"Long time no see, Amamiya. Well, if we count the time I had only my soul with no body, then I think we've seen each other's faces a year ago," said the 'Mage Masher' Asagi Minami with a bitter smile on his face.
Behind him were the 'Ifrit' Shouko Akagi and the 'Clairvoyance' Tatsuya Tendou.
Unlike Asagi, these two were clearly being very cautious of Legion.
"… Ugh. Why are you people here? I thought that we came to a previous agreement that you wouldn't interfere while we made contact with him if we got to him first," said Kanako.
Indeed, according to the promise that had been made in Rodcorte's Divine Realm before everyone was reincarnated, Asagi's group shouldn't have interfered while Kanako's group made contact with Vandalieu.
But Asagi seemed unconcerned that Kanako was blaming him for breaking this promise. "That's not the kind of tone a former idol should have," he said. "We made that promise with Murakami, so we don't need to be so considerate towards you now that you've left his group… I have no intention of arguing something unreasonable like that. The truth is, if Amamiya didn't notice us, we would have kept quiet until you guys were finished."
"Then you should have just left instead of coming out," said Kanako.
"Don't ask us the impossible. If we didn't come out, we would have been mistaken for enemies and attacked," Asagi pointed out. "Isn't that right, Amamiya?"
"Of course! We don't know anything about the rules you have decided between yourselves! Even if we did, we have no reason to play along with them!" said the voice of Legion's Valkyrie.
Hearing these words, Kanako stopped hounding Asagi. She wanted to complain that he wasbeing unreasonable, but she thought that Vandalieu's impression of her and her group would become worse if she continued this futile argument in front of him.
"So, why have you people come here?" Legion asked.
"The voice before was Valkyrie, and the one just now was Pluto…" Asagi murmured. "We came because I knew these guys would try to curry favour with Amamiya. And we wanted to make sure that they hadn't fabricated some convenient-sounding information lies to tell us so that they could use Venus's power to try and manipulate Amamiya."
Asagi's group had learned of Kanako's movements by using Familiar Spirit Descent to hear from Rodcorte's familiar spirits, Aran and Izumi. They had headed towards the former Scylla territory and used Tendou's Clairvoyance to search for them and keep an eye on them.
When Asagi's group summoned Aran, he had strongly warned them to not fight Vandalieu. Asagi had been unconcerned, as his original objective was to persuade him to change his ways. In fact, he was confused as to why Aran would bother re-emphasizing this to him.
Shouko and Tendou had a bad feeling about Aran's warning; they were watching Asagi and Vandalieu's every move, ready to stop Asagi at any costs if anything happened.
"That's not what we were intending, but… I suppose being doubted like this is just me getting what I deserve," said Kanako.
She was speaking admirable words, but she felt very bitter on the inside. That was how inconvenient it was for her group that Asagi's group was here.
Asagi's group were people that her group had betrayed in Origin, and they possessed all of the information that her group did.
In fact, they were the ones with the information advantage, as they had received information from the familiar spirits even after being reincarnated.
"'Mage Masher,' did you think that we would come here without having measures in place against the abilities of Kanako and her group?" Legion asked Asagi.
Vandalieu and Legion were unaware that the true power of Kanako's Venus was the copying and pasting of emotions and memories. However, they had determined that it was an ability that affected the target's mind. That was why only Vandalieu and Legion, who would be immune to such effects, had come here.
They had also determined that the fragments of the Demon King, which had barrier-nullifying properties, could pierce through Melissa's Aegis Ability.
The telekinesis granted to Doug by his Hecatoncheir ability wouldn't be a problem. It would be ineffective against pathogens created with the Disease Demon Job and Dark King Magic that he couldn't perceive.
And in preparation for the possibility of there being more reincarnated individuals present than the three whose names were written on the letter, Vandalieu had brought fighting forces with him, including the 'King Slayer' Sleygar. They were in the surrounding area and inside Vandalieu's body.
Legion's tongue grew sharper the more Kanako and her companions flattered Vandalieu, which Kanako and her companions seemed to mistake for hostility.
"I'll say it to make it clear – We had absolutely no intentions of working with these guys; we didn't cooperate with them to draw you out with a false letter," Kanako said hastily.
"It's true. In the end, we did bring them here as a result, but… we apologize for that," said Melissa.
But Vandalieu and Legion nodded.
"I know that. There were no signs of you having done such things," said Vandalieu.
"We knew that those three were hiding there from the very beginning," Baba Yaga explained.
"That's why we were observing you for a while as you were talking and came to the conclusion that it doesn't seem like you're working together," said Ereshkigal.
Before Vandalieu and Legion called out to Kanako's group, they had realized that Asagi's group had been hiding in order to keep an eye on Kanako's group.
On top of that, they had come prepared for the unlikely event that it was all a trap.
"I'll warn you again, but don't try anything funny," said Ghost. "There are countless forces surrounding you, including the head-hunting demon. You don't want your head cut off a second time, do you?"
The facial expressions of Asagi's group changed clearly as they heard the voices of Baba Yaga, Ereshkigal and Ghost coming from Legion – the voices of their killers. Asagi looked bitter, Shouko looked angry and Tendou turned pale.
"'Anything funny' includes fighting each other. Vandalieu has come to hear what you have to say. We'll eliminate anyone who interferes with that," said Pluto. "So, we've already heard what Kanako's group wants. Were you intending to do nothing more than observe them, 'Mage Masher?'"
"Of course that's not all," said Asagi, facing Vandalieu. "Amamiya, I've come to stop –"
"Wrong," said Vandalieu, interrupting him.
"What are you saying is wrong, Amamiya? I've really come to stop you."
Up until this point, Vandalieu had remained silent even when Asagi spoke to him, and their eyes hadn't even met. But he accepted that he had to say this now.
"I am not Amamiya Hiroto. Now, I am Vandalieu Zakkart," Vandalieu said.
He had hoped that Asagi would realize this without him having to say it.
"What are you saying? You're our buddy, Amamiya Hiroto. Isn't that right?" said Asagi, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Vandalieu's shoulders fell. "It's true that I was once 'Amamiya Hiroto.' But that was over thirty years ago, and I feel no attachment towards that name. Please call me Vandalieu from now on," he said. "Also, I am not your 'buddy.'"
The current Vandalieu felt so little attachment to the name 'Amamiya Hiroto' that he could no longer consider it his own.
It wasn't that he was trying to deny his past or forget it. However, he felt an unavoidable sense of discomfort when he was referred to by that name.
