Chapter 83: The difference between making requests and making a selection
In the residential area for the slaves inside the walls of the slave-run mine… in the village of slaves, the most important, decision-making figures among the Titan slaves had gathered together.
Normally, there would be eyes observing the residential area and the Titans would never be allowed to gather together unless instructed, so that they couldn't plot rebellions. But all of the soldiers that were posted as guards right now were behaving like dolls.
"Levia-sama… isn't that Levia-sama?"
"Yes, she looks a little different from how I remember, but there is no mistake. How could I mistake Levia-sama for anyone else?"
"So, it was true that you would bring Levia-sama here…"
Seeing the Titans' eyes open wide in blank amazement with tears streaming from them, Levia's flames flickered in her happiness, but at the same time, her hand was placed over her chest in sadness.
"Everyone… Thank you for staying alive until this day. I failed to protect you and made you suffer," she said.
For Titans, who had lifespans of three hundred years, two hundred years was a long time. Those who had been elderly individuals during that time had perished long ago, and most of the adults of the time were also gone. Those who had been children back then were now adults.
Until the age of fifteen, Titans age at about the same rate as humans, and after that, they age slowly, their bodies reaching their peaks at around the age of two hundred. From the age of two hundred and fifty onwards, they start growing physically old. For this reason, few Titans actually have an aged appearance.
"It's fine; everything is Duke Hartner's fault, the one who betrayed us. Levia-sama, you kept us in your thoughts even after you died, didn't you? That is more than enough for us."
"And you're helping us like this now. That's more than enough. Nobody, not my mother, not my grandfather, not my younger brother, would blame you, Levia-sama."
The Titans were all extremely thin and had bad complexions. Many of them still had whip-marks and burns remaining on their arms, legs and faces.
Their treatment at the mine had been somewhat mild compared to how other criminal slaves were treated, but they were still treated cruelly; the soldiers had done whatever they wanted, thinking, "It's fine as long as they don't die," and, "It doesn't matter if one or two of them die."
In fact, all of the elderly had died early, and quite a few of the women and children had also died because they were unable to endure this treatment.
Their spirits hadn't been sealed away magically by anything like a champion's barrier; many of them had already vanished from the mine long ago.
"I don't know how you did it, but the soldiers watching over us are like dolls right now, and you've brought Levia-sama to us," said Gopher, Borkus's daughter. "Everything you said was true. I couldn't believe the words of a midget like you at first, but… then, does that mean that it's true that you're going to rescue us from this mine, Van…?"
"It's Vandalieu, Gopher-san," said Vandalieu. "I don't mind if you call me 'kid' like Borkus does, though."
He had blended in among the slaves and used the Mental Encroachment skill to reduce all of the soldiers into vegetative states, one by one.
"But please don't call me 'midget,'" he added. "I'm overly conscious about that."
Races like Titans and Beast-people had a sense of values where they believed that size was equivalent to strength and being small meant being weak. Even if this weren't the case, Vandalieu, who was small even compared to other children of the same age, probably looked unreliable to the Titans whose women could reach heights of 2.5m.
Death-Attribute Charm wasn't working after all; communication with living people was difficult.
I'm really glad I brought Princess Levia here, Vandalieu thought.
Gopher gave him a wry smile. "It's just like that Oyaji to be so energetic even when he's dead," she laughed. "I won't be calling you 'kid.' Levia-sama is calling you 'Your Majesty,' so isn't it strange for me to call you that?"
"You don't have to worry about that," said Vandalieu. "Anyway, at this point, I'm thinking about freeing everyone from this mine."
"But that's not as simple as it sounds, is it?" asked Gopher. "We have slave collars on our necks."
Slave collars, collars of servitude - they have various different names, but they are Magic Items that ensure that slaves do not disobey the wills of their masters.
If slaves try to cause harm to their masters or make an escape, the collars cause them suffering by suffocating them or releasing an electrical shock.
There are numerous ways of removing them, but the masters' approval isn't the only thing that is needed. In addition, normal curse-breaking spells cannot undo them; special spells are required, but they are kept secret.
"You won't be able to remove them even if you defeat the governor of this mine," said Gopher. "Even you couldn't simply -"
"I can remove them," said Vandalieu.
Before he could even hear the Titans surprised cries, he released black death-attribute mana that surrounded Gopher's collar, which unfastened with a click.
"No way…"
Gopher and the other Titans were dumbfounded as the heavy collar hit the floor loudly, but Vandalieu had previously used his Mana to brute-force his way through a seal left by a champion. Something like this was simple for him.
"How many times can you do that in one day?" Gopher asked. "There are over five hundred of us in total."
"It costs about a thousand Mana for each person, so I can handle three hundred thousand peoples' worth and still have some left over," said Vandalieu.
"You can really do it?!"
"Sorry, but time is also a problem, so it would help if you kept that number below ten thousand."
"Alright, I understand, you can really free all of us within the day, right! With this, we can fight!" shouted another Titan.
"Everyone, His Majesty is a little shy," said Levia. "And the soldiers standing guard are all allies, but if your voices are too loud…"
"I know, Levia-sama! So, what should we do?! When are we going to rise to action?!"
"For weapons, just pick up the pickaxes and shovels we normally use, hell, even grab a rock! I'm sure those tools and rocks will feel lighter than they've ever felt before!"
"Those bastards, I'll teach them a lesson!"
The Titans were excited about being freed from their unjust imprisonment and finally having a chance to retaliate. Although Vandalieu looked expressionless, he was actually flustered, unable to find a good time to chime in.
But he managed to open his mouth now. "Umm… Tonight, in the middle of the night," he said.
"I see, tonight… wait, hang on a second. That's too early."
Although it was too early to be called 'the middle of the night,' the sun had already set completely. There wasn't enough time to free all the slaves and begin an uprising.
If they went on a rampage with no plan, the soldiers would cause severe casualties among the slaves, who were significantly inferior to them when it came to combat. And it wasn't as if all of the slaves would join the uprising immediately.
"There are slaves who have already given up on everything, unlike us," said Gopher. "We need time to convince them. Even if they don't need to join us, we need to ask them to stay hidden… You're not planning to use the same method on them as you did on those soldiers to turn them into dolls, are you?"
The moment Gopher raised this question, suspicion appeared on the faces of the other Titans. It couldn't be helped; it would be stranger if they didn't feel fear for Vandalieu, who had shown himself capable of reducing people into vegetative states in less than an hour.
This was a very healthy reaction, so Vandalieu didn't pay any attention to it.
"No, I won't be doing anything like that," he told them. "But we'll be carrying out this plan in the middle of the night. There won't be any problems."
"Like I said, there's not enough time if we do that," said Gopher.
"Not at all; there's plenty of time," Vandalieu reassured her. "We will have occupied this mine by the early morning tomorrow. It won't matter if some people don't help us; everything will be done by the people I've called here."
"What did you say?!"
The Titans were dumbfounded. They did believe that Vandalieu had come to rescue them. But they had been under the assumption that he would require their cooperation as well.
However, Vandalieu didn't need their cooperation at all. He had declared that no matter what the Titans thought of him, he had decided on a time and would occupy the mine with his own strength.
So then, why had the Titans gathered here beforehand?
This was what Gopher and the others were wondering now.
But Levia answered this question. "We want everyone to stay where they are tonight," she said. "And after that, you must decide whether you wish to become citizens of the new Talosheim or not."
The slave-run mine, which had been as sturdy as a fort, quietly surrendered and was occupied by the time the morning sun rose.
The soldiers' dinner had been poisoned. The soldiers had consumed their food without noticing the odorless, tasteless poison and entered comatose states in their beds.
There had been a very small number of soldiers with resistance skills who realized that something was wrong and tried to tell this to their colleagues who were still on their feet, but those colleagues… the ones that Vandalieu had turned into dolls, took them by surprise and restrained them.
Viscount Besser, who had been sleeping, as well as his knights and servants, were all captured alive.
And the soldiers who had been positioned on the outer walls as lookouts couldn't do anything even after realizing that something was strange about the rest of the soldiers.
"Th-there is an armed force approaching!"
"Those are Titans… Hyih! Undead Titans!"
With a terrifying roar, Borkus and the others charged in from the front of the mine at a speed surprising for their size.
The lookouts blew their horns and rang their bells to indicate a state of emergency, but none responded. No, some did respond, but this was not the response that they had desired.
"We're going to slaughter you all anyway, so entertain us as you die! Steel Cutter!"
"ARMOR BREAKEEEER!"
"Iron Pierce!"
Borkus and the other Undead Titans unleashed martial skills, one after another, against the outer wall. The wall and gate were cut, broken and pierced through as if they were made of tofu.
They found amusement in seeing the soldiers being sent flying alongside the pieces of rubble.
And so, the next morning, Borkus and the others, who had reduced the outer wall and soldiers who had been watching them into ruins…
"… There's something lacking," Borkus murmured, scratching his exposed cheekbone as he looked down at Viscount Besser's soldiers and a hundred or so civilians, who were bound and unconscious.
"If you enjoyed yourself to your heart's content, this mine would have turned into a wasteland, wouldn't it?" Vandalieu pointed out.
"I wouldn't be that wild," Borkus protested. "I'd at least leave some rubble behind."
