Naturally, Rodcorte and his familiar spirits, the 'Calculation' Machida Aran, the 'Inspector' Shimada Izumi and the 'Oracle' Endou Kouya were watching the situation unfold as Asagi and Kanako's groups conversed with Vandalieu.
With that said, Rodcorte's expectations were different from those of his familiar spirits.
Rodcorte had expected negotiations to break down, battle to break out and Asagi… perhaps not defeating Vandalieu, as that was unlikely, but at least being of use in gathering more information.
His familiar spirits, on the other hand, were afraid of a battle taking place. They didn't care about what happened to Kanako's group, but they wanted to avoid the souls of Asagi's group being destroyed.
"Shouldn't we tell him to not get involved with Vandalieu anymore?" said Kouya.
"Kouya, do you really think Asagi will listen to that warning?" said Aran.
"… That'd never happen."
The existence of Asagi, a passionate man with a sense of companionship and a strong sense of self-righteousness, had been very helpful in uniting the Bravers in Origin. There were many among the reincarnated individuals, who had concealed their true identities as they lived in an environment that was different from Earth, who had been saved by the fact that Asagi had interacted with them in the same way as he had on Earth.
… Though there had been some, like Murakami, Kanako and Minuma Hitomi, who hadn't gotten along with him.
The familiar spirits were certain that Vandalieu was the type who wouldn't get along with Asagi as well.
They had looked at the memories of their former classmates who had been fortunate enough to survive the ferry sinking, and within them, there were memories of Asagi talking to Vandalieu.
It seemed that Asagi hadn't realized this, but Vandalieu's eyes had been clearly dead back then.
"It might even be better for him to be guided by Vandalieu. Not that I think that would happen," Izumi sighed. "It definitely wouldn't," she muttered, denying the possibility completely.
They knew from the precedent of the 'Perseus' Samejima Yuri… Sarua Legston, that reincarnated individuals being guided by Vandalieu took a considerable length of time. They wouldn't be guided just by talking to him a little.
It was very doubtful that the strong-willed Asagi would even be guided by Vandalieu in the first place. It was hard to imagine that Vandalieu would proactively attempt to guide him.
As the familiar spirits watched, their stomachs painful with nervousness despite the fact that they had no physical bodies, Asagi quietly left the scene with Shouko and Tendou following after him.
"How unexpected… I imagined that a battle would develop," Rodcorte whispered.
The familiar spirits heard him, but they were in agreement. The Asagi of the past that they knew would have continued to stubbornly oppose Vandalieu, eventually causing Vandalieu to reach the limits of his patience.
Incidentally, neither Rodcorte nor his familiar spirits had expected Vandalieu to accept Asagi's request.
"I hope that he rethinks his opinion on Vandalieu now, but…" Aran muttered.
Rodcorte and his familiar spirits could browse through everything Asagi had seen and heard as records.
But they could only try to predict what he would think and try to do in the future.
In any case, he would be fine for a while now that he had placed some distance between himself and the regions that were under Vandalieu's influence.
"It might have been for the best that we didn't tell him about Legion… about Hitomi," said Izumi.
"Yeah. If he knew about the Eighth Guidance and Hitomi's current state, he would definitely lose his cool," Aran agreed.
If Asagi found out that they were no longer people but an enormous, mysterious, spherical life form made of flesh mannequins entwined around each other, he would have certainly become enraged. He would have told Vandalieu that turning humans into such a monster was something that could not be forgiven.
He would have become enraged and likely taken his anger out on Vandalieu.
"I don't know exactly how they ended up like that, but Vandalieu probably didn't make them like that on purpose, and from what we saw, they don't seem to be unhappy about it," said Kouya.
"It's probably Rodcorte's fault. Of course, Vandalieu does things like joining corpses together to make Undead, so I don't think it can be helped that he's misunderstood," said Izumi.
The two of them were in agreement that they should continue to keep this hidden from Asagi. Their interest was shifting away from Kanako's group, who were still with Vandalieu.
Unlike Asagi's group that were trying to stop Vandalieu, Rodcorte also had no interest in Kanako's group who were trying to curry favor with Vandalieu.
It was likely that they would fail, but even if they were killed and their souls were broken, they were reincarnated individuals whose next lives had not been determined, so the circle of transmigration would suffer minimal damage.
If they did succeed, Rodcorte thought that he could likely still use them to gather information for a short while, but they would likely be guided by Vandalieu eventually.
That was why he was surprised when he heard Kanako's next words.
"I think you should turn us into members of Vida's races, like Vampires or something!"
"What?" Rodcorte turned towards Kanako's group in surprise. "Impossible, the knowledge regarding the circle of transmigration should have been erased when she was reincarnated in Lambda… How does she know that they are certain to be moved to Vida's circle of transmigration system if they become members of Vida's races? Could it be… Did she use the power I gave her?"
After the 'Death Scythe' Konoe Miyaji was destroyed, Rodcorte had allowed the other reincarnated individuals to use their abilities freely inside this Divine Realm.
Whether the abilities could be used effectively inside the Divine Realm depended on the ability, but he had thought that the reincarnated individuals would be in a more similar state to when they were alive if they could use their abilities, allowing them to gather their thoughts more clearly.
He had thought that Kanako's Venus would be particularly useful, as it allowed her to manipulate memories and emotions.
Since they had no bodies, they would not be able to try and kill each other even if something went wrong, and no problems would occur if he kept watch over them. That was what Rodcorte had thought, but…
"That's right, I was monitoring the use of their abilities. Then the only possibility is…" Rodcorte cast his gaze towards his familiar spirits, realizing that he had been too reliant on his attentiveness.
But his familiar spirits were surprised by Kanako's words as well.
"If you think it's because we told Kanako's group that it would be easier to be accepted by Vandalieu if they became members of Vida's races, you're wrong," said Aran.
"We're your familiar spirits; there's no way we'd be able to send a Divine Message without you knowing, right?" said Izumi.