"You… Are you serious? Even if you were reincarnated in another world, the fact that you were Amamiya on Earth doesn't change –" Asagi began, his voice raised in anger.
Tendou and Shouko stepped in to calm him down.
"Asagi, he is Vandalieu. It's fine that way, isn't it?" said Tendou.
"Most of us haven't changed our names since we were reincarnated, but he's different. I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for it," said Shouko.
Perhaps accepting this for now, Asagi fell silent for a moment and took a deep breath. "Alright. You want me to call you Vandalieu, right? I'm curious as to why your surname is Zakkart, but… I'll leave that aside for now," he said. "Vandalieu, we've come to stop you. You have to stop using death-attribute magic, right this moment if possible."
"That's impossible. Do you have any other business here?" Vandalieu asked.
"… I'm being serious," said Asagi, his shoulders shaking as if he were trying to hold himself back. "Please give it some more thought."
"… Please give it some more thought? I want to ask the same of you."
The other two, standing beside Asagi, were wearing expressions that seemed to say, "As we thought." Vandalieu looked at them with an expressionless, calm-looking gaze, but he felt irritated and mentally exhausted.
On the inside, he thought that it would be much easier to just fight them here, but if he did that, it would likely become even more troublesome when more reincarnated individuals were reborn in Lambda from Origin.
The situation was still just a discussion, and Asagi and Vandalieu merely held opposing opinions and viewpoints.
If Vandalieu were to eliminate Asagi for that reason alone, he would become the villain.
While Vandalieu was enduring this stressful situation, Asagi seemed to be deep in thought.
"Could it be…?" he whispered to himself, and then he lowered his head towards Vandalieu. "If you resent us because we failed to notice you and couldn't save you in Origin, then I'm sorry. This will sound like nothing more than an excuse at this point, but… we really didn't know that you were a reincarnated individual," he said.
It seemed that he thought that the reason for Vandalieu's attitude towards him was the events in their previous lives.
Shouko and Tendou, as well as Kanako's group who had been watching this conversation unfold, seemed to realize this; they followed Asagi's lead and lowered their heads.
"That's right, the first thing we should have done was apologize."
"I'm really sorry. If we had found out earlier, things wouldn't have turned out like that."
"I'm sorry. We were so desperate that we forgot to apologize."
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
But Vandalieu shook his head. "I don't care about what happened in our previous lives. It's troublesome, so please just forget about it."
Asagi and the others raised their faces and looked at him in surprise.
"You don't care? You didn't resent us? I heard that you wanted to kill us," said Doug.
Vandalieu instinctively looked away. "Please forget the words I shouted in front of Rodcorte after I died in Origin," he said. "Those were words of hatred spoken when my mind was very strained and I had lost half my sanity."
Vandalieu had thought things through calmly afterwards and realized that the one at fault was Rodcorte for reincarnating him without granting him anything, and that the other reincarnated individuals were not to blame.
Of course, that didn't mean that he had no hatred for the other reincarnated individuals at all, but… over ten years had passed since then. All kinds of things had happened during that time, and Vandalieu's place in the world had changed dramatically.
Thus, the fact that the reincarnated individuals failed to save him and ended his life in Origin was not a big deal to Vandalieu. Part of it was that he simply didn't have the time to actively hunt down the reincarnated individuals and kill them, however.
"I-is that right? Well, that's definitely a relief to hear," said Doug, looking surprised and confused at the same time.
Vandalieu had said the same thing to the 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata, but perhaps the other reincarnated individuals hadn't heard the message, or perhaps they had interpreted it as a lie to make them lower their guards.
"That's right. Ah, could it be that the other reincarnated individuals can hear me if I say it to you?" Vandalieu said, using Flight to fly towards Doug and deliver his message to the other reincarnated individuals. "Hello, can you hear me? I don't care about the fact that you killed me or even about your existence. It would be more problematic for me if you actually went out of your way to apologize to me."
"Uoh?! You're too close, you're too close!" Doug shouted, instinctively trying to get away from the dead-fish-like eyes that were now in his face.
"Vandalieu, calm down. His eyes aren't camera lenses," said Legion.
This was a comical conversation, but Kanako and Tendou found themselves unable to laugh.
He doesn't even care about our existence… That means that rather than having forgiven us, he's just not interested, doesn't it?! thought Kanako.
They say that the opposite of liking something is being completely indifferent, but it's really true,thought Tendou.
Vandalieu's words weren't spoken out of forgiveness, but out of complete disinterest.
"Asagi, you should give up after all. Let's get out of here," Tendou whispered into Asagi's ear.
But Asagi was not a man who could accept this. "No, I'm different from how I was when I was in Origin. I'm definitely going to stop him with my words this time," he said, brushing Tendou's whispered warning aside. And then, with a strong-willed tone, he called out once more to Vandalieu, who seemed to be messing around with Doug. "Vandalieu, listen to me! The situation is worse than you think! There's going to be huge problems in this world because of you at this rate!"
"… Well, I suppose that's right," said Vandalieu, his weariness audible even in his flat-toned voice.
"You're aware of it?!"
"Just what do you think I've done, fought against and defeated up until now?"
The restoration of the fallen nation of Talosheim, the occupation of this former Scylla territory. Most importantly, the release of Vida, the goddess of life and love, who had been sealed away by Alda's divine authority. The acquisition of the surname 'Zakkart' by clearing the Trial of Zakkart.
The enemies he had defeated included believers of Alda like High Priest Gordan and four members of the Amid Empire's Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords. On the Orbaume Kingdom's side, there was a knights' order of the Hartner Duchy and one of the resistance organizations that had been trying to recapture the Sauron Duchy.
Among the gods, he had defeated the Pure-breed Vampires Ternecia and Gubamon, as well as Ravovifard, the evil god of release. He had also apparently consumed a god whose name he didn't even know.
If Vandalieu tried to think of the things he had done that would affect the world outside the Boundary Mountain Range as well, there were this many that just came off the top of his head. Even Vandalieu wasn't so carefree as to think that these actions wouldn't cause large problems.
Of course, it wasn't that Asagi and the other reincarnated individuals knew all of this. Vandalieu doubted they had even figured out that he had revived Vida and conquered the Trial of Zakkart.
"If you're aware, why haven't you stopped?! I'm not even joking; at this rate, the entire world will become your enemy! The gods and people of this world will not accept you, someone who creates and manipulates Undead!" Asagi shouted, feeling a sense of danger.
His words were the conclusion he reached after experiencing a little over a year of life in the Orbaume Kingdom, in the human society of this world.