"I was planning to kill all of the soldiers right from the beginning, but it would have been problematic if you didn't at least leave the buildings behind," Vandalieu told him.
"Hahaha! You're right about that!"
Vandalieu gave a nod as Borkus laughed. Hearing their conversation, half of the former slaves looked fearful.
"Your face has changed, but you're still acting like a kid as always, Oyaji," said Gopher, showing no signs of fear. She gave a wry smile as she looked at Borkus, who had become half-bone.
Borkus looked at her and stopped laughing. "I'm sorry for lying," he said.
"Are you talking about your promise to repel the Mirg shield-nation and chase them back?" asked Gopher. "Nobody took that seriously."
"But you know, we left you guys for two hundred years even after we died."
"It's fine. I've heard from Levia-sama and His Majesty over here that you protected Zandia-sama and the others, and the goddess's legacy beneath the castle."
"That's what I was trying to do, but…"
The reality was that a wrist was all that remained of Zandia, and it hadn't been Borkus who protected the goddess's legacy, but the cursed ice that had sealed it away.
"It's nothing to beat yourself up over," said Gopher, giving her father a clap on his cold back. "Don't be showing me that disheartened face, it's not like you. I can't introduce you to your grandchildren like this, can I?"
"Grandchildren?" Borkus repeated. "Did you say grandchildren?! I have grandchildren?!"
"Yeah, three of them," said Gopher. "I can only introduce you to two of them, and I can't tell you who the father is, but…"
The female slaves had been treated as playthings by the soldiers. Contraceptives were expensive in this world; they weren't things that slaves could use.
That was how things were.
"I see…" Borkus looked at Vandalieu. "Kid?"
Vandalieu shook his head. Almost none of the spirits of those who had died in the mine were still around. In the world of Lambda, Undead could appear. In a mine where slaves were worked to death one after another, a priest was present, and not only for treating the soldiers and regular workers. The priest would also purify the spirits of the dead.
There were none among the spirits who called themselves Gopher's child.
"I see… No, it's fine," said Borkus. "I'm sure they went to where the goddess is, rather than to that good-for-nothing* god. I did pray a lot, after all…"
"You're right…" said Vandalieu.
All around him, he could hear the voices of the Undead Titans and the slaves crying out in joy over their reunion, as well as voices of grief as they mourned over those who were no longer here.
I can't kill Heinz, and I can't revive or make Undead out of those who have already returned to the circle of transmigration. I'm still powerless after all, thought Vandalieu.
Of course, Vandalieu wanted to change the former, but he wanted to do something about the latter as well. As these thoughts ran through his mind, he thought it was about time and gave Levia a signal.
"Everyone," she said, addressing the Titans. "We will return to Talosheim alongside His Majesty. Please decide whether you will come with us or go on a separate path."
Gopher and the other refugees from Talosheim were relatives of Borkus, Zran and everyone else, so of course, the Undead Titans wanted to take them back to Talosheim. However, that would mean coming to a nation where Vandalieu ruled as king. As such, their desires had to be confirmed as well.
"Talosheim is currently a nation of Undead and Ghouls ruled by His Majesty Vandalieu, as well as the monsters that he has tamed," Levia continued. "I believe that many things will be different from how they were in the past. I, too, am considerably different from how I was when I was alive. There are also many enemies. The Hartner Duchy would never let us be if they were to find out about us, and the Amid Empire, including the Mirg shield-nation, still desires our annihilation. There are also Pure-breed Vampires who worship an evil god, targeting His Majesty. And there will only be more enemies in the future."
"Of course, we will fight the enemies," Vandalieu added. "Last year, we repelled the Mirg shield-nation's expedition army of six thousand. If you have any requests, I will listen to them. But that does not mean that I am capable of doing anything. Everything has its limits. If you can accept this, then please come to my nation."
The current Talosheim had many enemies and its laws were borrowed. It was a nation full of problems. It wasn't a place that Vandalieu could proudly declare to be an ideal land or paradise.
Things would probably be fine for a while. But one day, Talosheim could be attacked by those reincarnating in Lambda with full knowledge of Vandalieu's death-attribute magic or Heinz's party who would be far stronger than they were now. One day, gods like Alda, the god of law and fate, or Yupeon, the god of ice, might descend upon this world and lead an army of tens of thousands of mighty, superhuman individuals and march on Talosheim.
That was the kind of nation that they were being told to come to, so asking them first was only natural.
That was what Vandalieu thought.
But Gopher's reply was, "What are you saying? Isn't it obvious that we're going to come with you? I'm grateful to you for saving us, and I was even able to meet Oyaji again. Also, since you had the strength to take over this mine, I'm sure things will be fine."
"It's not like I don't have any misgivings when you say that it's a nation of Undead and monsters, but Oyaji-dono and the others haven't changed at all from when they were alive, other than their outward appearances. I believe in you."
"And even if we went our separate paths, there's nowhere for us to live in this duchy… no, in this kingdom."
It seemed that all of the former refugees would come back to Talosheim.
"Thank you, everyone," said Levia, looking delighted.
Leaving the explanation of future plans to her, Vandalieu headed towards the next group.
Other than the Titans, there were two other kinds of slaves in the mine. There was a group of criminal slaves and a group made up of the slaves who had been brought here after nobody had purchased them elsewhere, as well as those from the First Cultivation Village.
It really was a plan to simply leave these people to fend for themselves… should I have made the castle sink more and tilt at more of an angle? Vandalieu wondered as he headed towards the group of criminal slaves.
Their slave collars hadn't been removed and they had been restrained, just like the soldiers, and Vandalieu had made the doll-like soldiers watch over them. They were formerly fiendish criminals, so Vandalieu couldn't let down his guard.
Some of them were those who had been brought to this mine only a couple of days ago; there were many who still had their willpower and stamina.
"You heard what I said, didn't you?" Vandalieu asked them. "Now then, I'm going to make a selection."
"… Don't we have any right to decide?" asked a bearded slave with scars on his face.
Vandalieu looked at those around him as he answered. "You do have a right to decide," he said. "But I have the right to decide whether or not to accept your decision. Even if your crimes were committed in another nation, I have no intention of welcoming evil criminals."
These criminals had been exploited by the Hartner Duchy that had done horrific things to Talosheim, but that didn't make them good people.
Vandalieu had no intention of bringing them to Talosheim unless they had some extraordinary circumstances.
"I see," said the bearded slave. "Then I'll bid you farewell here. Won't you at least let me take some of the soldiers' equipment and the food in the dining hall as a farewell gift?"
"Very well," said Vandalieu. "Hannah-san, he wants to bid farewell to this world."
"What?!" shouted the slave. "Wait a second, I didn't choose anything like -"
"Okay. I understand~♪"
The scarred man screamed as the Flame Ghost Hannah enveloped him, surrounding him in flames. Before long, he collapsed and stopped moving.
"Alright, next person -" Vandalieu began.
"Wait a second! What are you playing at?!"
"Why did you burn him to death?! He didn't disobey you or demand that you give him money, right?!"
The criminal slaves were shocked and frightened.
Vandalieu blinked at them a few times before answering. "I did say that I have the right to decide whether to accept your decision, didn't I? Based on that right, I decided that I wouldn't accept that person's decision," he said.
"So then, why did you kill him?!"
"I mean, if I gave a former bandit weapons and food and set him free and then he returned to being a bandit and harmed more people, I'd feel bad for his future victims."
The spirits of those who had died at the mine had been purified by the priest, but the spirits haunting the criminal slaves were still there. Thus, Vandalieu was able to tell which of them were evil people by listening to the spirits behind them.
Vandalieu had given up on the Hartner Duchy, but he wouldn't consider releasing evil people into the wild. And if he did let evil people go free here, they might cause trouble for the nearest place where people lived, the cultivation villages.
��But what if we reform after being saved by you -"
"I haven't saved you criminal slaves," said Vandalieu. "You're just extras that happened to come along with saving the relatives of Borkus and the others. I'm simply deciding whether to take you with me or discard you here."
Vandalieu wasn't trying to become a protector of the weak or a liberator of slaves. His objective was only the rescue of Talosheim's refugees.
For him, these criminal slaves were nothing more than those who happened to be involved in that process. Leaving them alive would probably cause harm, so Vandalieu would kill them and make use of them, along with the soldiers of the mine.
"Alright! I'm going to follow you and do whatever you tell me! I'll definitely be useful!"
"Then please burn to death," said Vandalieu. "Aria-san, please go ahead.
"Okay, look over here~"
"GYAAAAAAH! WHYYYYYYYYYY?!"
"I mean, it would be troublesome if a serial robber, rapist and murderer were to come with me," said Vandalieu.
The women of Talosheim would probably twist the necks of a sex offender with ease, but it would be bad for Pauvina and the other girls to see that.
"Now then, next -"
"Wait! I'm fine with being a slave, I won't ask you to set me free, but please spare me being burned to death!" the third man begged, skillfully managing to press his forehead against the ground despite being bound. There were no spirits behind him; it was possible that he wasn't an evil criminal.
"Incidentally, under what charges were you turned into a slave?" Vandalieu asked him.