"We don't even have any reason to tell them to begin with. They betrayed us, and we haven't forgiven them. It's true that they've left Murakami, but that doesn't mean they're regretting what they did," said Kouya.
Perhaps convinced particularly by Kouya's words, Rodcorte turned his attention back to Kanako.
"Which means that it is merely a coincidence? Vandalieu leads Vida's races, so she happened to think that it would be best for them to become members of Vida's races as well?" Rodcorte murmured. "Or perhaps… did she somehow outwit me?"
Rodcorte focused on searching Kanako's records for the reason she had voiced a desire for her group to become members of Vida's races.
His familiar spirits watched him quietly, feeling shaken.
Rodcorte truly could not be trusted… After finding out that Rodcorte was a god who was willing to abandon the reincarnated individuals and the entire world out of fear for his own existence, they had been trying to think of ways to outwit him.
But before they were able to do so, Kanako had outwitted Rodcorte first. This fact caused the familiar spirits to feel both shock and a sense of defeat.
Aran's shoulders dropped. "We were in charge of the brain work for the Bravers, but… What's wrong, Izumi?" he asked, seeing that Izumi was looking in an odd direction.
"No, it's just that I got the feeling that we're being watched… It was only for a moment, but I think I saw something…?" she whispered.
"You saw something? What was it?"
"It looked like a pair of eyes. Not a person's, but a beast's."
"You're not just imagining things, huh. You should be able to figure it out with your Inspector power."
"Yes, that's why I'm certain I saw something that looked like a pair of eyes, but… Whatever. Let's not think about this. Speaking of it is forbidden, of course, and we should forget about it as quickly as possible… until something happens," Izumi said, knowing that Rodcorte could read their thoughts.
Aran and Kouya nodded.
However, the familiar spirits knew that Rodcorte was not constantly monitoring their thoughts with all of his attention.
It was as if their thoughts were being seen by a single surveillance camera, and Rodcorte was sitting in a guard office, looking at the footage from a countless number of surveillance cameras. With this, Rodcorte could indeed monitor their thoughts.
However, while Rodcorte was focused on something else, his focus on their thoughts would slip… perhaps.
In any case, the three of them decided not to let Rodcorte know about the 'something that resembled a beast's eyes' that Izumi had seen for a moment until something further happened.
Around the time when Kanako's group was living inside Vandalieu's experimental Dungeon, Asagi's group returned to the Sauron Duchy's capital city from the border of the former Scylla territory.
They paid for rooms at a middle-class inn and gathered to sit inside one of them.
"Now that we've come this far, there won't be anyone tailing us. Right, Tendou?" said Asagi.
"Yeah. I'm not completely certain, though," said Tendou.
With his Clairvoyance ability, he had noticed that they were being followed. That was why they had returned to this city where people's eyes were watching as quickly as possible.
They hadn't dared to even think about trying to shake off or fight the ones tailing them. Through experience, they had learned that unlike in Origin, there were beings in this world that they could not compete against.
Of course, it wasn't as if Asagi, Shouko and Tendou had been unrivaled in Origin. But their enemies had been armies equipped with modern weapons, or multi-millionaires or corrupt politicians who used such armies as their pawns. Their enemies had not been individually strong.
But in Lambda, there were individuals who could overwhelm Asagi's group armed with what they would consider primitive weapons.
Asagi believed that the 'head-hunting demon' was one of them.
"It's someone that even Tendou's Clairvoyance couldn't see directly; I never even noticed them. It wasn't even detected by Shouko's thermal sensing. This world is filled with monsters," Asagi muttered.
"Asagi, I'm sure my thermal sensing couldn't detect the head-hunting demon because it's almost certainly an Undead," Shouko pointed out.
"I'm taking that into account when I say this world is full of monsters," said Asagi, and then he gave a sigh.
He had experienced numerous defeats since being reincarnated in this world.
The first was when he had tried to stop an argument between failed adventurers who had become petty criminals. Asagi had been far superior than them in terms of strength, but the criminals landed clean hits with Unarmed Fighting Technique martial skills.
The second defeat was in a battle against a Lich, an Undead mage. When he used 'Mage Masher' to seal the Lich's elemental magic, he had been defeated by the Lich's no-attribute spell, Mana Bullet.
He had let down his guard because although he possessed the knowledge regarding martial skills and no-attribute magic, he hadn't experienced them before.
But because of these defeats, Asagi had become more careful than he had been in his previous life. That was the reason he hadn't asked Vandalieu to stop breaking souls.
Asagi had begun feeling that he needed to stop Vandalieu when he saw Vandalieu destroying the soul of 'Death Scythe.'
Though he had been concerned about the significant damage that it caused to the circle of transmigration system, he had felt a sense of repulsion towards the act of destroying souls, something that surpassed murder.
Vandalieu didn't only kill people, but he destroyed their souls. Asagi hadn't known what punishment that deserved, or why that should be forgiven.
So then, why had he not voiced these thoughts and instead asked Vandalieu to stop using death-attribute magic? Asagi had believed that even if Vandalieu were to agree to stop breaking souls, he would think of a loophole to capture souls instead.
Sealing souls away without breaking them, destroying only one part of souls such as the memories or personalities, splitting souls apart and imprisoning only one part of them.
Asagi didn't have an exact understanding of a soul's structure, whether a soul would be fine after having only one part destroyed, or whether it was possible to split them.
Rodcorte had told the reincarnated individuals that their souls would return to his Divine Realm immediately after their deaths instead of wandering about the world or turning into Undead.
But not much time had passed since Asagi received the familiar spirits' message of "Don't evertrust Rodcorte."
And since Vandalieu had destroyed the 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata's soul, that meant that he at least had enough time to destroy the soul before it returned. If he had enough time to do that, then it was possible that he would have time to do other things to the soul as well.
That was why Asagi had asked Vandalieu to stop using death-attribute magic altogether rather than asking him to stop breaking souls.
Vandalieu's ability to destroy souls was clearly related to the death attribute. Thus, if Vandalieu became unable to use the death attribute, he would become unable to destroy souls.
