Chapter 97: The Cream Expedition's conclusion!
Volume 5: The Monstrosity's Expedition
The one with the Title of "Scaled King," the one who ruled the vast marshlands, was being served today, just like he was every day, by the servants who worshipped him.
Over a hundred years ago, he had been nothing more than an Earth Dragon.
He was a member of a race of Dragons feared for their earth attribute, but such Dragons were indeed a lower-class race of Dragons.
He was a monster born in a Dungeon that had appeared in the marshlands. He was not a boss or a mid-boss, but an ordinary monster inhabiting the Dungeon's floors.
He suffered because those inhabiting the area around him were monsters of the same Rank as him, but one day, a great monster rampage occurred and he was released from the Dungeon.
When he went outside with the other monsters, he found that there were countless monsters that were weaker than him.
He ate them. He attacked, consumed, fought, was attacked in return, fought and was engrossed in consuming more.
Before he knew it, his Rank had increased.
And after some time, he heard the voice of Luvesfol, the Raging Evil Dragon God.
"You have quality. If you worship me, I shall give you my divine protection."
He obeyed Luvesfol's words and gained a divine protection. He continued to violently consume, and he, who had once been Rank 7, became a Great Mad Dragon.
His limbs became fin-shaped and his head and torso became like those of a crocodile, but he did not care. As a monster, an increase in Rank was something to be happy about, and if that resulted in a change in form, it was nothing to regret.
The Lizardmen that he had previously obeyed now obeyed him, and now that he had devoured his most powerful enemies, he now spent his pleasant days ruling as the Scaled King.
The Lizardmen would bring him food, and if it wasn't enough, he could simply eat the Lizardmen.
He stared at the treasures that he had collected and dozed off to sleep while having the Lizardmen polish the scales on his back that he couldn't reach himself. There was nothing better than this.
He no longer needed to do any fighting himself, but by having the Lizardmen worship Luvesfol as well, he was not reprimanded, but had his divine protection strengthened instead.
He had thought that time would simply continue passing like this forever, but his Lizardman servants had been making noise lately. It seemed that some of the conquered Lizardman groups were no longer obeying.
It was bothersome, so the Scaled King did nothing and simply went to sleep.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was delivered a message that they were under attack.
What insolent fools dare they defy the Scaled King? I will devour them!
After eating the Lizardman who had delivered the report as breakfast, the Great Mad Dragon with the Title of Scaled King left his den for the first time in a long time.
In the vast marshlands, a large number of Lizardmen were fighting an allied force made of other Lizardmen, Ghouls and Undead.
It was the allied force that was pushing forward.
"My army is overwhelming, is it not?" said Chezare, performing general-like work for the first time in a while.
It was so overwhelming that there was no need to tell Chezare that his words were triggering a flag.
"I did make sure that it would become overwhelming," said Vandalieu, whose skin was as white as wax even in the sunlight of this hot, humid summer.
They had started by searching for the groups of Lizardmen that had made non-aggression pacts with Talosheim two hundred years ago, holding flags of the same color that had been used when negotiating with the Lizardmen back then. But when they found these Lizardmen, who had ruled the marshlands two hundred years ago, they found that there was only a small group of only thirty individuals now.
There hadn't been any Lizardmen smart enough to understand human words or write characters, so Vandalieu made a Zombie out the Lizardmen he had defeated during the search and had them translate.
Vandalieu learned that the marshlands had now been ruled for a long time by a powerful Dragon and the group of Lizardmen who worshipped Luvesfol, the Raging Evil Dragon God, who had given this Dragon his divine protection.
No matter how much Vandalieu talked to the Lizardmen or listened to the spirits, he couldn't get any idea of where this Dragon had come from or what kind of Dragon it was, but he did learn that it had adapted to the marshlands and ruled over numerous Earth Dragons and Rock Dragons.
And the number of Lizardmen under the Scaled King's rule was apparently over three thousand.
The enemy group had used the Dragon's power to bring many other groups under its command, maintaining their numbers by hunting other monsters and fish and training their warriors in one of the two Dungeons that had appeared in the marshlands.
Lizardmen were Rank 3 to begin with, but they were the most intelligent among demi-human monsters excluding superior races such as Noble Orcs. Lizardman warriors had more endurance, more composure and better decision-making than unskilled bandits.
The fact that they had formed a non-aggression pact with Talosheim two hundred years ago was proof of their intelligence.
It seemed that there were many high-Rank Lizardmen in the Scaled King's group, so considering that the battlefield would be a marshland with poor footing, conquering them through sheer strength would be a poor plan.
If rock or wood Golems were to be used as disposable soldiers, they would quickly sink into the marshes.
So how had Vandalieu cut through the Scaled King's intelligent Lizardmen who weren't affected by Death-Attribute Charm and added them to his own army?
He had shown them his overwhelming power.
"Lizards! Choose whether you want to obey us or die here!"
"OOOOOHN!"
"Choose quickly! We have short tempers!"
The Rank 10 Zombie Hero Borkus, the Rank 8 Union of Bones Knochen and the Rank 7 Ghoul Tyrant Vigaro had intimidated the Lizardmen with their bloodthirst and anger, with the translating Lizardman Zombies next to them persuading the Lizardmen to surrender.
"Fufufu, it does look quite painful to have one's limbs severed. Do you wish for us to kill you? Oh no, what we desire is not your lives, but your absolute obedience. Please consider this offer. If you submit to us, I shall sew your limbs back on, just as they were before." The Rank 10 Bellmond persuaded the Lizardmen along with a Lizardman Zombie's translation, maintaining her usual businesslike smile.
"Obey us!" Braga shouted.
"You foolish people!" said Eleanora. "I am telling you to surrender to Vandalieu-sama!"
"Aren't you going to use your Charming Demon Eyes?" Basdia asked.
"There's no point in doing that because its effects are canceled the moment eye contact is broken!" Eleanora told her.
The three of them had beaten all of the Lizardmen half to death in order to make them understand the difference in strength.
Monsters generally only obeyed those stronger than them, so the only way to bring these Lizardmen over was to use violence and the language of physical actions.
"- ♪"
Vandalieu had peacefully sung an endless song among some of the Lizardmen groups as well while scattering paralyzing venom into the air. Of course, with the Scream and Mental Encroachment skill included.
By the time the paralyzing venom had worn off, these villages of Lizardmen believed without a doubt that they had been under the rule of Vandalieu all along, not the Scaled King.
The above methods had been used two months ago on the small groups outside the marshlands, and a thousand Lizardmen had become allies… and, for some reason, the group that had joined Vandalieu and his companions from the beginning, the one that had been friendly to Talosheim in the past, had become much more loyal in the process.
"With things being so one-sided, I have the feeling that it would have been easier to simply conquer them by force," said Chezare, half-joking.
"Chezare, you are getting ahead of yourself. And Shashuja is making a sad face, so don't say that," said Vandalieu, glancing at the Lizardman Geronimo Shashuja, who was acting as a mediator for the other Lizardmen.
He was a descendant of the ones who had made a non-aggression pact with Talosheim, and he was currently looking at Vandalieu with the expression of an abandoned puppy. It was incredible that he could make such an expression with his cold, reptilian eyes.
The truth was that Lizardmen were not a race created by Vida; they were just monsters. Vandalieu and his companions had no reason to give them any consideration.
But Vandalieu had yielded to Shashuja's sorrowful tears, deciding that the Lizardmen would merge with Talosheim after the Scaled King had been defeated.
Incidentally, the name Shashuja was a conversion of his original name in the Lizardman language so that other races could pronounce it.
"… Your Majesty, even if you are weak to women and children, why were you persuaded by the tears of a Lizardman?" Chezare asked.
"I've always liked animals," Vandalieu explained. "But when I was on Earth, I couldn't have any pets, and in Origin, I was a guinea pig."
And in the end, it had simply taken a bit of time, and the Lizardmen hadn't posed any particular danger to anyone, so he was sure that nobody would mind.
Also, it was true that it would be convenient to use the Lizardmen, who were adapted to this terrain, to manage these vast marshlands.
"More importantly, the enemy has revealed its trump card," said Vandalieu.
"Oh, those are Lizardman Royal Guards!" Chezare exclaimed. "That is a monster that normally does not appear in the absence of a Lizard King, Your Majesty."
Powerful-looking Lizardmen with better physiques and equipment than the others crawled out of their den. According to Chezare, they were members of quite a rare race.
They joined the frontlines, but they weren't enough to turn the tides of the one-sided battle.
There were still two thousand Lizardmen on the Scaled King's side, but on the side of the Eclipse King Vandalieu, in addition to the one thousand Lizardmen, there was a thousand-strong mixed army of Ghouls, Undead and monsters.
And the Lizardmen were not affected by Vandalieu's Strengthen Followers skill, but the Strengthen Subordinates skill was taking effect on them.