"Stealing," said the man. "I entered an inn to steal something and saw a valuable item… and it just happened to be something belonging to someone related to a nobleman…"
Vandalieu thought that sending someone to the mines for stealing was a bit of a heavy punishment for the crime, but it was certainly possible if the person being stolen from was related to a nobleman.
"Then please work hard in Talosheim for a while," he said. "But if you try steal things in Talosheim as well, things will go horribly for you."
Vandalieu would have him work in Talosheim for a year, and if there were no problems, he would be set free. The noblemen of the Hartner Duchy weren't noblemen of Talosheim, so things would probably be fine like that.
"Yes… Heheh! I shall do my best to serve you in humility!"
Vandalieu gave a nod towards the man who had skillfully managed to fall prostrate while bound, delighted that he wouldn't have to die. And then Vandalieu shifted his gaze to the next criminal slave.
"I don't want to follow you, you creepy corpse-user. So if you're going to kill me, do it with your own hands rather than dirtying the hands of your subordinates."
"Eh?"
"What's wrong, you can't do it after all? Oi, you Titans! Even if you follow this guy, he's just going to work you to death! So come with us and - what are you -" The man began choking.
Vandalieu used both hands to grab the head of the man who had tried to stir up the Titans, used Surpass Limits and twisted it 180 degrees, destroying his cervical vertebrae.
I didn't want to kill with my own hands because I won't get Experience Points that way, Vandalieu thought with a sigh as he looked down at the man's face and back before throwing him aside.
"Now then, next -"
After that, the criminal slaves, having learned from these examples, seemed to have decided that being taken away and remaining as slaves was the best option for them.
Of course, even then, Vandalieu disposed of those who were evil people.
The former-slave Titans watched with stiff expressions as Vandalieu, having finished making a selection of the criminal slaves, headed towards the former inhabitants of the First Cultivation Village.
"Just as he appears, he's not normal."
Seeing Vandalieu burn people alive and twist someone's neck with his own hands without a single change in his facial expression, they made changes to their impressions of him.
"I didn't really think of him as a liberator of slaves or anything like that, but…" Gopher murmured.
"Really? He was actually considerate enough to make it less frightening for us," said Borkus.
"He was?!"
"Yeah, the reason he twisted that guy's neck earlier was so that he wouldn't show you guys the blood."
"… Then I'd like him to do something about the smell, too…"
Of course, the smell of the burnt flesh of the criminal slaves was floating about. The Titans were quite far away, so it was bearable, however.
"You're right, it's starting to make me hungry," said Borkus.
Gopher almost responded to her father's remark with, "Exactly," but managed to stop herself and stiffened. She did a double-take as she looked at Borkus's face before looking towards Levia.
Levia looked up, as if wondering what was wrong. Gopher then realized that Borkus and Levia had changed more since they were alive than she had previously thought.
"I suppose I have no choice but to just think of Oyaji and Levia-sama having been reborn as slightly different races and get used to it," she told herself. "But you really gave birth to a crazy son."
"… Are you talking to me?" Eleanora blinked as she turned around after Gopher's sudden remark, which had been directed at her.
"Yeah, you're His Majesty's mother, aren't you?" said Gopher. "Vampires really do look young; I'm jealous."
"No!" Having realized that she had been mistaken for Vandalieu's mother because he was a Dhampir and she was a Vampire, Eleanora was indignant in her denial. "I am Vandalieu-sama's servant; his mother is Darcia-sama!"
I want to eat some barbecued meat, Vandalieu thought as he finished talking to everyone from the First Cultivation Village, his hunger having been stimulated by the pleasant smell of burning flesh.
They were quite fearful of Vandalieu, but in the end, they had decided to come to Talosheim. Even if they stayed in the Hartner Duchy, there was nowhere for them to live.
If they were caught, they would be executed at worst or become slaves again at best. It would be a long journey if they wanted to escape to another duchy. Thus, following Vandalieu would give them the greatest chances of survival.
"I don't mind remaining as a slave, but if you could treat us a little better than we have been treated up until now…"
"Oh no, we will welcome you as normal people… as free citizens," Vandalieu promised. "Since you're not criminals, I have no reason to turn you into slaves."
The young man who called himself the village chief's son had become completely used to serving others after living as a slave, but Vandalieu stopped him from lowering his head.
Eleanora, having cleared up the misunderstanding about the matter of Vandalieu's mother, whispered in Vandalieu's ear. "Are you sure you wish to bring them with us just as they are?" she asked. "They may betray you in the future, Vandalieu-sama."
There was no way for Vandalieu to restrain the actions of those from the First Cultivation Village. Although Vandalieu had the ability to remove slave collars, he had no way to create new ones. Even if they were former inhabitants of the Sauron Duchy and followers of Vida's religion, there was no guarantee that they would remain loyal to Vandalieu.
Death-Attribute Charm didn't work on them, after all.
"Perhaps you should use Mental Encroachment to restrain them a little…" Eleanora suggested.
"No, I don't have to go that far," said Vandalieu. "Talosheim is a nation, not a secret society."
He had no intention of demanding such loyalty from them.
"But… if they betrayed you in the future…"
"They might betray me in the future. That's how people are," said Vandalieu. "I am the king, and they are merely citizens. With that being the case, that's how things are."
Vandalieu felt that it would be abnormal to use brainwashing to restrain the wills of ordinary people who weren't criminals. And if their families were taken hostage or they were promised great rewards, they could waver and betray him. That was how normal people were.
Leaving aside whether these people would really betray him, if they really did, Vandalieu would deal with it when the time came on a case-by-case basis.
But Eleanora didn't seem satisfied, so he continued. "And you know, you haven't betrayed me, have you, Eleanora? So it's fine," he said.
Eleanora's face lit up, almost audibly. And then she embraced Vandalieu in her arms.
"Vandalieu-sama, I will never let you go!" she declared.
"… The speed at which you hug me is steadily increasing." Being surrounded in softness that had a warmth unlike Rita and Saria's, Vandalieu was surprised at the fact that Eleanora's movements had no signs of hesitation or wasteful motions. He was already a user of the Unarmed Fighting Technique at such a level that he would be considered a master on Earth, but he hadn't been able to see Eleanora's movement at all.
Even now, her grip was superb, ensuring that Vandalieu couldn't slip out of it.
It was a sight to behold. As Vandalieu couldn't slip out, he asked her to carry him to the final group of slaves.
These were the slaves who had failed to sell or brought here immediately after the slave trader decided that they wouldn't sell anywhere else. Many of them were girls so young that even brothels wouldn't willingly buy them, and young boys who would take too long to grow enough to become useful for manual labor. They were slaves with large scars and damage to their bodies.
Their eyes were all dead-looking, and their faces were blank, as if their minds weren't thinking of anything at all.
Normally, it would be good to confirm what the slaves wanted. Even if their ability to think and decide for themselves had weakened, it would be best to stimulate that ability and prompt them to make a recovery and make a decision of their own will.
However, the slaves all stared at Vandalieu as he approached. They exhaled, groaned and looked up at him as if they were longing for him.
It seemed that Death-Attribute Charm was working on them.
"If there is anything you want to do, anywhere you want to return to, anyone you want to kill, please tell me and I'll think about how to proceed with those," said Vandalieu. "If there aren't, then please follow me. Accept what I give you, do what I tell you to do and do as you wish once you become stronger."
As long as Death-Attribute Charm was working, confirming what they desired wouldn't work properly. That was why Vandalieu had made it appear as if he were asking them, but then given them an order. Once their bodies and minds recovered and they learned to read, write and do arithmetic, they would become able to think for themselves even if they remained under the skill's effects.
"Yes… I understand."
"Goshujin-sama…"
The slaves, who were even more lifeless than the doll-like soldiers, nodded. Vandalieu would need to heal their wounds and make sure they ate properly before they moved from the mine.
Before that, the problem was dealing with one final person.
"… So, why are you here?" Vandalieu asked.
There was a man lying on the ground, his hands and feet bound. Vandalieu looked at this man through half-closed eyes - at Luciliano, the Degenerate.
Chapter 84: Mountains don't move… so they're simpler than people
The knight Karcan, who had managed to successfully repel the sudden monster rampage before the city suffered any damage, was in a peculiar predicament.
"Why was there a monster rampage and the appearance of a new Dungeon at a time like this?" he wondered.
Some of the company that he led were heavily wounded, but fortunately, none of them had died. The lord of the region, Viscount Niarki, had also thanked him.
However, many of the achievements had gone to the Blue-flamed Sword Heinz, the one who was rumored to likely become the Orbaume Kingdom's second S-class adventurer. The monsters had chanted, "Kill Heinz," as if it were an incantation and all aimed for him, after all.
With that being the case, Heinz might have been blamed for being the man who had summoned the monsters and brought a disaster to the city, but he had already gained a good reputation and was adored by many.
Rather than being blamed, his reputation has only improved for being the "champion who faced the large pack of monsters without running away." The people were also praising the fact that Heinz had been targeted by the monsters, saying that this must be a sign that the evil gods who were surviving servants of the Demon King were after him - in other words, Heinz was a hero who was feared even by the gods.
As it was Heinz and the other members of the Five-colored Blades who had defeated most of the monsters, it was only natural that they received praise.