Of course, he did also truly believe that desecrating the dignity of the dead and toying with them was unforgivable.
"Still… I wanted to ask if 'Perseus'… Samejima is safe," said Asagi.
"It can't be helped," said Tendou. "There's no way we could know about Sarua Legston. If we spoke his name there, it would become clear that he's a reincarnated individual and it could even put him in danger."
Asagi's group had been told by the familiar spirits that Sarua Legston was 'Perseus,' and he was currently living in Talosheim with his family.
But there was no telling what Vandalieu would do if he were to learn of this, so Asagi's group had been unable to confirm whether 'Perseus' was safe.
"So, what are we going to do now? If you're going to tell me that you're going to join up with Murakami's group to stop Vandalieu, I'm out," said Tendou.
"Tendou, there's no way I'd think of doing something like that. I'd always have to be watching my back if I joined up with those guys," said Asagi.
Tendou hadn't even needed to mention it – joining up and working with Murakami's group, who were still after Vandalieu's life, was out of the question. Like Kanako's group, they couldn't be trusted.
"I don't even want to fight Vandalieu in the first place. I just want to stop his mistakes," said Asagi. "In order to do that, I think we need to think of a way to make him relinquish the death attribute. A method that doesn't need Rodcorte's power."
"A method that doesn't need Rodcorte's power, you say… You mentioned that when we were talking with Vandalieu, but is there really such a way? I don't think there is," said Shouko.
"There are probably Magic Items that seal magic away to be unusable in this world, just like there were in Origin, but using those is definitely impossible. His Mana is on a completely different scale," said Tendou.
"There should be one," Asagi said forcefully in response to these negative opinions. "Of course, there's a reason that I believe that. Do you two remember this world's mythology? The part where the Demon King Guduranis was sealed away. From what I've heard of this world's mythology, the Demon King Guduranis's power was strikingly similar to death-attribute magic. With that being the case, if we used the method that was used to seal the Demon King away, it might be possible to seal away the death attribute of Vandalieu and the Eighth Guidance."
"That's… certainly possible. At the very least, that's true for sealing away the Demon King's fragments," said Tendou in surprise, nodding in agreement to Asagi's words.
Vandalieu had actually absorbed the Demon King's fragments and was using them as if they were a part of his own body.
If this made him equivalent to the Demon King, then it was possible that the sealing method that had worked on the Demon King would work on Vandalieu as well.
But it seemed that Shouko was still skeptical. "That's true, but Vandalieu undid those seals, didn't he?" she pointed out. "And you don't intend to defeat him, right? How are you going to split him into pieces and seal him away?"
"That's true, but I don't intend to use the same method to seal away Vandalieu and the Eighth Guidance. I'm thinking that it might be possible to investigate the method used to seal the Demon King away, then apply it to seal away just their death attribute," said Asagi. "And if the method used to seal the Demon King away can be applied like this, we'll share that method with the Mages' Guild and the other nations."
"Wait a second, why does that lead to sharing the method with other nations?!" Tendou asked in surprise.
"To make sure that what happened in Origin isn't repeated in this world," Asagi replied. "Even if we're able to seal away Vandalieu's death attribute, if powerful figures learn of the death attribute's existence, they'll definitely try to acquire it for themselves. We need to spread a method that stops the death attribute in order to prevent that."
In Origin, even after the death of Vandalieu, the sole user of death attribute magic, every nation had continued research into the death attribute in the shadows.
That was how useful the death attribute was. In fact, Vandalieu had risen to the top of an entire nation with the death attribute's power.
That was why Asagi believed that a way to seal away the death attribute needed to be spread to every nation in order to prevent a race to research the death attribute in this world.
After that, once the religious figures of this world declared the death attribute as a forbidden power, things might not be perfect, but they would work out. Religion held far more power in this world than in Origin.
"… Now that you mention it, doing that sounds like it will be helpful for when that Rikudou bastard is reincarnated here," said Shouko, nodding. "Not that I think he can complete his death attribute research."
Rikudou, who should still be alive in Origin, was a man in the upper ranks of the Bravers who had secretly continued research into the death attribute and pulled the strings behind Murakami's group.
"Yeah…" Tendou hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I don't know if we can really do it, but let's try," he said.
He feared Vandalieu, but the possibility of finding a way to stop the death attribute sounded very attractive to him.
He had not forgotten that he had the choice of leaving the continent and cutting all ties, like Mao had done. But what Tendou had seen of Vandalieu's power was too great for him to make that choice.
Even if he left the Bahn Gaia continent, would he really be able to escape Vandalieu? As long as he lived in this world, wouldn't he have to continue living in the fear that Vandalieu might change his mind and come to kill him?
For Tendou, who began feeling this fear and uneasiness, Asagi's suggestion looked like a bright hope.
"Alright, now that you've agreed to this, let's go with this plan," said Asagi. "Though I say that, it's not like we have any clues to go on… Well, I suppose we should look at some historical ruins… though we might not be able to spend too much time doing this."
Asagi had a bad feeling about this. Vandalieu had said that he was the ruler of a nation; if he continued expanding his influence, wouldn't there one day be a great war with the Amid Empire or Orbaume Kingdom that engulfed the entire continent?
We have to find a way to stop the death attribute to stop that from happening. And if he finds out that the other nations have a way to stop the death attribute, he might be more careful, Asagi thought. At the very least, peace can be maintained if he retreats from the Sauron Duchy and holes himself up in the mountain range.
The truth was, the forces of Alda, the god of law and fate, had already begun to move. Even if Vandalieu were to stay quiet inside the Boundary Mountain Range, it was possible that a war involving the entire world would break out, but… Asagi was oblivious to this.
Around the time Vandalieu was searching the ocean for a ship, Amemiya Hiroto was spending one of his days off inside his own home.
Over a year had passed since the battle against the Eighth Guidance and the disaster at the national department of defense. The world situation was changing in significant ways.
