a problem that needed to be taken care of swiftly. Perhaps it would even be easier to request this of Kanata because of his overflowing murderous intent.

"Before that, I have something I want to request of you," said Rodcorte.

"What is it, god? I, Kanata-sama, first casualty of the Bravers, will do anything you wish for, as long as it isn't troublesome."

"No, you are not the first to perish among those who reincarnated in that world," Rodcorte told him. "The first casualty was Amamiya Hiroto."

"Amemiya Hiroto*? That guy died?!"

"No, not him. Not Ame, but Amamiya."

"… There was a guy like that?"

This was the extent of Kaidou Kanata's perception of Amamiya Hiroto. They had been in different classes in high school, and Amamiya Hiroto had always been alone, with as much presence as empty air. Kanata didn't remember him at all.

"Ah… Come to think of it, I did hear that there were two people who declined to be reincarnated and one of them had a similar name to Amemiya Hiroto. I think his woman had forgotten about it for a while."

Naruse Narumi. As she had been popular in her class, even Kanata had remembered her despite being in a different class. She had approached Amemiya thinking that he was the reincarnation of Amamiya, and they had apparently quarreled once they realized that it was a misunderstanding, but after various events, they had ended up together and gotten married.

Remembering the beginning of their relationship, Kanata realized that Amamiya Hiroto was the 'guy with the similar name.'

"I will give you information regarding him," said Rodcorte.

"No, I don't really want it - UOH?! That guy was that Undead?! Jesus!" Kanata shouted.

"What is it?"

"No, not you!"

Receiving a direct stream of information from Rodcorte once more, Kanata couldn't help but scream as he realized that the Undead in Origin, the only being in the world capable of using death-attribute magic, was Amamiya Hiroto, and that he had already been reincarnated in Lambda.

At this rate, wouldn't he killed for revenge before he could take his own revenge?

"Oi, cancel this reincarnation! There's no way I can win against a monster like that on my own, is there?! Or at least wait until the others die and come to this place!" said Kanata.

That Undead, Amamiya Hiroto, was such an abnormal being that Kanata had completely changed his views and taken back his words.

First of all, Amamiya could permanently surround himself with barriers that nullified physical and magical energy while still allowing him to attack from his side. It wouldn't be anything like the comics where a hole in the barrier would appear while he was attacking, either.

And he was even constantly releasing lethal poison, disease and mold. It would be impossible to approach him without something like a spacesuit.

If this was all, Kanata could penetrate these with his cheat-like ability. But in the laboratory in Origin, guards who had tried to run had gone mad and begun clawing their own eyeballs out while laughing, research assistants had been turned into mummies instantaneously and a female researcher who had begged for her life was eaten from the inside out by insect-like creatures. Amamiya Hiroto possessed numerous methods of attacking that were still unknown. Without knowing what needed to be penetrated, Kanata's ability would be useless.

Amamiya Hiroto was a being that couldn't be described as anything other than a natural enemy to the living.

Despite that, there were records that he had conducted a strange rescue mission where he kicked down the doors of the confined rooms of the other experimental subjects and destroyed the control devices that had been implanted into their bodies.

Considering that he had acted like he wanted to be killed by the Bravers in the end, that Undead might have still had some humanity left in him. Though this was accurate, it wasn't the complete truth, either.

That Undead, like Kanata and the others, had been reincarnated from Earth.

"I want you to kill Amamiya Hiroto, who calls himself Vandalieu in Lambda," said Rodcorte.

"I'm telling you, it's impossible!" Kanata protested.

"Currently, he is weaker than when he was an Undead in Origin," Rodcorte explained. "You should be able to defeat him, even on your own."

"… Are you serious?"

Rodcorte told Kanata everything he knew about Vandalieu. But as it was clearly inadvisable to tell a mortal being about the existence of the circle of transmigration system, he kept quiet about Vandalieu's ability to break souls. He decided to use the fact that Vandalieu wanted to kill all of those reincarnating on Lambda as the reason he wanted Vandalieu dead.

Also, it would be problematic if he feels afraid again upon hearing that his soul could be broken.

This was part of Rodcorte's calculations as well.

Kanata, on the other hand, after hearing the gist of the situation though not the whole picture, began to think, "Is this guy an idiot?" regarding Rodcorte.

Instead of doing troublesome things like cursing Vandalieu and trying to drive him to suicide, why hadn't he tried to calm him down after he died in Origin? At the very least, that was what Kanata would have done.

There should have been various other options, such as having Vandalieu reborn into a prosperous family, giving him proper cheat-like abilities this time or offering him a harem like he had offered Kanata.

In any case, Kanata understood the situation. He wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it, and he felt sympathy for Vandalieu. But at the same time, he thought that this was a chance for himself.

"Hey, I don't mind disposing of this Vandalieu, but only on two conditions," he told Rodcorte.

"Conditions?" Rodcorte repeated.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm cleaning up after your mistakes, after all," said Kanata.

"… I believe that this is also for your own protection as well, is it not?" Rodcorte pointed out.

"I don't really mind begging him to spare my life. I'll lick his shoes or feet and say, 'I didn't know anything; nobody could go against what Amemiya Hiroto and Endou Kouya's orders. I'll tell you anything you want to know, so please just spare my life.' If I do that, he'll probably forgive me, right? He seemed quite kind, too."

Vandalieu had rescued the other experimental subjects; no matter how Kanata looked at it, he was probably a softhearted person. Upon hearing Kanata say this, Rodcorte stayed silent for a few moments and then prompted Kanata to continue.

"What are your conditions?" Rodcorte asked.

"First of all, I want a reward," said Kanata. "If I dispose of Vandalieu successfully, reincarnate me on Earth or another world with a similar scientific civilization, a world without magic or monsters, with my current memories and personality. Of course, I mean excluding Origin. Make it so that I'm born into a rich, blessed family. Also, I want to be a man with unrivaled handsome looks this time."

"So, you are asking me for a fourth life?" Rodcorte asked. "But does that not mean that you have to die on Lambda?"

"Then I just have to die, right? After I dispose of Vandalieu, I'll just hurry up and die as well."

I have no interest at all in living a life in an inferior world. Once I do my job, I'll kill myself right away, be reincarnated in a pleasant world similar to Earth, be a son of a rich, distinguished family and live an enjoyable life until I die. I'll take my sweet time, while the others are doing their hardest to live in a piece of sheet world.

These thoughts of Kanata's were clear to Rodcorte, but Rodcorte had little interest in his thoughts and didn't feel the need to blame him for having these thoughts, either.

This was because Rodcorte knew that Kanata hadn't contributed much to the development of Origin, so he wouldn't be of much use in Lambda either.

Kanata was simply a single disposable card with nothing other than his abilities in battle; as long as he could solve Rodcorte's problems, his life was a small price to pay.

And the reward that Kanata desired was the kind of reward that Rodcorte could easily give him.

"Very well," said Rodcorte. "I promise you that reward. So, what is your other condition?" he asked.

"Your backup, of course," said Kanata. "Make it so that I'm reincarnated in Lambda in an adult's body."

"Instead of reincarnating normally?"

"Of course. How many years are you planning to wait before having this job completed?"

Even with Kanata's abilities in combat, including his particularly exceptional ability when fighting other humans, it would still be impossible for him to complete this request with the body of a baby or infant. It would take over a dozen years for him to become able to move and act freely away from his parents, possibly even up to fifteen or twenty years.

But if he had an adult's body to begin with, he would have an advantage over Vandalieu who was still a child. He wouldn't have any troublesome parents, so he would be able to act freely.

And having to live for over a decade in such an inferior world was something that Kanata wanted to avoid.

"Very well," said Rodcorte. "I will have to use some of my power, but it is not impossible."

Even considering the aforementioned benefits, this would cause problems for Rodcorte and he would normally be reluctant to do it, but there was no choice.

"Well then, I'll need resistances against poison, disease and the death attribute as well," said Kanata. "Also, if by some tiny chance I get killed, recover my soul quickly so that I don't become an Undead."

"Things have been arranged so that the souls of you people, those that I reincarnated, will always return to my side," said Rodcorte. "Amamiya Hiroto's transformation into an Undead was an exception caused by his own magic. I will make it so that you can acquire resistance skills against poison, disease and the death attribute. As a resistance skill against the death attribute is normally impossible for humans to acquire, the maximum I can give you is a level 5 skill, however."

"Skills?" Kanata repeated.

"In Lambda, there are skills and Jobs, and you can see these displayed on your Status," Rodcorte explained.

"What the hell is that? It's just like a game, isn't it?" said Kanata. "Isn't it because you're playing around like that that the world isn't developed?"

"… So, is there anything else you need?" Rodcorte asked, ignoring these words.

"Equipment, I suppose. A gun, a knife -"

"Wait," said Rodcorte. "It is impossible to take things that do not exist in Lambda."