With that being the case, one might wonder why the adventurers and Karcan's men had participated in the defense, but… that would only be in hindsight. There had been no proof that the monsters would actually only aim for Heinz. Even if there was, there was no way that they would have been able to say, "Well then, it has nothing to do with us," and look unconcerned.
And so, Karcan's company had exhausted themselves in a fierce battle. Heinz and his party were now clearing the ominous Dungeon that had been discovered in the forest near the city.
And Karcan had been told that the next expedition for his company wasn't necessary.
"In fact, it's true that it's not the time to be doing things like an expedition. The men of the company are being completely healed by Froto's healing magic, but they're not in a state where they are able to move around so easily."
The source of this monster rampage was almost certainly the newly-formed Dungeon, but it still wasn't completely certain. Until Heinz and his party returned, Karcan and his men, who had been assigned to be part of the city's defenses, couldn't move.
Even after Heinz and his party returned, it would take time to set up a system to control and watch over the Dungeon. Karcan didn't have any obligation to cooperate in this, but if he flatly ignored the expectations of Viscount Niarki who was relying on him, his social position would be jeopardized.
But with that said, that didn't mean that Karcan would necessarily be valued highly even if he did meet the viscount's expectations. After all, the cultivation project to the south that he was supposed to be in charge of had been left alone.
"The earliest we'll be able to move is winter…" Karcan sighed. He had lost count of how many times he had done so.
The city of Niarki still hadn't received news that the duke's castle built by Nineroad had sunk or the scandal that had shaken the Orbaume Kingdom, or that the Guild Master of the Mages' Guild as well as several noblemen had been revealed to have connections with Vampires.
Luciliano, the Degenerate. He was a human Class adventurer, and when he first encountered Vandalieu, he had been working in the Mirg shield-nation.
He had created a Live-Dead out of the woman who had become Pauvina and used it as a familiar to infiltrate the village of the Noble Orc Bugogan in order to gather information.
And after the battle between the Ghouls and Orcs finished, he had encountered Vandalieu through the Live-Dead, but…
So that's what this person's face looked like. I guess I really do get a different impression now that I can see his physical body, Vandalieu thought.
Back then, when he was still three years old, he hadn't known what Luciliano's face looked like. Even if he did, Luciliano now had hollow cheeks and a freely-growing beard. If Gopher and the others hadn't told him that there was a former human adventurer among the slaves, he wouldn't have noticed Luciliano at all.
"So, why are you here?" Vandalieu asked one more time, as Luciliano hadn't answered him the first time… but there was still no response.
Rather than deliberately staying silent, it seemed that he had fainted.
Eleanora quietly raised her foot.
"Eleanora, he looks like he will break if you step on him, so let's not do that," said Vandalieu.
"Yes, Vandalieu-sama."
Still being held in Eleanora's arms, Vandalieu secreted some restorative medicine from his claws and used Telekinesis to apply it to Luciliano's face. The moment he did so, Luciliano sprang up like a spring-loaded toy… but he was still bound, so he lost his balance and fell to the ground once more.
"Kahah?! Hah! Wait, please don't kill me! Even if you do kill me, please let me die in comfort! Also, let me have one final meal!"
"You're looking unexpectedly lively," said Vandalieu. "To start off with, judging from your behavior, it seems that you remember who I am."
"Th-there's no way I could forget someone of a rare race like a Dhampir. But wait, it wasn't my intention to encounter you here!" Luciliano begged.
"No, I'd be pretty surprised if it was," said Vandalieu.
It seemed that Luciliano remembered exactly who Vandalieu was. Including the fact that Vandalieu had threatened him with, "The next time I see you, I will kill you."
"Vandalieu-sama is asking what you are doing in a place like this. Answer him," Eleanora said, prompting Luciliano to provide a response. ��Also, I am not Vandalieu-sama's mother, but his servant," she added, as multiple people had now made the same misunderstanding.
"Alright, I'll answer," said Luciliano. "After that incident, I took my money, left Balcheburg and migrated to the Orbaume Kingdom. I continued my research into Undead while working as an adventurer. But one day, unfortunately -"
According to Luciliano's story, he had gotten caught up in the dispute between Lord Belton and Lord Lucas.
The third son of a certain nobleman in Belton's faction plotted to have his father change sides to Lucas's faction and name the third son as his successor. By having his father assassinated and turning him into a Live-Dead puppet.
He set his eyes on Luciliano, an adventurer working solo without forming a party or finding companions, to create the Live-Dead.
Of course, Luciliano didn't want to get involved in such a conspiracy, but he was kidnapped and threatened without being given a choice, so he pretended to do what was being demanded of him. But he secretly used a Live-Dead mouse as his familiar to find help, and the third son's conspiracy was stopped before it began and those involved were arrested.
"But I was arrested as well," Luciliano explained. "That noble family seemed to want to make it as if the incident had never happened. I was taken straight into imprisonment and then sent here as a criminal slave. Thanks to the slave collar, I can't use magic. Well, even then, my Attribute Values are higher than the average person, so I managed to survive up until now, but… I suppose that ends here. Ah, I wanted to at least have some mellow wine, warm soup, fresh salad, soft bread, a fish dish with fresh fish, a meat dish with thick chunks of meat and a dessert before the end."
"… Isn't that a full-course meal?" Vandalieu pointed out.
Luciliano's oval-shaped face had grown thin, making him look even seedier, but his request was quite extravagant. It was possible that he could get along with Vandalieu unexpectedly well.
"So, Vandalieu-sama, are you going to kill him?" Eleanora asked.
"What should I do?" Vandalieu wondered, looking troubled.
Luciliano was a man with quite a peculiar relationship to Vandalieu. He wasn't an ally, so there wasn't any reason for Vandalieu to assertively help him. If he had to decide, he was more of an enemy. But Vandalieu couldn't answer whether he was someone worth killing in this situation.
For Pauvina, who wasn't present, Luciliano was the man who had manipulated her previous life's body without permission and turned it into a Noble Orc's plaything, but he wasn't directly responsible for her death and Pauvina hadn't shown any signs of hating him after being reborn. In fact, hadn't she forgotten about it?
But if Vandalieu let him go here, there was a high chance that information on what had happened in this mine would leak.
However, Vandalieu felt reluctant to kill him.
Unlike the criminal slaves who had been evil criminals, Luciliano wasn't an evil person, nor did Vandalieu harbor any personal grudges towards him. Considering the details of how he became a slave, Vandalieu actually felt a considerable amount of sympathy for him.
"I suppose I'll try asking Pauvina first," Vandalieu decided.
He would reserve judgment for now until asking Pauvina whether it was alright for him to bring Luciliano back to Talosheim.
After that, Vandalieu woke up the noblemen and soldiers in the mine and gathered them in one place.
"It's alright if their limbs fall off or their heads smash to pieces, but please try not to crush them all over. Ah, but it's totally OK to turn them into paste," he said.
His dangerous-sounding words were directed not at the conscious yet paralyzed individuals behind him, but the new inhabitants of Talosheim, who were breathing loudly through their noses with clubs, shovels and pickaxes in their hands.
"You bastard! What are you planning to do?!" demanded one particularly large voice among the countless pleas for mercy.
"A public execution," Vandalieu replied.
"Don't [censored] with me!" the voice shouted back. Vandalieu found this rather unpleasant.
However, these would be the final words of the people who were about to be executed in a gruesome way.
It would be immature to think of them badly for shouting at me, Vandalieu thought as he turned around.
"I am Viscount Besser, the one who has been entrusted with the management of this mine by His Excellency, the duke! I firmly protest to this unjust treatment!" shouted the viscount, his mouth open so wide that it looked as if his entire face consisted of only a mouth.
Vandalieu gave him a perplexed look. "Unjust treatment, you say… isn't this normal?"
The viscount and his soldiers had done things that Vandalieu would hesitate to even say aloud. The positions had simply been reversed now, so this was normal, wasn't it?
In fact, they would die within ten minutes without being subjected to the same treatment, so weren't they actually lucky?
"Do not fool yourself! I am a nobleman!" the viscount exclaimed.
"… I mean, I know that. Is that relevant?" Vandalieu asked.
He had explained the situation to the viscount and his men. He had the feeling that doing this instead of killing them without them knowing anything would allow him to turn them into stronger Undead.
"You bastard! Even in war, it is common sense to take noblemen as prisoners whenever possible and give them treatment appropriate to their status! Are you not even aware of this?!" shouted the viscount.
"No, I wasn't. Sorry." Vandalieu, having learned something new, made a mental note of the viscount's words. If he became an adventurer, he might have opportunities to participate in wars, so it was good that he could learn this piece of common knowledge early on. "I'll do that next time," he said.
"No, do it now!" the viscount demanded. "Do you think that you can get away with killing me?!"
"I think I'll make sure that I will," said Vandalieu.
"There is no way that you could! I am a nobleman; if you do such a thing, all of you low-birth creatures will be sentenced to death! My Kingdom will put its prestige on the line to hunt down those who kill noblemen and end their lives without mercy!" Viscount Besser shouted.
The faces of some of the former-slave Titans turned pale in fear at his words; they began lowering the weapons in their hands.
That was how much of a difference there was between commoners and noblemen in the world of Lambda. Not everyone's lives were equal; the lives of nobles and royalty were clearly more precious. That was common knowledge.