Relations between the nations that had sent special forces troops to the Eighth Guidance's base and the Bravers had deteriorated, and although they seemed to be repaired on the surface, the truth was that they were still strained.
The federal state's president had resigned, leading to a general election. Even now, the nation was still under pressure to change political administrations and rebuild the department of defense.
In the United Nations, there had been a movement to form a treaty that banned the research of death-attribute magic in all member nations. Hiroto had worked towards the signing of the treaty as well, but a certain individual's opposition had prevented it from being signed, and the treaty had been discarded in the end.
"Mom, is Oji-san still not here yet?" said Hiroto's eldest son, Hiroshi.
Amemiya Narumi, whose surname had changed after her marriage with Hiroto, smiled at their son. "You love your Oji-san, don't you, Hiroshi?"
"You don't have to worry. He'll be here soon. He should have today off as well," Hiroto told his son.
"But Dad, it's been so long since we saw Oji-san. You haven't seen him for a while either, right?" said Hiroshi.
Hiroto was shaken by these words. "That's… right. Yeah, I haven't met him in private for a while."
He had quickly suppressed his discomposure so that it wouldn't show in his facial expression, but it seemed that Narumi had noticed it.
In the next moment, the intercom notified the family of a visitor.
The oji-san who had not visited the Amemiya family in a long time… The 'Avalon' Rikudou Hijiri, smiled calmly. "I suppose it would be strange to say, 'long time no see.' We see each other at work, and both of us deal with the media pretty often," he said.
"… Yeah," said Hiroto.
"But I want you to understand. I put a lot of thought into opposing that treaty to ban research into the death attribute."
The one who had opposed the treaty was none other than Rikudou himself, who was currently an important figure even among the upper ranks of the Bravers.
Now that Minami Asagi and Endou Kouya were dead, Rikudou was the one whom Hiroto had trusted the most, so his opposition of the treaty had been devastating. But now, he did understand Rikudou's point as well.
"Banning research only in the nations that are a part of the UN is meaningless. Not only that, but in order to prepare ways to stop the other nations and large-scale criminal organizations from researching the death attribute, you had to object. That's your reason, right?" Hiroto said.
"And we're just people from a single organization. We're not politicians or leaders of nations. The United Nations rejected the treaty through a vote, so the result couldn't have been changed whether we agreed with the treaty or not," said Narumi. "It's nothing that you two should be blaming yourselves for."
"I'm glad you understand," Rikudou said, smiling.
But the truth was different. Rikudou Hijiri was researching the death attribute himself in secret, and he had simply opposed the treaty because it would hinder his own research.
He had important figures and rich people from every nation, as well as a number of the reincarnated individuals, under his command. It would have been inconvenient for research into the death attribute to be banned in the main nation that it was being carried out in.
If the treaty had been signed, the trade, import and export of experimental drugs, medicines, Magic Items and analysis machinery that could be used in death attribute research would have come under strict monitoring. If Rikudou's plans were uncovered as a result, everything would go to waste.
It's fortunate for me that Minami, Endou and Tendou are gone. Things are much easier thanks to that. It seems that destiny loves me, Rikudou thought.
Unaware that Asagi had been reincarnated in another world and Kouya was still glaring at him bitterly from Rodcorte's Divine Realm, Rikudou believed that he was a special being.
"Let's leave the difficult conversation at that. Narumi, I know it's late, but here's a baby gift," said Rikudou, handing her a beautifully wrapped box.
"Thank you," said Narumi, smiling as she took the box.
Hiroto relaxed his shoulders and began to talk to Rikudou like he did before, as a friend.
"Oji-san, where's mine?!" Hiroshi demanded.
"Hey, Hiroshi! Don't say such rude things!" said Narumi, scolding her son.
"Hiroshi-kun, yours is here," said Rikudou, taking out a small pouch.
"Thanks!" Hiroshi said, taking the pouch and running off.
"Wait, thank him properly before you open it!" Narumi shouted, going off to chase after him.
"I'm sorry he's grown to be such a rascal," Hiroto said apologetically.
"Hah, it's just good that he's healthy. But it seems that he doesn't resemble you, nor the one he got his name from," said Rikudou.
TLN: The kanji for Hiroshi's name is the same kanji as the first kanji in Vandalieu's given Japanese name (Hiroto).
"… Yeah, that seems to be the case. I never met him, the one whose name was similar to mine, so I don't really know much about him," said Hiroto, thinking of Amamiya Hiroto, whom he had never met… or rather, had been unable to meet until Amamiya turned into an Undead.
"The truth is, I don't remember him much either," said Rikudou.
As he said, he didn't remember Amamiya Hiroto, but he pretended to remember him nonetheless. But what he was really thinking about was how tiring it was to keep up this act in order to deceive Hiroto and the others, maintaining their current relationship.
If I left everything to my puppet 'Metamorph,' I'd forget how to keep up my act as Amemiya's "virtuous close friend," after all.
Continuing with the act, Rikudou changed the subject. "Come to think of it, you said that your second child is a daughter. I heard that her name is Mei… Is it…?"
"Yeah, I couldn't name her 'Pluto,' so I changed it to a Japanese name," said Hiroto.
TLN: The kanji for "Mei" means "dark," and it's also the first kanji of the Japanese word for the planet Pluto.
"I see… The Eighth Guidance still has a lot of fans, including Pluto and Baba Yaga. You should be wary of the people around you," Rikudou warned him. "By the way, has she already gone through her attribute examination?"
In Origin, where both science and magic existed, it was important to learn what attributes one's own children had an affinity for. Thus, in developed nations, it was normal for young children to have their Mana's properties to be examined.
"No, she's not even a year old, so she hasn't had her examination yet. If they're too young, the Mana is often too weak and the machines can't tell what attribute they are," said Hiroto.
"Now that you mention it, you're right. In this country… if I recall, the examination is done at the age of three and over, right?"
Even if she shares a name with Pluto, there is no way that she has qualities for the death attribute. Maybe I'm overthinking things, Rikudou thought.
At that moment, inside a cot in another room, Mei's eyelids suddenly opened.