"Are you serious? I can't even take just one sniper rifle?"

"Why did you think that I would allow this?"

"Tch!" Kanata clicked his tongue loudly, having thought that it would be easy-mode with a long-distance sniper shot. But even Rodcorte had no choice but to refuse this request.

In the first place, if such a thing was even possible, he would have sent items from other worlds to Lambda in large quantities long ago. He wasn't doing so because it was impossible with the power he possessed.

In the end, Rodcorte was nothing more than the god of the circle of transmigration.

"Then can I at least ask for some clothes?" said Kanata. "Surely you're not going to tell me to be reborn completely nude?"

"… Everyone is normally born naked," Rodcorte pointed out. "But I understand, I will adjust things so that they work out. Now then, you must encounter Vandalieu, so your destiny must -"

"Stop right there!" said Kanata, interrupting him. "Adjust that destiny thing, too. Give me something like a radar so that I don't encounter him at a time that I would never expect."

So many requests, Rodcorte thought, but he acknowledged this request anyway. In fact, an adjustment like this wasn't very difficult to make.

"A radar that detects the owner of powerful death-attribute Mana, and an altered destiny so that you encounter him. I shall make that adjustment."

"Alright, there are no more problems now," said Kanata. It seemed that he was out of requests.

"Now then, I shall have you reborn in Lambda," said Rodcorte. "After you are reincarnated, I recommend that you register at the Adventurers' Guild or some other Guild, acquire a Job, and learn how to use skills while increasing your level and Attribute Values."

"I'm telling you, I don't need to play around with that stuff. I'll get rid of him quickly even without doing that," said Kanata as he was reincarnated.

In front of the people of the Second Reclamation Village, with various items prepared in front of him, Vandalieu began cooking. He felt like he was teaching them how to prepare three-minute meals.

"The first things you need to have ready are Goblin meat and Gobubu grass," Vandalieu told them. "You can use any part of the Goblin, whether it be the chest, legs or the heart, and you should try to have at least one whole Goblin's worth. Ah, their livers are fine as well. As for the Gobubu grass, an amount equal to about half the weight of the meat you're using is just right."

As he pointed to the mountain of Goblin meat and Gobubu grass, the villagers let out groans of disgust. Although the meat of humanoid monsters such as Orcs was eaten in Lambda, Goblins and Gobubu grass weren't even considered low-quality products; they were simply garbage to be thrown out. The villagers couldn't be blamed for reacting this way.

"Next, grind the Gobubu grass," Vandalieu continued. "During this process, the grass lets out bad-smelling juices that leave stains on clothes, so take care not to dirty yourself. I have prepared a special mortar for crushing the Gobubu grass in this case, so I will be using this."

There was a stir in the crowd as Vandalieu brought out a mortar that he had made during the night using Golem Transmutation. They were surprised at the fact that this mortar that even an adult would have a hard time carrying around was being lifted easily by Vandalieu, a child. But Vandalieu interpreted this as his mortar being popular.

He mashed the Gobubu grass, the unpleasant-smelling juices gathering in a bucket that he had placed beneath the mortar.

"After that, cut the Goblin meat into appropriately-sized pieces. I don't have a blade, so I'll be using my own claws, but I've cleaned them properly so rest assured," said Vandalieu, cutting the meat with his claws. The villagers groaned once more.

"After the meat is cut, place it in a barrel with the grass juice," he continued. "In this case, let us take care to make sure that the meat is submerged in the grass juice. Place a lid on top, leave it for a day and it is complete. For this demonstration, I have prepared the completed product."

"Eh? When did you do that?��� a perceptive villager asked.

"I used my Familiar Spirit powers to prepare it," Vandalieu replied. He couldn't tell the villagers that he had actually used the Inanimate Aging spell to turn it into a one-day-old state, so he deceived them forcibly. "This is the finished Gobu-gobu," he said. "Please go ahead and try some."

He opened the barrel and placed some of its contents, which resembled purple meat, onto plates. Seeing this, the villagers instinctively took a step back. This was the normal reaction for anyone being told to eat purple meat.

"I-is this really edible?" the village chief asked.

"Of course," said Vandalieu. "Shall we eat it together?"

"No! Itadakimasu." The village chief took a piece of Gobu-gobu and shut his eyes tightly as he bit into it. But as he continued chewing several times, his frowned eyebrows began to relax. "This is… not delicious, but it is not unpleasant and there is no stink," he commented.

Hearing the village chief say this, the villagers timidly placed the Gobu-gobu into their mouths.

"Indeed, as Oyaji-dono says, this flavor is not inedible."

"No, isn't this much better than the tree bark dango and grass soup that we ate during the winter?"

"You're right. This is much more delicious than those."

They've had some crazy diets in the past.

Hearing the villagers say that the Gobu-gobu wasn't bad and that it was actually delicious, Vandalieu felt sympathy for them from the bottom of his heart. But the substitute meals that they had eaten during the winters with poor harvests… the nutrient-devoid things that they had eaten to stave off their hunger were indeed far more unpleasant-tasting than Gobu-gobu.

"Yeah, it tastes far better than eating Goblin meat as it is," said a villager who, in his hunger, had apparently eaten the meat of a Goblin he had exterminated before. Struggling with poor harvests, these people had really barely managed to survive. If a slave trader had visited the village, they might have even sold their children to avoid letting them starve to death.

It was at this point that Vandalieu had come and taught them how to make preserved food from Goblin meat, which they normally had no choice but to throw away, and Gobubu grass. As it did contain meat, it should provide far greater nutrition than tree bark.

There was no way that the villagers wouldn't be happy about this.

"Umm, if you just build a shrine to Vida now, I'll throw in twenty mortars and wooden barrels, as well as salt that will improve the taste if you apply it before submerging the Goblin meat in the grass juice," said Vandalieu. "What do you say?"

"Gladly! We shall devote ourselves to Vida!" a villager exclaimed.

"No, you don't have to go as far as devoting yourselves -" Vandalieu began.

"To think that you would even give us precious salt. Truly, thank you very much!" said another villager.

One villager was in tears. "I held myself back from building a shrine because of the lord and the priest-sama, but I have still been praying for a long time. My prayers really did reach Vida-sama."

Out of sympathy, Vandalieu had gone and taken out the salt that he had brought from Talosheim to use to pay toll fees. There was still rock salt available there and he had already acquired coins from the bandits, so it probably wouldn't be a problem, however.

Incidentally, Vandalieu had asked the villagers about this, having felt curious about their words, and apparently, in the Sauron Duchy, Vida's religion had been more prominent than Alda's. When he looked at the people of the cultivation villages, he had seen more humans than any other race, and there had been no Dark Elves. But there was quite a number of Beast-people and Titans in the villages.

However, in the Hartner Duchy that had welcomed them, most of the noblemen, including the duke, were believers of Alda and his subordinate gods, and it was the Church of Alda that was flourishing in this duchy. The shrines that had been built by the soldiers in the cultivation villages were shrines to Alda, and it was a priest of Alda, the one in the Seventh Cultivation Village, who came to this area to preach.

While it wasn't expressly forbidden, the people had felt pressure and decided not to build shrines to Vida and other gods as they had done in their lost homelands.

I've learned another unpleasant truth.

This weighed a little heavy on Vandalieu's mind, but what he was more anxious about was the First Princess Levia who was supposed to have evacuated Talosheim as well as the other refugees, including Borkus's daughter.

Would they still be living in this duchy, where the religion of Alda had become so powerful?

Or perhaps they had relocated to another duchy? It would be best to quickly head to the city and investigate.

I'm worried about these cultivation villages, but… I suppose I'll station Lemures around them. Also, I'll bury some Stone Golems nearby. If I carve Vida's holy symbol on their chests, the villagers will think of them as allies… I guess?

This would probably be fine.

"I've finally caught up to you!"

After Vandalieu had spent several days mass-producing Lemures and deploying them to every village, Kasim's party and the priest approached him with haste. They had been in the Seventh Cultivation Village; what were they doing in the Second Cultivation Village now?

"I hadn't thought that you would be going around every cultivation village…" said Kasim.

"Come back; everyone's been worried about you," said Fester.

"The day after you took Kyne and flew off, we headed to the Fifth Cultivation Village," Kasim told him.

Was their friend who had come from the Sauron Duchy like them safe? What about the person who had saved their lives? Kasim's party and the priest, the four of them, had hurried to the Fifth Cultivation Village to find out.

What they had found was Kyne and the other villagers, discussing where in the village a shrine to Vida should be constructed.

"After that, we heard that you'd flown off to another cultivation village and chased you… Seriously, who the heck are you? You're too incredible," said Kasim.

"That's right; we'd been worried that you and Kyne might have fallen down somewhere along the way, but in the end, it turned out that you'd gone around to all of the cultivation villages," said Fester.