There was no way that a few dozen elite individuals joining the frontlines could make a difference.
Perhaps flustered because of this situation, the Dragons that were likely the Scaled King's most powerful servants emerged. Earth Dragons and Rock Dragons, six in total. They were scattering their own Lizardmen as they charged onto the frontlines, so they were making the battlefield even more chaotic.
But the Scaled King's Lizardmen gave hissing cheers and raised their own morale.
The Eclipse King's army cheered and raised their morale as well.
"Delicious-looking meat!"
"Kill them! Kill them!"
There were no Dragons around Talosheim these days, so everyone was fired up. Although Barigen's Fall Life-Mountain, a B-class Dungeon, produced many Wyverns, the spawn rate of Earth Dragons and Dragons more powerful than them was low, so this was a chance to have some Dragon meat for the first time in a long time.
In fact, these Rank 7 and Rank 8 enemies stood no chance against the elite members of the Eclipse King's army.
"Great Splitting Axe!" Vigaro cut through the neck of an Earth Dragon with an axe made of the Demon King's horns, and next to him, Knochen, who couldn't be described as anything but a mountain of bones, gave a roar as it swallowed another Earth Dragon whole while gouging out its bones.
"This is the time to show the bravery of the reborn Black Bull Knights' Order!"
"Run, my beloved steed!"
The Zombie knights of the Black Bull Knights' Order, who were formerly from the Mirg shield-nation, attacked a Rock Dragon together, mounted on their sturdy, somewhat sinister horses.
The Rock Dragon was Rank 8 Dragon that was as large, powerful and sturdier than anything else, as if it was actually a boulder that had begun moving. However, the knights were making sport of it, splitting its shell with their black halberds and claymores made of Death Iron.
Incidentally, the horses that they were riding were the horses taken from Karcan and the Red Wolf Knights' Order in the Hartner Duchy, and they had now become monsters.
They were now Rank 3 Demon Horses, feared monsters that war horses who had basked in the endless blood and screams of the dying on the battlefield could transform into.
They had frightening appearances, but they would not be scared even when Zombies approached. They were omnivorous and would eat the weak monsters that they trampled under their hooves, so they were convenient mounts.
Another Dragon was petrified by Bellmond's transplanted Demon Eye and sliced into pieces by her metal threads. Another was slaughtered by Basdia and Eleanora. One particularly pitiful Dragon had its throat destroyed by Braga and his companions so that it couldn't release its Breath attack and then used as a living sandbag by the less experienced Black Goblins and Anubises.
Both allied and enemy Lizardmen were dumbfounded at the sight of the Dragons, whom they had always considered to be absolutely superior beings, being defeated one after another. Shashuja, who was in the troop headquarters with Vandalieu, was dumbfounded as well.
"Rank 7 and 8 monsters appear in the Dungeons at home," Vandalieu explained. "We won't struggle with enemies like this."
Dragons themselves didn't appear in the Dungeons, but monsters just as powerful did, so defeating these monsters was to be expected.
"Your Majesty, it is time," said Chezare.
"Yes. Well then, I'll leave the rest to you."
A few seconds after Vandalieu spread his Spirit Form wings and took into the sky, a particularly enormous Dragon emerged from its den with a thunderous roar.
Not only the Lizardmen, but those in the Eclipse King's army were quite disturbed at the bizarre appearance of the Scaled King, who resembled an enormous crocodile with fins for limbs.
A Rank 10 monster was one that was powerful enough to destroy an entire nation. It would not be strange for regular monsters and ordinary adventurers to flee in panic from such a foe.
That was likely why Borkus gleefully jumping in with his enormous sword raised was an unexpected development for the Scaled King.
"Finally, someone worth fighting!" Borkus roared.
The Scaled King showed nothing resembling a movement until his snout had been torn to pieces by the tip of the magic sword. As his blood sprayed into the air, he finally roared in anger.
"Spacing out, huh!" Borkus shouted. "Don't doze off! Open your eyes!"
Vandalieu thought it would have been fine for the Scaled King to keep dozing off, but it seemed that Borkus, who found even the bosses of B-class Dungeons to be not enough of a challenge now that he had become Rank 10, wanted to fight the Scale King in earnest.
As if granting Borkus's wish, the Scaled King's fighting instinct awakened. He let out a howl in place of an incantation, released earth-attribute and wind-attribute spells, swung his tail like a whip and thrashed his fins.
His mayhem could only be called a natural disaster; any creature caught up in it would be thrown about and pulverized.
"Gahahaha! Just like that!" Borkus laughed, undaunted.
He was Rank 10 as well, and most Dragons would be more powerful than Undead, but Borkus was a Zombie who had regained all of the strength that he had possessed as an A-class adventurer while he was alive. On top of that, he was equipped just as well as an A-class adventurer, or even better.
And his Attribute Values were enhanced by the Strengthen Followers and Strengthen Subordinates skills.
But at Rank 10, even a level 10 Strengthen Followers skill would make it difficult for Borkus to overcome an opponent a Rank higher.
A Rank 1 Goblin's physical lifting strength increasing by five hundred kilograms would be a dramatic increase, but for a Dragon who could lift boulders with ease to begin with, a five hundred kilogram increase in strength would still be amazing, but not as dramatic. The same principle applied here.
But Borkus was the same Rank as the Scaled King. Only one of them was under a strengthening effect, so the difference was great.
"Hahaah! The sword that the kid made for me really has a different sharpness to iiiit!"
The enormous, three-meter-long sword that Borkus was currently wielding had been created by polishing the Demon King's horns with the Demon King's blood, then combining it with Death Iron.
The Scaled King's scales were so solid that even a first-rate swordsman would be helpless against them, but they were being torn through by a super-first-rate Zombie swordsman wielding a sword created with a material that could even shred Adamantite.
"I suppose it's about time," Vandalieu murmured.
Looking down at the cornered Scaled King from the sky, Vandalieu decided that this was a good time and cut his own wrist with his claws, activating the Demon King's blood.
Red-black blood gushed out of the wound, rapidly clotting in a cylindrical shape. And then he activated the Demon King's horns, forming a small, aerodynamically-shaped horn the size of his fingertip.
The Scaled King let out a particularly long, loud roar. A pillar of thick purple light descended upon him from the sky.
This was the Familiar Spirit Descent skill that High Priest Gordan had once used, the skill that allowed a god's Familiar Spirit to descend upon the user's body and strengthen their Attribute Values.
The Scaled King was a monster, but he was a follower of Luvesfol, the Raging Evil Dragon God, so he was able to have a Familiar Spirit descend upon him.
This Dragon was powerful to begin with; strengthened further by Familiar Spirit Descent, it was possibly a dangerous enemy even for Borkus.
"Fire."
Vandalieu pierced that evil pillar of light created by Familiar Spirit Descent with a bullet from his Telekinesis cannon, loaded with the effect of Soul Break.
Some kind of indescribable scream echoed out as the pillar of light crumbled and vanished.
Vandalieu's wings were beating as he hovered over the Scaled King, who had frozen in place in a dumbfounded state. Vandalieu sighed, thinking his work was done, and then felt confused.
"It seems that I succeeded in interfering with the Familiar Spirit Descent using the Demon King's horn bullet that I fired with a gun barrel made with the Demon King's blood, but what was that scream?" he wondered. "Could it be that it hit the Familiar Spirit itself?"
Eleanora and Bellmond had concluded at an early stage that the Scaled King might be able to use Luvesfol's Familiar Spirit Descent.
The evil gods possessed their own Familiar Spirits, and they could bestow the Familiar Spirit Descent skill to their followers. Even if they were monsters.
Therefore, a plan to deal with it needed to be discussed.
But Vandalieu's apprentice, the former adventurer and current Undead researcher Luciliano, had said, "You can simply shoot through it with your gun thing, Master."
Vandalieu had been doubtful that the descent of a god's Familiar Spirit could be interrupted by a gun, but everyone had immediately agreed with Luciliano.
"It's okay, I'm sure you can do it, Vandalieu! You can easily beat a Familiar Spirit of an evil god," said Darcia.
"Indeed, you should have confidence in yourself, boy," said Zadiris.
"Vandalieu-sama, you have already destroyed Ternecia, who was a subordinate god of Hihiryushukaka," said Eleanora. "A Familiar Spirit is just small fry."
Encouraged, Vandalieu had decided to give it a try.
The Demon King's blood, once coagulated, wasn't as hard as Orichalcum, but harder than Adamantite. Vandalieu had created a gun barrel using this, loaded Demon King's small horn into the barrel and fired it as a bullet.
As a result, he had actually managed to prevent the Familiar Spirit Descent. It was possible that the Soul Break in the bullet had damaged the Familiar Spirit itself.
"Well then, I'll leave the rest to you,�� said Vandalieu.