"…"
Her eyes were entirely a pitch-black color, including the parts that were supposed to be white. But she blinked, and her eyes returned to a normal color.
And then she closed her eyelids and went back to sleep.
There was not a single being watching this small but bizarre phenomenon, not even the gods.
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Kanako, Melissa and Doug had been assigned to Legion as subordinates, but the work that they had been given was no ordinary work.
"First of all, you're to be constantly under our surveillance," said Minuma Hitomi, the reincarnated individual who was one of Legion's personalities.
"… Hitomi, I think you're being too straightforward," said the 'Aegis' Melissa, her mouth twitching a little.
It seemed that Legion had no intention of concealing the fact that their job was to supervise Kanako and her companions rather than act as their boss.
It seemed that she was still not completely accustomed to the sight of countless, pink, human-shaped objects twisted together to form a sphere… or perhaps it could be described as an enormous ball of flesh with human upper body halves and lower body halves hanging out of it in random places.
"You say that our work is to be under surveillance… Isn't there anything else? We're not asking to be in charge of something important right away," said Doug, looking dissatisfied. "Also, what is that eyeball? You didn't have that until today, right?" he asked, pointing at an eyeball about the size of his own head that was buried inside Legion.
Legion's various personalities began explaining.
"This is Vandalieu's, an eyeball of the Demon King. With the Long-distance Control Skill, he can manipulate it and observe things from afar."
"Of course, he can't see anything right now. Vandalieu is outside the range for the Long-distance Control Skill."
"We've borrowed it from Vandalieu for two experiments! One is to see how long we can keep it inside us! We haven't had it transplanted into us! We've just made a dent in our body and put it inside there!"
"I-I see… It's the kind of stuff that would disgust me if I heard it in Origin, but I'm shocked by the fact that I'm not shocked at all," Doug muttered.
"So this is the effect of the Guidance Skill, is it?" said Kanako. "It's inconvenient that it can't be used consciously, but it's far superior to my Venus in terms of duration and the breadth of its effects."
Despite hearing Legion's explanation, they were only a little surprised rather than shocked. In fact, they even had slight positive emotions towards the enormous eyeball that had a hollow-looking pupil.
As Kanako said, this was the effect of Vandalieu's guidance. As the Demon King's eyeballs were a part of Vandalieu, they felt as if the eyeball was Vandalieu himself.
The fact that they had been merely "very surprised" despite looking directly at Legion's true form and learning that this was the form of the people that they had known from their previous lives was also due to the guidance's effects. No matter how grotesque other guided members were, they all felt a sense of friendship and unity with each other, which had softened the psychological blow to Kanako and her companions.
"So, is the other experiment something you can't tell us about?" asked Melissa.
"No, we need your help for the experiment… you were good at using guns, weren't you?" asked Ghost… the one whose existence hadn't been known by the reincarnated individuals, including Kanako, right until the very end.
"Well, I suppose so," said Doug.
The three of them had been brought here into an experimental Dungeon. It was the same floor of the same Dungeon that they had been living in until they were guided by Vandalieu.
In this Dungeon, Melissa took aim at Legion with her 'gun' and pulled the trigger. A loud bang echoed out, and the fired projectile buried itself inside Legion's enormous body.
"… Did you miss?" asked Pluto.
"I hit you, right in the middle!" said Melissa a little angrily.
"Hmm… Ah, it hit. It doesn't hurt at all, so I thought you missed," Pluto said as the spherical bullet fell out of Legion's body.
It seemed that she had assumed the bullet had missed because Legion felt no pain.
"Well then, aim for our eye next. The white of the eye is fine, but hit the pupil if you can," said Legion, moving on.
"Alright. I'll shoot your eye… How troublesome," Melissa murmured.
She refilled her matchlock weapon with gunpowder and a new bullet, took aim at the Demon King's eyeball and pulled the trigger.
A gunshot rang out once more, and the round bullet collided with the hollow-looking Demon King's eye… and then fell to the ground.
"Not even a scratch… That pupil is harder than bulletproof glass or fortified plastic," said Melissa.
"You guys, stop teasing me. Jack is getting upset!" said Hitomi.
TLN: Hitomi's name is the same word (and kanji) as the Japanese word for "pupil."
"Sorry, Hitomi, it was kind of funny," said Pluto. "Still, it's just as you'd expect of a part of Vandalieu. An ordinary gun can't pierce it even with a direct hit. Well then, test the biggest one next. If I recall, we should have a big gun that's over twice the size of an ordinary rifle."
"I can't hold that thing. You do it, Doug," said Melissa.
"Yeah, yeah… Here I go!"
Having to use the Hecatoncheir's telekinesis ability to support the enormous matchlock rifle, Doug pointed it at the Demon King's eyeball in Legion. The barrel spewed out flames and a thunderous noise, and the projectile sank into the surface of the eyeball. The recoil left Doug's arms and shoulders numb.
"… It made a little dent, but didn't pierce through," said Legion.
The bullet hadn't pierced through the Demon King's eyeball to bury itself in Legion's flesh; it had stopped against the eyeball's surface.
"At this rate, we won't be able to inflict even a scratch unless we replace these lead bullets for bullets made of magical metals," said Kanako. "We need to increase the amount of gunpowder and make the barrels longer, too."
Legion, Kanako, Doug and Melissa were testing whether the prototype firearms that had been left in the workshop in the deepest chamber of the Trial of Zakkart would be able to withstand being fired.
All of these firearms were the creations of Zakkart and Hillwillow who had worked with him, so they had enormous historical value. Kanako and her companions had asked if it was really alright for them to handle such precious items.
"It matters not to me," Gufadgarn had replied. "Zakkart created them to be used as weapons, not as works of art or ornaments. And it is the will of Vandalieu to assign you with work."
Gufadgarn was aware that all of Zakkart's relics were precious items, but each relic had different uses, rarities and dangers.
Among the relics, she knew that these firearms were not particularly important.