"And you did incredible deeds to save people in all of the villages," said Zeno. "We were wondering if we were chasing a saint or something. Right, Priest-sama?"

"You are absolutely right," the priest agreed. He was wearing a strangely stiff expression as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He showed more human weakness than when he was wearing his shallow smile. "The day before yesterday, I said that we should strive to do good deeds together, but perhaps I should be the one asking you for teachings," he said. "How in the world did you cure all of the villagers' of disease, heal a burn that would be difficult to treat even with specialist healing techniques and dig a well in the blink of an eye? I have also heard that diseases were cured by holy droplets produced by your hands. Please tell me."

Wow, I did some amazing things, didn't I? Vandalieu thought, now that the priest was asking him all of these questions. He did think that calling the eye drops that he had secreted from his claws "holy droplets" was an exaggeration, though.

But how should he respond? He couldn't imagine that he could fool the priest by telling him that it was the power of a Familiar Spirit, but he had no intention of telling him the truth, either.

Vandalieu decided to tell one part of the truth, but keep the rest a secret.

"I possess a few special skills," he replied.

The priest and Kasim's party opened their eyes wide.

"By special skills, could you possibly mean Unique Skills?!"

In this world, there are Unique Skills, such as Vandalieu's God Slayer skill. They are various kinds of special abilities and talents, and they are extraordinarily rare. To put it in a ratio, about one in ten thousand people possess one.

The priest and Kasim's party had misunderstood, thinking that Vandalieu's various deeds had been possible through such a characteristic skill.

"What kind of skill could that be?!" the priest asked, leaning forward in excitement.

But Vandalieu shook his head. "I'm someone who is planning to establish myself as an adventurer, so I can't tell you," he said.

"Do not say that! Please tell me!" the priest insisted. "I will keep your secret!"

"You can't, Priest-sama!"

Kasim and his friends stopped the priest from persisting in his questioning.

"For us adventurers, we make money through our bodies," said Fester. "Forcibly asking someone to divulge their skills is a breach of etiquette."

"That's right," said Zeno. "I understand that you're curious, but trying to force Vandalieu to tell you his skills after he saved everyone goes against our morals."

Indeed, as they said, the information displayed on an adventurer's status is that adventurer's weakness as well as his strength. If the adventurer himself is unwilling to divulge that information himself, trying to force it out of him is equivalent to saying, "Tell me your weaknesses."

As Vandalieu had declared that he would become an adventurer in the future, this applied to him as well.

"That is… true. My apologies," said the priest. Being held back by Kasim and his friends, he reluctantly stepped back.

"Not at all. It's fine as long as you understand," said Vandalieu.

"But if you are capable of such things, I believe that there are many paths of employment to take without having to become an adventurer," said the priest.

… Why could Vandalieu see a strange look of ruefulness on the priest's face? He doubted that a traveling priest would have the connections to mediate offers with employers.

"That might be true, but I'm still inexperienced," said Vandalieu. "Even if I were to enter employment, I want to do it after first becoming an adventurer, expanding my horizons and gaining experience."

If he were employed by some noble family or merchant, he would become a vassal or servant and it would become difficult to attain a court rank. Also, he wouldn't be able to quit easily if things became inconvenient, either.

He wanted to avoid this.

"I see. Expanding your horizons is indeed important," the priest agreed. "Despite your youth, you have considered this…"

"Yeah, at the very least, he's doing a lot more thinking about his future than Fester," said Kasim.

"Why are you suddenly mentioning me?!" Fester protested.

Having settled things without having to lie (as his Death-Attribute Magic was indeed a skill), Vandalieu accompanied Kasim and the others back to the Seventh Cultivation Village in a good mood.

Suddenly feeling the sensation of having a physical body with no prior warning, Kaidou Kanata felt a deep sense of satisfaction and excitement.

He felt strength filling the limbs that had previously been powerless, as if he had been in a dream, and he could feel his own heartbeat deep in his chest, full of life.

"I did it!" he shouted as he opened his eyes, but a moment later, he let out a scream. "I'M NAKED AFTER ALL!"

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Chapter 73: Scum approaching from afar and a scoundrel lurking nearby

"I'M NAKED AFTER ALL!" Kanata shouted, having been reincarnated in Lambda stark naked. But immediately afterwards, he regained his composure. Though he hadn't wanted it, he was a man who had received standard training in an army. He hadn't forgotten the danger of making noise over trivial things when in an unknown situation.

Although, if he was really a capable man, he would have kept his composure from the beginning.

Leaving that aside, Kanata looking at his surroundings to examine the situation.

Judging from the height of the sun in the sky, it was a little before noon. He was surrounded by a grass-covered plain with a thicket of shrubs, and there didn't seem to be any dangerous creatures, humans included, nearby.

"They're called 'humans'* in this world, right? It really is like a comic, for there to be sentient races other than humans," said Kanata, examining his own body once more.

Though he couldn't see the fine details as he had no mirror, it seemed to him that there had been no change from how he had been in Origin right before his death, other than the fact that the fatal wound in his solar plexus had disappeared. Everything was the exact same, from his trained, lean body to his moles.

And as he had shouted just a moment earlier, he was standing there completely naked, but… as he looked at his surroundings, something caught his eye.

A dead skeleton that had fallen to pieces and its luggage, lying on the ground.

"Could it be that this was what that god meant when he said that he'll 'adjust things so that they work out?'" Kanata wondered.

It seemed unclean and he wasn't pleased with it, but he didn't like the idea of going to kill Vandalieu equipped with a grass skirt and club made from the nearby plants, so he had no other choice.

He searched the luggage to find numerous pieces of clothes, though they looked old, and a single rusty knife. He also found some silver and bronze coins. The owner of these belongings was probably killed by a lion or something.

"Ah, it feels absolutely terrible on the skin," Kanata complained to himself. "It's not cotton, is it… It doesn't have any weird fungi growing on it, does it? Now then, Vandalieu is -"

[This message has been set to play automatically after you have been reincarnated in Lambda.]

"Uwah?! What is this?!" Kanata, surprised to suddenly hear Rodcorte's voice speaking, leapt away from the spot he had been standing on and raised his knife, but the god was nowhere to be seen.

A moment later, he frowned as he realized that he had heard the voice inside his own head.

"Is this supposed to be a game's tutorial or something?"

[Now then, first of all, take some clothes and the money that will allow you to get by for the time being from the nearby corpse's belongings -]

"I mean, I've already got those."

It seemed that Rodcorte's voice was something that had been recorded beforehand, so it wouldn't answer Kanata's questions or change its words based on his actions.

[Next, check your own Status. To do this, simply think about seeing your Status.]

"Status, huh?" Kanata wasn't pleased with the fact that he was being treated like a character in a game, but as instructed, he opened his own Status.

Name: Kaidou Kanata

Race: Human

Age: 29 years old

Title: None

Job: None

Level: 0

Job history: None

Attributes:

Vitality: 650

Mana: 42,000

Strength: 95

Agility: 157

Stamina: 204

Intelligence: 270

Passive skills:

Disease and Poison Resistance: Level 10

Death-Attribute Resistance: Level 5

Fire-Attribute Resistance: Level 4

Augmented Stamina: Level 5

Augmented Mana: Level 5

Mental Corruption: Level 5

Active skills:

Fire-Attribute Magic: Level 8

Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 4

Mana Control: Level 5

Archery: Level 5

Short Sword Technique: Level 5

Throwing: Level 5

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 5

Coordination: Level 5

Survival: Level 3

Silent Steps: Level 4

Horseback Riding: Level 6

Lifesaving: Level 4

Assignable Active Skill: Level 5

Unique skills:

Gungnir: Level 10

Target Radar: Owner of over 100,000,000 Death-Attribute Mana

The God of Reincarnation's Fortune

"… Hohoh, so this is me, huh."

It was the first time Kanata had had his abilities, skills and experience quantified in numbers since he had received report cards in school. The first time since he had died on Earth, as things had been given letter grades in Origin.

As for his impressions on his Status… He didn't like how his Job and Job history displayed "None," as if he was a NEET, but he did like that his Title was blank as well.

As for his Attribute Values, he didn't think much about them. Unlike Mana, things like physical strength and agility weren't quantified in numbers in Origin.

Like on Earth, one's abilities were quantified by things like how many seconds it took them to run a hundred meters, how many push-ups they could do and how heavy the barbells they could lift were.

His Mana was the same number as it had been when he had it measured in Origin, so he assumed everything else was the same.

As for his skills, the Disease and Poison Resistance and Death-Attribute Resistance were the protective measures that he had requested. However, he had nothing but questions regarding the active skills that were displayed after them.

"I understand the magic-related skills, but… Why the hell do I have Archery and Horseback Riding?" Kanata wondered. "I've never used a bow or ridden a horse. Short Sword Technique and Unarmed Fighting Technique is probably the training I received using a knife and military-style unarmed fighting techniques, though. And what on earth is Arbitrary Active Skills?"