"Do you understand now, you vulgar brat?!" Viscount Besser shouted at Vandalieu, the current king of Talosheim.
At this moment, a rising bloodthirst was coming from Borkus and Eleanora, but Vandalieu raised a hand to calm them.
The important thing here wasn't to deal with the fact that he had been insulted by the viscount, but to make the new citizens of Talosheim acknowledge his power. If he relied too much on Borkus and the others, some might change their minds and decide that they couldn't follow him after all. And if the criminal slaves didn't take him seriously, that would cause problems later on in the future.
"Everyone, please come over here," said Vandalieu.
"Okay~"
Thinking that he should show his power, Vandalieu summoned Levia and the other Ghosts, and transferred Mana to them. He looked up at the mine… the small mountain that was protruding from the surface of the earth, the small mountain that was about five hundred meters tall.
"… Corpse Flame Prison Destruction Barrage."
Small flames appeared, like a countless number of fireflies. But in the next moment, they turned into a countless number of skulls made of black flames.
The skulls cackled as they flooded towards the mountain that Vandalieu was pointing at.
The resulting sight was fearsome to behold.
Over a hundred skull-shaped flames sank their teeth into the rocky mountain. The hard boulders became brittle and broke, burned and crumbled. This process continued endlessly, and before everyone's very eyes, the mountain's shape changed as it was gouged from the earth. There was a thunderous noise as rocks fell from the mountain, but even that was erased by Vandalieu's magic.
"Kid, the mountain's going to disappear," said Borkus.
"Ah, you're right."
By the time Borkus stopped him, the mountain had been reduced to two thirds of its size. It wasn't that large a mountain to begin with, but this display of power made not only the previously-spirited viscount and his soldiers, but even the former slaves stare with open mouths.
Eleanora and the others were dumbfounded as well. Even Pete, whose head was protruding from Vandalieu's hair, had frozen stiff.
Up until now, none of the spells of the death-attribute had possessed the ability to physically destroy their targets. However, by acquiring the Dead Spirit Magic skill and having Levia and the others available to use, Vandalieu could now accomplish the same things as fire-attribute magic.
Eleanora and everyone else was seeing Vandalieu's Mana exhibit its true potential for the first time.
"Bocchan, would it not be quicker to simply invade the Hartner Duchy?" Sam suggested.
"Sam, it's impossible because Heinz is here," said Vandalieu. "Also, if I do that, that would mean fighting the other duchies and even the Amid Empire, wouldn't it?'
"Well, I suppose so," said Borkus. "No matter how strong the kid is, he's just one person. If A-class adventurers and elite forces from every nation attacked multiple places at once, holding out would be impossible."
As he said, there were plenty of people in this world who were capable of doing what Vandalieu had just accomplished.
"And in the end, a mountain is just a mountain," said Vandalieu. "It doesn't move. A B-class or A-class adventurer would be able to avoid this attack."
Unlike mountains, people could be equipped with all kinds of Magic Items and possessed skills. Corpse Flame Prison Destruction Barrage wasn't accurate in its targeting, so it wouldn't be difficult for a superhuman to survive it… though ordinary people would simply turn into ash.
"It's true that things would probably work out with me, Vigaro, Eleanora-jouchan and the others, but…" Borkus looked up at the collapsed mountain.
Normally, they might have had to run away from the falling debris, but Vandalieu had even destroyed the debris.
He had even erased the noise, which made it feel less real, but if he hadn't done that, then many people probably would have lost consciousness.
"By the way, was it really alright to destroy the mine?" asked Borkus.
"It's not a problem," Vandalieu replied. "I intended to destroy the mine right from the beginning to eradicate the Hartner Duchy's supply of mineral resources." He turned around to face the former slaves. "What I want to say is, I have power, so the noblemen's retaliation isn't something to be feared. Don't you agree?" he asked them.
The former slaves remained dumbfounded for a moment before regaining their senses.
"I've never seen such a great spell… This is the one who's going to be our king?"
"If our king is this strong, then isn't it true that we don't need to fear the noblemen of this nation?"
"That's right, even if the Hartner Duchy and other duchies, even if the king sends an army, they'll be eaten up like that mountain and not even leave ashes behind."
"If that person is our king, then we won't even lose to the Amid Empire… we won't be chased out of our homeland anymore."
Strength returned to their eyes, and the weapons that had been lowered earlier were raised once more.
In fact, it was the viscount and his men who were now deathly-pale. After seeing Vandalieu's Dead Spirit Magic, they were now perfectly aware as to whether the Hartner family they knew would be able to do something about the half-Vampire before them who called himself a king.
"Wait. If you spare us - no, at least me, I'll pay you any amount you want," said the viscount.
His plea for mercy triggered the soldiers to beg for mercy as well.
"V-Viscount-sama?!"
"I have a wife and children; Please spare my life!"
"I haven't killed or raped anyone! It's true; please believe me!"
"Umm, I can earn money in other ways, so I don't really care about that," said Vandalieu. "Raping others when you have a wife and child isn't good now, is it? And you, the last one, you shouldn't tell lies that are so easy to see through."
All of the soldiers' attempts were futile.
"I've already left out those of you who were simply working normally without unnecessarily harming, killing or raping the slaves," Vandalieu told them. Those whom he had deemed to be not bad enough to deserve death had been gathered in a separate place.
There was an old soldier who had remained faithful to his wife and employees brought here by the viscount such as maids and chefs - around ten people in total. They weren't particularly virtuous people, nor had they harbored deep compassion for the slaves, but they had hesitated to kill.
Vandalieu was planning to bring them back to Talosheim as slaves, watch them for a while and then, if they seemed alright, he would release them to become free citizens.
He loathed meaningless killing; he wouldn't think of killing them unless it was necessary. The incident where he had a single silver coin stolen from him in the marketplace hadn't even stayed in his memories.
But when there was a reason to kill someone, he believed that they should always be killed.
The viscount and his men were those who deserved to die.
"Now then, as part of my duty as the Eclipse King of Talosheim, I will carry out your sentence," Vandalieu declared.
The war cry of Gopher and the rest of the Titans, who were armed with the weapons that they had chosen, combined with the screams of the viscount and his men in a pleasant-sounding chorus.
The screams grew gradually quieter, but the pleasant sensation and sounds of flesh being crushed and bones being broken soothed Vandalieu's heart and the thick smell of blood stimulated his hunger.
"Now then, shall we leave this place to Princess Levia and the others while we get ready to eat? I'm sure everyone wants to fill their stomachs up," said Vandalieu.
"I'm sure that Saria and the others have finished preparations in the kitchen. By the way, what are they making?" Levia asked.
In the kitchen, there were food supplies that had been supplied by the traveling merchant. The slaves had been forced to eat food similar to what would normally be fed to livestock or turnip-like crops that would grow even in dry land, which they had grown in the slave village. But today, Vandalieu intended to prepare food for them made from the ingredients that the soldiers had been eating.
Vandalieu and the others found these ingredients rather strange, however.
"Sam and the others brought other ingredients here for us, so let's use those as well to make a stew," said Vandalieu.
"Oh, miso stew? That's good stuff," said Borkus.
There were no dairy products available, so the stew would contain miso to provide a deeper flavor. It was a fine example of a homemade Talosheim dish.
"If there was fresh, undried meat, I would have considered a barbecue as well," said Vandalieu.
"Vandalieu-sama, I have to question that sentiment," said Eleanora.
It seemed that she was the only one to have noticed that eating barbecued meat would be difficult after seeing the burnt corpses.
『The levels of the Dead Spirit Magic and Commanding skills have increased!』
"Please allow me to call you Master!"
"No."
Having seen the Dead Spirit Magic, Luciliano begged Vandalieu to accept him as an apprentice. Vandalieu wondered what Luciliano had in mind. He doubted that he had any techniques that he could teach Luciliano.
"I don't mind remaining a slave!" said Luciliano. "Please teach me your supreme techniques!"
"He is quite the promising man," said Eleanora. She seemed to have taken a liking to Luciliano. She was probably happy with the way he gazed at Vandalieu as if worshipping him.
"Well, teaching others rather than being taught will be a good experience as well," said Borkus. "I don't think he'll be able to do the same things as you, though, kid. He'll have different magical affinities."
"Pauvina-chan has forgotten about it and doesn't mind, so isn't it fine?" said Rita. "We'll have another civil official, at least."
"Well then… I will teach you, but what I'm using isn't life-attribute magic, so you shouldn't get your hopes up," said Vandalieu.
"I would be more surprised if you were to tell me that it was the same attribute of magic as mine," said Luciliano.
It seemed that Corpse Flame Prison Destruction Barrage couldn't be mistaken for life-attribute magic.
In any case, Vandalieu now had a new apprentice.
After that, Vandalieu and the others stayed for two days in what was now formerly-slave-run-mine (in fact, the underground tunnel had now collapsed and turned into a graveyard).
During that time, they made various preparations, had Gopher and the other Titans gather some stamina and spirit, and Vandalieu performed physical examinations on them. As they had spent long years being exploited as slaves, there were some who didn't have the strength to make the journey to Talosheim… they would certainly be over the limit for Vandalieu to fly them there.