In this world, the existence of Undead was deemed unacceptable by the followers of the Alda religion, which made up the majority of the population. But it wasn't just them; even a small number of Vida's followers did not accept Undead. In fact, every single church taught that creating and manipulating the dead out of one's own selfish desires were evil acts that desecrated life.
No matter how useful Vandalieu's death-attribute magic was, the people of this world would not accept him as long as he continued to use Undead as his servants.
This conclusion that Asagi had made was surprisingly not far off the mark. Emperor Marshukzarl of the Amid Empire had come to a similar conclusion regarding Vandalieu's future as well.
They were slightly different, however, as Asagi's conclusion was based on the people's emotions towards Undead while Marshukzarl's conclusion was based on the fact that Vandalieu's actions up until this point were not compatible with the desires of human nations.
"No matter how extraordinary your Mana is, you won't be able to defeat the entire world! Even the Demon King whose fragments you've absorbed was defeated in the same way!" Asagi continued.
Indeed, the Demon King Guduranis had possessed far more power than Vandalieu, destroyed four of the eleven great gods, completely polluted an entire continent, destroyed the souls of four champions and pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. And yet, he had been defeated by the remaining three champions.
"Like I said, I'm aware of that. I'm doing my best to not make the entire world my enemy," said Vandalieu.
The reason he was still continuing this conversation with Asagi and not attacking him was for that reason, too.
If there was a dangerous being wielding some of the greatest power in the world who killed others for no other reason than them having different opinions, values and religions… the people of the world would become desperate to eliminate that dangerous being.
But even if a being wielded great power, as long as he could be reasoned with, then things shouldn't come to that. There would be some that he would never be able to come to an understanding with, but cases in which that led to actual conflict should remain within small numbers.
That was what Vandalieu thought… though the world's affairs were now in an odd situation as a result.
"That's not enough," said Asagi. "It's true that the death attribute is convenient, and countless people were saved by it in Origin. But there isn't anyone who will accept someone toying with the dead –"
"Asagi, there are more people who accept it than you think," said Legion, denying his words directly.
"… I can't trust the words of you people who worship him fanatically," said Asagi. "And this is a conversation between us people who have been reincarnated from Earth. Sorry, but stay out of this –"
"Hold on!" said Melissa, cutting Asagi off.
Asagi looked irritated at having been cut off, but he had bigger things on his mind after Melissa spoke her next words.
"That voice, is it you, Hitomi? The 'Gazer' Minuma Hitomi?!"
"That's right, Melissa. I've stayed quiet and left the talking to everyone else up until now, but I've been here from the beginning and heard everything," said Hitomi's voice from beneath Legion's hood. "Asagi-kun, I can join the conversation, right? I've been reincarnated from Earth, too."
Asagi looked surprised, but he nodded. "Yeah."
It seemed that he hadn't noticed Minuma Hitomi inside Legion, as only the members of the Eighth Guidance had been speaking so far.
"Now then, let me continue… Asagi-kun, there are quite a few gods who accept what Vandalieu does," said Hitomi.
"Gods?! Accepting the creation and manipulation of Undead?!"
"That's right. The famous ones are Vida, Ricklent, Zuruwarn… You can assume that all of the gods in Vida's faction are Vandalieu's allies."
"… Those are all big names. But how can you be so sure? Nobody knows what the gods are thinking unless they meet them directly, right?" Asagi asked.
"I haven't met them, but Vandalieu has. Right?" said Hitomi.
"Yes, I met them. I questioned them directly and confirmed what they think," said Vandalieu.
Asagi and the others opened their eyes wide in surprise as they heard what was already widely known inside the Boundary Mountain Range.
They had already met and exchanged words with Rodcorte, the god of reincarnation, in his Divine Realm multiple times. But they had always assumed that this was an exception, and that it was impossible to meet gods no matter how much one wanted to.
This assumption was actually largely correct. The gods of Lambda were closer to their world than the god of Earth was to its own, but even chosen clergymen could only receive messages from their gods through Divine Messages. Meeting them directly and exchanging words with the gods was impossible unless they became familiar spirits or heroic spirits after they died. This was a commonly-known truth.
But this commonly-known truth didn't apply to Vandalieu.
"From the time when Zuruwarn and Ricklent refused to hand the souls of Pluto and the others to Rodcorte, I could guess that a number of gods were accepting us, but… Well, I'm sure Rodcorte didn't tell you everything, so I won't blame you," said Vandalieu. "It's not like I know all of the circumstances that the gods face, either."
"But from what I heard at the Church of Vida, there wasn't a single word of that…" Asagi muttered.
"It's not like the gods of this world are constantly sharing their will with every church and priest. I think it will still take some more time before the Church of Vida changes," said Legion.
"I-I suppose you're… right?"
"Asagi-kun… 'Mage Masher.' Do you understand now that Vandalieu will not turn the whole world against himself? If you don't believe him, then that's fine, too."
If Asagi were to be honest, he was still half in doubt. If possible, he wanted to hear just how Vandalieu had met the gods, and exactly what they had discussed, but…
"We believe you! So, we'd like to defect to your nation," said Kanako, using this small break in the conversation to change the topic.
"Rather than defect, it would be immigration in this case, wouldn't it?" said Vandalieu. "I have a suggestion regarding that. Will you hear it?"
Since Vandalieu was addressing Kanako's group now, Asagi wasn't able to ask about the details.
"Alright, I'll believe you for now. But even gods can make the wrong decisions. If you continue using death-attribute Mana, which is a foreign substance in this world, there might be irreversible consequences," Asagi said. "Amami… Vandalieu, you're not thinking about taking over the world with a kingdom of Undead or anything like that, right?"
"Uh, of course not," said Vandalieu.
As he gave this answer, he wondered why Asagi was so fixated on getting rid of the death attribute in the first place.
After thinking about it, he concluded that it was because Asagi was unable to accept the existence of Undead due to his personal and religious beliefs, which led to a hatred for the death attribute. And from this hatred, he viewed the death attribute as something dangerous, as dangerous as a weapon of mass destruction.
If that's the case, then this is troublesome, he thought. I can't do anything about the former, and the latter isn't wrong. But with the amount of Mana I have, even if the magic I used wasn't death-attribute magic, I don't think I would be any less dangerous.
Vandalieu currently possessed over five billion Mana. With that much Mana, he would be able to create a small sun on the world's surface with the fire attribute, freeze entire nations with the water attribute, cause lightning to rain down from the sky with the wind attribute or cause catastrophic movements in the planet's crust with the earth attribute. Even if he was only able to use the light or life attributes, he would likely be just as dangerous.