[Your skills and experience with things that do not exist in Lambda, like the use of guns and driving automobiles, have been replaced with things like the Archery and Horseback Riding skills. Arbitrary Active Skills is the remainder of those. You can assign them to the skills you think you need at a time of your own choosing.]

"I suppose I might have more opportunities to use them than completely useless skills, but…" Kanata found it disagreeable that his extensive training and real combat experience in using guns and operating cars, helicopters and boats had been replaced without his permission. "I suppose I'll get on with killing Vandalieu and being reborn in a suitable, Earth-like world," he decided.

All of the things he was dissatisfied with were transient things that would only last until he was finished with his work.

If he used Gungnir and the Target Radar, the items listed under his unique skills, it probably wouldn't take that long. Though he didn't have much faith in it, he even had the God of Reincarnation's Fortune.

"Err, how do I use the Target Radar… Ah, I just have to think about it."

The direction and current distance of Vandalieu's location were displayed in Kanata's head. According to this, he wasn't that far away. If he had a helicopter, no, even a car, he could get there in a single day -

"Ah, I don't even have a car, let alone a helicopter. It'd be pretty rough to travel that far on foot. Should I steal a horse or something? Hey, God, I did say that I didn't want to encounter him unexpectedly, but you didn't have to fling me into this place so far away from him, you know?"

Realizing that he had limited methods of transport, a crease appeared between Kanata's eyebrows. It was possible to fly with wind-attribute magic, but he didn't have enough Mana for that.

And if Kanata were to encounter an enemy while using magic to fly, his methods of attacking would be limited. It would be a different story if he had a gun.

[Unlike your skills, your Attribute Values are not particularly high compared to those holding combat-related occupations in Lambda. It would be best if you first go to a city, register at an Adventurers' Guild, acquire a Job, prepare your equipment and learn about martial skills.]

In response to the voice he heard in his mind, Kanata shook his head, thinking about how complicated this all was.

"Like I said, I have no intention of doing these things that have been taken straight out of a stupid game," he said.

But the one thing he did agree on was that he should prepare his equipment. He wouldn't be able to complete this job in the next few days, and with that being the case, he would need food.

[If you go straight east from the place you have been reincarnated, you will come out onto the highway. You should find the means to accomplish these objectives there.]

"Well, I suppose I'll obey those instructions," Kanata decided. He didn't intend to hunt while looking for edible grass, so he began walking east as he was told.

Before long, he heard a scream.

When he dashed towards the scream to find out what was happening, he saw armed men who appeared to be outlaws at a glance, attacking a carriage.

"Hannah, HANNAAAH!"

"Father, run!"

"Alright! If you don't want the daughter of your employer to die, throw your weapons aside, all of you!"

It seemed that the bandits had taken the daughter of the traveling merchant hostage. Now, they were instructing the adventurers who had been hired as guards to disarm.

"… Uwah, what a cliché," Kanata murmured to himself.

Was Kanata supposed to learn the direction of the nearest city and gain transport, food and money here? At least, Kanata himself interpreted it this way, so he quickly began reciting an incantation.

"The daughter and the items that the humans are wearing. Great Incineration!"

Flames burst forth from the pentagram that had appeared in front of Kanata's hands, engulfing all of the bandits as well as the girl who had been taken hostage.

"HANNAAAAH!"

The bandits screamed as they were burned alive, as did the girl.

"Huh? It's not… hot?"

Though the flames surrounded the girl, they didn't inflict any damage on her. There wasn't a single mark on her clothes or even the equipment the bandits had been wearing.

Only the bandits' bodies had been burned.

"It seems that my Gift, Gungnir, is just as easy to use as it was in Origin."

The cheat-like ability that Kanata had received from Rodcorte, Gungnir. It was an ability that allowed penetration of selected targets. It allowed him and people and objects in contact with him to penetrate physical objects and energies.

To use it, Kanata had to designate targets for penetration.

When using this ability before dying in Origin, he had made the bullets he fired penetrate the building to hit the terrorists and made bullets and knives pass through him, making himself invulnerable to their attacks.

Now, he had designated the girl and the equipment on her and the bandits' bodies as targets for the ability, scorching only the bandits' bodies into burnt, black matter.

The greater the range of targets for Gungnir, the more Mana it consumed. Thanks to his Mana pool of over 40,000, this wasn't a problem as long as Kanata didn't use it excessively.

But the problem was that it also had a weakness. His attacks could penetrate any physical or magical defenses, and he could use the ability to avoid any attacks towards him. But by looking at him, one could easily tell what weapons they should use to attack him.

Obviously, if he had designated bullets as Gungnir's target, then he wouldn't be able to use a gun, and if he had designated knives as the target, then he wouldn't be able to hold a knife.

If he designated light as the target and became transparent, he would be blind as his eyes couldn't receive light. If he designated heat as the target, he would rapidly lose body heat.

And if he designated human bodies as the target, he wouldn't be able to touch others. That was why the moment he had rescued the president's daughter who had been held captive, it was certain that a bare-handed attack would definitely hit him.

In fact, I was attacked by Metamorph's hand… her body.

Kanata's weakness had been completely taken advantage of. He decided not to get in range for close-quarters combat with skilled opponents from now on.

"Oh, it's just like a miracle… Hannah, Hannah!"

"Father!"

"Thank you so much for saving my daughter!"

Kanata, who had been painfully immersed in the memories from his previous life, came to his senses as the merchant called out to him in delight at his daughter's safety.

"Hey, I have a question. Which way do I have to go to find a city?" Kanata asked, realizing that they were speaking Japanese.

"A city?" the merchant repeated, blinking in confusion at Kanata's attitude and the fact that he hadn't even introduced himself. "The closest one is Tia City, down the highway in this direction…"

"This way? I just have to go down this highway? The road doesn't branch at all?" Kanata asked.

"There is a small branched road that leads to a village, but you can reach the city by following the larger one…" said the merchant. "Did you happen to lose your way?"

"No, I'm not lost anymore," said Kanata. "I've acquired transport, equipment and enough food and money for now, after all."

"What do you mean -"

"I'll start with this. Man."

The merchant felt a dull impact.

"Kah… Gofuh?"

Before he could understand anything that was happening, his beloved daughter opened her eyes wide as blood spurted from her mouth.

"Ha… HANNAAAAH?!"

A rusty knife had been thrust deep into the chest of the merchant's daughter who was supposed to be safe in his arms.

"Oh, it pierced deeper than I thought," Kanata remarked. "Is this what these skill things are?"

"Hannah-san?!"

"What do you think you're doing?! Why would you do such a thing?!"

Kanata casually watched the girl who had started spasming with her eyes still wide open in disbelief and her father who was giving a heartbroken scream. Astonished, the adventurers raised their weapons towards him.

"Why, you ask… Hmm, because her name is Hannah," Kanata replied. "It's the same name as the president's daughter that Mari disguised herself as, so it's an unpleasant name to me, and since this is something that the god set up for me, I'm distracting myself. In other words, I'm just venting my anger, I suppose. Haha, how pitiful~♪"

"What are you saying?" asked an adventurer in response to Kanata's words that made absolutely no sense to him, looking afraid.

On the other hand, the other adventurer seemed to have decided that Kanata was an enemy to be disposed of.

"Die, you lunatic!"

Kanata evaded the spear thrusted at him by the adventurer with the absolute minimum movement required, closed the distance between them and easily reached into the adventurer's pocket.

"What, if this is all you have, won't my bare hands be enough? But just in case, weapons, armor."

"Wha -?! GAHAH!"

Unfortunately for the adventurers, the level of Kanata's Unarmed Fighting Technique from his training in the army was equivalent to a Class adventurer's. The two of them, who were a D and E-class adventurer, couldn't overcome this difference in ability.

Kanata was even being cowardly enough to use Gungnir, slipping through the resistance that the adventurers were trying to put up with their weapons and armor, attacking them one-sidedly with punches and kicks that made contact directly with their bodies.

Before long, the two adventurers were lying on the ground with the whites of their eyes showing.

"Even if that girl's name was Beth or Hanako or something instead of Hannah, I would have disposed of her after raping her anyway. So if you're blaming yourself and thinking that she died because you named her Hannah, you don't have to worry about it," Kanata told the merchant.

The merchant's daughter had already died due to the knife puncturing her lung, and he was still holding onto her in a daze. Of course, he wasn't thinking anything of the sort.

"Th-this… Do you think you can get away with this?! Eventually, the day will come where you will be judged!" he shouted.

"Come on, you're just a character in this game-like world; don't get so serious on me," said Kanata. "I'm telling you, it's fine. The god Rodcorte will probably have her reborn as somebody somewhere else. I'm intending to do the same before this judgment or whatever comes to me, anyway."