"You got it!" Borkus said. And then he raised his sword once more. "Now then… let's continue."
For the first time, the color of fear appeared in the Scaled King's vertical pupils.
『The levels of the No-Attribute Magic, Mana Control, Artillery Technique, God Slayer, Commanding and Strengthen Subordinates skills have increased!』
Nothing particularly miraculous happened. Borkus fought a reasonably fierce battle while saying it was a little lacking and then pierced the Scaled King's forehead.
He was happy that he had finally gained a sizeable amount of Experience Points from defeating an opponent as equally powerful as him.
And Vandalieu, who received approximately ten percent of everyone else's Experience Points, had leveled up as well.
"With this, my Tree Caster level has increased to 100," he said happily.
"I'm looking forward to hearing what kind of new Jobs will be available, Bocchan," said Rita.
"Will your next Job be Madoushi after all?" asked Saria.
"That's my plan," said Vandalieu.
Vandalieu had avoided the Madoushi* Job as it sounded like a suspiciously ordinary Job, but according to the information that he had squeezed out of Ternecia, whose soul he had destroyed in spring, acquiring the Guider Job was a requirement of becoming a champion.
The Guider Job was apparently a Job that made not only the Job holder, but his companions stronger as well. Ternecia hadn't known the exact details, but perhaps it was possible that it allowed the acquisition of a skill like Strengthen Followers that affected people.
But considering that the effect of Vandalieu's 'Eclipse King' Title allowed all of Talosheim's citizens to be affected by Strengthen Followers regardless of their race, it might seem that there was no advantage to Vandalieu acquiring this Job.
However, it was still a Job that was a requirement for becoming a hero, even if this fact wasn't commonly known. There was no doubt that simply acquiring the Job would be enough to gain the trust of the upper echelons of society, such as Guild Masters of the Adventurers' Guild.
It was a little sinister that "魔/ma" had been added to it, but it seemed that there were multiple varieties of the Guider Job. The champion Bellwood had simply been a 'Guider,' but Zakkart had been a United Guider*.
Considering that, Vandalieu decided that it wasn't that unusual for his Job to have "魔/ma" attached to it.
Jobs like Mage, Magic Warrior, Magic Sword User and Monster User also had 魔/ma attached to them*, but they were all normal Jobs. The 魔/ma in Madoushi probably just represented the fact that he had many monster friends.
"If you become a Guider, please make it so that Father can fly!" said Rita.
Her father, the Undead Sam who was possessing a carriage, still had his sights set on flying through the sky. He had been performing full-speed jumps from high places to increase the level of his Impact Resistance skill.
It seemed that his long experience being a carriage driver while he was alive had given him fixed preconceptions that were hindering his evolution into an Undead carriage that could fly.
Vandalieu had been unable to help him, as there was no telling what effects using the Mental Encroachment skill to remove those preconceptions from Sam's mind could have.
"Hmm, I'll do my best," said Vandalieu. "Now then, I suppose I should help out with the post-battle cleanup as well."
After the Scaled King's defeat, the surviving enemy Lizardmen had already surrendered and submitted to Shashuja and the others, dropped their weapons and raised their hands into the air, exposing their bellies.
… This was not an act of arrogance, but surrendering by exposing their soft bellies. It was the same as a beast showing its belly to an enemy.
The ones that were not getting on the ground were staying standing because they were standing in water and would not be able to breathe if they lay down, as their home was a marshland.
Vandalieu had thought that about half of them would try to resist or flee, but that hadn't happened.
"They switched sides quite quickly. Maybe this Scaled King wasn't very popular?" Vandalieu wondered.
"That's not it; I'm sure they just know that they would die if they disobey," said Rita.
Vandalieu nodded, deciding that this was a reasonable explanation. "This is thanks to Borkus's hard work."
Borkus had stayed in an advantageous position the entire battle as he defeated the Scaled King who had ruled at the top all this time, while Bellmond, Eleanora, Vigaro and the others had defeated the Dragons that had been his most powerful servants as if they were small fry.
Nobody could blame the Lizardmen for surrendering.
"No, it was you more than me, kid," said Borkus, whose entire body was red with the Scaled King's blood.
"Eh?" said Vandalieu.
Borkus looked exasperated. "You're really confused, huh?"
"But all I did was hit a large target with the Telekinesis cannon I made by combining the Demon King's blood and the Demon King's horns," said Vandalieu. "I think it's true that preventing the Familiar Spirit Descent was significant, but I didn't use any Mana and didn't put myself in any danger at all, so it was an easy job."
This wasn't a small achievement, but nothing that deserved to be taken notice of more than Borkus, who had defeated the enemy general. That was how Vandalieu saw his own actions.
However, the reality was apparently a little different.
"Listen," said Borkus. "That Scaled King guy was a priest for that Luvesfol guy, the Raging Evil Dragon God, the one that the Lizardmen were worshipping, you know? It was only natural for that priest to be trembling after you shot and killed the Familiar Spirit that he summoned."
"No, I don't think I necessarily killed it," said Vandalieu.
"That may be true, Master, but even I have not heard of any incidents where someone attacked and interfered with the Familiar Spirit itself rather than its host… I was certain that you would be able to, however," said Bellmond with a bitter smile. Her eye, which had been blinded by burns, had been replaced by transplanting Ternecia's Petrifying Demon Eye.
"In other words, you shattered the enemies' hearts, Vandalieu-sama," said Eleanora.
"Indeed, since you defeated the one that the Lizardmen worshipped," Zadiris added. "And unlike Goblins and Orcs, they are limited to living near water. Now that we have taken this place from them, they have no choice but to submit to the victors."
Life seemed difficult for the Lizardmen.
"Well, the more that submit, the better it is… For now, please gather the important individuals among the surviving Lizardmen, and please call Shashuja here."
And so Vandalieu acquired the great marshlands that had been ruled by the Scaled King.
Incidentally, the total land area of the great marshlands was far more than the Hartner Duchy's.
Vandalieu was eight years old. In human society, he was still an ordinary person, but he already ruled over a country larger than a duke's territory, with an army that a medium-sized country couldn't hope to match.
Monster explanation:
[Lizardmen]
They are a race of demi-human monsters, and they are considered to be the most intelligent of demi-human races. In truth, their intelligence is not so different from that of Gillmen, but Lizardmen are considered smarter because they have mental structures that are easier for people to understand.
Their base Rank is 3. Their appearance is that of bipedal lizards; they do not have horns or any features like that. Even the largest Lizardmen do not exceed two meters in height, so they are inferior to Orcs in raw strength. However, they possess speed that Orcs do not, as well as the intelligence to think about tactics and the composure to not fall for provocation and baits.
They become even more powerful in groups, giving the illusion of fighting like a trained army.
They use their advanced intelligence to create their own arms; even their lowest-ranked individuals equip themselves with spears, armor and small shields made from the scales of their dead brethren.
They are clearly more powerful monsters than Orcs despite both races being Rank 3, but as they are limited to inhabiting environments with water, there are almost no incidents of them leaving these environments to cause harm to villages and cities of people.
Also, unlike Orcs, they do not desire human women for reproduction; their reproductive power itself is quite low, so they pose less of a threat than Orcs.
However, large groups of Lizardmen normally worship evil gods, so depending on the personalities of the gods that they worship, they sometimes form non-aggression pacts with people. However, as Lizardmen cannot speak the human language, negotiations are limited to body language.
Their scales can become materials for arms and decorations, and their meat is suitable for consumption. Their meat has little fat and resembles chicken in flavor.
Also, calling Drakonids Lizardmen or lizards is an insult, so that should be avoided.
Liked it? Take a second to support Novels on Patreon!
Chapter 98: The one who guides and the ones who go on
"Now then, we will begin the project to turn the marshlands into a Capricorn farm," Vandalieu declared enthusiastically, but there was actually not a lot to do. There were still only a few dozen Capricorns that had transformed from goats, so the only thing they could do was make preparations for a large-scale farm in the future.
First, he informed the two thousand Lizardmen with Shashuja as the mediator. But since he was only a Rank 5 Lizardman Geronimo, it seemed that leading two thousand members of his own race was harsh on him.
That was why Vandalieu had left the Zombie of the former Scaled King, who had now been renamed Leo, as well as the Dragons that had been his subordinates, under Shashuja's command. A Zombie of the former ruler would be serving him. It didn't have any practical abilities, but this would likely discourage the Lizardmen from disobeying.
"Come to think of it, it was my first time creating a Zombie out of a Dragon," said Vandalieu.
Knochen, the combination of countless bones, groaned unhappily.
"Knochen, please restrain yourself this time."
It seemed that Knochen had wanted Leo's bones, but Vandalieu had given it Earth Dragon bones to keep him restrained.
Vandalieu still felt unsure about the Lizardmen, so he had decided to call Bone Man, who had remained in Talosheim during the battle of the expedition, to come out and be stationed here for a while along with the Black Bull Knights' Order who were mounted on Demon Horses.