And even without any attributes, he was able to punch holes in space itself.
In other words, Asagi's fears would not be addressed even if Vandalieu were to stop using death-attribute magic.
I doubt he'll understand even if I explain that, so I won't bother. And I should keep quiet about the Undead breeding experiments, too.
"I have to make it clear that it would be impossible for me to stop using death-attribute magic," said Vandalieu. "It wouldn't affect only me; it would cause the collapse of the nation that I rule."
Talosheim's infrastructure and industries were all dependent on Vandalieu's death-attribute magic.
Talosheim's defensive walls, buildings and the moving parts inside its factories were all Golems. The crossbows that were in position to fire at enemies outside the city's walls were Cursed Weapons.
Magic Items using death-attribute Mana were responsible for everything from preserving food in warehouses and manufacturing fermented food products to creating antiseptics to maintain Talosheim's hygiene standards and lighting the streets with Demon Fires.
If all of these were to stop working, the nation would face extreme difficulties. Ghouls would face particularly harsh troubles – if the Magic Items that increased their reproductive functions and improved the survival rate of their fetuses stopped functioning, it would become difficult for their species to continue.
If Asagi's request included purging the currently-existing Undead, the population would fall sharply as well.
It was impossible to comply with this request, and if someone were to continue to insist on it, a fight to the death was inevitable.
"You said you want to stop the death attribute, but what specifically did you even have in mind?" Vandalieu asked.
It would be simple to just stop using magic, but affinity for an attribute was no different from any other physiological function. To Vandalieu, Asagi's request was equivalent to saying, "Don't ever sweat again for the rest of your life." It was realistically impossible.
"There are several ways," said Asagi. "First, you could die a pseudo-death… a temporary death, enter Rodcorte's Divine Realm and receive an affinity for another attribute –"
"Ah, please keep it limited to methods that don't involve Rodcorte," said Vandalieu.
"… So, it's impossible after all," Asagi muttered.
He had been planning to explain the various methods of sealing away Vandalieu's death attribute that he had heard from Rodcorte, but Vandalieu was rejecting them.
There was no way that Vandalieu would trust Rodcorte, the one who had made a mistake as simple as mistaking him for someone else. It was only natural to be wary of a god who was trying to kill him.
"Then… It can't be helped for now," Asagi sighed.
When he was first reincarnated in this world, he had intended to convince Vandalieu to trust Rodcorte once more. But when they had consulted Aran and the other familiar spirits to gain information on Kanako, they had emphasized over and over: "Don't ever trust Rodcorte."
In his fear of Vandalieu, Rodcorte had tried to cut off multiple worlds from his circle of transmigration system, including Lambda and Origin.
As the details of this event were related to the circle of transmigration itself, Rodcorte's familiar spirits had been unable to share them with Asagi's group, who had already been reincarnated in Lambda as humans.
But they had done their best to try and convey the message that Rodcorte, who had kept his promises up until this point, was now completely untrustworthy.
Given the warning from the familiar spirits and the information he had just heard from Hitomi, Asagi had lost his will to force his intentions on Vandalieu.
As Tendou said, it's best to leave at this point. It doesn't seem like he will respond to me unless I learn more about this world, find a way to seal the death attribute away without relying on Rodcorte's power and explain this method to him, Asagi thought.
He still believed that the death attribute was something that should not exist, and his objective of convincing Vandalieu to see that hadn't changed.
Vandalieu, unable to see these intentions, was puzzled by the fact that Asagi had given up on this so quickly. But he didn't say anything.
"But let me warn you, Vandalieu. You should probably give up on the idea of accepting these guys as your allies. They betrayed not only the Bravers, but the Eighth Guidance as well. There's no doubt that they will betray you as well," said Asagi.
"What?! You want to speak badly of us now?!" Kanako exclaimed.
"You bastard, you want to interfere with our business just because your business didn't go so well?!" Doug shouted.
"Don't try to drag others down, it's quite pathetic," said Pluto.
"I think it's questionable behavior as an adult," said Hitomi.
Even Vandalieu chimed in. "Yeah, that's right," he said.
Not just Asagi, but Kanako's group as well, froze in surprise; it seemed that they hadn't expected the support of Legion, the ones who had actually been betrayed.
"Wait a second, why are you guys siding with them? They betrayed Pluto, took advantage of Hitomi and said that they don't care about Vandalieu, didn't they?" asked Shouko, speaking in Asagi's place as he was unable to speak.
Legion's personalities spoke in turn to reply to this question.
"It's true that in practice we Eighth Guidance members were betrayed by them… We don't really resent them for it."
"We knew that Murakami, Kanako and the others would betray us from the beginning, after all! Things just turned out as we expected!"
"In fact, they were really helpful in luring you guys out so that we could kill you. We even owe them our thanks."
"I'm not happy that they took the bodies of Pluto and the others away, but it can't really be called resentment. That only happened after we all died, anyway."
"Grrrr."
"Eh? The fact that you don't resent us is so convenient, but it's so unexpected that I'm confused," said Kanako.
That was how much of a lack of resentment there was between Legion and Kanako's group.
"It's kind of problematic for you to be confused about it, but… Our final objective in our previous lives was just an elaborate suicide," explained Baba Yaga's voice. "In order to make sure we would have no more regrets, we prepared a stage, went wild to our hearts' content and agreed to meet again in our next lives. Kanako, you and Murakami helped us with that, so we don't resent you."
"I see," Melissa murmured, nodding in understanding.
But then, why are Legion's words towards us former Bravers so sharp? Tendou wondered.
Hitomi noticed the doubt on his face and began speaking. "Shouko… 'Ifrit,' 'Clairvoyance,' the Bravers also took advantage of my 'Gazer' ability that let me see into the future," she said. "It was my own weakness that caused me to start using drugs after that, though. Thanks to Kanako and the others getting me out of that hospital room, Pluto was able to treat me and I got to meet Jack."
"That's why Murakami and Kanako were like Cupid for Hitomi-chan and Jack!" said Jack. "Well, we won't forgive you if you try to kill Vandalieu, though!"
It seemed that Legion's favorable impression of Kanako's group was related to Hitomi and Jack's thoughts.
Incidentally, Vandalieu's attitude was a result of Legion's influence and the fact that he had simply disliked Asagi ever since his time on Earth.