Thus, Kanako and her companions had brought these firearms into this Dungeon, followed Zakkart's handwritten explanations to load them with gunpowder and bullets, then test-fired them, using Legion and the Demon King's eyeball as a target. As Gufadgarn had preserved the firearms, bullets and the gunpowder, they were still usable despite a hundred thousand years having passed.
But why were they using Legion and the Demon King's eyeball as a target? As the target being fired at, Legion could offer their thoughts on the weapons. As for the Demon King's eyeball, it was a model for the eyeball of a high-Rank monster.
"But it won't pierce an eyeball even with a direct hit… Is this real life?" Doug wondered. "Even if Zakkart and Hillwillow built these after coming to this world, their function shouldn't be that different from matchlock firearms on Earth, right?"
Since Kanako's group had been doing their best to not draw attention to themselves, the strongest monster that Doug had ever fought was only Rank 7; he was wondering if there was a problem with the firearms themselves. Even if the firearms were old-fashioned and the eyeball was massive, he seemed to find it difficult that the eyeball's surface could stop bullets.
Gufadgarn thought for a moment, and then he answered Doug's question. "It is true that Zakkart created these guns after coming to this world, but it is unclear as to whether their performance is equivalent to that of the matchlock firearms of Earth. Unfortunately, I do not know how effective matchlock firearms are in Zakkart's world or yours."
Zakkart, the creator of these guns, had been the manager and engineer at his small-town factory, which mostly handled metalworking. But naturally, he had never built guns before. Hillwillow, who had wanted to be an actor, had only ever seen props of guns.
Thus, Zakkart had used his vague knowledge, created gunpowder with Solder's help through trial and error, and finally built these guns after much hardship.
Thus, these guns were referred to as matchlock firearms and there were many similar parts. But the truth was that they were no more than imitations… parts of the wood had been replaced by Adamantite and Mythril, too.
Thus, even Zakkart had been unable to say for certain whether they were as effective as the originals.
"In fact, you three and Legion should be more knowledgeable regarding guns than Zakkart was," said Gufadgarn.
Kanako, Doug and Melissa looked at each other, then their faces fell a little.
"I see. But I've never fired old-fashioned guns before, either. I've only used assault rifles and automatic weapons," said Doug.
"We haven't even done that. It's not that we can't use them, but we used our abilities and magic more often when it came to battles," said Melissa.
"Those of us who were good at using guns were 'Super Sense,' and 'Odin.' Murakami was quite good with guns as well. There were others like the 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata,' too," said Kanako. "What about you, Legion? Ereshkigal always carried a gun with her, so I thought she was quite the gun maniac."
All of the upper bodies protruding from Legion shook their heads.
"The only ability I had was reflecting attacks I received with Counter, so I had to carry a weapon at all times for my own protection," said Ereshkigal. "It was like a replacement for a stuffed toy, and an accessory to look cool. I wasn't a maniac or anything."
"I have to question carrying a gun around like a stuffed toy, but as you know, we never learned how to handle guns like you guys. Most of us could barely manage to not shoot ourselves in the feet."
"… Valkyrie and Izanami really did shoot themselves in the feet, and the one time Pluto fired a gun, the recoil knocked her off her feet. She's never held a gun since."
"Shade, you were supposed to keep quiet about that, right?"
"How dare you reveal a maiden's secrets?! You traitor!"
Several female upper bodies began slapping the head that seemed to be made of Shade's flesh.
Incidentally, as a former Braver, Hitomi had received training. But she was so terrible with guns that her instructor had told her never to use them if possible.
In summary, Kanako and her companions knew how to use guns, but they weren't truly knowledgeable about them. Despite that, they were conducting performance tests on Zakkart's guns. It was a very strange situation.
"We can at least suggest points to improve, and with Vandalieu, progress could be made with the manufacturing of parts, but… making guns any more modern than this would be impossible," said Kanako. "At most, we could try to build revolvers if we could build bullet cartridges and fuses."
Doug and Melissa were in agreement. They had no confidence, because before they were reincarnated in Lambda, Aran had told them that scientific knowledge from other worlds could not be applied directly in this world.
Each world had different laws of physics, such as the existence of Mana and the relationships between attributes. Thus, any scientific knowledge gained in their original world was of no use here if applied directly.
In fact, there was no telling what would happen if items created in other worlds were to be brought directly into this one.
Modern weapons in particular could explode if shaken slightly, or simply stop functioning altogether. According to Aran, handheld missiles could be fired, but… Kanako had the feeling that Aran hadn't mentioned what would happen after they were fired.
The matchlock firearms they were testing now were using gunpowder that Zakkart and the other champions had created using materials from Lambda, so there was no need to worry about that happening. However, it was difficult for Kanako and her companions to apply their knowledge directly.
"Vandalieu wishes to know whether guns can be used effectively in Lambda with their current performance," said Gufadgarn.
"He wants to hear how useful you think they'll be if their performance is improved. You're the only ones who came from another world and lived in human society as adventurers," said Legion.
With the purpose of this experiment explained to them, Kanako and her companions focused on testing the guns for a while.
They tried Adamantite and Orichalcum bullets as well, but with the same amount of gunpowder, the firepower was only slightly better than ordinary bullets and they still didn't pierce the Demon King's eyeball.
The conclusion they came to was, "It's doubtful."
"They're not suited to being weapons for adventurers. Carrying them around and handling the gunpowder is difficult. Gunshots might attract other monsters, and the smell of the gunpowder smoke will cling to you," said Doug. "From what Legion felt during our testing, the impact is probably effective against Rank 3 or 4 monsters, but they'd only inflict scratches on monsters that are Rank 5 or above unless you hit them right in the eyes or the mouth."
"Past Rank 5, most monsters are quick, and not being able to fire rounds in quick succession is a big downside," said Melissa. "Also, monsters often have strange special abilities. And once the monsters are Rank 10 or above, I'm not sure whether even hitting them in the eyes will work."