"Jyuuh, please leave it to me, my lord," said Bone Man.
Demon Horses had the Rough Road Travel skill, so they could run across the muddy marshlands the same as any flat ground. And unlike the horses that they had once been, they could eat anything, so they were easy to maintain.
Of course, Bone Man was planning to replace his Demon Horse mount to Leo once things had settled down in the marshlands. Leo had some difficulties with mobility compared to Demon Horses, but he was Bone Man's desired Dragon Zombie.
"I'm counting on you," said Vandalieu. "Well, while you're here, I'm planning to be going back and forth from Talosheim."
"After all, you are talented, my lord," said Bone Man.
There were many things that only Vandalieu could do, and many other things that others could do but Vandalieu could do much quicker and in a much simpler way.
"Well, this work isn't that impressive though," said Vandalieu, using Golem Transmutation to build barns with the trees produced with Plant Binding Technique as lumber.
And then he taught the Lizardmen how dairy farming worked with ten of the Capricorns that he had brought from Talosheim.
Of course, the Lizardmen, who had been living a lifestyle of hunting and gathering, were inexperienced with dairy farming. However, there was a race known as Lizardman Riders who tamed and mounted monsters resembling crocodiles, so they immediately understood Vandalieu's orders to raise the Capricorns.
At first, they had been confused that they would be doing so for milk rather than for combat, however. As their appearances indicated, Lizardmen were oviparous, so they were unfamiliar with milk.
But that didn't mean that they couldn't drink it. They were carnivorous, but milk provided animal protein, so Vandalieu had told them to try a cup. While they had been bewildered at first, after a mouthful of milk, they understood that this task was for the purpose of securing a stable food source.
Capricorns were a little more intelligent than normal goats and they were also sturdy and resistant to disease. They ate any algae and aquatic plants growing in the marshlands without specific preferences, so they were popular with the Lizardmen as well for their use in dealing with weeds.
They then reorganized the Lizardmen groups that had become smaller as a part of the battle and made maps. It was possible that small groups of less than twenty Lizardmen wouldn't even be able to live stable lives, let alone manage territories, and it would be extremely inconvenient for Vandalieu to not know how large each village of Lizardmen were.
The organization of the Lizardmen groups went very smoothly because of their fear of Vandalieu. If they had been humans, various problems could have occurred, but it seemed that the Lizardmen had no attachment for their territory.
As for the map, Sam had postponed his flying training and taken Chezare and the others around the marshlands to quickly create a map that gave a rough idea of the area's layout.
As a result of this work that took multiple days, Vandalieu gained an idea of how vast the marshlands were.
"This place is larger than the Hartner Duchy, isn't it?" said Vandalieu.
There wasn't any technology for precise measurements, but the map could be used to estimate how long it would take someone to walk somewhere.
When Vandalieu had been getting the small and medium-sized groups to join him, he had gained a rough idea of the size of the area ruled by the Scaled King. From there, they had determined the size of the marshlands, but… it turned out that the marshlands were even larger than that.
However, it seemed that there weren't any influential monsters other than the Lizardmen. The Noble Orc Empire was apparently further south of the marshlands, but the marshlands were not attractive lands for the heavy Orcs, so they hadn't come to the marshlands before.
Vandalieu wondered how the Noble Orc Bugogan had managed to cross the marshlands, but… the truth was that he never did.
Bugogan had not gone north from the empire he was exiled from; he immediately challenged the mountain range to the west. After struggling and finding a path that even he could cross, he had ended up coming out near the Devil's Nest near Balcheburg.
Everyone was currently busy organizing everything in the marshlands, so Vandalieu decided to leave the Orc meat buffet in the Noble Orc empire for later. The empire wouldn't escape anywhere.
Leaving that aside.
"That means that His Majesty is already a being that surpasses the dukes of the Orbaume Kingdom," said Chezare.
"No, Chezare-dono, I believe that is going a little too far. Our population is too small. Even if we take the Lizardmen into account, there is too much land," said Sam.
The population of even a remote city of the Hartner Duchy like Niarki had a population of around ten thousand. Even if the Lizardmen were included, Talosheim's population was only six thousand.
Vandalieu agreed with Sam; it couldn't be said that he had surpassed the dukes.
But the marshlands were a treasury of resources. Plants that looked exactly like lotus roots grew natively and the marshes had fishes resembling catfish, loaches and eels living in them.
Also, the Lizardmen had told Vandalieu about a place where hot mud came out of the ground. It was possible that this would be Vandalieu's first encounter with a hot spring in Lambda.
And there were two Dungeons, so it was possible that he could acquire new materials and food ingredients.
"Lizardmen apparently take five years to reach adulthood, so let's take it slow to make the marshlands thrive," said Vandalieu. "For now, I suppose we should go back to Talosheim."
Doing all of the tasks ahead would have to wait until after a Job-change.
Ten days had passed since the Scaled King's defeat. Vandalieu had been worried that Luvesfol, the Raging Evil Dragon God, would make a move after his servant who had received his divine protection had been defeated and his Familiar Spirit wounded, but there were no signs of that happening, so there would probably be no problem with leaving the marshlands.
Coming to this decision, Vandalieu climbed aboard Sam's carriage and returned to Talosheim for now, having completed the preliminary preparations for the farm and the creation of a map.
Incidentally, Luvesfol, the Raging Evil Dragon God that Vandalieu was wary of in case he was plotting revenge, was writhing in agony as he desperately fled the southern region of the continent.
"I can't stay and gather servants in a place where a monster like that exists! I'm going back to the Dark Continent!"
The Lizardmen who had been his subordinates hadn't known this, but the Scaled King who had the divine protection of the Raging Evil Dragon God had actually acquired a superior version of Familiar Spirit Descent, the Spirit Clone Descent skill, allowing him to temporarily have a Spirit Clone of the god he worshipped descend upon him.
Familiar Spirit Descent couldn't even compare to Spirit Clone Descent's effects, but… during the descent, the Spirit Clone had been shot and killed by an absurd attack, inflicting quite a deep wound in Luvesfol.
It wasn't fatal, but enough to make Luvesfol feel a great fear rather than a desire for revenge. He fled to his original base that was the Dark Continent, where all of the land and surrounding seas had become Devil's Nests, feeling no regret for the loss of several thousand of his believers.
Vandalieu, who had returned to Talosheim, was in the Job-changing room on the second floor of the trading post where explorers gathered to exchange goods.
With this, he would join the ranks of the champions… but he didn't know how to feel about this. Even so, he touched the crystal ball with excitement.
『Jobs that can be selected:[Archenemy][Zombie Maker][Corpse Demon Commander] [Disease Demon][Spirit Warrior][Whip Tongue Calamity][Vengeful Berserker][Dead Spirit Mage][Dark Healer][Labyrinth Creator][Demon King User][Demon Guider][Magic Cannoneer][Golem Creator]』
"Oh, there are two new ones."
There was a new Job that seemed specialized for using cannons and another that was probably a superior version of the Golem Transmuter Job. There were no Jobs specialized for using Thread-reeling, but those were probably already existing Jobs like the Thread User Job that Bellmond had.
He was interested in the Golem Creator Job, which would likely improve the Golem Transmutation skill that had brought Talosheim so much prosperity, but the Job he should choose was probably still Demon Guider.
With that, he should be able to acquire skills that would improve his appearance to society. Skills with shiny-sounding names and powerful effects, even if he didn't know what they were.
"Select Demon Guider."
Vandalieu made his choice with his heart full of anticipation.
『You have changed Jobs to Demon Guider!』
『You have acquired the Mana Enlargement skill!』
『The levels of the Death-Attribute Charm, Death-Attribute Magic and Chant Revocation skills have increased!』
『The Death-Attribute Charm skill has transformed into the Demon Path Enticement skill and the Strengthen Followers skill has been transformed into the Guidance: Demon Path skill!』
『You have acquired the unique skill, Abyss!』
"… I'm sorry?" Vandalieu asked the voice in his head that was announcing these skill names that were far from shiny-sounding or good for society, but there was no reply.
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 8 years old
Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King],[Second Coming of the Demon King],[Guardian of the Cultivation Villages],[Holy Son of Vida],[Monstrosity]
Job: Demon Guider
Level: 0
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User, Tree Caster
Attributes:
Vitality: 856
Mana: 485,761,053 (+48,576,105)
Strength: 295
Agility: 329
Stamina: 480
Intelligence: 990
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 5
Rapid Healing: Level 7
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Status Effect Resistance: Level 7
Magic Resistance: Level 4
Dark Vision
Demon Path Enticement: Level 1 (Transformed from Death-Attribute Charm!)
Chant Revocation: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Guidance: Demon Path: Level 1 (Transformed from Strengthen Followers!)