As a result, Vandalieu needed to create carriages and horse-shaped Golems (similar to the clay horses in textbooks on Earth) with Golem Transmutation.
"Carriages in Lambda don't have suspension, do they?" said Vandalieu. "Sam doesn't have them either, though he doesn't shake because of his skill."
"Bocchan, why are you talking about pensions?" asked Rita.
Naturally, springs and coils hadn't been invented in Lambda.
Boards and poles were put together in a structure to reduce shock, but metal springs didn't exist.
So Vandalieu created them and added them to his carriages. He would be able to test the idea that he had thought of right away, so his Golem Transmutation and Carpentry skills were celebrating.
"You possess the technique of a carriage craftsman, your Majesty? But still, the world's technology has progressed from where it was two hundred years ago when we were alive," Levia remarked.
"No, Levia-sama; this is something that the kid's invented himself," Borkus told her.
In truth, however, Vandalieu hadn't actually invented springs. He had simply reused his knowledge from Earth and Origin to reproduce them.
"You can praise me more," said Vandalieu.
He was happy to be praised, so he showed no modesty. Although he was using his prior knowledge, it was his own skills and magic that were reproducing the technology, so Vandalieu considered it to be his own achievement.
Patents on Earth and in Origin meant nothing in Lambda, anyway.
"It would be perfect with some Golem tires, but… were those made just by hardening some rubber?" Vandalieu wondered.
Tires would be convenient in various ways, so he would try making them when he got back.
And so, Vandalieu reversed the Titans' aging while telling them that he was performing physical examinations. They had wasted two hundred years of their lives. This was a service he was doing them so that they could live enough to make up for that.
Vandalieu had gained their permission, albeit in an indirect way, so it was probably fine.
"This massage, do people ever tell you that they feel younger afterwards? I feel a hundred years younger, seriously."
Things were going like this.
Vandalieu couldn't complete the task for all of them in two days, so he was planning to do the rest along the way. This also acted as training to his Mana pool, so it was killing two birds with one stone.
And then he used the monster bones that Borkus and the others had brought to create decoy Undead.
"I have a complete understanding of Titan and human skeletons. Using Golem Transmutation to change the shapes of monster bones to disguise them as Titan skeletons is simply a little heavy labor for me," Vandalieu explained.
"It's heavy work?!"
"I have to make a lot of them, so it's just troublesome."
Incidentally, Vandalieu had used Decomposition on the gruesome corpses of the viscount and his men to make them rot away, put their broken bones back together and created Skeletons. With this, even if the people of the Hartner Duchy noticed that something strange had occurred at the mine, they would simply assume that someone had killed everyone here and that all of the soldiers and slaves had turned into Skeletons.
They wouldn't think that the slaves had been rescued.
After finishing all preparations, everyone headed towards Talosheim.
『You have acquired the Title 'Holy Son of Vida!'』
『The level of the Carpentry skill has increased!』
Name: Eleanora
Rank: 9
Race: Noble-born Vampire Viscount
Level: 47
Job: Subordinate War Princess
Job level: 27
Job history: Slave, Servant, Apprentice Mage, Apprentice Warrior, Mage, Demon Eye User, Vassal Warrior
Age: 10 years old (20 years old at time of Vampire transformation, 30 years old in total)
Passive skills:
Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Superhuman Strength: Level 6
Rapid Regeneration: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Status Effect Resistance: Level 6
Intuition: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Mental Corruption: Level 3
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Detect Presence: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Sunlight Resistance: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Allure: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Mining: Level 1
Time-Attribute Magic: Level 5
Life-Attribute Magic: Level 5
No-Attribute Magic: Level 2
Mana Control: Level 3
Bloodsucking: Level 4 (NEW!)
Swordsmanship: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Silent Steps: Level 4
Steal: Level 1
Housework: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Shield Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Armor Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Surpass Limits: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Chant Revocation: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Unique skills:
Charming Demon Eyes: Level 7
Job explanation:
[Subordinate War Princess]
A Job that can be acquired by a woman who has been born into nobility or previously held a certain social status, but is currently a subordinate to another person.
Depending on the nation, owning female warriors with this Job is a large symbol of status; it is not uncommon for nobles and royalty to trade them at high prices. Many harems contain multiple female slaves who possess (or forced to possess) this Job and act as guards.
This Job does provide bonuses to combat-related skills, but it also provides bonuses to the Allure, Seduction and Love-making skills.
In Eleanora's case, the prerequisite of being "born into nobility" is fulfilled by the fact that she is a Noble-born Vampire.
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Chapter 85: A king who visits the people
Korf, who managed the caravan of merchants who delivered materials to the slave-run mine, felt a strange uneasiness.
There had been all kinds of things happening in the Hartner Duchy recently.
First, a Dungeon had appeared at the city of Niarki and a monster rampage had occurred, causing a great deal of panic.
The monster rampage and the Dungeon, named 'Heinz's Skeleton Cavern,' had been dealt with by the A-class adventurer party, the Five-colored Blades. After the Dungeon was explored, it was declared to be a Class dungeon with thirty floors and that monsters shouldn't emerge from within as long as the monster population inside was periodically kept in check.
Apparently, there were many Undead, venomous insectoid monsters and poisonous plant-type monsters; most of the floors were caves, swamps or forests.
During the monster rampage, all of the monsters had been more powerful than their Ranks, but the monsters had now returned to normal strength.
But it seemed that when the Blue-flamed Sword Heinz entered the Dungeon, the monsters would flood towards him.
This was a chance for the city of Niarki, especially the Adventurers' Guild, as only small-to-medium-sized Devil's Nests and D-class Dungeons had existed nearby until now. The monsters that appeared in the new Dungeon were unique, so the Dungeon wouldn't be very popular, however.
The merchants of the caravan anticipated that new, rare drugs could be created from the monsters' venom. They didn't care about the rumors that the remnants of the Demon King had created a Dungeon in order to kill the heroes of the Five-colored Blades, particularly targeting its leader Heinz. It was nothing more than a topic of idle conversation.
After that, the castle in Nineland, the Hartner Duchy's capital, had sunk. Not in the metaphorical, economic sense, but physically. The merchants hadn't seen it for themselves, so they found it difficult to believe, but it was certain that the castle had suffered large damage. An outlaw who had gone on a violent rampage in the north was apparently involved in the incident, but the smaller details hadn't been released yet.
Either way, the merchants had thought that this event had no direct effect on them, as they operated in remote regions. They only hoped that taxes wouldn't increase to fund the castle's repair.
But after leaving the city of Niarki, staying a night in a cultivation village and then heading further south to the slave-run mine, they realized that this wasn't the case.
"Boss… no matter how many times I count, there's a mountain missing."
"I see, so you thought so as well."
After they left the cultivation village, they drew closer to the slave-run mountain that was their destination over the first and second day, giving them a view of the rocky mountains lined up against each other, but… the scenery that they had seen countless times was now different.
There was one less mountain than there should have been.
"What is the meaning of this? Was there a great earthquake or something?"
"If there was an earthquake large enough to collapse a mountain, even the city of Niarki wouldn't be unharmed. The people at the cultivation villages would have known something, too. And if that really were the case, the other mountains would have crumbled as well."
"So, are you saying that the tunnels collapsed, causing the whole mountain to collapse?"
"There's no doubt that some fearsome monster has appeared; I'm sure it was the same demon that sank the castle!"
"We agreed that that was a false rumor, right? Calm down!"
"Stay calm! We always say that if you panic, you'll only cause yourself harm, don't we!" shouted the caravan leader Korf, reprimanding his subordinate merchants. But he was aware that this was a state of emergency.
With that said, that didn't mean that they could simply turn around and return to the city.
"Everyone, keep your weapons in hand," Korf ordered. "Escorts, please be ready to fight at any time."
"We're going to keep going?!"
"Of course," said Korf. "How can we run away without knowing what happened? We're merchants!"
It was certainly an emergency situation, but there wasn't any threat or danger that they could see yet. They couldn't hear any volcanoes erupting or fearsome monsters howling.
If the caravan turned back now, they would be breaching their contract. Their carriages contained the food supplies and other necessities, as well as luxury items, for the slave-run mine.
If some kind of disaster had occurred at the slave-run mountain and the survivors were waiting for rescue, they might all die if the caravan fled without even investigating the scene. Never mind being charged a fine; in the worst-case scenario, Korf's head could be sent flying, physically. Even if that didn't happen, cowards who would say, "Something appeared to be happening, so we got scared and turned back," didn't have the right to form a caravan operating in remote regions.
That was why Korf's caravan needed to confirm what had happened at the slave-run mine.
In this world, merchants couldn't survive just by counting revenues and expenditures. They needed to risk their lives to gain the trust of others.
On the third day, they saw that the outer wall and gate of the slave-run mine had collapsed and been destroyed. However, there wasn't any sign of vicious monsters or armed forces occupying the mine.
With that being the case, it was unlikely that the caravan would suddenly be wiped out. Believing this, they cautiously drew closer… and the men of Korf's caravan saw something terrifying.
"Skeletons! The soldiers… no, the slaves have all turned into Skeletons!"
Monsters made only of white bones, their bones rattling with each movement and their jaws clattering in place of laughter.