"To add onto that, the reasons we killed each other were different," said Baba Yaga, addressing Asagi's group. "These guys tried to take advantage of us and kill us out of their own desires, but for you guys, it was for justice or something like that, right? Their desires happened to overlap with our desires, but your justice doesn't have anything in common with ours."
Asagi sighed, his shoulders dropping. "… If possible, I want to avoid fighting you guys to the death again. Alright, I'm going to leave now without saying anything more," he said. "See you later, Vandalieu."
With those words, he turned around and started walking away.
"That time when 'Death Scythe' tried to kill you, he was taking advantage of me. I had no intention of complying with him. I don't know if you'll believe me, but…" Tendou muttered. "About Asagi, I'll do my best to try and convince him to not get involved with you guys, so let us go this time."
Those were Tendou's parting words, and Shouko followed him in silence.
The mountain road had become quite dark, the three of them didn't notice Sleygar and Vandalieu's other allies trailing them.
A short while passed, and then Vandalieu spoke again.
"He just said, 'See you later,' didn't he? … I wonder if it would be bad for me to dispose of him now," he muttered.
"If you do that, won't it increase the risk of the Bravers who will be reincarnated here later feeling endangered and forming a group to stand against you?" said Enma.
In small numbers, reincarnated individuals with cheat-like abilities were not much of a problem, but it would be extremely problematic if they formed a large, trained fighting force. If Vandalieu eliminated Asagi here, it was possible that the other dozens of reincarnated individuals would overcome their personal differences and unite against him. He wanted to avoid that scenario.
It would be most convenient if they broke up as a result of their conflicts in Origin, and stayed that way.
"You're right… Now then, let's return to the topic of immigration," said Vandalieu, agreeing with Enma and redirecting his gaze to Kanako.
Kanako raised her hand enthusiastically. "About that, there is something that I would like to suggest! Though even I don't know why I would suggest this!" she said.
"What is it?" Vandalieu asked.
"I think you should turn us into members of Vida's races, like Vampires or something!"
Vandalieu blinked in surprise at this sudden suggestion.
"We never agreed to this, Kanako!" Melissa exclaimed.
"Oi, what is the meaning of this?!" Doug demanded.
It seemed that they didn't know anything about this suggestion.
"Because I never mentioned it. But I think it will be easier to trust us if he accepts this proposal. I've forgotten the details about it, though," Kanako said, giving the two of them an explanation that couldn't even be called an explanation, showing no signs of hesitation.
"That is surprising," said Vandalieu. "The truth is, I was going to suggest the same thing and make it one of the conditions of your immigration to Talosheim. You don't have to be a Vampire, though."
Melissa and Doug were shocked once more by Vandalieu's words.
"It's good that the discussions have gone smoothly," said Legion.
.
.
.
.
.
Kanako suggested to Vandalieu that her group be turned into members of Vida's races before they immigrated to Talosheim. In that moment, she did not have any ulterior motives – her instincts had told her that this was the right thing to do, and she had obeyed them and opened her mouth to speak.
But these words were a result of the past Kanako's cunning use of her power.
She had learned in Rodcorte's Divine Realm that she, Doug and Melissa belonged to his circle of transmigration system, and as long as this was true, Rodcorte and his familiar spirits would be able to observe them freely.
Of course, this was the single most troublesome problem Kanako and her companions faced considering that their goal was to join forces with Vandalieu. In fact, this fact was the reason for their blunder of being followed by Asagi's group.
In order to get out of this situation that was equivalent to having spy cameras and microphones attached to their own eyes and ears, they had no choice but to leave Rodcorte's circle of transmigration system.
The most reliable way to do this that Kanako could think of was to transform into a member of one of Vida's races and enter Vida's circle of transmigration system.
There was also the method of staying the same race and being guided by Vandalieu. But it was uncertain as to whether they would be guided right after meeting him, and Kanako couldn't imagine that he would expend long periods of time to guide them.
But once they left Rodcorte's Divine Realm and were reincarnated in Lambda, their memories of the circle of transmigration system would be erased. It was impossible for Kanako to leave a note for herself; she didn't even have a body, let alone any materials to work with.
That was why she had used Venus, the power that Rodcorte had granted to her.
She had explained Venus as an ability to charm others to most of the other reincarnated individuals, but it was actually an ability that let her copy and paste the memories and emotions of others, whether it was her own that she was pasting onto others, vice versa or from one target to another.
As a result of her hard work and experience, Kanako had succeeded in adding conditions in which the memories and emotions would awaken.
For example, she was able to set her power up beforehand so that memories would stay hidden until the target met a certain individual.
While she was in Rodcorte's Divine Realm, she had waited for a time when Rodcorte's attention wasn't focused on her and then found a time to set this up on herself. She had set herself to feel greatly attracted to the idea of becoming a member of one of Vida's races the moment she met Vandalieu.
And then she had used Venus to completely erase her own memories of doing so.
With that, she had believed that her memories would go undetected unless Rodcorte or Aran noticed Kanako and examined her in detail.
The reason she had only set Venus up to affect her emotions was that if she had tried to mix in memories of the circle of transmigration system, there was a possibility that the entire effect would be erased when she was reincarnated.
But hoping that she would later voice her desire to become a member of one of Vida's races had been a gamble.
The method of having memories or emotions awaken under certain conditions had a lower chance of succeeding as the quantity and complexity of the memories and emotions increased. Even if it did succeed, emotions were something that could not be quantified.
Depending on the circumstances at the time, even if the emotions did awaken, there was the possibility that she would not voice them.
But the Kanako of the past had believed that her future self would realize that this emotion had originated from Venus and gambled everything on it.
And now, the Kanako of the present had succeeded in this gamble spectacularly.
"Eh, in other words, we can become members of Vida's races, and you'll let us immigrate?!" she asked.
She had never expected that Vandalieu would request for her to become a member of Vida's races anyway.
"Wait, can you explain why we need to become members of Vida's races?" said Doug.
"It seems that Kanako can't explain the reason," said Melissa.
Vandalieu nodded and began his explanation. "The reason I am asking you to become members of Vida's races is so that there's no going back for you. In the Amid Empire and, unfortunately, even in several of the duchies of the Orbaume Kingdom, Vida's races have little freedom. Vampires, Majin, Kijin and Ghouls in particular are treated as monsters rather than people."
"I see… If we're turned into one of those races, then we'd be left with no choice but to do everything we can for your nation. That's kind of nasty," said Doug, his face stiffening.
"Doug! The nations that Vandalieu rules over are much larger and more pleasant than you think! I, Valkyrie, can guarantee you that you will have no feelings of being imprisoned!" said Valkyrie.