Giving a light laugh at the grief and anger of the father who had lost his daughter, Kanata burned the merchant's body and turned him to ash without damaging his clothes, just like he had done to the bandits.

"It's my first time riding a horse, but with the Horseback Riding skill, it'll probably be fine," Kanata said as he threw the belongings and equipment of the merchant, adventurers and bandits into the carriage, got inside and rode towards the city. He equipped the merchant's knife with lightning-bolt-shaped patterns carved into its handle, which seemed to have been his lucky charm, at his waist.

Rodcorte's careless selection of who to reincarnate was the greatest failure he had ever committed.

While reincarnating those who had died in the explosion on the ferry, he had indeed excluded the evil terrorists. However, as for the crew and passengers, he had simply asked whether they would accept his reincarnation or not, and had made no effort to select them.

Their personalities, dispositions, mental strength and sense of morals. Rodcorte hadn't examined any of these.

The criteria of whether they were evil or not at the moment of their death on Earth was far too simple a criterion; it couldn't even be called an examination.

Despite that, despite taking some things into consideration, he was forcing the mental burden of being reincarnated in foreign worlds upon them, multiple times.

As a result, there were some who had made brilliant achievements in Origin such as Amemiya Hiroto, but there were also those like Kanata.

Rodcorte hadn't expected Kanata to perform such acts of violence, either, but… Kanata had already been reborn in Lambda. Rodcorte was no longer able to control his actions, nor could he rely on unstable Divine Messages to convey his will.

"This isn't why I had you reborn in that place, but… No, this is but a trivial problem," Rodcorte told himself.

With Kaidou Kanata's abilities, unlike Vandalieu, he wouldn't cause more than a thousand deaths with the acts of violence he committed along the way. Despite being underdeveloped, even Lambda wouldn't be significantly influenced by these.

"But is he really not planning to acquire a Job, increase his level or learn about martial skills?" Rodcorte wondered. "Even if Lambda is inferior in culture and civilization, the people's individual skills in combat are greater than those of people of Earth or Origin…"

Froto had never been blessed with luck, but considered himself to be outstanding. That was why he had believed that with just a little luck, everything in his next plan would go well, he would receive the reward he desired and be added to the ranks of mages employed in the Hartner Duchy.

But what the hell is this guy?!

As Froto walked towards the Seventh Cultivation Village with the three adventurers, Kasim and his friends, he glanced at Vandalieu.

There was currently a common familial conflict occurring in the Hartner family of dukes. The head of the family was still alive, but he was bedridden with illness, causing him difficulties with his official work. He had two sons who possessed the right to succeed him.

The eldest son Lucas's mother was the duke's concubine. He was an extraordinary man with bravery and tactical genius who was currently serving as the leader of the Knights' Order, and he had tremendous support from the Hartner Duchy's army.

The second son Belton's mother was the duke's legal wife. He was talented in dealing with domestic affairs, had the support of many civil officials and had connections with the central government. He was expected to make further developments in the Hartner Duchy if he were elected.

Normally, it would be ideal if Belton succeeded the family of dukes as he was the son of the duke's legal wife, while Lucas made use of his tactical genius in directing the army, whose presence had increased due to the Hartner Duchy becoming the frontline in the war against the Amid Empire.

However, the way of thinking that each brother possessed did not match the other's.

Belton, the second son, believed that defenses against the Amid Empire ought to be strengthened while efforts were put into domestic affairs, prioritizing defending the duchy against the Empire's weapons. That was why he had sent the troublesome refugees in the cities, who were the primary cause of the deteriorating public order, to remote regions under the pretense of cultivation, while in fact this was little more than a project set up to leave the refugees to fend for themselves. This had caused a sharp drop in the refugee numbers inside cities.

He had sent the inhabitants of the cultivation villages that had failed to the slave-run mines to squeeze out the rest of the dwindling supply of metal while enacting policies to maintain forts and strengthen garrisons.

Lucas, the eldest son, advocated that efforts should be placed in retaking the Sauron Duchy in the name of justice, piercing the Amid Empire's shields and gaining glory for the Hartner Duchy. For this reason, he believed that the refugees, the primary cause of the deteriorating public order, should be conscripted and used as disposable, low-grade troops while sinking funds into the army's budget to increase the number of regular soldiers, leaving the maintenance of public order to the guards and adventurers.

The two plans were polar opposites of each other, and because each brother believed that their own plans were for the good of the Hartner Duchy, they were having a dispute. This had caused a division within their supporters and those who stood to benefit from the execution of either plan into separate factions.

Froto's viewpoints were far-biased towards Lucas's side. He had suffered defeat in a power struggle within the Mages' Guild, one day, one of the members of Lucas's Knights' Order had called out to him while he sat pitifully by a window, having been forgotten by everyone. The knight had told him that they were looking for someone to infiltrate the cultivation villages, pretending to be a priest of Alda.

Despite being a plan to simply leave the refugees to fend for themselves, Belton's cultivation project was going unexpectedly well. Only one of the seven cultivation villages had been abandoned, and though there were differences in prosperity between the other six villages, it seemed that they would last for at least five more years.

If a cultivation project that had been designed to failed ended up succeeding, those of Belton's faction would praise his ability in managing domestic affairs even more, advocating that he, who possessed the blood of the duke's legal wife, would manage the duchy far better than his boorish older brother.

This alone wouldn't end the familial dispute, but for Lucas's faction, it was best for Belton to have as few achievements and as many failures as possible.

This was where Froto had come in. He had begun masquerading as a priest of Alda years ago and traveled to a different village from one of Lucas's spies who was disguised as a traveling merchant, leaking information to Lucas's faction.

Gaining the trust of the villagers had been simple. Priests didn't have Guild Cards like adventurers, and there were plenty of wandering priests, so even the church in the city wasn't aware of his actions.

Unlike proper priests and high priests, clergymen of his position didn't have qualifications or anything of the sort, so they didn't serve in churches and there were no records of them.

To take an extreme example, anyone could become a priest as long as he dressed like one and possessed the scriptures or memorized enough of them to preach them. If he could even use magic other than of the light and life attributes and was cultured and knowledgeable, it would be even more perfect.

The Clergyman skill exists in Lambda, but it is a skill that represents the ability to conduct rituals such as those of purification and the ability to preach. If one could feign these abilities, it is surprisingly simple to masquerade as a priest.

It probably wouldn't work in cities where multiple proper clergymen worked, but what the people of small villages want from traveling priests is medicine, knowledge, education in reading and writing, preaching and ways to pass the time, such as stories of heroes and saints.

And thanks to the information that Froto and the others had gathered, plans to empty the cultivation villages had finally been executed. Though the number of candidates to be conscripted as low-grade troops would decrease somewhat, reducing Belton's achievements even by a little was more than enough of a benefit to do so.

But… this guy interfered with everything!

All of the plans had been crude, far from meticulous. Froto and the others weren't experts in conspiracies and subversive activities to begin with. If such experts were used, it would be noticed quickly by those of Belton's faction, which was why people like Froto were being used in the first place.

But even so, those plans should have been more than enough to inflict devastating damage to these small villages.

Vandalieu saved the lives of Kasim's party and Ivan. That didn't really matter. It had been decided that the Seventh Cultivation Village, which was close to the highway, would be destroyed sometime in the future anyway.

But misfortune befell the spy disguised as a traveling merchant, who distributed poison to the Fifth Cultivation Village to wipe the villagers out. He failed to poison the hunter named Kyne. The spy had been told a date where there was no hunting planned, but Kyne had changed his plans or perhaps the spy had simply gotten the date wrong… Either way, Kyne came to the Seventh Cultivation Village where Froto was, seeking help.

Even so, Froto had no way of helping him cure the villagers, nor would he even have made it in time. If Froto arrived at the village the next day when all the villagers were dead and declared that it was an epidemic, the mass-poisoning incident would have been hushed up without incident.

But Vandalieu flew to the village with Kyne on his back, saying that he could cure them.

Kyne had been doubtful, but Vandalieu had already healed Ivan. Because of this, everyone in the Seventh Cultivation Village assured him that Vandalieu would be able to save the villagers, leaving Froto unable deny his ability or stop him from going.

It was a fool's errand; even if he did manage to save anyone, it would be a few villagers at most. No, it was reasonable to assume that he would run out of Mana and fall out of the sky before even reaching the village.

That was what Froto thought as he insincerely expressed worry for Kyne and Vandalieu, headed out to see what had become of the Fifth Cultivation Village… and to his surprise, found that all of the villagers were alive. They looked somewhat exhausted, but that was the extent of the damage.

Though this was an unbelievable nightmare, he somehow managed to look happy and exclaim that this was a miracle as he chased after Vandalieu, who had headed for another village. Froto heard of Vandalieu's deeds, wondering if he really was having a nightmare.

He cured diseases without reciting any incantations, healed burns and wounds and created medicine from his fingertips (actually, his claws).