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 6
Strengthen Subordinates: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 4
Enhanced Agility: Level 2
Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 4
Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Small
Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 3
Thread Refining: Level 2
Mana Enlargement: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Bloodwork: Level 3
Surpass Limits: Level 6
Golem Transmutation: Level 7
No-Attribute Magic: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Mana Control: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Spirit Form: Level 7
Carpentry: Level 6
Engineering: Level 4
Cooking: Level 5
Alchemy: Level 4
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 5
Soul Break: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Multi-Cast: Level 5
Long-distance Control: Level 7
Surgery: Level 3
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5
Materialization: Level 4
Coordination: Level 4
High-speed Thought Processing: Level 3
Commanding: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Plant Binding Technique: Level 3
Thread-reeling: Level 4
Throwing: Level 4
Scream: Level 3
Dead Spirit Magic: Level 3
Insect Binding Technique: Level 3
Blacksmithing: Level 1
Artillery Technique: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Unique skills:
God Slayer: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Grotesque Mind: Level 6
Mental Encroachment: Level 5
Labyrinth Construction: Level 5
Demon King Fusion: Level 2
Abyss: Level 1 (NEW!)
Demon King fragments:
Blood
Horns
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
"… So I didn't mishear it." Vandalieu looked at his status multiple times before putting his hand on his forehead.
Vandalieu didn't really care about Mana Enlargement. As its name suggested, it was probably a skill that simply increased Mana. The problem was with the other skills.
Demon Path Enticement, Guidance: Demon Path and Abyss. All of these names sounded bad from society's point of view. Rather than being shiny-sounding, they were skills that were wrapped in darkness deeper than the darkness of night.
"But I have an idea of what the effects of the first two are. Demon Path Enticement is probably an upgrade to the original Death-Attribute Charm skill and Guidance: Demon Path is probably an upgrade to the Strengthen Followers skill."
From Vandalieu's experience, the effects of skills didn't change significantly when they transformed into others. It sounded dangerous and suspicious to say that he would entice or guide people on a demon path, but there wouldn't be any changes on the scale of the sun turning into a lump of ice.
But Vandalieu had no idea about the Abyss skill.
"… Abyss, activate," Vandalieu said to try and test it, but nothing remarkable happened.
It seemed that it wasn't the kind of active skill that could be used as if flipping a switch, but a passive skill that was always exhibiting its effect, but…
"What did Abyss mean again?" Vandalieu pondered for a bit, having a vague recollection that the word wasn't used in any particularly positive way, but he couldn't remember the exact meaning.
He thought that he would investigate it later, but because it was a unique skill, he wasn't sure if there would be any information on it. There was no ruling out the possibility that Vandalieu was the first in history to acquire this skill, just like his Jobs.
"There's no use in worrying about this and that. I can't undo the fact that I've acquired it, and if it seems harmless, I should just see how it progresses."
Vandalieu had acquired a Job that was a requirement of being a champion, so things would be alright. He left the room after telling himself this.
"Holy Son, congratulations on this auspicious event!" said Nuaza.
"Getting a Job of the same type as a champion is amazing!" said Darcia. "You're still small, but you were even smaller before, now you've become so fantastic… I'm really happy."
"We should celebrate today!" said Basdia. "So, no making clones of yourself and working today, Van."
"That's right, Van-sama," Tarea agreed. "You are the center of attention today."
Vandalieu had been caught by everyone who had been waiting outside and taken to the meeting hall where a party had been secretly prepared.
After Bellwood's death, there had been few who had acquired a Guider Job even among a hundred thousand years of history, and Bellmond had told Vandalieu that all of them had left their names in history, so this was apparently something to be celebrated.
In fact, in other nations, massive events were held if it became known that there was someone with a Guider Job. Not only would such people become heroes, but they were likely to even join the lower ranks of the gods, so the appearance of these people was to be celebrated.
If that person was the nation's leader, everyone would be wildly excited.
The people of Talosheim celebrated Vandalieu's Job-change to Demon Guider in a much more modest way.
The person being celebrated didn't notice that, however.
"Alright, now for the sweets -" Vandalieu began.
"They would be delicious, but you don't have to make them, Your Majesty."
"Well then, soup -"
"We told you, King, you're not allowed to multiply!"
"Well then, just a quick, simple dish - obuh."
Rapiéçage groaned as she grabbed Vandalieu's spirit form that had escaped with Out-of-body Experience and forced it back into his physical body.
"You're not allowed to move," said Pauvina as she pinned him down.
Vandalieu completely gave up on resisting.
The dreamers' senses and limbs were in a hazy state, but they were aware that there was clearly something near them.
That thing was like a person, like a beast, enormous yet small, unsightly yet beautiful. The dreamers didn't know what that thing was.
However, they could never reach that thing on their own. When they tried, it walked away at a pace that seemed as if it could be caught, but they could not.
They could stay there and watch it go, or distance themselves from it. But before they knew it, that thing had come close to them again.
People having this dream began appearing among Talosheim's people.
One let that 'thing' ride them and flew through the night sky.
One became a wall to protect that 'thing.'
One wished for a form that could be of aid to that 'thing.'
Some wished for that 'thing' to give them something that it could grant them, and were delighted with the change that occurred.
Some simply felt at ease by being next to the 'thing.' And when they woke, they shed tears with the unfilled emptiness and despair that they felt.
But Vandalieu never had this dream.
In his Divine Realm, Rodcorte was monitoring Vandalieu by looking at the records from the humans and Dwarves that had migrated to Talosheim, but - with signs of something being cut, the images stopped.
This didn't stop at only one person; he became unable to see the records from more and more people.
"What does this mean? Were they turned into Undead? No… could this be?!"
An unpleasant thought ran through Rodcorte's mind. As if to inform him that this thought was correct, an alarm sounded from his circle of transmigration system.
"The ones living in Talosheim who belong to my system are leaving it and moving to another, most likely Vida's system!"
The next day, Vandalieu needed to procure Undead to examine his Demon Path Enticement and Guidance: Demon Path, so he was thinking of finding some in the wild or making his own. Suddenly, he heard a familiar laugh and the turning of wheels, so he stuck his head outside the window.
"BOCCHAAAAAAAN! PLEASE OBSEEEERVE!"
Sam's carriage was running through the air.
His pitch-black horses were running and his wheels were turning, as if there was an invisible floor beneath him.
"I, Sam, have succeeded in running through the sky at last! This is the gift of your power, Bocchan!" Sam exclaimed.
"Congratulations, Sam," said Vandalieu. "You finally did it. But is it really a result of my power?"
Vandalieu knew that Sam had put in a lot of effort into achieving a goal that could even be called reckless. He was happy and proud that this effort had paid off. There wasn't any problem with the fact that he was 'running' instead of 'flying.'
But wasn't that Sam's own ability?
"What are you saying, Bocchan! My Rank increased after you acquired the Guider Job; this is most certainly a result of that!"
Indeed, given the timing, this could be the case.
"And there are others who have gained power as well!" said Sam.
"Eh? Who?" Vandalieu asked.
"I will explain, so please get in," said Sam.
"Okay."
Vandalieu used Flight and flew into Sam's carriage. His spirit-form horse that had become even more sinister, with a pitch-black mane and eyes as crimson as pools of blood, took Vandalieu outside Talosheim.
However, Vandalieu noticed something unusual before they arrived at their destination.
"… There's a new fort outside," he said.
At first, he thought that it was probably Knochen. Knochen, who had absorbed and fused with multiple bones, was now as big as a large fort.
However, as they drew closer, Vandalieu realized that there were numerous Skeletons that he had never seen before striding around it.
It would have been strange if he could recognize Skeletons that were made of only bones, but Vandalieu would have definitely remembered creating large Skeletons with the features of Dragons, dinosaurs and Manticores.
And then all of the Skeletons roared in unison as Vandalieu and Sam approached.
Vandalieu nodded, recognizing this voice. "Yes, it's Knochen, isn't it?"
It seemed that fort made of bones and the Skeletons were all part of Knochen.
"Yes," said Sam. "It seems that Skeletons emerged separate from Knochen's own body after its Rank increased, and it is able to control them. It is happy that it has the same ability as you, Bocchan."
As if agreeing to Sam's words, the fort of bones itself roared this time. It seemed that the fort was Knochen's main body while the Skeletons were extra parts of it.
It did indeed resemble the way that Vandalieu could use Out-of-body Experience to make spirit-form clones of himself.
"Both of you have had a Rank-up at the same time, so it seems that it isn't a coincidence," Vandalieu noted.
One case might have been a coincidence, but two was a pattern. Thinking this, Vandalieu concluded that while Sam and Knochen's qualities, determination and hard work were the largest factors, Guidance: Demon Path had given them the extra push.
It was the same as how companions of champions acquired hidden techniques or awakened to new special abilities.