"I don't think that you'd lie, but… Nations?" Doug said, repeating the plural word.
Unaware that Vandalieu's influence extended beyond Talosheim, he seemed suspicious.
Vandalieu ignored him and continued. "There are other reasons, but… I'll tell you after you become members of Vida's races," he said. "So, what will you do? If you really will become members of Vida's races, I'll give you some simple guidance before it happens, and make sure you have various forms of support afterwards."
A change in race would mean a significant change in one's biology. If they became Vampires, they would be fine in sunlight if they became Abyssal Vampires, and their appearances would remain largely unchanged except for the color of their eyes changing and fangs growing.
But even then, they would have to drink blood for as long as they lived, and they would become vulnerable to anti-Vampire Artifacts like Nemesis Bell. And for ordinary people, having to live immortal lives with their age frozen at the age they became Vampires was nothing but a curse.
… And according to Eleanora and Miles who had once belonged to an evil god's faction, there were all sorts of problems associated with becoming a Vampire. Those becoming Vampires would have to manage interpersonal relationships with the Pure-breed or Noble-born Vampires that were their parents, as well as those with other Vampires. They would also need to endure being in a low social position in Vampire society.
If they became races other than Vampires, such as Majin, Kijin, Ghouls, Lamia or Arachne, their appearance would change as well.
Their lives would change significantly. It wasn't something that could be decided with half-hearted feelings.
"A Vampire, huh. Well, I don't think it would be all that bad, but…" Melissa said, trailing off.
"Yeah, it's a little…" Doug muttered.
Unlike Kanako, who had suggested this on her own, the other two seemed to be hesitant.
"I'm kind of reluctant to spend an eternity with the appearance of a teenage brat. We get looked down on often," said Doug.
"If I knew you were going to ask us to do this, I would have asked Rodcorte to give us more adult bodies," said Melissa.
Though their races were different – two Elves and one human – Kanako, Melissa and Doug had been reincarnated about a year ago in the bodies of children in their mid-teenage years. Thus, they still had rather young-looking appearances.
In many of Lambda's nations and regions, people were treated as adults from the age of fifteen. At this age, one would be free to not only join the Adventurers' Guild, but drink, gamble and enter the red-light districts of towns as well.
However, just as twenty-year-old people were still treated as inexperienced youngsters in modern Japanese society, fifteen-year-old people were treated the same way in Lambda.
It seemed that Doug had considered this treatment as "being looked down on."
As for Melissa, her sole concern was her appearance.
"… The problem is your looks, is it?" said Vandalieu, his shoulders dropping in exasperation.
"Well, it's impossible for them to realize right away that there are going to be effects on their minds. They can't help but think about their appearances and immortality first," said Hitomi in support of Kanako, Doug and Melissa.
"The Pure-breed Vampires of the evil god's faction apparently waited for Vampire candidates to mature to a certain extent before turning them into Vampires. Eleanora said so," said Jack.
"Hmm, I do get the feeling that our figures were better in our previous lives when we were in our early twenties than our current bodies… But it would take decades for Elves to mature that much, and our race is different this time, so there's no guarantee that we'll mature to have the same figure. We might last longer with our teenage appearances," said Kanako, perhaps influenced by Doug and Melissa's words.
"Vandalieu, how about I start explaining the plan B that we came up with beforehand?" said Enma.
"Plan B? Enma, you have a plan B?" asked Doug.
"Yeah. It's not actually a different choice; it's a measure we were going to take in the event that transforming you into members of Vida's races would take too long," said Enma. "The rituals to transform into members of Vida's races can take quite a while to prepare for, depending on the race. We came here right away after noticing your letter, so depending on the races you choose, you might be left waiting for a while."
On top of that, there would be problems for the races conducting the rituals as well.
If Kanako and her companions became members of Vida's races, someone from the races they chose would become their parents. For Vida's races, this carried more meaning than merely adopting a child, so they could not make any decisions on their own without the agreement of the races.
In the case of the former resistance organization leader, the 'Liberating Princess Knight' Iris Bearheart asking Godwin to transform her into a Majin, it had been an emergency situation, and she had been in an alliance with Vandalieu for over a year, which had allowed Vandalieu to vouch for her character.
Kanako and her companions had worked together in conducting illegal activities with Legion for several years in their previous lives, but…
They can't vouch for their character, Vandalieu thought.
People that Legion had formed a temporary alliance with to make use of each other were more trustworthy than 'Marionette' or 'Death Scythe,' but they could not be endorsed.
"In other words, we are moving forward with the assumption that we will undergo rituals to become members of Vida's races, but we will undergo Plan B in the meantime," said Kanako. "I understand. Let's go with this plan B."
Doug and Melissa nodded as well.
Vandalieu took three cloth bags from his pocket. "Let's spend several days living together. It's nothing difficult; you'll just spend several days listening to my words, eating my cooking and leveling with me in an isolated environment," said Vandalieu. "Now then, please wear these bags."
Kanako and her companions opened their eyes wide in surprise, but Vandalieu gestured for them to put the bags over their heads.
Afterwards, Kanako Tsuchiya would reflect on these events and say these words about them: "I already knew this, but he's a completely different person from when he was on Earth. Not just his appearance, but on the inside as well. If he was like this on Earth, everyone in our school would have remembered him."
With the cloth bags obscuring their vision, Kanako and her companions were taken to an unknown place by the Teleportation of Legion's Jack.
It was a grassland area somewhere with a clearly hastily-built hut, a well nearby and, for some reason, the entrance of a Dungeon.
Kanako and her companions spent about a week living here. Every day, Vandalieu would teleport here from somewhere and give them lectures about Vida's doctrine and history from the perspective of Vida's faction. They trained together in the Dungeon and ate Vandalieu's cooking.
"Vandalieu-Sensei, this is really plan B, right?" asked Doug. "We're just spending our days living a better lifestyle than we'd get in any town's inn and listening to simple lectures. We're fighting monsters that are unusually large in numbers, but aren't all that strong, and we get to eat delicious food."
The hut they were living in was like a prefabricated house from Earth or Origin, but it was hygienic and had bathing facilities, which automatically placed it above the average inn.
"I don't mean for it to be that luxurious for you, but this is really plan B," said Vandalieu. "Leaving that aside, please obediently drink this mysterious, special juice. I won't tell you its ingredients for now."
"… This juice? It's delicious, but why is it a black-red color?" asked Melissa.