He flew down from the sky to defeat the Orcs sent by Froto's companion, a tamer, in a single attack, saving the life of a boy who was supposed to die. When nobody was looking, he had even created a well that could be used as soon as a pulley and bucket was installed.

Even villages that had been supposed to be wiped out by bandit attacks were still going strong. There was no doubt that Vandalieu had something to do with this.

And in the Second Cultivation Village, Vandalieu purified the poisoned fertilizer distributed by Froto's superiors and even taught the villagers how to use Goblins as emergency rations.

There was no other way to describe this as anything other than divine work.

Who on earth is this Dhampir? Could he be a spy from Belton's side? No, if that were the case, he would be Belton's trump card. Someone capable of doing these things wouldn't be an improvised spy like me. There is no way that such a trump card would be deployed to a place like this, so… is he really someone who was simply passing through?

Froto timidly looked towards Vandalieu, only to accidentally make eye contact with him.

This guy?! Does he actually suspect me after all?!

"… Is there something wrong?" asked Vandalieu.

Froto felt himself breaking out into a cold sweat as he saw his own terrified face reflected Vandalieu's eyes, which were looking at him as if they had seen through everything.

"No, it is nothing," Froto replied, barely managing to prevent his voice from breaking.

"I see," Vandalieu said as he directed his gaze elsewhere.

Th-this guy is too dangerous! Froto thought. I must report him to Karcan-dono.

Karcan was a man of the Knights' Order, the one giving instructions Froto and the others, the one who had taken command of this operation.

Unlike the spy disguised as a traveling merchant, who had left the village behind without even staying to confirm the results of his work, the tamer was probably already heading back to make his report, but that wasn't enough. Once Froto returned to the Seventh Cultivation Village, he would have to leave within the same day and head to the city to make his own report.

Despite Froto being so wary of Vandalieu, Vandalieu didn't suspect Froto at all.

Danger Sense: Death couldn't detect people's intentions other than those intending to kill him or cause him injury, and Vandalieu himself wasn't sharp enough to see what people were truly thinking just by looking at them.

Even when Froto had thought their eyes met, Vandalieu had simply been staring vaguely at the sky and happened to look at Froto by coincidence.

Expressionlessness is often mistaken for anger, but Vandalieu's expressionless was completely empty, like the face of a doll. Because of this, everyone who looked at him interpreted his expression differently.

If looked at with friendly eyes like those of the villagers, then he appeared friendly. If he was stared at with eyes of suspicion like Froto's, then he appeared as if he was suspecting the viewer.

What Vandalieu was currently thinking was something that everyone has thought at least once.

I want to become a bird; someone, please give me wings.

Why did he have to make the effort of walking for an hour when he could use Flight? Of course, he understood that Kasim, his companions and the priest wouldn't be able to keep up with him.

If he tried to carry them like he did Kyne, this many people would definitely be over the weight limit. It would use too much Mana. And Vandalieu wasn't large enough to have four people riding on top of him. If a strong gust of wind blew or they were attacked by a monster like a giant raven, someone might fall off.

That was why there was no choice but to walk on the ground's surface. Vandalieu had been staring at the sky, thinking that he wouldn't have to go through this trouble if he could use a spell that allowed him to fly while carrying multiple people.

And then something suddenly occurred to him.

Huh? If I want wings, I can just grow them, can't I?

Indeed, if he wanted wings, he could simply grow them. Having thought of this, Vandalieu wanted to try it out right away, but he restrained himself.

It would be impossible to convince these people that it's light-attribute magic. I'll try it out after I reach the Seventh Cultivation Village and head for the city with Eleanora and the others.

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Chapter 74: Smooth flight through the sky, eating various things in the city

Eleanora frequently thought about how right she was in her firm belief that this small Dhampir was far more fearsome than Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires.

She was thinking the same tonight as well, but at the same time, as she thought about the policies of her master, the most fearsome being in this world, she asked herself, "Why?"

By selling the Goblin-head-shaped communication devices, Vandalieu could easily acquire a fortune and the position of baron, so why was he so fixated on the process of becoming an adventurer, gaining achievements and becoming a nobleman?

Even without the communication devices, he could use Golem Transmutation to change the shapes of gemstones or even Magic Stones, combine them and turn pebble-sized gemstones into large ones worthy of shining in the crown of a king. Wouldn't he be able to easily gain the status of honorary nobleman if he demonstrated this ability?

For Magic Stones, only Magic Stones from monsters of the same race with the same Rank could be combined due to issues with Mana compatibility, but even so, Vandalieu would be able to combine Magic Stones to create larger ones when previously the only improvement possible was to polish them.

These were Eleanora's thoughts, but Vandalieu had told her, "I can only see a future where influential people turn me into a slave or something and simply extract my Mana for their own use." Indeed, Eleanora didn't believe that all influential people were virtuous. In fact, she believed that over ninety percent of them were conspirators or villains.

But at the same time, she believed that unimaginably foolish influential people would make up less than ten percent.

I think that as long as they are not unimaginably foolish, they would realize that turning Vandalieu-sama into their enemy would lead to their ruin, but…

Enormous, black wings flapped gently. The wings that had grown from the back of her master.

"It feels nice to fly like this," said Vandalieu. "Everyone, how does the ride feel?" he asked.

"Things are great here, too!" replied Zran. "The wind is strong, but it's perfect for a hot summer's night!"

"You're amazing, King!" said Braga. "The humans making camp on the ground look like ants!"

Eleanora gave a vague smile as she glanced sideways at Zran, Braga and the other Black Goblins who were shouting excitedly.

"Vandalieu-sama… The ride is comfortable, but… Why have you changed… no, evolved, just for a method of transport?" Eleanora questioned.

"Hmm? I just grew some spirit-form wings; I haven't done any changing or evolving," replied Vandalieu.

With three pairs of wings protruding from the neck of a bird consisting of only a torso, he resembled a very ominous bird indeed.

Vandalieu had returned to the Seventh Cultivation Village, said farewell to the priest who had left for the city in a hurry, killed time doing training and such with Kasim and his friends, and spent the night at the jack-of-all-trades store. In his room, he had informed Eleanora and the others that he was heading for the city tomorrow.

Incidentally, the room in the jack-of-all-trades store was nothing but a room with eight people's worth of crudely-made bunkbeds of straw. It didn't rely on its income as an inn in the first place, so the bunkbeds had apparently been made by the owner himself. There was no disadvantage for him to have Vandalieu stay there in addition to Kasim and his friends.

The owner was quite shrewd; he had decided that this made them even for having mistaken Vandalieu for a ghost.

Leaving that aside, Vandalieu had regrouped with Eleanora and the others and immediately began trying to execute his idea.

Using the Spirit Form Transformation spell, the Spirit Form skill and the Materialization skill, he began trying to grow wings.

Now that he thought about it, Bone Bird, who was now a part of Knochen, had used spirit form feathers with its bone wings to fly.

Also, Vandalieu had been using Spirit Form Transformation to grow extra limbs and heads and even branched them out into tentacle shapes.

With that being the case, wouldn't he be able to grow something like wings fairly easily? And wouldn't he be able to use these wings to fly?

That was why Vandalieu tried it.

He used Spirit Form Transformation on part of his back, used the Spirit Form skill to change its shape the way he imagined it in his mind and stretched it out. He materialized it here and there using the Materialization skill, adjusting the skill's intensity depending on the spot.

And so, Vandalieu acquired enormous wings.

Each of the wings was as long as a wing of a jumbo jet, and the torso was large enough for Eleanora and the others to ride on with room to spare.

Perhaps because they were made of spirit form, or because he had used an owl's wings as a reference, or perhaps because his death-attribute magic's Erase Presence was active, the wings made almost no noise despite their size.

He was flying at a height where arrows wouldn't reach, at a speed equivalent to a racehorse sprinting at full speed. Though the wings' black color was inconspicuous in the night sky, if people on the ground did notice Vandalieu, perhaps they would faint in terror.

"Vandalieu-sama, are you planning to go beyond creating legends and start creating myths?" asked Eleanora.

"It's nothing as exaggerated as that," said Vandalieu. "There are lots of flaws, too."

"As a method of transport, it is indeed inferior to the Teleportation spell of the space attribute," said Eleanora. "But even so -"

"No, even Knochen could do this much," said Vandalieu. "At the very least, it would be able to fly while carrying everyone here."

"Th-that's true, but…"

"And you know, even if you consider the fact that no other people could do this, it doesn't give me any additional options in the future other than spending my days running a delivery business."

Indeed, since no other person was capable of this, even if one were to tell Vandalieu to do it in a way that other people could replicate it, it would be impossible.

"And there are flaws to this. To fly like this, I need multiple instances of Parallel Thought Processing and High-speed Thought Processing, and it consumes a lot of Mana," Vandalieu explained. "And since I can't handle tight turns, fighting in the air is impossible."