"If the targets are humans, then I think they are effective against ordinary soldiers and adventurers up to D-class. Considering that they likely won't know what guns are, they might work on C-class adventurers. If they could be made smaller like pistols, it might be feasible to carry one for defense," said Kanako. "But I think their biggest advantage is that they're easy to learn how to use, just like crossbows, other than the fact that you could use the gunshot sounds to intimidate your enemy."
The three of them were of the opinion that as ordinary weapons, guns were about as useful as crossbows.
Unlike hunters on Earth, adventurers would encounter and fight monsters numerous times, and reloading a matchlock firearm took more time and effort than a crossbow. Thus, they did not make for reliable weapons.
However, if used on humans, they could be useful as most people would not be able to tell that it was a weapon at first glance. But this trick would never work on the same enemy twice.
"Considering the effort it takes to make gunpowder and bullets, and the fact that they're difficult to use, I think crossbows are better," said Kanako.
"You're right… Even if Vandalieu turned these into Cursed Weapons, they probably wouldn't be able to reload themselves, either," said Izanami.
"I wanted to try forming a heroic musketeer squad, but it is unfortunate that things turned out like this!" said Valkyrie.
"I see," Gufadgarn said with a nod, seeming not to care that Zakkart's relics had turned out to not be useful. "Zakkart also gave up on making these useful in the battle against the Demon King's army due to a multitude of problems; he created several special guns for himself and the other champions, and then stopped his research on them. It would not be easy to make them overcome those problems."
"… In other words, the amazing Zakkart couldn't do it, so there's no way that we'd be able to do it?" Doug said sarcastically.
But Gufadgarn nodded, seeming to think that Doug was understanding what she was saying. "Indeed. Doug, it seems that you and I may get along."
Kanako's group had come under Vandalieu's service after Gufadgarn, so she was treating them as equals. According to this evil god's sense of values, the world existed with Zakkart… and Vandalieu, at its center. Thus, she hadn't been able to understand Doug's sarcasm.
"I don't think we would, but… How about we think about making other weapons that use gunpowder that aren't guns? Bombs, for example," Doug suggested.
Everyone present thought that Doug's idea could indeed be useful. In this world, there were spells that released exploding fireballs and enormous rock projectiles, but not everyone could cast them. Guards and conscripted civilians generally couldn't use magic.
Even the citizens of Talosheim, who had all received advanced training when compared to other nations, generally used spears and bows as well as the average soldier. But those who could cast offensive spells were rare.
"They'd still be difficult to handle as weapons for adventurers, but if we could make flashbangs that just emit light and noise, they could be useful for intimidating or distracting monsters," said Melissa.
"Even as defensive items, putting metal fragments inside the bombs would increase their lethality and they might be quite effective," said Kanako.
"In the battle against the Demon King's army, Zakkart also gave up on firearms and made use of gunpowder as a replacement for smoke signals. It seemed that the monsters that made up the frontlines of the Demon King's armies were unaffected by bombs unless the metal fragments inside them were Orichalcum," said Gufadgarn. "However, I remember him saying that he wanted to fire them into a summer night sky when peace returned."
"Into the sky?" Legion repeated.
"Yes, if I recall… he said these are called 'fireworks.'"
It seemed that Zakkart had used the combustion reactions of metals to produce signal flares with black gunpowder. And it also seemed that he had thought of using this for fireworks one day.
"Fireworks… Our first achievement should be in this area. Even if we make weapons, there's no telling when we'll be able to actually use them, and fireworks can be used in events. Well, we won't know whether we'll be able to make real skyrockets until we try, though," Kanako murmured.
"It is good that you are aiming to achieve something. I am sure that this would please the one who is looking forward to your achievements so that he may acknowledge them," said Gufadgarn.
"Is Vandalieu really expecting that much of us?!" Kanako asked, happy and surprised at the same time.
But Gufadgarn shook her head. "It is not Vandalieu. It is someone who is very close to Vandalieu. As you are a mage who can sing and dance, she is anticipating that Vandalieu will deem you trustworthy enough to give you a certain item."
"… I see. I'm glad that someone is supporting me, but why my singing and dancing?"
Kanako was being supported by a certain mysterious person who desired the appearance of another magical girl.
And so, it was decided that the three of them would make fireworks, not explosives.
The distribution of materials needed for black gunpowder and the color of the flames emitted by the combustion reaction of metals was different from that in Earth and Origin, and they were confused by these differences, but the fireworks took form.
Some time after the new year began, it was decided that the fireworks would be tested in the suburbs of Talosheim rather than inside the Dungeon.
"Death Iron makes black flames when it burns, doesn't it," said Kanako.
"So, these can't be used at night… Ah, a solar eclipse?" Melissa said looking up at the sky, noticing that the sun was turning black from one side.
"So, this world has solar eclipses, too. Wait, what's wrong?!" Doug shouted, looking at Legion, who was silently, but violently, pulsating and writhing.
Recounting the events before the solar eclipse.
A little further into the ocean from the Merfolk nation, Vandalieu was trying to procure a ship for his voyage on a reef known as the ship graveyard, a place where wreckages of ships floated to and gathered.
"Let's use the parts from these four ships for now…" he murmured. "Get up, fuse."
With the Golem Creation Skill, he turned the parts of ships into Undead and fused them together.
An ominous groan came from the ship as it became a ghost ship. Its ripped sails fluttered in the wind, and its oars that were covered in algae and barnacles paddled through the water.
Princess Levia, Pauvina and Oniwaka, the princess of the Kijin nation, cheered as they gazed upon the completed Ghost ship from Sam's carriage.
"What a large ship, Your Majesty!" Princess Levia exclaimed.
"Wow, there are so many creatures with lots of legs. Just like Pete," said Pauvina.
"Ah, so the ships from the outside world aren't just big, they have a bunch of oars," said Oniwaka.
However, Pauvina seemed to be more interested in the countless crabs, prawns and mantis shrimp that were pouring out of the ship than the ship itself.
"Boss has combined a galeas, a sailing ship and a sorcery ship," said Kimberley, who was once a soldier of the Amid Empire and had some knowledge regarding ships; he had a nervous expression on his face.