This was an effect that would be better described as a transformation or evolution rather than development, but that was only because Vandalieu's companions were not only people, but Undead as well.
It was unlikely that the Guider Job's effects were limited to people, after all.
Vandalieu was satisfied with this explanation.
"So what kind of races have you become?" Vandalieu asked.
"I appear to be a Rank 6 Nightmare Carriage," said Sam. "Knochen is apparently a Rank 9 Bone Fort."
It seemed that they had become a carriage of nightmares and a fort of bones. Sam was a rare type of Undead to begin with, so it couldn't be said whether there would be any details recorded of his race, but it was possible that there would be something written about Knochen. It had already been a monster that would be labeled as a calamity when it was still a Union of Bones, after all.
Vandalieu decided to investigate this later.
"We have to celebrate, don't we?"
Celebrations came first.
But as Vandalieu joined in the circle of Knochen's Skeletons in a bonodori dance, Cemetery Bees flew in and took him away.
Name: Knochen
Rank: 9
Race: Bone Fort
Level: 0
Passive skills:
Dark Vision
Superhuman Strength: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Spirit Form: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Bone Form Manipulation: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Physical Resistance: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Absorption Healing (Bone): Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Fortress Form: Level 1 (NEW!)
Fission: Level 1 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Silent Steps: Level 2
Breath (Poison): Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
High-speed Flight: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Long-distance Control: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Projectile Fire: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Name: Sam
Rank: 6
Race: Nightmare Carriage
Level: 0
Passive skills:
Spirit Form: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Superhuman Strength: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Rough Road Travel: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Impact Resistance: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Precise Driving: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Comfort Maintenance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Murder Healing: Level 1
Space Expansion: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Air-running: Level 2 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Silent Steps: Level 1
High-Speed Travel: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Charge: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Size Alteration: Level 3 (NEW!)
Spear Technique: Level 2 (NEW!)
Fear Aura: Level 1 (NEW!)
Monster explanation:
[Bone Fort]
A monster whose appearances in history can be counted on one's fingers, a race that is designated to be a calamity.
Its enormous, fort-sized body is completely made of the bones that it has absorbed, and those bones can form Skeletons that can act independently.
The Skeletons are not particularly powerful; they are slightly stronger than Rank 2 Skeletons. However, their numbers are a threat.
According to records, there has been a Bone Fort that manipulated ten thousand Skeletons simultaneously.
The fearsome thing about this monster is that the fort, its main body, can move.
It is a moving fortress with countless soldiers that need no food or rest. It is truly a nightmarish being for humanity.
Knochen is even more terrifying than normal Bone Forts.
As it possesses the High-speed Flight skill, it can fly faster than a bird. Of course, its Skeletons can also fly through the air, and each of them have poisonous breaths. In addition, they are all under the effects of Guidance: Demon Path and Strengthen Subordinates.
Those who think that these are mere Skeletons will likely be overwhelmed by the Skeletons' poisonous breaths, and once they are immobilized, they will meet the cruel fates of having the bones torn from their bodies while they are still alive.
Monster explanation:
[Nightmare Carriage]
A monster that Sam of Talosheim has become, the first in Lambda.
He runs freely through the air and his entire body emanates an aura that strikes fear into all nearby living creatures.
Skill explanation:
[Mana Enlargement]
A skill that increases the total Mana pool by 10% for each level in the skill. It is a simple skill, yet its effect is enormous.
Many desire the skill, but it is said that the only ones who can acquire it are the companions of champions and the champions themselves.
Liked it? Take a second to support Novels on Patreon!
Chapter 99: The changing omens and citizens
The Cemetery Bees flew in and grabbed Vandalieu, who had joined a circle of Knochen's Skeletons in a bonodori dance to celebrate Sam and Knochen's increase in Rank.
"I kind of want to eat breakfast soon," Vandalieu told them.
Buzz-buzz-buzz.
It seemed that there was a pressing matter; the Cemetery Bees did not stop for Vandalieu's hunger.
Vandalieu could understand the intentions of the insects that he had tamed to some extent, but he couldn't understand them completely. He possibly could if he used his spirit-form to fuse with them, but -
"The queen is calling."
"Calling, the queen is."
Vandalieu only knew that the queen bee was calling him.
These were bee monsters; the thoughts of each individual worker bee were too simple to have a conversation.
Incidentally, Sam and Knochen had simply waved their hands goodbye as Vandalieu left.
Since he was hungry, Vandalieu started eating vegetables that were growing from his arm with the Plant Binding Technique skill. And then they arrived at the Cemetery Bee nest that seemed to have grown even larger.
Buzz-buzz-buzz.
A Cemetery Bee Soldier, three times larger than a worker bee, flew towards Vandalieu.
Cemetery Bees lived in a similar way to normal bees and ants, but Experience Points were not shared among all of the bees in the group. Even if they hunted enemies, only the individual bee that had done the hunting would receive Experience Points.
The Cemetery Bees going from being worker bees to soldier bees from their Rank increasing would take the opportunity to separate themselves from Vandalieu and begin guarding the nest. This was an instinctual desire, so there was nothing to be done about it.
Vandalieu understood that the protection of the nest and queen was the most important thing for bees, so he only equipped worker bees in his body with the Insect Binding Technique skill.
The problem was -
"I've told you, not raw," Vandalieu protested.
The soldier bees were holding caterpillar dangos in their forelegs.
Vandalieu wasn't reluctant to eat bugs, but it seemed that he disliked eating them raw.
Feeling hesitant to use fire inside the nest, in the end, Vandalieu decided to simply accept the caterpillar dangos without eating them.
"What if I had my hair in dreadlocks?" Vandalieu said, voicing a thought that had suddenly occurred to him.
Darcia blinked. "Vandalieu, we don't know what 'dreadlocks' are, so I don't know what kind of expression I should be wearing."
"It's a hairstyle like this."
Vandalieu used Thread-reeling to change the shape of his own hair into dreadlocks to show his mother Darcia, who had been tortured and burned to death at the stake and now currently resided in a small bone fragment as a spirit. He had a lot of hair to work with, suitable for having in dreadlocks.
Having his hair bundled together felt pleasant against the back of his neck and his pointed ears, too. Vandalieu thought that perhaps he should have this hairstyle until autumn came.
"Wow, it really looks like there are white caterpillars attached to your head," Darcia remarked. "Is 'dreadlock' a word for 'caterpillar' on Earth?"
"… I don't think so," said Vandalieu.
Foreseeing a misunderstanding that couldn't be considered a joke if it spread, he quickly returned his hair to normal.
Meanwhile, the queen bee, who was even larger than the soldier bees, approached, accompanied by numerous other bees.
She didn't appear to be in such a desperate state that she needed to call Vandalieu here so desperately.
Buzz-buzz-buzz.
Click-click-click.
With her wings beating and her jaw and exoskeleton making noises, the queen bee turned as if dancing.
"I see. And then?" Vandalieu nodded and prompted her to continue.
Seeing this exchange repeat itself several times, Darcia shuddered as she whispered to herself. "I-I don't understand. Umm, what is a mother supposed to do at a time like this?!"
She didn't know what her son and his friend were talking about. What was she to do?
This wasn't a rare concern for a parent raising a child, but what was the correct answer when that friend was an enormous insect?
She requested an answer, a translation, from her son.
"She is saying that she wants to be reborn in an egg that she is about to lay in order to evolve further," Vandalieu explained.
"I see," said Darcia. "But is increasing her Rank not enough? She still has time to live, doesn't she?"
Every monster in Lambda could gain Experience Points, reach level 100 and then increase in Rank once they met certain conditions.
Thus, an increase in Rank was certainly possible for the Cemetery Bee Queen as well. What reason was there for the queen bee to abandon her current life and ask Vandalieu for a pseudo-reincarnation?
"I've asked that as well; she's apparently received 'guidance,'" said Vandalieu.
"You mean from the Guider Job?" Darcia asked, surprised.
Vandalieu nodded. "I don't remember giving her anything like that, though."
Sam and Knochen had received its effects immediately, so it wasn't strange to think that the Cemetery Bees were under its effects as well.
However, it was strange that Vandalieu, the one who had supposedly guided them, had no memory of doing so.
In legends and heroic tales, the champions with the Guider Jobs had given people instructions, taught them the correct path to follow, strengthened their friendships and bonds with their followers and overcame the point of life and death together. The effects of the 'Guidance' skills on the followers were said to be a result of having experienced such events.
In Vandalieu's case, he had simply had a feast with everyone on the first day that he acquired the Job.
"If everyone's Ranks increase because of that, it would be fine to have a feast every day for a while," said Vandalieu.
Buzz-buzz-buzz.
"Eh, a dream? Come to think of it, I did have one, which is rare," said Vandalieu.
"Oh my, you always say that you don't have dreams. What kind of dream did you have?" Darcia asked.