"Doug, Melissa, who cares about our appearances?" said Kanako. "It's been so long since I had something sweet, and there are even deep-fried foods and miso soup! Ah, it really was worth betraying Murakami!"
"I have to say, the food is amazing. After spending over a year in this world, I truly realized how blessed we were on Earth and in Origin," said Doug as he took a bite out of a hamburger filled with demi-glace sauce.
Vandalieu was aware that in many of Lambda's nations and regions, the standard of living, including food, was worse than the previous two worlds that he had lived in. However, he seemed a little confused by Doug's words.
"Since you were reincarnated into adult bodies, weren't you able to come up with things to improve your quality of life, including your food?" Vandalieu asked. "And depending on your budget, you should be able to live as comfortably or even more comfortably than you did on Earth or in Origin. Though I don't know if there would be demi-glace sauce anywhere else."
Even in Lambda, as long as one had the money, they would be able to live in a large mansion with excellent servants, using Magic Items in place of electrical appliances.
This was especially true when it came to food. It was true that there were many foods, flavors and dishes that didn't exist here, but monsters made for high-class ingredients, and dishes made using their materials were first-rate delicacies that could not be eaten in either of the other two worlds.
There was a saying that money opens all doors; even in this world, most problems could be solved with money.
But Kanako, Doug and Melissa were all wearing complicated expressions in response to Vandalieu's words.
"Well, I guess that's true. If we had money, that is," said Doug.
"We couldn't really come up with much, either," said Melissa.
"In our situation, we couldn't really do anything that would make us stand out too much," said Kanako.
The three of them had left Murakami's group, who were after Vandalieu's life. That was why they had been careful to limit the number of requests they accepted and the amount of monster materials they sold in order to not reach the higher classes in the Adventurers' Guild, which would have attracted attention to them.
They had been changing Jobs by moving from town to town, so their abilities were equivalent to those of A-class adventurers, but officially in the Guild, they were D-class.
"D-class adventurers are the most common class of adventurers, and it's easy to be hired as escorts for merchants that travel between towns," said Doug. "At my age, it's a little early to be a D-class adventurer, but it's not like there's none of my age around."
"But our income was as you could imagine," said Melissa. "We could have hunted delicious monsters ourselves, but… it would be conspicuous for three young D-class adventurers to be seen going in and out of large Devil's Nests and high-difficulty Dungeons. Well, the best we could do was Orcs and Impaler Bulls."
"And we were moving from town to town in short intervals, so we couldn't really get anything set up," said Kanako.
The three of them possessed the necessary knowledge and skills to make their own lives comfortable. They had been ordinary students on Earth, but in Origin, they had received training and later committed illegal activities with the Eighth Guidance.
But it had been difficult for them to make use of their knowledge and skills with limited money while also being on the move.
"Even if we wanted to make mayonnaise, we could get vinegar and oil, but fresh eggs are expensive. And if someone happened to see what we made and rumors of it spread, it could give away our location to Murakami… and there are apparently still dangerous guys called Bellwood fundamentalists around," Kanako added.
"Bellwood fundamentalists?" Vandalieu repeated, having heard this term for the first time.
"I don't know much about them either," Kanako said. "They're a branch of Alda's extremist faction, and they apparently see it as their duty to punish those who make use of the things left behind by the fallen hero Zakkart. In other words, they're guys who go around killing people who use knowledge and technology that originated in the champions' world. Of course, according to history, they don't exist anymore because they were declared heretics and purged by the Church of Alda."
"Why is that?" Vandalieu asked.
"Apparently, their activities became too extreme. They did things like burning down entire villages for cultivating rice, assassinating the lords of regions where things that seemed like the champions' relics were discovered, and killing craftsmen, their apprentices and their families for inventing convenient tools that didn't use magic."
"… So, they're mad dogs. That last one doesn't seem to even have anything to do with the knowledge and technology from the champions' world," Vandalieu muttered, despite the fact that these were all events that had happened in the past.
From what Kanako said, the Bellwood fundamentalists hadn't even investigated whether they were related to Zakkart's relics. They had simply been hindering this world's independent progress.
Vandalieu analyzed this information calmly. It was unlikely that these Bellwood fundamentalists had not possessed accurate knowledge regarding Zakkart's relics – in other words, the knowledge and technology from his world. Even so, they had begun their activities based on the knowledge that had been passed down to them, and as the generations passed, their activities had become more and more extreme until they were out of control.
"Even the Church of Alda thought that they were going too far. The leading members at the time were arrested, branded as heretics and purged," said Kanako. "The gods should probably have sent Divine Messages or whatever to stop them before it got to that point, though."
"I don't intend to defend Alda, but it's possible that his voice will not reach those who have separated from his original religion," said Vandalieu. "Leaving that aside, are there no more of those Bellwood fundamentalists around now?"
"As an organization, they were erased tens of thousands of years ago, but it's said that there might be some around today," said Kanako. "They're treated like evil fairies in folk tales that come to kidnap children."
It seemed that their existence had not been confirmed in the present age. Before Vandalieu could ask why Kanako and her companions had been so worried about Bellwood fundamentalists if this was the case, Melissa began speaking.
"We were moving with the objective of immigrating to your nation. We were being wary just in case, but our lives in the Orbaume Kingdom were temporary, so we weren't concerned enough to investigate whether they really exist," she said.
"That's why we just endured it for the time being," said Doug. "If we were unable to come to your nation or decided to live in the Orbaume Kingdom from the beginning, I think we would have investigated properly."
That was how it was. Asagi and Murakami might investigate in more detail, but… Vandalieu would already be wary of them just because they were believers of gods belonging to Alda's faction, so there was likely little point in investigating them now.
As they continued this lifestyle and having idle conversations such as this one, Kanako, Doug and Melissa experienced the strange phenomenon of their Attribute Values suddenly increasing sharply.
"W-what is this?! I'm overflowing with power… Is this my hidden talent?!" Doug exclaimed.
"Fufufu, it seems that we have awakened something," said Kanako.
"I don't think that's the case. I think this is probably the effect of plan B," said Melissa.
"Yes, you have simply been guided by me," said Vandalieu.
This was plan B. It was a plan to live together and guide them – a deliberate version of the way he had guided the people he had met outside the Boundary Mountain Range.
The increase in Attribute Values was the effect of Guidance: Dark Demon Creation Path.
But Kanako and her companions were Elves and a human, and they did not have any desire to die, so they were unaffected by Dark Demon Creation Path Enticement. Furthermore, Vandalieu hadn't been able to think of any methods that would absolutely certain to guide them, so he had simply spent time doing guidance-like things with them and fed them the Blood Potion that was made from his blood, disguising it as juice.