There were Skeletons equipped with the armor and weapons of the soldiers, as well as Titan Skeletons over two meters tall wearing worn-out pieces of cloth instead of clothes with pickaxes and shovels in their hands… it looked like there were hundreds of them.
"Run, run back to the city, we have to tell the people in the city about this!"
There probably weren't any survivors; even if there were, this was too much for Korf's caravan to do anything about it. Having decided this, they fled back to the city of Niarki with the news that the mine had vanished and that the soldiers and slaves had turned into Skeletons.
And so, news of a third large incident spread, sending shockwaves throughout the Hartner Duchy.
One of the members of the Five-colored Blades, Edgar, noticed that the higher-ranking members of the Fangs of Dark Nights had been replaced by Undead, and through the party's efforts, a Vampire Zombie was exterminated. After that, they headed for Nineland by joint request of the Hartner family and the Church of Alda.
Around the same time, Vandalieu and those accompanying him arrived back in Talosheim and were now resting.
"Holy Son, congratulations on the fulfilment of the prophecy! Please grant us permission to build a new statue of you!" Nuaza exclaimed, worshipping Vandalieu as if he were a god walking on this world now that he had gained the Title of 'Holy Son of Vida.'
"Your Majesty, now that you are ruling over new citizens, there has never been a better opportunity to create our own currency!" said Chezare, insistent now that the nation had gained hundreds of new citizens.
"Vandalieu, I told you through the communication devices as well, but there's a new Dungeon. When are we going to clear it?" asked Vigaro, excited about the upcoming new adventure.
The three of them were all talking to Vandalieu at once in the castle, but he didn't have the ability to answer them right now.
"It's been quite a while since I felt this smooth, cool sensation of patting him," Basdia remarked.
"You are absolutely right," Tarea agreed. "By the way, won't you people hold back a little? If you don't, it will feel like I am embracing you."
"If you feel that way, lose some of your meat," said Zadiris. "Not only your upper arms, but you must get rid of some of your fat as well. Right, boy?"
"Wow, King's tongue can grow so long! Look, Mama, it's like an earthworm!" exclaimed Varbie.
"You're right, it's longer than you are, Varbie," said Bilde. "King, what's the inside of your mouth like?"
There were clicking noises.
"Huh? This isn't his tongue, but a centipede-san?"
Rapiéçage groaned.
"Your tongue won't grow," Bilde told her. "… It won't grow, will it?"
All of the women had flooded towards Vandalieu.
For the men, the only parts of Vandalieu visible between all of the women who were engaging in physical contact with Vandalieu for the first time in a month were his limbs and his tongue.
"I did hear about it, but he really is popular with the women," Levia remarked in a surprised tone.
"That's right; it is Vandalieu-sama, after all," said Eleanora.
Rita giggled. "Are you surprised?" She and Eleanora seemed to be boasting, for some reason.
"Hey, why are you boasting, Eleanora? Rita? Shouldn't your reaction be a little different here?" asked Saria. But she couldn't stop Basdia and the others from doing what they were doing; she had done the same thing as them.
Incidentally, Borkus was leading Gopher and the other Titans around the city, and for some reason, Sam was practicing flying through the sky. It seemed that he had been provoked by the fact that Vandalieu had become able to turn into an enormous bird and fly through the sky, but would a carriage really become able to fly through practice?
"Isn't it about time you all calmed down?" asked Vandalieu, surrounded by warm, soft, pleasant-smelling skin. "And my tongue won't grow any longer, so stop pulling it. Everyone wasn't so assertive before. And there were times where you wouldn't see me for days at a time, weren't there?" he pointed out.
Nobody would see him for days while he was clearing Dungeons other than those in his party. But nobody had embraced him so passionately when he returned to Talosheim on those occasions.
"It is as you say, boy. But things have been difficult for the past little while," said Zadiris. "Well, we didn't really mind half of the Undead Titans all leaving Talosheim at once, however," she added.
"Yeah, the walls you built are solid, Van, and normally, we would be clearing the Dungeons and hunting monsters in the nearby Devil's Nests, so the monsters were being kept in check sufficiently," said Basdia. "But -"
"Making preparations to accommodate the new citizens and welcome everyone coming back has been difficult," said Tarea. "In particular, teaching the other Ghouls about the marriage system and making them understand it."
"Yes, it's been truly difficult," said Kachia. "All of us former humans were lecturing them for a whole day. They didn't object to what we were saying, it simply took a long time to make them understand."
The biggest concern that they had about welcoming Gopher and the other new inhabitants was the way Ghouls conducted their sexual relationships. Ghouls had no culture regarding marriage, so it was possible that they would cause trouble by calling out to others who already had children and spouses.
The Magic Items that Vandalieu had distributed had improved the Ghouls' fertility, and their everyday lives had become more stable recently, so their nights were less wild than before; they weren't simply looking for whichever partners might be available. Ghouls had their preferences, too.
Also, Vandalieu as well as Nuaza and the other Titans had long since explained to the Ghouls how relationships between men and women worked in the societies of other races. Because of this, the Ghouls had acknowledged marriage as a situation where one worked intimately with their partner in order to bear and raise their children.
But there were still occasions where they would call out to each other and say, "I don't have a partner right now, so do you want to?" If a child was born, they would say things like, "Alright, I'll help you until they become adults," so the men weren't completely irresponsible, but… only if this happened between individuals who both had long lifespans.
If their partners had a proper view on marriage, there could be complications with jealousy and even bloodshed could occur.
That was why the Ghoul chief Zadiris and Basdia, her daughter who would one day become Vandalieu's partner, as well as the Ghouls who had once been humans, had educated the other Ghouls regarding this matter.
Incidentally, the marriage system wasn't as proper as that of Earth; people wouldn't submit documents to the government. They would simply tell their parents, relatives, neighbors and coworkers that they had gotten married.
The only documents involved were the family trees of nobles and royalty.
But in the reborn Talosheim, everyone would leave behind documented records.
"Thank you, everyone," said Vandalieu. "You've saved me a lot of trouble. Chezare, how is the family register coming along?"
"The documents have already been prepared," Chezare reported. "Now we simply need to have them filled in and everything will be complete."
According to Vandalieu's will, a family register had been introduced to Talosheim. There was a system for distributing food, so it would be more convenient to have a family register.
Chezare and the others currently managed it… although he was a general, not a civil official. Had he forgotten this himself, perhaps?
"Well then, how is the Dungeon?" Vandalieu asked.
"We've kept an eye on it and the areas around it, but monsters aren't coming out. We're going to go and clear them now," said Basdia.
"Thank you," said Vandalieu. "That Dungeon was probably something I created, so it might be different from other Dungeons."
Considering the timing of the appearance of the new Dungeon that had appeared in Talosheim's forest of Immortal Ents, the Labyrinth Construction skill was clearly involved.
That would normally be something to be surprised about, but…
"So that's it after all. We thought so," said Basdia.
"Indeed," Sam agreed.
"All of the citizens believed that this was the case," said Nuaza.
Nobody was surprised.
"… Everyone's reactions are so weak," said Vandalieu.
"Everyone knows that you put a huge amount of your Mana into that forest, Van," said Basdia. "Everyone was already saying that a Dungeon might appear there."
"Dungeons are not things that could normally be created artificially, but your Mana is in the hundreds of millions," Zadiris added. "Normal limits do not apply to you."
"Yes, it is wonderful," said Tarea. "If you simply create Dungeons in hostile nations and cause monster rampages, we can defeat them without having to fight!"
"Hey, if there are monsters other than Undead and insects, we'll be wiped out as well!" Kachia pointed out.
"If you can choose what the terrain of the Dungeon is like, I kind of want to see an ocean. Can you do it?" asked Basdia.
It seemed that Vandalieu's ability to create Dungeons had been accepted. Tarea's thoughts were quite dangerous, but Kachia had reprimanded her for them.
Incidentally, Varbie, Jadal and Pauvina were playing with Vandalieu's tongue as if they were grabbing an eel.
Vandalieu's tongue was secreting a lotion-like substance that was gentle on the skin, so there weren't any problems with hygiene.
"First of all, let's sort out places for Gopher and the others to live and allocate food and other necessities so that they won't have problems for a while," said Vandalieu. "Then we'll decide how the criminal slaves will be treated, and after that, let's start clearing and inspecting the Dungeon. Regarding currency, I've given Datara the coins we brought from the Hartner Duchy; we'll need to figure out their ratios of valuable metals first. But please think of possible names for the currency and hand your suggestions to Chezare. And about the statue of me… go ahead and build it whenever you want."
Examining the Dungeon and ensuring that it was safe was the top priority. Currency came after that, and the statue… there was an additional one being built every year, so Vandalieu didn't really mind it now.
"Let's leave Bone Man and Knochen to watch over the Dungeon while we get our new citizens settled in," said Vandalieu. "If we neglect to do this, it'll become a disaster in the future."
Vandalieu didn't know how things were in Origin, but on Earth, there had always been conflict with existing inhabitants when new inhabitants moved in. The strain caused by immigration policies.
Just because he had brought new citizens and convinced them to live here didn't mean that the work was over.
"So, it's about time you let me go," Vandalieu told the women.
"Eh, let's play some more!" Pauvina protested.
In the end, Vandalieu went to check up on the new citizens while dragging everyone along with him.