"It was a dream where I was walking in a dark place on my own, and just as I was feeling lonely and wondering if anyone would come, everyone gathered around me and we played together," Vandalieu replied.
He had been taken for a ride through a starless night sky, guided to a sturdy fortress, among other things.
Now that he remembered it, it was possible that those were Sam and Knochen.
"Fufu, it's good that you had a nice dream, isn't it?" said Darcia, smiling at her son.
This had resulted in the birth of a Nightmare Carriage and a Bone Fort. From the perspective of the Church of Alda, which was hostile to Undead, and the Adventurers' Guild that would send out requests to exterminate them, it was a nightmare rather than something to smile about.
"In any case, if I guided them, I can't stop those who answered me," said Vandalieu. "I'll do as they ask of me."
The queen bee gave a happy click of her jaw as she gave birth to a single egg into Vandalieu's outstretched hands.
"Well then, let us meet again," Vandalieu said.
He extracted the queen bee's soul. He had thought that it would be difficult to extract a soul from a living body, but because the queen bee herself had agreed to it, or perhaps this was another effect of Guidance: Demon Path, he was able to extract it smoothly.
The semi-transparent, white egg shaped like a grain of rice that was already the size of a human baby, now contained the soul of the queen bee. The body that she had been living in up until now fell to the ground.
"By the way, Vandalieu, who's going to take care of that egg?" Darcia asked.
"The Cemetery Bees… huh?" Vandalieu looked around to see that the other Cemetery Bees had returned to their daily work.
After using Preservation to prevent the queen bee's body from decomposing, Vandalieu ended up holding and raising the egg.
"To think that I would be raising a second child so quickly."
Incidentally, Pauvina was the first.
But Pauvina, Jadal, Varbie and Rapiéçage seemed unhappy with this.
"I was never treated like that," Pauvina protested.
"Me neither."
"I wanted to be treated like that."
Rapiéçage groaned in agreement.
Pauvina, who would turn five years old this year, was already as tall as an adult human. Even if her size was disregarded, she looked like an eight-year-old child. Girls developed quickly… or rather, this was likely the influence of her blood originating from Noble Orcs, a race that grew to heights of three meters and developed much faster than humans.
Bilde's daughter Varbie and Basdia's daughter Jadal were as adorable as four and five-year-old children should be, while Rapiéçage… hadn't changed. That was to be expected, as she was a Patchwork Zombie.
The 'treatment' that they were referring to was… Vandalieu extending his tongue and licking the queen bee's egg.
"… I'm only doing this to prevent mold from growing on the egg," he said. He was simply mimicking how insects took care of their eggs, so he was bewildered by the protests of Pauvina and the other girls.
"Well then, lick me as well so that mold doesn't grow on me!"
"I mean, you take baths, don't you? Mold won't grow even if I don't lick you."
"Eh, lick me!"
"It's interesting how you lick it."
It seemed that the sight of Vandalieu's tongue extending to around four meters in length with the Body Extension skill was interesting to the girls. Perhaps it was the same as a cat taking a liking to cat toys.
It was a cute, childish behavior, but also problematic.
"Augh?" Rapiéçage groaned.
"No, you really don't need it," said Vandalieu, looking up at her and thinking about the misunderstandings that could happen if he did lick her.
Rapiéçage had the wings of a pterosaur, a tail extending from her hips with a Cemetery Bee's stinger on the end, the arms and legs of Ogres past the elbows and knees, a sensual woman's body and the face of a beautiful young woman.
It was only natural for Vandalieu to feel hesitant to lick her.
In Talosheim, the fact that she was Undead or that there were stitches all over her body weren't going to be accepted as excuses.
"I am sorry to interrupt your conversation, but may I have a word, Danna-sama?"
Bellmond, who had been instructed to come to Vandalieu's personal workshop beneath the castle, seemed disturbed as she called out to her master who was, for some reason, surrounded by children while taking care of an insect's egg.
It seemed that these circumstances were within acceptable limits for Bellmond. No, there was something else nearby that she was more curious about.
"Ah, Bellmond, thank you for your hard work," said Vandalieu. "I was thinking of having you look over your surgery plan."
"It's Bellmond!" Pauvina exclaimed.
"Hi!" said Jadal.
"Hello, Ojou-samas," said Bellmond, greeting the children. "So, Danna-sama, that surgery plan… could you be referring to that thing?"
'That thing' that Bellmond glanced at pointedly was an object that had been placed next to her former master Ternecia, who was now a Live-Dead inside a capsule, submerged in a mysterious fluid.
It resembled a female mannequin made of white stone. It had been elaborately made; it had no face, but it looked as if its arms and legs could move at any moment.
It was the same height as Bellmond with arms and lengths the same length as hers, while the bulge in its chest and around its hips were about the same as the Live-Dead Ternecia.
"Yes," Vandalieu said.
Seeing that he showed no signs of guilt whatsoever, Bellmond clutched her chest.
"… Danna-sama, what are you planning to do with me after giving me a body with such excessively attractive features?" she asked.
"Well, it will be difficult to make small changes in the shape of your chest, so I was thinking of simply transplanting the chest straight onto yours," Vandalieu explained.
"I am your servant, Danna-sama," said Bellmond. "If you wish to tamper with my body and do as you please with it for your own amusement then I am prepared to accept my fate, but -"
"That's a horrible thing to say about me," said Vandalieu. "I'm quite confident in how I treat people.��
"I understand. Do as you will, Danna-sama."
Bellmond agreed to it in the end, but Vandalieu thought that she would make all kinds of complaints once it came to attaching her tail.
Of course, she didn't seem to be showing any real signs of resistance. In fact, she seemed happy.
"Van, are there only people like Eleanora among Vampires?" Basdia asked with quite serious-looking eyes.
"… No comment," said Vandalieu, declining to answer. He didn't think that there were, but it was possible that…
Thinking like this, Vandalieu couldn't completely deny the possibility.
"Vandalieu, you're hurting a girl's body before she becomes a bride, so you have to take responsibility," said Darcia.
"Umm, Darcia-sama, with that logic, wouldn't that make His Majesty unable to perform surgery on any women?" Princess Levia pointed out.
"No, to go as far as to take responsibility…" Bellmond remonstrated them now that they had taken things too far. In fact, she was looking forward to receiving surgery from Vandalieu.
She did have her misgivings, but her happiness at receiving everything from Vandalieu overcame them.
Just like in that dream.
"But I would be happy if you could avoid making me too indecent," she added.
Bellmond's former master, Ternecia, was beautiful even to her eyes. However, that beauty was not an elegant one.
Though her words and the way she normally dressed were likely the main causes, she looked like a prostitute… though this impression never lasted long, as she never gave a second glance at others, let alone flirted with them.
"I'll do my best, but I think it will be fine," said Vandalieu.
Vandalieu had only been face-to-face with Ternecia for a few minutes; he hadn't particularly felt the prostitute-like impression, but he thought that even if he replaced every part of Bellmond's body below the neck with Ternecia's, she wouldn't look indecent.
"Bellmond, are you going to become muchi-muchi*?" asked Pauvina.
"What about the muscles that King likes?" asked Varbie.
"I do think that she will become muchi-muchi, but I have no plans on transplanting the muscles," said Vandalieu. "She has plenty already, anyway."
"My body becoming heavy is… as long as all of my fingers, toes and tongue can move freely, there will be no problem," said Bellmond.
"Com… panion?" Rapiéçage groaned.
"Well, I do believe that I will become your patchwork companion, but…" Bellmond gave a bitter smile to the children who were innocently comparing her to the post-surgery mannequin and Rapiéçage who was wondering if she would gain a companion.
Suddenly, Bellmond became aware of a person who had been silent the whole time, watching something squirm with bloodshot eyes.
"By the way, what is he doing?" she asked.
"Luciliano? He is researching Lump-of-flesh-chan," said Vandalieu.
The convulsing lumps of flesh with no bones or organs, produced as a result of trying to resurrect Darcia using the incomplete, but functioning, resurrection device.
When lumps of flesh produced by the device were put together, they had fused to form a larger lump of flesh, but no matter how much time passed or what Vandalieu did, it was still a lump of flesh.
Vandalieu had tried adding the Demon King's blood, but nothing in particular had changed.
However, this morning, its movements had become more prominent; it seemed that changes had begun.
"He was saying that this might be the birth of a new life," Vandalieu said.
"A new life," Bellmond repeated. "I see."
The two of them were looking at lump of flesh that was convulsing violently in an apparatus resembling an enormous pot in front of Luciliano.
It had formed a thick, flesh-colored soup that was bubbling and frothing as if it were boiling, and there were meat-like projections resembling people's hands and snake heads that emerged and extended a short distance from its surface before collapsing back into the lump of meat, over and over.
"It looks to me like tormented souls being boiled in the cauldron of hell," said Bellmond.