"I see… So that's why you were standing behind us in Dungeons, just giving us orders," said Doug.
"No, that was just to avoid showing you how I fight, just in case," said Vandalieu.
"Ah, right."
"Now then, please cheer up and check your Statuses. Has Rodcorte's divine protection and fortune disappeared?" Vandalieu asked.
Vandalieu and Legion's Hitomi had guessed that Rodcorte's divine protection and fortune was something that every reincarnated individual other than Vandalieu possessed from the time that they were in Origin.
However, despite Hitomi being a reincarnated individual, Rodcorte's divine protection and fortune were not displayed on Legion's Status.
From this fact, Vandalieu and Legion had hypothesized that Rodcorte's divine protection and fortune would stop being displayed once reincarnated individuals left Rodcorte's influence.
With this in mind, Vandalieu had spent about a week seeing if he could guide Kanako and her companions.
"Status… Ah, it's gone," said Melissa.
"Me too," said Doug. "Target Radar is gone as well. But Hecatoncheir is still there."
"My Venus is still there, too. That's convenient, so it's fine," said Kanako.
The three of them had lost their divine protections, fortunes and even Target Radar, which apparently was a Unique Skill that detected sources of over 100,000,000 death-attribute Mana.
"With this, you can accept our… immigration… is it just me, or are you glowing…?" said Doug.
"He is. I'm glad it's not just me," said Melissa.
"Doug, Melissa, that's just a temporary symptom. You'll get used to it soon," Vandalieu told them.
It seemed that they sensed charisma from Vandalieu as a result of the guidance's effects.
"I never noticed because you've been expressionless up until now, but… you're quite a handsome boy, aren't you?" said Kanako.
"… The person in front of you was a person who blended into the background on Earth, someone who has lived for the same amount of time as you. Please return to your senses, former-idol-san," said Vandalieu.
Just as Kanako seemed to be on the verge of losing her mind, there was a loud crash as the door to the house was kicked down.
In came Eleanora, defusing the situation. "Newcomers! You've had Vandalieu-sama to yourself for a whole week, so you'll have to endure it from now on! Losing your mind over him is inexcusable!" she declared.
The truth was, the grasslands that this house was built on were actually inside an experimental Dungeon built inside Vandalieu's underground workshop. He had reused this Dungeon, which he had used to test whether he could use Dungeons for other purposes such as providing living space and amusement, and whether he could designate certain floors to not spawn any monsters.
The nearby Dungeon entrance that Kanako and the others had been training in was actually the stairs to the Dungeon's next floor, disguised as a Dungeon entrance.
Indeed, Kanako and her companions had already immigrated to Talosheim.
Now that Kanako and her companions were separated from Rodcorte's influence by Vandalieu's guidance, they gave him all of the information they knew regarding the other reincarnated individuals, and then they received some real guidance on how to become a citizen of Talosheim… lectures on things like the law and how to interact with Undead and members of other races. After that, they were assigned to Legion as subordinates until their rituals to transform into members of Vida's races.
"I understand that part of the reason is so that you can keep an eye on us, but… you never explained. What kind of state are you guys in?" Doug asked suspiciously.
As usual, Legion was still wearing a robe with a hood pulled low over their eyes.
"Your presence is always strange, and we can hear multiple voices at once… Can we ask you to tell us?" said Kanako.
"I suppose so, since you're going to become our subordinates, after all."
"It's uncomfortable for us to stay in this form all the time, too!"
"Now that we're in this form, it's bothersome to have to imitate the movements of humans with skeletons."
"Now then, we'll show you our true form. Remember the creatures from horror movies and games in Origin and keep a hold of yourself. If you can't, then just give up."
"Vandalieu is watching over you from the shadows just in case, so rest assured. I'm sure he'll be able to treat you with all kinds of medicines."
As each of Legion's personalities spoke in turn, the faces of Kanako and her companions grew paler and paler. Melissa turned around to see that Vandalieu really was watching them from the shadows, and her face turned completely white.
Because this meant that something was about to happen to them that required Vandalieu to watch over them.
"I'll let you know, we won't be concerned if you're scared of us and start screaming."
"No, I've started to get the feeling that we should stop –" Doug began, his voice tightening.
But his words were interrupted by a creaking, echoing, expanding noise followed by multiple screams.
But surprisingly, Kanako quickly recovered from the shock and even Doug and Melissa did not require Vandalieu's treatment such as counseling through the Mental Encroachment Skill and the administration of his secreted drugs.
And so, Vandalieu devoted his time to Kanako's group for a while, but the situation was changing in various ways.
When he visited the spot where he regularly met with the Storm of Tyranny, there was a message that there were omens of political changes in the Amid Empire.
Alda, the god of law and fate, was intervening in human society in a way that he had never done before in history. Considering the timing of this, it could only be concluded that this intervention was in response to Vandalieu and his allies.
However, there hadn't been any visible signs, like the emperor abdicating.
As for what Vandalieu was doing in the meantime, he was spending the new year's winter looking for a ship in the ocean.
"I'm doing something that would even please Alda's religion. Exterminating the evil gods that are the remnants of the Demon King's army and the Pure-breed Vampires would be a great thing for them, right?" he said.
"But you wouldn't be happy being praised by important Alda religion people, would you?" said the seven-year-old Pauvina, who was about ten years old in human years – now looking older than Vandalieu even if one ignored her enormous size.
"Well, you're right about that."
Vandalieu and Pauvina's faces were protruding from the Nightmare Lord Carriage Sam as they looked at the view outside.
"Oh my, the sea is warm even during the winter," Sam remarked.
"That's because the sea inside the Boundary Mountain Range is at the southern end of the Bahn Gaia continent," said Vandalieu.
"Your Majesty, doesn't that ship look good? The bow's decoration looks impressive," said Princess Levia.
"… Princess Levia, unfortunately, that ship seems to only have the front half intact," said Luciliano.
On a reef in the southern sea that white waves were crashing on, there was a ship's wreckage covered in barnacles and shellfish. The sailors were all screaming Undead.
"Hmm, but just about every shipwreck is in more or less the same state," said Vandalieu. "If we see a shipwreck of about the same size with the back half intact, I'll just turn them both into an Undead and stick them together."
Vandalieu and his companions were searching for a boat to get to the Demon Continent, using the rough sea chart that the Storm of Tyranny had left in their message.