It seemed that the new citizens would settle into Talosheim more quickly than Vandalieu had imagined.
"I was surprised about a lot of things at first. It was like we'd gone back in time two hundred years, and when we went inside, the buildings and streets looked even more fancy than they did two hundred years ago," said Gopher as she placed a Reversi piece on a board with a clack.
Vandalieu had used Golem Transmutation to repair Talosheim's townscape that had turned into a ruin. Thus, it didn't look much different from before the city's destruction.
But carvings in the shapes of faces and eyes of people and birds created by Undead Titan stonemasons now decorated the city all over. They were actually all Golems designed to detect intruders, but they looked artistic and gave the city a mystical appearance.
As a result, Talosheim's townscape was something that wouldn't fall short even if compared to Nineland, the capital of the Hartner Duchy.
"Also, you're very generous," said Gopher, pointing at the honey-colored cloth of the simple piece of clothing that she was wearing. These were the new clothes that had been distributed to her and the other former Titan slaves after only ever having worn clothes made of tattered linen.
They had all been made from the honey silk produced by the Cemetery Bees. Each person had been given several of them. They had even been given shoes, hats, essential furniture and houses.
"… It's quite a cheap product, you know?" said Vandalieu. "The cloth isn't dyed, and I'm sure it won't do much against the cold in the winter. Over half of the furniture is stuff I put together really quickly, and the houses were already there and I just allocated them to you. Actually, the houses belonged to you in the first place, didn't they?"
"That's true, but you're the one who repaired those houses out of the rubble, aren't you?" Gopher pointed out. "Your Majesty, are you aware? There's a big fuss among the ones from the cultivation village."
In Lambda, no matter how great a cultivation project, the people of the cultivation villages wouldn't be provided with living necessities, houses and everything else that they needed. Even those sponsored by the king of a great nation wouldn't be provided with clothes of fine material that only noblemen would wear and fully-furnished, properly-built stone houses.
There had been quite a bit of chaos as those from the First Cultivation Village wondered if they were dreaming and bowed before the Ghouls who distributed the supplies.
Perhaps this was only natural, as they had gone from being people of the lowest class in a slave-run mine and suddenly gained a quality of life that exceeded their previous social positions.
"A little," said Vandalieu. "But there is a reason for this. You were all slaves and didn't have any living necessities other than the ones you stole at the mine, so you wouldn't be able to live unless I provided them to you. Also, the houses are actually vacant, so it would be more troublesome to not have you live in them."
The former slaves didn't have anything that could be called assets, so there was no choice but to provide them with assets. And since Vandalieu was supplying them, he couldn't deliberately give them poor products… in fact, there were no poor products to give them.
The honey silk was the cloth that he was producing most stably; it would have actually been more problematic to give them linen or cotton clothes. Vandalieu had created over half of the furniture, but he hadn't used any particularly special materials. He had simply used Golem Transmutation to change the shapes of some pieces of wood.
As for the houses, he hadn't done anything other than allocate them to people. He had shuffled people around so that they weren't all living in once place, however.
"Wouldn't it be horrible of me to not provide you with anything and tell you to live however you can? I don't have a hobby of collecting empty houses," said Vandalieu as he clacked his own piece onto the board. "Ah, but I'm happy that you feel grateful towards me," he added.
"Yes, yes, we are very grateful," said Gopher.
"More importantly, what about the stuff other than the practical side of living here?" Vandalieu asked. "The religion or the Undead, for example."
"Ah, that? Everyone is calmer about it than you expected," Gopher replied. "Nobody is rejecting anything."
Vandalieu's greatest fear initially was that the former slaves would reject the Undead, Ghouls and the races that he had created such as the Black Goblins. But according to Gopher, there was no need to worry about that for now.
"Everyone prepared themselves to some extent after seeing Levia-sama and Oyaji," Gopher explained. "And the Ghouls turned out to be pretty nice after actually meeting them, didn't they? I was a little surprised at the black Goblins, Orcs and Kobolds, and we were pretty dumbfounded to see plants moving around in the fields and forest, but… Well, I suppose it's nothing to worry about."
It seemed that the former slaves were more tolerant than Vandalieu had expected. Perhaps it was because they were inhabitants of a world where there were different races with different appearances and ways of living.
Also, the fact that many of them were believers of Vida was perhaps one reason they were so tolerant towards Undead.
"As for religion, it doesn't even need to be said," said Gopher. "It's not like we bowed before Alda because we wanted to. We have the 'Holy Son of Vida' here, too."
"Huh. I suppose that's true," said Vandalieu.
His new 'Holy Son of Vida' Title was the biggest reason for that tolerance.
The fact that Vandalieu possessed this Title was essentially equivalent to the goddess Vida's personal authorization of his actions. The truth was that the goddess didn't necessarily see everything, but this was how it was being interpreted.
Because of this, Gopher and the other former slaves from Talosheim, who had believed in Vida from the very beginning as well as those from the cultivation village, who were originally from the Sauron Duchy where Vida's religion had prospered, treated Vandalieu as a saint or prophet.
From Vandalieu's point of view, things had just turned out this way as a result of him doing whatever he could and whatever he had wanted to do. But Vida was the one god in this world who was friendly towards him, so he was happy to have been acknowledged by her.
"Actually, you're similar to the champion Zakkart, aren't you? I'm sure he used some crazy magic," said Gopher.
She and the other former slaves already knew of Vandalieu's past, which had been announced when he was crowned king of Talosheim.
"It's a little different, though. I don't have cheat-like abilities or anything," said Vandalieu as he placed a black piece on the board, flipping a white piece over to turn it black.
From now on, when people came to Talosheim, they would find out about Vandalieu's past. Leaving aside whether it would actually be believed, the entire continent would know about it once Talosheim began trading with foreign countries.
Vandalieu didn't feel any risk in this, however.
Being found out by the others reincarnating here or being found out by the Empire or the believers of Alda were meaningless worries.
There were so many things in the city that Vandalieu had reproduced from another world, like miso, soy sauce, mayonnaise and ketchup. It would be stranger to think that he would be able to keep it hidden.
If those reincarnated here learned that there was a nation exporting miso and soy sauce, they would probably realize that someone from Earth like them was in that nation, and he would be noticed by the Empire and followers of Alda who prohibited the use of knowledge and technology from another world.
That was why it would be healthier on Vandalieu's mind to simply announce that he had lived in another world in his previous life than to deal with the stress of keeping it a secret. That was what he thought.
"More importantly -" Gopher began.
"Ah, the criminal slaves?" said Vandalieu. "I've assigned them work based on what they're suited to, and I'm planning to release them depending on how they work."
Most of the criminal slaves he had brought back to Talosheim wouldn't be considered evil people by a Japanese person's values, but that didn't mean that he could simply acquit them.
That was why he had heard their requests and had them work under stonemasons, blacksmiths, arms smiths and potters, as well as having them do manual labor and farming work. This also served as training for them to find work in the future, so they would likely be useful after they were released, too.
Incidentally, they were being treated worse than people in Japanese prisons. If they lived like Japanese prisoners, other than a lack of freedom, they would be living more luxurious lifestyles than even middle-class workers in Lambda.
Japanese prisoners had three meals a day with sufficient nutrition, worked eight hours a day with no overtime and got one day's rest every week. In Lambda, which had no Labor Standards Act, this would be incredibly good treatment.
Thus, in Talosheim, the slaves were given two meals a day and one day's rest every ten days.
Even then, it was difficult to call this treatment poor in comparison to Lambda's servants and employees who were only given a few days' rest a year, and it was heaven compared to the lifestyle they had in the slave-run mine.
"No, not them -"
"The children? I'll have them learn reading, writing and arithmetic before listening to what they want and having them work in the supply distribution center and the Church. Some of them are wondering if I'll make them attend me at night in the future, but I have no plans to do that," said Vandalieu.
"I know," said Gopher. "Anyone would know that you have no time for that with one look at that you. What I want to ask is, between that one and this one, which one is the real you?"
There was one spirit-form Vandalieu in front of Gopher, materializing only his fingertips to move the pieces. There were other Vandalieus all over the place, talking to the people while performing physical examinations on them and cooking things on iron plates. And a little further away, there was another Vandalieu, surrounded by beautiful Ghoul Women, Princess Levia and a young girl who was even larger than Titan children, which was the Vandalieu that Gopher was talking about.
"Both are the real me," Vandalieu replied.
"… You're the one I find most difficult to understand after all, Your Majesty," said Gopher.
"Muh, communication is difficult after all," Vandalieu murmured.
Why is it so hard when I'm such a friendly, honest king who visits the people like this? he wondered.
Title explanation:
[Holy Son of Vida]
This is a Title that indicates that the bearer is especially loved or acknowledged by Vida, the Goddess of Life and Love. In the past, only the founders of her new races such as Vampires or Dark Elves, or those she gave Divine Messages or trials, received this Title.
Because of this, such individuals are respected as saints by Vida's followers and members of her races.
This Title increases the ability to understand Divine Messages from Vida, as well as providing a bonus to the Clergyman skill.
Normally, Life-Attribute Magic would receive a bonus as well, but Vandalieu does not have an affinity for the life attribute so he does not gain this bonus.
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