He had only tried it out as a method of transportation in the first place, so he supposed that this was how it was.

"But it consumes much less Mana than the Flight spell, so it's not unusable," he added. "Ah, we're almost at the city, so I'll be descending now."

And so, Vandalieu and his companions made the journey between the Seventh Cultivation Village and the city, which would normally take three days, in a single night.

Of course, they had passed by Froto, the man disguised as a priest of Alda who had left the village before them, along the way.

Incidentally, Kanata was currently using his stolen carriage to head towards a city to the north, past the duchy's capital. The next morning, he would be surprised to see that the distance between himself and Vandalieu displayed by his Target Radar changed significantly within a single night.

『The level of the Spirit Form skill has increased!』

The city of Niarki.

Until the cultivation project began, it had been a city on the southern tip of the Hartner Duchy for over a hundred years, and currently, it had returned to being the southernmost city. It had a population of ten thousand. Its lord was Viscount Niarki; this city was the capital of his region.

There was a young, white-haired boy wearing a crude eyepatch made of cloth, walking around among the crowd in this city's marketplace.

He looked at his surroundings with an unimpressed-looking gaze before suddenly approaching a store that his eyes had stopped on.

"An apple," he said.

"They're one Baum each," said the middle-aged woman standing in the store with rows of fruit.

The boy searched the inside of his cloth bag, seemingly unaccustomed to doing so, before finding a silver coin and handing it over.

The woman stared at the silver coin without blinking, and then snorted. "This is fake, isn't it? There is no way that a brat like you would have silver coins. I don't know if you're a refugee or an orphan, but get lost," she spat. But despite her words, the woman pocketed the silver coin that the boy had handed her. It seemed that she had no intention of giving it back. "What are you looking at? Hurry up and get lost! Do you want me to call the guards?!" she shouted.

Her voice caused owners of other stores and people going back and forth around the marketplace to look towards the boy, but none of them had any compassion in their eyes. They looked at him with irritation, scorn and disgust.

The boy's expression didn't change at all despite receiving such gazes, and he left the store quietly. He turned his body around in a natural manner and vanished.

"Hmph, what a weird brat," said the woman who had acquired a fifty-Baum silver coin as the corners of her lips rose in a smile. She hadn't noticed that there was now one less apple in her store.

The boy, Vandalieu, was biting into the apple in a place away from public attention. He didn't believe that he had stolen it, as the woman had received fifty times the correct amount in payment.

"This city is wild," he murmured.

He had thought that his appearance wasn't dirty, but the cloth that he was wearing over his eye to conceal the fact that he was a Dhampir apparently gave the impression that he was a refugee or an orphan with no parents.

It was possible that his long hair covering his pointed ears only further strengthened that impression. Well, even if his ears were seen, people might assume that he was a half-Elf orphan.

The thing that shocked him was that the refugees were hated in the city more than he had imagined. It seemed that the people of the city blamed the refugees for the things they were dissatisfied about.

Indeed, ever since the refugees had come from the Sauron Duchy, the economy had worsened, the taxes had become harsher and public order had deteriorated. There were more positions for day-to-day work than before, and the refugees were competing for these jobs with the people who had always lived in the city.

Vandalieu had no intention of unconditionally taking the refugees' side; he did think that the deteriorating public order and competition over work was problematic for the people who had always lived in the Hartner Duchy.

However, the reason for the economy being worse and the taxes becoming harsher was because the Hartner Duchy was putting effort into increasing its military presence, as it was now the frontline in the war against the Amid Empire since Sauron Duchy had been captured.

If the people were dissatisfied with that, they shouldn't be blaming the refugees but the politicians who had lost the war and the Amid Empire who had attacked.

It wasn't logical for them to blame anything else.

"The youngsters of these days are quick to torment the weak."

"That b*tch, that woman at the fruit store, I'll curse her to death! So give me Manaaaa!"

"Anyhow, the lord of the region has been acting strange lately; it was only yesterday that… Huh? Perhaps it was actually ten years ago?"

"The password is, 'ale and moba bean stirfry.' They'll tell you that they're out, but ignore them and repeat the same order one more time. Then you'll be able to meet the people from the Fangs of Dark Nights."

"Hihihi, if you want to have good dreams, I recommend the 'Indigo Legs' to the west; they have plenty of good prostitutes there."

"I see," said Vandalieu. The moment he asked to hear more about this city and the Hartner Duchy, the spirits had begun talking noisily.

As he listened to them, Vandalieu thought about the discrimination against the refugees, which was to the point that human rights organizations and the media would have a field day if it was happening on earth. Why do people feel the desire discriminate against other people of the same nation? he wondered. It was a problem that had been present on Earth and in Origin as well, but -

"Ah, I see. For the people of the city… for the people of the Hartner Duchy, the refugees from the Sauron Duchy aren't people from the same nation."

In this world, where making journeys was dangerous even if using highways, it was common for people to spend their entire lives in the villages or cities that they were born in. For them, their societies were those villages and cities. People coming from outside those villages and cities were essentially 'outsiders,' equivalent to being foreigners.

And the Orbaume Kingdom was a nation that was made up of a collection of smaller nations. Each duchy was one of the nations that had existed since the Kingdom's foundation.

Because of this, even for those involved in politics, their fellow countrymen were only the people of their duchies, and those from other duchies were foreigners.

To the people of the Hartner Duchy, the people of the Sauron Duchy were not people from the same nation.

"At this rate, the people of the cultivation villages will have a hard future ahead of them," said Vandalieu.

Even the apple that Vandalieu was taking his second bite of shocked him.

To summarize its flavor in one word, it was 'disappointing.'

It did taste like an apple, but it wasn't good enough to be put on the shelves in the supermarkets of Earth. It was neither sweet nor sour; even its texture was lacking.

It was a failure when compared to a Kobol fruit.

But it wasn't that this apple was inferior. It was that the Kobol fruit was outstanding.

The flavor that Vandalieu remembered was the flavor of apples in Japan, on Earth. Despite nobody having given Kobol fruits any assistance, they contained flavor in their flesh that could rival the flavor of apples that farmers had spent a great deal of effort in selectively breeding.

Considering that, Vandalieu now understood why Kobol fruits sold for ten Amids each, or ten Baums in the Orbaume Kingdom.

"Leaving that aside, I'll sneak into the Mages' Guild tonight and look for an old spirit," he decided. "There are apparently items with history in the Mages' Guild, commonly known as cursed items. There should at least be one old, evil spirit or vengeful spirit."

Ah, I've been talking to myself a lot. I shouldn't be acting alone after all, Vandalieu thought as he walked off, still munching on the disappointing apple.

Somewhere along his way, he got into a fight with a hoodlum who had followed him after seeing him produce a silver coin in the marketplace, but the hoodlum didn't know anything about Princess Levia and the other Titans, either. The hoodlum's blood did taste better than the apple, however.

In the archives of the small Mages' Guild branch of the city of Niarki, there was a magical tome that had been sealed away, feared to be a 'cursed, forbidden tome.'

It was a cursed item, said to contain forbidden knowledge that granted power to those who read it, but at the cost of their sanity, changing them to have cruel personalities.

According to one theory, the tome contained not forbidden knowledge, but an evil god whose powers had been robbed from him, sealed inside the tome, entering the minds of those who read the book and brainwashing them in an attempt to remove the seal.

That theory was ninety percent true.

"Hihi, it seems that another fool has opened me."

Buburdura, the Evil God of the Magic Tome whose power had been robbed from him, felt joy stirring in his heart. In the past, he had been defeated by Farmaun Gold and lost his power. He transformed himself into a book and now, he was seeking 'readers' in order to restore his power.

By possessing and manipulating the 'readers' that opened and read him, he absorbed their power like a leech to regain his own.

"I have finally recovered half of my power. Tonight, I shall seize the body of this fool, turn him into my possessed servant and use him as a foothold towards my full recovery," he told himself.

With a thud, the pages fluttered open. Not letting this moment escape him, Buburdura flew into the mind of this 'reader.'

"Now then, I shall manipulate you, just as I have done to all of the foolish prey who have come before you!"

The body of Buburdura's will, which resembled an ugly combination between an arthropod and a mollusk, extended its tentacles into the center of the mind of the 'reader.'

Resistance would be completely impossible; Buburdura's mind would violate the reader's mind in an overwhelming manner. At least, the evil god had assumed that this would happen, as this was how things had gone up until now.

"Muh? What is the meaning of this; I cannot reach it?"

No matter how much Buburdura extended his tentacles, he couldn't reach the memories and personality that he wanted to tamper with. Flustered, he extended his tentacles as far as they could go, but even so, only a few of them barely managed to touch something at all.

And the thing that he touched caused him deep bewilderment as well.

"What is this? Why are things like this? Impossible; why does it have this structure? Is this reader really someone from this world?" he wondered.