Incidentally, sorcery ships were ships that were built not only by shipwrights, but alchemists as well, who turned the ships into Magic Items. Most owners of such ships were royals, nobles or merchants who had amassed vast fortunes, and adventurers often had them to sail into Devil's Seas.
It was likely that this was the shipwreck of a sorcery ship that had tried to sail into the region inside the Boundary Mountain Range and failed.
"I've only ever sailed on rivers; I've never gone out into the sea," said Kimberley. "Still, are you sure that thing will be alright?"
"Well, probably. I've turned the ship itself into an Undead, so there shouldn't be any problems with sailing it. If any irregularities do occur, I'll just remodel it," said Vandalieu.
If there was a truly large problem that caused the ship to sink, they could all climb into Sam's carriage and escape into the sky, so things were likely to be fine.
"By the way, Vandalieu, there are four ship captains that are arguing on the ship. Are those Undead that you made?" Oniwaka asked.
"No, they're probably the captains of each of the ships that I used who turned into Undead naturally," said Vandalieu. "I chose the parts of ships that looked like they would have a lot of hatred lingering around them, after all. There are a lot of other fresh Undead, so I suppose we should recruit some sailors, too."
"We need people to clean the ship up, too," said Pauvina.
Vandalieu stopped the argument between the captain of the pirate ship, the captain of the warship, the captain of the merchant ship and the adventurer captain of the sorcery ship, all of whom were claiming to be the captain of the new ship. Vandalieu recruited them all.
After that, he recruited the Undead that were wandering around the surroundings as sailors. Vandalieu needed them to look at the simple sea chart that the Storm of Tyranny had given him.
"First, I need to use Preservation, then Deodorization and Sterilization… We shouldn't let the shellfish and seaweed that are stuck to you go to waste, so let's eat them later," said Vandalieu.
The Undead had been in a symbiotic relationship with the marine life, but they would now live new lives with clean, white, hygienic bodies.
"So, shall we head to the Demon Continent? We'll have to cross several Devil's Seas on the way, but we'll probably manage," said Vandalieu. "We're relying on you to lead the way, Bone Man, Leo."
"Leave it to us, my Lord," said Bone Man, in high spirits. "Come, Leo. The time has finally come for you to be of use!"
Leo… the Zombie of the Great Mud Dragon that had ruled the great marshlands south of Talosheim, was tied to the ghost ship by several ropes, with Bone Man riding on top of him.
A low groan came from Leo's crocodile-shaped head. His tail and fin-shaped limbs moved, and he began towing the ghost ship forward.
He seemed a little unaccustomed to the waves of the sea that was much deeper than the water of the marshlands, but his movements were powerful. His limbs broke the reefs that it collided with as he moved forward.
"The ghost ship itself is Rank 3, but Leo is Rank 9 right now, and Bone man is riding him. Most monsters should wait for us to pass," said Vandalieu.
"By the way, Van, what are you going to name the ship?" Pauvina asked.
"Let's see…" Vandalieu thought for a moment. "Let's call it 'Quatro,'" he said, naming the ship after the Spanish word for the number four.
Of course, the reason for this name was because it was a ghost ship made from the parts of four different ships.
It was a slightly unwieldy name, but it would do.
"Quatro… A strange name that was clearly made by Boss," Kimberley remarked.
"Kimberley-san, how are other boats named?" Princess Levia asked.
"Most of them are women's names, or the combination of an adjective with a marine animal, like the 'Brave Whale.'"
Oceans were the domain of Peria, the goddess of water and knowledge, her subordinate gods as well as the fish beast-king and the marine mammal beast-king. Thus, it seemed that boats were often given names that honored the goddess and sea creatures.
"Well, it isn't like someone is going to smite us for giving our ship an unusual name," Kimberley added. "It's better than having a common ship name like Marie or Ellie, isn't it?"
"I suppose so," said Vandalieu. "We're counting on you, Quatro."
The ghost ship Quatro expressed its delight at having been named by Vandalieu with a creaking groan. This was the birth of the largest ship in the world, if one ignored the fact that it was a ghost ship.
But there was still a mountain of marine life and debris inside the ship. Vandalieu had already cast the Sterilization spell, but mold would soon grow again if the ship was left as is.
"Now then, let's clean up the sailors and ship. We'll gather everything that can be eaten and have a barbeque on the deck later," said Vandalieu. "Let's make this the most sanitary ghost ship in the world."
"Indeed, if we don't make the ship clean, we'll be stuck for a place to sleep tonight," said Oniwaka.
"Oniwaka-chan, we'll be fine since we're going back to Talosheim tonight. Even if we need to stay here, we have Sam," said Pauvina.
"Ah, I see."
As Vandalieu used Out-of-body Experience and created clones of himself to help the sailors clean the ship, Pauvina and Oniwaka got deck brushes out of Sam's carriage and joined in.
They were on alert, as they were currently sailing through a Devil's Sea, but Orbia and Kimberley were keeping watch.
And so, the first day of the voyage was an enjoyable one, as everyone enjoyed the horned turbans, oysters offered by the friendly sailors and the fish and crustaceans inside Quatro.
But on the seventh day of their journey, the sky suddenly darkened.
"So, this is the solar eclipse mentioned in the message from the Storm of Tyranny," said Oniwaka.
"Your Majesty, this is a sinister omen! Something may happen!" said Princess Levia, seeming anxious as she looked up at the darkening sun.
For the Titans, whose father was the Sun Giant Talos, solar eclipses were sinister omens.
"Isn't that only in the old Talosheim?" said Orbia.
As she said, the people of the new Talosheim weren't very concerned about eclipses.
"Ah, you're right. Your Majesty, it's probably fine," said Princess Levia.
But Vandalieu was looking not at the sky, but at the ocean.
"Something is… rising from beneath," he murmured, extending the Demon King's antennae and activating a Demon King's eyeball ahead of the ship.
There was an ominous, blue-white glow in the eyeball's pupil.