"What a coincidence," said Vandalieu. "I think so too."
"Something that looks like a human's head comes out from time to time, but… I have the feeling that it resembles me a little," said Darcia. "What will I do if I grow lots of heads?"
It seemed that there were no disagreements that this was not the 'birth of a new life,' but the sight of dead souls trying to crawl out of hell.
Vandalieu couldn't see its Status yet, and the Appraisal spell only gave him, "A mysterious, convulsing lump of flesh," so it was still unclear as to whether it was a living creature or not.
"How is it even staying alive, Your Majesty?" Princess Levia asked. "It doesn't even have a single organ, let alone bones."
"We gave it some food from time to time," said Pauvina.
"It's eats really happily when we give it meat!" Jadal added.
It seemed that the two of them had been feeding it.
"It really eats," said Pauvina.
Despite not having a mouth or stomach, being made of nothing but meat until Vandalieu gave it blood, Lump-of-meat-chan apparently ate food. It was likely through the same mechanism by which unicellular organisms absorbed food.
It indiscriminately absorbed everything it came into contact with, so it was extremely dangerous. It was probably best that Vandalieu created an enclosure around it so that the children wouldn't fall in.
"But it doesn't eat vegetables," said Jadal.
"Even if we feed it a live frog, it just spits it back out," said Pauvina. "Even if we scold it and tell it that it will never become big if it's too picky, it won't listen."
"I see, so it seems that it doesn't eat living things," said Vandalieu.
It didn't have ears or a head to listen to scolding, but it was possible that it was relatively safe. It was possible that it simply disliked frogs, so Vandalieu decided that he would try seeing whether it would eat live mice, fish or Undead.
"It looks like I'm being fed by the children," said Darcia. "And I'm being given frogs…"
It seemed that she was a little shocked by the fact that Lump-of-flesh-chan, who was a failed attempt to recreate her, was being fed.
"Well, Mom, frogs are delicious," Vandalieu told her.
But despite the expectations of Luciliano, who was engrossed in his research, Lump-of-meat-chan still wouldn't become a living creature.
"Whether it is a monster or a person, it seems that there is something missing for it to become a living creature," Luciliano concluded as he reverted his research on Lump-of-meat-chan to plain observation.
Around the end of September, when temperatures were starting to drop, the road between Talosheim and the large marshlands to the south was completed. Since this was necessary for transporting dairy products, fish, lotus roots and other things in the future, waves of attacks had been conducted to clear the forest of enormous ferns that was in the way and Vandalieu had flattened the ground and used Golem Transmutation to lay stone tiles to create a road.
In times of emergency, the stone tiles would get up and fight the threats, and even if they were damaged in such situations, they would reabsorb the broken pieces and repair themselves; it was a truly maintenance-free highway.
There was no need to worry about bandits, but it was a highway crossing a Devil's Nest where monsters more dangerous than bandits would appear, so these functions were necessary.
Of course, the monster numbers in the southern forest had already been reduced drastically, so it was possible for the highway to become a normal highway in a little over a decade from now.
Now that Vandalieu had dealt with the aftermath of the Cream Expedition and performed the necessary work for future development, Vandalieu was now busy with something else. That thing was…
"Now then, we'll begin the universal conscription campaign," Vandalieu announced.
The training of Talosheim's non-combatants.
"As I explained previously, this campaign's purpose is to make everyone strong enough to at least kill a normal soldier," said Vandalieu.
"That's different from the universal conscription that I know of," whispered Lina, the former irregular employee of the Adventurers' guild, current receptionist at the trading post and Fester's lover.
Taking no notice of her, Vandalieu continued. "As you know, Talosheim is surrounded by Devil's Nests, and we could be attacked by the Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire. I want everyone to do a little training to prepare for such times."
"We've heard that, but… Even if we level up, we won't become much stronger," said Ivan, who was working hard as a stonemason once more after his family had gained an additional member.
As he said, ordinary people with creation-oriented Jobs would not see large gains in Attribute Values even after leveling up. Creation-oriented Jobs mostly provided bonuses to creation-oriented skills.
And those with creation-oriented Jobs would gain less Experience Points from exterminating monsters than those with combat-oriented Jobs such as Warrior or Mage. Just as it would be strange for a warrior to level up by performing work as a stonemason, stonemasons wouldn't level up much from defeating monsters.
"Yes, I know that," said Vandalieu. "That's why I'm going to have everyone acquire skills."
He was focused on skills rather than Attribute Values. Lambda had a convenient skill system, unlike Earth.
And once skills were acquired, they generally weren't lost. If they weren't used for a long time, senses could dull and the body could grow weaker, but if this kind of training was held regularly, they could stay in a reasonably useable state.
"I see. So, you're telling us to get level 1 skills to begin with," said Kyne, who had once flown through the sky on Vandalieu's back. As a hunter, he possessed the Archery skill at level 3, so he would be one of the instructors rather than one of the people being instructed.
Vandalieu's policy of having the civilians use crude spears, bows and arrows to at least have level 1 skills was one used by many other policymakers.
Civilians with level 1 combat-oriented skills would be able to fend off bandits on their own to some extent. And if they joined forces, they could defeat a single Rank 3 monster that might enter their village.
And they would be capable of making a living by venturing to hills and fields that weren't Devil's Nests to harvest the blessings of nature, hunt beasts for food and tan their hides for leather.
The policymakers would gain many benefits from this, such as being able to reduce the number of permanently-employed soldiers.
Of course, it would be problematic if there was a rebellion or the villagers turned to banditry due to poverty, but the policymakers would simply not enforce this training if they were not confident that they could prevent these things from happening.
Vandalieu's objective was simply to increase the citizens' ability to defend themselves, however.
"No, level 1 skills are not dependable, so at least level 2," he said. "Of course, it would be helpful if you became able to use martial skills."
"Aren't you expecting a lot from us?!"
Incidentally, Fester's Swordsmanship skill had been at level 2 when Vandalieu first met him.
Even though he had been an apprentice, he was a young man who had decided to make a living in that line of work, studied at an adventurer's school for a year and spent his days gaining experience by facing monsters such as Goblins day after day. That level 2 combat-oriented skill had been a result of all of that.
"But if you don't have skills at level 2 and can't use martial skills, you won't even be able to buy any time against the monsters living in the Devil's Nests around here," said Vandalieu.
What he said was reasonable. Kyne couldn't imagine that any monsters could get through the excessive outer walls of Talosheim to get inside, but he couldn't deny the possibility that something unexpected could happen.
"But won't we have to go through hellish Spartan training to get level 2 skills?" asked Lina. She and the others had stiff expressions, thinking that it was impossible to gain level 2 skills in the space of just a few days.
"It's alright," said Vandalieu. "I've prepared capable instructors."
He had his instructors stand up to show themselves.
The instructors that appeared with clattering sounds were suits of armor that Lina and Ivan both recognized.
Indeed, just suits of armor.
"They are Living Armors that I made out of the former Red Wolf Knights' Order," Vandalieu explained. "I will have everyone wear these Living Armors and learn combat skills through experience."
The people would train by wearing these Undead suits of armor with spirits living inside them.
Lina and the others froze as Vandalieu declared this unprecedented training method.
"Now then, let us hurry and begin our training! I must quickly acquire a level 2 skill and return to my work of making something out of Van-sama's horns," said Tarea as she glanced back at everyone else before beginning to choose the instructor that she would wear.
Skill explanation:
[Guidance: Demon Path]
There is a path that one does not walk because they wish to, a path that is not a path. This is the skill of one who walks such a path for guiding those who walk on it with him.
Those who receive the blessings of this skill undergo drastic changes, increases in Rank and development in exchange for growing further and further away from the path of righteousness.
They are not evil; they are simply 'different' beings rather than being good or evil.
Ordinary people would think of the possessor of this skill and those who follow its guidance to be fearsome beings, be repulsed by them and the sight of them would appear to be total chaos.
It is a skill that transforms from Strengthen Followers after acquiring the Demon Guider Job, so the effects of the Strengthen Followers skill is included in full.
Skill explanation:
[Demon Path Enticement]
A skill that captivates those who already walk the demon path and those who have set foot upon it. A skill that beckons those who walk the path of righteousness to the demon path.
It is, so to speak, a devilish skill, and those charmed by it indulge themselves in the skill's possessor as if they have fallen into addiction.
It is a skill that transforms from Death-Attribute Charm after acquiring the Demon Guider Job; the skill's area of effect is increased and once under its effects, it is difficult to resist.
Skill explanation:
[Abyss]
A unique skill that represents that the skill owner is not one who peers into an abyss, but the abyss to be peered into.
The one who possesses this skill has no need to worry about becoming a monstrosity when fighting other monstrosities. That is something that the one fighting the skill's possessor should fear.
Liked it? Take a second to support Novels on Patreon!