Buburdura had invaded the minds of hundreds, thousands of people. In a way, he was an expert when it came to minds. To his knowledge and experience, there were no people with minds like this.

It was unsystematic.

Things that were supposed to be in certain places weren't; instead, there were things with completely different shapes that weren't supposed to be there at all.

If comparing it to a person's body, it was as if a small intestine in the shape of a liver had been packed into the place where the brain was supposed to be; it was completely incomprehensible.

It was as bizarre as a castle forcibly built from random junk.

As Buburdura came to this conclusion, a terrifying possibility rose in his mind.

"That is right; I have heard that after the Demon King-sama broke the souls of the four champions, some god gathered their fragments together and forcibly joined them into a single soul. If something were to break that soul again… Hyih?!"

Buburdura realized something, mid-sentence. There was a deep opening above his head. And as the opening moved, he let out a scream of terror.

The opening widened a little, revealing an enormous eye.

Buburdura saw himself reflected in its dull, mud-like pupil.

" -…"

A noise that sounded like fragments of metal scraping against each other echoed from behind him.

He turned around immediately to see that there was a deep crack there as well. A tongue far thicker and more terrifying than Buburdura's tentacles extended from the crack towards him.

He screamed again.

The tongue wrapped around Buburdura, the Evil God of the Magic Tome, and crushed him.

Buburdura finally understood the meaning of the noise that he hadn't been able to hear properly. It had said, "How itchy*."

And so, the evil god whom Farmaun Gold had failed to defeat, who had hidden for a hundred thousand years while slurping up the minds of his victims and was finally about to make a recovery, was destroyed by a certain 'reader' who had made a casual attack, as if merely brushing away a winged insect that had stopped on his neck.

Having turned the ground into Golems and used Golem Transmutation to dig a tunnel in order to infiltrate the Mages' Guild from underground, Vandalieu investigated inside, searching for spirits. He found some spirits. But unfortunately, they were old and on the brink of being extinguished, had no interest in anything other than magic even after death, or had gone mad, becoming unable to speak in coherent sentences. None of them knew about the First Princess Levia.

The spirits in the city didn't know anything either; would it be better if I asked people who are alive? But it's questionable as to whether the people of this city would give me honest answers.

Though he was worried about this matter, he was also searching the archives for any forbidden techniques that could be used for Darcia's resurrection. Suddenly, a mage's spirit informed him that there was a single forbidden tome in the archives.

It was apparently an evil tome that granted those who read it great power, in exchange for also bestowing upon them a destiny of ruin.

Intrigued, Vandalieu used death-attribute magic to remove the seal that had been placed on the tome and tried holding the tome in his hands.

"… I do feel an ominous presence, but it's not really that big a deal?"

Though he could feel Mana, there was only a feeble reaction from Danger Sense: Death; he could only think of the book as unimportant.

It was such an unthreatening forbidden tome that Vandalieu wondered if it was the metal reinforcements on its corners that were supposed to be dangerous.

Thinking that there wouldn't be much to expect, Vandalieu opened the forbidden tome to find that its pages were filled with figures resembling geometric shapes rather than written characters.

"Huh, I can't read this. I don't think that these would grant power… Hmm?"

As Vandalieu thought about this, he suddenly felt an unpleasant, itching sensation.

『Your Mana has increased by 50,000,000!』

『The Mental Corruption skill has transformed into the Grotesque Mind skill!』

『You have acquired the Body Expansion (Tongue) and Mental Encroachment skills!』

『The levels of the Superhuman Strength, Rapid Healing, Magic Resistance, Soul Break, God Slayer, Body Expansion (Tongue) and Grotesque Mind skills have increased!』

For some reason, Vandalieu gained additional Mana, new skills and his skills leveled up.

"Eh?"

Though he was surprised, he checked his Status to find that everything was as the announcer in his head had said.

Name: Vandalieu

Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)

Age: 7 years old

Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King],[Taboo Name]

Job: Venom Fist User

Level: 20

Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker

Attributes:

Vitality: 184

Mana: 378,120,344 (Increased by 50,000,000)

Strength: 128

Agility: 130

Stamina: 119

Intelligence: 761

Passive skills:

Superhuman Strength: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Rapid Healing: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Death-Attribute Magic: Level 6

Status Effect Resistance: Level 7

Magic Resistance: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Dark Vision

Death-Attribute Charm: Level 6

Chant Revocation: Level 4

Strengthen Followers: Level 8

Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 4

Strengthen Subordinates: Level 4

Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Enhanced Agility: Level 1

Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 3 (NEW!)

Active skills:

Bloodsucking: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Surpass Limits: Level 5

Golem Transmutation: Level 6

No-Attribute Magic: Level 5

Mana Control: Level 4

Spirit Form: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)

Carpentry: Level 4

Engineering: Level 3

Cooking: Level 4

Alchemy: Level 4

Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)

Soul Break: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)

Multi-Cast: Level 5

Long-distance Control: Level 6

Surgery: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5

Materialization: Level 4

Coordination: Level 3

High-speed Thought Processing: Level 3

Commanding: Level 1

Farming: Level 3

Clothing: Level 2

Throwing: Level 3

Unique skills:

God Slayer: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)

Grotesque Mind: Level 2 (Transformed from Mental Corruption)

Mental Encroachment: Level 2 (NEW!)

Curses

Experience gained in previous life not carried over

Cannot learn existing jobs

Unable to gain experience independently

"I see, I definitely acquired power, but…?"

If simply reading the book was enough to grant 50,000,000 Mana, it certainly was great power for normal people. It was the equivalent to the Mana pools of five thousand first-rate mages; it wouldn't be strange for them to lose themselves in it and bring ruin upon themselves.

The unique skill called 'Grotesque Mind' seemed dangerous.

But why had the Soul Break and God Slayer skills leveled up? The Mental Corruption skill had transformed into a unique skill for some reason as well.

"And most importantly, what is this 'Body Expansion (Tongue)'? I can expand my tongue? Ah, it expanded."

Vandalieu tried sticking his tongue out of his mouth to find that it could stretch outwards. There wasn't any pain or unpleasant, stiff sensation. As naturally as bending and stretching his limbs, Vandalieu could stretch his tongue to a length of less than a meter, but longer than his arms.

He could even move it with complete freedom.

He could bend it like a snake or extend it quickly, like when a frog used its tongue to catch insects. He could probably even wrap it around a pen and use it to write. It was as if he had gained an extra hand.

"… Sharp Tongue."

He tried using the 'martial skill' that used his tongue to pierce the target to find that it functioned normally. Its range was far shorter than when he had sent his tongue flying, but with this, he would be able to use it multiple times in quick succession.

Vandalieu didn't know what the Mental Encroachment and Grotesque Mind skills were, but he had indeed gained power. He didn't know what would become of the destiny of ruin that he was supposed to receive along with it.

"All of the people who have read this forbidden tome, did they all gain the ability to extend their tongues as well? If that caused them to be treated like freaks and made them fail in their relationships with others and their work, that really would be a destiny of ruin, I guess?"

On Earth, someone with the ability to stretch their tongues to a length of a meter would be considered freaks, and many would think they were creepy. Making a note of being careful of this happening to him, Vandalieu returned the forbidden tome to its shelf.

It would take Vandalieu a long time to realize that the soul of a foolish evil god had essentially thrown himself into his stomach, granting him the evil god's Mana and a part of his power.

But not as long as it would take the Mages' Guild branch of Niarki to notice that the forbidden tome had turned into an ordinary bundle of paper.

Skill explanation:

[Grotesque Mind]

A skill that represents having a different mental structure from normal people. Spells, special abilities and drugs that affect the mind are completely ineffective against those who possess this skill.

But this skill doesn't mean that the person possessing it is emotionless.

Among people, Vandalieu is the only one to possess this unique skill. A portion of beings that came from other worlds, such as evil gods, as well as those extraordinarily similar to them, also possess this skill.

[Mental Encroachment]

A skill that allows the user to affect the mind and alter the personality, perceptions and memories of the target. In order to use it, some kind of communication, such as direct contact, conversation or eye contact, is required.

Using this skill through indirect methods, such as having the target read a written letter or hear a recorded voice, is also possible.

In Buburdura's case, the condition for the skill's activation was the target reading the pages of the forbidden tome that was his body.

Vandalieu is currently unable to use this skill against living people like Buburdura, who could directly enter the target's mind and soul to conduct his brainwashing.

However, he is able to exert tremendous effects on the dead.

[Body Expansion]

A skill that allows the user to stretch or shrink a part of the body or the entire body. The distance the body part can be stretched depends on the level.

Level 1 in the skill allows extension to twice the original body part's length; level 2 allows four times the original length and level 3 allows eight times.

Though the body parts can stretch and shrink, they do not gain rubber-like properties.

There are no people who possess this skill.